Liquidators track down Sails cargo

Appointed liquidator in the SA
Independent Liner Services
(Sails) case, Sanek Trust
Recovery Services, has moved
into action to try to track down
North Europe-South Africa-
West Africa-bound cargo, in
order to assist recipients.
This after the provisional
order by the Cape High Court –
expected to become final within
a matter of weeks providing no
creditor objections are lodged.
A complicated task, admits
Sanek’s Darusha Moodliar,
estimating around 500
containers are involved for each
of four Sails/Lonrho charter
vessels involved in the winding
up process.
Sails founder, Ian Wicks,
has a different take, estimating
about 300 units, made up of
either teus or feus overall.
“At this stage,” says
Moodliar, “there is cargo all
over the place and we are trying
to assist owners as much as
possible to get theirs.”
She says one of the vessels,
Taga Bay, “dumped” her cargo
in Las Palmas, part of Sanek’s
current focus which includes
terminating all charter and
container lease agreements.
This has been done and vessel
owners have, by all accounts,
taken their vessels back, a year
or so before charter agreements
were due to expire.
Another Sails vessel, Orinoco
River, discharged her cargo
in the port of Cape Town and
sailed after release by the
Sheriff of Cape Town over
an arrest against the vessel’s
bunkers, creditors in this matter
being Bottom Line Solutions
and Grindrod Container Depots.
The Sails vessel, El Lobo,
outside Cape Town at one stage,
later steamed onto Durban – the
manifest-listed destination for
much of her cargo – to off-load
before sailing.
Another Sails vessel, Vaal,
was off Felixstowe, UK, when
alerted to the unfolding South
African scenario, therefore
setting sail for Rotterdam
where she offloaded around
600teus destined for South
and West Africa. These were
subsequently reclaimed
by shippers.
Sanek has informed container
owners that all Sails leases
have been terminated, while
cargo owners have been advised
about freight charges, given
that clause 12 (1) of the Bill of
Lading (BOL) utilised by Sails states: “Freight shall be deemed
fully earned upon receipt of
Goods by the Carrier and shall
be paid and non-returnable in
any event.”
This, explains Moodliar,
means all freight owing to Sails
under the BOL became due to
the carrier on receipt of cargo –
that is, prior to the winding-up
and before termination of
the agreement.
All of which indicates that
BOL holders are required to pay
Sails freight charges in order to
collect their goods.
Wicks, in conversation
with FTW at week’s end, is
concerned the October salaries
of the 12 or so Sails employees
now without jobs have not
been paid.
“This (liquidation) is an
absolute disaster. If you are
going to wind a company up,
you do it with dignity.”
A rumour that Hull-Blythe,
the Isle of Man-headquartered
company that represented Sails
in Durban and Johannesburg,
was shutting up shop in South
Africa was denied “absolutely”
by regional director,
Lee Walker.
He told FTW, on the eve of
leaving on a business trip for
Ghana, that “plans are in the
pipeline”, which he was not at
liberty to discuss for now.