Maersk says Iran did not inform it of court order before capturing ship

Maersk says Iran did not inform it of court order before capturing ship

Nepal National Sunday 3rd May, 2015
• Tehran says seizure of ship not politically motived
• Maersk says never informed of court order prior to seizure of ship
• US has called the firing of warning shots at civilian vessel 'inappropriate'
TEHRAN, Iran - Maersk Line has released a statement insisting that it was not informed of any court ruling in Tehran leading up to the seizure of its container ship Mearsk Tigris.
The vessel was seized by Iranian naval forces in the Strait of Hormuz due to a ten-year-old legal dispute, which the shipping line lost in February, but was never informed of by Iran, the shipping line said.
Tigris was detained by Iranian naval forces on Tuesday when entering the Arabian Gulf bound for the UAE, warning shots were fired at the vessel before she was escorted to Iran's Bandar Abbas port.
In a statement, Mearsk Line said that it had in 2005 delivered ten containers in Dubai for an Iranian customer Pars Talaie, but that the shipping containers were never collected. The containers and their contents were destroyed 90 days later in line with local UAE regulations.
The Iranian freight forwarder subsequently filed a US $4-million lawsuit against Maersk Line, based on the value of the cargo. The case was rejected by Iran's state prosecutor's office in 2007, but a court of appeals in Tehran ruled in favour of the Iranian customer on February 18th.
Maersk Line said that it has not until April 30, been notified that a court of appeals in Tehran had sentenced it to pay US $3.6 million to the Iranian company.
"As we do not have the details of the ruling, we are not able to comment hereon, nor at this point speculate on our options," Maersk Line said in a statement.
The Iranian Embassy in Denmark, however, insists that both the Iranian freight forwarder and Mearsk Line were informed of the ruling.
The embassy also repeated Tehran's insistence that Tigris was boarded in Iranian waters, a claim Maersk disputes, although a portion of the Strait of Hormuz does require ships to transit Iranian waters.
The embassy emphasised that there were no political or security-related motives behind the incident on Tuesday, but reports have emerged that another Mearsk Line vessel, US-flagged Maersk Kensington, was tracked by Iranian naval vessels, with four patrol boats surrounding the ship during her passage through the Strait.