No timeline for return of Maldives' fuel barges seized in Eritrea
The crew was also detained and later released.
By
Aishath Fareeha Abdulla
State Trading Organisation (STO) Managing Director Shimad Ibrahim said on Friday that they had no clear timeline for the return of the Fuel Supplies Maldives (FSM) barges detained in Eritrea, South Africa will be brought back to Maldives.
Several shareholders who attended the company’s annual general meeting on Friday asked for clarification about two of the four barges commissioned from an Egyptian company, seized and held in Eritrea on its way to Maldives.
Answering questions from shareholders, Shimad said it was very difficult to communicate with Eritrea and there was no way to go further with it.
“Things are still not in a very promising way for me to respond to questions about the barges detained in Eritrea,” he said.
Two of the four Ban barges commissioned by FSM to an Egyptian company entered the Eritrean port on April 26 last year without obtaining emergency clearance due to bad weather and rough seas on their way from Egypt.
The crew was also detained and later released.
During the seizure of the two FSM barges, a ship of Petroleum Link, a Maldivian private fuel company, was also seized.
