Hong Kong looking to press charges against APL over illegal armoured vehicles shipment
Containerline APL and one of its masters are in hot water for failing to have the right licence to transport armoured vehicles.
APL, now owned by France’s CMA CGM, found itself at the centre of a diplomatic standoff between Singapore and China when a number of armoured vehicles were seized from one its ships in Hong Kong last November while en route to Singapore from Taiwan after a military training exercise.
Hong Kong’s Customs and Excise Department is now looking to press charges against APL and the captain of the containership which transported the nine Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) armoured Terrex vehicles into the city from Taiwan without a required licence, according to the South China Morning Post.
The seizure of the vehicles last November sparked high-level diplomatic contacts over a two-month period between Singapore and Beijing to eventually get them released.