World Fuel Services has filed a second lawsuit — and arrested a second ship — in an effort to get Hansa Heavy Lift to pay allegedly unpaid fuel bills.
This time, the Florida-based company is seeking $2.5m after delivering the 19,328-dwt HHL Richard Bay (built 2010) fuel 11 times at nine different ports worldwide last year.
According to the lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court 10 January, the ship was seized on 13 December in the Ivory Coast.
Hansa did not immediately return a request for comment.
The HHL Richards Bay's arrest came just days after the 12,776-dwt HHL Elbe (built 2008) was arrested in France over similar claims from World Fuel Services. The bunkering company sued last week, again in Miami federal court, to collect $993,000 on those bills.
After the HHL Elbe was seized, Hansa Heavy Lift filed an insolvency petition in Hamburg courts. Major shareholder Oaktree Capital Management cited an “extremely challenging operating environment” for the shipping industry as the cause.
Sources close to the private equity firm disputed claims the HHL Elbe's arrest pushed it into insolvency.
