Ray Smuts MONTHS OF frustration and seemingly endless litigation to recover steadily mounting costs of ‘preserving’ a four-and-a-half year arrest in the Port of Cape Town ended last week for Sheriff Hennie Hurter when the Russian vessel Argun went under the hammer for US$1,6 million. The 4 816 gross ton multi-purpose tanker was sold in terms of a High Court order of August 18 2003 to Avantgarde, a Panamanian shipping company represented at auction by Mother City law firm Shepstone and Wylie. An appraised value of $1150 000 had been placed on the Argun prior to the auction, conducted at the prevailing exchange rate of R6,65/dollar. At the outset Hurter expressed hope that the auction could start with a “decent bid, not on the bunkers.” (valued at around $ 7 000). “It’s a reasonable price under the circumstances,” said Hurter afterwards. Captain Evgeny I. Sipirin of Moscow-based Sovfracht, representing Avantgarde, did not quite share Hurter’s view, saying he thought a “fairer price” would have been $1,2 million. About $400 000, thought to have been financed from Russia, was spent on the vessel last year but she will need quite a bit of additional work as she is no longer in class and all statutory certificates have expired. The Sheriff of Cape Town has been obliged by law to preserve the Argun since her arrest in May 1999 and he will be first in line to recover his costs of around R7,3 million - possibly the highest preservation costs in South African port history.
