Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, has been in London, urging the new head of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to help out and get the South American nation’s tanker fleet back up and running.
US sanctions on Venezuelan shipping vessels are harming the country’s maritime transport, Rodriguez told Arsenio Dominguez, who has been in the IMO hot seat since January 1, during a meeting yesterday.
The sanctions have led to 39 tankers operated by the state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), being mothballed, some of which have fallen into disrepair.
“I expressed our concern that the entire fleet of ships and vessels that PDVSA has are being illegally sanctioned, they are blockaded,” Rodriguez told Caracas-based news network Telesur.
In addition to the PDVSA fleet, “30 international trade vessels … have been sanctioned” for doing business with Venezuela, she said.
“We are the country with the fourth-largest number of blockaded ships worldwide, truly an embarrassing situation,” said the vice president.
In October last year, Washington slightly eased its six-year-old sanctions against Venezuela. The US issued a six-month licence authorising transactions in Venezuela’s oil sector after Venezuelan administration and opposition leaders reached an agreement to ensure fair 2024 elections.
