A US judge has thrown out his own order seizing assets of Illinois bulker operator Hudson Shipping Lines (HSL) in a $12.1m charter fight with Castleton Commodities.

And Hudson has asked a second judge to do the same.

District Judge Eldon Fallon, of the federal court in New Orleans, vacated the order after deciding that the bareboat charter at the heart of the dispute does not qualify as a maritime contract that would invoke his court's maritime jurisdiction.

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