O.W. Bunker seeks transfer of case to New York courts from Connecticut

By Kali Hays

New York, Dec. 24 – O.W. Bunker Holding North America, Inc. and its official committee of unsecured creditors asked that its Chapter 11 cases be transferred to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York from the District of Connecticut, according to a Wednesday motion.

The company said that due to the overlapping of maritime and bankruptcy law in its particular case, remaining in Connecticut “will create enormous added costs and uncertainties for all parties in interest.”

A move to the New York Bankruptcy Court will afford the company access to a district court as well, which maintains exclusive jurisdiction over maritime law, according to the motion.

O.W. Bunker said that it has received numerous interpleader actions in several different district courts and additional proceedings related to “the arrest or potential arrest of seagoing vessels.”

“The movants believe that the best way to mitigate these expensive inefficiencies is to consolidate all of the pending interpleader proceedings and the Chapter 11 cases in one jurisdiction such that a district court judge in such district could simultaneously exercise both maritime and bankruptcy jurisdiction over these proceedings,” the motion stated.

If the transfer is allowed, the company said that “no party will be prejudiced” and that it will maintain a small staff in Connecticut to fully wind-up its affairs.

“There is no reason to believe that transfer would delay adjudication of any party’s claims and every reason to believe the timing would be quicker and expense would be less.”

O.W. Bunker is an independent distributor and reseller of marine fuel and is based in Denmark. Its U.S. subsidiaries filed bankruptcy on Nov. 13 under Chapter 11 case number 14-51720.

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