Netherlands: bans 14 yachts from leaving the country due to sanctions

The Dutch government has announced that it has banned 14 yachts, including 12 under construction, from leaving the country due to sanctions against Russia.

The country’s Foreign Ministry announced the fact in a letter to Parliament, informing MPs of the imposition of sanctions, following criticism that it accepted that the Netherlands had lagged behind other European countries in the implementation of sanctions.

Shipbuilding is a major industry for the Netherlands, with Chamber of Commerce records showing that the big companies in the industry, Heesen, Headship, Damen Shipyards, Oceanco, had combined sales of around € 1.5 billion by 2020.

Today’s letter to Parliament states that while there are no “super-yachts” moored on Dutch soil, including the Caribbean islands such as St. Maarten, the 12 yachts under construction for Russians “can not currently be delivered due to existing export measures ”and their ownership structures are investigated.

In March, two Russian members of Heesen Yachts’ supervisory board resigned.

Heesen is owned by Morcell Ltd Cyprus, the investment vehicle of Lukoil’s billionaire president Vagit Alekperov, who is not on the sanctions list.

The other two yachts mentioned in the letter, which could not leave the Netherlands, were in the country for maintenance.

“For one of these yachts, the relationship with a person named in the European sanctions lists is being considered,” the letter reads.

The letter also included an update on financial assets, stating that they had “frozen” 516 million euros in assets and 155 million euros in transactions, slightly more than last week.

The government estimates that 27 billion euros in Russian assets are on the balance sheets of companies registered in the Netherlands, of which 20 billion euros are held by shell companies with a small physical presence in the country.