MSC Gayane – Photo: HHM / Dietmar Hasenpusch

Last week, US Customs and Border Patrol seized the container ship MSC Gayane, following the seizure of 18,000 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, by Federal agents while at the dock in the Port of Philadelphia in late June. Now, the ship has sailed for Rotterdam, the scheduled next port of call after Philadelphia. 

American Shipper reports that William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced via Twitter on Friday that his office secured $10 million in cash and a $40 million surety bond from the owner and operator of the MSC Gayane in exchange for its temporary release pending a final resolution of a lawsuit involving the ship.

World Maritime News is reporting that the cash and the bond were paid by vessel owner J.P. Morgan and operator Mediterranean Shipping Company. See our previous post, Who Owns MSC Gayane? Does it Matter?