High Court orders detention of Hong Kong vessel

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the deputy conservator of Cochin Port to detain a Hong Kong flagged vessel owned by Maersk Shipping Line and directed the shipping company to remit a fine of `75 lakh for releasing the vessel.Justice P Bhavadasan passed the order while considering a petition filed by A V Thomas (AVT) and Company, which had placed an order for 1,246 cases of liquor from United Kingdom. The consignment was to be shipped to Kochi port.The petitioner’s counsel argued that though the consignment was loaded on Maersk Selester, it was not delivered. The Maersk submitted that the consignment was unloaded at Colombo port for transshipment to Kochi. However owing to a mistake committed by the officers of Mearsk in Sri Lanka the consignment was identified as local and they failed to load the consignment in the feeder vessel bound for Kochi.The petitioner alleged that it was not a mistake by the officers of Maersk, but an act with a malafide intention to possess 1,246 cases of liquor by the associates of Maresk in Sri Lanka.But the Customs Department in Colombo charged Maersk, Colombo, under the provisions of the Customs Act. Though the company approached a court in Sri Lanka to redress the grievance, no favourable orders could be obtained.