World's largest sailing yacht impounded in Gibraltar over reported £12m unpaid bill
Updated : 11:57
The world’s largest sailing yacht has been impounded in Gibraltar over claims that its billionaire Russian owner owes the shipbuilder £13.3m, media reported on Tuesday.
The Gibraltar Port Authority impounded the £340m vessel, known as 'Sailing Yacht A' as it was on its way to be delivered to industrialist Andrey Melnichenko.
German shipbuilder Nobiskrug filed a legal claim to seize the 143m-long Bermuda-registered yacht, which has three masts taller than Big Ben’s clock tower.
The yacht, longer than 13 London buses with a helipad, swimming pool and underwater observation pod, left the company's Kiel shipyard two weeks ago to conduct final sea trials before being handed over to Melnichenko.
Lawyers acting for Nobiskrug have however filed a claim against the yacht for a breach of contract, according to the yachtharbour.com website.
The claim indicates that the final £7.6m installment was not paid by Valla Yachts Limited, the company that owns the vessel. A further £2.21m and £2.46m are being claimed by the shipyard over liability for sub-contractor invoices and disputed orders during the build.
The website cited a spokesman for the owner as saying: "We find this act of arrest of Sailing Yacht A in Gibraltar an astounding act for a shipbuilder of Nobiskrug's standing."
"The facts are that with a project of this magnitude there are sometimes outstanding issues to be resolved, and the sum of over €9m being claimed for payment, by 27th January, was part of ongoing discussions between the qwner and the shipyard in regards to their rectification."
"We assumed the matter was progressing to a resolution as Nobiskrug were happy to release the yacht on February 5th to the owner’s project team for further works to be carried out in Spain. The money was paid by the owner the following day into an Escrow account pending a resolution of the discussions. All monies now being claimed are in arbitration and we undestand these disputes fall under arbitration in the UK courts."