Americas News
Cockett Claims $1 Million for Unpaid Bunkers Supplied to Singapore-Owned Vessel
Cockett Marine Oil (Cockett) Thursday filed a claim for over $1 million for unpaid bunkers supplied to Singapore-owned ferry Nova Star, becoming the third bunker supplier to take action against troubled Canada-based operator Nova Star Cruises this month, local media reports.
The bunkers were said to have been supplied between between August 31 and October 31 of this year.
Nova Star Cruises, which until recently ran a ferry service between Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, and Portland, Maine, is said to have leased the $179 million vessel from Singapore Technologies Marine.
Cockett has called for the vessel to be sold to pay the outstanding debts, which are understood to total more than $2.6 million.
The amount includes almost $500,000 in mostly bunker related debt claimed by World Fuel Services (WFS), and just over $297,000 for bunkers supplied by Sprague Operating Resources.
McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. (McAllister Towing) Thursday was also added to the growing list of non-bunker related claimants, and is seeking $12,000 for unpaid tug services.
The vessel itself is currently under arrest in Portland, Maine having been seized as a result of legal action taken against Nova Star Cruises by Portland Pilots Incorporated (Portland Pilots), who says it is owed almost $200,000 in unpaid pilotage service costs.
"The law provides a process to adjudicate everybody's claim," said Andrew Helman, an attorney for Cockett Marine Oil and McAllister Towing.
Mark Usinger, head of South Portland-based A.L. Griffin Ship Chandlers, claiming a further $13,000 against Nova Star Cruises for unpaid bills, notes that the MS Nova Star is a valuable asset that could be able to produce revenue under different ownership.
"If I had to guess, I would think the owners in Singapore are scrambling behind the scenes to come up with the money to pay the bills so they don't lose the ship at a bankruptcy auction," said Usinger.
Earlier this month, Ship & Bunker reported that Nova Star Cruises said it intends to eventually pay all of its creditors.
