Two “Shunned” Cargo Ships Find Resolution to Disputes

Both ships have been held offshore for weeks "in the shadows" over controversial cargo (file photo)

Published Oct 25, 2024 1:31 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Two cargo ships have been making international headlines as they were shunned by ports and were being treated as “pariahs” endangering public welfare. Both ships, the Malta-registered general cargo ship Ruby and the Portugal-registered Kathrin, have been stuck holding offshore while they struggled to resolve issues and offload their cargo.

A spokesperson for the owners and managers of the Ruby (37,000 dwt) confirmed to The Maritime Executive that the ship “will be conducting operations at a UK port in the coming days.” Details are still being finalized but it is understood the intent is to offload her cargo which consists of 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate.

Problems for the ship began at the beginning of September in Tromsø, Norway when it was discovered that the ship’s hull had cracked during an Arctic storm or possibly grounding leaving Russia after loading its cargo. Norwegian authorities detained the ship but ordered it to leave port to a remote area as attention grew over the potentially explosive nature of the fertilizer cargo under certain circumstances. The ship has been searching for a port to offload its cargo.

Despite repeated assurances that it was normal cargo and properly loaded the authorities in Norway, Sweden, and Lithuania shunned the ship saying it could not enter port until it offloaded the cargo which had originally been destined for Brazil after the ship made an intermediary stop in the Azores. Danish officials placed restrictions on the ship’s transit into the Baltic while Malta as the flag state and DNV as its class society placed restrictions on its navigation after temporary repairs were made in Norway.

The owners have been critical of the media coverage saying it complicated what should have been a simple situation to transfer the cargo and repair the ship. Ruby has been laying off the UK as complex negotiations proceeded.

At the same time, the Portuguese-flagged Kathrin (8,000 dwt) has been hounded by activists with accusations that it was carrying explosives to Israel since it left the Far East. The ship was turned away from a port in Namibia and later in Malta and ports in the Adriatic. The well-known human rights NGO group Amnesty International got involved calling for the ship to be denied docking privileges as part of its campaign for an arms embargo to stop the war in Gaza.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese also issued a statement alleging that there were eight containers of RDX Hexogen explosives bound for Israel among the cargo aboard Kathrin. She said it was “reportedly key components in the aircraft bombs and missiles” used by Israel. Albanese called on other states to block the ship from docking at their harbors.

The ship was in an anchorage off Malta although it was being denied docking privileges. It went dark turning off its AIS transmissions and a news outlet in Albania claims to have seen the ship docked at Porto Romano, Durrës on Thursday morning, October 24. The news outlet CNA Albania says security personnel around the port told them it was illegal to take pictures of the ship while it was in the port.