Venezuelan Oil Exports Flow Using False Documents, Ships Linked to Iran
When the supertanker Young Yong sailed to the Chinese port of Qingdao in September last year, it had quality certificates for its cargo stating it was transporting Malaysian crude oil, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters.But satellite images and photos show the Chinese-owned ship had loaded the oil four months earlier in Venezuela, an OPEC nation in South America under U.S. oil sanctions.The Young Yong is one of three vessels identified by Reuters that were chartered by little-known companies to export Venezuelan oil and used false documents to conceal its origin, according to shipping documents and 11 sources with knowledge of the trade.Two of those tankers, including the Young Yong, were designated this month by U.S.
Resolving A Contamination Claim In West Africa
Dennis de Bruin, Marine Director at BMT Surveys, describes what a surveyor can do to turn an apparent total loss of high quality fuel into the acceptance of a sound product. Shipping is a global business and the obstacles and challenges faced are often demanding. Hence knowledge, experience and personal contacts are essential to resolve problems. These challenges can be due to geography, e.g. the remoteness of places, the complexity of cargo, local politics and lack of equipment or, misunderstandings that arise from different languages, jurisdictions and cultures.
Court Orders Argentine Tall Ship Detention
A Ghana court judge rejected plea to release the 'ARA Libertad' training ship, detained through complaint by a US hedge fund creditor. The sail training ship has been detained with more than 200 hundred crew members on board since 2, October 2012 in a port close to the West African port of Accra, reports Bernama. The ARA Libertad is a three-masted tall ship that stopped at Tema while training hundreds of Argentine navy cadets. The seizure of the flagship of Argentina's Navy stems from a complaint from a US hedge fund.
Mercy Ships' "Walking Bloodbank"
The humanitarian organization Mercy Ships is taking the day to celebrate the heroic role that numerous blood donors play onboard its hospital ship, the Africa Mercy, which is currently docked in the West African port city of Lomé, Togo. Mercy Ships provides free surgical, medical and dental care to developing West African nations, along with health and medical training and infrastructure development. Its flagship, the Africa Mercy, is equipped with a state-of-the-art hospital featuring six operating theaters, recovery wards with 78 beds, a CT scanner, an X-ray machine and a laboratory.
