Evridiki Navigation, Inc. v. Sanko Steamship Co.

880 F. Supp. 2d 666, 2012 A.M.C. 1817, 2012 WL 3095302, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105540
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maryland
DecidedJuly 27, 2012
DocketCivil No. JKB-12-1382
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 880 F. Supp. 2d 666 (Evridiki Navigation, Inc. v. Sanko Steamship Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Evridiki Navigation, Inc. v. Sanko Steamship Co., 880 F. Supp. 2d 666, 2012 A.M.C. 1817, 2012 WL 3095302, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105540 (D. Md. 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM and ORDER

JAMES K. BREDAR, District Judge.

In this maritime dispute, Plaintiffs Liquimar Tanker Management, Inc. and Knightsbridge Tankers, Ltd. obtained attachments of the vessel M/V SANKO MINERAL, pursuant to Rule B of the Supplemental Rules for Admiralty or Maritime Claims of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Now pending before the Court is a motion (ECF No. 32) by intervening Plaintiff Western Bulk Carriers to vacate those attachments. The issues have been briefed and a hearing has been convened. Local Rule 105.6. For the reasons explained below, the motion will be GRANTED.

[668]*668I. BACKGROUND

The primary defendant in this case, Sanko Steamship Co. (“Sanko”), is one of Japan’s oldest and largest steamship companies. Since 2008, Sanko’s business has been badly affected by a decreased rate of growth in the demand for dry bulk shipping, allegedly caused by the global financial crisis. Between 2008 and 2012, Sanko engaged in a number of efforts to restore its financial condition, including selling unnecessary assets and reducing the size of the company and its expenses. One such effort involved unilaterally “suspending” or “deferring” the payment of charter hire (ie. lease payments) that it owed with respect to certain of its vessels. These measures proved insufficient, however, and in March of 2012, Sanko began a private ADR process (“Turnaround ADR”) with its primary creditors in Japan. But, this too proved unsuccessful and in July of 2012, Sanko filed a petition in the Tokyo District Court for reorganization under the Japanese Corporate Reorganization Act. At the same time, it filed a petition in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, under Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, for recognition of the Japanese bankruptcy as a “foreign main” bankruptcy proceeding. (Correspondence re: SANKO BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS, ECF No. 120).

This case arises out of competing claims by various creditors against Sanko and its vessel, the M/V SANKO MINERAL (“MINERAL” or “the Vessel”), which is presently attached and arrested in the Chesapeake Bay, near Baltimore Harbor, in the District of Maryland. There are two groups of plaintiffs. The first group, (hereinafter referred to as “Attaching Plaintiffs”), consists of foreign shipping corporations who allege that they have leased vessels to Sanko for which Sanko has “deferred,” ie. refused to pay, the charter hire that is due under the lease agreements. These include three managee navigation companies of the Greek corporation, Liquimar Tanker Management (“Liquimar”), and a Bermuda corporation, Knightsbridge Tankers, Ltd. (“Knights-bridge”). Liquimar, the original plaintiff in this ease, filed a complaint (ECF No. 1) seeking attachment of the MINERAL on May 7, 2012, shortly after it sailed into Baltimore Harbor. The Court issued a writ of maritime attachment and garnishment (ECF No. 5), which was executed by the United States Marshal the same day. Knightsbridge filed an intervening complaint and request for attachment shortly thereafter. (ECF Nos. 15 & 16).

The second group of plaintiffs consists of various foreign and domestic businesses with interests in the MINERAL. One of these is the Norwegian corporation, Western Bulk Carriers, AS (“WBC”), which is the entity responsible for chartering the MINERAL’S voyage. Another is the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd. (“Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi” or “the Bank”), which holds a foreign preferred ship’s mortgage on the MINERAL. The others are all owners of cargo (shipments of silicone manganese and various steel products) that the MINERAL was chartered to ship from ports in Bulgaria and Turkey to ports in Houston and New Orleans. Those parties are the Delaware corporations ThyssenKrupp Materials NA, Inc. (“ThyssenKrupp”) and Glencore, Ltd. (“Glencore”), the Texas corporations Sunbelt Group, LP (“Sunbelt”) and Salzgitter Mannesmann International USA (“Salzgitter”), the Canadian corporation FMCO International, Inc. (“FMCO”), and the Turkish corporation Borusan Mannesmann Boru Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS (“Borusan”). With the exception of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, (which has intervened in the action but has not asserted a claim), each of these parties has intervened in this case primarily to assert in rem claims against [669]*669the MINERAL arising out of her failure to deliver the cargo to the destination ports in Houston and New Orleans.1

When the first complaint was filed in this case, Sanko was still engaged in the voluntary Turnaround ADR process in Japan. Allegedly, as part of that process, Sanko had to pledge to the participant creditors that it would not take any action that would favor any creditor over another. This pledge extended even to creditors who were not participants in the ADR process. Therefore, when Sanko learned that its vessel had been attached in Baltimore by Liquimar to secure Liquimar’s claim for unpaid charter hire, Sanko refused to post a bond to obtain the Vessel’s release, as it believed that doing so would violate its pledge to treat all of its creditors equally. (Dec. of Clifford C. Jagoe at ¶¶ 4, 5, ECF No. 50-1, Ex. A).

As a result of Sanko’s refusal to post a bond, the MINERAL remained attached in the District of Maryland while Liquimar’s claim proceeded in this Court. As noted above, Knightsbridge quickly moved to intervene in the action and obtained its own attachment of the MINERAL.2 The expectation of the Plaintiffs at this time was that, in the event they obtained a judgment on their claims against Sanko for unpaid charter hire, this Court would sell the MINERAL and use the proceeds to satisfy those judgments.

The next plaintiff to interveiie was WBC. Its complaint (ECF No. 21), filed about two weeks after the initial attachment of the MINERAL, alleged that it had contracted with Sanko to charter the MINERAL’S present voyage and that, under the charter, Sanko was obligated to secure the MINERAL’S release in the event that she was arrested or attached. WBC claimed that it had demanded that Sanko honor this obligation and post a bond to release the Vessel from its attachment in this District, but that Sanko had refused. The complaint further alleged that WBC owed contractual obligations to third parties to insure that the MINERAL delivered her cargo in a timely manner, and that it had already begun to receive damage claims from those parties due to the delay caused by the attachment. WBC claimed that Sanko’s alleged breach of the charter entitled it to a maritime lien against the MINERAL, and it therefore moved that the Court issue a warrant for the arrest of the MINERAL in rent, pursuant to Supplemental Admiralty Rule C. The Court granted the motion and issued a warrant for the MINERAL’S arrest. (ECF Nos. 24 & 26).

About a week later, WBC filed the motion that is the subject of this memorandum, styled Emergency Motion to Vacate Attachments and/or For Order Directing Cargo be Discharged (ECF No. 32). In the accompanying brief, WBC argued that the attachments of the MINERAL that Liquimar and Knightsbridge had obtained under Supplemental Rule B should be vacated because they were futile.

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880 F. Supp. 2d 666, 2012 A.M.C. 1817, 2012 WL 3095302, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105540, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evridiki-navigation-inc-v-sanko-steamship-co-mdd-2012.