EMEA News
Bunker Supplier's OW Bunker-Related Ship Arrest Claim Overturned by Venice Judge
The Tribunal of Venice has overturned the arrest of a ship caught up over unpaid bunkers in the wake of the 2014 collapse of OW Bunker, the International Law Office reports.
According to reports, the Denmark-flagged vessel was arrested in Venice on March 14, 2015 at the request of a Cyprus-based physical supplier.
However, a judge reportedly maintained that the "Cyprus bunker supplier had no title to claim against the owners for payment of the bunkers."
The bunkers in question were ordered in September 2014 through OW Bunker Germany Gmbh (OWBG), who asked OW Bunker & Trading A/S (OWBT) to arrange for supply.
OWBT then contracted the Cyprus physical supplier.
Similar to other cases of ship arrest over non-payment due to OW Bunker's bankruptcy, the supplier reportedly argued that the signing of bunker delivery receipts turned responsibility of the bunkers over to the owners, while the owners maintained that there was no such contractual relationship.
In arriving at the ruling, the Judge noted that the owners ordered the bunkers from OWBG, and not from the claimants.
The claimants, meanwhile, received the order for bunkering the vessel from OWBT, and had also addressed their invoice solely to OWBT.
Additionally, the general terms and conditions that the physical supplier had incorporated into the bunker delivery receipts were deemed non-binding for the owners, who had never actually accepted them as part of the order process.
The decision in Venice comes in contrast to another recent court ruling made in Australia which sided with suppliers, which also paved the way for the enforcement of foreign maritime liens in the country.
Meanwhile, Ship & Bunker also reported last month that a number of parties were awaiting on a final decision from the Court of Appeal in London over whether other oil suppliers deserve the payments for millions of dollars worth of fuel that OW Bunker sold around the time of its bankruptcy.
