Shipowner Asks Singapore Court Who to Pay After OW Bunker Collapse

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday November 24, 2014

Thailand-listed Precious Shipping PCL (Precious) has asked a Singapore court to direct it as to who it should pay for a supply of bunkers by now-bankrupt OW Bunker, Reuters reports.

"When [OW Bunker] raised the invoice, we asked them for the No Objections Certificate [NOC]," said Khalid Hashim, Precious's Managing Director.

"At that time their financial troubles started hitting the headlines."

The NOC document is produced by a buyer's contracting party warranting that payments should be made to that party, in this case OW Bunker.

Since the NOC was ultimately not issued by OW Bunker, Precious decided to initiate court proceedings before paying.

"We approached the courts to get their guidance/order whom to pay to avoid making any incorrect payments," said Hashim.

It is understood to be the first such action by an OW Bunker debtor.

In a court filing dated November 14, Precious refers to OW Bunker Far East (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Uni Petroleum, Shell Eastern Trading, Transocean Oil, and Dutch bank ING.

Some OW Bunker creditors have reportedly been scrambling to secure claims against the company since its collapse on November 7.

So far, seven ships have been arrested in Singapore as Phillips66 International Trading and Hin Leong Trading look to assert cargo owners' claims.

In addition, ING last week was said to be "aggressively" seeking payment from shipowners.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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