Sugar deal: Why Korean ship went off course
It wasn’t a mechanical snag that led to North Korean merchant vessel MV Mu San dropping anchor off Little Andaman.
By Arun Ram, TNN |
CHENNAI: It wasn���t a mechanical snag that led to North Korean merchant vessel MV Mu San dropping anchor off Little Andaman. It was Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar���s announcement on July 31 allowing private firms to import sugar at zero duty that led the ship, carrying some 16,500 tonnes of the commodity to Iraq, to change its destination mid-course.
While the ship���s charter in India eyed gains from offloading duty-free sugar here, the captain stood to earn $7,000 (Rs 3.5 lakh) a day for stalling and diverting the ship.
So, within hours of Pawar���s announcement, the ship���s charter in India asked the captain to divert the sugar to Kakinada on the Andhra coast, said a source involved in the interrogation of the captain and his 38-member crew. To ensure that the consignment reached only after the zero duty came into effect, the charter asked the ship���s captain Yong Jung Sun to ������slow down and take shelter������, evading the Indian Coast Guard and the Navy.
������The minister had made the announcement on July 31, but the gazette notification was expected only around August 5. The captain, however, said he would reach the Indian shores by August 3, however slow he moved,������ the source said.
At this point, the charter offered Yong $7,000 for every day that he delayed the consignment, and asked him to drop nchor somewhere off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
While the ship���s charter in India eyed gains from offloading duty-free sugar here, the captain stood to earn $7,000 (Rs 3.5 lakh) a day for stalling and diverting the ship.
So, within hours of Pawar���s announcement, the ship���s charter in India asked the captain to divert the sugar to Kakinada on the Andhra coast, said a source involved in the interrogation of the captain and his 38-member crew. To ensure that the consignment reached only after the zero duty came into effect, the charter asked the ship���s captain Yong Jung Sun to ������slow down and take shelter������, evading the Indian Coast Guard and the Navy.
������The minister had made the announcement on July 31, but the gazette notification was expected only around August 5. The captain, however, said he would reach the Indian shores by August 3, however slow he moved,������ the source said.
At this point, the charter offered Yong $7,000 for every day that he delayed the consignment, and asked him to drop nchor somewhere off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
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