Iran Releases Seized Cargo Ship
Iran released a Marshall-Islands flagged container ship Maersk Tigris and its crew has been released by Iranian authorities after the cargo company that owns it resolved a financial dispute which had been the subject of a court order.
“The Maersk container ship was released and it has left Iranian territorial waters,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham.
It will now continue its scheduled voyage to Jebel Ali, in the United Arab Emirates, where it will be met by representatives from Rickmers and others.
The Maersk incident coincided with heightened tension between regional arch-rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia over the civil war in Yemen, in which they support opposing sides.
The seizure of the Maersk Tigris fueled panic on false rumors it was a US-flagged ship, and led the Pentagon to spend six days escorting cargo ships through the Strait of Hormuz, though they announced on Wednesday they’re going to stop.
“Maersk Line is pleased and relieved to learn that the Maersk Tigris has been released by the Iranian authorities,” a spokesman for Maersk Line, Michael C. Storgaard, said in the statement.
The Maersk Tigris is registered in the Marshall Islands. It is managed and staffed by Rickmers Shipmanagement, a subsidiary of Rickmers Group, a German maritime services company, which reported that the crew was in good condition.
"Rickmers Group is pleased to report today its managed container vessel Maersk Tigris with 24 crew members on board has been officially released by Iranian authorities following an order from the court in Bandar Abbas, Iran," the operator and manager said in a statement.
Iran claimed the Danish shipping company that chartered the ship, Maersk Line, owed money to an Iranian firm.
Hamid Reza Jahanian, the managing director of the Pars Talayieh oil products company, which had filed a lawsuit against the Maersk Line container shipping company, told Fars News Agency on May 2 that the reason behind the seizure was the damage inflicted upon Pars Talayieh by Maersk Line, which is part of the Maersk Group headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark.
