China Cosco Shipping and New York-listed Danaos Corp have been drawn into a complex legal battle in a US federal court in Houston over a deadly fire on a container ship.

The courtroom sparring is focused on a blaze that struck the 2,174-teu Stride (built 1997) in January, killing two seafarers and injuring a third, while it was at the Barbours Cut Container Terminal in the Port of Houston.