Alphard Maritime has petitioned courts in India to arrest five anchor-handlers that it claims it had agreed to buy from a Mumbai-based offshore company that subsequently failed to close the deal.
Dubai and Mumbai-based Alphard is seeking damages in the amount of $49.3m to cover the losses it claims to have suffered because of Samson Maritime’s alleged failure to execute the memorandums of agreement to sell it the five ships.
Alphard, through its Indian lawyers, informed Justice Mauna M Bhatt of the High Court of Gujarat in Ahmedabad that it signed a settlement agreement in September 2024, constituting a contract of sale for “several vessels,” including the five for which it has filed claims.
According to court filings, Alphard alleged that Samson repeatedly delayed fulfilling the settlement agreement beyond the stipulated deadline, thereby breaching the contract.
According to S&P Global and VesselsValue data, Alphard was only able to take delivery of one of the vessels it agreed to buy, the 3,000-dwt platform supply vessel Ocean Diamond (built 2007), which was delivered to its new owner in November 2024.
The five vessels listed in Alphard’s lawsuits filed with the High Court of Gujarat are all anchor-handlers or anchor-handling tug supply vessels.
They are the 4,462-bhp Ocean Opal and Ocean Citrine (both built 2011), the 4,258-bhp Ocean Coral (built 2013), the 3,244-bhp Ocean Ammolite (built 2004) and the 5,150-bhp Swissco Pearl (built 2014).
All five vessels were docked at Indian ports when Alphard filed its claims against them.
On Tuesday, the court issued an arrest warrant against the Swissco Pearl in the port of Vadinar.
While Samson is listed in ship registers as being the owner of the four other vessels bearing the prefix Ocean in their names, the company has the Swissco Pearl on bareboat charter from Singapore-based Bonaire Holdings, which acquired it from Swissco Holdings in 2019.
TradeWinds was unable to ascertain whether the Swissco Pearl was part of the clutch of vessels that Samson agreed to sell to Alphard or whether it was arrested as an associated vessel.
Bonaire Holdings could not be reached at the phone number listed on its website and did not respond to questions sent to the provided email.
The Swissco Pearl is the only ship listed under the company’s ownership.
Alphard noted in its court submissions that although it invoked arbitration proceedings against Samson in February, such proceedings would not come in the way of the present admiralty suits in India since these are claims against the vessels in rem, a legal term which refers to a court’s power to adjudicate matters directed against property.
Legal sources tracking the case believe Samson has avoided the arrests of the other vessels sought by Alphard by assuring the court they will remain moored at their current Indian ports.
Veteran Indian maritime lawyer Shashank Agrawal of SSA Legal told TradeWinds that having an arbitration clause in agreements does not prevent Indian courts from exercising their jurisdiction.
Courts can order an arrest of the vessels in pending arbitration in any jurisdiction, including outside of India.
Agrawal said arrests are one of the best methods to seek and obtain full security pending arbitration.
Both Alphard and Samson told TradeWinds they were unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.(Copyright)
