Thursday, November 4th, 2021
Breach of contract lawsuit
Danes stop Russian research ship
The Canadian company One Ocean Expeditions specializes in adventure travel and chartered Russian research vessels. When these are suddenly no longer available, the provider complains. Therefore 38 crew members and 23 scientists now have to hold out in Denmark.
The Danish authorities have arrested a Russian research vessel in the port of Skagen. The background to a legal dispute with a Canadian company, said the Russian embassy in Copenhagen. The “Akademik Joffe”, which belongs to the Russian Shirschow Institute for Oceanology, was arrested on Tuesday and the ship’s documents were confiscated. The measure was taken at the instigation of a third party.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, there are 38 crew members and 23 scientists on board the ship. The Canadian company One Ocean Expeditions had initiated legal proceedings because of earlier commercial activities of the “Akademik Joffe”, Tass quoted embassy representative Maria Syrowatko as saying.
One Ocean Expeditions from the western Canadian province of British Columbia specializes in adventure travel. A 2019 statement on its website said the company has chartered the Akademik Joffe and another Russian research vessel for vacation travel since the early 2010s. “Suddenly and unexpectedly”, however, the ships were no longer made available for this in 2019. This is a breach of contract.
According to Canadian media reports, the “Akademik Joffe” ran aground on a tour in northern Canada in 2018 when she was traveling on behalf of One Ocean Expeditions. More than 160 passengers and crew had to be rescued by the army and the coast guard.