MAN Diesel & Turbo Sued in Singapore, Denmark, Sweden and Norway Over Fraudulent Bunker Consumption Data

MAN Diesel & Turbo is being sued for $49 million in damages after the engine manufacturer allegedly manipulated fuel consumption figures.

I.M. Skauge (IMS) is suing MAN Diesel & Turbo SE (MAN) for $49 million in damages after the engine manufacturer allegedly manipulated fuel consumption figures of engines sold in 2000, Norwegian media reports.

In 2013, an Augsburg court ruled that MAN, using specially designed software, had knowingly manipulated the fuel consumption data for certain engines during testing - including three out of the six engines that IMS ordered in 2000.

IMS is said to have taken to legal action against MAN in Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.

In Singapore, IMS is looking for $20 million in compensation for time and financial investment that IMS put into trying to figure out why the engines' consumption rates were so much higher than MAN asserted.

In Norway and Denmark, IMS is suing to recover advance payments it says it made for engine orders that it cancelled after it became aware of MAN's fraudulent data.

MAN is said to counter that it holds "substantial outstanding claims" against IMS for a number of "different supply contracts."

Other companies seeking to be compensated for impacts of MAN's manipulated data are reported to have settled with MAN out of court.

However, both MAN and IMS are said to accuse each other of causing similar negotiations between the two parties to fall apart, landing the case in court.

MAN says that it has overhauled its testing procedures since the Augsburg court findings and now has a third party reviewing the process and results.

In March, MAN Diesel & Turbo argued that shipowners would be better-served in the long run by not preparing or ordering ships that run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the near-term.