Especially aggravating for American P&I is the wreck removal order slapped on them whilst the wreck is under arrest by cargo interests whilst facing accusations - from the Pakistani government - that it has not fulfilled its obligations to pay for spill response operations.

According to a company press release, American P&I, "cannot commence operations until Tsavliris Salvage Master, Nikos Pappas and his company's equipment, currently held hostage, are released."

Furthermore, it counters the accusations of the government and highlights the "carefully-planned lightening operation by Tsavliris Russ [which] successfully removed approximately 36,000 metric tonnes of crude oil from Tasman Spirit before the vessel broke up into two by the force of the SE Monsoon" and reiterates, "the first phase of removing crude oil cargo paid for by the Club had proved effective.

This was achieved with International Tanker Owners' Pollution Fund (ITOPF) and utilised equipment and personnel from Oil Spill Response Ltd (OSRL), Le Floch and extensive additional equipment brought in chartered aircraft [and] organised and paid for aerial monitoring of the spill."

American P&I top it all off by asking why "the Phase-I of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to assess what further steps might be needed" - that the Club offered to fund - was turned down by the Pakistani authorities.

In related news, a spokesman for the International Tanker Owners' Pollution Federation (ITOPF) criticised the Pakistani Foreign Minister for not acknowledging the international response effort mobilised by the American P&I Club on behalf of the owner of the vessel.

According to the ITOPF spokesperson, "Contrary to the assertions of the foreign minister, there are no regulations which obliged the owner and The American Club to respond pro-actively to the spill in the way that they did. The responsibility for maintaining a capability for dealing with oil pollution incidents lies with the government under the terms of the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation (OPRC) to which Pakistan is a party."