U.S. seeks ship to move arms to Israel
By Stefano Ambrogi - Reuters
Friday Jan 9, 2009
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE50875320090109
LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to
deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month,
tender documents seen by Reuters show.
The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) said the ship was to
carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as
"ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of
Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January.
A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions
explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given.
"Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot,"
one broker said, on condition of anonymity.
"This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of
it quoted in the market over the years," he added.
The U.S. Defense Department, contacted by Reuters on Friday in
Washington, had no immediate comment.
The MSC transports amour and military supplies for the U.S. armed forces
aboard its own fleet, but regularly hires merchant ships if logistics so
require.
The request for the ship was made on December 31, with the first leg of
the charter to arrive no later than January 25 and the second at the end of
the month.
The tender for the vessel follows the hiring of a commercial ship to
carry a much larger consignment of ordnance in December from the United
States to Israel ahead of air strikes in the Gaza Strip.
A German shipping firm which won that tender confirmed the order when
contacted by Reuters but declined to comment further.
CHARTERS "RARE"
Shipping brokers in London who have specialized in moving arms for the
British and U.S. military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were
rare.
Israel is one of America's closest allies and both nations regularly
sell arms to each other.
A senior military analyst in London who declined to be named said that,
because of the timing, the shipments could be "irregular" and
linked to the Gaza offensive.
The ship hired by the MSC in December was for a much larger cargo of
arms, tender documents showed.
That stipulated a ship to be chartered for 42 days capable of carrying
989 standard 20-foot containers from Sunny Point, North Carolina to Ashdod.
The tender document said the vessel had to be capable of "carrying
5.8 million pounds (2.6 million kg) of net explosive weight," which
specialist brokers said was a very large quantity.
The ship was requested early last month to load on December 15.
In September, the U.S. Congress approved the sale of 1,000 bunker-buster
missiles to Israel. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most
accurate bombs in the world.
The Jerusalem Post, citing defense officials, reported last week that a
first shipment of the missiles had arrived in early December and they were
used in penetrating Hamas's underground rocket launcher sites.
(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; editing by Michael Roddy)
U.S. says arms shipment to Israel not
linked to Gaza
By Stefano Ambrogi - Reuters
Friday, January 9, 2009
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE50874B20090110
LONDON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has sought to hire a merchant ship
to deliver ammunition to Israel this month, tender documents show, but the
Pentagon said the shipment was not linked to the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
A Pentagon spokesman said the ammunition was for a U.S. stockpile in
Israel. The U.S. military pre-positions stockpiles in some countries in case
it needs supplies at short notice.
In the tender documents, the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC)
said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed
as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of
Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January.
Air Force Lt. Col. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said he would
not comment on shipping routes for security reasons but confirmed a shipment
of ammunition to Israel was planned.
"The delivery of ammunition is to a pre-positioned U.S. munitions
stockpile in Israel in accordance with a congressionally authorized 1990
agreement between the U.S. and Israel," Ryder said.
"This previously scheduled shipment is routine and not in support
of the current situation in Gaza."
The shipment originated in the United States, Ryder said. He provided no
further details on the intended cargo.
A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions
explosive substances and detonators but gives no other details.
The request for the ship was made on December 31, with the first leg of
the charter to arrive no later than January 25 and the second at the end of
the month.
The tender for the vessel follows the hiring of a commercial ship to
carry a much larger consignment of ordnance in December.
A German shipping firm which won that tender confirmed the order when
contacted by Reuters but declined to comment further.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Gray in Washington)