PORTLAND, Maine — The luxury ferry Nova Star departed for a Florida port Wednesday after its owner secured the ship’s freedom from creditors, but attorneys for the city are still pursuing the return of a $151,400 loan to the company that leased the ship.
The Portland Development Corp. filed an update with the U.S. District Court in Portland as the ship headed south, seeking to prove it has a valid lien against the ship.
The city’s economic development entity, the uniform and cleaning company Pratt Abbott and the Norwegian company DNV GL AS, which provides ship certification services, have all claimed they have a right to a portion of a $750,000 bond that ST Marine, the Nova Star’s owner, posted in lieu of the ship itself.
The Norwegian company last week filed a motion to intervene in the case already joined by Pratt Abbott and the Portland Development Corp. On Wednesday, the Portland Development Corp. reported that it will continue to pursue its lien.
The city argues that its loan to make improvements to the Ocean Gateway Terminal where the ship docked qualify as essential to the operation of the ferry. The city needs to convince the court that the improvements were necessary to the ship in order to get lien status for its claim.
The ship’s owner has disagreed, arguing that it has no responsibility to fulfill a loan made to the company that leased the ship for the improvements.
According to statement from the city’s attorney, it and ST Marine have asked the court to arrange for a mediation session to deal with the dispute.
The city has separately stated an interest in pursuing its claim against the company that chartered the ship, Nova Star Cruises. It said Wednesday that it has not decided whether to pursue those claims or seek to dismiss them from the current case “since the charterer may be insolvent.”
To free the ship, its owner settled about $3 million in claims from creditors after the end of the Nova Star’s last sailing season.
The attorney for ST Marine said after a hearing releasing the ship that the company 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.
Ship tracking records Wednesday afternoon indicated that the ship was scheduled to arrive in Freeport, Florida, on Sunday.