Saturday saw protestors claiming Nysted Maersk “central to the US arming of Israel”
Danish shipping group Maersk Denver has said today that the cargo of its ship docked in Lisbon is legal and not carrying any military weapons or ammunition.
“The cargo in question fully complies with national and international laws and regulations. The cargo to be transhipped does not include any weapons or military ammunition,” said the company in a statement sent to Lusa.
The Nysted Maersk docked in Lisbon yesterday after being prevented from docking in Spain.
It was met by a furious group, waving banners, and insisting that the ship has a history of transporting arms to Israel.
According to Fabian Figueiredo of Bloco de Esquerda, the Nysted Maersk “has been central to the American arming of Israel” through the current conflict in which so many Palestinian women and children have lost their lives. But none of this has been borne out by subsequent statements.
The government particularly was quick to stress that it has been assured the Nysted Maersk is not carrying weapons, armaments or explosives. En-route now for the United States it is apparently carrying three containers with airplane components (parts of wings).
According to its owning company, the cargo is being transported on behalf of the US as part of the US-Israel security cooperation programme.
Maersk stresses that it provided all the necessary information on the cargo “well in advance”, complying with established procedure, and has not received any expressions of concern from the authorities.
“[…] The port authorities did not use the opportunity to inspect the cargo, which remains available for inspection at any time,” adds the statement.
This latest brouhaha appears to stem from a denunciation made by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel, says Lusa, which reportedly claims the ship has made hundreds of illegal arms shipments to Israel in recent months via the Spanish port of Algeciras.
Source material: LUSA
