Mediterranean Shipping Co is gearing up for a legal battle with Costamare over October's oil spill offshore California.

But first, the Geneva container shipping giant had to rush to stop a crew member from leaving the US.

An MSC-connected company filed an emergency petition in a US federal court on 27 November requesting permission to depose Richard Ledesma, the second officer aboard Costamare's 9,469-teu Beijing (built 2006).