The Military Sealift Command container ship MV Cape Ray (T-AKR 9679) departs row General Dynamics NASSCO-Norfolk shipyard for sea trials on January 10, 2014. U.S. Navy Photo
ROME, July 2 (Reuters) – A Danish ship carrying some of Syria’s most dangerous chemical agents began transferring them on Wednesday onto an American cargo vessel equipped with special gear to neutralise them at sea, officials said.
The pier-side handover in southern Italy came after a series of delays in the internationally-backed plan to destroy the Damascus government’s stock of toxic arms.
Denmark’s Ark Future, which had brought the agents from Syria, started offloading the first containers in the port of Gioia Tauro, said police and officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
They were taken to the converted U.S. container ship Cape Ray which will sail them into the middle of the Mediterranean over the next few days and start transforming them into a much less poisonous soup of chemicals, ready for disposal back on land, the officials said.
Experts have said the process could take between 60 to 90 days, depending on the weather.
The Damascus government, fighting rebels for more than three years, agreed to hand over its stockpile, which includes precursors for deadly nerve agent sarin gas, under a deal backed by Washington and Moscow in September.
The agreement averted U.S. military strikes after hundreds of people were killed in a sarin gas attack in the outskirts of Syria’s capital, Damascus.
Last month, Syria handed over the remaining 8 percent of the 1,300 tonnes it declared to the OPCW, which is monitoring the process.
The Syrian government had said fighting delayed the transfer of the last parts of its stockpile. The Cape Ray had been docked in southern Spain for weeks. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
A Norwegian shipping company on Friday rejected an accusation from Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, that it refused to rescue sailors from a sinking Russian cargo ship in the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel struck multiple targets in Yemen it said were controlled by Houthis, the last of the Iran-backed groups still fully engaged in the regional war that began 14 months ago.
China said on Monday it had provided information and documents for an open investigation into the severing of two Baltic Sea undersea cables, though it and Sweden disagreed over how transparent Beijing had been in the case.
December 23, 2024
Total Views: 1150
Sign Up Now for gCaptain Daily
We’ve got your daily industry news related to the global maritime and offshore industries.
JOIN OUR CREW
Maritime and offshore news trusted by our 109,255 members delivered daily straight to your inbox.
Your Gateway to the Maritime World!
Essential news coupled with the finest maritime content sourced from across the globe.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.