King opens largest sea sluice in the world at IJmuiden

 DutchNews, January 26, 2022

Zeesluis IJmuiden is open for shipping. Photo: ANP/Robin van Lonkhuijsen

King Willem-Alexander opened the largest sea sluice in the world at IJmuiden on Wednesday afternoon, concluding a project that finished over time and over budget. 

The new sluice replaces the smaller Noordersluis which was built in 1929. The construction of the new sluice, which was started in 2016 and expected to be finished in 2019, was plagued by mishaps, causing delays and rising costs. 

A construction error made by builders BAM and VolkerWessels cost the companies hundreds of millions of euros to rectify. 

A public contest to name the new landmark sparked hilarity online when Velsen municipality sifted through 5,000 entries before opting for the prosaic ‘Zeesluis IJmuiden’. Infrastructure minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen said: ‘The name Zeesluis IJmuiden is exactly what it is.’

 Alternative suggestions included De Irma Sluis, after the sign language interpreter who became a household name during the coronavirus press conferences, but the idea was rejected because public infrastructure projects cannot be named after living people, except for royalty. 

The sluice, which is 500 metres long, 70 metres wide and 18 metres deep, has been put through its paces since the summer and is now ready to accommodate today’s ever-larger sea vessels, waterways agency Rijkswaterstaatsaid.

‘Amsterdam has just been given a bigger front door,’ Jaap Zeilmaker of Rijkswaterstaat said. ‘The new sluice will not just benefit the economy but thanks to the technical expertise involved sea level rise and the influx of salt water have also been taken into account.’ 

Dolphin spotted in port of Amsterdam is reluctant to leave

DutchNews, May 3, 2020

A lone dolphin has followed a sailing boat carrying a cargo of fair trade coffee and rum from the French coast to Amsterdam’s port and seems reluctant to leave the ship, experts said on Sunday. 

The animal is fit and healthy but rescue organisation SOS Dolfijn said the brackish water is not good for the animal and it may not be able to find enough food. 

‘The animal seems to have developed a close connection with the ship and stayed swimming with it through the sluice gates and now it is in the port,’ said spokesman Eligius Everaarts. 

Attempts to lure the animal back to the open sea are being hindered by the fact that it will have to swim though the sluices at IJmuiden, which means the rescue operation can only happen when the gates are open. 

SOS Dolfijn tried to make the animal follow their boat but after a while it turned and went back to the ship. The schooner which it followed cannot be used to guide the animal back because it must be unloaded first. 

Catching the animal is not option either, the organisation said, because the port is a large area and the manoeuvre could put the animal’s life in danger. 

‘It may make it out on its own bit that will depend on the sluices,’ a spokesperson for the organisation said. 

The adult bottle nose dolphin has been identified as Zafar, a dolphin which has been spotted on the coast of France in 2018 where it was observed to interact with divers. 

The organisation said it will continue to monitor the situation. 

Update Sunday evening: According to broadcaster NOS, the dolphin was successfully encouraged to return to the sea on Sunday afternoon.

The dolphin next to the sailing ship on his way back to the ocean. Photo: Olaf Kraak ANP

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Revenge of the albatross: seabirds expose illicit fishing

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe HOOD, January 27, 2020

Snagged by longlines, tangled in nets, and shot at by sailors, the world's largest
flying seabird is today a front-line agent in the fight against illegal fishing (AFP Photo/STR)

Paris (AFP) - For the magnificent but maligned albatross, it was time for a little payback after centuries of insult and injury.

Snagged by longlines, tangled in nets, shot at by sailors, and scorned by poets as lazy or a bad omen, the world's largest flying seabird is today a front-line agent in the fight against illegal fishing, according to a study published Monday.

Indeed, a squadron of 169 albatross fitted with cutting-edge communications gear revealed that a third of the vessels plying Antarctic waters below the Indian Ocean are very likely filling their hulls unlawfully with toothfish, ice fish, krill and other bounty from the icy waters.

On the high seas beyond national economic zones, anything goes.

But some of the choicest hunting grounds in that region lie within the territorial waters of South Africa around Prince Edward and Marion Islands, and France, near the Crozet and Kerguelen Islands.

"It's the first time we've had an estimate like this for detecting illegal fishing ships," said Henri Weimerskirch, a marine biologist at France's National Centre for Scientific Research and lead author of the study, in the journal PNAS.

For six months starting in November 2018, the albatross -- which have the wingspan of a small car -- patrolled more than 47 million square kilometres (18 million square miles) of open ocean.

The birds are perfectly adapted for the mission, Weimerskirch told AFP.

They cover great distances and are particularly attracted to fishing boats -- especially the fish or fish parts thrown overboard.

To turn the albatross into high-flying spies, a team of scientists designed a light-weight device with a GPS antenna to track location, another antenna to detect ship radar, a third one to send the data back to headquarters -- and a solar panel to power them all.

The units were mounted on the backs of the birds, which seemed unperturbed by the extra cargo.

All registered fishing vessels have an automated identification system (AIS) that is supposed to remain activated.

Albatrosses fly great distances and are particularly attracted to fishing boats

(AFP Photo/ROBERT BRYSON)

'Like drones, only intelligent'

"On certain Chinese or Spanish ships the signal suddenly goes silent when they approach an economic zone," Weimerskirch said. "That means they're fishing in the boundary area."

That's a problem for out-gunned enforcement forces and conservationists trying to prevent rogue commercial ships from emptying the oceans of edible lifeforms.

Most alternative monitoring systems are impracticable.

Flying is too costly and hit-or-miss. Satellite-based radars that detect metal mass are also expensive, and only work when the probe happens to be in orbit overhead. They can also be thrown off by choppy seas.

But even when a ship turns off the AIS system, it still needs radar to navigate and avoid collisions, which gave researchers something else to home in on.

Airborne albatross can spot a vessel from 30 kilometres away, and will consistently come in for a closer look once they do.

"They're like drones, only intelligent," said Weimerskirch.

When a bird zeros in on a boat, its logger detects the radar signal and sends the coordinates back to the scientists.

Of 353 radar contacts made, about 30 percent were from vessels that had turned off their AIS systems. If they were in national waters, that is a likely sign of illegal activity, the researchers reported.

Reviled in Coleridge's 1798 epic "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," and mocked by French poet Baudelaire as ungainly on a ship's deck, the albatross, it seems, has finally turned the tables.

Called Ocean Sentinel, the "proof of concept" mission is part of a larger programme exploring the use of animals in the gathering of data for conservation aims.

Also being tested in New Zealand and Hawaii, the technology could be adapted for other marine creatures such as sharks and sea turtles.

Russia's world-first floating nuclear plant arrives in port

Yahoo – AFP, September 14, 2019

The Akademik Lomonosov, the world's first floating nuclear power plant, has
completed its odyssey from the Arctic port of Murmansk to the country's far east
-- but environmentalists fear for the consequences (AFP Photo/Handout)

Moscow (AFP) - Russia's world first floating nuclear power station on Saturday completed a 5,000-kilometre (3,100-mile) Arctic transfer to the country's far east, the Rosatom nuclear agency said.

"The Akademik Lomonosov floating nuclear plant arrived ... at Pevek, in the autonomous district of Chukotka," where it is to start operating by year end once connected to the local electricity grid, Rosatom said.

What will be the world's northernmost nuclear power plant left Murmansk in Russia's far north on August 23 after being loaded with combustible nuclear fuel.

The 21-ton, 144-metre (470 feet) long and 30-metre wide platform, which is designed to meet the energy needs of remote communities, was towed into Pevek by a clutch of vessels.

The station houses two 35-megawatt reactors, more in line with the power of nuclear-powered ice breakers than typical new generation nuclear plants boasting nearer 1,000 MW capacity.

The Akademik Lomonosov is to provide energy for around 100,000 people and also power oil platforms as Russia develops extraction of natural resources in a mineral-rich area whose eastern tip is a few dozen kilometres from Alaska.

"It is perhaps a small step towards sustainable development in the Arctic -- but it's a giant step towards decarbonisation of remote, off-grid zones and a turning point in the global development of small modular nuclear plants," Rosatom head Alexei Likhachev said in a statement.

Environmental groups led by Greenpeace Russia have, however, long criticised the project warning it will have "serious consequences" for a fragile ecosystem in case of storms or accidents.

Greenpeace has warned of the risk of a "nuclear Titanic" and "Chernobyl on ice" and environmental fears were heightened following an August explosion at a nuclear research facility in Russia's far north which saw local radiation levels briefly spike.

The nuclear industry generally has been looking to reinvent itself in a depressed market, notably by producing small-scale, modular reactors with attractive price tags to win over potential new clients.

The industry has been cheered by strong demand notably for nuclear-powered submarines as well as ice-breakers and aircraft carriers, increasingly destined for isolated and infrastructure-poor regions.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg sets sail for NYC

Yahoo – AFP, Alice RITCHIE, August 14, 2019

Greta Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions caused by
planes (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

Plymouth (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg sets sail on Wednesday for New York, heading for a UN summit on a zero-emissions yacht skippered by a member of Monaco's ruling family.

The 16-year-old Swede, whose school strikes have inspired children across the world to protest against global warming, refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions caused by planes.

But she has been offered a lift on the Malizia II racing yacht, along with her father Svante and a filmmaker to document the journey, that will allow her to attend the UN talks in September with a clear conscience.

The 60-foot (18-metre) boat is skippered by Pierre Casiraghi, vice president of the Monaco Yacht Club and a member of the principality's ruling family, and German round-the-world sailor Boris Herrmann.

"The objective is to arrive safe and sound in New York," said German round-the-world 

sailor Boris Herrmann, one of the yacht's two skippers (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

The journey takes about two weeks -- the yacht can travel at speeds of around 35 knots (70 kilometres an hour) but will be heading into the wind for much of the time so will be slower, and the captain wants a smooth ride.

"The objective is to arrive safe and sound in New York," Herrmann told AFP as he made final preparations in the English port of Plymouth.

'Pressure on people in power'

Thunberg has become a figurehead for climate action with her stark warnings of catastrophe if the world does not act now to cut carbon emissions and curb global warming.

Speaking to AFP before she set sail, the activist said: "Of course there are many people who don't understand and accept the science.

"I will just have to do what I have always done -- ignore them and just tell the science as it is," she added in reference to her North American trip.

The toilet is a blue plastic bucket, complete with a biodegradable bag that can 

be thrown overboard (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

"We create an international opinion and movement so that people stand together and put pressure on the people in power."

The yacht is made for racing, with foils, or wings, that lift it out of the water for a faster and smoother ride.

Inside it is sparse, fitted with high-tech navigation equipment, an on-board ocean laboratory to monitor CO2 levels in the water, and four bunks -- Herrmann and Casiraghi will share one, sleeping in turns.

The toilet is a blue plastic bucket, complete with a biodegradable bag that can be thrown overboard, and meals will be freeze-dried packets of vegan food mixed with water heated on a tiny gas stove.

The sparse yacht interior is fitted with high-tech navigation equipment and an 

on-board ocean laboratory to monitor CO2 levels in the water. Herrmann is shown 

here reviewing computer data (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

But state-of-the-art solar panels adorn the yacht's deck and sides while there are two hydro-generators, which together provide all the electricity they need on board.

Thunberg has never sailed before this week, and got seasick on their first journey out of Plymouth on Monday, but said she was looking forward to the adventure.

The teenager, who has spent hours on trains across Europe to spread her message, was relaxed about the basic conditions.

"You can't really ask for that much if you get to sail across the Atlantic for free," she said, adding: "I am grateful for what I have."

Stricken ship refloated after Solomons oil spill

Yahoo – AFP, 11 May 2019

The ship was carrying more than 700 tonnes of heavy fuel and leaked a huge
amount of oil into the sea

The ship at the centre of an environmental disaster near World-Heritage listed waters in the Solomon Islands was refloated Saturday after being stranded on a coral reef for more than three months.

The MV Solomon Trader ran aground on February 5 while loading bauxite at Rennell Island, about 240 kilometres (149 miles) south of the capital Honiara.

The 225-metre (740-foot) ship was carrying more than 700 tonnes of heavy fuel and leaked a huge amount of oil into the sea, sparking an international effort to contain the spill.

"They have been trying to refloat the vessel since Thursday but because of low tide they have not been able to, until today", the chairman of the Solomons National Disaster Council, Melchior Mataki, told AFP.

An oil slick more than six kilometres long has spread along the shoreline, destroying the livelihoods of islanders who rely on waters in the ecologically delicate region.

Rennell Island is the largest raised coral atoll in the world and includes a UNESCO World Heritage site which extends kilometres out to sea.

Authorities have said the site was not affected by the spill, although Mataki said a detailed environmental assessment will be undertaken now that the vessel is out of the way.

"There is a preliminary report but the full report will be made known once assessments and investigation findings are compiled properly", he said, adding the government would likely seek compensation for environmental damage.

The Australian government had sent salvage experts to assist the response and vowed to help the Solomons make sure those responsible for the spill are held to account.

The Hong Kong-registered ship was chartered by Indonesian-based Bintan Mining and was loaded with almost 11,000 tonnes of bauxite at the time of the incident.

Ship loses potentially dangerous cargo in North Sea: Coastguard

Yahoo – AFP, January 2, 2019

Ship loses potentially dangerous cargo in North Sea: Coastguard

The Hague (AFP) - A cargo ship caught in rough North Sea weather lost at least 270 containers, including four holding potentially dangerous substances, the Dutch and German coastguards said Wednesday.

The Panama-registered MSC Zoe shed the containers containing mostly toys, furniture and auto spare parts while battling a storm off the Frisian Islands, an archipelago off the northwestern Dutch coast also known as the Wadden Islands.

The Dutch coastguard tweeted that three of the containers contained, in powder form, highly flammable, potentially dangerous organic peroxides used in making plastics which can cause irritation if breathed in.

German coastguard sources said they had located one container holding organic peroxide among six containers that reached the country's coastline.

They also warned the public not to touch the containers if found, but to call police or the fire brigade.

The Dutch coastguard, which said the containers went overboard not far from the German island of Borkum, added they did not have information about the content of cargo beyond that of the 20 or so containers which washed up on the islands.

Dutch broadcaster NOS showed local people around one of the containers and pictured toys and other materials strewn across beaches as well as one man carrying off a flat screen television.

A Dutch coastguard spokesman told NOS it was likely the containers holding the peroxides had sunk.

A Dutch coastguard plane was due to undertake a new search on Thursday morning while strong winds were hampering the MSC Zoe's own attempts to carry out an inventory.

The mayor of Terschelling island, where some of the cargo washed ashore, told NOS he expected it would take several days to clear the beach of stray items from the containers.

The 2015-built MSC Zoe, which was headed to the northern German port of Bremerhaven, is one of the world's largest container vessels at 396 metres (1300 feet) long and 59 metres wide.

Photo: Kustwacht

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The Dutch military joined beach clean-up efforts, two days after some 270 shipping containers tumbled from one of the world's biggest cargo boats into the North Sea in stormy weather https://t.co/GS6IPT8Pqz

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 4, 2019

Wil je straks helpen met #helpwad #CleanupWadden #OpruimActie na de #containerramp met #MSCZoe? In dit kaartje zijn we allerlei plekken aan het verzamelen waar je aan de slag kunt. https://t.co/oTwfqwbJ55

Aanvullingen / aanpassingen? Geef maar door.

Delen / embedden: feel free

— Ritzo ten Cate (@ritzotencate) January 5, 2019

World shipping industry agrees to halve carbon emissions by 2050

Yahoo – AFP, Dario THUBURN, April 13, 2018

Shipping and aviation are two sectors that were not covered by the United Nations
climate agreement, a deal struck in Paris in 2015 to cap global warming at "well
under" 2.0 degrees Celsius by the end of this century (AFP Photo/ARIS MESSINIS)

London (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Members of the UN International Maritime Organisation on Friday struck a deal to halve carbon dioxide emissions from shipping by 2050 in a deal that will force the industry to redesign fleets.

"The initial strategy envisages for the first time a reduction in total GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050 compared to 2008," the IMO said in a statement.

Major shipping nations such as Saudi Arabia and the United States had objected to earlier drafts in two weeks of discussion at the 173-member organisation based in London.

Some countries such as the Marshall Islands, which are at risk of rising seas but are also a major flag state, had wanted a stronger commitment and the EU wanted a 70 to 100 percent cut.

But the agreement was widely hailed by stakeholders.

"This is a ground-breaking agreement -- a Paris agreement for shipping -- that sets a very high level of ambition for the future reduction of carbon dioxide emissions," the International Chamber for Shipping's secretary general Peter Hinchliffe said.

Some countries like Marshall Islands, which has endured worsening storm surges

 due to global warming, are at a higher risk of rising seas and wanted a stronger 

committment to reduce carbon dioxide emssions (AFP Photo/GIFF JOHNSON)

"We are confident this will give the shipping industry the clear signal it needs to get on with the job of developing zero carbon dioxide fuels so that the entire sector will be in a position to decarbonise completely," he said.

'Watershed moment'

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine also praised the deal.

"Today the IMO has made history. While it may not be enough to give my country the certainty it wanted, it makes it clear that international shipping will now urgently reduce emissions and play its part in giving my country a pathway to survival," she said in a statement.

Maersk, the world's largest container shipping company, tweeted: "We were pushing for stronger targets but still a great step that IMO seeks to halve the shipping sector's greenhouse gases by 2050".

Shipping and aviation are two sectors that were not covered by the United Nations climate agreement, a deal struck in Paris in 2015 to cap global warming at "well under" 2.0 degrees Celsius by the end of this century.

Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine said the deal gives her "country a pathway

 to survival" even if it " may not be enough to give my country the certainty it 

wanted" (AFP Photo/FREDERICK FLORIN)

The aviation sector reached an emissions plan two years ago but shipping has taken longer because its reliance on long-distance ships that run on bunker fuel makes it harder to cut carbon.

Shipping accounts for around 2.0 percent of global carbon emissions and that share could rise to around 15 percent if left unchecked, according to the World Bank.

The Climate Action Network said Friday's deal was "a welcome first step".

Some environmental groups have warned that a 50 percent cut may not be enough to keep global warming below 2.0 degrees Celsius.

Britain's Shipping Minister Nusrat Ghani said the deal was a "watershed moment".

"We will work with fellow member states to ensure the shipping industry makes the transition to zero emissions ships as quickly as possible," she said.

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Green-powered boat readies for round-the-world voyage

Yahoo – AFP, Helene Duvigneau, September 12, 2016

Labourers work on on the hull of an under-construction self energy producer,
multihull 'Energy Observer', in Saint-Malo, western France (AFP Photo/Loic Venance)

Saint-Malo (France) (AFP) - Dubbed the "Solar Impulse of the Seas," the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world.

A water-borne answer to the Solar Impulse -- the plane that completed its round-the-globe trip using only solar energy in July -- the Energy Observer will be powered by the Sun, the wind and self-generated hydrogen when it sets sail in February as scheduled.

The multi-hulled catamaran is in a shipyard at Saint-Malo on France's west coast, awaiting the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and electrolysis equipment, which breaks down water to produce its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen.

"We are going to be the first boat with an autonomous means of producing hydrogen," says Frenchman Victorien Erussard, who is behind the project -- confidential until now -- with compatriot Jacques Delafosse, a documentary filmmaker and professional scuba diver.

Sun, wind, hydrogen

The plan is for the boat's batteries, which will feed the electric motors, to be powered in good weather by solar and wind energy, explains the 37-year-old merchant navy officer with a smile.

"If there's no Sun or wind, or if it's night, stored hydrogen -- generated by electrolysis powered by the solar panels and two wind turbines -- will take over," he says.

As a result, the vessel's trip will not use any carbon-emitting fossil fuels, as is the case for 96 percent of boats today.

The vessel itself has a storied past.

The catamaran won the Jules Verne trophy, for a team sailing non-stop round the world, in 1994. It was bought for 500,000 euros ($562,000) and extended by a whopping six metres, to 30.5 metres (100 feet), for the project.

One of the backers of the endeavour is well-known French environmentalist Nicolas Hulot.

"I support it because it's the first project of this kind to actually be undertaken, it's ambitious and looking toward the future," Hulot, a former special envoy on environmental protection to President Francois Hollande, told AFP.

"It's very promising for marine transport," Hulot added. "The Energy Observer is going to demonstrate that you can have great autonomy (at sea) and you can store and find energy when there isn't any more wind or sun."

Victorien Erussard, French skipper of 'Energy Observer', the first boat to be powered

 solely by renewable energies and hydrogen, poses for a photo in Saint-Malo, on

September 6, 2016 (AFP Photo/Loic Venance)

'Great challenge'

The Energy Observer was designed in partnership with a team of naval architects and the CEA-Liten research institute in the French city of Grenoble, which is dedicated to renewable energy technologies.

At a total cost of 4.2 million euros ($4.72 million), the green energy boat will be fitted with sensors to act as veritable moving laboratory for CEA-Liten, whose director Florence Lambert describes the project as a "great challenge" to take on.

"Energy Observer is emblematic of what will be the energy networks of tomorrow, with solutions that could even be used within five years," says Lambert.

"For example, the houses of tomorrow could incorporate a system of hydrogen storage, which is produced during the summer months and then used in the winter."

The head of the project at CEA-Liten, Didier Bouix, adds that hydrogen can store "20 times more energy" than conventional batteries.

Six-year world tour

Energy Observer's world tour is expected to take six years. After a careful crossing of the Mediterranean, the catamaran will venture out into the Atlantic and then Pacific oceans.

In all, 101 stopovers are planned from Cuba to New Caledonia to Goa on India's west coast.

There are still hurdles to overcome, not least in funding: the Energy Observer's trip is expected to cost a minimum of four million euros a year, notably to develop a traveling exhibition.

But the team says it is confident of getting the funds.

And once again it finds inspiration from its airplane mentor Solar Impulse -- which flew around the world on renewable energy and accomplished "what everyone said was impossible," said Delafosse.

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Funding found to build world’s biggest sea lock at IJmuiden

DutchNews, October 20, 2015

Funding has been completed to build what is being billed as the world’s biggest sea lock complex at IJmuiden. 

The current system, used by ships heading up the North Sea canal to Amsterdam, dates from 1929 and the new lock will allow bigger freight and cruise ships to reach the Dutch capital, its supporters say. 

The new lock will be 70 metres wide, 500 metres long and 18 metres deep and should be completed by 2019. This means it is just two metres wider than the sea lock at Antwerp port, the Parool says on Tuesday afternoon. 

The contract for the construction and maintenance is valued at around €500m. The tender process was won in July by a consortium made up of BAM-PGGM, VolkerWessels and investment group DIF. The European Investment Bank has also lent money to the project.

Dozens dead after fishing trawler sinks off Russia's far east

At least 56 people have died and 13 are missing after a fishing trawler sank in the Western Pacific Ocean off Russia's east coast. More than sixty have been rescued from the freezing waters.

Deutsche Welle, 2 April 2015

Representative photo of a fishing trawler

At least 56 people died when a Russian fishing vessel went down late on Wednesday in the Western Pacific Ocean in the Sea of Okhotsk near the Kamchatka Peninsula.

There were 132 crew on board the Dalniy Vostok trawler, according to Russia's state-run TASS news agency and 63 have been rescued from the freezing waters, says a maritime rescue coordination center in the area.

The vessel is reported to have sunk quickly after its engine room was flooded. "The ship did not send a distress signal," according to an official at the rescue center. One of the possible causes of the sinking may have been an extreme impact of ice on its hull.

Survivors have been taken to medical centers in Magadan, on Russia's main coast, by helicopter.

According to preliminary data, 78 of the ship's crew members were Russian while 54 were from Myanmar, Ukraine, Lithuania and Vanuatu. The Dalniy Vostok is assigned to the port of Nevelsk and reportedly belongs to a company called Magellan.

The 103-meter-long and 16-meter-wide refrigerated trawler Dalniy Vostok was designed to process, refrigerate and deliver fish to the nearest port.

The trawler was built in 1989 in Ukraine and until 2014 operated in the Baltic Sea off Riga, Latvia, under the name 'Stende.' Last year, it was acquired by Magellan and transferred to Russia's far east where it was renamed and assigned to a new port.

jm/gsw (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Colombia puts Chinese ship captain under house arrest

Yahoo – AFP, March 9, 2015.

Colombia puts Chinese ship captain under house arrest

Bogota (AFP) - A judge has ordered house arrest for the Chinese captain of a freighter Colombia stopped in port for carrying unregistered Cuba-bound weapons and materiel, a prosecutor said Sunday.

Wu Hong will remain in Cartagena, monitored by authorities, while waiting for the investigation into the cargo to be completed, the prosecutor said.

The Hong Kong-registered Da Dan Xia, which has been held for a week, was loaded with undeclared military equipment including about 100 tonnes of gunpowder, 99 projectile bases and 3,000 artillery cartridge cases, according to Colombian authorities.

Colombian prosecutor Luis Gonzalez Leon has said Wu will be charged with weapons trafficking.

The freighter was due to stop in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla before ending its journey in Havana.

The ship's documentation "conflicted with what was actually found" aboard the vessel, a Colombian prosecutor said.

But Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying maintained that the Da Dan Xia was operating within Chinese and international law.

A North Korean cargo ship, Chong Chon Gang, was found to be carrying Cuban weapons including surface-to-air missile systems and launchers when it was stopped in the Panama Canal in July 2013.

The cargo was hidden under 200,000 bags of sugar.

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