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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Tehran's Ghost Fleet
2011-08-29
Claudia Rosett strikes again. Great investigative piece looking at how Iran, with China's canoodling, is getting around western sanctions. Long piece so just the first two paragraphs here, but of course you'll RTWT.
This June, a merchant ship flying the Hong Kong flag and sailing under the name of the Atlantic called at the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas—the southern end of a trade corridor to the U.S., advertised as "the fastest route to the heart of North America." That might be unremarkable, except the Atlantic, formerly called the Dreamland, and before that the Iran Saeidi, belongs to a curious network of 19 bulk carriers, all flagged out of Hong Kong and all blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury for their links to Iran.

According to a recent transcript of Hong Kong's Marine Department Shipping Register, the Atlantic is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company called Harvest Supreme Limited. Scratch the surface and Harvest Supreme tracks back to an Iranian address, as do 18 other obscure and interlinked Hong Kong ship-owning companies with names such as Grand Trinity Limited and Sparkle Brilliant Development Limited. These are the hallmarks of the global shell game with which Iran continues to dodge U.S. and United Nations sanctions.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  My bet is NOTHING they just port, unload and scram, we may scowl at them.

Because nothing can effectively be done.

The MV Atlantic is likely the sole asset of a shipping company specifically created to operate it. If things gets too hot, the ship gets 'sold', a new company created, the ship is renamed and a new registry obtained in another country. It can be done in less than a week in some places.

Or the ship disappears and re-appears with a quick paint job, a new name (or the name of a scrapped ship), and new flag. The Chinese (with Taiwanese vessels) and the West Africans were good at this. IIRC, the Russians also pulled this a few times.

Welcome to the murky world of merchant shipping.
Posted by: Pappy   2011-08-29 17:22  

#2  There's your carrier for the EMP strike at the US (and Canuckistan) from the Gulf of Mexico.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper   2011-08-29 13:54  

#1  So, do we refuse them Harbor? or what?

My bet is NOTHING they just port, unload and scram, we may scowl at them.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2011-08-29 10:23  

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