The Mexican offshore vessel operator has filed an appeal with the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, recent court papers show.

Ciudad de Campeche-based Cotemar has been suing over a collision between a Hornbeck offshore supply vessel (OSV) and the SSV Iolair, a semi-submersible construction support and floatel platform that Cotemar had on contract.

Last month, US District Judge David Hittner issued a judgment throwing out Cotemar’s federal lawsuit in Houston, accepting Hornbeck’s insistence that the fight should be waged in Mexico, where the US owner filed limitation of liability proceedings in 2011.