The crew of Venezuelan oil tanker ‘Rio Arauca’ is set to be dismissed, almost two years after being stuck in the middle of the river Tagus in Lisbon due to unpaid debt, according to managers Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM). The Rio Arauca arrived in Lisbon in May 2017, but has been inactive and unable to dock since then.
BSM also said another Venezuelan tanker, the Parnaso, which is in dry dock at the port of Setubal, south of Lisbon, will also have its crew removed later this week due to a lack of payment from owners PDV Marina, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA, according to Reuters.
Lisbon’s maritime court ruled to take possession of the Parnaso last August. Both vessels are under BSM management.
The amount owed by PDV Marina to BSM globally is at least $15 million, according to a source at the company and a document seen by Reuters.
Rio Arauca arrived in Lisbon with 26 crew members but Portugal’s Immigration and Border Service (SEF) said only 16 people still remained aboard.
Legal responsibility for the Rio Arauca now sits with the arresting parties, BSM noted.
Lisbon’s Port Authority (APL) said Rio Arauca had entered the port with a cargo of crude for the local oil firm Galp Energia, but later Portuguese navigation company Navex declined to continue to be the tanker’s agent. The tanker was then subject to “successive arrest orders”, APL said.
APL filed a petition against the ship owner PDV Marina in April 2018 over accumulating monthly charges of 200,000 euros. APL said PDV Marina owed it a total of 1.7 million euros as of the end of last year.
Various tankers with Venezuelan crude around the world have been arrested by authorities because PDVSA has not been able to pay for hull cleaning, inspections, and other port services.