Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has suffered a setback in a worldwide campaign to lay claim on a string of tankers it used to own.
Cypriot judges decided on Friday to lift the arrest of the 50,000-dwt Agios Nikolaos (built 2018), which was anchored at Larnaca since late October.
The ship immediately raised anchor and left port, the Cyprus Admiralty Marshal told TradeWinds.
The Cyprus supreme court handed back control of the vessel to its registered owner Rexel Corp, overturning a previous, temporary decision by a lower-ranking judge to detain the vessel.
The court is expected to publish its reasoning in early February.
The arrest order had been issued on behalf of Grandest Shipping, an IRISL-controlled, Hong Kong-based entity that originally ordered the vessel as a newbuilding at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard.
Formerly known as Nasir and Marvin Independence, the Agios Nikolaos is one of four tankers IRISL has been laying claim to in legal action pursued in Panama, South Africa, the Netherlands, Greece and Cyprus.
Various IRISL entities claim that the Iranian company never agreed to transfer ownership of the said ships to companies affiliated with Greece’s Marvin Shipping Services, which later transpired as their owner.
More to follow?
All four ships were slated for auction in different parts of the world after Marvin went bust. IRISL has been trying since to block their judicial sale, laying claim to the vessels and settling their debt to creditors.
The Agios Nikolaos was the first and so far only ship to actually go under the hammer, in a $17.1m deal on 1 September with clients of Centrofin Management.
The Cypriot verdict may now spur investor interest in the delayed sale of a 12-year-old Marvin suezmax, which has been so far pending at the High Court of Namibia.
Auctioneers there have had to postpone the auction of the 158,000-dwt Marvin Star (built 2009), following legal action taken in November by another IRISL-linked entity.
TradeWinds is told that the Namibian supreme court will hear the case at the end of March, which means that a sale might take place in April.
There has been no visible development, by contrast, in the case of another two tankers originally ordered by IRISL and then transferred to Marvin under controversial circumstances.
The 50,000-dwt Marvin Confidence and Marvin Faith (both built 2018) are both idling in Rotterdam since IRISL successfully thwarted their auction there in late September.
