NYK Line is moving for sanctions against the registered owner of a tanker after it failed to provide documents the Japanese owner believes prove its allegations of corporate alter egos.

But previous orders suggest the company's $3.25m legal fight is on thin ice.

Attorneys for NYK filed its motion in the US federal court for the Middle District of Louisiana against Turkey-based Glory Riverside Navigation in its ongoing legal dispute over the 115,406-dwt Riverside (built 2009).