Iran releases seized container ship

The Maersk Tigris, the container ship seized on April 28 in the Strait of Hormuz, was making its way to Dubai on Thursday after the Iranian authorities freed the vessel and its crew.

Denmark's Maersk Line, which had chartered the vessel, said the vessel's release followed a "constructive dialogue" with the Iranian authorities. It had provided a "letter of undertaking" in relation to the cargo dispute that led to the seizure, concerning the fate of 10 shipping containers in Dubai in 2005.

Iran's revolutionary guards fired shots across the Maersk Tigris's bow as it sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and forced the vessel to come to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas. Iran's action prompted the US military to start accompanying all US-flagged commercial ships in the narrow strait at the entrance to the Gulf to ensure other vessels were spared a similar fate.

The 10 containers full of goods at the centre of the dispute belonged to Pars Talaee, an Iranian oil-services company, and were disposed of in Dubai when no one collected them after 90 days. Pars Talaee's initial attempt to seek compensation from Maersk was dismissed in 2007 but the company won a second action in February. Maersk did not discover until the action against the Maersk Tigris that the Iranian courts had demanded it pay $3.6m compensation, up from the $163,000 initially awarded.

The case is unusual because, despite its name, the Maersk Tigris belongs to Oaktree, the US private equity firm, and is managed by an arm of Germany's Rickmers Group. Although it was operating a service for Maersk Line, it had only a tenuous connection to the underlying dispute.

The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view. Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.

While courts regularly enforce court orders by arresting ships - preventing them from leaving port - it is far less common for a country's military to intercept a vessel in international waters.

The case has been the latest harsh lesson in the vagaries of international shipping for private equity firms, which have been enthusiastic investors in the sector since 2009 but in many cases have faced severe losses.

Maersk said the crew of the vessel was "in good condition" and that Rickmers staff would attend to their needs when they reached Dubai, the vessel's original destination.

"We will continue our dialogue with the aim to fully resolve the cargo case," Maersk said.

© The Financial Times Limited 2015. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation