Afp News

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is warning criminals that their attempts to hide illicit drugs in the hull of cargo ships continues to be disrupted by law enforcement after another import was seized by authorities in Melbourne.Packages of cocaine concealed inside the sea chest of a cargo ship was seized after the vessel docked in Melbourne, the second attempted import of its kind in two months.Australian Border Force (ABF) used an underwater Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) at Melbourne's Appleton Dock to search a vessel…

An Australian man and woman have been arrested for their alleged roles in attempting to import 850kg (1,874 pounds) of cocaine into Australia hidden on a bulk cargo carrier.Police allege a Dianella man, 37, and a Doubleview woman, 32, were a part of the Australian-based syndicate responsible for collecting the drugs and facilitating the logistics of the importation.Police have seized about A$90,000 cash allegedly hidden in the bathroom cupboard of the man’s home and five mobile…

Two seafarers have been brought up on charges for their alleged roles in smuggling cocaine into Western Australia on board a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier.The men, both from Montenegro, were serving as master, 43, and chief engineer, 39, on board the 58,000-dwt supramax St Pinot. They have been charged with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and are expected to face Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.Police allege the pair…

Australian law enforcement has seized 700 kilograms of cocaine from a Maersk containership at Sydney's Port Botany.The dugs were discovered by Australian Border Force (ABF) during a July 22 inspection of shipping containers on the Singapore-flagged Maersk Inverness, which had docked a day earlier. The haul was found packaged in denim bags inside a shipping container described as containing wood products.AFP investigators seized 28 denim bags, each holding about 25kg of cocaine in brick form.

Norway-based Kongsberg Digital (KDI) and Maritime Industry Authority in the Philippines (MARINA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). According to Kongsberg, the MOU represents a significant milestone for innovation and transformation in maritime training in the Philippines,"Kongsberg Digital’s suite of simulation systems provides efficient and realistic training for maritime students and crew so building vital skills promoting safety, cost-efficiency, and sustainability in operations at sea.

The master of a containership has been charged in Australia after his vessel allegedly dragged anchor through a protected zone and damaged a subsea communications cable off the West Australian coast. The Ukrainian national is facing up to three years imprisonment.A section of the Australia Singapore Cable in the Perth Submarine Cable Protection Zone, approximately 10 kilometers offshore from City Beach, was disabled early on August 1, 2021, and allegations that a passing vessel had damaged the cable were reported to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on August 3.According to the AFP, the Maersk Surabaya had been anchored approximately 500 meters from the protection zone…

Authorities have made a major drug bust from a containership bound for Australia.Earlier this month, Australian Federal Police (AFP) were tipped that the containership MSC Joanna allegedly contained a large quantity of cocaine on board, and authorities tracked the vessel as it made its way to Sydney.Through Maritime Border Command, ABF officers provided ongoing monitoring of the vessel, including planning the aerial and on-water response. Aerial surveillance observed a man launching a small vessel from Taren Point and meeting the MSC Joana off the coast of Sydney before sunrise on March 11. Police allege 11 green lidded crates containing 199 blocks of cocaine were offloaded from the cargo vessel at sea and transported to the smaller vessel…

The UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is to call for more international support to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz when he meets his French and German counterparts later today (Friday, August 31) for talks about Iran. Last month, Iran seized a British-flagged oil tanker in the Strait in apparent retaliation for the UK’s seizure in Gibraltar of an Iranian ship accused of violating European sanctions by taking oil to Syria.The UK joined a U.S.-led mission to escort merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz at the start of this month but Germany and France declined to take part…

Spain's state-held shipbuilder Navantia will build five F-110 frigates for the Spanish navy in a contract worth 4.3 billion euros ($4.9 billion), the government confirmed on Thursday after a report by French news agency AFP.The contract for the frigates will be approved on Friday during the weekly cabinet meeting, the Defence Ministry said in a statement. (Reuters, Reporting by Belen Carreno; Writing by Paul Day; Editing by Ingrid Melander)

A Swiss-operated ship has been attacked off the coast of Nigeria, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said, amid media reports that 12 crew members had been kidnapped by a  gang of pirates.The MV Glarus, merchant ship operated by Geneva-based shipping company Massoel Shipping, was transporting wheat between Lagos and the southern Niger Delta oil hub of Port Harcourt.According to reports, the incident took place at about 45 nautical miles south west of Bonny Island. The pirates held 12 among the ship's staff members as hostages.According to West African nation's maritime agency, the crew members the Swiss cargo vessel kidnapped by pirates are from the Philippines…

Foreign ministers of Southeast Asia and China adopted on Sunday a negotiating framework for a code of conduct  (COC)  in the South China Sea, Reuters reported. The 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China have agreed on a framework for how they will go about drafting a code. However, critics say this move as tactic to buy China time to consolidate its maritime power. The framework seeks to advance a 2002 Declaration of Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea, which has mostly been ignored by claimant states, particularly China, which has built seven manmade islands in disputed waters, three of which are equipped with runways, surface-to-air missiles and radars.

The Abu Sayyaf group beheaded two Vietnamese nationals held hostage for almost eight months,  CNN reported quoting the military. Colonel Juvymax Uy, commander of Joint Task Force Basilan, said the bodies of Mr Hoang Trung Thong and Mr Hoang Va Hai were found at 5.40am on Wednesday in Tumahubong village, Sumisip town, in Basilan province. The two were among the six crew members of the MV Royal 16, a Vietnamese cargo vessel, seized by the Abu Sayyaf off Sibago Island in Basilan on Nov 11, 2016. The Abu Sayyaf is a group of ruthless bandits known to behead their hostages unless ransom payments are made. Abu Sayyaf, originally a loose network of Islamic militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network…

The Australian government announced a $89 billion (US$66.2 billion) naval shipbuilding plan, based mostly in Adelaide. The program will produce 12 submarines, nine frigates and 12 offshore patrol vessels for the Australian navy as well as 19 Pacific patrol boats to be given to neighboring countries. AFP quoted Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying that the largest peacetime naval investment package - first flagged in 2015 to replace its ageing fleets - would boost local industry, with up to 5,000 jobs created in shipbuilding directly and double that in the supply chain. "This is truly nation-building, a great national enterprise and it brings with it that enormous employment boost. It is unashamedly nationalistic," Malcolm said.

Russia sent its anti-submarine destroyer and a replenishment oiler to the Philippines in a bid to hold maritime exercises with the latter, according to various media reports. The two ships — Admiral Tributs, an anti-submarine vessel, and a sea tanker Boris Butoma — arrived in Manila on Tuesday, 3 January, on a four-day goodwill visit. According to AFP,  Russia wants to hold maritime drills with the Philippines to help combat terrorism and piracy by sending two warships to Manila for the first official navy-to-navy contact. Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov, deputy commander of the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet, said they want to duplicate the exercises they were holding with other Southeast Asian countries by holding bilateral training here or in Moscow with Filipino sailors.

The South Korean court handling the bankruptcy proceedings of STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co. said that only a single bidder had submitted a binding proposal to buy the shipyard's profitable French unit, says a report by AFP. STX France, which specialises in building cruise ships, is the only profitable unit of STX Offshore, which filed for receivership in May. Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri SpA, Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group and French state-controlled naval shipbuilder DCNS had initially expressed interest in acquiring STX France, which specialises in building cruise ships. The four  were supposed to undertake due diligence of STX’s assets for up to two weeks before offering final takeover proposals. But only one bidder has met the deadline for making a binding offer.

An explosion on a speedboat carrying 35 foreign passengers and four crew members  in Bali, Indonesia  has left two people dead and 18 other tourists injured. According to the local police, the boat was ferrying tourists from Bali to Lombok and exploded enroute, leaving two people dead and 13 others injured. According to AFP, an Austrian woman was killed along with a second female foreigner, whose nationality was still being verified. Two German citizens were injured while nationals from Britain, France, Italy, Portugal, Ireland and Spain were also among the passengers. It appeared to be an accident with the explosion occurring in the fuel tank. Indonesia has a poor maritime safety record and regularly suffers fatal boat accidents.

Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri SpA and Dutch counterpart Damen Shipyards Group are in the running to buy STX France, which has been put on the block by Korean debt-ridden parent STX Offshore & Shipbuilding Co, reports WSJ. Meanwhile,  STX Offshore - once the Korea's number four shipbuilder - has submitted a proposal to a court on how to revive its business, according to a report in AFP. STX filed for the restructuring in May after struggling for years with mounting losses caused by mismanagement and a slump in global demand. STX France, which specializes in building cruise ships, is the only profitable unit of STX, with a full order book for the next seven years.

Indonesia's navy has found a tanker carrying almost US$400,000 worth of diesel that was taken by its own crew last week due to a commercial dispute, says a report in AFP. The navy said in a statement that the MT Vier Harmoni with 10 Indonesian crewmen was found off West Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo. There was a dispute between the charterer of the vessel and the crew when a promise of bonus payments was unfulfilled, said Vier Abdul Jamal, chief executive of the ship's owner Vierlines Asia Group. "The ship was escorted to the port of Tanjung Pinang for further investigation," said Head of Information Department of the Navy Rear Admiral Edi Sucipto. According to Edi, the search for Vier Harmoni commenced soon after a report that the tanker was taken to Batam waters.

STX Offshore & Shipbuilding may be put under a court-led restructuring scheme, paving the way for the shipyard to avert liquidation, says a report in Korea Times quoting local court. Last month, STX Shipbuilding, once Korea's No. 4 shipbuilder, filed for receivership to stay afloat as its creditors decided to end a similar rehabilitation program for the shipbuilder. The shipbuilder is required to submit its self-rescue plan to the Seoul Central District Court by Sept. “It is regrettable that we have been put under court receivership but it is also fortunate at the same time that we avoided the worst-case situation,” STX CEO Lee Byung-Mo said in a message to employees.

France has expressed its willingness to help Libya’s new unity government with maritime security as the fledgling administration seeks to assert its authority over the chaos-wracked country, reports AFP. "We must wait for [Libyan] Prime Minister [Fayez Sarraj] to tell us what security measures should be taken and what he intends to get from the international community to ensure the maritime security of Libya," French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. On Monday, it was agreed at a meeting of US, UK, French, German and Italian leaders in Hanover that there is an urgent need to provide support to Libya amid the threat posed by Daesh terrorist group and criminal smuggling networks destabilizing the country.

India and the United States have agreed to strengthen their cooperation on maritime security, as concerns grow in Washington over Beijing’s growing military ambitions, reports AFP. India and the USA had agreed to two new projects under the Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI). According to a report by Sputnik, Washington and New Delhi agreed to strengthen cooperation in the sphere of maritime security in both Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions during the meeting of Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar and US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, a joint statement published following the talks said Tuesday. The logistics agreement will allow India and the United States to share and exchange logistics.

Pirates have attacked the Liberian-flagged 4,360 TEU CMA CGM Turquoise, kidnapping two crew members off the coast of Nigeria, with the remainder of the crew said to be safe. Turquoise, managed by Dioryx Maritime Corp. in Greece, was stormed late on Monday as it travelled between Nigeria's commercial hub Lagos and Douala in Cameroon. According to Ghana-based antipiracy agency Maritime Trade Information Sharing Centre (MTISC-GOG), the ship  was boarded in waters about 30 nm off the coast of the Niger Delta. The captain activated the SSAS and the crew retreated to the citadel, but two were captured and kidnapped before they could enter.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) will investigate the leak of classified documents about the timeframe for building Australia's new fleet of submarines. The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ordered the investigation. A report in The Australian newspaper has referenced "several sections of the draft white paper" that was produced under former prime minister Tony Abbott and former defence minister Kevin Andrews. The papers show that under former Prime Minister Tony Abbott's reign, the plan was to bring new 12 submarines into service by the mid-2020s. The story published information from a classified draft of the defence white paper written while Abbott was PM and while Kevin Andrews was defence minister.