Baikal: Iranian-owned tanker departs Greece

Greek coast guard vessels were on November 28 searching for an Iranian tanker that disappeared after being refused a request to refuel off the island of Syros as it was suspected that the vessel was carrying Iranian oil in contravention of a European Union ban.
The Tanzanian-flagged Baikal, part of top Iranian tanker operator NITC’s fleet, approached Syros on November 27  in order to refuel but officials from local company Sekavin refused after they, along with customs officers, checked the documents accompanying the shipment of 146,000 tons of crude oil. The documents did not detail who would be the recipient of the fuel.
“We conducted an initial investigation in order not to break the law. In the end, we did not provide them with any fuel because it would be against the rules,” a Sekavin official told Reuters. “Regardless of its flag, the ship represents Iranian interests.”
Sources said that at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, the Baikal set sail from Syros and 17 minutes later, when it was heading toward Myconos, the vessel’s Automatic Identification System was switched off.
Customs officials on Syros notified the Financial Crimes Squad (SDOE), which does not have a vessel that can be used to track down suspects. As a result, the coast guard was called in. Authorities suspect that the Baikal was delivering the oil to a customer in Greece or the Balkans in contravention of an EU embargo.

Parmis: IRISL boxship lurking near compound hit

Tanzania’s shipping registry is managed by a company called Philtex Corporation, with a head office in Dubai, and offices in a number of other locations, including Austin, Texas, where the contact person for Philtex Marine Services{USA} is Chad Warren, a U.S. citizen, says he is now based. Reached by phone in Texas this week, Warren described himself as a deputy registrar of the Tanzanian shipping registry, but when asked to explain the Iranian vessels he said “I did not register any of these ships.”

Warren added that he has no access to the records of these Iranian ships, and said that their apparent persistence on the Tanzanian registry might be due to a policy of waiting for a 90-day provisional registration period to expire, rather than simply striking them off. Asked how that would explain the NITC tankers showing up on Lloyd’s as newly flagged after the end of August, he said, “I don’t know exactly what is going on.” Asked why the Iranian ships at issue would be using call signs identifying them as Tanzanian, he said their use of these call signs would be “invalid.”

Parmis ex-Iran Piroozi

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said October 11 the precise details of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the compound in Libya still remain unclear.

One month after the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, Clinton said the administration is committed to uncovering the truth about what happened.

"There is much we still don't know and I am the first to say that," Clinton told reporters at the State Department after meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi.

Over the past two months, at least three Iranian-linked container ships, all blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury, have called at the Libyan port of Benghazi. One of them, the Parmis, put in at Benghazi Anchorage as recently as August 30. Since then, it has been meandering along the Libyan coast, going west to the Libyan port of Misurata, then doubling back east this week, past the Libyan port of Sirte. For the Parmis, this is a voyage that began in early August at the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, thence to the United Arab Emirates, then Egypt, and on to Libya. This repeats a similar circuit, in which the Parmis sailed in June from Iran, calling in early July at Benghazi. That’s not to suggest any ties between Iran, or the Parmis in particular, and Tuesday’s attack on the U.S. post in Benghazi. The full tale of who master-minded or helped stage that armed assault remains to be uncovered here

Ship Type: Container ship

Year Built: 2003 Length x Breadth: 207 m X 30 m Gross Tonnage: 25391, DeadWeight: 33853 t Speed recorded (Max / Average): 15.9 / 15.9 knots Flag: Tanzania [TZ] Call Sign: 5IM542
IMO: 9283007, MMSI: 677044200

 Ssaka (Until 2011 Feb 18) - Iran Piroozi (Until 2009 Jan 11) - Sakas (not Yet Confirmed) - Iran Piroozi (not Yet Confirmed)

Eglantine: stormed and released by Iranian Navy

Eglantine, ex- Iran Gilan

IRANIAN commandos reportedly stormed the bulker that had been hijacked by pirates off the Maldives.    MV Eglantine was seized over 2,000km away from the pirate hotspot of Somalia.   Indian and Maldivian Navies are shadowing MV Eglantine the hijacked Iranian-owned Bolivian-flagged cargo ship drifting in the Indian Ocean. The ship was seized by Somali pirates late on 26 March 2012 off Hoarafushi Island in the Maldives. The ship is loaded with Brazilian sugar for Iran and was making passage to the Bandar Imam Khomeini port in Iran


Eglantine (IMO 9193202) appears on the U.S. Treasury's SDN list:


[March 26,]Bolivian-flagged, Iranian-owned bulk ship, MV EGLANTINE, was attacked and hijacked in position 07:00 N - 069:49 E, approximately 460nm west south west of  Cape Comorin early this morning. There are 23 crew members on board.


The incident took place at approximately 03:30 UTC and the ship was last located stationary in position 07:13N - 069:47E at 07:00 UTC.  Listed by the British government in 2011 as an entity of potential concern for WMD-related procurement




Ship Type: Bulk carrier
Year Built: 2000
Length x Breadth: 225 m X 32 m
Gross Tonnage: 39424, DeadWeight: 63400 t
Speed recorded (Max / Average): 12.2 / 11.5 knots
Flag: Bolivia [BO] 
Call Sign: CPC825
IMO: 9193202, MMSI: 720813000
Ex Names History
Vessel's Name Flag Call Sign Last Reported
EGLANTINE Bolivia CPC825 2012-03-19 11:24
EGLANTINE Cyprus 5BGK3 2012-02-27 16:14
BLUEBELL Malta 9HBI8 2011-01-21 20:32
IRAN GILAN Malta 9HBI8 2009-11-14 19:37


Added to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 16, 2010, freezing its assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting transactions with U.S. parties, pursuant to Executive Order 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems; designated for being a front company for Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL - see separate entity record) that was "aiding IRISL in evading sanctions," according to the U.S. Treasury Department; "assumed IRISL's ship management functions in the wake of sanctions against IRISL," according to the U.S. Treasury Department, and "shares corporate officers with IRISL"; listed by the European Union on July 26, 2010 as an entity linked to Iran's proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities or Iran's development of nuclear weapon delivery systems; with some exceptions, European Union member states must freeze all funds and economic resources owned, held or controlled by the listed entity, and prevent funds or economic resources from being made available to it; sanctioned by the governments of Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Norway, and Switzerland, restricting business and financial transactions with the entity and/or freezing its assets in those countries; listed by the British government in 2011 as an entity of potential concern for WMD-related procurement.


Now operating under the name Rahbaran Omid Darya Ship Management Co., while retaining its original IMO number (5466371) and continuing to manage the same fleet of ships.


Shares an address with the following companies:


Uppercourt Shipping Co.
Vobster Shipping Co.
Lancelin Shipping
Midhurst Shipping Co. Ltd.
Oxted Shipping Co. Ltd.
Sackville Holdings Ltd.
Top Glacier Co. Ltd.
Smart Day Holdings Ltd.
System Wise Ltd.
Trade Treasure Ltd.
Concept Giant Ltd.
Gomshall Shipping Co. Ltd.
Great Method Ltd.
Jackman Shipping Co. Ltd.
Alpha Effort Ltd.
Shere Shipping Co.
Tongham Shipping Co.
True Honour Holdings Ltd.
KMD Shipping Lines;


Ship manager and/or ISM manager of the following vessels that appear on the U.S. Treasury's SDN list:
Eglantine (IMO 9193202)