Yacht builder Sunseeker International has become the first company fined by a U.K. court for using illegally imported timber from military-controlled Myanmar on some of its vessels.
The U.K.-based company, which claims to be “the world’s leading brand for luxury motor yachts,” pleaded guilty to three charges of violating the U.K. Timber Regulation (UKTR). The charges include the company’s failure to ensure it was placing legally sourced timber products on the market, and noncompliant record-keeping of timber origins. The judge, calling Sunseeker’s actions a “systemic failure,” imposed a penalty of 358,759.64 pounds (about $454,300) for 11 specific timber imports, the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) said in a press release.
“The Sunseeker Board regrets the Company’s failure in meeting its responsibilities under the UKTR and underlines its ongoing commitment to compliance with laws and regulations,” Sunseeker said in an emailed statement to Mongabay. It added it would implement “a robust timber procurement policy and a UKTR compliant due diligence process.”
Teak from Myanmar, commonly referred to as Burmese teak, is sought after for luxury yachts because of its high quality and natural water resistance, Mongabay has previously reported. However, much of the timber has been dubbed “blood teak” or “blood timber” due to its association with the illegal timber trade funding Myanmar’s military junta. After the violent military coup in 2021, the EU, U.S. and other countries imposed sanctions on military-run enterprises, including those involving timber.
Faith Doherty, forests campaigner leader at EIA, which first called out Sunseeker and another U.K. yacht builder in 2018 for using “blood teak” in their vessels, said in a statement the ruling sends a “clear and unequivocal message” that using blood teak “is totally unacceptable and will cost them dearly in the end.”
Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for advocacy group Justice for Myanmar, told Mongabay the successful prosecution of Sunseeker “is an important development in the battle against the continued trade in blood teak from Myanmar.”
“Despite laws against the import of illegal timber and sanctions against the junta controlled Myanma Timber Enterprise, businesses have continued to import teak from Myanmar, enriching a brutal military junta, fuelling atrocities and destroying forest,” Maung said by email.
Maung added the group hopes for more prosecutions and a total import ban on Myanmar timber, “which funds the junta’s ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Kim Aumonier, monitoring and rights manager at the Rainforest Foundation UK, told Mongabay the Sunseeker case “demonstrates the importance of timber regulations, such as the [UKTR] in holding companies to account when they fail to exercise due diligence.”
Aumonier said this makes it particularly concerning that the EU’s new deforestation regulation (EUDR) has been delayed by a year, adding that “the continued delay in implementing the regulation makes this type of problem much more likely in Europe, where the EU is the world’s second largest importer of products that cause deforestation.”
Banner image of Myanmar teak courtesy of EIA.
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