India wins appeal against oil tanker detention in Iran
Bangalore: India has won an appeal filed with a
regional grouping of 16 maritime nations against the recent detention of
an oil tanker in Iran on charges of polluting Iranian waters, clearing
the decks for the tanker owner, state-run Shipping Corp. of India Ltd, to seek compensation for holding up the ship.
Following India’s appeal in September, the Indian Ocean Memorandum
of Understanding on Port State Control (IOMOU) had set up a detention
review panel to look into the matter. Port state control is a check on
visiting foreign ships to verify their compliance with international
rules on safety and pollution prevention.
India and Iran are members of IOMOU, one among nine set
up at the behest of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the
global maritime regulator, to check the operation of substandard ships.
“The panel members unanimously agreed that the
information provided indicates that the vessel was not voluntarily in
port, as such this should be considered as action by a coastal state
under Article 220 and 224 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of
the Sea (UNCLOS),” D. Mehrotra,
secretary, IOMOU secretariat, wrote in an 8 November communication to
the Directorate General of Shipping, India’s maritime administrator. Mint has seen a copy.
The detention review panel had representatives from
India, Iran, Australia, South Africa and France, according to the
procedure for constituting such a detention review panel.
“The panel was, therefore, of the view that the
inspection and detention should be removed from the IOCIS (official
database) by the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Mehrotra wrote in the
communication.
The recommendations of the Panel will be binding on both India and Iran, according to the procedure.
“The IOMOU findings imply that it has accepted India’s
appeal and concluded that the detention of the tanker was wrong and
illegal,” a spokesman for the Directorate General of Shipping said.
“Shipping Corp. has a solid ground to seek compensation against Iran for
the illegal detention of the tanker, if they desire to proceed in that
direction.”
Shipping Corp. declined to comment.
The tanker named Desh Shanti owned by state-run
Shipping Corp. was allowed to resume her journey on 6 September from
Bandar Abbas port in Iran where she was detained since 12 August on
allegations of causing pollution in Iranian waters.
The ship was detained while on her voyage from Basrah in
Iraq to Visakhapatnam on India’s eastern coast carrying crude for
state-run oil refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd.
The ship was released after Shipping Corp. submitted a
letter of undertaking to Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization, which
had guaranteed payment towards clean-up operations if the spill is
proved.
Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization could not be reached immediately for comment.
Iran had alleged that the ship was detained because it
discharged its oily ballast water 30 miles from Iran’s Lavan Island in
the Persian Gulf that “caused a 10-mile-long oil stain on the sea”.
In order to maintain stability during transit, ships fill
their ballast tanks with millions of gallons of water. This water is
taken from coastal waters in one region after ships discharge wastewater
or unload cargo, and discharged at the next port of call, when more
cargo is loaded.
India is one of the few markets for Iran’s oil as the
west Asian country struggles to sell crude in the face of Western
sanctions against its nuclear programme. Tehran says it is intended for
peaceful purposes.
A week ago, Western powers reached a temporary pact
with Iran after the Persian nation agreed not to proceed further in
enriching uranium.
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