A Greek shipowner has hit out at Iraqi authorities who continue to hold a bulker involved in a deadly collision last year.

Twenty-one people onboard a diving support vessel died when it capsized after a collision with the 48,200-dwt Royal Arsenal (built 1999) at Umm Qasr in August 2017.

Iraqi Transport Minister Kazem Finjan has since ordered compensation be paid to the victims’ families after a local report found the Greek bulker 75% liable for the accident.

The package includes cash for the General Company for Ports of Iraq (GCPI), which owned the other vessel, to employ a member of the victims’ families, to buy land for new homes and to offer accrued retirement benefits.

Further claims from the families have also been received, but no quantified claims have been filed at court or requests for security presented, according to the shipowner, who has now voiced “concern and frustration” at the episode.

The bulker remains under detention at the port with owner and manager Blue Fleet Group unable to make any significant progress in a Baghdad appeal court.

It has now approached the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg, suggesting Iraq has breached the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Roy Khoury, managing director of the Blue Fleet Group, said: “It is deeply regrettable that a functioning maritime state such as Iraq, who wishes to be regarded as such by the international maritime community, is so dysfunctional and unable to address such claims properly and in accordance with international practice and the UN Conventions.

“We felt that other operators should be made aware of the problems and losses we have incurred because we traded the vessel to an Iraqi port."

TradeWinds efforts to obtain a response from GCPI were not successful before press time.

In a statement provided to TradeWinds, Khoury said the crew and representatives have been unable to leave Iraq, even for a crew change, and have faced threats of violence.

He added: “Moreover, the vessel has been placed at anchor in a narrow tidal channel in close proximity to passing ships and the GCPI are oblivious to the dangers this creates."

The standoff follows a crash in August as the Royal Arsenal left Umm Qasr with a pilot onboard bound for new owners in China.

It was involved in a collision with the DSV Al Misbar in a stretch of water known as Devils Channel, which is recognised for strong currents.

After impact with the Royal Arsenal’s bulbous bow, the DSV, which was transporting passengers from a floating crane barge, capsized, trapping people onboard.

Blue Fleet and its protection and indemnity club, the West of England, are looking to settle claims arising from the incident on a basis which reflects the merits and the failings of the GCPI.

The Al Misbar had a crew of 12 among the 32 people onboard, while its life-saving equipment only catered for 16, Blue Fleet said.