Gulftainer Says Buckeye Exploiting Pandemic for ‘Fake Emergency’

A Gulftainer Co. Ltd. affiliate fired back at claims in Delaware court that it’s using the coronavirus pandemic to extort $1 million in extra port fees from Buckeye Partners LP, calling the lawsuit “a last-ditch effort to create a false emergency” over a months-old dispute.

It’s “an improper, indeed offensive and dangerous, exploitation of the current pandemic for Buckeye’s personal self-serving commercial purposes, not any public interest,” Gulftainer says in court papers filed Thursday.

Gulftainer, which operates 40% of major container ports in the Middle East, is a subsidiary of Crescent Enterprises, a diversified Emirati multinational owned by the ...