A Neha Shipping bulker for which an owner of a timber cargo obtained an arrest warrant from an Indian court last week has escaped its legal quagmire.
The managers of the 31,500-dwt Nav Neha (built 2010) told TradeWinds that while timber importer Shanker International did obtain an arrest warrant against the ship after claiming part of its cargo of Malaysian logs was being kept on board due to a dispute between its owner and charter, the warrant was never physically served on the vessel.
“Cargo interests, in absence of proper legal advice, approached Gujarat High Court to secure custody of their cargo and moved for the arrest of the vessel on 19th March, by which time the vessel had berthed and commenced discharge,” a Bravo Ship Management representative told TradeWinds.
“The vessel completed discharge on 20th March and was moved to anchorage. On realising their haste, the cargo owners/receivers again moved the court for the release of the vessel, as the cause of action did not exist any more.”
Shanker had filed a $10,368 claim against the Nav Neha, claiming it had received only 520 of the 560 logs it had paid a sub-charterer of the ship to transport from the Malaysian ports of Tanjung Manis and Bintulu for discharge at Kandla, northwest India.
The timber importer told the court it subsequently learned that the missing 40 logs remained on board the bulker, and it had been told that the owner of the ship had instructed the master not to berth and discharge the remainder due to “some internal issues” between the owner and its head charterer.
According to the Bravoships representative, the Nav Neha was time-chartered to Global American Transport (GAT) for four to six months. GAT, in turn, had sub-chartered the ship to a company called OSM for the voyage on which it carried the Malaysian logs, which was also the final voyage it would perform for the GAT charter.
“The owners were not being paid charter hire and had therefore refused to enter port. After prolonged negotiations, the charterers paid a part of the hire and promised to pay the balance on berthing, together with the supply of bunkers,” the Bravoships representative said.
“As expected, charterers (GAT) did not fulfil their promise and, as agreed with the charterers, the vessel suspended discharge of remaining cargo. The port shifted the vessel to the anchorage, where she stayed for a week.”
Bravoships asserted that the ship had never refused to discharge the cargo, nor had it refused to berth. In fact, it claims, Neha Shipping had also suggested to the charterers to complete the remaining 200 logs at the anchorage to save on pilotage fees and berth hire.
Although the Nav Neha did return to its berth in Kandla’s Deendayal Port to complete the discharge, it subsequently returned to the anchorage to complete post-charter surveys and then, according to vessel-tracking website MarineTraffic, departed for Kuwait.
Bravoships claims that Neha Shipping has still not received the outstanding charter hire and bunkers from GAT.
