The maritime contractor Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) is thinking of stopping managing Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA’s tankers by the end of March or during the early days of April, following US sanctions against the country, as Reuters reports.
The company stated that due to recent political developments, managing assets for the Venezuelan government are almost impossible. In the meantime, BSM commented that it’s working on returning Venezuelan vessels to PDVSA’s maritime arm PDV Marina and its subsidiaries.
The company, which operates 15 of PDVSA vessels has been working in the Latin American country for approximately 25 years. Yet, the German firm commented that returning tankers to PDV Marina is a difficult task considering the lack of resources in Venezuela.
Nevertheless, our intention is to try and hand back all the vessels to PDV Marina and its subsidiaries as soon as practically possible
… the German firm reported.
Venezuela is facing political challenges due to an economic crisis and President Nicolas Maduro’s administration has been under sanctions since late January as the United States and dozens of other nations have recognised his rival, Congress chief Juan Guaido, as the nation’s leader.
On March 12, PDV Marina declared an emergency due to lack of staff to immediately receive the vessels that BSM proposed to return to Venezuelan ports due to unpaid bills of at least $15 million.
More than 10 vessels were operated by BSM crews. In the meantime, two additional vessels operated by BSM for PDVSA remain in anchorage in Portugal without the crews, and one in Curacao.
