TEHRAN: Managing-Director of Pars Tala’eyeh Oil Products Company Hamidreza Jahanian said the Marshall Islands-flagged trade ship, Maersk Tigris that was seized by the Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf earlier this week, has been kept in custody because it owes $10mln to his company.
“Unfortunately, a number of containers sent by Pars Tala’eyeh Oil Products Company through the Maersk Line Shipping Co. were not delivered to the customer in Jebel Ali in 2003, which initiated financial disputes between us and Maersk Line Shipping Co. then,” Jahanian told FNA on Saturday.
Since Maersk Line Shipping Co. had some differences with its representative in Iran, it refrained from delivering the goods to the customer and the efforts to pursue the case through the company proved futile, he added.
He said the losses incurred on Pars Tala’eyeh Oil Products Company in that case were estimated at $10mln, and Tala’eyeh Oil Products Company filed lawsuit on the restitution of the carried goods with an Iranian court and the court ruled in favor of the Iranian company.
Managing-Director of Pars Tala’eyeh Oil Products Company Hamidreza Jahanian
Jahanian underlined that if Maersk Line Shipping Co. compensates for Pars Tala’eyeh Oil Products Company, the ship will be released, otherwise, the assets and properties on the ship and even the vessel itself will be put up to tender and will be sold to make up for the losses inflicted on the Iranian company.
The Iranian naval forces seized the trade vessel with all its crew in the Persian Gulf on Tuesday and immediately took it to Shaheed Bahonar Port in Southern Iran.
After informed sources told FNA that “the ship … has been seized by the Iranian naval forces at the request of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization”, Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (IPMO) Deputy Chief Hadi Haqshenas explained that Maersk Tigris has been engaged in payment disputes with the Iranian Pars Tala’eyeh Oil Products Company for several years.
He said the Iranian company had “started litigation in recent years to sue Maersk Line Shipping Co.”, adding that “after the court of appeal upheld the initial court ruling in the favor of the Iranian company, ordering Maersk Line Shipping Co. to make up for the financial losses of the plaintiff, the decree was sent to IPMO – which is in charge of maritime affairs according to the international laws and regulations – on March 15, 2015 to be put into effect”.
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