Judge dismisses lawsuit over floating dry dock

By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit over a surplus floating dry dock that a ship-repair competitor said had been fraudulently brought from Alaska to Hawai'i.

Chief Judge David Ezra ruled against Honolulu-based Pacific Shipyards International LLC, which had filed suit in February alleging that Alaska-based Tanadgusix Corp. and Hawai'i-based Marisco Ltd. fraudulently schemed to bring the 56-year-old surplus Navy dry dock to Hawaiian waters in violation of racketeering laws.

"PSI has not been defrauded out of any business or recognizable property interest," Ezra said in the ruling. "Accordingly, PSI has failed to establish the requisite racketeering activity."

TDX, of St. Paul Island, Alaska, and its wholly owned subsidiary, Bering Sea Ecotech, wanted to use the dry dock to work on federally owned vessels and to train and employ Native Alaskans in servicing ships.

The companies sought the help of Marisco, a Hawai'i-based ship repair company.

Pacific Shipyards International claimed that bringing the dry dock to Hawai'i took away ship-repair business from Pacific Shipyard.

But Ezra said in his ruling yesterday that "PSI's losses, if any, have resulted from intervening acts of the government, the potential customers, and even acts of PSI itself. ... PSI was not the target or indirect victim of any alleged unlawful conduct and suffered no concrete financial harm as a direct result of defendants' acts."

In response to Ezra's ruling, Marisco owner Fred Anawati said yesterday that "PSI has been orchestrating a broad-based campaign against us and trying to monopolize the Hawai'i ship repair business. The court set them straight. PSI wasn't playing fair."

Pacific Shipyards officials were unavailable for comment.

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8085.