Hamburg Commercial Bank has arrested one of Xihe Holdings LR2 aframax tankers in Singapore.
Court records reveal the German bank filed a $17.5m mortgage claim against the 108,900-dwt Ocean Pegasus (built 2009) on its arrival in Singapore on 23 February.
It is unclear how the bank navigated the protections against creditor actions granted to Xihe and its assets through the High Court of Singapore’s judicial management process.
TradeWinds has approached Hamburg Commercial Bank’s lawyers in Singapore for comment. Xihe’s judicial managers KMPG could not be reached.
Most of the ships in Xihe’s large tanker fleet have been idled in the South China Sea since the collapse of affiliated oil trader Hin Leong Trading and tanker operator Ocean Tankers in early 2020.
All three companies are owned by oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin and his family.
Ocean Neptune sold
In recent weeks, several of Xihe’s tankers have returned to Singapore to facilitate buyer inspections and handovers once sold.
Brokers reported on Monday that yet another Xihe-owned MR2 product tanker, the 50,300-dwt Ocean Neptune (built 2006), was being sold to Greek buyers for $7.5m.
The SLS Shipbuilding-constructed tanker, which VesselsValue suggests is worth $10.5m, remained anchored in the South China Sea outside of Singaporean and Malaysian territorial waters on Monday.
Last week, an almost identical SLS-built MR2 tanker, the 50,400-dwt Ocean Moonbeam (built 2005), was sold to Sol Selene Shipping, a Panamanian-registered entity, believed to be backed by Dubai-based interests.
Legal blows
The Lim family suffered another legal setback last week when the High Court of Singapore put an end to their attempts to block Singaporean law firm Rajah & Tann from acting for Ocean Tankers and Hin Leong.
The Lims — acting in the capacity as directors of both companies — attempted last year to obtain an injunction preventing Rajah & Tann from acting for both companies.
They had claimed they had engaged the law firm on a personal basis to advise on the financial issues surrounding the companies and had shared confidential information and documents relating to the family and the two companies.
They argued that acting on behalf of the two companies subsequent to their application for judicial management made the law firm conflicted.
Rajah & Tan sought to strike out the order, arguing that it had been engaged to advise on the two companies, which owned the information that was provided.
The law firm also argued the Lims had no authority to dismiss them from acting on behalf of either company as the responsibility for such a decision lay with the respective judicial managers.
Last Thursday, Justice Kannan Ramesh sided with Rajah & Tann and allowed the striking-out applications. He ruled that the Lims’ residuary powers as directors of companies under judicial management did not extend to bringing the injunction actions in both instances.
That power had been transferred to the judicial managers by the court.
