Shell and Nanjing Tanker head to arbitration court

Chinese tanker operator Nanjing Tanker Corp. is heading to a London arbitration in a long-running dispute with The Shell Co. of Australia over a case of cargo contamination. Shell Australia claims Nanjing owes it US$949,000 in damages stemming from a cargo of contaminated gasoil that was shipped from Singapore to Australia on Nanjing’s 45,000-ton product tanker Da Qing 453 in March 2005. Details of the dispute came to light in the Singapore courts, when Shell Australia attached Nanjing’s 74,000-ton tanker Guang Xing Zhou as security against the upcoming arbitration proceedings. (October 23, 2009)