A Russian court on the Pacific island of Sakhalin has ordered the seizure of four tugboats belonging to Denmark's Svitzer
operator at the request of a Russian energy company.
Moscow has been seizing the assets of some Western companies which have left the country or are scaling back their business there in response to the conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions.
A court ruling dated April 24 said it had ordered the tugboats seized in response to a request by Sakhalin Energy, a new Russian legal entity which oversees the production of oil and liquefied natural gas on the island.
The document said Svitzer Sakhalin had written to the Russian company on April 19 confirming plans to suspend a contract for use of the tugboats.
It said the Danish group , the world's biggest tugboat operator and a unit of shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk, had asked for the boats to be moved out of Russian waters and reflagged.
Maersk said the company decided to exit Russia completely in March 2022 and it has had an ongoing divestment process of its towage activities, such as four tugs owned by Svitzer operating on a long-term contract in Sakhalin.
"We have now taken steps to terminate the agreement where an entity of Svitzer in the EU has bare-boat chartered the tugboats to the Russian entity of Svitzer, meaning that Svitzer's entity in Russia no longer will be able to provide services," it said in emailed comments.
This was communicated to the customer and local authorities on April 17, it added.
According to Maersk, after the court ruling, all Svitzer's employees in Russia have resigned and Svitzer was no longer operating the four tugs.
"We believe the situation regarding the tugs is untenable and efforts to resolve the matter are ongoing."
The vessels' seizure would remain in place at least until a May 18 deadline for Sakhalin Energy to file a lawsuit challenging the contract suspension by Svitzer, according to the court's papers.
Russian daily Kommersant reported first about the seizures earlier on Wednesday. Sakhalin Energy did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin in Moscow and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen in Copenhagen Editing by Peter Graff and Angus MacSwan)
