Transneft will take tanker owners on boarding in arbitration

The company requires 640 million rubles for the accident in Novorossiysk.
23.07.2019
Kommersant
Origin source
As it became known to "Kommersant", "Transneft" requires through the court about 640 million rubles. from the shipowner of the tanker, who piled on the pier in Novorossiysk at the end of June. The court has already seized the tanker, which will allow Transneft to at least partially cover the losses. Now the berth works in a limited mode due to repairs, but the accident almost did not lead to a decrease in oil cargo, Kommersant sources say.

On July 18, Transneft filed a claim with the Arbitration Court of the Krasnodar Territory for damages of 641 million rubles. from Hamilton Shipping LLC (Marshall Islands), follows from a file of arbitration cases. The next meeting is scheduled for August 13th.

The tanker of this company, FOS Hamilton (dwt 105 thousand tons), chartered by Rosneft, rammed one of the moorings of the Transneft-owned Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP, co-sign) while mooring. Transneft President Advisor Igor Demin told Kommersant that claims filed by Hamilton Shipping include repairs to the pier and the cost of damaged equipment that was there during the incident. After the accident, Transneft limited the size of vessels accepted at the pier only by the type Aframax.

Transneft has already achieved that on June 27, the court imposed interim measures on the tanker in the form of a sea bail. Maritime security allows Transneft and NCSP to demand the sale of an arrested vessel in order to speed up the process of obtaining compensation for damages. In the court’s decision, it was stated that, in addition to direct losses, “the likelihood of the port forcibly rejecting new contracts is also high due to a significant limitation of opportunities during repair”. However, two sources of “Kommersant” assure that the restrictions in the work of the pier practically did not lead to a decrease in oil shipments, some of the volumes were handled by the neighboring pier.

The name Hamilton Shipping coincides with the name of a large Irish company. Source “Kommersant” claims that the same tanker as the FOS Hamilton can cost $ 50 million. He does not exclude that the condition of the damaged vessel will allow selling it for $ 8–10 million, which will practically cover the losses of Transneft.

The damage caused is collected from the shipowner company, which will be obliged to compensate this damage, and then itself will make demands on its employees by way of recourse, Galina Hamburg, head of property and liability practice at the Nmc Amulex, notes. She adds that lost profits can also be charged, but its size must be justified.

The quickest option, given the circumstances, is the sale of the tanker and the seizure of its cargo, says Dmitry Gorbunov, a partner of the law firm Rustam Kurmaev & Partners. If this is not enough, then it will be necessary to seek, through the court, the confiscation of other vessels and cargo belonging to the same owner. But it will take time, and, most likely, if the owner of the court had already foreseen the consequences, but hadn’t announced it - he could transfer his other courts to another legal entity, and then the lawyer will find it even harder to recover damages. He adds that it is possible to “go a long way” and try to recognize the decision of the court of the Russian Federation in foreign jurisdiction and achieve its execution there, but this does not guarantee success, but the costs of the process will be tangible.

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