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Authorities once again prohibit Russian tanker from leaving Ukrainian port

On August 10, the Ukrainian Security Service blocked the Russian vessel at the port of Kherson

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/. /TASS/. The authorities of the Ukrainian port of Kherson have once again prohibited Russia’s Mekhanik Pogodin tanker from leaving, the vessel’s operating company V.F.Tanker said in a statement.

"The three-day ban issued by the port authorities expired on the night of August 13 but on the morning of August 14, when the recipient companies - Maddox SA (Switzerland) and Maddox Ukraine (Ukraine) - once again tried to clear the vessel’s cargo, the customs service rejected their request without providing any comment," the statement reads. "The port authorities issued another ban to prohibit the vessel from leaving the port, citing Article 91 of the Merchant Maritime Code and a letter of the Ukrainian State Border Service. However, there have been no violations in this case that could possibly prompt the port authorities to employ the code," the company added.

According to the company, the Ukrainian Border Service’s letter about a new ban was not presented to the vessel’s captain. The company noted that "it cannot be viewed otherwise than a formal excuse to extend the illegal detention of the Russian vessel at the Kherson port."

"No inspections took place when the vessel entered the port, there have also been no inspections during the four days of its detention, and no claims have been made concerning any violations that the vessel or its crew could have committed," the statement adds. "The port authorities and customs service have been notified that the vessel’s detention was groundless and illegal and could entail liability for damages," the V.F.Tanker company pointed out, adding that the move was "a violation of the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to the Arrest of Sea-going Ships."

On August 10, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) blocked the Russian vessel at the port of Kherson, saying that its owner had been blacklisted by Kiev. The vessel’s captain said earlier that the tanker was shipping diesel fuel from Turkmenistan to Ukraine under a freightage contract in the interests of Canada’s Oil Marine Shipping and Chartering, while Unicredit Bank Austria was the cargo manager at the Kherson port.