Zodiac Maritime News

The 25 crew members of the MSC Aries, which was seized by Iran on April 13, are safe, shipping firm MSC said on Wednesday, adding that discussions with Iranian authorities are in progress to secure their earliest release."We are also working with the Iranian authorities to have the cargo discharged," the Swiss headquartered company said in a statement.Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the container vessel in the Strait of Hormuz days after Tehran vowed to retaliate for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus on April 1.

Portugal's foreign ministry summoned Iran's ambassador on Tuesday to condemn Saturday's attack on Israel by Tehran and to demand the immediate release of a Portuguese-flagged container ship, the MSC Aries, that was seized by Iran on April 13.The ministry said in a statement after the meeting that it "will await the results of this formal measure and evaluate any additional steps, depending on those".It said Portugal had demanded the release of the crew "as explanations provided so far have not been considered consistent"…

A Portuguese-flagged container ship, the MSC Aries, was seized by Iran on April 13 for "violating maritime laws", Iran's foreign ministry said on Monday, adding that there was no doubt the vessel was linked to Israel.Iran's Revolutionary Guards seized the cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz days after Tehran vowed to retaliate for a suspected Israeli strike on its consulate in Damascus on April 1. Iran had said it could close the crucial shipping route."The vessel was diverted…

MSC is the manager and commercial operator of a vessel seized on Saturday by Iranian authorities, international shipping company Zodiac Maritime said in a statement."MSC is responsible for all vessel activities including cargo operations and maintenance. Title to the vessel is held by Gortal Shipping Inc as financier, and she has been leased to MSC on a long-term basis. Gortal Shipping Inc is affiliated with Zodiac Maritime," said the company, partly owned by Israeli businessman…

BYD's first chartered vehicle carrier has set sail from China's southern city of Shenzhen, carrying more than 5,000 electric vehicles to Europe, state media Xinhua reported on Tuesday.Chinese automakers including BYD, Chery Automobile and SAIC Motor, have been placing orders for vessels to counter rising shipping costs as they boost exports.The new roll-on, roll-off vehicle carrier named "BYD Explorer No.1" departed on Monday for Flushing Port in the Netherlands and the German port of Bremerhaven…

An attempted hijacking of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday appears to have been carried out by armed Somali pirates and not Yemeni Houthis, despite the firing of missiles from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen afterwards, the Pentagon said on Monday."We're continuing to assess, but initial indications are that these five individuals are Somali," said Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder."Clearly a piracy related incident," Ryder added.A U.S. Navy warship responded to a distress call on Sunday from the chemical tanker Central Park.

A U.S. Navy warship responded to a distress call from a commercial tanker in the Gulf of Aden that had been seized by armed individuals and is now safe, U.S. officials said on Sunday.The tanker, which had been carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid, was identified as the Central Park by the vessel's company. The officials did not identify the attackers.In a statement, the U.S. military said the USS Mason, with help from allied ships, demanded that the commercial ship be released by the attackers. Five armed individuals tried to escape on a fast boat but were chased by the U.S.

Unidentified armed individuals have seized a tanker carrying a cargo of phosphoric acid in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, the vessel's managing company and a U.S. defence official said.The incident, involving the chemical tanker Central Park, is the latest in a series of attacks in Middle Eastern waters since a brutal war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas broke out on October 7.It followed a seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo ship by Yemen Houthis, allies of Iran, in the southern Red Sea last week.

Iran denies Israel's accusation that Tehran targeted an Israeli tanker on Feb. 10, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.The captain of the Liberian-flagged Campo Square said on Saturday it had been lightly damaged by an airborne object on Feb. 10 while sailing through the Arabian Sea.

An Israeli-linked tanker was lightly damaged in an attack last week by an airborne object while sailing through the Arabian Sea, the ship's manager confirmed on Saturday.Regional defence and security sources suspect the assault was carried out by Iran, which did not comment on the incident. Tehran has rejected accusations it was behind similar attacks in the past few years.The Liberian-flagged Campo Square had no cargo when it was hit late at night on Feb. 10, about 300 nautical miles off the coasts of India and Oman, the manager said in a statement.Shipping databases linked the tanker to Zodiac Maritime, which is controlled by Israeli shipping magnate Eyal Ofer."We can confirm that both the vessel and crew are safe and proceeding as per planned passage.

Iran on Saturday rejected as psychological warfare accusations that it was behind a deadly attack on a tanker off Oman's coast, and said Tehran sought to enhance the security of the strategic Gulf waterway.Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy economies said on Friday Iran was threatening international peace and security and that all available evidence showed it was behind the attack on the Mercer Street tanker last week."If we were to confront enemies...we would declare it openly, so the recent storytelling by the enemies is a psychological operation," state media quoted Abolfazl Shekarchi, Iran's senior armed forces spokesman…

Britain will raise a deadly tanker attack off the coast of Oman during a closed-door United Nations Security Council meeting on Friday, diplomats said, but the 15-member body is not expected to take any action.Britain told the Security Council on Tuesday it was "highly likely" that Iran used one or more drones to carry out the tanker attack last week, which killed two crew members - a Briton and a Romanian."There's a lot of conflicting information. A 'highly likely' analysis, which we totally reject. We need to establish facts ... we don't need to rush to any conclusions or actions without having proof of what has happened," deputy Russian U.N.

A non-piracy incident is under way off the coast of the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported on Tuesday.The UKMTO warning notice, based on a third party source, advised vessels to exercise extreme caution in the area, around 61 nautical miles east of the emirate of Fujairah.UKTMO provided no details regarding the vessel or vessels involved.However on Tuesday afternoon a Singapore-flagged chemical tanker in roughly the same position off Fujairah named Golden Brilliant updated its AIS tracking status to "Not Under Command"…

The United States is confident Iran attacked an Israeli-managed tanker last week, killing two, the top U.S. diplomat said on Monday, predicting a "collective response" but saying he did not think the incident necessarily signaled anything about Iran's incoming President Ebrahim Raisi."We have seen a series of actions taken by Iran over many months, including against shipping. So I am not sure that this particular action is anything new or augurs anything one way or another for the new government," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters.

Iran will respond promptly to any threat against its security, the foreign ministry said on Monday, after the United States, Israel and Britain blamed Tehran for an attack on an Israeli-managed tanker off the coast of Oman.Tehran has denied any involvement in the attack on Thursday in which two crew members—a Briton and a Romanian—were killed.The United States and Britain said on Sunday they would work with their allies to respond to the attack on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the incident as "clearly an unacceptable and outrageous attack on commercial shipping"."Iran should face up to the consequences of what they've done…

A Briton and a Romanian were killed when an Israeli-managed petroleum product tanker came under attack on Thursday off the coast of Oman, the company said on Friday, in an incident that Israel's foreign minister blamed on Iran and said deserved a harsh response.There were varying explanations for what happened to the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned ship, with Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime describing the incident as "suspected piracy" and a source at the Oman…

Two crew members, a Briton and a Romanian, were killed when a petroleum products tanker managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime came under attack on Thursday off Oman's coast, the company said on Friday.London-based Zodiac said on its website that the attack in the Arabian Sea on the Mercer Street, a Liberian-flagged Japanese-owned ship, was still being investigated.Earlier on Friday it had described the incident as suspected piracy but the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which provides maritime security information, says it was not piracy."Details of the incident are still being established and an investigation into the incident is currently underway.

Israeli defense officials were checking whether Iranian forces were behind a possible attack on a cargo ship under partial Israeli ownership on Saturday on its way from Jeddah to the United Arab Emirates, Israel's N12 Television News reported.The crew was not hurt and the ship, possibly hit by a missile, was not badly damaged and continued on its journey after the incident, N12 said, citing unnamed sources within Israel's defense establishment. Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen had reported the incident earlier.N12 said the vessel…

International ship management company Zodiac Maritime has extended its satellite communications agreement with Satcom Global, rolling out flagship VSAT service, Satcom Global Aura, across its globally trading fleet of tankers, bulk carriers and container ships. To date, 36 vessels are live on the Aura network enjoying reliable high-speed communications, and upwards of 80 will be installed on Zodiac-managed vessels by the end of the year.Committed to providing seafarers with a superior quality of life aboard its vessels…

After a slow start scrapping of containerships gathered momentum towards the end of 2015 and has continued into 2016, says Drewry Maritime Research. A record intake of newbuild containershps (1.7 million teu) in 2015 coincided with an unusually low scrapping total, serving to widen the supply and demand gap that is assisting the erosion of carrier profits. The amount of scrapping halved in 2015 with only about 195,000 teu worth of capacity removed from the world’s cellular fleet, well down on the previous three years from 2012 to 2014 when the annual scrapping totals averaged nearly twice as much. Last year, owners of older scrapping…

Following last week's landmark referendum results, VesselsValue has compiled a list of the top five U.K.-based shipowners and their total fleet value in USD billions.

The UK Chamber of Shipping's CEO Guy Platten and its president Dr Grahaeme Henderson were among a delegation of international shipowners and major figures from the shipping industry that visited 10 Downing Street on Monday as part of London International Shipping Week 2017. The delegation, led by Maritime UK, took part in a round-table debate with government ministers to discuss both the challenges and opportunities facing the UK's maritime industry, and how the government can strengthen the country's appeal as an attractive business centre. UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling chaired the debate, which was attended by Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade…

In the last month, we have seen the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) recover to the same level it was 12 months ago (see circles in fig.1). Vessel values have started to firm, but not at the same rate and are still at historically low levels. In the last 12 months, contrarian owners have taken advantage of the low values and have been buying cheap tonnage. With hindsight, this looks to have paid off with many values having increased above the purchase price. This article takes a look at which dry bulk owners have been buying the most in the last year.