Praia, Aug. 7, 2025 (Lusa) - The Cabo Verdean government announced on Thursday that it will appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice to overturn the arbitration ruling that orders it to pay compensation to CV Interilhas, the domestic maritime transport concessionaire in the country.
“The deadline for filing an appeal for annulment of the ruling with the Supreme Court of Justice is ongoing, as is the right of the parties if they believe that the decision is unlawful and should therefore be annulled,” the executive said in a statement.
The Government considers that the decision, which recognised the State's breach of the concession contract, "is not supported by the evidence produced", stressing that the ruling "was not unanimous", with one of the arbitrators casting a dissenting vote.
“The Government, supported by specialised technical advice, will do everything within the framework of the law in force to defend the public interest and ensure the continued provision of inter-island maritime transport services,” the statement added.
The dispute comes three days after CV Interilhas announced an investment of €19 million in the acquisition of ships, justifying the use of the funds with a “favourable arbitration decision” that recognised amounts owed by the State, accumulated since 2021.
According to the executive, the differences with the concessionaire date back to the execution of the contract, signed in 2019, namely regarding the amounts requested as compensatory indemnity, which were withheld based on technical opinions and external audits.
In 2023, an amendment to the contract was signed, setting the compensation amount at €6.6 million per year, "manifestly lower" than previously claimed by the company, according to the statement.
"As there is no possibility of reaching an agreement, given that the Government refuses to allocate public funds to pay amounts it considers not due to the concessionaire, and in view of the existence of a dispute between the parties, in 2024, it requested the establishment of an Arbitration Tribunal, under the terms provided for in the concession and the contract, claiming payment of €16 million," it added.
CV Interilhas is a company established in 2019 with which the Government of Cabo Verde has entered into a 20-year concession contract for the public service of maritime transport of passengers and cargo between islands.
The company operates maritime connections between the islands of Cabo Verde with a fleet of four ships.
The firm is led by the Portuguese group ETE, which holds 51% of the share capital (through its subsidiaries Transinsular and Transinsular Cabo Verde), with the remainder held by 11 Cabo Verdean firms.
In Cabo Verde, the ETE Group has approximately 4,000 square metres of covered storage space, including temperature-controlled areas, and is present on the main islands.
Owned exclusively by Portuguese capital, the ETE group has its own operations in nine countries, employs more than 1,330 people and generates an annual turnover of more than €325 million.
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