MV Rhosus explained

MV Rhosus was a general cargo ship that was abandoned in Beirut, Lebanon, after the ship was declared unseaworthy and the charterers lost interest in the cargo. The 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate which the ship was carrying was confiscated and brought to shore in 2014, and later contributed to the catastrophic 2020 Beirut explosion. The vessel's owner at the time of abandonment was Cyprus-based Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin. The ship sank in the Port of Beirut in 2018.

Description

Rhosus was a single-deck general cargo ship with a length of 86.6m (284.1feet), beam of 12m (39feet), and draught of . The ship's gross tonnage was 1,900; net tonnage 964; and deadweight tonnage 3,226tonnes, and it had two cargo holds with a grain capacity of 4136m2 and bale capacity of 3837m2. The ship was normally run by around nine or ten crew members. Rhosuss single main diesel engine, a 4-stroke 6LU32G unit manufactured by Hanshin Diesel Works, was rated at, drove a single fixed pitch propeller, and gave the vessel a service speed of .

History

The ship was built by Tokuoka Zosen K.K. in Naruto, Japan, as the grab suction dredger Daifuku Maru No. 8 for the Japanese shipping company Daifuku Kaiun KK and delivered in October 1986.[1] In 2002, the ship was sold to another Japanese shipping company, Nishi Nippon Kaiyo, but was reportedly sold already in March of the same year to a South Korean owner and renamed Seokjung No. 505.

In March 2005, the ship was sold to Hong Kong Zheng Long Shipping Co Ltd, renamed Zheng Long and registered briefly under the Belizean flag. In June of the same year, the ownership changed to another Hong Kong-based shipping company, Rui Hua (HK) Shipping Co Ltd, and the vessel was reflagged to Panama. In June 2007, the ship was sold to a Panamanian-registered company, Sea Star International Shipping Group Inc, and renamed New Legend Glory.

The ship's most recent reported registered owner, Panamanian-registered Briarwood Corp, acquired the vessel in August 2008 and renamed it Rhosus. After lengthening the hull from 53m (174feet) to 86.6m (284.1feet) and converting the ship to a general cargo vessel,[1] Rhosus was reflagged first to Georgia in 2009 and later to Moldova in 2012. By 2012, the vessel was effectively owned by Cypriot businessman Charalambos Manoli, who sold it that year to Khabarovsk-born Russian businessman Igor Grechushkin, who was reported to be living in Limassol, Cyprus, in 2020.[2] [3] This was Grechushkin's first foray into running his own ship.[4]

On, Rhosus was detained at the Port of Seville by Spanish port state control authorities due to a number of deficiencies.[5]

Abandonment

In September 2013, the freighter was chartered to carry a cargo of high-density ammonium nitrate from Georgian fertilizer maker, Rustavi Azot LLC, in Georgia to be delivered to Fábrica de Explosivos Moçambique (FEM) in Matola, Mozambique. On, Rhosus set sail from Batumi bound to Beira carrying 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in bags,[6] [7] [8] a cargo which the captain regarded as "dangerous", but not so dangerous that it could not be transported.[9] On, the ship ported in Beirut.[10] Some sources stated that it was forced to port due to mechanical issues and possibly engine problems,[11] while other sources said that the owner did not have sufficient funds to pay tolls for the Suez Canal and attempted but failed to take on a shipment of heavy machinery from Beirut to Aqaba, Jordan.[12] [13] The heavy machinery was stacked over the hatch leading to the cargo space containing the ammonium nitrate, causing the hatch covers to buckle and damaging the ship.[14] [15] After inspection by port state control, Rhosus was found unseaworthy, and it was forbidden to set sail. Eight Ukrainians and one Russian were aboard, and with the help of a Ukrainian consul, five Ukrainians were repatriated, leaving the Russian captain and three Ukrainian crew members—the chief engineer, the third engineer, and the boatswain—to take care of the ship.[16]

The owner of Rhosus, Igor Grechushkin, claimed to have become bankrupt and, after the charterers lost interest in the cargo, he abandoned the ship.[17] [18] Rhosus then quickly ran out of provisions, while the crew were unable to disembark due to immigration restrictions. The captain sold some fuel in the ship in order to pay for lawyers to free them from their confinement on the ship.[14] Creditors also obtained three warrants to arrest the ship. According to Lloyd's List, the Beirut port authority seized the ship on 4 February 2014, due to US$100,000 in unpaid bills.[4] The ship had accrued port fees and been fined for refusing cargo.[14] Lawyers argued for the crew's repatriation on compassionate grounds, due to the danger posed by the cargo still aboard the ship, and an Urgent Matters judge in Beirut allowed them to return home after having been stuck aboard the ship for about a year. The dangerous cargo was then brought ashore in 2014 and placed in a building, Hangar 12, at the port, pursuant to a court order, until it exploded, with catastrophic consequences, on .[19] [20] [21] [22]

Fate

In a 2020 interview, the former master of Rhosus stated that there was a small hole in the hull and, with no crew on board to periodically pump the sea water out, the vessel sank "two or three years ago" after the cargo had been unloaded.[23] Euronews reported that the records of Lloyd's List showed that Rhosus was seized in February 2014, and that it sank without a crew in the breakwaters of the Port of Beirut in February 2018. The New York Times confirmed via multispectral satellite imagery that the ship sank between and alongside a Beirut pier.[24] Subsequent analysis shows the ship to still lie there.

Since 2018, Rhosuss flag has been reported as "unknown" in official databases and the vessel's status was updated to "total loss" in August 2020.[25]

Investigation

A thorough investigation by Der Spiegel and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) into the 2020 Beirut explosion concluded that:[26] [27]

In October 2020, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that the country's state prosecution had asked Interpol to detain two Russian citizens, the captain and the owner of Rhosus, as its cargo of ammonium nitrate was blamed for the explosion.[28]

References

33.9059°N 35.5186°W

Notes and References

  1. Book: Register of Ships 2000-01: Vol. A-G . 2000 . Lloyd's Register of Shipping . London . 1-900839-71-7 . 1123.
  2. Web site: Moldova-Flagged Ship Suspected of Carrying Beirut Blast Chemicals . Balkan Insight . Necșuțu . Mădălin . 5 August 2020 . 7 August 2020.
  3. Web site: Înterprindera Cu Capital Străin Geoship Company S.R.L. . IDNO.MD . 7 April 2020 .
  4. News: Beirut blast: The Inferno and the Mystery Ship. BBC . 8 August 2020. live. 9 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200809144104/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/extra/x2iutcqf1g/beirut-blast. 9 August 2020.
  5. Web site: Julio 2013 | Ministerio de Transportes, Movilidad y Agenda Urbana. www.mitma.gob.es.
  6. m/v Rhosus – Arrest and Personal Freedom of the Crew . October 2015 . 11 . The Arrest News . 5 August 2020 . Charbel . Dagher . Christine . Maksoud . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20200805004609/https://shiparrested.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/The-Arrest-News-11th-issue.pdf . 5 August 2020.
  7. Web site: Beirut explosion: How ship's deadly cargo ended up at port . BBC News . 6 August 2020 . 7 August 2020 .
  8. Web site: How did 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate make it to the Port of Beirut? . Holroyd . Matthew . Davis . Seana . amp . euronews.com . 6 August 2020 . 7 August 2020 .
  9. Web site: Beirut explosion: Anger grows and protests break out. BBC News. 7 August 2020 .
  10. Web site: Crew kept hostages on a floating bomb – m/v Rhosus, Beirut . Voytenko . M. . fleetmon . 4 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200804213142/https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2014/4194/crew-kept-hostages-floating-bomb-mv-rhosus-beirut/ . 4 August 2020.
  11. News: Jørgensen. Lars Bach. 5 August 2020. Ekspert forklarer, hvad der sandsynligvis skete i Beirut. da. Expert explains what probably happened in Beirut. TV 2. 5 August 2020. The large amount of potentially dangerous fertilizer has been there since 2014, when the Moldavian ship Rhosus had to port due to engine problems..
  12. News: https://archive.today/20200807023640/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/captain-astonished-that-his-ship-delivered-beirut-explosive/2020/08/06/2ad8f824-d825-11ea-a788-2ce86ce81129_story.html . 7 August 2020 . Captain astonished that his ship delivered Beirut explosive . live . The Washington Post . Litvinova . Daria . 6 August 2020 . 7 August 2020.
  13. News: S . 2020-08-06 . De waarschuwingen in Beiroet waren er, maar de gedoemde lading bleef liggen . Warnings in Beirut were there, but the doomed shipment was left in storage . NL . NOS . 2020-08-06.
  14. News: Captain Boris Prokoshev on Why Rhosus was in Beirut. BBC. live. 7 August 2020. 9 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200809154306/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-53701648/beirut-explosion-captain-boris-prokoshev-on-why-rhosus-was-in-beirut. 9 August 2020.
  15. News: Vasilyeva . Maria . Beirut's accidental cargo: how an unscheduled port visit led to disaster . 7 August 2020 . . 6 August 2020.
  16. Web site: На грани выживания в порту Бейрут - Российский профессиональный союз моряков. www.sur.ru.
  17. News: Substanța care a provocat explozia din Beirut a fost adusă de nava unui rus sub pavilionul R. Moldova. Stela. Untila. NewsMaker. 5 August 2020. 5 August 2020. ro. 5 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805205705/https://newsmaker.md/ro/presa-substanta-care-a-provocat-explozia-din-beirut-a-fost-adusa-de-nava-unui-rus-sub-pavilionul-r-moldova. live.
  18. News: Urbina. Ian. 9 August 2020. Murky world of international shipping behind explosion in Beirut. The Irish Times. 30 October 2020.
    • Web site: Voytenko . Mikhail . Crew kept hostages on a floating bomb – m/v Rhosus, Beirut . fleetmon . 23 July 2014 . 4 August 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200804213142/https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2014/4194/crew-kept-hostages-floating-bomb-mv-rhosus-beirut/ . 4 August 2020 . live.
    • Web site: Rhosus . Fleetmon [vessel tracker database] . 4 August 2020.
  20. News: Beirut blast: Tracing the explosives that tore the capital apart. Timour. Azhari. Al Jazeera. 5 August 2020. 5 August 2020. 5 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805205657/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/officials-knew-danger-beirut-port-years-200805032416684.html. live.
  21. News: Toll expected to rise in blast that shook Beirut, killing 78 and injuring thousands. 5 August 2020. 5 August 2020. Reuters. Nakhoul. Samia. Francis. Ellen. 5 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805092034/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lebanon-security-blast/toll-expected-to-rise-in-blast-that-shook-beirut-killing-78-and-injuring-thousands-idUSKCN25107B. live.
  22. News: Al Jazeera English. Lebanon eyes state of emergency after deadly Beirut blast: Live. 5 August 2020. 5 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200805082935/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/lebanon-eyes-state-emergency-deadly-beirut-blast-live-200804234925493.html. 5 August 2020. live.
  23. Web site: "Я каждый месяц писал Путину!" Интервью с капитаном судна, груз которого взорвался в Бейруте. ru. RFE/RL. Сибирь.Реалии. 5 August 2020. 6 August 2020.
  24. News: The New York Times. 7 August 2020. Ship Cited in Beirut Blast Hasn't Sailed in 7 Years. We Found It.. Christoph Koettl.
  25. Web site: RHOSUS (General Cargo). 2020-08-06. www.marinetraffic.com.
  26. Web site: Questions Swirl around the Cargo that Destroyed Beirut . Der Spiegel . 21 August 2020 .
  27. Web site: A Hidden Tycoon, African Explosives, and a Loan from a Notorious Bank: Questionable Connections Surround Beirut Explosion Shipment . OCCRP . 21 August 2020 .
  28. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-10-01/lebanon-asks-interpol-to-arrest-russian-ship-captain-owner-over-port-explosion Lebanon Asks Interpol to Arrest Russian Ship Captain, Owner Over Port Explosion

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