(Note: This article was originally published in Dec 2007)
We have taken a look at piracy in the Strait of Malacca and showed you how criminal organizations scrub a stolen ship’s documents now we turn our attention on finding and repossessing these vessels.
The primary company in recovering hulls in North America is New Orleans based VessEx. Here is a clip about VessEx from
Only a few repo men possess the guile and resourcefulness for such a job. One of them is F. Max Hardberger, of Lacombe, La. Since 1991, the 58-year-old attorney and ship captain has surreptitiously sailed away about a dozen freighters from ports around the world.
“I’m sure there are those who would like to add me to a list of modern pirates of the Caribbean, but I do whatever I can to protect the legal rights of my clients,” said Hardberger, whose company, Vessel Extractions in New Orleans, has negotiated the releases of another dozen cargo ships and prevented the seizures of many others.
His line of work regularly takes him to a corner of the maritime industry still plagued by pirates, underhanded business practices and corrupt government officials, waters the Aztec Express sailed right into.
The saga began in 2003 when the vessel’s Greek owner died and his company did not keep up payments on a $3.3-million mortgage. Read More…
(link via BoingBoing)
Also read Capt. Hardberger’s article for Marine Money Magazine
Here is the video:
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6 responses so far ↓
1 Foreclosure // Sep 24, 2007 at 7:19 am
The Repo Man of Ships Posted in Foreclosure at 2:29 am byMark Thomawrote an interesting post today on Here’s a quick excerpt Only a few repo men possess the guile and resourcefulness for such a job. One of them is F. Max Hardberger, of Lacombe, La. Since 1991, the 58-year-old attorney and ship captain has
2 Ricard sala // Jan 1, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Max Hardberger is the author of the excellent book “Freighter Captain” as well.
That is my favourite book and I would recommed it to anyone with a “maritime” interest!!
Happy New Year to everyone from Australia!!!
3 OneEighteen // Jun 5, 2008 at 7:18 am
The “read more” link doesn’t work.
4 OneEighteen // Jun 5, 2008 at 7:35 am
A copy of the article can be found here:
http://www.bookofjoe.com/2007/08/meet-f-max-hard.html
5 John // Jun 5, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Thanks OneEighteen!
6 Kennebec Captain // Jun 6, 2008 at 7:24 am
Interesting story, I see one of the tools the captain has used is voodoo.
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