A Chinese cargo ship believed to be carrying 77 tonnes of small arms, including more than 3m rounds of ammunition, AK47 assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, has docked in the South African port of Durban for transportation of the weapons to Zimbabwe, the South African government confirmed yesterday. It claimed it was powerless to intervene as long as the ship’s papers were in order.
Copies of the documentation for the Chinese ship, the An Yue Jiang, show that the weapons were sent from Beijing to the ministry of defence in Harare. Headed “Dangerous goods description and container packing certificate”, the document was issued on April 1, three days after Zimbabwe’s election. It lists the consignment as including 3.5m rounds of ammunition for AK47 assault rifles and for small arms, 1,500 40mm rockets, 2,500 mortar shells of 60mm and 81mm calibre, as well as 93 cases of mortar tubes.
The carrier is listed as the Cosco shipping company in China.
The structure of shipping companies is a complicated one. Each vessel must be registered (flagged), insured, classed, managed and crewed. For reasons of liability, tax avoidance, media relations and general profit motives ship owners will often use purpose build corporations with storefronts located in the countries offering the best terms or amicable laws. The end result is purpose built complexity. This is the reason why the Cosco is not liable for the clean-up of oil spilt by the Cosco Busan and will likely deny ties to the shipment of these arms. To find the truth would require a large scale investigation well beyond the scope of this blog, or even a well funded news group.
Related Post
Enjoy this story? Subscribe
8 responses so far ↓
1 Kennebec Captain // Apr 18, 2008 at 11:20 am
OPA 90 requires that the owner, operator or charter be held responsible for oil spills in the United States. Owners and operators of vessels over 300 tons are required to provide evidence of which party is responsible for oil spills, the required Certificate of Financial Responsibility (COFR). In spite of the name COSCO is not the owner of the Cosco Busan, Regal Stone is and they have been paying for the cleanup within their limits of liability.
2 PETERS POINTS // Apr 18, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Glad to see Kennebec Captain corrected your article. It is important to research accurately before publishing. Even more so in the complex world of ship registering. Spent three years in Spill Response after OPA 90 and 50 years in maritime industry. Still learning!!
3 admin // Apr 19, 2008 at 12:57 am
Sorry guys, this is one of only a couple of comments ever written that angers me… but the problem is most likely in my writing style, not in my intent or knowledge of the case.
Kennebec Captain:
I wrote “complexity. This is the reason why the Cosco is not liable for the clean-up of oil”.
Maybe I did not do a very good job at writing the article but Cosco not being liable was stated.
PETER:
“It is important to research accurately before publishing” I admit the headline is leading but that’s the extent of any willful deception.
You state after 3 years you are still learning so do you not agree with my point “the truth would require a large scale investigation”?
We do not have the resources for this. Should we instead not post anything? I stand by the fact that this blog researches more and makes less mistakes concerning maritime affairs than any big budget national newspaper. Should we be held to a higher standard?
Hear at gCaptain we have 2 primary goals:
1) Get people to read our posts.
This was the intent of the headline.
2) Give an insiders perspective to maritime affairs.
In this article we clipped the sentence “The carrier is listed as the Cosco shipping company in China.” Our commentary was about the complexity of ship ownership and the intention was simply to tell our readers that just because the word “Cosco” is painted on the side or listed in a manifest doesn’t mean they are liable.
2.5) Goal 2 can also be written “Give outsiders a seat at the Captain’s Table”
This is not a newspaper or a magazine it is a blog, you need to know this inorder to take the posts into context. At gCaptain we simple want to inform our readers of what’s being talked about at the Captain’s table. Just like the captain’s table in the mess room of all ships, the old man isn’t always right or even has all the facts but he does attempt to explain the situation to the green third mate or the visiting guest. Incident investigation is not the Captain’s job… running a ship is, but he does his best… so do we.
-John
4 Kennebec Captain // Apr 19, 2008 at 6:13 am
Yes, I though my comment was a little too abrupt. Sorry about that. I do see your point. Simple would be the name on the side is the party responsible, on the other hand OPA 90, COFR …..and so on - complex. In regards to the arms shipment, which your post was about, it likely is a tangle
5 Fred // Apr 19, 2008 at 6:24 am
The latest news in this event is that the ship left South Africa after longshoremen refuse to discharge the cargo. The news is reporting that the ship is now headed to Mozambique, to apparently try again. This reminds me of the infamous ‘garbage barge’.
6 admin // Apr 19, 2008 at 9:07 am
The garbage barge was one of NY’s finest moments… more recently the Independence (oceanic) suffered the same fate… but I have a feeling Mozambique will be more generous in their terms. If not they can always get a speedy discharge in Somalia… they might not even need to dock for that one.
No worries on the comments…. it’s been a long week.
-John
7 Fred // Apr 19, 2008 at 10:59 am
Did the ship turn off it’s AIS?
“Maritime journalist Terry Hutson, who tipped off The Independent on Saturday about the ship’s sudden departure, had been tracking the ship and noticed that it was no longer traceable on a tracking device.”
Vessel Tracker covers Durban and it has the ship at anchor. Isn’t it a no-no to switch it off?
Anyone know if there is any site that is covering Maputo?
8 Stranded Mariner // Apr 20, 2008 at 4:11 am
The latest news I saw, is that the ship is heading for Luanda in Angola, a close ally to Mugabe’s regime.
Leave a Comment