The US is pressuring shipping companies, insurers, certifiers and flag states that register vessels, according to Washington’s special envoy on Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, in an interview with Reuters.
As IUMI reports, the Washington DC administration has been focusing on the maritime industry in recent months as it continues to attempt to unseat President Maduro.
The latest Washington target is the ship classification societies. The US is now putting pressure on the international operations to establish whether vessels have violated US sanctions regulations and to withdraw the certification if it is found that they have, reported Reuters, citing an unnamed US official who was speaking on condition of anonymity.
Without certification, a vessel and its cargo become uninsured. Ship owners would also be in breach of commercial contracts which require certificates to be maintained.
Lloyd’s Register has withdrawn services from eight tankers that were involved in trade with Venezuela:
In accordance with our programme for complying with sanctions’ laws, where we become aware of vessels operating in breach of relevant sanctions laws, LR classification has been withdrawn
What is more, in June the US designated six shipping companies and six tankers they owned for participating in proscribed Venezuelan trade. Hamburg-headquartered DNV GL Maritime said it had suspended services for three of those vessels in June.
The company continued services when the US removed those vessels from the list of sanctioned entities after the shipping companies that own and operate the vessels agreed to cease trade with Venezuela.
Mike Salthouse, chairman of the sanctions sub-committee with the International Group, said that insurers had been conservative in their interpretation of US sanctions to avoid any potential violations.
If there is ambiguity as to what is lawful and what is unlawful it makes it almost impossible for an insurer to say whether someone has cover or not
In addition, Neil Roberts, head of marine underwriting at Lloyd’s Market Association, said that if a vessel sails to Venezuela they have to notify the underwriter and it may be that the underwriter will not be able to cover them. He also noted that the insurance sector faced “the direct and real threat of having its trade stopped by a watchful US administration because of an inadvertent infringement”.
