Was not aware about issue with cargo, says oil tanker manager

Elektrans Shipping, the manager of oil tanker Distya Ameya, which had been blacklisted by the UN for carrying illicit crude oil from Libya, today said it was not aware that there was any issue with the cargo loaded on the vessel.
The tanker is owned by Mumbai-based Arya Shipping Charterers, while Elektrans Shipping (Mumbai) is its crewing and technical manager.
"We wish to reiterate that neither vessel owners/managers - 'Arya Ship Charterers/ Elektrans', were aware that there was any issue with the cargo loaded on the vessel. Pertinently, at the relevant time, the vessel was under charter and was operating in accordance with charterer's instructions," the company said in a statement.

"However, immediately upon being notified that a 'sanctioned' cargo was loaded on board, vessel owners, managers and charterers acted strictly in accordance with instructions received from the UN, through the flag state. This resulted in an expeditious resolution of the situation, to the satisfaction of the UN, the Libyan government and the Indian government," it said.
The vessel on April 25 had left Marsa el-Hariga port in eastern Libya, where the unrecognized government was behind the sale of the crude, to India.
However, the India-flagged tanker was asked by Indian authorities not to move from Malta after it was added to UN sanctions blacklist for illegally carrying crude from Libya on April 26.

Libyan UN Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi had written to 15-member sanctions committee for blacklisting the tanker.

The DG Shipping yesterday said that following India's intervention, United Nations lifted sanctions on the tanker.
"Achieving denotification of the vessel in merely 16 days is an unparalleled achievement which was made possible with the timely support and intervention from Indian Flag, particularly the Director General of Shipping, Deepak Shetty...," the statement said.
The statement said the Libyan Ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi, when commenting about the sanctions imposed on the vessel, acknowledged the support received from Indian Flag and went on record as stating "tanker operators had no intention of getting involved in an improper transaction and had lacked proper information", thereby exonerating the vessel's owners and operators from any wrongdoing.

The Libyan government's conviction that the vessel owners/ managers / operators acted in a bona fide manner led to Libyan government withdrawing its complaint, which in turn facilitated the expeditious denotification of the vessel, the company said.