Need to sneak a 10,000-ton ship out of a third-world port without a security clearance?  We've got your man.

Max Hardberger has worked variously as a pilot, a high school teacher, a maritime lawyer, and a marine surveyor. But it's his 20 years recovering and repossessing ships and aircraft—the last eight of them as head of his New Orleans-based company, Vessel Extractions—that we were curious about. Here's his story in his own words ... Click here to read the full article. 2 pages (779KB)

A seafaring 'repo man' uses stealth and trickery to seize cargo ships taken by thieves or corrupt officials

If repossessing a used Chevrolet can be tricky, consider retrieving the Aztec Express, a 700-foot cargo ship under guard in Haiti as civil unrest spread through the country. 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. Bahamian court records show ... Click here to read the full article. 2 pages (956KB)

In sea ports the world over, a small bribe paid to a local official allows "white collar pirates" to seize ships from their legitimate owners. To recover the multimillion-dollar vessels, aggrieved ship owners call on Max Hardberger, a maritime lawyer turned high-seas repossession man. In his memoir Seized, which came out in the U.S. on April 6 and in Britain on July 1, he recounts his dangerous battles with Haitian rebels, Caribbean pirates and even the Russian mafia. The sea captain recently spoke with TIME about the murky world of ocean shipping, and how prostitutes and voodoo doctors from Greece to Guatemala have helped him retrieve ships.  Click here to read the full article. 2 pages (57KB)

In a life reminiscent of a movie script, a swashbuckling UI alumnus fights for justice on the high seas.

What do you call a man who surreptitiously boards stolen sea freighters under cover of darkness, guiding a motley crew of island natives and sea-weathered sailors to steal the ship back for the good guys? A man who hires witch doctors to help him escape? A man who has spent his 59 years as a ship captain, scuba diver, aircraft pilot, flight instructor, surveyor, attorney, writer, musician, and even a high school English teacher? He must be a fictional character, the stuff of tall tales and action adventure, a Renaissance man larger than life and full of surprises. Is he a Pirate of the Caribbean? A modern-day Indiana Jones? F. Max Hardberger could be a character created by a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Instead, Hardberger, 72MFA, is the workshop graduate. ...  Click here to read the full article. 2 pages (586KB)

Author, teacher, entrepreneur, crop duster, pilot, freighter captain, port captain, lawyer, ocean-going freighter repo-man and now the subject of a Hollywood movie — that’s UNO graduate Max Hardberger’s life in brief. His adventures were featured in a Los Angeles Times story last spring, and his tales not only caught the attention of the UNO Magazine staff, but of writers and producers in New York and Hollywood. While his life certainly reads like a Hollywood movie, it had a much simpler start. That’s where we begin. 

A Burgeoning Adventurer. Growing up in Thibodeaux, Louisiana, Florian Max Hardberger, Jr., the son of a biology professor, always had a taste for adventure. He was a licensed aircraft pilot at 16 and .... Click here to read the full article.   6 pages (245KB)

Max Hardberger specialises in extractions, but dentistry this isn’t – although it can be painful. Meet a seagoing repo man who won’t shrink from brinkmanship when negotiation fails

Max Hardberger’s favourite role, since transforming himself from a freighter skipper into a maritime lawyer, is ‘vessel extraction specialist’. Perhaps the reason why is such chores can lead to shenanigans of Indiana Jones proportions. Yet when asked by Fairplay about ship repossessions, he calls extractions “last resorts”, which he carries out only after all other avenues have failed. “Negotiations are the key in returning vessels to their rightful owners,” Hardberger explains, in view of the risk and complexity of repossessing a commercial vessel from what can be a hostile ... Click here to read the full article.   2 pages (797KB)

The newly launched Vessel Extractions (VessEx) hopes to take advantage of the tumultuous shipping environment by offering “extraction” services to shipowners.

Max Hardberger, operations director of the San Francisco-based ship recovery company, told TradeWinds Tuesday that VessEx may begin its first case within the next few days.  “We’re talking to New York maritime lawyers, and we should be handed our first case within the next few days,” he said.

VessEx offers repossession of ships for mortgagees, and assistance to shipowners whose vessels have been seized, detained, abandoned or stolen.  VessEx is run by Hardberger and Michael Bono, the company’s managing director... Click here to read the full article.  1 page (161KB)