Sooooo you’re saying this could be C. Captain Lines, adding another vessel to his fleet!?
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As a US built Jones Act vessel with a small crew of only about a dozen that is capable of getting and performing government contracts, Geysir has value. It’s worth more than $100,000 for scrap. If still serviceable, it worth a lot more. If the ship were tied up in litigation for a couple of years , it would not sell for much at auction. If the ship stays operational, it has value even at promptly held auction.
I would not worry too much about the recorded liens, its the inchoate (unrecorded) liens that would scare me. A US Marshal’s auction under Admiralty law sweeps the bottom clean of all liens. That’s the way I’d want to buy. A bankruptcy court auction only clears the liens and claims that are before the court. Potential future claims, such as seamens injury claims that occurred in the past but have not yet been filed, would be my concern. A bankruptcy auction would not prevent those claims from being filed against the ship in the future.
If TAL has $18 million in pending government contracts , those are its most valuable assets. The second most valuable asset is the ability to get such contracts. I’d want to buy the entire company for 10 cents on a dollar in a bankruptcy sale. The value of the ships doesnt matter much.
No sir…my vessels may be old and a bit worn but I have been aboard the GEYSIR and a more filthy or decrepid ship I have yet to experience. She is the very definition of a manifestly unseaworthy ship. There was not one single redeeming quality in her. Everything, but everything needed to be condemned and if you tried to sink her to be a reef, the sea would vomit her back to the surface.
Now that’s funny!
She was a good ship, always looked out for her crew. Too bad she was used beyond her capacity (not built to sail across The Pond) and her owner never put the M&R in like he should have. Pompous prick.
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Buy the company for the contracts and get rid of the old ships. Buy a couple of European built ships under 5 years old for less than $5 million a piece and reflag them US for the US military cargo going to foreign lands trade.
If there is enough military cargo being transported in the Jones Act trade to justify it, convert a couple of OSVs to serve that trade. The military pays such high freight rates that there is no need to be efficient in order to earn a healthy profit.
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Department of Nit Picking: You can’t re-flag a foreign vessel to U.S. registry, unless that vessel has been seized by the U.S. government and sold at auction.
first, there seems to be some big question if that recent award announced by TRANSCOM was in fact an obligation by them to TAL. If it is a true contractual obligation then why allow your two ships to get arrested and yourself get the black eye? HELL, if I knew $18M was coming, I’d certainly be able to use that to get my hands on some money to keep operating until the checks started coming in.
second, if TAL is done for, why buy them and their liabilities when you can just let them crash and then swoop in to pick up the contracts? If I was Schuyler Line, I’d be looking for a couple of little ships and making some plans to reflag them US.
none of the cargoes TAL carry(ied) for TRANSCOM were ever Jones Act protected and the GAYSIR does not have a coastwise endorsement. It was built US but was flagged foreign for a time so when it did come back to US flag was treated just as foreign built.
of course you can but you will not get coastwise trade privileges
for a vessel not ordinarily entitled to a coastwise trade endorsement there are the following ways to get it
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Act of Congress (most often as a rider on the USCG Authorization Bill each year)
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Marshall’s Sale after being seized for violating laws of the USA (vis. any kind of smuggling, illegal fishing in the US 200mi limit, war prize, but not a sale due to insolvency or court award because no laws are violated)
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if a wrecked, burned, etc… in US waters and then repaired in a US yard where 3x the CTL value is spent then application for a coastwise endorsement can be made (called the “Wrecked Vessel Act”
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very likely the POTUS can also award CWT to a vessel if deemed in the interests of the nation
That is true (with a few narrow exceptions) for the Jones Act trade, but not the foreign trade.
Foreign built vessels are reflagged US and use in foreign trade. For example, according to my research, the Transatlantic was built in China. Remember when US lines built new ships in Korea?
“You can’t re-flag a foreign vessel to U.S. registry, unless that vessel has been seized by the U.S. government and sold at auction.”
Yes you can if that ship is under MSP. Maersk and APL do it continuously.
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Wrong. You can flag any vessel US, it just won’t be eligible for coastwise trade (Jones Act trade).
I believe both of their ships were built in China. I know for a fact that the Transatlantic was built there.
No…GAYSIR was built at New Orleans, Louisiana in 1980 as the AMAZONIA to operate in the Caribbean/South America trade. After that owner crashed and burned she somehow ended up under the Norwegian flag for a time. Why any Norwegian would be caught dead owning such a pile is beyond me.
I stand corrected.
Too busy (lazy) to look it up but I thought there was a prohibition against returning to US flag after being flagged out.
I believe you lose coastwise trade privileges.
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She is still under ABS Class, renewed 12. May, 2017: https://www.eagle.org/safenet/record/record_vesselclassurveystatus?ReferrerApplication=PUBLIC&Service=1
The ISM certificate was issued by NKK 01. June, 2017
She was under NIS flag from 11/99 to 05/02
You can be US Flagged but not Jones Act approved.
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The Geysir’s COI has been pulled. The crew still hasn’t been paid
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no problem…it’s all good
we should get together for lunch again one of these days