Settlement reached in Stocznia/Latreefers dispute

TERMS of settlement have been reached in the protracted legal dispute between Polish shipyard Stocznia Gdanska, Latreefers and the Latvian Shipping Company ("Latco"). The settlement, the terms of which remain confidential, brings to an end a long-running legal battle which has been fought out in the English and French courts over a period of years. The Latvian interests were represented throughout by Lawrence Graham. Ince & Co represented the Polish yard. The dispute centred on the shipyard's claimed entitlement to damages arising from the failure of Latreefers, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Latvian Shipping Company, to meet contractual payments under a $170 million, six reefership order placed with the Gdansk yard in 1992 and subsequently cancelled. Stocznia Gdanska arrested in France several vessels belonging to Latco or subsidiary companies in an attempt to enforce its claims against Latvian Shipping Company. Most arrests were subsequently lifted but the remaining two vessels still under arrest as a consequence of the dispute, the "RAZNA" and the "TAGANROGA", have now been released.