Icelandic container line Eimskip continues to deny it has breached scrapping regulations, following a dawn raid on its offices by prosecutors.

The company said that the district prosecutor's department was granted authorisation to carry out searches at its premises in December.

It is not clear when these raids took place and the company told TradeWinds it had no further updates on the situation.

The probe relates to the 2019 demolition sales of the 1,465-teu sisterships Godafoss and Laxfoss (both built 1995) at the end of 2019.

Eimskip has been asked to provide specific documents relating to the deals, which were reported to the prosecutor by the Environment Agency of Iceland (EAI) in 2020.

No individuals from the company are involved in the investigation, the shipowner added.

The company has said it is working on gathering the requested information.

In compliance

Eimskip believes it complied with laws and regulations in the sales process.

The shipowner said it "takes the matter seriously as the company, its management, and employees place great emphasis on social responsibility in their work and have long paid attention to environmental issues in their operations".

The investigation relates to whether a law on waste treatment has been infringed.

"It is impossible for the company to estimate possible financial effects as the Act contains sanctions provisions without stating any specific amounts," Eimskip said.

The only amount referenced in law relates to the EAI's authority to apply administrative fines of up to ISK25m ($193,000).

Breach of regulations?

Eimskip chief executive Vilhelm Mar Thorsteinsson. Photo: Eimskip

Icelandic broadcaster Rikisutvarpio (RUV) claimed the two ships were scrapped on the beach at Alang in India in breach of European regulations.

These forbid the export of hazardous waste — including end-of-life vessels — from OECD countries to non-OECD countries.

The ships were reported to have stopped in the Netherlands and Greece en route to India.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform said in 2020: "At the time of the export of the ships, the NGO Shipbreaking Platform formally requested Icelandic, Dutch and Greek authorities to hold all the parties involved in the sale accountable for breaching EU waste legislation."

'Safe and environmentally friendly'

Despite its status as a non-EU member, Iceland needs to follow many European regulations due to its participation in the European Economic Area.

The shipping company told RUV that Malwi and Gohilwad, the yards that broke the two vessels, offer "safe and environmentally friendly" recycling under the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.

TradeWinds has reported that the Godafoss was sold to an entity called Nova One Maritime Inc, while the Laxfoss was purchased by Melinda Maritime. Both buyers are registered in Liberia, according to Equasis.

Eimskip said the decision to scrap in India was made by the Liberian buyers.

The company has also said its Ebitda will be considerably higher in the fourth quarter of 2021 at between €26.7m ($30.2m) and €29.7m, compared with the result in the same period of 2020.

Margins and volumes improved and the company has paid out €1m to employees as a bonus.