Shipping company fails in claim for €95,000 against arrested vessel
An Estonian shipping company has failed in its High Court claim for breach of contract in relation to a ship which was arrested when it came into Irish jurisdiction over alleged non-payment of €95,000 for services allegedly provided for the vessel.
Atlas Baltic sued the owners and all persons claiming an interest in the MV Lady Magda, which was registered in and flies under the flag of the Netherlands.
It was arrested in Irish waters in July 2017 and the owners later put up security for its release. It has since been sold.
Atlas says it entered into a series of contracts to provide services at the request of a Finnish company called Dennis Maritime (DM) and that the services were provided to the Lady Magda owners. DM has since gone into liquidation.
The owners maintained they had no liability to pay Atlas which said it raised 17 invoices for these services, all addressed to DM.
Mr Justice Brian McGovern dismissed the Atlas claim saying he was satisfied the claim was based on a breach of contract and the defendant ship owners were never a party to that contract.
The defendant had no liability for the €95,381 claim and therefore neither the vessel nor the security provided after its arrest can be condemned in respect of that claim.
