Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG)
According to its Annual Report filed with the SEC for fiscal year 2012: "Non-U.S. subsidiaries of OSG contributed VLCC tankers they owned or chartered-in to Tankers International, a commercial pool that charters out vessels which in turn call on ports throughout the world in compliance with applicable law. Tankers International is a UK entity operated by the Tankers International pool manager, a non-U.S. person, which is responsible for chartering out each vessel once it has been contributed to Tankers International. Accordingly, Tankers International and its manager make the decisions with respect to ports of call and the practical arrangements necessary in connection with the chosen ports of call. OSG learns where a vessel contributed by one of its non-U.S. subsidiaries has or will be traded after the voyage has been fixed. Certain of the non-U.S. OSG subsidiaries continue to provide technical management, crew and certain operational support for the vessels contributed by those subsidiaries and, in that connection, may interact with port authorities or other government officials and representatives in the jurisdictions through and in which these vessels transit.
In early 2012, Tankers International vessels made five port calls in Iran, in compliance with applicable law, including one port call made by a vessel owned by a non-U.S. subsidiary of OSG in January 2012. The Tankers International manager and the customers that chartered out the vessels were not Iranian. However, when such vessels called on Iranian ports, interaction with Government of Iran officials, such as port authorities, may have been required. In any case, even when these vessels, including the one owned by a non-U.S. subsidiary of OSG, called on an Iranian ports, neither OSG itself nor any of its U.S. person, affiliates or employees had any role or involvement with Tankers International transactions involving Iran.
As a participant in the pool, OSG receives a share of Tankers International’s net revenues from a voyage based on its contribution of vessels to Tankers International, regardless of whether the voyage was performed by a vessel contributed by one of its non-U.S. subsidiaries or by another pool participant. OSG’s share of the Tankers International pool’s net revenue (after deducting OSG’s share of administrative costs) for 2012 derived from all voyages of all Tankers International vessels involving a port call in Iran totaled approximately $1,318.
Tankers International decided to terminate all new business involving Iranian ports in February 2012 after the European Union adopted sanctions on such activity. No vessel owned or chartered in by OSG or any of its domestic or foreign subsidiaries has called on an Iranian port since January 2012, and until the U.S. and European Union sanctions regimes permit such calls, OSG will not allow its vessels to make such calls, whether through a pooling arrangement or otherwise."
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"Zurich Insurance Group AG (ZURN) is among companies being questioned by New York’s insurance regulator in a widening probe into compliance with an Iran sanctions law, according to a person familiar with the matter. The state Department of Financial Services is asking insurers to explain their policies and procedures to avoid violations of the Iran Freedom and Counter-Proliferation Act of 2012, according to the person. The act took effect July 1. ‘The resulting sanctions could jeopardize the ability of any involved insurer to conduct business in the United States,’ the department said in a letter to the insurers obtained by Bloomberg News. ‘Recently, the Department learned that several companies have insured trades made with Iran.’ The regulator, led by Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky, contacted a group of insurers in June about compliance with the law. That group included Swiss Reinsurance Co. (SREN) and Lloyd’s of London. Besides Zurich, other companies contacted in the newest letter are American International Overseas Ltd., AXA Global Risks, and St. Paul Reinsurance Co. Ltd." (Bloomberg, Zurich Among Insurers Said to Be Probed in Expanded N.Y. Inquiry, 7/24/13)
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"OSG, based in New York, said Feb. 10 that the pool of 45 supertankers from seven owners in which its carriers trade will no longer go to Iran... Four OSG-owned ships, managed by Tankers International LLC, called at the country's biggest crude-export terminal in the past year, ship tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show...OSG's Overseas Rosalyn, which can carry about 2 million barrels, arrived at Kharg Island on Jan.27 and departed the next day, tracking data compiled by Bloomberg show. It left abour 16 feet deeper in the water, an indication it loaded cargo...OSG complies with all U.S and European laws and its headquarters in New York doesn't manage charters, OSG Chief Executive Officer Morten Arntzen said in an email Jan. 30." (Bloomberg, "Iran Sanctions Tighten as OSG to Frontline Halt Crude Cargo," 2/13/12 )
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OSG is "the second largest publicly traded oil tanker company in the world, measured by number of vessels." (Company website. "Corporate Profile")
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"According to marine transport site, Equasis, ships owned by US shipping company, Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. (NYSE: OSG), partly owned [by] Oudi Recanati and Ariel Recanati, have docked in Iran. An examination of Equasis's website found that OSG oil tanker Overseas Tanabe docked at Khark in Iran in September 2009. The ship flies under the Marshall Islands flag." (Globes. "Recanti's OSG ships also docked in Iran," 6/1/11)
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Listed by U.S. Government as doing business in Iran. (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, List of Companies Doing Business With State Sponsors Of Terror, Removed from the internet in July of 2007)
No response at this time.
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