HC Orders Sale Of Vessel With Panama Flag Docked At Odisha’s Paradip; Know Why?

Bhubaneswar: Months after 22.2 kg of Cocaine was seized by Customs officials from the bulk carrier with a Panama flag at Paradip port, the Orissa High Court ordered its sale as it failed to clear dues of Rs 8 crore.

Justice V Narasingh of the Orissa high court ordered that bulk carrier, MV Debi, should be sold in accordance to Section 11(3) of the Admiralty Act, 2017 and Admiralty Rules, 2020. According to the rules, a ship can be auctioned if the owner abandons the vessel after its ‘arrest.’

The HC asked the court commissioner to appoint ‘Adoina Offshore Consultants Private Limited’ as surveyors as well as valuers, according to a Hindustan Times report. The firm was also asked to submit a report for ascertaining the valuation of the vessel, both for scraping as well as for trading, as on or before September 21.

The vessel had arrived at Paradip port from Egypt via the Gresik Port in Indonesia on November 29. It was supposed to leave for Denmark with steel plates. But after the contraband worth ₹220 crore was allegedly seized from the vessel on December 1 last year, it was detained.

At least 21 crew members of the vessel, including its captain Vu Kang Dinh, are still being probed by the customs officials. In February this year, the Orissa high court had ordered the arrest of the bulk carrier. The arrest came after Paradip International Cargo Terminal filed an admiralty suit involving maritime claim for recovery of dues.

Paradip International Cargo Terminal Pvt. Ltd is the infrastructural arm of major shipping logistics company JM Baxi Group. It has been running a multipurpose terminal 10 km off the Paradip Port since 2016. MV Debi is supposed to pay berthing charges to the company.

After the seizure, the vessel was docked at the cargo terminal, occupying a regular space. The JM Baxi group had stated before the court that though it had been sending all the invoices and notices to the owners of MV Debi in Vietnam, the dues weren’t cleared.