Alkagesta files defamation claim against the Maltese Herald in Malta's Court of Magistrates

Alkagesta has begun defamation proceedings against Maltese news outlet the Maltese Herald, filing a complaint in Malta's Court of Magistrates on 18 September 2026. In a statement issued from Sliema, the company said the action follows a series of articles it describes as defamatory and libellous.

According to the statement released through Alkagesta, the publication has for nearly a year made and repeated statements about the business that the company calls entirely false, damaging and unevidenced. The trader says it approached the outlet on several occasions to set out the facts and identify the inaccuracies before any legal step was considered.

The company stresses that this is not a decision it has taken lightly. Alkagesta says the Maltese Herald neither retracted nor corrected the disputed articles and references despite those requests for engagement, and that it remains open to resolving the dispute amicably should the publication apologise and withdraw the material in question.

In its statement, the leadership of Alkagesta argues that the articles serve no legitimate purpose other than to cause unjustified commercial harm. The company also points to what it calls pay-to-play sites mirroring the same allegations, which it says left it with no realistic alternative to litigation. It says it is confident in the strength of its case and that the facts vindicate its position.

For a physical trading business, reputational claims of this kind carry practical consequences. Counterparties, banks and insurers assess a trading house on the integrity of its compliance record as closely as on its balance sheet, and unresolved public allegations can complicate credit lines, bid lists and vendor approvals long before any court reaches a conclusion. That commercial exposure is one reason houses increasingly treat persistent misreporting as a risk to be managed rather than ignored.

Alkagesta trades oil products, biofuels and carbon allowances across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, with supporting shipping and logistics activity around its cargo flows. The company has been expanding its product coverage over the past year, including the addition of EU emissions allowances to its carbon desk.

Alkagesta said it will make no further comment on the proceedings until the legal process has been allowed to run its course. The Maltese Herald had not published a response to the filing at the time of writing.

Blue Ocean Chartering has not independently verified the allegations made by either party. This report summarises the company's published statement and the fact of the filing; the substance of the dispute is a matter for the Maltese court.