Aegean Sun fined 5.2 mln for docking in Famagusta

Athens (dpa) – The Greek government fined a shipping company 5.2 million euros on Thursday for allowing one of its vessels to dock in the Turkish-occupied part of northern Cyprus last week.

The vessel, the Greek-flagged “Aegean Sun” was chartered to a British company and ended up docking in the port of Famagusta, in the Turkish-occupied part on May 6. Reports said it was delivering cars from Britain.

The government fined the shipping company for breaching national security by allowing the ship to lay anchor. The move served as a warning to any other Greek shipping company with vessels docking in the Turkish-occupied part of the island.

Athens had ordered the Greek captain of the cargo ship to depart immediately or face two years imprisonment. He was brought before a court and is expected to be charged under a 1980 ban on docking at Turkish-Cypriot ports.