Low-key hedge fund-controlled shipowner Novellas Union has won the release of a product tanker arrested in Texas as part of an arbitration battle over unpaid fuel bills of $1.5m.
The 46,300-dwt Port Union (built 2003) was released and sailed on 27 October after a brief arrest in the port of Beaumont by London-based Integr8 Fuels.
The $1.5m claim in the Eastern District of Texas federal court was based not only on the Port Union’s fuel bills but also those of its STX-built sistership, the 46,200-dwt Port Said (built 2003), and the CSSC Offshore Marine Engineering-built, 38,900-dwt MR1 tanker Port Stewart (built 2003).
