The Russian Federation again “annexed” foreign ships

A Russian court has seized 4 Maersk tugboats – allegedly due to the company’s failure to comply with agreements.

The Arbitration Court of the Sakhalin Region satisfied the claim of the Russian company Sakhalin Energy against Svitzer, a subsidiary of Maersk. So, the Russians succeeded in arresting 4 tugs of the company: Svitzer Aniva, Svitzer Sakhalin, Svitzer Busse and Svitzer Korsakov.

This vessel was chartered by the former operator of the Sakhalin-2 project — Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd with an office in Bermuda. At the end of last year, the Russians “import substituted” the operator at Sakhalin Energy LLC. All the rights and obligations of the foreign company allegedly passed to the Russians.

Subsequently, on April 17, Svitzer informed Sakhalin Energy about the temporary cancellation of the agreement. The planned termination of bareboat charters was cited as the reason. Svitzer asked the Russians to change their flags within a week and withdraw the vessels from Russian territorial waters.

“Sakhalin Energy” claims that the termination of the agreement is “illegal” and may lead to “colossal losses” for the Russian Federation. So the Russians resorted to their usual method of resolving disputes and arrested the tugboats. The arrest will reportedly last until at least May 18.

We will remind you that Maersk left the Russian market in 2022. In February, Maersk finally sold its logistics assets in St. Petersburg and Novorossiysk.

However, 4 tugboats of the company continued to work on Sakhalin under a long-term contract. “We believe the situation with the tugs is unacceptable and we are working hard to resolve the issue,” Maersk said in a brief statement. According to the shipowner, after the court decision, all Svitzer employees in Russia resigned. Currently, the company does not operate stolen tugboats.