World Fuel Services is taking insolvent Hansa Heavy Lift to court over unpaid fuel bills for the arrested HHL Elbe.
In a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court last week, the New York-listed bunker supplier alleged Hansa owes it more than $993,000 for five fuel sales made last year.
The sales were made starting in July 2018 and ran into the fall, with the 12,776-dwt HHL Elbe (built 2008) receiving fuel in Singapore, Gibraltar, Antwerp and Nakhodka and Murmansk in Russia, according to the lawsuit.
Hansa Heavy Lift did not return a request for comment.
In December, the company filed an insolvency petition in Hamburg court, with shareholder Oaktree Capital Management citing an “extremely challenging operating environment” for the shipping industry as the cause.
A few days prior, the HHL Elbe was arrested in France at the behest of World Fuel Services in an attempt to collect the bunkering debts.
Reports had speculated the arrest put Hansa over the edge, which sources close to Oaktree deny.
Per the lawsuit, no security for the ship has been posted.
According to AIS data, the ship is still moored in Rouen.
