Italian tankers removed from OFAC’s embargo list

   The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has removed Italian ocean carrier PB Tankers S.P.A. and six of its oil and chemical tankers, operating under either the Italian or Maltese flags, from its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
   The vessels are the Alba Marina, Gold Point, ICE Point, Indian Point, Iron Point and Silver Point.
   One of its ships, the Silver Point, which was under charter to Cubametales in March, was implicated by the U.S. government for its role in transporting a shipment of embargoed Venezuelan oil to Cuba, resulting in the company and its six tankers to be added to OFAC’s SDN list on April 12.
   Entities and individuals placed on the SDN list have their assets blocked and U.S. persons generally are prohibited from dealing with them. 
   Family-owned PB Tankers attributed its quick delisting from the SDN List to its attorneys’ work in Washington, D.C., demonstrating to the U.S. government the shipping company’s commitment to sanctions compliance.
   However, Hill Dickinson attorneys Julian Clark and Siiri Duddington, whose firm represented PB Tankers along with Blank Rome, said the case should serve as a “warning of the sometimes unexpected reach of sanctions regimes and the dire consequences of falling foul of those sanctions, even unknowingly.”
   “The starting point for shipowners is ensuring that robust sanctions clauses are included in all their contracts to protect their position particularly in the ever-changing sanctions landscape,” the attorneys added.
   Last week, OFAC added Cubametales of Havana to the SDN list.