The Danish shipping giant said on Wednesday that Russian authorities had seized four Maersk locomotives, after announcing its complete withdrawal from Russia shortly after the invasion of Ukraine.
“On April 25, we learned that a local court had ordered that the locomotives not be allowed to leave Russia and that it had also transferred custody of the locomotives to a third party,” Maersk said in a statement provided to the press.
These four boats, owned by Svitzer, a subsidiary of the Danish flagship, are operating under contract around Sakhalin-2, an oil and gas project off the island in the Russian Far East.
Efforts to sell this activity in mid-April succeeded, but the port authorities opposed this withdrawal by calling the teams to continue operating the locomotives before confiscating them, according to Maersk.
“Since then, all of Svetser’s employees in Russia have resigned, and Svitser no longer operates the four locomotives,” Maersk said, describing the situation as “untenable.”
In June, the Kremlin transferred control of the oil and gas project, in which Japan holds shares, to a Russian company.
