CMA CGM Everest: Senegal recalls ambassador

Senegal has recalled its ambassador to Tehran after Iran failed to provide a "satisfactory" explanation for arms sent from Iran and discovered in a Nigerian port in October. Senegal and Iran enjoyed strong diplomatic ties until 13 containers loaded with arms and munitions were found in October aboard the Everest, a ship belonging to the French-based company CMA CGM, in the port of Apapa in the Nigerian capital Lagos.

The foreign ministry said the arms were bound for a "state in western Africa," without naming the exact destination.

Tehran has said that the arms shipment belonged to a private company and was not destined for Nigeria but for another "west African country," later identified as Gambia.

Gambia broke off diplomatic relations with Iran on November 22 following the disclosure of the arms shipment.

Nigeria on November 12 informed the United Nations Security Council of the illegal shipment, citing a possible breach of a international sanctions against Iran relating to its controversial nuclear programme. earlier
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ANL Australia: cites business ethics forwarder mum

Mario Carniglia, head of the international freight-forwarding firm Otim, said his firm did not know the contents of the cargo shipped on the ANL Australia. [10 Containers with 2,030 detonators for 122mm rockets, as well as electric circuitry and a large quantity of solid-fuel propellant] He said North Korea provided documents identifying the content as “Oil Pumping Equipment.” “We couldn’t see the contents as the containers were sealed when shipped from Nampo,” he said in the interview conducted in Italian. He refused to identify the exporter in North Korea, citing business ethics. OTIM - Organizzazione Trasporti Internazionali e Marittimi SpA. was first Italian company to open an office in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (North Korea).


ANL Container Line Pty. Ltd and ANL Singapore Pty. Ltd are subsidiaries of the world's third-largest container shipping company CMA CGM S.A. The company, which has JP Morgan as a financial adviser on the restructuring, says auditors have raised doubts [3 December] about the company's ability to continue as a going concern if it fails to reach agreement with its lenders over a restructuring of its $5.2 billion debt. The Marseilles, France, company, which was founded by Lebanon-born Jacques Saade in 1978 and employs 17,000 people worldwide, is in debt restructuring negotiations due to the effect of "severe market conditions" on the business.

Bahamian-flagged ANL AUSTRALIA: U.S. spies

On July 22, Inspectors from the United Arab Emirates, when alerted to possible contraband in a ship bound for Iran, arrested the boxship ANL AUSTRALIA IMO 8913681, Nominal Teus 2668.
An official said.U.S. spies "played a key role" in tracking the shipment. According to shipping records, the 10 large cargo containers left the North Korean port of Nampo on May 30 on a North Korean vessel, and two days later they were transferred to a Chinese ship in the port city of Dalian, in northern China.

From there, the containers were ferried to Shanghai, where on June 13 they were moved to a third ship, the ANL Australia, a Bahamian-flagged containership.
The nature of the cargo, seized in July and described now for the first time were 2,030 detonators for 122mm rockets, as well as electric circuitry and a large quantity of solid-fuel propellant, according to an account given by UAE and U.N. Security Council officials. The materials were bought from North Korea and shipped halfway around the globe in sealed containers, labeled as oil-drilling supplies, that passed through a succession of freighters and ports. According to shipping records, the 10 large cargo containers left the North Korean port of Nampo on May 30 on a North Korean vessel, and two days later they were transferred to a Chinese ship in the port city of Dalian, in northern China.

From there, the containers were ferried to Shanghai, where on June 13 they were moved to a third ship, the ANL Australia, a Bahamian-flagged boxship owned by ANL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of CMA CGM, a French consortium.