The Danish company that convinced a federal judge to seize a Gourdomichalis brothers-owned ship failed to describe anything more than your average shipping business, the duo argued in court papers filed Monday.
The brothers are seeking to recover the 52,500-dwt Vigorous (built 2005), attached after Pacific Gulf Shipping filed a $22.6m lawsuit against a swath of companies connected to the brothers last week, including Blue Wall Shipping and Phoenix Shipping.
“None [of the facts asserted by Pacific] suggest more than a business organisation that was structured, managed, and financed in manner typical of all shipping companies,” the motion to vacate the attachment read.
Pacific is looking to collect on an arbitration award won in London stemming from the grounding and abandonment of the 73,500-dwt Adamastos (built 1995).
It alleged the Adamastos and Vigorous were both owned by registration companies owned by Blue Wall, which is controlled by the Gourdomichalis brothers.
But Monday, attorneys from Vigorous Shipping, the owner of the Vigorous, say Pacific failed to establish it as a legal "alter ego" of either Blue Wall or Phoenix, part of which could include establishing intermingling of company records and assets.
Adamastos Shipping was never part of Blue Wall either, which has a long list of shareholders, they say. And further, Vigorous Shipping did not exist in 2014, when Pacific chartered the Adamastos.
"There is absolutely no connection and there never was between Vigorous Shipping and Adamastos Shipping," Blue Wall chief operating officer Stathis Gourdomichalis said in a declaration.
After inking the charter deal more than four years ago, Pacific sub-chartered the Adamastos to Integris. The ship was then sub-chartered the ship to the Marubeni Corporation, which intended to ship soybeans for Brazil to Japan and Singapore.
Instead, the Adamastos was detained in Brazil after authorities found a litany of deficiencies. The next day, the ship broke loose of her moorings and ran aground, was towed offshore, kept there for six months and later determined to be abandoned. While being held offshore, crew set the AIS system to broadcast its current port as “WELCOM [sic] TO HELL.”
The incident touched off a series of arbitration cases in London, ending with Pacific being awarded compensation from Adamastos.
But Pacific has been unable to collect on those awards. It had previously arrested the Vigorous in South Africa, but the seizure was vacated on appeal with Blue Wall successfully arguing the Vigorous and the Adamatos are separate.
The Vigorous is currently being detained roughly 36 miles northwest of Portland, near Longview, Washington. According to the court papers, the seizure costs Vigorous Shipping between $16,873 and $19,204 per day.
