PORTLAND, Maine — The Nova Star luxury cruise ferry received court approval to leave Portland harbor as early as Tuesday morning, posting a bond that would be used to settle any outstanding debts.
The ship’s Singapore-based owner ST Marine will put up a $750,000 bond to secure about $502,000 in disputed claims against it, as other disagreements loom over who should pay how much for the ship’s maintenance costs during its arrest.
“The owners paid a tremendous amount of money that they did not owe,” said Edward MacColl, ST Marine’s attorney, after a hearing Monday afternoon.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Rich III approved the company’s request Monday to free the ship to set sail as early as 12:01 a.m. Tuesday.
MacColl said he expects his client’s ship will leave the harbor in the next few days, likely for charter work in a more southerly destination.
Clearance for ST Marine to take the ship comes as other claims in the case remain, including how much ST Marine might try to claw back in charges to maintain the ship and the crew of about 22 people who have remained aboard in the harbor since its Oct. 30 arrest.
ST Marine has paid about $2 million to settle debts amassed while it operated a luxury ferry line from Portland to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, under lease from Nova Star Cruises, Ltd. In settling those debts, the owner also agreed to pay increasing portions of the fees for maintaining the ship while it was in the harbor.
MacColl said the ship’s owner is likely to seek some return of money it paid out in the case to a custodian, who maintained the ship while it was under arrest from creditors.
In addition to the arrest, the casino operator Century Resorts last week objected to releasing the ship until it removed its slot machines and other table games from the ship. The company said in a court filing that it removed the gaming equipment Sunday.
MacColl said without Century’s request, the ship would have left Portland sooner and amassed a lower bill for maintaining the ship. That, he said, could be the basis for claims that Century should foot the bill for some of those maintenance costs.
The issue of how all of the creditors will divvy up maintenance costs paid to the custodian will be dealt with in future hearings in the case.
In addition to the ship custodian and staff, the vessel had a crew of about 22 people who were left in limbo, unable to disembark for U.S. soil because they are foreign nationals.
“The crew includes foreign nationals who are prohibited by the government of the United States from leaving the vessel; and the vessel of course is prohibited from leaving the port,” the ship owners wrote in a court filing last week.
The shipowner terminated that lease around the time the vessel was placed under arrest and began to pay bills amassed while operating as Nova Star Cruises.
The Eliot-based company’s president said earlier in November that it’s still owed $2 million from the province of Nova Scotia as part of an initial subsidy agreement, which the province denied. That amount, Nova Star Cruises President Mark Amundsen said, could have prevented the ship’s arrest.
The outstanding $502,000 in debt claims include a loan of about $151,000 from the Portland Development Corp. for improvements to the Ocean Gateway terminal and about $262,000 for linen and cleaning services from Pratt Abbott. The shipowner settled a separate bill with the city for docking fees.
As of midnight Monday, ST Marine will take full responsibility for the ship’s costs, with the costs in the previous days and weeks remaining subjects of dispute for future hearings in the case.