And is there a whole flotilla of ships with their AIS turned off or not corresponding to shipping logs?
ohhh I missed that. Where is that?
Soon we'll see them flying into skyscrapers.
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by Sweejak » Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:49 pm
And is there a whole flotilla of ships with their AIS turned off or not corresponding to shipping logs?
by Penguin » Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:12 pm
Mark Clark, of the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), said Dover Coastguard was unsuspecting of anything untoward as a supposed crew member radioed before the ship journeyed through the Channel.
He said: “It’s bizarre. There is no coastguard I know who can remember anything like this happening. Who would think that a hijacked ship could pass through one of the most policed and concentrated waters in the world?"
The MCA said it was informed a Portuguese coastal patrol aircraft spotted the vessel later but its current whereabouts remain unknown.
Mark Dickinson, general secretary of seafarers’ union Nautilus International, raised concerns about the authorities’ “relaxed approach” which he claimed had “led to the shipping industry being the Achilles heel of global security”.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has ordered all Russian navy ships in the Atlantic to search for the missing vessel, the country’s Itar-Tass news agency reported.
by Ben D » Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:12 pm
Russian warships are closing in on the missing cargo ship the Arctic Sea after it was spotted off the Cape Verde islands in west Africa by coastguards.
by Sweejak » Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:49 pm
Cmdr Chris Davies, the spokesman at Nato's British maritime headquarters, acknowledged that the Western military alliance had been monitoring the situation since the first reports of a possible hijacking.
The sighting off Cape Verde, a key staging post for cocaine trafficking from Latin America, will renew speculation that the vessel could been have been hijacked by drug or arms smugglers.
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, was in Cape Verde on Friday on the final leg of an 11-day tour of Africa.
by Fixx » Sat Aug 15, 2009 5:05 am
by Sweejak » Sat Aug 15, 2009 11:51 am
15 August, 2009, 14:14
The missing freighter “Arctic Sea” may have been found. According to the Russian Maritime Bulletin, the ship's GPS device briefly started working again at 8:30am GMT Saturday, showing the vessel is in the Bay of Biscay.
The journal also says there's no way to know for sure if the positioning device is even onboard the ship.
http://www.russiatoday.ru/Top_News/2009 ... earch.html
15 August, 2009, 18:20
French marines have rejected earlier reports that the vessel, with 15 Russian crew members on board, had been detected in the Bay of Biscay. They said the signal actually belonged to three Russian Black Sea warships that have been sent to look for the missing freighter.
According to the Russian Maritime Bulletin, the ship's Automatic Identification System (AIS) briefly started working again at 8:30am GMT Saturday, showing the vessel is in the Bay of Biscay. The journal also says there's no way to know for sure if the positioning device is even onboard the ship.
Mikhail Voitenko, chief editor of the Bulletin, cited marinetraffic.com, a source which lets you see vessel positions based on AIS data, on which the Arctic Sea appeared for a short time.
“I know, and I’ve been talking to specialists and technicians, it’s possible to fake the signal,” Voitenko said.
http://www.russiatoday.ru/Top_News/2009 ... -ship.html
by MinM » Sat Aug 15, 2009 6:28 pm
"It appears that we are now dealing with two separate incidents -- the alleged hijacking off the Swedish coast and now the alleged hijacking with a demand for ransom," Lonegard told CNN on Saturday.
"The incident in the Swedish waters appeared over when we spoke to the crew and shipping company on the 31st of July. So it appears the ship has been hijacked twice."
Police don't know the location of those demanding the ransom, she said...
by seemslikeadream » Sun Aug 16, 2009 1:26 am
by Sweejak » Sun Aug 16, 2009 4:04 pm
Jukka Laaksonen, head of the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, said firefighters conducted radiation tests on the ship — last reported off Cape Verde — at a port in Finland before it began a voyage full of intrigue.
But he dismissed as “stupid rumours” reports in British and Finnish newspapers that the ship could be carrying a “secret” nuclear cargo that could explain why it was attacked on the Baltic Sea before vanishing.
“Some fireman for some reason thought that there might be some radioactivity involved in this shipment and that was a very stupid idea. There was no basis for that,” Laaksonen told AFP.
by justdrew » Sun Aug 16, 2009 5:38 pm
compared2what? wrote:OFF-TOPIC: Sweejak, every time I see the title of this thread in the topic index, my mind reflexively begins singing "on the water, ver-ee free/and easy," and usually doesn't totally quiet down for good for two or three hours.
I just want you to know that I will never forgive you.
by Sweejak » Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:52 am
Missing ship found on African coast
17 August, 2009, 18:06
The cargo vessel the 'Arctic Sea', which had been missing for almost three weeks, has been found off the west coast of Africa.
Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov has informed President Dmitry Medvedev that the dry cargo ship “Arctic Sea” has been discovered “300 miles off the Cape Verde Islands”.
The minister said all the sailors are alive and safe. They were moved to a Russian anti-submarine warfare ship and are now answering questions “to clarify all the circumstances of the incident".
It’s already been established that they were not under armed control.
President Medvedev instructed the minister to monitor the situation closely and brief him on the outcome of the inquiry.
Details of the incident are likely to be provided by the end of the day, Serdyukov said.
The “Arctic Sea” cargo ship was sailing under a Maltese flag and had a Russian crew of 15. It was to arrive in Algeria on August 4, with a load of Finnish timber worth $2 million, but radio contact with the ship was lost on July 28 at the cost of Portugal.
There were reports that the vessel was assaulted by armed men near Sweden, just days before its disappearance.
Russian and NATO fleets and satellite took part in the operation to locate the “Arctic Sea”
by Sweejak » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:56 pm
An investigative journalist, Wayne Madsen, suggests that NATO Secretary General Rasmussen wants to bring Finland and Sweden into the organization, and the “Arctic Sea” scandal may be a way of achieving this.
“We have this jurisdictional battle now between the Finnish police and the Swedish police, and we have NATO getting involved,” Madsen says. “And maybe this is a way to embarrass these two nations because we are being told that they’ve dropped the ball.”
by Sweejak » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:59 pm
Hellenberg believes that the authorities of different countries know where the lost ship currently is, but are not announcing it because of various different reasons.
by smiths » Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:33 pm
Muddied waters: Russia finds 'piracy' cargo ship but what really happened?
The Arctic Sea was discovered 300 miles off the Cape Verde islands three weeks after it went missing, triggering speculation of a pirate attack. Photograph: EPA
Three weeks after it vanished at sea, the cargo ship Arctic Sea was found off the Cape Verde islands today with its Russian crew alive, well and "answering questions".
All 15 sailors were aboard a Russian anti-submarine warship , bringing to a conclusion one of the most intriguing maritime mysteries of modern times.
But, even as the Russian authorities announced the development, the few details to emerge left more questions than answers at the end of a saga which has inspired frenzied rumours of piracy, ransom demands, secret cargoes and arms smuggling – all worthy of a cold war thriller.
Russia's defence minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, informed the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, that the crew, when found, were not under armed control, and were now helping to "clarify" the circumstances of this most unusual incident.
Tass news agency quoted Serdyukov saying: "The Arctic Sea was discovered at 1am Moscow time today 300 miles off the Cape Verde islands.
"The crew have been moved to our anti-submarine warfare ship. They are answering questions … to clarify all circumstances of the incident. All crew members are alive and they are feeling well. They were not under armed control."
Viktor Matveyev, the director of the Finnish-owned vessel's operating company, Solchart, told the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper: "We are extremely pleased, we've been told everyone is alive and nobody was hurt … I can't say any more. I'm rushing to a meeting to organise getting the crew home, checking their health and providing any help. We still don't know what condition the ship is in".
The disappearance of the Arctic Sea, carrying a £1.1m cargo of timber, baffled experts as it eluded radars and satellites and vanished after passing through the English Channel on July 28. Just how a 4,000 tonne ship could drop off the charts in these days of space-age technology prompted allusions to the Bermuda triangle and the "ghost ship" Marie Celeste.
Further intrigue came with reports that the Malta Maritime Authority had received information that the Maltese-registered vessel had been boarded by up to a dozen armed men in masks as it sailed through the Baltic Sea, sparking concerns of piracy – almost unheard of in European waters.
The "raiders" reportedly bound, blindfolded and beat the crew before departing in an inflatable boat 12 hours later, it was said, leaving the ship's communications equipment damaged. The Arctic Sea had left Finland, bound for the Algerian port of Bejaia, on 23 July. It was known to have made contact with Dover coastguards on 28 July, but, at that point there had been no alert over the "attack" so there was no hunt for the ship.
Two days later it was spotted in the Bay of Biscay. Its automatic tracking system recorded its position at 1.30am. From then on, however, there was no further contact. The tracking system appeared either to have been switched off or to have stopped working from that day. It was due to make port in Algeria on 4 August. It now appears it changed direction, heading out into the western Atlantic.
The Kremlin had ordered warships and submarines to scour the Atlantic amid fears that the ship might have been the target of a second attack. Meanwhile, Nato was monitoring the situation, due to the unusual nature and location of the attacks, but was not directly involved .
Puzzling over speculation that the ship had fallen victim to pirates, a spokesman for the European commission, Martin Selmayr, said on Friday: "From information currently available it would seem that these acts, such as they have been reported, have nothing in common with 'traditional' acts of piracy or armed robbery at sea."
Then, French officials reported the same day that a ship "resembling" the Arctic Sea had been spotted off the Cape Verde islands, west of Senegal, though there was no immediate confirmation of this.
The plot took a further twist at the weekend with unsubstantiated reports that the ship's Finnish owners, who have denied its cargo is anything other than timber, had received a ransom note for a "large sum", reported to be almost £1m.
But there was never confirmation whether this was genuine.
Since it went missing, unsubstantiated suggestions have been made that the ship might have been hijacked because it was carrying a "secret" shipment, such as drugs or arms, unknown to its crew or owners.
Russia's Nato ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, gave no indication of how, or by whom, the ship had been seized, and how the Russian military had managed to get the crew aboard the Russian-guided missile frigate Ladny.
He told Interfax: "We can say now that the operation has been carried through successfully. It was done with brilliance."
So what happened?
Piracy: Was the ship attacked in the Baltic Sea?
Swedish police said the crew allegedly told their shipping company that up to 12 masked men, claiming to be Swedish anti-drugs police had boarded the vessel on July 24, one day after leaving Finland, tying up the crew before leaving in an inflatable boat after 12 hours.
Cargo: Was it carrying anything other than timber?
Not according to its owners. However, Mikhail Voitenko, editor of Russia's Sovfracht maritime bulletin, fuelled intense speculation by suggesting on the Russia Today news channel that its cargo might not be drugs or arms, "but something much more expensive and dangerous". He did not elaborate. "It seems some third party didn't want this transit to be fulfilled so they made this situation highly sophisticated and very complicated," he said. The operating company pointed out that the ship was checked by customs agents on leaving Kaliningrad, and in Finland. The Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority dismissed as "stupid" claims of a nuclear cargo. Officials did conduct radiation tests on the ship at a port in Finland, but the head of the authority said there was "no basis' for reports that a fireman had thought there might be some radioactivity involved.
Dispute: Were the Russian mafia involved?
The possibility that the Arctic Sea was involved in a commercial dispute, perhaps involving the Russian mafia, was widely rumoured. David Osler, who writes on Maritime Safety for Lloyd's List, told the BBC's Today programme: "It doesn't look like it's the sort of theft of a high-value ship or cargo. It looks like some sort of dispute between Russian interests".
by smiths » Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:41 pm
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