Fratelli Onorato Armatori, a company originally controlled by Achille and Alessandro Onorato but now part of the Moby Group, informed FERRY SHIPPING NEWS that the RoRo Maria Grazia Onorato has been arrested by Siem in the port of Sète.
Siem is the owner of the ship, which was built and delivered in 2017 by the Flensburger Schiffbau shipyard and bareboat chartered out to Fratelli Onorato Armatori for 12 years with a purchase option. Today, the vessel, along with its sister ship Alf Pollak, is being operated in sub-charter by DFDS on regular lines linking Turkey with Greece, Italy, and France.
Siem arrested the Maria Grazia Onorato after winning an arbitration aimed at obtaining the redelivery of both ships, as the bareboat charter contract signed in 2017 contained a clause specifically referring to the possibility for the Onorato family to decrease its share in the company under certain conditions. When the MSC group rescued Moby (into which Fratelli Onorato Armatori was incorporated) by taking a 49% stake and approving the financial restructuring plan, Siem requested the redelivery of the RoRo ships and then launched legal action.
The Onorato-controlled company specified that all charter rates have been paid from the very beginning and that legal actions will be launched against Siem in Italy and abroad, also seeking refunds for any damages incurred.
Moby’s lines operated in Italy and in the Mediterranean will not be affected by the arrest of the Maria Grazia Onorato.
