Igor Kovalchuk, First Deputy Chairman of the Russian Trade Union of Seamen, on November 6, in a conversation with Izvestia, commented on the arrest of the Russian ship Akademik Ioffe in Denmark due to a lawsuit filed by a Canadian company that rented it several years ago.
“The practice of sea arrests of ships is such that it assumes that if a ship is arrested, then the ship owner pays a bail for this ship and it can leave with the crew and the expedition. And then the court continues, this pledge is kept on the account of the court so that in the event of a win, there is something from which to extinguish the claims, ”said Kovalchuk.
The first deputy chairman of the Russian Trade Union of Seafarers added that if this is not done and the ship remains in Denmark, the scientists on board can be repatriated if the authorities give permission to do so in connection with the coronavirus.
“If the ship owner or our authorities do not plan to rescue the ship as soon as possible, then they (scientists – Ed.) Can be repatriated at any time,” Kovalchuk added.
At the same time, Kovalchuk noted that Akademik Ioffe is a vessel with comfortable living quarters, and the crew has food, water, and electricity.
It became known about the detention of the vessel on November 4. There are 38 crew members and 23 scientific workers on board. The Russian Embassy has established contact with the Russians.
On November 5, it was reported that the detention of the vessel is a security measure for a third party claim. Canadian company One Ocean Expeditions has filed a lawsuit for $ 19 million.
Some time ago One Ocean Expeditions rented a Russian vessel through an intermediary for tourist cruises. In 2018, she began to have financial problems, and because of the debt to the intermediary firm, the ship “Akademik Ioffe” was seized.
Because of this, the sales of cruises to the Canadian company collapsed; it could not fulfill the obligations to pay for the lease of the last remaining vessel. One Ocean Expeditions said that due to the grounded Akademika Ioffe suffered $ 6.5 million in damage, and the cost of the recalled ships was $ 12.5 million.
There is a version that the ship could run aground due to inaccurate maps.
“If the fact of inaccurate cards is established that some company or a certain supplier who supplied these cards provided inaccurate cards, then there is a basis to fend off this claim, but in any case it will be decided in court,” added Kovalchuk.
On November 5, in an interview with Izvestia, lawyer Vasily Davydov said that in the situation with the Akademik Ioffe ship, it is urgent to work with lawyers and challenge the court’s decision. He recommended that you familiarize yourself with the charter agreement, since the responsibilities of each of the parties are probably spelled out there, which will help to understand what happened.
“Akademik Ioffe” is a 117-meter research vessel built in 1988 and named after the Soviet physicist Abram Fedorovich Ioffe. It has the status of a unique scientific installation and is used for experiments on long-range sound propagation in the ocean.
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