WORLD NEWS FEBRUARY 21, 2019 / 12:30 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

Exclusive: Crews to abandon two Venezuelan tankers stuck in Portugal - operator

Catarina Demony, Goncalo Almeida
3 MIN READ

LISBON (Reuters) - The crew of Venezuelan oil tanker, the Rio Arauca, that has been stuck in the middle of the river Tagus in Lisbon for nearly two years due to unpaid debt, is set to be dismissed, managers Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) said on Thursday.

BSM also said in a statement sent to Reuters another Venezuelan tanker, the Parnaso, which is in dry dock at the port of Setubal, south of Lisbon, will also have its crew removed later this week due to a lack of payment from owners PDV Marina, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA.

Lisbon’s maritime court ruled to take possession of the Parnaso last August. Both vessels are under BSM management.

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Lisbon’s Port Authority (APL) said Rio Arauca had entered the port with a cargo of crude for the local oil firm Galp Energia, but later Portuguese navigation company Navex declined to continue to be the tanker’s agent. The tanker was then subject to “successive arrest orders”, APL said.

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Various tankers with Venezuelan crude around the world have been arrested by authorities or otherwise prevented from leaving because PDVSA has not been able to pay for hull cleaning, inspections, and other port services.