A vessel under the umbrella of George and Stathis Gourdomichalis has finally been freed from arrest after sitting at anchor on the Columbia River for more than 100 days.
But the case over the Gourdomichalis-controlled ship — a worldwide legal drama that landed in a federal court in Portland, Oregon, late last year — continues to weave its way through the federal court system.
Vigorous Shipping & Trading, the registered owner of the 52,500-dwt Vigorous (built 2005), and plaintiff Pacific Gulf Shipping Co have agreed to a $9.5m substitute bond for the bulker, seized in early December to collect on a $22.6m arbitration award. The substitute bond, paid for via a loan, was deposited on 20 March.
That same day, Vigorous Shipping & Trading filed notice that it was appealing the court's 19 February decision to deny their motion to require a bond for continued attachment of the ship.
Like most filings since mid-December, that initial motion is sealed by a protective order. Minutes from the court simply say the motion was denied.
The Vigorous, laden with wheat set for war-torn Yemen, was seized on 3 December after Danish firm Pacific Gulf Shipping Co sued a slew of companies connected to the two Gourdomichalis brothers, including Blue Wall Shipping and Phoenix Shipping & Trading.
The company was seeking to collect an arbitration award won in London after the now-scrapped 73,500-dwt Adamastos (built 1995) was abandoned off the coast of Brazil in 2014.
Pacific Gulf had chartered the ship, which was then subchartered twice when it was hired to carry soybeans from Brazil to Japan and Singapore. The vessel was held off Brazil by authorities after an inspection turned up 42 deficiencies. The next day, the ship broke free of its moorings and ran aground.
The complaint from Pacific Gulf, which also tried to seize the ship in South Africa, alleges that the Gourdomichalis brothers maintain a number of legal alter-egos from which they can extract the multimillion-dollar award. Attorneys for Vigorous Shipping & Trading allege the lawsuit merely describes a typical shipping outfit.
The Vigorous had been docked in Longview, Washington, during its arrest but, according to AIS data, the ship now is en route to Singapore.
