First Line of Defence
In bunker disputes there can be a plethora of claimants, however, at the centre of every claim and transaction is the ship which receives the fuel.
Getting a judgment is not recovery; you have to be able to collect on the judgment. Usually that is difficult, sometimes impossible, where there is a bankruptcy or the customer simply has ceased doing business.
A first consideration is the place of supply. A supply in the US – to a ship with a non-US mortgage – gives the strongest position as a secured lender, to a bunker trader. If a ship is outside of possible or economical arrest range, a customer may tend to unilaterally extend its own credit (that is, not pay on time).
Read on to learn more about how legal counsel can be indispensable to credit decisions and bunker claims.
