Revealed: The ships carrying fuel and arms to Israel
Revealed: The ships carrying fuel and arms to Israel
A list of 36 ships that have consistently supplied arms and fuel to Israel during its genocide in Gaza has been revealed by a coalition of activist groups.
The blocklist, announced on Thursday by the No Harbour for Genocide campaign, is designed to support a “people’s embargo” of ships and companies facilitating the genocide.
Seen first by Middle East Eye, the blocklist includes Maersk container ships that have been transporting military supplies and exports for Israeli settlements across the Atlantic as part of a US maritime programme.
A fleet of vessels operated by the Danish shipping giant has been sailing under US and Hong Kong flags, as part of the United States Maritime Administration (Marad) programme.
The US Department of Transportation describes Marad’s mission as being to “foster, promote and develop the maritime industry of the United States to meet the nation’s economic and security needs”.
In June, Maersk said it was divesting from companies linked to illegal Israel settlements in the occupied West Bank.
No Harbour for Genocide, which is run by Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, Progressive International and the BDS National Committee, intends the blocklist to be a public, evidence-based dataset.
The blocklist names vessels, gives identification (IMO) numbers, the companies operating the ships and the flags under which they sail. It also links to real-time tracking platforms that show the user the current location of the “genocide carriers”.
'Israel’s genocide in Gaza runs on weapons, fuel, and energy - shipped in by sea every single day'
- No Harbour for Genocide
"There is a supply chain to genocide, to apartheid, to illegal occupation," said a spokesperson for Global Energy Embargo for Palestine.
"Whether it is energy, military equipment or dual-use items - these materials are exported and imported via maritime trade routes on vessels that are complicit in Israel's genocide on Gaza and illegal occupation of Palestine."
No Harbour for Genocide said the blocklist, which can be downloaded from its website, was the “result of months of in-depth research and monitoring of vessels that exhibit a consistent pattern of involvement in supplying Israel’s genocide, apartheid, and illegal occupation of Palestine”.
Fuel from Texas to Israel
Other than the Maersk vessels involved in the Marad programme, No Harbour for Genocide has identified other container ships operated by the Danish giant servicing Mediterranean supply lines, including the Maersk Norfolk and the Nexoe Maersk.
Overseas Santorini and Overseas Sun Coast, two US-flagged oil tankers identified as supplying jet fuel and petrochemicals critical to Israeli military operations, are also on the list.
The tankers are managed by the US-based Overseas Shipholding Group.
On a single trip, the Overseas Santorini carries an estimated 300,000 barrels of military fuel, loaded from the Bill Greehey oil refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, to the port of Ashkelon in Israel.
The jet fuel is used by the Israeli Air Force’s F16 and F35 fighter aircraft, which have been bombing Gaza.
Since 2014, the Overseas Santorini and the Overseas Sun Coast have made regular journeys to Israel, supplying the country’s military with jet fuel from Valero Energy, as part of a US government contract with Israel.
The JP-8 fuel is usually taken along a maritime route that includes stops in the Bahamas, Algeciras in southern Spain and Limassol, Cyprus.
No Harbour for Genocide launched a campaign to block the Overseas Santorini last year.
'Murderous cargo'
General cargo ships supplying military equipment as part of the Marad programme include the US-flagged freighters Sagamore, Ocean Freedom, Ocean Giant and Ocean Grand, which are operating along US- and Nato-linked routes.
Smaller European-managed vessels such as Danica Violet, Danica Sunrise (Denmark), and HC Opal/BHG Fortune (Liberia), are also carrying military equipment to Israel but are not part of the Marad programme.
Ships operating from Greece and the UK have also been delivering coal shipments to Israel, while oil tankers – also mainly Greek operated – have been delivering crude oil to Israel.
In July, Greek dock workers at the port of Piraeus said they would refuse to unload the Ever Golden, a container ship carrying military-grade steel to Israel, when it arrived in Greece.
“We will not unload a single inch of this murderous cargo,” Enedep, the union of dock workers at Athens’ port city, said at the time.
Similar acts of resistance have taken place at ports across Europe, including in Marseille and Genoa. Italian dock workers have said that they do not want to be “complicit in the genocide that continues in Gaza”.
Earlier this week, a union dock worker in Genoa threatened to “shut down all of Europe” and block all shipments to Israel if communication with the latest aid flotilla bound for Gaza was lost.
“Israel’s genocide in Gaza runs on weapons, fuel, and energy – shipped in by sea every single day,” said a spokesperson for No Harbour for Genocide.
“We began by blocking one tanker, the Overseas Santorini. Now we are building a coordinated strategy to stop the entire genocide fleet. The blocklist is a live tool – giving unions, legal teams, and activists the means to enforce a people’s embargo. No fuel. No arms. No harbour for genocide.”
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