A Brazilian customs seizure of clean petroleum products led to the cancellation of a series of product tanker voyages and a legal fight between trader Vitol and Brazilian customer Copape Productos de Petroleo.

Trader and tanker owner Vitol has claimed it is out “tens of millions of dollars” on its would-be customer’s alleged failure to pay for most of the cargo of one chartered-in MR2 tanker, and its refusal to follow up on further contracts.