Asia/Pacific News
Australia Sees "Unprecedented" Rise in Bunker Related Vessel Arrests
There has been an "unprecedented" rise in ship arrests at Australian ports in relation to disputes over unpaid bunkers, mostly in relation to unpaid bills stemming from the collapse of OW Bunker, Australian media reports.
23 ships are reported to have been arrested since July 1, in comparison to an average of 10 vessel arrests annually over the past three years.
"The level of the arrest work has been unprecedented over the past six months," said Chief Justice James Allsop of Australia's Federal Court, which is reported to have had an agreement with the Australian Border Force over the past two years to arrest vessels on the court's behalf.
"It's created a lot of work for the registrars and a lot of activity but if we had to do the arresting as we used to do, before two years ago, we would be really strained. Customs has done a fabulous job," commented Allsop.
In addition to arrests related to unsettled OW Bunker claims, economic downturn, particularly in the natural resources sector, has also been credited with spurring the recent increase in vessel arrests.
Drew James, a lawyer with Australian Ship P& I Services (Aus Ship), who was said to have represented a number of vessel owners involved in recent arrests, says that the cases have generally involved claims of about $500,000 to $1 million.
"They are significant claims and that is a lot of money to find overnight," said James, noting that many of the vessel's arrested have been released within days after owners have provided security equal to the amount in disputes.
David Anderson, CEO of Ports Australia says that the arrests have created some disruption for port operators, but explains that to minimise disturbances the court usually has ships arrested at sea before they are brought to berth.
Last week, Esna, a 71,600 DWT bulk carrier owned by Eygpt-based National Navigation Co. (NNC) has been arrested in the port of Dahej, India after ING Bank (ING) filed a lawsuit to recover $431,200 for bunkers supplied to the vessel by OW Bunker in October 2014
