3 ships held in Algeria back in Turkey after 9 years

By Yusuf Sahbaz

IZMIR, Turkey

Three Turkish ships on Monday docked back in Turkey after nearly a decade held at a port in Algeria.

The ships were detained over alleged illegal fishing, according to Algeria's official news agency APS.

After nine years being held in the northeastern port city of Annaba, the case was concluded in favor of the Turkish company.

Aquagroup, which had legal possession of the ships, announced it plans to sue the Algerian authority responsible holding the vessels.

“We lost €30 million [$35 million],” Osman Kocaman, Aquagroup's chairman, told journalists, saying that as two of the three ships were rentals, the company had to pay rental fees for nine years but without being able to use the ships.

"Although we won the case, it was a long journey," he said, adding it was hard for the ships to make the return trip as they needed repairs after languishing in port for a decade.