Ship owner loses Rs. 114 m so far through 1-year Avant Garde detention

Sri Lanka Shipping Company Ltd., which owns MV Avant Garde, has lost over Rs. 100 million owing to the detention of the vessel at the Galle Port.

The loss has been disclosed in an affidavit submitted to the Attorney General on Friday.

The ship has been in detention for a year after it entered Lankan waters allegedly without prior Government approval with arms and ammunition on board which were under the custody of Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Ltd. (RALL), a fully-owned company of the Ministry of Defence which functions under its direct purview.

Sri Lanka Shipping Company has maintained that it was only the operator of the ship. The affidavit filed by Sri Lanka Shipping General Manager Finance and Administration N.A.B. Amarakoon seeking the release of the vessel revealed that the expenditure incurred as at 30 September 2016 had exceeded the value of the ship. 

The company bought the motor tug MV Merou in February 2014 from its then owners in India and later renamed it MV Avant Garde and chartered it to Avant Garde Maritime Services Ltd. The ship has been valued at $ 400,000 or Rs. 57.6 million and between October 2015 and September 2016 the company has incurred an expenditure of Rs. 77.9 million in maintaining the ship with crew and supplies. If a depreciation of Rs. 36.3 million is added, the total expenditure is Rs. 114.2 million. The company intends to seek reimbursement of these expenses from the relevant parties.