KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 4): The High Court has struck out a law suit brought by three firms against a vessel belonging to PDZ Holdings Bhd which was arrested in January, over alleged non-payment for fuel supplied.
 
PFZ said the court also ordered the firms — CCK Petroleum Sdn Bhd, CCK Capital Ltd and CCK Petroleum (Labuan) Ltd — to pay PDZ legal costs of RM5,000.
 
“Further announcements will be made as and when there are material developments on the above matter,” PFZ said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.
 
PDZ, whose major shareholder is Pelaburan Mara Bhd, is mainly involved in providing marine transportation for containerised cargo.
 
On Jan 25, PDZ announced its vessel PDZ Mewah was arrested by Dan-Bunkering (Singapore) Pte Ltd for non-payment of the supply of marine fuel oil and marine gas oil to the vessel, with PDZ being served an admiralty writ for action in rem and also a warrant of arrest.
 
PDZ was also issued admiralty writs by CCK Petroleum, CCK Capital and CCK Petroleum (Labuan), as they sought delivery of containers which were shipped on board PDZ Mewah by Perkapalan Dai Zhun Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of PDZ.
 
Separately, PDZ had also announced that on the day of arrest, containers under the bill of lading of two companies — Shin Yang Shipping Sdn Bhd and Harbour-Link Lines Sdn Bhd — were shipped on board. As a result, the two companies have filed suits to enable the containers to be discharged from the arrest of the vessel.
 
PDZ said the High Court has authorised the containers’ owners to discharge the containers, and the containers were subsequently unloaded from the vessel on Feb 6.
 
PDZ sold its entire stake in Perkapalan Dai Zhun last December to Salvage Point Ltd. Prior to the disposal, PDZ Mewah’s ownership was transferred to PDZ.
 
Meanwhile, in a filing to the stock exchange on Feb 13, PDZ said the ship arrest has resulted in losses of RM90,000 to RM100,000 per month for the group, due to additional costs arising from purchasing slots from third-party vessels.
 
PDZ’s share price was up 0.5 sen or 10% to 5.5 sen at at 3.45pm today, for a market capitalisation of RM47.81 million. Year to date, the counter has fallen by 21.43%.