Nordic Maritime Services is looking to arrest tankers controlled by Saudi Arabia's AK Al Bakri & Sons (Al Bakri) and its Bihar International Co outfit after a decade-long dispute ended at the High Court in London.
The Norwegian ship and project manager is trying to recover £764,000 ($984,960), including costs, for acting as consultants to what it claimed was Al Bakri's in-house shipmanager.
Nordic Maritime took Red Sea Marine Services, formerly Red Sea Marine Services (Cyprus) and later Konooz Sea Marine Management, to arbitration in 2013 and won an award in its favour last year.
That has now been backed up by a judgment at the High Court in London, with a ruling granting Nordic Maritime permission to seize assets.
Al Bakri has denied any involvement, saying it is not connected to the company that owed money to Nordic Maritime.
Joining the dots between Red Sea Marine Services (Cyprus) and Konooz Sea Marine Management has been at the centre of the case.
Red Sea Marine Services (Cyprus) was incorporated in Cyprus in 2000, according to a public register search. It changed its name to Red Sea Marine Services in 2011 and then to Konooz Sea Marine Management in 2017, which included a shake-up of directors.
While Mohammad Hani Al Bakri was a director of Red Sea Marine Servicesprior to the reshuffle, Konooz Sea Marine Management's sole director is now Hatem Ghalem Alshareef.
While Red Sea Marine Services features on the Al Bakri website, there is no mention of Konooz Sea Marine Management.
Konooz Sea Marine Management has not paid Nordic Maritime the money specified in the award, and Al Bakri has not been responding to correspondence from Nordic Maritime's lawyers, the Norwegian company said.
No connection
An email from TradeWinds to the Al Bakri group seeking comment about the Red Sea Marine Services/Konooz Sea Marine Management relationship elicited the following response from a "J Hasan".
"I am a consultant of the party you sent below email to," the email read. "Please note I am advised that none of the companies mentioned below in your email are related or affiliated to the party you sent the email to."
A follow-up email went unanswered.
Nordic Maritime chairman Torstein Dehn told TradeWinds that he has not heard from the other side in nine months, after it changed its legal representatives last year.
"We've done everything sensible to contact them," he said.
And so Nordic Maritime is now talking to lawyers at ports about stopping Al Bakri's ships. Its tankers are managed by group company Bihar International and Red Sea Marine Services LLC.
Liquidation action
Nordic Maritime is also pursuing a claim in Cyprus to liquidate Konooz Sea Marine Management in order to get access to its files to further prove links to Al Bakri.
- 2000: Nordic Maritime starts work on disputed contracts
- 2000: Red Sea Marine Services (Cyprus) Ltd founded
- 2011: Red Sea Marine Services (Cyprus) Ltd terminates Nordic Maritime deals
- 2012: Arbitrators appointed
- 2016: Tribunal orders Red Sea Marine Services to provide security
- 2017: Red Sea Marine Services changed name to Konooz Sea Marine Management
- 2019: Tribunal rules in favour of Nordic Maritime
- 2020: High Court in London issues enforcement judgment
The row dates back to technical assistance agreements between Nordic Maritime and Red Sea Marine Services (Cyprus)for nine Al Bakri tankers, managed by Red Sea Marine (Cyprus) and chartered to International Shipping and Transportation Co, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Co — better known as Sabic.
Nordic Maritime handled all of Al Bakri’s newbuilding projects and assisted in the management of the vessels over a period of almost 15 years, Nordic Maritime said.
In an affidavit seen by TradeWinds, Dehn said Nordic Maritime was the technical consultant.
Good relationship turns sour
Dehn said he had a close working relationship with Al Bakri and former Bakri Navigation director Mohammad Hani Al Bakri for many years, which started with Al Bakri’s first newbuilding contract in 1998, on which Nordic Maritime assisted in the design and supervision of what turned into a series of 45,000-dwt chemical tankers.
Nordic Maritime has supervised the construction of 24 tankers and LPG carriers for the group in total.
But, by 2011, a significant sum was owing to Nordic Maritime.
Mohammad Hani Al Bakri was named as a second respondent in Dehn's affidavit to the High Court in London in November last year.
Last month, a UK Commercial Court judgment by Justice Sara Cockerill permitted Nordic Maritime to serve a claim for enforcement against Konooz Sea Marine Management — formerly Red Sea Marine Services — in Cyprus, and also by alternative means via an Al Bakri corporate email address and Mohammad Hani Al Bakri's own email address at Bakri Navigation.
Counterclaims kicked out
A total of $8.8m in counterclaims by Red Sea Marine Services/Konooz Sea Marine Management were dismissed by the tribunal.
A freezing order was granted by the UK High Court in November last year, barring Konooz Sea Marine Management from removing from England and Wales any of their assets up to the value of £780,000.
Konooz Sea Marine Management can be held in contempt of court should it disobey, but it has not been in contact since then.
The tribunal said in August 2019 that Nordic Maritime's claims up to 2012 were well-founded, but the vast majority after that should be disallowed.
Services declined
Mohammad Hani Al Bakri signed an affidavit in 2017, stating he was a director of Red Sea Marine Services.
His witness statement states that, until recently, he was also a director of Bakri Navigation Co Ltd, now Bihar International Co Ltd.
He said that around 2008, the quality of service offered by Nordic Maritime declined, for example inexperienced staff were brought in, and Nordic Maritime was unable to obtain oil major vetting approval, leading to cost overruns.
