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Shipping firm loses court bid to make Hong Kong authorities help it retrieve tanker detained over alleged oil transfer to North Korea
- High Court says detention of Lighthouse Winmore involves foreign affairs and is therefore central government’s responsibility under Basic Law
- Also, ship registration does not require Marine Department to perform what company has requested, judge says
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The owner of a Hong Kong-registered tanker detained in South Korean waters for allegedly transferring oil to the North has lost its court bid to demand that local authorities help retrieve the vessel.
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The High Court on Thursday said the detention of the 16,500-tonne carrier Lighthouse Winmore, owned by Win More Shipping, involved foreign affairs and was therefore the central government’s responsibility.
Under the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, it was up to Beijing to intervene if needed, the court said in a judgment handed down on Thursday. A resolution adopted by the UN’s Security Council on sanctions against North Korea also required a “flag state” to step in.
“The [Hong Kong Special Administrative Region] is not a ‘state’ or ‘flag state’ of the vessel,” presiding judge Mr Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming ruled, refusing to grant Win More permission to lodge the judicial challenge.
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The court fight stemmed from a rare row involving a Hong Kong-registered tanker and South Korea.
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