Iran denies releasing seized Maersk`s ship

  29 April 2015    Read: 1264
Iran denies releasing seized Maersk`s ship
Iran denied releasing the seized ship belongs to the Maersk Line cargo an hour after Al-Jazeera quoted Iranian sources as saying that Tehran had released the ship and that none of the crew members were detained.
Fars News Agency quoted the Maritime Deputy Director of Iran’s Ports and Sailing Organization Hadi Haqshenas April 29 as saying the seized ship is still under arrest.

A Maersk Line cargo ship seized in the Strait of Hormuz by the Islamic Republic was because of some unpaid debt. Maersk Line owes some money to an Iranian company and the court has ruled that Maersk should pay the debt, he said.

Maersk Line is the global container division and the largest operating unit of the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group, a Danish business conglomerate. It is world`s largest container shipping company having customers through 374 offices in 116 countries.

On April 28 Iranian patrol vessels fired warning shots and ordered the ship to sail further into Iranian waters when the ship was passing through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Shippingwatch.

At first, Maersk Tigris ignored the order, but after the warning shots it obeyed. The ship is registered under the flag of the Marshall Islands.

Haqshenas said a complaint by an Iranian company resulted in a court ruling on March 16 which demanded the debt be paid.

The arrest was carried out by the Coast Guard and authorized by Iran’s Joint Staff of Armed Forces.

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