The shipping industry will be affected by the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia. The world’s three biggest container shipping lines have temporarily suspended non-essential bookings to and from Russia. Shipping giants including Switzerland-based MSC, Denmark’s Maersk and France’s CMA CGM announced that they would stop cargo bookings to and from Russia until further notice. The exceptions apply to deliveries of essential supplies, such as food, medical equipment and humanitarian goods.
Container shipping companies play a crucial role in global trade, carrying the mass of the world’s manufactured goods. These steps taken by the world’s largest container shipping lines cut Russia off from a large part of the world’s shipping capacity.
These sanctions will have an impact on the Dutch superyacht industry, which has been heavily reliant on the Russian market in the last few years.
The loss of Russian clients will be a blow to boatbuilders such as Heesen, which is currently finishing a €100 mn owned by Azerbaijani businessman Vagit Alekperov. Alekperov is the president of the Russian oil company Lukoil, but currently, he is not among the Russian oligarchs on the European Union’s sanctions list. Heesen has also built boats for Igor Kasaev, a Russian retail magnate and Alexander Dzhaparidze, an oil exploration billionaire.
Damen Yachting has previously built boats for Dzhaparidze and Oleg Tinkov, founder of the Tinkoff bank and now is working on two orders for Russian customers.
Since the start of the invasion, a number of Russian-owned superyachts have been seized by European port authorities. Amore Vero yacht built by Oceanco, owned by Igor Sechin, chairman of Russian state oil company Rosneft, was detained in the French port of La Ciotat last week. Another yacht, Dilbar, owned by Alisher Usmanov, owner of the Kommersant publishing house, is currently abandoned in Hamburg harbor where it has been brought for a refit.
Countries like the United Kingdom and Canada banned Russian-owned or registered ships and fishing vessels in their ports and internal waters. This ban was introduced together with additional economic measures against the Russian Central Bank and the state’s sovereign wealth fund.
These actions are part of ongoing coordination attempts among G7 partners and agreeing countries to hold Russian leadership accountable for the Ukraine crisis.
