Shanghai: Japan's Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has paid close to $29m to get its VLOC released from China. The 226,434 dwt Baosteel Emotion had been taken last weekend by the Shanghai Maritime Court in a charter dispute with a Chinese firm that dated back to the 1930s.
MOL said in a statement the court had released the vessel on Thursday and it was preparing to depart Chinese waters.
In 1936, Chung Wei Steamship Co, a Chinese shipping firm, leased two freighters to a Japanese company that was a predecessor of MOL. The ships were expropriated by the Japanese government before the leases had expired. One of the ships hit a reef and sank in 1938 while another was destroyed by a mine in 1944, Xinhua said.
In the late 1980s, Chen Zhen and Chen Chun brought a lawsuit against the company which later became MOL. [24/04/14]
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