Ministry of Economy of Georgia: sanctioned vessels or cargoes have not entered the port

Sanctioned cargo did not enter Georgian ports

The Ministry of Economy of Georgia has stated that not a single vessel or cargo under sanction has entered the ports of Georgia. According to the Deputy Minister, the dissemination of unreliable facts damages the country’s international image and misleads the public.

“We unequivocally declare that the information disseminated by a number of media is false; the ATACAMA vessel and its owner are not on the list of those under sanctions,” Guram Guramishvili said.

According to Guramishvili, the vessel ATACAMA, sailing under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis [IMO No. 9248801, port of departure Tuapse, Russia], anchored off Batumi on August 29. The purpose of its arrival in Georgian waters was to replenish supplies of drinking water and food.

“The Maritime Transport Agency of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development and the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance, in a coordinated manner, vigilantly check both ships and ship owners for international sanctions; and if a ship, ship owner or cargo is on the sanctions list, they are not allowed to enter Georgian ports and begin customs procedures,” the deputy minister said.

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The leader of the Droa party, Elene Khoshtaria, said that, according to her information, the oil tanker ATACAMA entered Batumi with a sanctioned cargo of fuel oil from the Russian company Rosneft.

Khoshtaria says the Ministry of Economy’s statement raises even more questions. According to her, the ship left the Russian city of Tuapse, which is 340 kilometers from Batumi – so a ship leaving from there is unlikely to stop in Batumi to get water.

“If there is nothing to hide, if there are no problems, why don’t you tell us what kind of cargo we are dealing with, especially when it comes to a tanker. According to our information, this is the sanctioned cargo of Rosneft — fuel oil. We haven’t heard any explanation for this.

Then there is a protocol introduced at the international level by the United States, which details what level of transparencyis required when sending cargo, what information should be published in order to know that the cargo is not under sanctions,” Khoshtaria declared.

Sanctioned cargo did not enter Georgian ports