A tanker that was seized unlawfully by an armed militia in Cameroon was released on Tuesday.
The 26 crew onboard the 106,000-dwt Barents Sea (built 2000) are safe and unharmed, the vessel’s manager Eastern Pacific Shipping said on Wednesday.
The tanker was seized last week by DSC Marine, a local charterer, and local Cameroonian military forces armed with AK-47 submachine guns.
The militia boarded the vessel while it was engaged in standard discharge operations at the Sonara refinery in Limbe, Cameroon.
'Blatant disregard'
“DSC Marine’s conduct and blatant disregard for local and international laws have proven to be futile. We sincerely hope that future disagreements can be resolved without resorting to hostile means,” the Idan Ofer-controlled shipowner said in a statement on Wednesday.
“EPS [Eastern Pacific] wishes to thank the crew for their unwavering strength, resilience and professionalism throughout the dreadful encounter.”
The tanker’s crew comprises nationals from India, Ukraine, China, Philippines and Turkey.
Eastern Pacific said it received support during the situation from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, the Singapore Navy, various embassies representing the ship’s crew, and Cameroonian authorities.
AIS data showed the tanker was underway in the Gulf of Guinea early on Wednesday morning, local time.
George Esimi, lead counsel of DSC Marine, was cited by the Xinhua news agency as saying in a statement that the tanker had been "immobilised" following an order by the president of the High Court of Buea.
"The order was obtained and the seizure of the ship made in accordance with all the other international treaties and applicable texts concerning detention of ship," he added.
Charterer dispute
As TradeWinds reported last week, Eastern Pacific had resolved a cargo dispute with its charterer, DSC Marine, just prior to the tanker’s seizure.
Eastern Pacific, which was owed a reported $850,000 in charter payments, refused to deliver the crude cargo before the charterer paid up.
This led to the brief closure of Cameroon’s only refinery, due to lack of crude.
The move followed a buildup of events in the months since DSC Marine chartered the tanker last August, sources told TradeWinds.
This was complicated by a scheduled maintenance shutdown at the Sonara refinery, which overran and only reopened in December.
While Eastern Pacific re-let the ship for a period in the interim, it loaded crude in Nigeria in November to deliver to Cameroon under charter to DSC Marine.
By the time the ship arrived to deliver the cargo, DSC Marine was in arrears with the charter payments, resulting in what one source described as a “classic stand-off”.
