KONTUR SPb secured court’s judgement for IC “Soglasiye” to cover payments in respect of Abrau tanker incident in Bosphorus strait
The legal proceeding lasted for almost a couple of years
KONTUR SPb LLC (part of Baltic Fuel Company) has secured the court’s judgement for Insurance Company “Soglasiye” LLC to cover insurance payments in respect of the incident with oil tanker Abrau in the Bosphorus strait, BFC told IAA PortNews.
In September 2017, KONTUR SPb LLC and Insurance Company “Soglasiye” LLC signed a contract on insurance of water-born transport, the Abrau ship. In January 2018, the tanker was on the way from the port of Novorossiysk (Russia) to the port of Gebze (Turkey) carrying over 3,000 tonnes of oil products. Upon completion of the Bosphorus strait passage on 18 January 2018, the ship found it dead in the water due to a failure of Vulkan coupling between the engine and the reduction gear. The ship was towed to the anchorage. On 2 February 2018, the ship owner announced a general average. On 13 April 2018, North-Western Department of the Directorate for Maritime and River Supervision handed down its opinion regarding the Abrau incident investigation.
On 10 May 2018, KONTUR SPb LLC addressed Insurance Company “Soglasiye” LLC to claim the insurance payment. By that moment, the ship owner had fully covered all the expenses of the third parties including those incurred by the Turkish Authorities in the course of the rescue operation.
As there was no voluntary compensation from IC “Soglasiye” LLC, KONTUR SPb LLC had to file a lawsuit to the Arbitration Court of the City of Saint-Petersburg and the Leningrad Region seeking the compensation.
As BFC told IAA PortNews, “the legal proceedings that ended only in November 2020 were being dragged by Soglasiye through all means including an appeal against the court’s judgement. Yet, the court ruled in favor of the ship owner”.
On 19 November 2020, the Arbitration Court of the North-West passed a judgement according to which the cassation court fully confirmed the legality of the ship owner’s actions and obliged IC “Soglasiye” LLC to reimburse insurance payments in full. In early December 2020, following the submission of the enforcement order to the bank where Soglasiye is keeping an account, the account of Soglasiye was debited in favor of KONTUR SPb LLC.
