THE Russian cargo ship Alaed allegedly carrying attack helicopters and weapons for the Syrian government is now returning to Russia, the British foreign secretary William Hague has said. He was speaking this afternoon to members of parliament in the UK’s House of Commons. Fairplay has not been able to verify independently that the ship has turned round, as its AIS receiver is either turned off or out of range but it had most recently been reporting its destination as Vladivostok.
The ship had stopped north of Scotland when its P&I cover was withdrawn by the Standard Club yesterday “in view of the nature of the voyage” (F24, 18 June).
In a separate statement, the Club told the BBC: "We were informed on Friday evening that the ship might be carrying weapons … and we are making inquiries to establish what their side of the story is. There are exclusion clauses in our cover and, for anyone involved in improper or unlawful trade, we can cancel cover."
However, a Russian observer commented to Fairplay that “Russia has no legal obligation to meet the US-EU sanctions and will not. It won’t take long for the vessel to get Russian insurance cover.”
There has also been confusion in some media over the ship’s management company, which has been named in some reports as United Nordic Shipping (UNS). But its managing director Søren Andersen has assured Fairplay that “to the best of our knowledge the vessel is managed and operated by FEMCO in Russia.” He confirmed that there had been discussions between UNS and FEMCO about UNS becoming commercial manager for the vessel. “However the contract was never effectuated and UNS has not at anytime been responsible for the commercial management of the vessel or entered into any charter agreements on behalf of the vessel or her owners.” He said that FEMCO had “incorrectly named UNS as commercial managers [and] we have requested that FEMCO rectify this.” One news source reported today that the Standard Club has withdrawn cover from all FEMCO ships.