Following the 2023 Yom Kippur attack by Hamas on Southern Israel on Saturday 7th October , 2 controversial Product Tankers OVERSEAS SANTORINI and OVERSEAS SUN COAST are in the Breaking News Developments.
OVERSEAS SANTORINI cargo is US 300,000 barrels of military grade JP-8 aviation fuel destined for the Israeli Air Force (IAF), enough for 12,000 complete refuelling’s of F-16 aircraft mainly the F-16I nicknamed as SUFA or STORM in Hebrew by the IAF and F 35.
Protests in Spain led by trade unionists and political activists already resulted in the owners of the tanker abandoning plans to dock in the Spanish port of Algeciras.
The call to block the shipment came from a large coalition of groups, including the Progressive International, Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, Disrupt Power, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Valero Out of Corpus, the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, BDS and Gibraltar for Palestine. They are operating under the banner “No Harbour for Genocide”.
Meanwhile she headed to Gibraltar waters on Tuesday 30th July, 2024 However, the Gibraltar Government insisted it had never received a formal request to dock.
Several Law Enforcement vessels shadowed her including the Spanish Navy (Armada Espanola) ESPS VICTORIA F 82 and Royal Gibraltar Police launch SIR JOSHUA HASSAN
On Thursday 1st August her AIS transponder has been turned off, so as to prevent it’s tracking for obvious reasons with her destination as Mediterranean Sea.
Built in South Korea by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Ltd she left a refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas last 15th July bound to the port of Ashkelon in Israel.
On Friday 2nd August the Left Wing Maltese Organisation MOVIMENT GRAFFITI has urgently appealed to the Maltese government to block the tanker OVERSEAS SANTORINI carrying military jet fuel to Israel, to prevent further violence against Palestinians and uphold international law.
These shipments are carried by the tankers OVERSEAS SANTORINI and OVERSEAS SUN COAST every 2 months. For years, these ships have docked at the port of Algeciras, Spain, also calling at Limassol, Cyprus, before arriving at the final destination – Ashkelon, Israel.
Moviment Graffitti argues that states have a legal obligation to cooperate in ending such illegalities and to prevent genocide by all available measures.
Further, the letter references an April 2024 UN Human Rights Council resolution expressing deep concern over the transfer of jet fuel to Israel, stating that such transfers violate international law.
The Arms Trade Treaty also obliges states to prevent the transfer of arms, including military fuel, if there is a risk they could be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, or other serious breaches of international humanitarian law.
On Saturday 3rd August Transport Minister Chris Bonett confirmed that no such request had been made in response to the above on Saturday Evening.
On Wednesday 7th August a resisting group at Cyprus announced that a Protest will be held on Friday 9th at 1800 hrs in order to prevent any kind of services to OVERSEAS SANTORINI at the Port of Limassol.
Then she anchored at OPL Piraeus, Greece on Sunday 11th, heaving up anchors on Monday 19th August heading to West Mediterranean.
On Monday 26th August she was spotted in the Atlantic Ocean heading to US Gulf waters.
OVERSEAS SUN COAST
Meanwhile the 2019 built Panamax(LR 1) tanker OVERSEAS SUNCOAST which was built also in South Korea by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Ltd entered Lavera, France on Sunday 4th August at 0714 UTC.
She left port on Wednesday 7th August at 1059 hrs UTC and on Friday 9th August she was spotted off Sicily underway –
On Sunday 11th August she anchored at Corinth Canal East Anchorage –
In the afternoon of Tuesday 20th she entered Livorno Port, Italy after she spent over 2 days anchored OPL.
Though after leaving Livorno , she stated that she was heading to Taranto, Italy passing through Messina Straits with ETA for Saturday 24th August, her AIS signal was funny showing that she was in Taranto true but on map it was showing a different image – Berthed at Yaquina River, near Newport, USA –
According to vessel traffic system (vts) she left Taranto on Sunday 25th August at 0107 hrs.
On Monday 2nd September she was spotted anchored OPL Milazzo, Italy with her eta to the Atlantic Sea on Thursday 5th September.
On Saturday 9th September she was spotted underway heading to Antwerp, Belgium –
