An Iranian company has arrested a Norwegian-controlled offshore vessel in India over an aborted sale.
Tehran-based Batservice Contracting AS Kish has told the High Court of Gujarat that it contracted in December 2018 to finance MKF Shipping's purchase of a platform supply vessel from Solstad Offshore subsidiary Farstad Shipping.
Batservice told the court that after acquiring the PSV with the plaintiff's money, MKF had allegedly agreed to deliver it in the Iranian port of Shahid Rajai under DNV GL class and Marshall Islands flag.
TradeWinds reported in May 2019 that Solstad sold the 3,100-dwt Lady Melinda (built 2003).
Batservice secured the arrest of the ship while it was on its way to an attempted demolition sale at India's ship recycling centre of Alang.
In documents filed with the court, the Iranian would-be buyer said it advanced MKF some $3m for the ship, of which $2.62m was paid to Farstad. MKF was to have retained $391,000 after passing the ship on to Batservice.
Both the Batservice and and the current owner of the ship have links to better known Norwegian entities.
MKF Shipping, named as owner in the Gujarat arrest lawsuit, is listed in Norwegian corporate records as controlled by Kjell Eivind Karlsen.
Vega Consult, the buyer associated with the vessel in press reports of the May 2019 sale, is listed as controlled by Karlsen and Svein-Harald Mosvold Knutsen.
Knutsen and Karlsen were shareholding partners behind better-known Kristiansand-based Vega Resources and Vega Offshore.
Vega Offshore is apparently inactive now but made headlines in 2012 for the sale of several vessels to special purpose acquisition company (Spac) Nautilus Marine Acquisition, which later became Nautilus Offshore and was acquired by George Economou's DryShips. A Vega Offshore website still lists Mosvold Knutsen and Karlsen as directors, alongside Kenneth Fjeld.
Mosvold Knutsen, a local Kristiansand politician as well as an investor, is an heir of one of the branches of the Mosvold shipowning family.
He told TradeWinds he is not an owner or a board member of MKF Shipping, referring further questions to Karlsen.
"Vega Consult AS has never owned any vessel, hence the initial reporting back in May 2019 is not correct," he added.
Karlsen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fjeld, who has gone on to found the similarly named but unrelated Vega Bulk Carriers, told TradeWinds he is not involved in the dispute.
"I have absolutely no connection with the vessel," said Fjeld from his Dubai office. He also said he has no connection with MKF Shipping or Vega Consult.
Batservice Contracting AS Kish, the Iranian plaintiff, has ties to Norway but may no longer be Norwegian-owned.
With offices in Tehran and a shipyard on the Iranian island of Kish, the company was established in 2008 as a subsidiary of aluminium boat-builder Batservice in Mandal, Norway, according to its website. But when new investors bought Batservice in 2018 and renamed it Global Ocean Technology, the new company severed ties to the Iranian subsidiary to avoid possible sanctions issues.
"Global Ocean Technology has absolutely no connection to Iran or to Batservice Contracting AS Kish," Global Ocean Technology senior Thomas Granfeldt told TradeWinds.
It remained unclear why a builder of crewboats and rescue vessels would have been buyer of a veteran PSV.
This story has been amended since publication to reflect the correct spelling of Batservice Contracting AS Kish and that MKF was to have retened $391,000 from sale of the Lady Melinda.
