First Ship Lease Trust (Update)

Two FSLT-owned vessels detained. Over the last week, First Ship Lease has announced the "arrest" of two of its vessels, Nika 1 and Verona 1 at ports in China (Qingdao) and Japan, (Shimotsu) respectively. In maritime parlance, "arrest" implies the detaining of the ships by the nearest maritime port authorities, usually on the request of a creditor. In the case of these ships, the vessels have been "arrested" by Daxin Petroleum, a Singapore-based bunker supplier, for the nonpayment of bunker fuel supplied to these vessels, which are currently on bareboat charter to affiliates of Groda Shipping. The amount outstanding is estimated to be about US$4.1m. What is still unknown is the legal intricacies, given that jurisdictions of two separate countries are involved.