Archaeologists Plan Rescue of 2,500-year-old Phoenician Shipwreck
A group of Spanish archaeologists have made detailed diagrams of a 2,500-year-old Phoenician shipwreck to help work out how best to recover it from the sea before a storm destroys it forever.The eight-metre-long Mazarron II, named after the municipality in the southeastern Spanish region of Murcia where it was found off the coast, is a unique piece of ancient maritime engineering.Nine technicians from the University of Valencia underwent 560 hours of scuba diving over more than two weeks in June to record all the cracks and fissures in the ship…
US Imposes Fresh Sanctions on Iran
The United States on Friday sanctioned companies in Iran, China and the United Arab Emirates for doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and on three Iranian entities over conventional arms proliferation.They are the latest in a series of measures aimed at stepping up pressure on Tehran in the waning days of President Donald Trump's administration, which ends on January 20.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington had sanctioned seven companies, including Chinese-based Jiangyin Mascot Special Steel Co.
Ship Seized Carrying Arms for Syria
Syria's ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel-Karim Ali expressed his government's gratitude to the Lebanese Army and security apparatuses for seizing the ship suspected of smuggling weapons for the Syrian rebels, the National News Agency (NNA) informed the official Chinese News Agency. Lutfallah II, a Sierra Leonean-flagged vessel was intercepted by the Lebanese Navy on April 27. Weapons were found aboard its three containers. As a result, 21 people were charged and 14 are in custody. "However, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in the words of their own foreign ministers, announced backing the (Syrian) fighters and the opposition," he added.
IMO to Help Coordinate MidEast Oil Spill Clean Up
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is to collaborate in efforts to mount a coordinated response from UN agencies and other concerned parties, including regional Governments, to the oil spill currently affecting the coastal and marine environments of Lebanon and Syria. The spill, estimated to be one of the largest ever to affect the Mediterranean, follows an incident in mid-July in which an oil storage unit at a power plant in Jiyyeh, 30 km south of Beirut, sustained bombing damage during the current conflict. Theme: --Select Story Tmeme-- Anchor Handling Tugs Articulated Tug Barge (ATB) Ballast Water Management Barges Bulk…
Coast Guard Forces Begin Journey Home
United States Coast Guard forces assigned to the Mediterranean region departed Rota, Spain Thursday on their trans-Atlantic journey home following their efforts as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. The 378-ft. Coast Guard Cutter Dallas, homeported in Charleston, S.C., and four patrol boats; the CGCs Pea Island and Knight Island homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla.; the CGC Bainbridge Island homeported in Sandy Hook, N.J. and the CGC Grand Isle from Gloucester, Mass., will make several port calls during their transit home before arriving in Norfolk, Va., June 11. The return transit marks the first time 110-ft. patrol boats have sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. To get to the Mediterranean, the patrol boats were carried aboard a commercial freight ship.
