Lobbied Government to Discharge Tanker During Cessation of Operations

Inherent Risks was contacted by a global agribusiness company with cargoes which had been stranded on ships in two Ukrainian Ports due to a cessation of Port Operations caused by Russia’s invasion.

Ship owners had implemented a daily storage fee for the cargoes, retroactive to February 24th, 2022 (when Russia invaded Ukraine) totalling over $500,000 USD.

In addition, ship owners were erroneously claiming that the cargoes were eroding the ship beyond repair and were attempting to hold cargoes hostage when Port Operations commence unless significant damages, quoted at over $2m USD, were paid by the agribusiness company.

Inherent Risks deployed Consultants to two separate Ports, in Odesa and Mykolaiv, to meet with Port Authorities, photograph the cargo ships, and to assess the options available to resolve the situation.

We further requested permissions from Port Authorities and the Owners of the Ships to carry out Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) and an Environmental Impact Report based on the scenarios of a ship hull failing due to corrosion, or if a ship is catastrophically damaged due to an act of war.

Working alongside law firms retained by our client in Belgium and Ukraine, and continuing to liaise with Port Authorities, the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine and an Agricultural Association, Inherent Risks authored a comprehensive report of the situation, including viable options to discharge the ships, and transport the cargo within Ukraine for the benefit of the country.

The Report was presented to the relevant authorities for review and approval. Over the 102 days following, Inherent Risks were requested to attend five meetings with Government Officials and to provide over thirty separate official documents and certificates.

From the date that Inherent Risks was retained, to the date that approval was granted to discharge both cargo ships, was 147-days.

In that time, we were also able to successfully negotiate with the ship owners a drastically reduced storage fee, and mitigate additional future compensation and liabilities being claimed against our client by the ship owner.

Both cargoes, totalling over 30,000 metric tonnes, were discharged without incident.