Cartegena: "special forces/europe helped seize

A Libyan tanker reported to have been seized by rebels is about to enter the opposition capital Benghazi, having been cleared by Nato ships enforcing an arms embargo on both sides, a Nato official told Reuters today.

Apparently rebels seized the Cartagena, which belongs to the Libyan government's shipping arm, off Malta on Tuesday night "with the help of special forces from a European state", according to the news agency. The ship is said to be carrying almost 40,000 tonnes of gasoline.

Victoria: maybe arms came from Alvand/Kharg?

The containership Victoria sailed from the Syrian port of Latakia and was en route to Alexandria, Egypt, when it was boarded in international waters 200 miles off the Israeli coast. Earlier this month, two Iranian navy vessels, the frigate Alvand and the supply ship Kharq, transited the Suez Canal from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean. Israeli army suspects two Iranian ships which docked in Syria's Latakia port two weeks ago were connected to the smuggling attempt. "The containers were loaded in Latakia after the (Iranian) vessels were there," it was said. back
follow-up

Victoria: Israelis show arms seized

When Jacques Saadé moved his family to Marseilles in 1978, he told them they would stay a year while the civil war in Lebanon, their previous home, died down. Thirty years on, Mr Saadé, now 71, and his family remain based in the French port and growth at the shipping business he founded that first year is so rapid he has a new, 50-storey headquarters tower.

Jochen Döhle serves as Managing Partner of Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG (GmbH & Co.), Hamburg.
Most German owners, rather than finding customers and organising schedules themselves, charter vessels long-term to Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Company and other container ship operators.
The closest brush with catastrophe came last May, when Hamburg shipowners and HSH Nordbank rescued CSAV, a Chilean container line that had chartered 90 ships from north German owners and almost collapsed.

Jochen Döhle, a partner in Peter Döhle Schiffsfahrt, one of the largest shipowners, rejects complaints the deal propped up an unhealthy company. “Isn’t it a positive sign that shipping has learnt from the mistake of the Lehman collapse?” he asks.

Yet few in northern Germany believe the region can absorb the tens of billions of euros in value being destroyed. Peter Döhle and Claus-Peter Offen, two of the biggest shipowners, last year applied to the federal government for loan guarantees. They withdrew after being told they would be rejected. back

Victoria, Israelis seize Saade boxship for arms

The Israeli military said that the vessel was German owned but operated by a French shipping company. The Israeli military and Foreign Ministry notified the German, Liberian and French authorities about the interception, the statement said.

-United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) on March 9 called on the CMA CGM Group (“CMA CGM”) to follow the lead of other responsible corporations and cease all business activities in or with Iran. CMA CGM, a privately owned French company and the third largest shipping container company worldwide, is listed on UANI’s Iran Business Registry (IBR).

While the world is increasingly taking steps to isolate Iran for its pursuit of an illegal nuclear weapons program, CMA CGM is instead increasing its business in Iran, stating that it would increase activities in the port of Bushehr, where Iran’s light water nuclear reactor is located, “10 times more than present.”

Since 2009, CMA CGM vessels have also been involved in two known incidents of shipping dangerous weaponry to or from Iran in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions. Most recently, in October 2010, Nigerian authorities seized 13 shipping containers carrying illegal Iranian weaponry at Lagos’ Apapa Port.

In the second case, in July 2009 the UAE seized a shipment of weapons from North Korea destined for Iran. This case is particularly troubling, because according to a diplomatic source, the shipment reportedly contained components that would be used for an Iranian test launch of a new, North Korean-supplied intermediate-range ballistic missile. The missile, reportedly the BM-25 (or Musudan), is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching targets in Western Europe. CMA CGM’s business in Iran is clearly helping to prop up the Iranian regime’s dictatorship.

In 2010, the Group is rewarded with INTTRA Carrier of the Year and SONY Best Partner Carrier Award. In November, the Group signs an agreement with the family-run Turkish industrial group, YILDIRIM. The agreement enables CMA CGM to strengthen its equity base and secure the financing of its investment plan.

In 2011, Jacques R. Saadé is appointed Chief Executive Officer of CMA CGM Group.

Today, CMA CGM is the world’s third largest container shipping company and number one in France. With a fleet of 394 vessels, the Group serves over 400 ports of call. In 2009, it transported a total of 8 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) for total estimated revenues of 10.5 billion US dollars. With a presence on all continents and in 150 countries through its 650 agencies, the Group employs over 17,200 people worldwide, including over 4,150 in France.

Delivery Date 17/11/09
Service IRISH
Deployment N.CONTINENT / LIVERPOOL / DUBLIN / BELFAST
Previous Name ex ES2
Flag LIBERIA
Built 2004
Cargo Gear 3x45t
Nominal Teus 1678
Teus 14TH 1305
Reefer Point 233 FEU
S.DWT 22506
S.Draft 10,87
L.O.A 178.5
Beam 27.6
GT 17188
NT 9038
Suez GT 50835,55
Suez NT 17944,95
Speed 21
Builder SIETAS
Propelling Engine MAN 6L23/30
Classification GL + 100 A5 CONTAINERSHIP, IW, NAV-O, SOLAS II-2 REG.19+MC AUT
Port of registry MONROVIA
Call sign A8UJ5
Bowthruster 900 kw
Imo Number 9290165
Managing Owners Peter Doehle
Operator CMA CGM
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Tankers: 1975 redux

The global oil-tanker fleet will expand by 86.5 million deadweight tons in the next two years, equal to about 27 percent of existing capacity, The extra ships would exceed the previous record of 79.8 million deadweight tons set in 1974 and 1975.