Talks are underway for release of MSC Aries crew, says MSC

The twenty-five crew members of the MSC Aries container ship, which was seized on April 13 in the Strait of Hormuz by the Iranian authorities are safe, Swiss-based container shipping major MSC said in an update.

“The 25 crew are safe and discussions with the Iranian authorities are in progress to secure their earliest release,” the statement reads. “We are also working with the Iranian authorities to have the cargo discharged.”

The 2020-built vessel is owned by Gortal Shipping, a finance company affiliated with Zodiac Maritime, a company run by Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer and his family. MSC operates the vessel on its Himalaya Express between Europe, India, and Sri Lanka.

The Portugal-flagged 15,000 TEU container ship had just completed a call at Khalifa port in the UAE and was heading with cargo onboard for its next call at Nhava Sheva port in India when it was boarded.

Video footage of the seizure circulating the internet shows two guards sliding down ropes from a helicopter while the vessel was sailing in the Gulf of Oman.

MSC added that it would continue to provide uninterrupted and regular service on the Himalaya Express and all other services operating in the region. The company noted that ‘due to the extremely sensitive and fluid nature of the situation’, it could not provide any further information about the situation.

Iran’s foreign ministry said that the vessel was seized over a ‘violation of maritime laws’, and not answering calls from Iranian authorities, as reported by Reuters. However, the move has been seen as a retaliation strategy against Israel over its recent bombing of an Iranian consulate in Syria. The bombing, which claimed the lives of seven people, has added fuel to the already brewing tensions in the region due to Israel’s war in Gaza.

The seizure of the containership has been fiercely condemned by the international maritime bodies as a ‘flagrant breach of international law and an assault on freedom of navigation’, which have expressed fears that the incident could further disrupt cargo transits in and out of the region.