The Indonesian Marine Police boarded the product tanker Strovolos on September 24, due to a protracted dispute concerning the tanker’s crude oil cargo.
Now, World Tankers Management, the owner of the product tanker Strovolos, has protested against the arrest of the vessel’s crew.
The police action came after an intervention by the Cambodian government which claims the cargo was transported illegally. Responding to this claim, World Tankers mentioned that it is made “without foundation and is utterly rejected.”
The crewmembers currently remain under detention and are being interrogated ashore. What is more, the crew were serving when it was chartered to KrisEnergy. The vessel’s owners understood that the chartering company was contracted by the government of Cambodia under a commercial oil development projection.
During the charter, the KrisEnergy Group experienced financial difficulties, according to World Tankers. In fact, when informed by the master of the vessel that it was running out of fuel, KrisEnergy informed the vessel’s owners that they were unable to comply with their obligation to pay hire.
As a result, World Tankers decided to sail the vessel to the nearest convenient port to refuel. Furthermore, the charter was terminated due to the charterers’ breaches of key obligations.
As of now, the government of Cambodia has not provided any proof to the owners to support its claim that it owns the cargo on board the vessel.
Additionally, while waiting for a resolution of the dispute, the vessel was moved offshore of Batam, waiting for a long-awaited crew change.
World Tankers believes the Government of Cambodia has failed to resolve matters with KrisEnergy and is now adopting the unpleasant and unethical tactic of trying to use the Request for Assistance to coerce the Owners to accept their claims without proof or payment. This is totally unacceptable
the Greek shipping firm stated.
