We had no idea, says shipping company manager about vessel seized for North Korean oil delivery
Business associate of Lighthouse Winmore’s mainland Chinese owner says crew of impounded vessel is safe in South Korea
A senior executive of a shipping company which manages a tanker seized for transferring oil to North Korea said the ship was chartered out, but denied knowledge of it being used for trade with the reclusive state.
The vessel is owned by Win More Shipping, and managed by Lighthouse Shipping Development, which have registered addresses in Guangzhou, according to the Hong Kong Companies Registry. The two companies also share a director, Gong Ruiqiang.
Zeng Haibo, a deputy general manager of Lighthouse Shipping Development, told the South China Morning Post that it was unaware the tanker had been used to breach United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea because of its nuclear weapons programme.
“We just rent the ship out. We are not aware of what goods the ship carried or whether it was used to trade with North Korea,” Zeng said.