The expedition cruise line Swan Hellenic has finally been able to regain the 'SH Minerva', after a three-year legal battle related to the sanctions placed on Russian companies after the invasion of Ukraine. The ship has been laid up in Uruguay since the spring of 2022, while lawyers sought to find a solution to free the ship from an unintentional legal trap. The ship aws the first of ultimately three ships used to restart the famed Swan Hellenic bran, delivered in 2021 by the Helsinki Shipyard, using a common legal structure with the ships being built for a single purpose finance company, which in turn was leasing them long-term to Swan Hellenic. The leasing deal was with an Irish subsidiary of the Russian financial giant GTLK. After the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions, Swan Hellenic was barred from making lease payments on the ship, but due to the legal structure and sanctions also could not buy the ship. Swan Hellenic in March 2022 declared its intent to buy the leasing companies, but that too was caught in the legal entanglement of the sanctions. To free Swan Hellenic’s second and third ships from the legal trap, the Helsinki Shipyard declared the construction agreements void and auctioned the incomplete ships, making it possible for the company to buy the ships. However, the process of freeing the 'SH Minerva' proved more complicated and became even more involved in May 2023 when the GTLK subsidiary was declared insolvent and placed in the hands of liquidators. The liquidators who had control of GTLK Europe and its subsidiaries, obtained compliance with all the applicable sanctions for the sale of the assets, including the 'SH Minerva'. After lengthy negotiations, Swan Hellenic has now been able to acquire the ship in accordance with all applicable sanctions. The transaction was completed on July 25, 2025, using shareholders’ funds. The ship remained at Fray Bentos and will undergo routine maintenance and preparations for its return to service in Nov 2025. It has been in Uruguay since April 2022, when it completed its Antarctic cruise season, while the company proceeded with operations of its sister ship 'SH Vega', introduced in July 2022, and the larger 'SH Diana', introduced in April 2023. The 'SH Minerva'' will join the fleet with all three ships operating the 2025-2026 Antarctic cruise season. In March 2026, the 'SH Minerva' will launch the company’s first-ever Asia-Pacific season, sailing to the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan.
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