The Tribune

By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Bahamian shipping company embroiled in a 30,000-gallon Exuma oil spill has launched a Supreme Court action against the US supplier and Indian manufacturer of “alleged defective hoses” that caused the pollution.

The move by D&T Shipping, whose MT Arabian vessel was transporting fuel supplied by BISX-listed FOCOL Holdings to Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) generation facilities on that island when the spill occurred, was revealed in a November 5, 2025, ruling by Sir Ian Winder.

The Chief Justice found that the Gladstone Road-headquartered shipping firm’s service of the Supreme Court legal proceedings on Louisiana-based Hose Source LLC on January 9, 2024, was defective because key legal documents were missing. However, he extended “the validity” of D&T Shipping’s claim until year-end to give it 56 days - or eight weeks - to properly serve Hose Source with its action and accompanying paperwork.

Noting that the Indian manufacturer, Polyhose India (Rubber) Ltd, has not participated in the action thus far, Sir Ian wrote of D&T Shipping’s claim: “The claimant alleges that it has sustained injury and damage as a result of alleged defective hoses sold by Hose and manufactured by Polyhose.

“Hose says that on or about May 2, 2022, a first-time customer, Ronnie Ledet (Ledet), a resident of Houma, Louisiana, entered the Hose storefront located in Gray, Louisiana, and ordered five red fuel-discharged hose assemblies with stainless steel fittings.

“On May 27, 2022, Ledet collected the hose assemblies from the Hose storefront. On or about July 19, 2022, while in the vicinity of Exuma, a vessel owned by the claimant was transporting fuel when a fuel spill occurred.”

Sir Ian’s judgment made no mention of the details surrounding the spill, or the other parties involved - namely FOCOL Holdings (shell) and BPL. However, his ruling reveals that the hose assemblies blamed for causing the spill were acquired on D&T Shipping’s behalf less than two months before the incident occurred.

Tribune Business reporting from that time confirms that the July 19, 2022, date mentioned by Sir Ian aligns with when the Exuma oil spill occurred. The incident generated numerous questions, not least whether the parties involved had the necessary insurance, who would pay for the clean-up costs and whether the Government would seek to levy fines and sanctions as provided for under then newly-passed environmental legislation.

Sir Franklyn Wilson, FOCOL Holdings’ chairman, told this newspaper on July 20, 2022, that the spill was caused by “a ruptured hose” that was transferring diesel fuel from the MT Arabian to BPL’s storage facility on the island.

Revealing that FOCOL’s Sun Oil subsidiary had contracted with the Arabian’s owner for the fuel delivery, he added that it was “investigating” whether that company, D&T Shipping, had the necessary insurance in place to cover the costs associated with oil spill containment and remediation.

Sir Franklyn disclosed that Sun Oil, which is contracted to ship fuel supplies to BPL’s Family Island operations, was forced to outsource the Exuma delivery to D&T Shipping due to the loss of its gas tanker, the M/T Tropic Breeze, when it sank on Christmas Eve 2021 after being struck by a 207-foot super yacht.

Dexter Adderley, FOCOL’s president and chief executive, in confirming to the company’s directors that 30,000 gallons of diesel fuel had been lost into the sea, said in a briefing note: “The spill resulted from a ruptured hose during the discharge from the vessel, MT Arabian. The MT Arabian is a third party vessel owned by a company, D&T Shipping.”

Sir Franklyn added that FOCOL/Sun Oil, in common with the Government, would also be requesting an incident report from D&T Shipping to determine how the “hose rupture” leading to the oil spill occurred and what lessons can be learned to prevent a repeat.

Pointing out that such spills are “very, very rare”, he revealed: “We have asked the ship owner to provide us with a full and comprehensive report as to what happened. The Government has asked for the same, and we’ll have a chance to get into the details.

“That’s the next step in the process. Right now it’s about remediation, getting problems solved, and the ship owner providing a report to the Government. We’ll then take whatever steps are necessary to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Asked whether the necessary oil spill response equipment is present in The Bahamas, Sir Franklyn replied: “Let me put it this way. We believe we have sufficient to do so, but to the extent there’s any shortfall we have relationships that will allow us to get additional resources on very short notice.

“We are taking responsibility in that we are the people BPL contracted with. We are pleased that the company we sub-contracted to because of the December incident are shoulder to shoulder with us in seeking the best possible outcome.”

Explaining what he meant by “December incident”, Sir Franklyn told this newspaper: “The use of a third-party vessel became necessary on a short-term basis because of the incident with the tanker that sank in December 2021. A yacht ran into one of our tankers and it sank. It is because of that we have had to make interim arrangements to meet these needs.”

This involved the loss of the M/T Tropic Breeze, when it sank on Christmas Eve 2021 after being struck by a 207-foot super yacht, the M/Y Utopia IV, around 15 miles north north-west of New Providence.

“We are very concerned, very, very concerned. Environmental protection in the world of business today, responsible companies operate under the ESG mantra of environment, social and governance. The first one is environment. Given what FOCOL and Sun Oil see ourselves as being, we take this very seriously. Very, very seriously, being responsible and committed to the environment,” Sir Franklyn said in July 2022.

Sir Ian, in his ruling, noted that Hose Source has no presence, assets or operations in The Bahamas. After it was served by D&T Shipping on January 9, 2024, it responded by seeking a declaration that the Supreme Court had “no jurisdiction” to try the claim and sought to have the matter stayed or dismissed, with service set aside.

It based this on D&T Shipping’s failure to serve the G7 form that gives “jurisdictional notice”, plus the acknowledgement of service and defence forms, arguing that this made the process “fundamentally defective”. Sir Ian wrote of Hose Source’s position: “It says that in such circumstances, the claim fForm and its accompanying documents cannot be deemed to have been properly served, as the mandatory requirements for valid service have not been met. Finally, the defendant says that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the action.”

The Chief Justice, while backing Hose Source’s arguments and setting aside the original service, gave D&T Shipping a second chance. “I will, under the circumstances, extend the validity of the standard claim form to December 31, 2025,” he ruled.

“This not only provides an appropriate window for the proper service of the claim form and the necessary accompanying documents, but fulfils the overriding objective of saving expenses and ensuring that cases are dealt with expeditiously and fairly.”