A Russian court has ordered the seizure of four AP Moller-Maersk-controlled tugs at Sakhalin Island after the Danish shipping giant took steps to pull out of the country.
In a statement provided to TradeWinds, Maersk said it was informed on 25 April that a local court ordered the tugs not to leave Russia and transferred custody of the vessels to another company.
Reuters reported that the ruling, which was issued on 24 April but only emerged publicly on Wednesday, came at the request of Sakhalin Energy as Moscow lashes out at Western companies that have been pulling back from the country following the invasion of Ukraine.
The moves by Svitzer, Maersk’s towage unit, to extract itself from Sakhalin came after a March 2022 decision by the Danish parent to exit Russia entirely.
Maersk said its last container ship called at a Russian port in May 2022 and its shares in terminal operator Global Ports were sold in August. In February of this year, it completed divestment of its landside logistics assets.
That left the four tugs, which were owned by Svitzer and operated on long-term contract for the Sakhalin II oil and gas project.
According to Equasis, the shipping database maintained by France’s transport ministry, Svitzer Sakhalin controls the 663-gt tugs Svitzer Sakhalin, Svitzer Aniva, Svitzer Korsakov and Svitzer Busse (all built 2007).
“For more than a year, we have explored different solutions to divest the operation but have so far — mainly due to regulatory difficulties — not been successful in finding a viable solution,” Maersk said.
The Copenhagen-based company ultimately took steps to terminate the agreement that saw an European Union entity of Switzer bareboat charter the tugs to Svitzer Sakhalin, which meant the Russia-based entity could no longer operate the vessels.
Maersk said it informed officials and Sakhalin Energy of this move on 17 April.
Local port authorities responded by ordering the tugs and their crews to continue operating, before the court ruling ultimately wrested control of the vessels from Maersk.
“Since then, all Svitzer’s employees in Russia have resigned, and Svitzer is no longer operating the four tugs,” Maersk said. “We believe the situation regarding the tugs is untenable and efforts to resolve the matter are ongoing.”
Read more
- Green Seas: A (partly) averted oil spill disaster highlights risk of ‘shadow’ tanker fleet
- EU plots crackdown on Russia oil sanctions evaders
- Minister concerned at trade ‘triangle’ that recycles Russian oil into Denmark
- Elderly tankers to form 15% of fleet by mid-decade, says Braemar
- West P&I fires warning on Russian oil sanctions reporting
