The owner of an arrested pipe-layer is taking legal action in the US to free the ship and recoup millions of dollars in damages before a Nigerian company can have it auctioned off in Ghana.
Dallas-based WAG SPV I and New York lender Hark Capital allege Fortune Global Shipping & Logistics had the 8,531-gt Sea Horizon (built 1977) wrongly arrested last autumn.
US affiliate
The lawsuit filed in Houston federal court last week also targets Fortune Global's US affiliate and chief executive Eric Opah. It claims the defendants have moved to have the ship appraised and sold.
WAG SPV I alleges the situation has cost $4.2m so far, and that figure is rising by $20,000 each day the arrest continues.
"The claims filed by Fortune Global and the resulting arrest and detainment of the Sea Horizon are unfounded and factually insupportable," the lawsuit states.
Fortune Global did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Sea Horizon was ordered arrested in Ghana last September, after Fortune filed a suit there, alleging that another Nigerian company, Ranger Subsea, owed it $1.9m under an agreement to support its marine construction operations.
The lawsuit alleges the agreement began in 2014, two years before WAG SPV I took out a $14m loan from Hark to buy the Sea Horizon.
WAG SPV I reportedly owes the port authority there $500,000 in fees, which are included in the Houston lawsuit
WAG SPV I says the agreement between Ranger Subsea and Fortune Global does not mention WAG SPV I or the Sea Horizon.
'Legal alter ego'
Further, it alleges that Fortune Global's US affiliate, based in Houston, is a legal alter ego, created to deprive WAG SPV I of its ownership of the Sea Horizon.
According to local media reports from December, the Sea Horizon has been held at the Sekondi Naval Base, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) south-west of Accra, Ghana, since 2017, with 13 crew members onboard.
WAG SPV I reportedly owes the port authority there $500,000 in fees, which are included in the Houston lawsuit.
