A legal bind, not a lack of financial options, is keeping passengership owner Havila Kystruten from operating its newest ship.
Sanctions against Russian lease financier GTLK Asia kept the 15,500-gt cruise ferry Havila Capella (built 2021) at its berth in the Norwegian west coast port of Bergen, where protection and indemnity insurer Gard denied it coverage ahead of a scheduled Easter week sailing on its state-subsidised Norwegian coastal route.
Havila Kystruten’s planned escape hatch in case of sanctions was a purchase option in the bareboat charter.
The problem is that any buyout payment to free the ship from sanctions would also be sanctioned.
That puts the Norwegian shipowner in a similar bind to many international shipowners that meet legal obstacles to keeping up their Russia financial or chartering ties, but also to walking away from them.
“It is a Catch-22,” confirmed Havila Kystruten communications director Lasse Vangstein. “We are in close consultation with the authorities and with various banks, and we hope there is a way out. But refinancing ships that have a value of €100m is not like refinancing your car.”
The purchase option price has not been disclosed. TradeWinds has previously reported the newbuliding price of the Havila Capella and each of its three sister ships at Turkey’s Tersan shipyard stood at $123m (€108m).
Vangstein declined to say whether Havila has a replacement financier lined up for the Havila Capella or its sister ships, but said the company is looking into several solutions, both short-term and long-term.
Short-term financing could allow the Havila Capella to meet its next scheduled departure for Kirkenes in northern Norway on 23 April, or the one after that 11 days later, while working out a permanent fix.
Russian state-owned leasing company GTLK Asia, along with GTLK Global and Moscow-based parent State Transport Leasing Co (GTLK), was hit by EU sanctions on 8 April, relatively long into Russia’s internationally condemned invasion of Ukraine. TradeWinds had already reported that sanctions were likely, and had already struck the state-owned banks that back GTLK’s leasing deals.
Non-EU member Norway is also bound by EU sanctions, and that is reportedly what inspired Gard to pull its cover ahead of the Havila Capella’s planned 14 April sailing from Bergen to the northern terminus of Kirkenes.
Norwegian business daily Finansavisen reported that Gard chief executive officer Svein Buvik declined to comment on ongoing cases or individual customer matters.
Gard’s thumbs-down idled what Havila calls the world’s most environmentally friendly passengership, whose 6.1-MW battery pack is the world’s largest. The LNG-battery hybrid ship won the Next Generation Ship award at the recent Nor-Shipping congress.
GTLK was also lined up to finance the next ships from Tersan, including the now-completed 15,500-gt Havila Castor (built 2021). Vangstein told TradeWinds that ship is ready to sail, with a Havila crew already in place ready to start the engines the minute a non-sanctioned bank pays the shipyard.
Havila still expects to get the Havila Castor handed over and sail it to Norway in time for its maiden voyage from Bergen on 10 May.
“But a lot of things have to click into place,” said Vangstein.
