Americas News
CMA CGM Sues Houston Physical Supplier Over Alleged Bad Bunkers
French container line CMA CGM has sued US marine fuels firm GCC Supply & Trading LLC over the alleged supply of contaminated VLSFO to its vessels.
The container line alleges GCC supplied its vessels with about 33,628 mt of contaminated VLSFO in Houston between March and June 2023, it said in a suit filed with a US court on March 20.
13 of the company's owned and chartered vessels allegedly suffered damage as a result.
"Shortly after the fuel was supplied, the Vessels encountered significant operational issues, including but not limited to fuel pump seizures, ICU leakages, loss of engine power and propulsion in some cases leading to blackouts," CMA CGM said in its filing.
"As a direct result of GCC's breach of contract, the Vessels' operations were disrupted and delayed, causing increased operational costs, lost opportunities, demurrage, and further causing CMA CGM damages in an amount to be finally determined by this Court.
"As a direct result of GCC's breach of contract, Plaintiff was damaged in a sum of not less than $5,057,902.79."
The filing does not set out what contaminant was present in the fuel that could have caused the damage. The fuel was sold as meeting ISO 8217:2010 specifications.
In August 2023 testing firm VPS said its investigations had found a total of 17 bunker suppliers had delivered contaminated VLSFO to a total of 32 vessels in Houston and Singapore between March and May 2023. 14 vessels received the fuel and were subsequently damaged, while another 18 received the fuel and either saw no damage as a result, debunkered the fuel before it was used or provided no feedback on whether damage was seen, VPS said at the time.
The case has been filed with the United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division.
