Panama Papers in Brest
The Captain Tsarev has been rusting for 7 and a half years in basin n°5 of the commercial port of Brest. Built in 1982 in Lübeck (Germany), 153.60m in length, the ship suffered an engine failure and was towed to the Brittany port in November 2008. She never left. The crew has not been paid, 15 of the 24 Russian and Ukranian crew members disembarked in February 2009, the others remained on board until September 2009. The Captain Tsarev has been visited, pillaged, squatted, and suffered a fire in September 2014. The Russian ship-owner based in Piraeus (Greece) no longer gives any sign of life. The vessel is a dump. She contains 4 to 500 t of extinguishing water following the fire, asbestos and 5 to 600 t of fuel. She flies the Panama flag.
Panama Papers in Brest
The Captain Tsarev has been rusting for 7 and a half years in basin n°5 of the commercial port of Brest. Built in 1982 in Lübeck (Germany), 153.60m in length, the ship suffered an engine failure and was towed to the Brittany port in November 2008. She never left. The crew has not been paid, 15 of the 24 Russian and Ukranian crew members disembarked in February 2009, the others remained on board until September 2009. The Captain Tsarev has been visited, pillaged, squatted, and suffered a fire in September 2014. The Russian ship-owner based in Piraeus (Greece) no longer gives any sign of life. The vessel is a dump. She contains 4 to 500 t of extinguishing water following the fire, asbestos and 5 to 600 t of fuel. She flies the Panama flag.
Good news from Libya
Customs officers have just seized a total of 1,700 Kleinmann’s tortoises (Testudo kleinmanni) in a minibus and a heavy truck. These were the first 2 seizures observed in Libya since the July 2013 publication of “On the trail” n°1, the bulletin of Robin des Bois dedicated to poaching and smuggling endangered animal species.
They prove that despite the political and social chaos, wildlife is not completely left to the devices of traffickers and militia. The 2 vehicles were heading to Egypt. The first reports show that the 200 tortoises in the minibus were collected in the desert to the south of Tripoli. The 1,500 tortoises found in 18 bags inside the truck were collected in an area south of Benghazi.
Kalliopi RC, a mechanical refugee at Le Havre
Kalliopi RC, ex Hoechst Express, is the fourth in the series of 8 Samsung 4600 container ships. They were built between 1991-1994 for the German shipping company Hapag-Lloyd. At that time, with a length of 294m, they seemed gigantic. In March 2015, Hapag-Lloyd, the 6th biggest container shipping line gets rid of its oldest units. Two Samsung 4600 are immediately sent to China to be demolished. The six surviving sisterships got some extra time. The Stuttgart Express is still sailing as MSC Roberta. The other five were bought by the German ship-owner König & Cie Gmbh & Co Kg.
