naturalfeature:suez canal

  • DP World wants to operate ports along Russia’s northern sea route - Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-forum-dp-wrld-idUSL8N23E3SZ

    DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, wants to run ports that Russia plans to build along the northern sea route in the Arctic to shorten shipping times between the east and west, its chief executive told Reuters.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin has made developing the northern sea route (NSR) - which requires new ports and heavy icebreakers to move goods - one of his priorities, with supporters dubbing the route the northern Suez Canal.

    Dubai government-controlled DP World operates 78 marine and inland terminals, supported by more than 50 related businesses in over 40 countries.

    The firm agreed this week with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom and Nornickel, one of the world’s top nickel and palladium producers, a joint project to pursue the integrated development of the NSR.

    The deal is not legally binding and the parties will first study options for developing the route and may set up a joint venture later to develop freight transit via the NSR.
    […]
    Bin Sulayem said it was to early to talk of possible stakes in potential future joint ventures. “The (Russian) government will decide which land to give us and we will prepare the projects, we will attract the customers, we will work with industries how to attract, to produce something that we know.

    We are at early stages (to talk about any stakes), we will need to sit with the partners and see, but we will always abide by rules which are laid (by Russia).

    #Arctique #Route_maritime_du_Nord
    #Passage_du_Nord-Est

  • Le porte container Yantian Express (Hapag-Lloyd ) en feu avec ses 7500 containers à 1000 Km de la cote est du Canada

    https://gcaptain.com/hapag-lloyd-containership-yantian-express-on-fire-off-east-coast-of-canada
    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/press/releases/2019/01/containers-caught-fire-on-board-the-yantian-express.html

    A fire has broke out aboard a Hapag-Lloyd containership in the North Atlantic off the east coast of Canada.

    In a statement posted to its website, Hapag-Lloyd said the fire started January 3 in one container on the deck of the Yantian Express and has spread to additional containers.

    Efforts to extinguish the fire were launched immediately but were suspended due to a significant deterioration of weather conditions.

    At the time of the update, the ship was located approximately 650 nautical miles off the coast of Canada.

    The crew of 8 officers and 15 seafarers are unharmed, Hapag-Lloyd said.

    The ship was sailing from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Halifax, via the Suez Canal, where it was expected to arrive on January 4, according to AIS ship tracking data. 

    The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday afternoon that it is coordinating the response efforts to ensure the safety of the crew.

    Another commercial vessel, Happy Ranger, was just 20 miles from the position of the Yantian Express and has diverted to provide assistance. A commercial tugboat is also en route.

    The Coast Guard said it is monitoring the situation. 

    The 7,510 TEU vessel 320-meters-long and is flagged in German flag. The ship operates in the East Coast Loop 5 (EC5) service. It was built in 2002.

    “It is still too early to make a precise estimate of any damage to the vessel or its cargo. Hapag-Lloyd is closely cooperating with all relevant authorities,” Hapag-Lloyd said.

    Both the Yantian Express and Happy Ranger are participating in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER) program. 

    “Thanks to the participation of mariners in the AMVER system, we were able to coordinate a quick response,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Kelly Badal, operations unit watchstander at the Fifth District command center. “This system is crucial to coordinating nearby vessels to provide assistance when an emergency arises far from Coast Guard assets.”

    No pollution or injuries have been reported. 

    • The incident adds to a busy start to the year in terms of maritime accidents.
      On December 31, the car carrier Sincerity Ace suffered a fire with five fatalities in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. This ship is now abandoned, adrift and the fire continues on board.
      On January 1, the mega containership MSC ZOE lost an estimated 270 containers overboard in heavy weather in the North Sea. No injuries were reported. 
      On January 2, a 308-foot Chinese-flagged fish carrier, named Ou Ya Leng No. 6, ran aground on an uninhabited atoll in the Marshall Islands. Currently the crew of 24 remain on board the vessel. 

    • Yantian Express Abandoned in North Atlantic Due to Ongoing Container Fire – gCaptain
      https://gcaptain.com/yantian-express-abandoned-in-north-atlantic-due-to-ongoing-container-fire


      MV Yantian Express, sous son nom précédent _MV Shanghai Express, navire sous pavillon allemand

      The crew of the containership Yantian Express has been evacuated as the container fire continues to burn on board the ship in the North Atlantica, Hapag-Lloyd said in an update on Sunday.

      The fire started in one container on January 3rd and has since spread to other containers.

      Due to bad weather conditions, the fire has not been successfully contained and has significantly increased in intensity at times, according to Hapag-Lloyd. The salvage tug Smit Nicobar is on scene fighting the fire but as of the latest update, the fire had not been extinguished.

      The crew of the Yantian Express, comprised of 8 officers and 16 crew, has now been evacuated to the Smit Nicobar. All are unharmed, the company reported.

      The ship was last reported to be approximately 800 nautical miles off the coast of Canada (Nova Scotia).

      Further developments of the situation on the Yantian Express are being monitored closely, and the firefighting efforts with the salvage tug are ongoing,” Hapag-Lloyd said in its update.

      The company added that it could not make a precise estimate of any damage to the ship or its cargo.

  • Maersk sends first container ship through Arctic route | Reuters
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/arctic-shipping-maersk/maersk-sends-first-container-ship-through-arctic-route-idUKL8N1VE3NM

    A Maersk vessel loaded with Russian fish and South Korean electronics will next week become the first container ship to navigate an Arctic sea route that Russia hopes will become a new shipping highway.

    The Arctic voyage by the 3,600 20-foot container capacity Venta Maersk is the latest step in the expansion of the so-called Northern Sea Route which is becoming more accessible to ships as climate change reduces the amount of sea ice.

    The brand new Venta Maersk, one of the world’s largest ice-class vessels, will also collect scientific data, said Maersk, underlining that the voyage is a one-off trial for now.

    The decision by Maersk, the world’s biggest container shipping group, to test out the route is a positive sign for Russia, which hopes this could become a mini Suez Canal, cutting sea transport times from Asia to Europe.

    A well-respected company like Maersk sending a container ship through the Arctic, definitely signals there’s something there,” Malte Humpert, a senior fellow at U.S.-based think-tank Arctic Institute, said.

  • Israel warns Iran of military response if it closed key Red Sea strait | Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-redsea/israel-warns-iran-against-closing-key-red-sea-waterway-idUSKBN1KM5VM

    Israel would deploy its military if Iran were to try to block the #Bab_al-Mandeb strait that links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday.
    […]
    Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a separate speech at the event that Israel had “recently heard of threats to harm Israeli ships in the Red Sea.” He gave no further details.

    Ships bound for Israel, mainly from Asia, pass through the waterway to Eilat, or continue through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea. Ships bound for Jordan’s Aqaba port and for some Saudi destinations must also pass through the strait.

    #Bab_el-Mandeb

  • AIS Animation Shows Suez Canal Mayhem After Ship Grounds – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/ais-animation-shows-suez-canal-mayhem-after-ship-grounds

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YNg0qlolRU

    On 15 July 2018, container ship Aeneas ran aground in the Suez Canal during a southbound transit.

    As a result of the grounding, the Panamax Alexander, Sakizaya Kalon and Osios David also ran into each other in convoy heading southbound through the canal.

    The Aeneas was the 20th ship out of 27 in the convoy.

    The ships behind in the convoy avoided striking the grounded Aeneas, but instead hit each other leading to the southern part of the channel being closed for several hours.

    The Osios David sailed to Suez, while the Panamax Alexander and the Sakizaya Kalon were towed and anchored to the Great Bitter Lake. While the Panamax Alexander was being pulled to the Great Bitter Lake, it collided, once again, with the container ship NYK Orpheus (not pictured).

    The video above, provided by Genscape Vesseltracker, was created using AIS ship tracking data. The left side of the split screen shows the Aeneas grounding, while the right side shows the pile-up to the north.

  • Syria attack is a win for Assad and reveals true intentions of Western powers behind it - Syria - Haaretz.com
    https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/.premium-syria-attack-is-a-win-for-assad-and-reveals-west-s-true-intentions

    Jack Khoury

    [...]

    The coalition hasn’t learned that a Western strike on an Arab capital will never bring its citizens into the streets to celebrate or turn public support in their favor, no matter how despotic the leader. Indeed, even the Assad regime’s most bitter enemies found it hard to cheer for the Western airstrikes. It’s important to make a clear distinction between the positions of a few countries’ leaders, including the Gulf states, and the overall consciousness of citizens of the Muslim and Arab world.

    Syria’s public diplomacy machine did not need to work hard when it came to the attack on Damascus and one of its suburbs by the three powers. It immediately earned the sobriquet “the trilateral aggression,” familiar to all Arab ears as the name given to the military response of France, Israel and Britain in 1956 to Egypt’s then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal. [...]

    The scenario this time is completely different. Assad, a despot who inherited the regime from his father and has carried out unforgivable crimes against his own people, is very far from Nasser in every way. No one who supports democracy and human rights can side with his actions. But while his motives are clear – Assad will do whatever it takes to maintain his power – those of U.S. President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May are not entirely obvious.

    While they pride themselves on their defense of human rights and universal values, the West does nothing to stop the ongoing slaughter in Yemen. Trump continues to extend unqualified support for Israel’s conduct toward the Palestinian people , and his two partners make do with laconic statements of censure. The events along the Israel-Gaza Strip border in the past two weeks did not elicit so much as a call for restraint from them, and oddly enough, Trump envoy Jason Greenblatt chose to lecture the Palestinians. If the goal is to defend human rights, then attention should also be paid to the regimes in Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Gulf states, which are no less totalitarian than the one in Damascus.

    The blood of the Syrian people is no different from that of the Yemenis or the Palestinians. The behavior of the Western leaders at this masked ball has once again been revealed for the double game that it is, in accordance with the map of interests that serves them. Anyone who seeks a more just and rational world must first address the oldest issue in the Middle East, the need to give the Palestinians an independent state.

    [...] If the West genuinely cared about the Syrian nation’s welfare, its leaders would support the national democratic opposition in the country, which envisions a modern, democratic state that provides freedom and liberty to all its citizens.

    But Trump and his partners care about their interests and those of their wealthy allies in the Gulf, not about the Syrian people. The position they have taken now will not result in the establishment of a free and democratic state in the Middle East that will challenge the existing regimes, and perhaps Israel as well.

    #Syrie

  • Egypt’s President Sisi Touts Megaprojects Ahead of March Vote

    – WSJ
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/egypts-president-sisi-touts-megaprojects-ahead-of-march-vote-1518431400

    By Jared Malsin
    Feb. 12, 2018 5:30 a.m. ET

    CAIRO—For decades Egypt’s presidents, like the pharaohs before them, have used vast infrastructure projects to inspire a sense of national achievement and economic might. But no modern leader has claimed to launch so many in so short a time as current President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, however meager their actual impact.

    Since the former general came to power following a military coup in 2013, he has decreed the expansion of Egypt’s Suez Canal, ordered a second capital city be built next to Cairo, and initiated a scheme to reclaim more than a million acres of empty desert land. In December, he approved a deal with a Russian state-owned firm to build a $21 billion nuclear plant.

    Ahead of an election in March, Mr. Sisi is now again touting his role in launching massive military-led projects. When he launched his re-electioncampaign last month, he claimed the government had completed 11,000 “national projects” in his brief tenure. That number proved hyperbolic, but even the president’s landmark infrastructure initiatives have done little to defuse the economic discontent that was a key source of political upheaval seven years ago during the Arab Spring.

    Mr. Sisi, second from right, looking last month at mockups of natural-gas-extraction facilities in the northern Suez canal city of Port Said. PHOTO: HANDOUT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
    “This is not investment money. This is political money,” said Robert Springborg, an expert on Egypt at King’s College, London. “The long-term consequences of this are very negative for the economy. You think of the waste of resources at a time when the country is in desperate need.”

    Mr. Sisi’s embrace of big but dubious projects won’t cost him the election—Egypt’s security forces have jailed or otherwise sidelined his only credible opponents. But even officials involved in the initiatives say they are designed to create the appearance, rather than the reality, of an economic recovery following the turmoil of Egypt’s 2011 uprising that ended three decades of rule by President Hosni Mubarak.

    Mr. Sisi’s government unveiled the $8 billion “New Suez Canal” in 2015, hailing it as a symbol of national rebirth and Egypt’s “gift to the world.” In a lavish ceremony on the banks of the channel, jet fighters roared past rows of visiting dignitaries alongside the channel now expanded to allow two-way traffic and vastly reduce wait times. The president sailed to the event wearing full military regalia and sunglasses.

    The project’s dividends haven’t matched the hype. In 2015, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Adm. Mohab Mamish, said the expansion would more than double revenue from the channel, from about $5 billion a year then to more than $13 billion by 2023.

    Today, income from the canal remains largely unchanged from 2015 levels. Even then, the Canal Authority’s public claims were contradicted by a never-released internal government study that predicted a decidedly modest 4.8% rate of return on investment for individual Egyptians who bought certificates to finance the project, according to Ahmed Darwish, the former head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

    “There were many reasons for that project to be done. It’s not only about the revenue. It came at a time when the president needed to bring back confidence to the Egyptian people,” he said. “The idea of ‘yes we can’ was very important.”

    –– ADVERTISEMENT ––

  • Egypt : Army blocks all access to Sinai, schools close indefinitely and residents brace for military operation | MadaMasr

    https://www.madamasr.com/en/2018/02/09/feature/politics/dispatch-from-arish-army-blocks-all-access-to-sinai-schools-close-indefini

    On the eve of the first day of the Armed Forces’ new major counter-terrorism operation in Sinai, authorities have restricted access to and movement within North Sinai, while residents of the peninsula’s main cities steel themselves for the new military campaign.

    According to residents, authorities prohibited entry to and exit from Sinai starting Thursday night by preventing traffic coming through the Suez Canal and the Ahmed Hamdi tunnel. On Friday morning, authorities also blocked the main road linking North Sinai’s cities to one another, and cut off passage to and from the cities of Arish, Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah.

    Despite a sense of anxiety following the Armed Forces’ statement on Friday — in which the military announced the launch of a major operation aiming to “end terrorism” in the peninsula — the day progressed quietly in Rafah, Arish and Sheikh Zuwayed, save for sounds of explosions coming from desert areas south of each city and military aircraft flying over them during the early hours of Friday.

    The military spokesperson had stated on Friday that the operation started with the bombing of militant ammunition storehouses in north and central Sinai.

    Residents said that the shelling targeted locations close to Egypt’s border with Palestine. A local on the Palestinian side of the border city of Rafah told Mada Masr that the explosions could be heard clearly in the city and residents saw smoke close to the borders from 7 am to 8 am.

  • The thawing Arctic threatens an environmental #catastrophe - Skating on thin ice
    https://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21721364-commercial-opportunities-are-vastly-outweighed-damage-climate-th
    Commercial opportunities are vastly outweighed by damage to the climate

    [...]

    Amid all this bad news about the state of the Arctic, the #business opportunities associated with warming were supposed to cheer at least a few. The Arctic is an ocean covered in ice, ringed by land (whereas the Antarctic is a lump of land covered in ice, ringed by ocean). The eight Arctic countries have interests in shipping, fishing and drilling in the region. But finding profits amid the thaw is tough. Prospects look bleaker in many industries than they did five years ago as the risks are better understood.

    The Arctic contains more than a fifth of the world’s untapped hydrocarbon resources. But in the North American Arctic offshore drilling was banned in December almost everywhere to protect ecosystems (although Donald Trump may reverse the moratorium). Elsewhere, low prices and the difficulties of operating in the Arctic’s dangerous waters now repel big firms attracted to the region back when oil fetched over $100 a barrel.

    In a stunning about-turn, Shell ended operations in the Chukchi Sea in 2015 after spending $7bn on exploration there. It says it did not find enough oil to justify continuing. Russian firms, such as Rosneft, are proving hardier. They have fewer opportunities to invest elsewhere, after all, and Russia needs the money. Low oil prices have taken a toll on an economy which relies on the Arctic for a fifth of GDP and a fifth of exports.

    The shipping industry is another for which Arctic promise has drifted away. In theory shipping firms should benefit from access to a more open seaway. Using it to sail from northern Europe to north-east Asia can cut the length of voyages by two-fifths compared with travelling via the Suez Canal. But an expected shipping boom has not materialised. In 2012 only 1m tonnes of goods were shipped through the northern passage, a paltry level of activity yet one not achieved since.

    Even in the summer months the Arctic ocean is stormy, making timely delivery of goods impossible to guarantee. Drifting ice also poses a danger. Ships must be strengthened to withstand it, adding to construction costs. And a lack of coastal infrastructure, such as deepwater ports, means that spills of the heavy fuel oil that powers most vessels could wreak havoc on both ecosystems and reputations, because clean-up missions would have to set out from much farther away and would take much longer to be effective.

    A new Polar Code from the International Maritime Organisation, which regulates shipping, came into force at the beginning of the year to try to address some of these concerns. It bans sewage discharges in polar waters and ones of oily mixtures. America and Canada, among others, want to go further. For one thing, they want a ban on heavy fuel-oil (as there is in the Antarctic, which has various special protections).

    Mining firms, interested in metals such as copper, are eyeing up the Arctic. But most firms do not have the experience to negotiate with indigenous groups over projects on their land (about one in ten people in the region is from such a group). And many of the inhabitants oppose development anyway. In Norway the Sami parliament, which represents Sami people from across the country, is wary. Jon Petter Gintal, who deals with international affairs at the parliament, says blighting the landscape would be foolish. Tourists, keen to see rugged natural beauty, may sustain the Arctic economy in future decades as traditional livelihoods, such a reindeer herding, prove harder to maintain.

    #climat

  • Why US aid to Egypt is never under threat | News | Al Jazeera
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/aid-egypt-threat-171002093316209.html

    For a country to become an eligible recipient of US aid, it must align itself with American interests and foreign policy, analysts say.

    In the case of Egypt, US aid granted since the signing of the 1978 Camp David Accords was “untouchable compensation” for maintaining peace with Israel.This deal is considered a cornerstone of US-Egyptian relations.

    Robert Springborg, a Middle East expert and non-resident fellow at the Italian Institute of International Affairs, told Al Jazeera that US economic support was intended to stabilise Anwar Sadat’s [former Egyptian president] government and succeeding ones.

    How does the US benefit?

    The primary benefit is the “cessation of hostilities against Israel” by Egypt and “other Arab states that could not wage war against Israel in the absence of Egyptian participation”, Springborg said.

    In addition to Egyptian support for American “counterterrorism and counterinsurgency” campaigns, Springborg says the US also enjoys marginal benefits, including access to Egyptian airspace and the prioritisation of US naval vessels through the Suez Canal.

    The high amount of military aid, in particular, has also helped to create jobs and to reduce unemployment in the US. More than 1.3 million Americans work in manufacturing weaponry for defence companies, and more than three million others support the industry indirectly.

    The US is among the world’s top five arms producers and distributors, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

    “The United States does not give money to Egypt for military equipment; it gives the Egyptian military a list of equipment the American government will purchase on its behalf in the United States,” Gelvin told Al Jazeera.

    What about economic aid?

    Economic assistance, or American “investments” in Egypt, are a relatively small part of the package, analysts say.

    Economic aid now stands at less than $200m annually, compared with more than $1bn from the early 1980s through the early 2000s, Springborg said.

    #Egypte #etats-unis

  • Officials Investigating ’Potential Threat’ Aboard Maersk Containership in Port of Charleston,Terminal Evacuated – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/potential-threat-aboard-maersk-memphis-port-of-charleston

    Officials are investigating a ‘potential threat’ aboard a U.S.-flagged Maersk Line containership at the Port of Charleston in South Carolina.

    The Coast Guard said at approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday authorities were made aware of a potential threat in a container aboard the vessel Maersk Memphis in the Port of Charleston.

    The Maersk Memphis is moored at Charleston’s Wando terminal, which has been evacuated while law enforcement units from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies investigate the threat.

    A 1 nautical mile safety zone has been established around the vessel while law enforcement authorities investigate the threat.

    Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are currently investigating the type of the potential threat,” the Coast Guard said on Twitter.

    Coast Guard officials described the threat as a possible “dirty bomb”, according to Reuters and other media outlets. A #dirty_bomb is a combination of radioactive and conventional explosives. 

    An unified command has been established to oversee the coordinated response, which the Coast Guard described as ‘active and ongoing’ as of 2 a.m. ET. 

    According to Maersk Lines website Maersk Memphis last called the port of Newark on June 12 after sailing from Middle East via the Suez Canal and Algeciras.

  • Qatar Gulf row roils LNG market, Shell tanker diverted | Reuters
    http://in.reuters.com/article/gulf-qatar-lng-usa-idINL8N1J536H


    LNG carriers at the Qatari LNG export facility at Ras Laffan.
    Photo: RasGas

    The escalating diplomatic conflict between Qatar and several of its Middle East neighbours has roiled the liquefied natural gas trade, causing at least one tanker to change course and UK gas prices to spike.
    […]
    In one of the earliest signs of the effect on the LNG market, Royal Dutch Shell sent an LNG cargo from the United States to Dubai, shipping data shows, after the United Arab Emirates banned Qatari ships from entering UAE ports.

    A cluster of 17 LNG tankers are now moored off the coast of the Qatari LNG export facility at Ras Laffan, up from seven on Monday.

    Gas prices in the United Kingdom spiked on Thursday, with the UK National Balancing Point (NBP) price for July up over 4.5 percent after two Qatari tankers that were likely bound for the UK changed course, according to Reuters shipping data.

    It is unclear why those tankers shifted movements, though traders said they may be diverted around the continent of Africa rather than transit the Suez Canal, which is where they were expected to go. Traders worry that Egypt might bar tankers carrying Qatari cargoes from using the Suez Canal, though it is bound by international treaties not to block the canal.

  • Egypt Zamalek FC’s hardcore fans: The journey of the Ultras White Knights | MadaMasr
    http://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/03/22/panorama/u/zamalek-fcs-hardcore-fans-the-journey-of-the-ultras-white-knights

    It has been 10 years since the Ultras White Knights (UWK), an association of hardcore fans of Zamalek Football Club, was founded. Though they are of varying ages and come from different social classes and education, they are united in their unwavering support for their team.

    The UWK have remained committed, despite the team’s financial and administrative problems over the last decade, proving their loyalty to the white-flagged club time and time again, even in defeat.

    They have been determined to attend matches in large numbers and well-organized formations, even at training sessions. This support is summed up in their renowned slogan, “We will remain loyal.”

    The bond that binds them runs deeper than a love for football. The UWK are also known for the role they played in Egypt’s January 2011 revolution, when they were a key part of confrontations with police, marches and sit-ins, with their well rehearsed chants and songs. Their participation on the front lines of clashes with security forces on the Friday of Rage (January 28, 2011) and in the battle of Mohamed Mahmoud (November 2011) is particularly remembered.

    Since then, there has been a level of mutual hostility between the ultras and Egypt’s security forces. This has been exacerbated by several events, including the deaths of 72 Ultras Ahlawy, fans of Ahly Football Club, in the northern Suez canal city of Port Said on February 1, 2012, during a deadly stadium riot that many say was prolonged or even sparked by security forces, and resulted in the suspension of football matches or matches with no spectators.

    After matches resumed and fans were permitted to attend games again, another bloody incident took place at Cairo’s Air Force Defense Stadium on February 8, 2015, when 20 Zamalek Football Club fans were killed. Security officials accused the UWK of being responsible for these deaths and arrested several members.

    In fact, over the past six years, security forces have imprisoned around 250 ultras, and in May 2015, ultras organizations were banned by the state.

    Egyptian media has also portrayed ultras associations in a negative light, disseminating false information on them and capitalizing on their insistence to not give media interviews.

    “Ultra” in Latin means over and above, and members describe themselves as being “brothers in blood.”

    The ultras commemorate members who have been imprisoned or killed over the years, immortalizing them in pictures, chants and songs. The UWK have released three albums of these songs to commemorate their martyrs: “Zamalek is the Life,” “Voice of the Knights” and “February 8.”

  • China says to boost military ties with strategic #Djibouti | Reuters
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-djibouti-idUSKBN13K05Z

    China will boost military ties with Djibouti, strategically located in the Horn of Africa, state media quoted a senior Chinese army officer as saying during a visit to a country where China is building its first overseas naval base.

    In February, China began construction in Djibouti of its first overseas military facility, a logistics base that will resupply naval vessels taking part in peacekeeping and humanitarian missions.

    Djibouti, which is about the size of Wales, is strategically located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea on the route to the Suez Canal. The tiny, barren nation sandwiched between Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia also hosts U.S., Japanese and French bases.

  • A Single Vessel Is Behind Canada’s Largest-Ever Trade Deficit - Bloomberg
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-04/a-single-vessel-is-behind-canada-s-largest-ever-trade-deficit


    Blue Marlin arrives in Bull Arm, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland carrying the 30,000 tonne module from South Korea, Sept. 2, 2016.
    Photo: Hebron Project

    Canada posted its largest trade deficit on record in September, a whopping C$4.1 billion ($3 billion) — and a single piece of equipment is to blame.

    A heavy-load carrier arrived at Bull Arm, Trinity Bay in Newfoundland on Sept. 2, after a voyage from South Korea that began in June.

    You’ll note that the 224.8 meter-long vessel had to sail around Africa rather than go through the Suez Canal, due to its size and cargo.
    The Blue Marlin, as the vessel is known, was carrying a 30,000 tonne utilities and process module made by Hyundai Heavy Industries. The module, which had been under development since 2013, will be used in the Hebron offshore-oil project off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.

    Exxon Mobil Corp. has the largest interest in this project; co-venturers include Chevron Corp., Suncor Energy Inc., Statoil ASA, and Nalcor Energy Corp. The field has been estimated to contain more than 700 million barrels of recoverable resources.

    The arrival of this module helped push the imports of industrial machinery, equipment and parts up by C$2.9-billion in September, according to Statistics Canada, meaning the nation’s trade deficit excluding this increase would have totaled C$1.2 billion for the month — an even smaller gap than the C$1.7 billion deficit that economists had been estimating.

  • LALEH KHALILI /// The Geopolitics of Maritime Transportation in the Middle East « ARCHIPELAGO | The Podcast Platform of the Funambulist
    http://the-archipelago.net/2015/05/18/laleh-khalili-the-geopolitics-of-maritime-transportation-in-the-mid

    THE GEOPOLITICS OF MARITIME TRANSPORTATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST
    Conversation recorded with Laleh Khalili in London on May 18, 2015
    https://soundcloud.com/the-archipelago/laleh-khalili-the-geopolitics-of-maritime-transportation-in-the-middle-e
    This conversation with Laleh Khalili evolves around her on-going research about the geopolitics at work in the capitalist and military ship transportation around the Arabian Peninsula. This interview is structured in a geographical manner, reproducing the trip Laleh accomplished in February 2015 on a container ship between Malta and Jabal Ali (Dubai’s container port). We first address the politics of the ship itself, before going through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Hormuz Strait, and the Persian Gulf, to finally end on the narrow Iraqi shores.

    Laleh Khalili is a professor of Middle East Politics at SOAS, University of London. She is the author of Heroes and Martyrs of Palestine: The Politics of National Commemoration (Cambridge 2007) and Time in the Shadows: Confinement in Counterinsurgencies (Stanford 2013), the editor of Modern Arab Politics (Routledge 2008) and co-editor (with Jillian Schwedler) of Policing and Prisons in the Middle East: Formations of Coercion (Hurst/Oxford 2010).

  • Photos Show Catastrophic Damage to ’HSV Swift’ Following Missile Attack – gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/photos-show-catastrophic-damage-to-hsv-swift-following-missile-attack


    Photo credit : Emirates News Agency

    The Emirates News Agency has just released pictures showing damage to the HSV Swift after it was destroyed by an anti-ship missile on Saturday.
    […]
    The ship is owned by UAE Marine Dredging Company but was chartered by the United Arab Emirates military when the attack occurred.

    Tiens, tiens, cette précision : chartered by the UAE military, mais quand même

    The HSV Swift was on a humanitarian mission in the Red Sea when it was targeted by Yemen’s Houthi group in a missile attack near the Bab al-Mandab strait off Yemen, a key chokepoint for ships transiting between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal.

  • Shippers get the news: Hanjin finally reveals where its ships are - The Loadstar
    http://theloadstar.co.uk/shippers-get-news-hanjin-finally-reveals-ships

    (localisation, mais sans carte…)

    Unloading operations have begun on some Hanjin vessels after the line finally began to update shippers and forwarders on where its vessels actually are.

    A fleet update issued by the carrier this morning shows the vast majority of its vessels still “waiting in open sea” for instructions from headquarters.

    So far six vessels are confirmed to have been arrested – the Hanjin Baltimore at Panama, with the Panama Canal “impassable” to the line; Hanjin Vienna in Vancouver; Hanjin California in Sydney; Hanjin Rome, as widely reported, in Singapore; and Hanjin Rotterdam in Yantian; and Hanjin Sooho in Shanghai; while the Hanjin Montevideo has been arrested by its bunker supplier in Long Beach, California.

    Another seven vessels are at port under embargo and three more – Sky Pride, Sky Love and Pacita – have been returned to their owners.

    Ten vessels are waiting off the coast of China and two off Japan; a further 12 are waiting off South Korea, two of which – Hanjin Chongqing and Asian Trader – have now run out of fuel and are waiting for bunker supplies. Another nine vessels are underway to Pusan, where they won’t run the risk of arrest.

    The Hanjin Europe is under embargo in Hamburg, with Hanjin Harmony waiting in the North Sea, while five vessels wait in the Mediterranean. Two of the latter were refused entry to the Suez Canal and now face circumventing the Cape of Good Hope on their journey to Asia.

    There are nine vessels waiting in the waters of South-east Asia, the Indian Ocean and around Australia, and a further three in the Arabian Gulf.

    In the US, Hanjin Greece began unloading at a Long Beach terminal, while five vessels wait off the coast, with reports that one, the Hanjin Gdynia, will dock this week.

  • Ship Detained After Launching #Drone in #Suez_Canal - gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/ship-detained-after-launching-drone-in-suez-canal

    A recent incident involving a drone in the Suez Canal is causing a marine insurance company to warn over their usage onboard vessels.

    The P&I Club Gard issued an alert to its members last week after one of its vessels was detained following the launch of a drone in order to photograph the vessel proceeding through the Suez Canal.

    The club did not identify the vessel, but says that shortly after the drone had been launched the Master was contacted by the Suez Canal Authority and told to drop anchor. During a subsequent inspection, the Egyptian authorities confiscated the drone and its memory card and the vessel was detained in anticipation of further investigations.

    Gard is now using the incident to demonstrate the unintended and sometimes serious consequences of launching drones from vessels, particularly when in port or sailing within a country’s territorial waters.

  • Giant MSC Boxship Hard Aground in Suez Canal - gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/giant-msc-fabiola-boxship-hard-aground-in-suez-canal

    A giant MSC containership is hard aground in the southern end of the Suez Canal and is blocking ship traffic through the busy waterway.

    The vessel is the Portuguese-flagged MSC Fabiola, a 12,500 teu, 366-meter-long containership chartered by Mediterranean Shipping Company and operated by the German company Peter Döhle Schiffahrts-KG.

    The shipping agency GAC reports that the grounding occurred at kilometer 144 at about 16:30 local time on Thursday (April 28) after the ship reportedly experienced engine trouble.

    AIS shows the vessel aground on the western embankment of the Canal just north of Suez. A photo circulating online confirms what can be seen in AIS. Other ships in the area of the canal where the grounding occurred show a status of either anchored or moored, according to AIS.

    MSC Fabiola was number 10 in a southbound convoy of 20 vessels, GAC reported Friday. The rest of the convoy, consisting of 8 vessels, have been stopped. Northbound convoys scheduled for Friday have been suspended, while Friday’s southbound convoys started at 0800 hours local time, but will be forced to stop and wait at Great Bitter Lakes, GAC said.


    Credit: MarineTraffic.com

    • Suez Canal Reopened After Giant MSC Fabiola is Refloated - gCaptain
      https://gcaptain.com/containership-msc-fabiola-refloated-in-suez-canal

      The 366-meter containership MSC Fabiola was refloated in the Suez Canal this weekend after running hard aground last Thursday.

      According to the shipping agency GAC, the 12,500 TEU containership was refloated just after 1 a.m. Saturday morning and resumed its southbound transit to Suez escorted by five tugs. As of Monday, the ship was at a Suez anchorage outside of canal waters.

      GAC reported that the ship grounded last Thursday (April 28) at kilometer 144 at about 16:30 local time after experiencing engine trouble.

  • The Armed Forces and Egypt’s land | Mada Masr
    http://www.madamasr.com/sections/economy/armed-forces-and-egypts-land

    In February, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi issued a decree to direct the Armed Forces Land Projects Agency (AFLPA) to oversee construction of two of Egypt’s mega-projects to be built on 16,000 acres under military control: the new capital city and Sheikh Zeyad’s new urban community. The decree granted AFLPA the power to form joint ventures.

    The move is indicative of the political direction increasingly taken by Egypt’s authorities to expand the Armed Forces’ involvement in the economy. This military involvement does not only take the form of oversight and contractual management, but increasingly is articulated through the formation of joint venture investments wherein the military allocates desert land under its control – land whose value is expected to appreciate markedly – to companies affiliated with the Armed Forces, as a capital investment.

    Does allowing the AFLPA to form joint ventures signal a major transformation in the military’s role in Egypt’s economy?

    • First, it establishes a legal framework to allow the Armed Forces to use desert land as an investment. Egyptian jurisprudence’s historical attention to national defense has led to the consolidation of desert lands under the control of the Armed Forces. Most desert land fell under the control of the Armed Forces in the 1950s and 1960s. At the time, desert land had little economic value, as Egypt’s population was concentrated in the Nile Valley and the Delta – a situation that has completely changed over the last three decades. Economic and population growth have become increasingly dependent on expansion into Egypt’s once uninhabitable deserts. Expansion has taken the form of land reclamation and housing projects, new industrial cities and tourist attractions. The development of each of these initiatives is contingent upon access to affordable desert land, which the government has been able to provide using the compensatory framework of the original desert land law: the Armed Forces is paid for the utility costs incurred during its relocation. However, in reality, the state and the military, often indivisible, have used desert land to acquire economic gains, either through the outright sale of land or through the recent practice of using land as a capital investment in urban development companies.

      Second, the recent presidential decree changes the way in which the Armed Forces use desert land. Access to desert land has allowed the NSPO to transform Egypt’s transportation infrastructure through the construction of roads, overpasses and tunnels. However, now – as evinced by the government’s projects in the administrative capital and the Suez Canal channel, as well as in affordable housing – the Armed Forces have pivoted and will commence a foray into urban and industrial projects as well as logistical services. The move may augur AFLPA’s more frequent use of its land possessions as capital investments in joint ventures with Arab and international investors.

      Il y a qqs mois sur le même sujet : Barayez A.-F., 2016, « This Land is their Land »: Egypt’s Military and the Economy, in Jadaliyya, < http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/23671/« this-land-is-their-land »_egypt’s-military-and-the >

  • This Mesmerizing Interactive Map Displays Ship Movements Across the Globe - gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/this-mesmerizing-interactive-map-displays-ship-movements-across-the-globe

    This Mesmerizing Interactive Map Displays Ship Movements Across the Globe

    Researchers at UCL Energy Institute together with London-based data visualization and digital journalism studio Kiln have released this amazing interactive map that plots 250 million data points to show the movements of the world’s commercial shipping fleet during the year 2012. (Hit the play button above to learn more about what is being displayed)

    The map was created based on the methodology developed for the Third IMO GHG Study 2014 and AIS data to estimate emissions from five different ship types; containerships, tankers, dry bulk, gas carriers and vehicle carriers.

    Based only on ship movements and without a background map, the world’s coastlines are clearly defined, with plenty of variation in ship activity: from the buzz of activity in the East China Sea to the relative quiet of Somalia’s piracy afflicted waters to ship movements in areas where one might not expect them, such as the Arctic and Antarctic. The map also clearly shows the most crucial shipping thoroughfares of all: the canals linking different bodies of water, such as the Panama Canal, opened a century ago to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean, and the even older and busier Suez Canal which saw 17,000 transits in 2012 alone.

    http://www.shipmap.org
    (mais je ne peux pas la consulter avec la casserole qui me sert d’ordi…)

  • The race for Arctic domination par Alberto Lucas López (Design) - Visualoop

    http://visualoop.com/infographics/the-race-for-arctic-domination

    Publishers : South China Morning Post

    To build and manage the Panama Canal, the United States pushed through Panama’s independence from Colombia and spent more on this construction project than on any other before. To create the Suez Canal, the Egyptian government leased its land to a private French company, which used forced labour to complete the project. Nowadays, the question is, will the Arctic frontier become an ecological preserve or an economic engine, an area of international cooperation or confrontation?

    #arctique #transport #transport_maritime

  • Gaffe : site hum-hum (et repris par des sites hum-hum). Est-ce que quelqu’un connait ce document qui aurait été sorti par le Meretz en 2014 ?

    Formation of joint militia between Saudi Arabia and Israel in Red sea
    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/04/13/formation-of-joint-militia-between-saudi-arabia-and-israel-in-red-sea

    Based on secret documents leaked by a senior military official linked to left-wing liberal party “Meretz”, in 2014 a memorandum of understanding is concluded on joint military cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.

    This agreement is concluded to Saudi Arabia and Israel management on Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal and the Red Sea littoral countries as well.

    Published information from this source mention in duty of a host by Israel of a number of officers Arabia to participate in military training courses in the base of polonium of Port of Haifa in 2015.

    And this attempt has taken on Israel-Saudi Arabia cooperation to support regional security and stability and combating terrorist groups in the Red Sea. The source informs also the formation of a joint operation staff by Israel and Saudi Arabia in Tiran Island.

    #coopération_Israël-Arabie

    • Puisqu’on parle de Bab el Mandeb, il ne faut pas oublier nos droits imprescriptibles !

      Cheikh Saïd
      Le territoire de #Cheikh_Saïd se trouve sur le détroit de Bab el Mandeb, à l’extrémité sud-ouest de la presqu’île d’Arabie et à 2.500 mètres de l’île anglaise de Perim ; sa superficie est de 168.000 hectares. La côte offre d’excellents mouillages utilisés par les caboteurs au moment des moussons du sud-ouest. Des pêcheurs occupent le seul hameau qui existe (Cheikh Saïd). Le climat est à la fois chaud, sec et sain.

      Cheikh Saïd fut acheté, en 1868, à un cheikh arabe par des négociants marseillais et officiellement reconnu comme possession française. Un dépôt de charbon et des factoreries y furent établis, mais ils furent évacués après 1870. Les Turcs l’occupèrent, mais le gouvernement français maintint ses droits de propriété en se réservant de les exercer effectivement.

      in Atlas colonial français, colonies, protectorats et pays sous mandat, cartes et texte du commandant P. Pollacchi
      3ème édition revue et mise à jour, L’Illustration, 1938.
      cf. http://seenthis.net/messages/329555

  • Capesize bulk carrier New Katerina grounded in Suez Canal and blocked traffic | Maritime News
    http://www.newsmaritime.com/2016/capesize-bulk-carrier-new-katerina-grounded-in-suez-canal-and-blocked-

    Capesize bulk carrier New Katerina grounded in Suez Canal during passage in southern direction. The vessel lost steering gear and intentionally grounded to avoid collision or more serious accident. The grounding closed the traffic in both directions at the Canal. The bulk carrier New Katerina suffered hole in the fore part below the waterline and suffered water ingress. One of the ballast tanks is flooded and local authorities performed full survey before refloating the vessel. Fortunately during the accident there were no injured people and no water pollution.

    The local authorities started investigation for the root cause of the accident. The area around the vessel is monitored for oil leaks and salvage operation is under way. The traffic is blocked, but there is no big congestion yet.