30.11.10

Arctic Sea: Canceled Iran S-300 for drones?





Russia offered Israel $1 billion for advanced drone (automatic aircraft) technologies, and in addition offered to cancel the deal to supply Iran with S-300 missiles, according to an official cable published November 28 via WikiLeaks.
The cable was sent by US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen Tauscher after meeting Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs at the Defense Ministry Amos Gilad. The cable was sent one year before the Kremlin announced it would cancel its deal to supply Iran with the missiles.

28.11.10

Norna N: Ishima barbed chemtanker escapes


























The barbed wired chemical tanker NORNA N was fired upon by small arms fire and RPG approximately 700 nautical miles East of Socotra on November 24, the ship’s Master conducted evasive maneuvers and the pirates gave up.

Owner, registered owner & operator: Norna Shipping Corp. S.A.E., Alexandria, Egypt
Manager: Ishima Pte Ltd., Singapore

The name Ishima is an acronym derived from the phrase International Ship Management. ISHIMA is a privately owned company headquartered in Singapore, endorsed by Italian Ship owning group D'Amico, providing a service that is ideally apt to fit the needs of the 21st century ship owner.

With its headquarters in Singapore, Vision encompasses a voyage of expansion, which will be constant, continuous and well constructed. Singapore allows closer proximity to major shipping routes. This provides us with opportunity to make full use of the human resources and marine services available to us.
ISHIMA was founded in July 2005, under the D’Amico group. Traditionally a family business in Italy, D’Amico has been operating for over fifty years. Today, ISHIMA manages 25 ships and supervises the construction of seventeen more.


8006866 NORNA N 3EDY7 Chemical/Oil Tanker 45528 1982 Panama
ex Ship Name: LEADER M

27.11.10

Pirates: U.S. Money for British Mercenaries
































Operating in fast boats capable of outrunning the pirates' converted fishing vessels, mercenaries can prevent the pirates from putting to sea or returning to shore suggested Chris Holtby, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Deputy Head of Security Policy. Mr Holtby has been involved in discussions with British 'business risk consultants' Drum Cussac, which already supplies armed security teams to shipping companies.

Drum Cussac
has been hired by Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) with the international community agreeing to foot the bill. The money will come from $25 million the US Government have promised to the antipiracy project.

Britain, which has so far not committed "specifically counter-piracy" money, will also contribute from "overlaying of benefits from counter-terrorism, counter-trafficking, migration, development/rule of law" funds.

Drum Cussac, which describes itself as 'the market leader in antipiracy and maritime security', is headed by former Scots Guards officer Jeremy Stampa Orwin.

Drum Cussac says it can 'supply a full range of armed services for the protection of vessels in transit through high risk waters and for static operations or survey work in areas of high threat'.

'Our armed option', it says, 'has been designed to provide fully legitimate, properly licensed and trained teams to deploy on board vessels. Our teams are experienced UK nationals and are equipped with new and modern weapons systems.'

Foreign Office officials had met with the security firm involved at the request of the Somali Government. Donor cash, including British taxpayers money, would "indirectly" pay for their operation.

Abdallah Boss Ahmed, until recently the Somali defence minister has approved the plan.
Chris Holtby
Chair, Working Group 1,(Operational Co‐ordination and Regional Capability Development),Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia
Deputy Head (European Security/NATO/Operations/Maritime Security)
Security Policy Group, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London
He has worked in both the FCO and MOD on Balkans issues and was posted to the UK Delegation to NATO in the 1990s.
[The length of the Somali coastline is roughly the same length as the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States, according to U.S. Navy statistics.]

26.11.10

Medi Chennai: Anangel coal carrier evades pirates





John Platsidakis, managing director of Anangel Maritime Services Inc



Leonidas Zissimatos, Technical Director of Anangel Maritime Services, Inc.







The furthest East attack ever registered, approximately 880 nautical miles (1,600 kilometres) East of Port Victoria, Seychelles, came on November 26 to the Angelicoussis bulker Medi Chennai. The pirates fired shots and RPG grenades but the barb-wired ship zigzagged and they gave up.

9300221 MEDI CHENNAI 3ECQ3 Bulker 55862 2005 Panama
ANANGEL MARITIME SERVICES INC
Anangel Maritime Services Inc (hereafter Anangel) is a private limited company that was incorporated in Liberia in March 2001.
Anangel has a fleet of 24 big bulk carriers and has 19 more on order.

“The fleet mostly consists of Capesize vessels, although there are still a few Panamaxes. Our profile, or company vision, is to be a high-quality operator of high-quality tonnage. Like everyone else in the current shipping environment, we may be concerned about ‘cost’ but we never cut our maintenance budgets. We spend considerable amounts on training our personnel at our own, DNV–certified centre.
The mother group of Anangel is called Agelef Shipping Group Ltd.. It is managed by John Angelicoussis. The group has offices in Piraeus, London, Houston, Manilla and Okpo, and operates more than 50 vessels, mainly bulk carriers and tankers. The two main management companies of the group are Anangel Shipping Enterprises, which operates about 25 bulk carriers, and Kristen Navigation with some 30 tankers. Anangel Maritime Services Inc. the Group’s bulker arm, is the first Greek company to enter the VLOC market.
more

24.11.10

Northern Promotion: fast containership escapes













"A day of repairs!" wrote Navigator Wulf F. Mehner


Ship Name: NORTHERN PROMOTION
IMO: 9467043
MMSI: 636091834
Callsign: A8TL5
Flag: Liberia

Category: Cargo
Beam: 30
Length: 264
Draught: 13.9

The North German investment - in 1975 - is one of the oldest and most experienced investment banking firms in Germany. We design high-yield investments in the fields of maritime and commercial properties with an exemplary performance record.
Schiffsfonds Ship Fund

A must for the portfolio

Shipping is a highly specialized industry with a long tradition and high growth potential. From cars to almost all rum is transported by sea -% of all goods shipments go by sea. 97 investments of private investors in this exciting sector of the economy have in the past proved successful investments already. The ship's participation as a form of financing and capital investment continues to have great significance.It offers - compared to other asset classes - higher than average return potential and has today more than ever a chance / manageable.

How does a ship investment?
This offers investors the option of participation in a ship, to the very good return on investment of shipping chances to participate as co-entrepreneurs.

Such investments are Entrepreneurial Investments - designed as a closed fund.. In contrast to mutual fund investment is fixed.. If the required capital raised, the fund will be closed and operational phases of the company begins.

The investment property is clearly defined.. Investors do not invest in an anonymous construct, but are co-owners of a particular investment object. . In the case of a closed-end ship funds, this is a tanker, bulker or container ship. . Thus, the investor-owner of a shipping company.

For the shipping company KG is the legal form of GmbH & Co. established in the market.. The investor participates in the control of a trust fund as a limited partner in this society and adheres so only with his investment. The shipping company has a ship purchased in advance or the new development in a given order. . After delivery of the ship is that the international shipping market used to. . The purchase price of the vessel, a commercial bank loan and equity financing to the investor.From the income of the shipping company payments are the interest and principal payments, operating costs and the capital served on.

In addition to the payments during the operational phase and the proceeds from the sale of the ship have a special tax breaks for shipping to the above-average returns with it.. This tonnage tax is especially mentioned, the context of European harmonization in 1999 in Germany was introduced year. . Their particular advantage is that during the term of the shipping investment of investors, only a very small tax burden of the ship has to carry out the operation, regardless of how the economic success of the investment company presents itself.

The fund concept is basically a medium-to long-term oriented investment payout created.. The investment offer is aimed at investors who are investing in the fund amount for the term does not need to rely on the.

Real Estate Fund

In the real estate business has € the North German investment so far 42 closed-end funds with a total investment of 488 million and total equity of € 213 million and designed to banks, savings and investment advisors placed at the capital market. Already 33 of these funds were largely objects very good results for investors to sell. see Northern Valour

22.11.10

Arctic Sea: Russian Prosecutor gets hijack case

Eerik-Niiles Kross




Investigations into six suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea freighter have been completed and sent to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Investigative Committee said November 17. Earlier this month, the Investigative Committee sent the case of a suspected ninth member of the group, Sergei Demchenko, to court.

Maritime and military experts have claimed the ship was carrying S-300 anti-aircraft missiles for Iran,

Demchenko, who went to school with Savins, is accused of helping train the hijackers in Estonia.

June 2010
In a plea bargain, Savins testified against the alleged mastermind behind the attack, Eerik-Niiles Kross, the former head of Estonia's foreign intelligence service.

Savins said Kross had acted in collusion with another organizer of the attack - Sergei Demchenko, a German-based businessman.

Kross denied the allegations.

"The allegations that I ordered the seizure of the Arctic Sea are at variance with the facts," he was quoted as saying by Estonian daily Eesti Paevaleht. "I believe that these fabrications are connected to my consultation services for Georgia on security matters. Georgia is not Russia's best friend."

Kross owns Trustcorp, a consultancy firm that has in the past few years been working with Georgian state agencies.

Latvian prosecutors said there was no evidence linking Kross to the Arctic Sea seizure. Eerik-Niiles Kross, who served as the director of Security Coordination Office in the Estonian State Chancellery, which is connected to the Ministry of Defense Information Service (Riigi Teabeamet), from 1995 to 2000.

Lisbon NATO Summit and Russia: Crown Jewels for Chicken Feed? November 16, 2010
By: Eerik-Niiles Kross
read

20.11.10

Northern Valour: Bernd Kortum's Boxship escapes



Bernd Kortum’s Julie Marie


Oma Kortum & Bernd

NORTHERN VALOUR : two skiffs approached to within 200 metres, the vessel’s master increased speed to 21 knots, mustered all non essential personnel in a safe room and activated self-protection measures.

The skiffs, outpaced by the vessel’s speed, eventually abandoned their attack.
Ship Name: NORTHERN VALOUR
IMO: 9122411
MMSI: 304376000
Callsign: V2GR
Flag: Antigua and Barbuda

Category: Cargo
Beam: 32
Length: 196
Draught: 7.2


RKS: Reederei Karl Schlüter (Karl Schlüter ShippingCompany = RKS)
RKS is an entity of Norddeutsche Vermögen Group of Companies, Hamburg.

The fleet consists of 22 container ships carrying 1700 to 5 000 TEU and are chartered to leading international shipping lines. As marine managers, RKS ranks among the leading contracting parties for shipping companies and their private investors, banks and charterers. RKS initiate the building of new ships and manage supervision at shipyards in Europe, Korea, and China, liaising with government agencies and classification societies in preparation for the ships' service flying under German or other flags. Tradition, close liaison with our business associates, and a high standard of quality are our guiding principles.

Our qualified staff and trainees take care of:

* crew and equipment
* insurance
* Technische Inspektion
* operating
* financing and accounting
* regular reports to the ships' owners
* and maintain good working relations with the charter companies.

About 500 German, Croat, Ukrainian and Philippine members of crew sail on RKS vessels. Karl Schlüter GmbH & Co. KG operate a management system synonymous with quality, safety and environmental protection that is certified by the Germanischer Lloyd classification society.





Behind the 33-year success story of the group North German assets is the entrepreneurial involvement of the owner and manager of the holding company, Dr. Bernd Kortum. With a good understanding of economic opportunities and innovations from the Dr. has founded in 1975 underwriter of a broad-based shipping investment group created Kortum.. Basis of constant growth and sustainable business secret of success was and is the clear commitment to the development of professional skills in-house.. Thus, we ensure that products and services to the high quality requirements of the North German assets in accordance with all. Dies ist unsere Tradition. This is our tradition.. And our commitment to the future.

17.11.10

African Eagle: bulker uses electric shock fencing






AFRICAN EAGLE was fired upon by a skiff, approximately 30 nautical miles from Mombasa Kenya. The barbed wires and electrical fencings installed on the vessel prevented the pirates from boarding the Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier on 16 November 2010.
Ship Name: AFRICAN EAGLE
IMO: 9257046
MMSI: 311249000
Callsign: C6S2065
Flag: Bahamas

Category: Cargo
Beam: 27
Length: 178
Draught: 9.9

MUR Shipping Holdings B.V.(Netherlands) is the shipping division of a joint venture company between Mittal Steel South Africa and Macsteel International Holdings BV
MACSTEEL GROUP
The Macsteel Group is a global steel trading and distribution organization which employs over 7,000 people in 30 countries worldwide with annual sales exceeding USD 5 billion.
MITTAL STEEL
Mittal Steel South Africa Limited is the largest steel producer in South Africa producing 6 million tons of crude steel and exporting approximately 2 million tons worldwide from its four steelworks.

MUR SHIPPING
MUR’s shipping activities encompass the movement of approximately 25 million tonnes of cargo per annum worldwide.

This is managed through the control of between 90 to 130 vessels either on time charter or through ownership. These vessels range from 17000mt to 70000mt and include sophisticated tweendeckers, open hatch box shaped bulk carriers, craned self-discharging Handymax and Panamax vessels.

MUR’s activities are built on solid client relationships offering customized freight solutions for their various requirements. This is achieved through dedicated trade routes, usage of derivatives, control of port operations and use of specialized vessels.
The activities in the liner and breakbulk trades ensure regular sailings on numerous trade routes that shippers can rely on to move their cargoes.

MUR has over 20 regular trade routes which involve up to 50 monthly sailings and presently through the control of specialized vessels MUR offers the capability to carry project cargoes and a number of specialized shipments including pipes, industrial equipment, steel mills and hazardous cargoes.

Logistical capabilities have been developed through internal and external sources including the outsourcing of special skills where required. The aim is to add value and offer solutions to customers’ logistic chains

Metcon (Container Division)
Metcon was established to meet some of the container requirements of its shareholders. The division has fast established itself as a major provider of container freighting, clearing and forwarding expertise to the South African and international freight industry.

Southern Chartering
Southern Chartering, a Black Economic Empowerment joint venture of MUR, based in South Africa, brings to the group extensive experience in the mineral and alloy trades from Africa.

16.11.10

Arctic Sea: AA missile merchant arrives in NYC







Russian arms trafficking suspect Viktor Bout was flown from Bangkok to suburban New York on Tuesday November 16, in a chartered U.S. plane,
Bout arrived late Tuesday night at the Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh
Bout was to be transported from Newburgh, about 60 miles north of New York City, to downtown Manhattan's Metropolitan Correctional Center,

Arctic Sea: AA missile merchant to be tried in USA

Igor Sechin



"The delivery of 100 Russian anti-aircraft missiles appears to be a government-sponsored program ... it is frightening to consider what Bout could tell US authorities about who promised to provide him with [those] 100 Russian anti-aircraft weapons." One plausible answer was ventured in another recent Moscow Times opinion piece by Yulia Latynina, host of a political talk show on Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio station. She pointed out that Bout served in Mozambique in the 1980s, along with a man named Igor Sechin, who today serves as Russia's deputy prime minister and who is widely considered the second-most-important person in that country after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Viktor Bout,is now finally set to stand trial in the US after he was flown out of Bangkok on Tuesday, November 16, on a US government jet shortly after the Thai cabinet approved his extradition. His wife did not have a chance to say goodbye. Born in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe in 1967 when it was still under Soviet rule, Bout studied languages - including English, French and Portuguese - at Moscow's military institute for foreign languages before joining the air force.

He has repeatedly denied suggestions that he was a former KGB agent and that he bought weaponry, aircraft and helicopters at throwaway rates at the fall of the Soviet Union to supply to conflict zones. Bout has maintained his innocence from the day he was picked up in the Thai capital after allegedly agreeing to supply surface-to-air missiles in a series of covert meetings that also took him to Denmark and Romania.

15.11.10

YUAN XIANG : Hongyuan geared East of Salalah
















YUAN XIANG hijacked 12 Nov 0701 UTC
Posn: 18 02.55N – 066 03.39E (IMB) Around 680nm East of Salalah, Oman (Off Somalia)
IMO:7609192, Flag:Panama, General Cargo Ship
Owner: HONGAN SHIPPING CO LTD, CHINA
Manager: HONGYUAN MARINE CO LTD, CHINA

89 TACNA III - 90 MANCHINCHI BRIDGE - 92 CHELSEA BRIDGE - 95 APACHE BELLE - 96 CHELSEA BRIDGE - 02 DONG HUA MEN



  Since the foundation of our company, our business has been developing in a great speed. Especially in crew dispatch service, we have achieved a considerable scale. On the basis of our advantageous shipping talents, we managed to extend our business to ship management, providing management service on security system, marine and equipment affairs to ships of domestic and international routes, supplying spare parts, ship stores. Our advantage is the combination of ship management and crew dispatch which ensures our high-level ship management.

  We are authorized to issue certificate of sea barer and seaman's book. So we can issue the certificate for crew who meets the standards of the marine bureau. We are also endowed with right to sign the contract with domestic and foreign ship owners concerning crew dispatch. We have the management qualification permitted by the Ministry of Communications of PRC, and Tianjin Communication Committee.

14.11.10

Deepwater Horizon: normalized activity in 2011












Transocean's "customer relationships have not suffered" because of the company's involvement in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Chief Executive
Steven L. Newman said. Geneva-based Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon, which was leased to BP PLC to drill its Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.

The uncertainty surrounding U.S. offshore drilling, particularly in deepwater, will have a "limited near-term financial impact" on Transocean, which has 12 rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, Newman said. The company expects the slowdown in Gulf drilling permits to reduce fourth quarter revenue by about $200 million.

Transocean expects "normalized" activity in the Gulf by mid 2011

The story that has unfolded so far indicated the need for "top to bottom" reform of the companies according to William K. Reilly, co-chairman of the presidential commission.

12.11.10

Arctic Sea: hit man on way to U.S.?
















Colonel Shcherbakov, a branch leader of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, fled Moscow to join his daughter and son in the United States
Kommersant , one of Moscow's most respected newspapers, quoted a source saying of the double agent: "We know who he is, and where he is. He betrayed either for money, or was caught for something. And there's no doubt that a Mercader has been sent for him."

Ramon Mercader was a Spanish Communist sent by Stalin to kill his political rival, Leon Trotsky. In 1940, Mercader visited Trotsky at his house in Mexico City. He killed him with a single blow of an ice ax.

11.11.10

Hannibal II: GMT chemtanker hijacked 860 mi. out









MV HANNIBAL II, a Panamanian-flagged chemical tanker , carrying vegetable oils from Pasir Gudang to Suez was hijacked some 860 nautical miles East of The Horn of Africa, closer to India than it is to Somalia.

Ship Name: HANNIBAL II
IMO: 8011756
MMSI: 372907000
Callsign: 3ELB9
Flag: Panama

Category: Tanker
Beam: 25
Length: 172
Draught: 10.5

Hannibal II (Ex: Merit) 24,105 DWT, Chemical & Oil Carrier, Built 1983
Owners/Managers are Gabes Marine Tankers, Built at Ch. Nord et Med, Double Hull, Panama Flagged, BV Classed, Length Overall of 172.18 m., Length Between Perpendiculars of 163.00 m., Draught of 9.75 m., Beam of 24.80 m., 36.00 Tonnes per Centimetre Immersion, Gross Tonnage of 16,284, Sulzer Engine, Speed of 15.00 kts at 35.00 tonnes per day, Heavy Fuel Oil, Horsepower of 12,000B at 122, Bunker Capacity of 2,761 tonnes.

Gabes Marine Tankers Sarl

Gabes Marine Tankers Sarl (hereafter referred to as GMT) is a Tunisian private limited company


GABES MARINE TANKERS SARL as ship-manager fronts for the owner POLO NAVIGATION LTD - both of Ez Zahra, Tunisia.

Armatore Polo navigation Ltd -Ez Zahra Tunisia
Ship manager GABES MARINE TANKERS

10.11.10

Arctic Sea: 'German' patsy indicted





A criminal case has been referred to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation for approval of the indictment. Earlier, the Moscow City Court has convicted two members of the capture cargo ship "Arctic Sea": Savins sentenced to 7 years imprisonment, Lunev - 5 years imprisonment. Sergey Demchenko, accused of committing a crime under part 3. 227 УК РФ (пиратство). 227 of the Criminal Code (piracy). Demchenko was one of the participants in an organized criminal group, has a grip on the night of 24 to 25 July, 2009 vessel Arctic Sea with the Russian crew. During the criminal investigation Demchenko fully admitted his guilt in the crime, with a pre-trial agreement had been concluded.

But see Dmitrijs Savins, who gets 7 years for hijacking Russian cargo ship Arctic Sea said the hijacking was planned and organized by Estonia's former spy chief, Eerik-Niiles Kross, who was Savin's business partner.

Kross denied the accusation Friday. He told an Estonian newspaper that he was being smeared by Russian authorities for his links to the Georgian government. "I think this invention is linked to the fact that I was a security adviser to the Georgian government -- and Georgia is far from being Russia's best friend," he said.

Kross said he knew Savins, who he said had provided office space. "I know his face, as we sat in the same office," said Kross, who was the director of Estonian intelligence for 10 years, according to the Interfax news service.

Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Estonian parliament's committee for European affairs, called the accusation against Kross a "disinformation campaign" being waged by Russia against the Baltic country, which has had strained relations with Moscow since its independence from the Soviet Union.

Savins's testimony is unlikely to dampen speculation that the Arctic Sea affair was more than a case of ransoming the ship. The Russian government issued contradictory statements about the hijacking from the beginning and kept the affair top secret, even to the extent of ordering returning crew members not to speak about the events. The cargo was officially described as timber, but numerous theories have emerged that the ship could have been carrying weapons. Washington Post

According to the convict, two other people had been involved in arranging the crime – Sergey Demchenko from Germany and Aleksey Kertsbur from Israel. The man didn’t provide any proof of his accusations. earlier

6.11.10

Samho Dream and Golden Blessing: go 19 million






Think of the web of corporations, law firms, P&I clubs, not to mention varieties of footpads that made this happen. How many cover-me e-mails, memos, and cups of tea, etc.

Samho Dream laden with $170 million worth of oil, and Golden Blessing no doubt carried much the same.

3.11.10

Polar: now at Hobyo






The pirated Panama-flagged MV POLAR has now arrived off the coast of Somalia and is anchored in the vicinity of Hobyo. earlier

1.11.10

Hellespont Protector:Thais let pirate skiff go




With the MV Hellespont Protector increasing its speed, the suspected pirates were unable to catch the merchant vessel and aborted their attack, dropping their weapons into the water in an attempt to escape.

Within minutes, HTMS Similan's boarding team apprehended the skiff and, after taking records, the skiff was forced back to the Somali coast. A warning of suspected pirate activity was issued to fishing boats and commercial ships in the region. earlier