Havila Kystruten has announced that a regional court in Norway, the Hordaland District Court, has granted the company’s request to arrest the Havila Capella, which in turn will give Havila the right to operate the ship a period of up to two years.

“We are very pleased with this decision from Hordaland District Court, which gives us the opportunity to put Havila Capella back into operation along the Norwegian coast as soon as insurance of the ship is finally clarified,” said CEO Bent Martini, in a prepared statement.

“We have worked with various alternatives to get Havila Capella back into operation, also on a political level, and we are very happy that we have now found a solution that allows us to operate the ship if we get the insurance in place, until we take over the ownership of the ship,” said Martini.

Havila Kystruten said it will return with more information about insurance and the possible sailing start-up for the Havila Capella.

The Norwegian company took delivery of the Capella more than two months ago but have not been able to sail the ship as it is owned by a Russian leasing company and this would be in violations of the sanctions imposed on Russia, which Norway supports.

Nevertheless, the Norwegian state department had originally given Havila permission to sail the ship but that permission was not extended to the insurance carrier out of concern that any insurance pay out would end up with the Russia leasing company.

Havila said it is working on finding ways to acquire full ownership of the ship.