The owner of the 53,609 dwt Supramax bulk carrier Paguera and the disponent owner of the 51,215 dwt Papillon, have withdrawn their ships from long-term time charters with Emirates Trading Agency LLC (ETA), a company registered in Dubai. With effect from this month (August), these ships are no longer available to ETA.
The 2003-built Paguera and the 2002-built Papillon are both managed by Harpa Bulk Shipping & Management GmbH & Co. KG in Bremen. Harpa is a shipmanagement company specialising in the bulk sector within the Harren & Partner Group in Germany. The Group operates close to 60 ships.
According to Harpa, ETA had repeatedly failed to pay due hire in time and then defaulted completely in paying hire as of early July 2010. HARPA revealed that this was despite the owners having shown considerable flexibility in accommodating the charterer’s alleged cash flow problems following the downturn of the shipping market in 2008 and thereafter.
The owners of both vessels have sought remedy in London arbitration. The arbitration tribunal decided in the owners’ favour and awarded in excess of $10m of outstanding hire. Harpa states that ETA has still not honoured these awards.