Friday, February 16, 2024

Eversource Exits Offshore Wind by Selling Ørsted JVs to Private Equity Firm

offshore wind farm — The deal includes South Fork Wind currently under construction in New York (Orsted)

Eversource Energy, the operator of New England’s largest energy delivery system, executed a definitive agreement to complete the exit from its large investment in the developing U.S. offshore wind energy sector through a joint venture with Ørsted. The deal would sell the 50 percent stake to a private equity manager, Global Infrastructure Partners, which in turn is being acquired by BlackRock, one of the world’s largest private asset managers.

The agreement calls for GIP to acquire Eversource’s 50 percent share in the 132 MW South Fork Wind project which is currently nearing completion and the 704 MW Revolution Wind project which received final federal approvals in November 2023 and is moving into the construction phase. South Fork is under contract to provide power to New York State, while Revolution Wind will split its power between Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Eversource expects to realize $1.1 billion of cash proceeds for the deal which will largely remove it from these projects. There are certain clauses to adjust the final price based on tax credits and potential construction cost overruns and Eversource will retain some obligations including for example onshore work for Revolution Wind.

The company had previously announced that while it believes in the potential for offshore wind energy production, its strategy would focus on its operations as a regulated transmission builder and operator.

Ørsted highlights that it has a longstanding partnership with Global Infrastructure Partners. The two companies currently have four strategic joint ventures. GIP is seen as a strong partner for these two additional late-stage wind projects, which are among the first in the U.S. to be moving into construction and completion. The deal also raises the potential that Ørsted will be in partnership with BlackRock which in January 2024 announced plans to acquire GIP. BlackRock has also shown interest in the offshore energy sector, although it is currently in a dispute with Taiwanese regulators who raised concerns about the investment manager.

This is the latest in a series of transactions announced by Eversource as part of its exit strategy from the offshore wind sector. The company in January 2024 entered into a deal to sell its 50 percent stake in the 924 MW Sunrise Wind project. Ørsted would acquire the position if it is successful in resetting the power agreements with New York State which it rebid in the recently closed solicitation. Ørsted has indicated it would proceed with 100 percent ownership of the project if it wins an agreement with New York State, or otherwise the two companies would look to other alternatives for Sunrise Wind.

Eversource in 2023 also sold its 50 percent interest in an uncommitted offshore lease to Ørsted. They received $625 million for the interest in the 175,000-acre site which could be developed into another wind farm project.

The sale to GIP will require federal and New York State approval. They expect South Fork Wind will complete construction and be fully operational before the closing, which is expected in mid-2024.

Jumbo Secures Unique Contract to Remove Offshore Wind Monopiles

Jumbo Offshore has secured a unique contract to remove wind turbine monopiles from the site of the future Yunlin Wind Farm, a 640 MW project in the Taiwan Strait.

Yunlin was scheduled to generate its first power in 2020, but its progress was disrupted by the pandemic. It is also reported to have encountered difficulties with monopile installation, with several piles slipping. The project's first monopile installation contractor, Sapura Energy, backed out in February 2022. The second, UAE-based NPCC, took over in April 2022. A third contracting consortium, Fred. Olsen/Shimizu, now holds a contract for the remaining monopile installation scope and is scheduled to start this quarter.

As of early January, the project partners said that they have installed 45 out of 80 monopiles and completed 34 out of 80 turbines.

Throughout the project, Jumbo has supported Yunlin's developers with heavy-lift capabilities. Beginning in 2021, Jumbo's fleet transported 40 monopiles, 120 monopile sections and 40 transition pieces to Taiwan - the largest contract in the company's history.

Courtesy Jumbo

As construction continues, Yunlin needs to remove some of the monopiles installed earlier in the project, and has awarded Jumbo a contract extension to cover this additional scope. The heavy lift vessel Fairplayer will take out monopiles that were installed during a previous phase.

To undertake this task, the vessel will be fitted with an underwater abrasive cutting and lifting tool and an ROV. Using this special-purpose rig, the monopiles will be cut into sections, hoisted on board and transported back to shore. According to Jumbo, the objective is to cut off the bottommost section of each monopile three meters below mean seabed level.

“We are very proud to have been awarded this additional scope of work on the Yunlin OWF project. We see this as a confirmation that Jumbo’s values bring real benefit to our clients. With our client-centric approach, we aim to cooperate with our customers as a partner in all that we do, in order to offer a reliable service that inspires confidence," said Brian Boutkan, Manager Commerce at Jumbo Offshore.

Yunlin's developer is Yunneng Wind Energy, a joint venture of TotalEnergies, Skyborn Renewables, Thailand's Electricity Generating Public Co. (EGCO) and Sojitz Corp. Yunneng received government approval for a $3 billion debt restructuring plan in January, paving the way for completion of construction.

Sumitomo Ends Commercial Shipbuilding as It Looks to Offshore Wind

Sumitomo shipbuilding — Sumitomo Heavy Industries stopped taking new commercial shipbuilding orders as it looks to opportunities in offshore wind and ship repair (Sumitomo)

In a further demonstration of the stiff competition in shipbuilding and the declining position of the Japanese industry, Sumitomo Heavy Industries Marine & Engineering Company (SHI-ME) reports its board adopted a resolution to withdraw from building new general commercial vessels. One of the oldest shipbuilders in Japan, the company will continue its ship repair business while it also looks to transition to realize opportunities in offshore wind power generation.

“Anticipating the necessity to address the rising prices of steel and other materials and equipment, along with significant fluctuations in vessel prices, and persisting intense competition with overseas companies due to an increasing supply-demand gap, we have extensively deliberated on the future of the shipbuilding business together with SHI-ME,” the company wrote in its statement.

The shipbuilder was spun off in 2003 into an independent company that sought to create its competitive position as a top player in the mid-size tanker market, and specifically focusing on Aframax tankers. They cite the prolonged down cycle for tankers and competition as well as developments such as the 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers as contributed to the challenges for shipbuilding.

The company implemented various measures, including limiting the number of vessel orders it accepted and overhauling its shipbuilding system, but still, they reported it was challenging to sustain the shipbuilding business. Orders in the last fiscal year were reported at $113 million.

The plan calls for completing the current orders as well as continuing to provide after-sales service for previously constructed vessels and the repair business. As part of the mid-term management plan, they will also work to commercialize opportunities for base structures for offshore wind power generation along with related vessels.

The shipbuilding business traces its origins to 1897 and has operated in its current form since the 1969 merger of Sumitomo Machinery Industries and Uraga Heavy Industries formed Sumitomo Heavy Industries, a machinery and shipbuilding manufacturer. The Yokosuka Shipyard, which has one of the largest docks in Tokyo Bay has operated in its current form since the 1960s.

The company is taking a charge of $5.5 million in the 2023 financial reports for a loss on the business liquidation. They said that revenues would be stabilized by reassigning personnel and other forms of management resource reallocation. The portion of the shipyard used for new construction will be transferred to the Sumitomo Construction Machinery Company which looks to build hydraulic excavators at the site.

Japan’s shipbuilding industry has been in a prolonged decline losing market share to the growing competition first from South Korea and later from China. Today, Japan is a distant third in the industry rankings largely supported by Japanese shipowners who continue to commit a portion of the contracts to the domestic industry.

Farmers Block the Port of Antwerp to Show Frustration with Government

Antwerp blockade — Independent farmers used their tractors to block roads leading to the Port of Antwerp (Flemish Traffic Center)

Independent farmers took to the streets around the Port of Antwerp today to show their frustration at slow talks between the government and farmers to improve working conditions. Today’s demonstrations were officially independent but union leaders who staged large-scale protests two weeks ago at both Antwerp and Bruges told reporters they welcomed today’s protests as they continue discussions with the government.

Reports said as many as 500 tractors descended on the roads leading into the port bringing operations at times to a standstill and at other times forcing diversions to alternate routes. The spokesperson for the farmers’ group said they were operating “filter blockades.” They said emergency vehicles would be permitted to pass as well as trucks carrying toxic or perishable cargo.

Trucks attempting to move containers in and out of one of Europe’s busiest seaports however were brought to a standstill. The Flemish Traffic Authority was also reporting long lines of cars and busses on many of the roads around the city. They were advising drivers to stay away from the port area.

Late in the day, they announced that the protestors had agreed to a shift change at the port. Dockworkers were being permitted in and out of the port. It was believed the farmers would withdraw their protest at the end of the day, although the previous protests disrupted operations at Bruges between January 30 and February 2 and Antwerp starting on January 31 also ending on February 2.

Police command in Bruges monitoring the earlier demonstrations

“We want to show our determination and keep putting pressure on politicians,” a spokesperson for today’s demonstrations told The Brussels Times. According to the newspaper, the government and the unions had previously held three rounds of talks with the next meeting scheduled for this coming Thursday.

The farmers are protesting Belgium’s agricultural policies. They cite the difficult working conditions for farmers and are demanding better pay for their crops.

Similar movements have been sweeping across many parts of Europe. Farmers in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, and Poland have all staged similar actions demanding more money, fewer regulations, easing of environmental rules, and higher selling prices.

Like their Belgian colleagues, in France, they are also complaining of slow movement by the government in response to their demands. Last month, French farmers who have been long known for their activism again took to the streets blocking traffic to demand more from the government. Reuters is reporting that the head of France’s largest farmers’ union has said it is likely they will again take to the streets saying the French government has not done enough for farmers.

Video: Greek Troops Board Tanker, Arresting Captain on “Abduction” Charges

Greek special forces — Special Missions forces went aboard to arrest the captain and release three people being held aboard the vessel (Hellas Coast Guard video)

A Special Missions Unit of the Greek military boarded a product tanker on Saturday arresting the vessel’s captain and releasing three inspectors who reportedly were aboard the ship against their will. It is the latest in a series of developments for a vessel that ran afoul of regulations in September 2023 being detained in Germany for 83 days with an amazing 42 deficiencies identified.

The Hellenic Coast Guard reports on Saturday, February 10, that the vessel, a 46,000 dwt product tanker identified by the media as the Arina 1 registered in Palau, was ordered to divert from its course into the anchorage at Chios. There, the Special Missions Unit boarded the vessel and in a video released by the Coast Guard with their automatic rifles drawn began searching the ship.

The captain and chief engineer along with the three individuals who told authorities they were being detained against their will were taken ashore. After questioning, the captain was arrested on charges of abduction of a Filipino captain and engineer and another Greek engineer, who were aboard as inspectors for a buyer. The three reported that the captain of the tanker had signed them on as an oiler and cleaner to make up his crew complement and then sailed to escape legal detention and a ParisMoU ban on calling at European ports.

Built in 2002, the product tanker has been under the management of a Dubai-based manager since 2021 and registered in Palau. In September 2023, during a port state inspection, the vessel was detained. The causes included inadequate auxiliary engines, a lifeboat that was listed as not ready for use, problems with the fuel change-over procedure that could lead to MARPOL violations, as well as maintenance and training issues. Non-detention items ranged from inoperative alarm systems to corrosion, safety, maintenance, and other issues as well as wage issues for the crew.

After a staggering 83 days, the vessel was released with an agreement that it would proceed to Dubai for repairs. Instead, it appears to have gone to Turkey, at which point in January 2024 the Paris MoU issued a permanent ban for failure to complete the agreed repairs.

The Greek news outlet Zougla reports that the owners had agreed to the sale of the vessel to Greek interests. The ship went to Turkey, where they reported the sale and handover was to be completed. The buyer sent the three individuals to inspect the vessel, but before the handover could be completed, the vessel was arrested by a third party for $1 million in debt.

The captain of the tanker is reported to have told the people aboard he was moving the vessel to a different anchorage in Izmir, but instead took the vessel to sea keeping the three inspectors aboard to meet the crewing requirements. Some reports said they were locked into their cabins, while others said they were just detained aboard the ship. The vessel was planning to sail to Egypt.

The Greek engineer who was aboard as an inspector contacted the Operations Center of the Ministry of Shipping in Greece. While the vessel was approximately four nautical miles west of Chios on Saturday a patrol boat from the Hellenic Coast Guard intercepted it and ordered it to sail into the anchorage.

In addition to arresting the captain, reports are that the Greek authorities are detaining the tanker. The prosecutor’s office is investigating.

Search Underway After Shadowy Turkish Cargo Ship Sinks South of Istanbul

An empty raft and life preserver were found during the search (Turkish Minister of Internal Affairs/Twitter)
PUBLISHED FEB 15, 2024 2:31 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Turkish officials are highlighting that an intensive search and rescue operation was launched this morning after a distress signal was received from a small cargo vessel in the Sea of Marmara. The vessel, the Bathuhan A (1,000 dwt) appears to have been operating in a domestic service largely outside international shipping regulations.
The Transport Ministry along with the Navy and the Governor of Busa each issued statements as the search continued in the area. They reported receiving a distress signal shortly after 06:00 this morning but the signal was lost in just over an hour.
The 226-foot (69 meter) cargo ship had departed last night from the Badalalan port and was reported lost south of Istanbul. Its way to Gemlik transporting 1,250 tons of dolomite, a type of limestone used in the manufacturing of cement.
Officials are blaming the casualty on heavy weather. They are reporting waves up to 10 feet in the area as well as wind and rain.

“Intensive efforts are underway to rescue the crew of six people, believed to be Turkish nationals, on the Batuhan A that took on water and sank,” reported Mahmut Demirtas, the governor of Bursa. A total of 275 personnel were involved in the effort which included a Coast Guard corvette as well as three other patrol boats, and boats from the Coastal Safety team as well as a mine hunter and a rescue ship from the Navy. Initial efforts to dispatch a helicopter and search plan were hampered by bad weather.
Search teams located an empty inflatable life raft and a life preserver marked with the name of the ship. The Naval force later reported that its team detected the ship at a depth of 51 meters (167 feet) with a sonar device.

Naval Forces report they found the wreckage on sonar (Turkish Naval Forces)

Built in 1971, the ship had been acquired by its current owner in 2018 and according to media reports the owner is among the six missing crewmembers. The vessel appears to have been shuttling back and forth between the Turkish ports operating outside international regulation. Her class society was listed as the Dromon Bureau of Shipping, however it is marked as overdue and withdrawn in 2015. There are no port state inspections on file since 2001, and that one lists 17 deficiencies.
The ship had a prior incident in April 2021 when it went aground. It was inbound to the Turkish port in Karabiga in the Canakkale Province also on the Sea of Marmara. It was reportedly attempting to dock to unload an unspecified cargo when it grounded. The ship remained stranded for two days before the crew could be rescued in that incident.

Korean Coast Guard Rescues 11 From Sinking Cargo Ship

sinking ship — Cargo ship Keum Yang 6 issued a distress call in a strong storm south of Korea (Korea Coast Guard)

South Korea’s Coast Guard is reporting the rescue of 11 sailors from a small cargo ship that was caught in a strong storm south of the Korean peninsular. According to the report, the crew was safely aboard a Coast Guard rescue vessel less than two hours after the distress call was received.

The vessel, the 3,500-dwt Keum Yang 6 departed Gwangyang, South Korea with a cargo of steel plate bound for Zhoushan, China. The vessel was built in 2017 and is owned by a South Korean shipping company, Keum Yang Shipping which has a fleet of small cargo ships operating in the region.

The ship reportedly encountered a strong storm with 16-foot seas. Winds were reported at 35 to 40 mph. The cargo ship, which was 262 feet (80 meters) in length began taking on water and issued a distress call while approximately 40 miles southwest of Jeju Island at around 22:00 local time on February 15.

Coast Guard said the evacuation was completed in less than two hours after the distress call was received (Korea Coast Guard)

The Coast Guard dispatched a helicopter and rescue ship and reported by the time it reached the cargo ship it had a 25-degree list to port with water washing over the deck. There was a total of 11 crewmembers aboard, consisting of two Koreans, six from Myanmar, and three from Indonesia.

Despite the adverse weather conditions, the Coast Guard reported that all the crewmembers were rescued by shortly before midnight local time.

An investigation is underway into the cause of the incident.

Sweden Closes Case of MV Estonia Sinking

Prosecutors in Sweden have decided not to reopen a new investigation into the fate of the ferry Estonia, which went down in the Baltic with massive loss of life in 1994. The ferry's loss has been the subject of controversy for 30 years, and researchers and family members have proposed competing theories that challenge the official explanation.

On the night of September 27, 1994, the ro/pax ferry Estonia got under way from Tallinn to Stockholm. The weather was rough, with winds of up to 40 knots and waves of up to 20 feet. The vessel would never arrive.

At about 0055 hours on the 28th, passengers heard a loud bang. 15 minutes later, the vessel's bow visor came loose, leading to flooding in her wide-open vehicle decks. She rapidly listed to starboard, reaching 60 degrees over the course of 15 minutes. At 0150, less than an hour after the first signs of trouble, she slipped below. Only 137 out of the 989 people on board Estonia survived.

The official investigation blamed the sinking on the mechanical failure of the ship's bow visor, the hinged shield that protected the car ramp and gave access to the ro/ro decks on the interior. The ship's designer had used the load calculations for typical non-opening bows for its construction, and called for mild steel components throughout - even for the attachment mechanisms, which were subject to high loads.

During the initial site dives in the 1990s, the bow visor was found torn off the ship at a distance from the rest of the wreck; it was recovered and photographed, then scrapped. In a widely-watched report by news outlet Fokus Estonia, demolition experts suggested that photographs of the (now-scrapped) bow visor showed damage patterns that would only be consistent with an explosion. However, a joint Estonian, Finnish and Swedish report released in 2023 pushed back on these controversial claims and endorsed the original conclusion: the bow visor failed due to mechanical fatigue.

Swedish prosecutors have now accepted this conclusion as well, and have declined to reopen the case, citing lack of evidence for an alternative explanation.

"Based on the actions of the investigative bodies, there is no indication that a collision with a ship or floating object or an explosion on the bow occurred. There's also nothing else to suspect that a crime was committed. Therefore, preliminary investigations will not start, and the case will be closed," said lead prosecutor Karolina Wieslander.

Leak in a Void Space Likely Caused Sinking off Prince of Wales Island

The NTSB has finished its investigation into the loss of the fishing vessel Hotspur off Prince of Wales Island in 2022, and it has concluded that an undetected leak in an unoccupied space probably sent the ship down.

Hotspur was built in 1988 and fitted as a purse seiner. Stability regulations do not apply to vessels of Hotspur's size and age, so the vessel's design was not required to comply with any stability criteria.

The master was the owner of the vessel, and he had nearly 40 years of experience in the industry. He was the only credentialed mariner on the crew.

On July 29, 2022, the vessel left Port Townsend, laden with its nets and gear. It headed north up the Inside Passage, bound for Sitka. The weather conditions were favorable.

On August 2, the vessel was crossing the Clarence Strait. At about 1935 hours in the evening, the master and senior deckhand noticed that Hotspur was listing to port. The master went below to check the engine room and the bilges. He told investigators that "everything looked normal" on inspection, so he tried to correct the list by transferring fuel from a tank on the port side to a day tank on the starboard side.

However, the list continued to increase, and the senior deckhand noticed that the water was running up onto the aft deck at the port quarter.

Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, the captain sent the senior deckhand to gather the other crewmembers and prepare the life raft. He made a distress call via VHF, and two nearby good samaritan boats responded.

The Hotspur continued to list further to port as the crew launched the liferaft. The captain and his crewmembers rowed safely away from the boat as it rolled over, and they set off several signal flares to show their position. Within minutes, Hotspur was fully inverted, according to the captain.

The two good samaritan boats arrived shortly after and retrieved all five crewmembers for transport to Ketchikan. No injuries were reported.

Hotspur ultimately sank with about 1,100 gallons of fuel on board. The vessel was declared a total loss at a value of about $1.2 million. No salvage efforts were attempted.

NTSB noted that the master had "poked a hole in the hull" while cleaning sludge out of the engine room bilges earlier in the season, requiring a drydocking for wasted and corroded steel. This was three weeks before the accident voyage. NTSB could not rule out that deteriorated hull plating could have caused flooding in another area, like the lazarette or the port side void space, where it could have gone undetected.

After the accident, the master told NTSB that he could not remember when the bilge alarms for the lazarette and the void spaces had last been tested. The last recorded test was in 2015, when a Coast Guard exam found that the alarms were in good condition. NTSB's investigators reasoned that these two bilge alarms may have been inoperable on the accident voyage because they did not sound until it was too late.

NTSB also left open the possibility that the deck load of nets and gear may have exceeded the margin of safety for stability, but as the vessel had no stability booklet, it is not possible to calculate.

Hotspur also had slack tanks, and it was carrying just 1,100 gallons of diesel out of 8,000 gallons of capacity. This raises the prospect that free surface effect may have played a role in accelerating the capsizing, the agency said.

NTSB concluded that flooding from an unknown source in the lazarette or port void space likely caused the casualty. The agency advised operators to test their bilge alarms regularly, since the devices provide the only available early warning of void space flooding.

Seafarers Can Now Refuse to Work Ships Transiting the Red Sea Region

Seafarers can refuse to work in the Red Sea High Risk Area or receive double pay while in the area (CENTCOM file photo)

With concerns continuing over the ongoing escalation in the Red Sea and danger to ships and their crews, the unions representing the majority of seafarers are making changes to the standard contract including adding the right for seafarers to refuse to sail in the region. While the pace of attacks coming from the Houthi in Yemen appears to have slowed in recent days, the International Bargaining Forum is nonetheless concerned about the threats to safety and the escalations since its previous meeting.

In the last two days, two ships have reported minor damage after being targeted with missiles. The UK Maritime Trade Organizations and Ambrey both reported earlier today that a tanker registered in Panama suffered minor damage after a missile explosion 72 nautical miles northwest of Mokha, Yemen in the Red Sea. A second vessel was reported by Ambrey to have changed course after seeing the explosion. Similarly, yesterday a Greek-owned bulker had minor damage also after it was targeted with a missile while sailing in the Gulf of Aden.

So far there have been no reports of serious crew injuries or deaths from the attacks despite several direct hits including the fire on a product tanker last month. The International Transport Workers’ Federation, the union federation representing seafarers, and the Joint Negotiating Group of unions and employer organizations, however, note that seafarers aboard the Galaxy Leader have been held hostage since November 19, 2023. The group “strongly condemns the actions,” calling for the release of the crew and to immediately cease further hostile activities.

Citing these dangers, the organizations agreed in a February 7 meeting, that starting in seven days they would add a condition for “seafarers’ right to refuse to sail” into the defined High Risk Area. They also agreed to expand the definition of the area from the Southern Red Sea to include larger areas in the Gulf of Aden and surrounding waters.

“The decision to include seafarers’ right to refuse to sail was not a step taken lightly as this could negatively impact global trade, but the safety of the seafarers is paramount,” the groups wrote in a joint statement.

Under the terms, seafarers must be given seven days' notice before entering the High Risk Area. They can refuse to work in the area with the shipping company having the option of reassigning the seafarer to another ship at the same pay and position or providing reparation at the company’s expense along with compensation equal to two months basic wage.

Previously, the group had agreed in December to the implementation of the High Risk Area definition. Seafarers working in the area they agreed would receive a bonus while in the region equal to their wages and double compensation in the event of death or disability.

The groups also used today’s announcement to yet again urge the international community to take steps to ensure the safety of seafarers so that vessels can transit free from threat and aggression. They acknowledged that it will require a global solution while saying their primary concern is the safety of the seafarers

US’s “Defensive” Bombing of Yemen Is About Imperial Domination of the Seas

Bombs are falling in defense of a system that exploits those who live and work along global shipping routes.

OP-ED
By Jatin Dua ,

TRUTHOUT

February 5, 2024

Protesters hold a banner calling for an end to the bombing of Gaza and Yemen during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine in central London.

VUK VALCIC / SOPA IMAGES / LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES

On January 26, 2024, a fire broke out in the Red Sea. The Marlin Luanda, a Marshall Islands-flagged fuel tanker carrying highly flammable naphtha, was en route to Singapore when it was struck by an anti-ship missile approximately 60 nautical miles southeast of Aden, Yemen. The missile attack on the Marlin Luanda started a fire in one of the ship’s cargo tanks, prompting nearby United States, Indian and French naval vessels to rush to its aid. A team of 10 Indian navy personnel ended up boarding the vessel to assist the 23 seafarers from India and Bangladesh onboard the Marlin Luanda to extinguish the fire.

Launched by Houthi rebels who control vast swathes of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, the attack on the Marlin Luanda was the latest disruption to commercial shipping transiting through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Since October 19, the Houthi movement in Yemen has targeted ships it claimed were linked to Israel as a response to Israeli incursions in Gaza. More recently, Houthis have set their sights on vessels with connections to the U.S. and Britain in the aftermath of U.S. and United Kingdom strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.

The sea-lanes off the coast of Yemen are some of the busiest in the world. The Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a narrow waterway that separates Yemen from the Horn of Africa, is a critical “choke point” linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. In a world still dependent on oil and gas, these waters transported 7.80 million barrels of crude and fuel per day in the first 11 months of 2023. Some 12 percent of total seaborne-traded oil and 8 percent of the global liquefied natural gas trade passes through these straits in addition to the thousands of container ships that link Asia to Europe through the Suez Canal.

In response to these attacks, major shippers have begun rerouting ships via the Cape of Good Hope, adding 14-20 days of transit time as well as fuel and labor costs per voyage. Vessels transiting through the area have also used the onboard Automatic Identification System (AIS) to communicate with the rebels. AIS is generally used to post information about the ship’s destination, direction and speed. Given Houthi targeting of ships that are linked to Israel, U.S. and U.K., many vessels have used AIS to post that they have no connection to those countries in hopes of avoiding confrontation.

Biden’s Illegal Bombing of Yemen Intensifies the Risk of Regional War
The Houthis say their attacks in the Red Sea will continue until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
By Marjorie Cohn , TRUTHOUT January 23, 2024

Arguing for a right to safeguard commerce in the Red Sea, the U.S. sought to establish a multinational coalition, Operation Prosperity Guardian, in December 2023. Ostensibly comprising a coalition of 20 nations, this mission has primarily been spearheaded by the U.S. and U.K. as other countries such as China mostly watch from the sidelines, and as countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia have declined to participate. In early January, as attacks on ships continued unabated, the U.S. and U.K. launched a series of strikes aimed at Houthi targets in Yemen.

In laying out a case for these U.S. and U.K. strikes, President Joe Biden described them as a “defensive action” — a phrasing echoed by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who spoke of these strikes as an act of “self-defense.” There is a certain degree of irony in the governments of the U.S. and U.K. claiming self-defense against Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, a country that until recently had been subject to a devastating blockade and aerial bombardment by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, backed by the U.S., U.K. and other Western powers.

This talk of defensive action echoes an earlier moment in U.S. history, when a newly independent republic under Thomas Jefferson decided to stop paying the Barbary states— Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli and Algiers — tribute for safe passage, a practice that was customary among European powers trading in the Mediterranean and was imposing a severe drain on the U.S. treasury. Instead, bypassing Congress, Jefferson launched a naval campaign against the corsairs of the Barbary states marking the beginning of extraterritorial deployment of U.S. power at sea. Then as now, self-defense was a mode of acting without being subject to the messiness of declaring “legal war.” Alongside this talk of self-defense there is another phrase both Biden and Sunak used in their justification: “freedom of navigation.” A historical and imperial legacy lies behind the U.S. and British warships and planes facing down Houthi rebels in the Bab-el-Mandeb.

Writing in the aftermath of the capture of the Portuguese carrack Santa Catarina in the Straits of Singapore in 1603, a young Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius sought to justify Capt. Jakob van Heemskerck’s action through recourse to natural law and divine will. Grotius located van Heemskerck’s actions within a wider context of freedom of trade and navigation.

In Mare Liberum, his defense of this act of capture in the Straits of Singapore, Grotius argued that property (or what we would term a property right in contemporary parlance) could only be derived from physical possession and use. Given the fluidity of the ocean and its seeming inexhaustibility, no one could possess and thus exclude others from the sea. Given the absence of a property right over the ocean, the Portuguese had, for Grotius, acted unlawfully in their claim of a monopoly over trade and commerce in the Indies. As he concluded, “every nation is free to travel to every other nation, and to trade with it.”

This seemingly noble idea was essentially a straightforward justification of the right to expropriate in the name of free trade. The proceeds from the sale of goods captured from the Catarina were approximately equivalent to the annual revenue of the English government at the time, and more than double the capital of the English East India Company. Access to the trading routes of Asia was crucial to newly burgeoning empires in Europe, and this idea of the “free seas” helped establish imperial control over these waters.

Of course, this idea of freedom of navigation was contested not only by the Portuguese and their competing imperial project, but by numerous communities across the Indian Ocean. When the Portuguese sailed across the Cape of Good Hope and entered a preexisting world of commerce and trade in the Indian Ocean in 1498, they introduced the cartaz system of sea-passes to impose a trade monopoly from the Red Sea to Indonesia. The failure to capture Aden ended Portuguese plans for maritime hegemony. Similarly, in the 19th century, the British developed an ideology of an empire of free trade, built on the production and smuggling of opium from India to China, and melded humanitarian concerns over the abolition of slavery to criminalize alternative shipping networks in the region.

These attempts to establish a monopoly over trade and violence at sea through the freedom of navigation were countered by many in the region who rose up against those they termed pirates — the Portuguese, the Dutch, the British and in more recent years, the Americans. Figures like Zayn al-Din al-Malibari who played a central role in the struggle against the Portuguese on the Malabar coast of southern India, rejected claims of free trade and turned accusations of piracy against their accusers.

In the post-war period, with the rise of the United Nations system and various treaty bodies such as the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS I), the Grotian imaginary of the free seas and freedom of navigation was enshrined in international law, albeit in more limited and restricted terms, reflecting attempts by coastal states to maintain sovereignty offshore against big maritime powers. Nonetheless, powerful maritime states — like the U.S., U.K., European Union, and increasingly China, India and others have secured for themselves the role of policing the global ocean.

When the U.S. and U.K. speak of freedom of navigation and in turn the Houthi movement reject that claim and speak of a competing logic of protection, they embody the current iteration of this longstanding mobile conversation. There is a familiar historical story being staged here, where the idea of freedom of navigation becomes a way to enable and justify Anglo-American imperium over the global ocean — an imperium that is contested and challenged at various global maritime choke points.

For those onboard cargo ships and oil tankers — most of whom hail from the Global South — there is also a certain familiarity to their current predicament.

Ninety percent of global trade happens by sea. Almost everything we consume has spent time on the thousands of ships — which are operated by over 2 million seafarers from over 140 countries — that are currently at sea. Global shipping and the dense maritime highways traversed by cargo ships remain key to the making and sustaining of a deeply interconnected world. The rise of containerization in the 1960s standardized container sizes, facilitating easy transport across the divides of land, sea and air, heralding a “logistics revolution.” These innovations lowered transport costs significantly, resulting in shipping companies seeking other ways of generating profits beyond efficiently transporting goods across the ocean. One key mode of ensuring continued profits was embracing “internationalization” and the 1980s and ’90s saw a series of legal and regulatory changes in the shipping industry.

In addition to taking advantage of tax havens, shipping companies started using “flags of conveniences” where for tax and regulatory purposes, ships purchase a different nationality. Additionally, there was a rise in subcontracting, where companies based in the U.S. and Europe would hire contractors to run and maintain various aspects of a ship. Subcontracting allowed shipping companies, primarily based in the West, to hire cheaper labor from countries across the Global South, such as the Philippines and India. Cargo ships today, like the Marlin Luanda, are operated by multinational crews where the nationality of the ownership, ship and crew have little relation. Onboard these ships, salaries and, often, legal recourse as a result of accident and injury are differentially determined based on nationality. These complex ownership structures and multinational labor pools end up, by design, ensuring profitability through the evasion of fiscal and regulatory responsibility.

The Marlin Luanda is emblematic of this other familiar story: It is operated by a fleet manager based in Singapore on behalf of a multinational company domiciled in Singapore that had been previously named in a case of offloading toxic waste in Cote d’Ivoire. These ownership structures and histories represent the ways in which profits have been extracted on the backs of those who live and work along global shipping routes. From the deck of a cargo ship, missile strikes and U.S. Navy vessels are just the latest in a long list of hazards at sea. For these seafarers, this motley crew from the Global South, who navigate a world of pirates, canal closures, pandemics and other perils, there is also no freedom of navigation.

JATIN DUA is an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan. He also directs the Oceans Lab at the University of Michigan dedicated to collaborative and multimodal ways of engaging oceans as anthropological interlocutors. His research explores maritime mobility, and its perils and possibilities, in the Indian Ocean, focusing on processes and projects of governance, law and economy. He is the author of Captured at Sea: Piracy and Protection in the Indian Ocean, a multi-sited ethnographic and archival engagement with piracy and contests over legitimate and illegitimate commerce in the Western Indian Ocean.

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