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Enron Mail |
Alan
I spoke with Stuart Bland a short while ago. He instructs that ECTS would like to commence an action against the vessel owners. Stuart (who was also speaking for John Nowlan) wants to arrest the vessel as it arrives in Kuantan, West Malaysia to discharge the PX which was to be supplied to ECTS. According to Russell's calculations below, the vessel is due to arrive in Kuantan on or about 11 -12 October. The objective is to arrest the vessel while it still has the cargo for the highest nuisance value. Since we may be at the brink of commencing action, below is a quick status update (also for the easy reference of Richard who reads this in copy): Cause of Action and Damages As advised by WFW, ECTS only has one cause of action against the vessel owners ie., failing in their duty to reasonably despatch the vessel to arrive within ETA. The cause of action is highly dependant on fact. Although we have some evidence that suggest that the initial ETA Daesan of 11/12 under the charterparty may not have been realistic, we still do not have all the facts as to why the vessel was delayed in the preceding port in Yantai, China. We were told by the vessel owners that the delay was due to the preceding charterers not having the necessary import licence ready, which if true, works in favour of the charterers. As advised by WFW, the quantum of damages recoverable remains an issue. ECTS is likely to be able to recover the difference in freight (about USD87,000), but the difference in price of the PX (about USD141,000) is less certain as the question of remoteness is again fact dependant. Suzanne advises that the cases have not always been consistent. Winning the case, therefore, is not a sure thing. The above has been communicated to Russell as the matter developed, as well as John and Stuart over the phone. Arresting the vessel I took Suzanne Bainbridge's and Neale Gregson's advice over the phone earlier this evening. I am also scheduled to meet with Neale on Monday (4 Oct) or with both Neale and Suzanne on Tues (5 Oct), depending on Russell going through his tapes. I anticipate the meeting to be more likely Monday than Tuesday. As advised, it is possible to arrest the vessel in Kuantan before the formal commencement of arbitration proceedings. For an arrest in Kuantan, arrest papers will have to be prepared by Malaysian lawyers. There is no need to quantify the claim for the arrest papers under Singapore and English law., but can only assume that the same is true under Malaysian law (which for most part follow English law). The arrest papers have to be endorsed by a Kuantan judge. Under English and Singapore law (and presumably Malaysian law), the cargo owners would have a prima facie case against the arresting party for interfering with the sale and purchase contract. However, as ECTS has a prima facie case for arrest. The arrest would therefore not be wrongful and ECTS would not likely be liable to the cargo owners in that respect. The cost for arrest proceedings alone in Singapore are typically around SGD8,000 and is likely to be the same in Malaysia. However, Kuantan is apparently a notoriously difficult place to arrest a vessel because the judge is not usually accomodating and not well versed in admiralty law. It was initially thought by Russell and Stuart that the vessel would be in Kuantan over the weekend. Russell has since confirmed that that is not the case. This is fortunate because Neale advises that there would have been almost no chance of getting an order from the Kuantan judge over the weekend. Regards Matt ---------------------- Forwarded by Matthias Lee/SIN/ECT on 10/01/99 06:35 PM --------------------------- Enron Capital & Trade Resources Corp. From: Russell Aeria 10/01/99 06:31 PM To: Stuart Bland/LON/ECT@ECT, John L Nowlan/HOU/ECT@ECT, Matthias Lee/SIN/ECT@ECT cc: Subject: Fw: pacific valor john / stuart, basis my past discussions with amoco where they informed me that this vsl is scheduled to discharge at kuantan and also the discussion i had with the owners some time ago, the vsl schedule approximately base on all the info i had is as follows :- eta daesan 22/9 etd daesan 24/9 (loading px cargo) eta ulsan 25/9........(daesan --- ulsan 396 nautical miles based on 11 knots) ulsan was shut on 25th due to typhoon loaded vcm cargo on the 26/9 etd ulsan 27/9 eta bangkok 6/10 (ulsan--- bangkok 2569 n.m. based on 11 knots) discharge cargo etd bangkok 8/10 eta kuantan 10/10 (bangkok ---- kuantan 640 n.m. / 11 knots) etd kuantan 11-12/10 pls note that i tried approaching epts (vsl owners) thro' various channels but they wld not disclose any info. i am piecing the above based on the telcons we had and current mkt info. this is consistent with the msg owners sent out offering space below. rus ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ---------------------- Forwarded by Russell Aeria/SIN/ECT on 10/01/99 06:08 PM --------------------------- "Christos Giakoumatos" <attika@pacific.net.sg< on 10/01/99 05:36:53 PM To: "Russell Aeria" <raeria@enron.co.uk< cc: (bcc: Russell Aeria/SIN/ECT) Subject: Fw: ----- Original Message ----- From: EPTS Singapore To: mailto:Undisclosed-Recipient:;@media4.mediahub.com.sg Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 2:04 PM Pls propose for our tonnage : ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- e.progress open east msia-bunyu-bontang 6-12 oct - any dir p.valour open thailand 6-10 oct or open spore 8-12 oct - dir indo open indo 13-20 oct or open spore-strts 19-25 oct - dir north (p.space) k.siu open spore 20-31 oct - any dir c.essberger open spore 26 oct-3 nov - any dir e.pioneer - employed ++ c.barokah open ulsan 1-6 oct - dir spore/indo/sea ++ p.star open ag 5-11 oct - any dir ++ Regards EPTS (Singapore) Pte Ltd Tel : (65) 2242188, Fax : (65) 2242668 Mobile : (65) 98153913 (also message pager) E-mail : fix@epts.com.sg (General/Cargo quotes) pt@epts.com.sg (Private) - att1.htm
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