Ukraine i Russia there is a dispute between two fishing boats which, according to the official records of the Port Authority of Las Palmas (APLP) on maritime traffic in the capital area, have been docked in the port of Las Palmas since the beginning of February. They are ‘Kapitan Rusak’ and ‘Professor Mikhail Alexandrov’. Both vessels are owned by the Ukrainian fishing company Fishing Company S.A.
Various media related to Ukraine have denounced a move by the director of Fishing Company S.A to exclude these two vessels from the state registry of Ukrainian fishing vessels, in order to give the new charter to entities linked to Russian businessmen, which in practice would mean losing control over the Ukrainian trawling fleet.
One of these media outlets goes further and claims that the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine has opened criminal proceedings to investigate several officials of its own State Fishing Agencywhile they have requested the collaboration of the Spanish authorities to immobilize the fishing boats and prevent them from ending up in the hands of the “Russian Federation”.
The port sources consulted in Las Palmas confirm the existence of a “conflict” between the shipowner and the lessor of the ships, but assure that it is “commercial” and disassociate it from the war between Russia and Ukraine. They reject, in this sense, that the boats are detained or immobilized in the port of Las Palmas.
Both the ‘Kapitan Rusak’ and the ‘Professor Mikhail Alexandrov’ are docked at Cambulloneros dock. The ‘Rusak’ sails under the flag of Cameroon, although on the website of Fishing Company SA it is flagged as Georgia, and arrived in Las Palmas from the African port of Nouadhibou. It was built 26 years ago in the Ukrainian shipyards of the black seawith a length of 104.5 meters and a width of 16.03 meters.
The characteristics of the ‘Alexandrov’ are similar to those of its fleet mate, but it sails under the flag of new zealand, country where he usually fishes and with which he has had legal problems for alleged catches in prohibited areas. Both have the capacity to transport 1,810 tonnes of fish each, between 75 and 85 per day, and are valued at ten million euros.
Alleged fraud
officials of theState Fisheries Agency of Ukraine, in “connivance” with businessmen, have “planned” the delivery to Russia of the two trawlers belonging to Ukraine. First, by leasing the boats to the company Victoria Celeste LLP, which is owned by the Russian citizen Akmal Mamarakhimov, with important businesses in the mining sector, among others; then by creating a “fictitious debt” with Ukraine for alleged services not rendered, with the intention of appealing to these non-payments to transfer the ships to the Russian State Investment and Development Company Veb RFthe Ukrainian media explain.
Mamarakhimov controls the company Perok Alliance LLP, linked to Ferton Impex Limited and Sturari Impex Limited, founding companies of Victoria Celeste LLPwhich has finally become the lessee of the fleet of the State Fisheries Agency of Ukraine, including the ships ‘Kapitan Rusak’ and ‘Professor Mikhail Alexandrov’, the Ukrainian press highlights.
The new bareboat charter contract was formalized in October 2021 at a price of 50,000 euros per month. But, during an internal inspection done in Fishing Company S.A by the State Fisheries Agency, Ukrainian auditors concluded that the process was manipulated to give it to the Russian company.
Russia and Ukraine entered guerra in February of last year. Since then the European union has imposed significant sanctions on the Russians, with the aim of stifling the country’s economy to put Vladimir Putin in a compromise, even preventing their ships from accessing community ports, such as Las Palmas, which treasures a long tradition of Russian stairs.
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These restrictions have caused direct damage to island businessmen with interests in the port of Las Palmas, who have been unable to provide service to all these boats. Employers such as the Association of Consignors and Dockers (Asocelpa), with some of its affiliates affected by this situation, have presented to the European Union, through the parliamentarian Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilarthe damage they suffer, but the arrangements made so far for the return of the Russian boats have not borne fruit.
The Ukrainian fishing fleet is small, quite inferior to the Russian one, but their boats usually call at Las Palmas. Traditionally, they focus their activity on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azovwithin the exclusive economic zone established in 1995, with catches spasin and anchovy destined for the canning and smoking industry. Their deepwater fleet fishes both in the eastern and central Atlantic, where they fish sunsardineverat i sardinella to market it in neighboring countries.