ST. PETERSBURG, August 25. /TASS/. The Lada bulk carrier has moored at a South African port and unloaded containers; the port has no claims against the ship owner, a representative for the vessel’s owner told TASS.
"[The vessel] moored and unloaded. An ordinary examination of the vessel is underway, and then we’ll move on. Everything is going on a regular mode," the source said.
The port’s supervision service is currently examining the vessel’s state, the source said. "It may end this evening or tomorrow morning, and then we’ll move on," he said, confirming that the port has no claims against the ship owner over the cargos. The representative for the ship owner noted that the Russian consular employee is not present at the vessel’s examination by the port supervision service.
"Our consul isn’t there, because there are no grounds for it yet; we haven’t received any documents so far," he said.
After the end of the examination procedure the vessel will go to Nigeria’s shore for subsequent unloading and then will proceed to a US port. "This is a transit, interim, stop; then we’ll go on, and we’ll have several more ports of unloading," the company added.
The ship owner, based in St. Petersburg, refuted the reports that South Africa’s police had arrested the Russian vessel Lada in Port Elizabeth, claiming that it allegedly contained "hazardous cargo." The company highlighted that the "cargo aboard the vessel is legal" and that the US authorities granted a permission for its delivery to the ship owner.
The Lada vessel, which is carrying 10 people on board, was built in 2000 in Bulgaria and is Russia-registered, with a home port in St. Petersburg.