A shipyard is suing owners of the sunken Jumbo Floating Restaurant and three Tai Pak seafood restaurant barges for their return and HK$4.8 million in unpaid handling fees, citing a deal signed a month before the iconic Jumbo left the SAR.

In a writ filed with the high court Monday, King Field Shipyard said the agreement - signed on May 19 with defendants Tai Pak Sea-food Restaurant and Jumbo's parent company Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises - was to buy the barges for a nominal HK$4 in exchange for a total of HK$5.4 million in handling fees incurred in transferring their ownership and the food and beverage licenses to the shipyard.

But after the defendants paid a HK$600,000 deposit on May 20, Jumbo was towed out of Hong Kong and eventually sank in the South China Sea.

The shipyard said it paid HK$1 for the Jumbo barge on May 25, with the Marine Department approving the ownership transfer to the shipyard.

Under the deal, the defendants had to ensure the barges were parked safely and that the place of their delivery was the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter.

The shipyard said the defendants informed it that the Jumbo barge had submerged at its parking position in Aberdeen at midnight on June 1.

However, the shipyard was still willing to go through with the deal and demanded the defendants sign a supplementary agreement that required them to salvage the barge for delivery by June 30.

The defendants are said to have never replied to multiple letters and emails from the shipyard urging them to sign the agreement.

"Despite the [shipyard]'s negotiating in good faith, the defendants were not responsive in respect of the execution of the intended supplemental agreement and the completion of the agreement," the shipyard said in the writ.

On July 27, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises sent a letter to the shipyard through its solicitors, saying the agreement had been automatically terminated due to the incident on June 1.

"The defendants had failed to maintain the Jumbo ship in the safely moored status prior to delivery, causing the same to be submerged and sunk," the shipyard said in the writ, adding they also failed to deliver the other three restaurant barges.

The Jumbo Floating Restaurant capsized and sank in the South China Sea on June 19, five days after the 76-meter vessel was towed from the shelter.

The Jumbo Floating Restaurant barge is towed away on June 14.

Jumbo and barge owners hit in $4.8m suit