24 Oct 2018 13:54

Russian shipping company Gudzon asks U.S. Dept of Treasury to remove it from blacklist

VLADIVOSTOK. Oct 24 (Interfax) - The Russian shipping company Gudzon has asked the United States Department of the Treasury to reconsider its inclusion in the blacklist.

"The sanctions are a decision made by the Americans, their Department of the Treasury. We are preparing to send a second letter. We have contacted them before: they have a section where one can appeal to be removed from the blacklist. We got an answer from their director, saying 'We are considering your application; it is possible that you have been blacklisted wrongly, and so on and so forth. We will process it within a week or two.' More than two weeks have passed," Gudzon Deputy General Director for Strategic Development and Logistics Valery Uliskin told Interfax.

"We are preparing the second appeal, because our new ships are dry cargo vessels, not tankers, and because we have not sold fuel to North Korea," he said.

In addition, Gudzon has asked the Russian government and relevant agencies for help to resolve the situation, Uliskin said.

"We have asked every agency for assistance. The Russian government, the ministry of [Sergei] Lavrov, presidential aides, various ministries, including those of transport and finance, the Russian Chamber of Shipping, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. We are waiting for assistance. We know that this kind of assistance is given. But we're used to the saying 'salvation is in the hands of the ones who are drowning,'" Uliskin said.

According to Interfax's information system X-Compliance, Gudzon was put under U.S. sanctions on August 21 under the program DPRK4. The system indicates that the company is running the risk of being sanctioned again.

Gudzon's ships were prohibited from entering South Korean ports after it was blacklisted, but the ban was later lifted. The company also had a problem with repairing its ship at a Chinese shipyard.

Gudzon provides cargo shipping by sea, multimodal transit, and door-to-door cargo transportation by sea, truck, and rail. The company owns multirole cargo ships, general and bulk cargo ships, vessels transporting dangerous, assorted, oversized, and heavy cargo, and oil tankers. Its vessels operate along the Far Eastern Coast, in Southeast Asia, and in the Eastern Arctic. The company delivers cargo to Kamchatka, Sakhalin, Magadan, and China, and provides shipping services on the Northern Sea Route.

According to SPARK Interfax, Gudzon is co-owned by its General Director Gennady Kononenko and the owner of the Primorye Maritime Logistics Company Andrei Ivanets.