The Norwegian shipping company, Havila Kystruten was forced to delay the delivery of its third cruise ship, “Havila Polaris” and to cancel its first four sailings. The company is suffering collateral damage from the sanctions placed on Russian financial institutions.
The problems arose back in April after the sanctions against Russian financial institutions were extended. Havila Kystruten had obtained its financing from the Russian Financing company GTLK, for building and operating four 15,500 gross ton ships under long-term charters. As the sanctions were extended and the financing dried up, Havila found itself in a precarious position. Due to the sanctions, it could not buy these ships from GTLK and hence was unable to obtain a clear title to their ships. Currently the ship stands completed at the Tersan Shipyard in Turkey.
The company has stated that they won a legal battle last week in the London High Court and would settle the dispute over the ownership of the “Havila Polaris” and its sister ship “Havilla Pollux”. The British court instructed for the payments for the ship going to GTLK to be made to a frozen account, the funds from which will be accessible by GTLK after the sanctions are lifted.
The maiden voyage of the Havila Polaris on December 29th was canceled, along with voyages scheduled for January 9th, 20th, and 31st. Havila is unable to take delivery of the ship as the clarification regarding the debts is still pending, despite a positive ruling by the UK High court. Havila is expecting the delivery of the Havila Polaris in the second half of January and expects to begin sailing on February 11th from Bergen.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
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