The difficulties that Russian shipowners face making payments in the highly sanctioned environment they operate within has been highlighted by the arrest of one of Moscow-based Argo Tanker Group’s aframaxes.
The company’s 109,000-dwt crude carrier Unity (built 2009) was arrested at India’s Mundra Port last Friday by Guma Tech Marine Services, a Bhavnagar-based supplier of reconditioned marine spare parts sourced from ships being recycled at nearby Alang.
Court records obtained by TradeWinds show that Guma is chasing Argo Tanker for payment for spare parts it supplied to the 159,000-dwt crude tanker Digby (built 2004) back in June.
The amount that Guma is trying to recover is a mere $110,000.
The Unity was arrested as an associated, or sister, vessel after arriving off Mundra on 25 November following a one-month voyage from Murmansk.
According to details being broadcast by ship’s AIS transponder on Monday, it was fully laden at the time of its arrest and had not yet discharged its cargo of Russian crude oil.
Legal sources following the activities of the Russian tanker fleet said that Russian shipowners, even those who have not been sanctioned, have been struggling to make foreign payments in US dollars due to sanctions on the Russian banking system.
Smaller shipowners such as Argo Tanker, which S&P Global’s International Ships Register lists as owning two vessels, are said to be the hardest hit as they do not have foreign offices that they could use to facilitate dollar-denominated transactions.
S&P Global data shows that Argo Tanker was founded in 2023. Its first vessel, the Dignity, was acquired in September of that year from FMTC Ship Charter, a UAE-registered entity that appears to have been set up specifically to facilitate the sale of the ship to Argo Tanker.
FMYC had acquired the ship as Eurodignity from Greek owner Eurotankers and retained ownership for only three months before passing it on to Argo Tanker.
The Unity, the vessel under arrest in India, was acquired from Comet Maritime & Trading of Turkey in September of this year.
The ship was originally built as Xihe Holding’s Ocean Explorer and was sold in 2021 to clients of Turkish ship manager Beks, who traded it as the Beks Swan until it was acquired by Comet in April.
Argo Tanker has been approached for comment.
