ING "Aggressively" Seeking Payment from OW Bunker Debtors

Peter Schaumburg-Müller says everyone is trying to protect their claims

Dutch bank ING, one of collapsed bunker supplier OW Bunker's lenders, is "aggressively" seeking payment of outstanding debtor balances from OW Bunker customers, Shippingwatch reports.

The report suggests a number of carriers have been contacted by ING instructing them to pay amounts owed to OW Bunker directly to the bank.

The process to wind up the Denmark-headquartered group has only just begun, but ING is seeking payment of fuel bills now.

The move is said to result from maritime specific arrangements whereby fuel bills are commonly sent to lending banks, who then arrange for collection of the money from debtors.

But competing claims for the same payments are emerging from three sides.

Trustees of the bankrupt estate are concerned with protecting assets to pay OW Bunker's creditors, while third party companies owed by OW Bunker for delivering bunkers on its behalf and lending banks are also looking to secure claims directly.

"Right now the carriers risk paying the same bill three times," said Peter Schaumburg-Müller, partner at Hafnia Law.

One debt, three claims

"I'm telling my clients at this time not to pay, but instead to wait and see what happens.

"All the individual creditors are trying to save their own claims."

The situation is further complicated as it is playing out internationally and because of sea mortgage rules.

"In maritime law, the so-called sea mortgage concept applies, which means that you can arrest a ship in order to sort out disputes concerning claims," said Schaumburg-Müller.

"But the rules differ from country to country, as not all nations have adopted the joint international rules, and some are working with their own parallel rules.

"If a supplier can find the ship that the company supplied oil to, the supplier is not going to wait for the bankrupt estate to be settled before acting."

Institutional investors were yesterday said to be seeking specialist advice to salvage what they can from OW Bunker.