Hellenic Bank has secured an order to arrest an Interorient Shipmanagement-controlled bulker over allegations of a loan gone bad.
A warrant to arrest the 33,755-dwt Orient Alliance (built 2012) was issued in Eastern District of Texas federal court Tuesday.
It comes after the Cypriot bank sued the ship's eponymous registered owner, alleging it failed to live up to the terms of a $20.5m refinancing loan made in 2015.
According to the complaint, Orient Alliance was directed to get regular market valuations for the vessel.
If the outstanding loan exceeded 75% of the ship's value, the company would have to either post security or repay part of the loan.
By the fall of 2017, the ship's value had dropped to $10.8m. Orient Alliance failed to remedy the situation within the month as required, it is claimed.
It subsequently missed its five quarterly, $300,000 repayments, according to the lawsuit.
The suit alleges Orient Alliance owes $1.49m in principal, $908,000 in interest and legal fees.
Further, Hellenic Bank says the loan allows it to accelerate repayment, bumping the total up to $21.4m in principal, $176,712 in interest and legal fees.
Contact information for the registration company could not be found. The ship appears to be owned by Interorient Shipmanagement.
Legal documents show the loan agreement is signed by an attorney from Interorient Navigation, which shares an address with Interorient Shipmanagement.
The company did not return a request for comment.
AIS data shows that the ship is currently in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana.
