Centurion Air Cargo which is based in Miami, Florida had just resolved a hefty lawsuit only to be embroiled in another at it‘s home base in Miami.
The US American freight carrier which operates a mixed fleet of MD-11F‘s and Boeing 747-400F‘s mainly to destinations in South America had recently emerged out of bankruptcy proceedings and
started up anew by using a second AOC which had apparently belonged to the defunct Tradewinds Miami outfit.
The lawsuit which Centurion Air Cargo managed to settle was to the amount of US$10 million. The case had been filed by five Irish statutory trusts against Centurion and its SklyLease Cargo sister
carrier in September of last year. This was in relation to alleged lease payment defaults by the carrier to the trust for four MD-11F‘s and one B747-400F.
The amount claimed was said be be just over US$10 million
The South Florida Business Journal reports that both parties have reached agreement and that this lawsuit has been resolved.
Lucky for Centurion who is just starting to get back onto its feet again.
The next lawsuit is just around the corner.
This time with Aero Miami III LLC who is the landlord of the Centurion cargo handling facility in Miami.
It is said that Aero Miami wants to evict Centurion from the premises although it remains unclear as for which reason.
Centurion themselves had sued Aero Miami back in September of 2013, claiming that the landlord was drastically overcharging the airline for so called management fees.
CargoForwarder‘s information is that this lawsuit is still unsolved.
Centurion was claiming that Aero Miami had overcharged them up to a total of US$24 million in unwarranted management fees as well as a further US$2 million for deferred renatl payments.
These fees are in Centurion‘s view flouting the terms of the sublease between both companies.
The warehouse in Miami offers over 50.000 square meters of handling space and is essential for Centurion‘s business.
Without that, they would have no operating and handling set-up in Miami for their fleet of ten MD11F‘s and four B747-400F‘s.
Whether Aero Miami has another potential tenant on line is not known.
This lawsuit needs to be settled soon in order for Centurion to be able to get back to day-to-day business.
John Mc Donagh
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