The Bergen-based shipping company Champion Tankers chose to send its ship through the Red Sea and out into the Gulf of Aden after setting sail from Saudi Arabia on the night of Friday, writes Dagens Næringsliv on Monday.
At the weekend, the ship passed the narrow Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, in Arabic “Gate of Tears”, which separates Yemen from Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia, and which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
The voyage takes place despite the fact that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate and the Norwegian Shipping Association have over time warned Norwegian ships against entering the area, due to repeated attacks by the Houthi militia in Yemen.
“Norwegian authorities strongly advise against all Norwegian-flagged ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, Bab el Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden, if possible, at the present time,” says a message from the directorate.
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– Considers the route safe
The shipping company’s chairman, Karl Lødrup Kvalheim, comments on the choice to defy the advice to BA.
– We consider the route to be safe, writes Kvalheim in an email.
He elaborates on his position and explains the shipping company’s assessment as follows:
– The route through the Red Sea has been discussed for a long time. It has been shown that the Houthis have targeted tonnage that has some link to Israel or that the ship has been in a port in Israel, or has some financial connection to the USA or the UK. We do not have links to any of the points above, he writes.
The trip did not present any challenges, according to the billionaire from Nesttun. Kvalheim also says that the crew has been offered to switch to another ship, in case someone should have objections to being on board through the Red Sea.
– There was no theme and everyone stayed on board, writes Kvalheim.
Shipping from Russia
Bergensrederiet, which sails under the Norwegian flag, has previously been heavily criticized for transporting cooking oil from Russia.
In an NRK case from 2023, Ukraine’s then ambassador to Norway, Liliia Honcharevych, called the shipping company’s operations unethical.
– Unfortunately, it is not illegal to transport this type of cargo. But when Russia blocks Ukrainian ports and withdraws from the grain agreement, the operations of this shipping company from the NATO country Norway are unethical. This fuels what Russia is doing in Ukraine. It helps Putin kill Ukrainians, the state channel quoted her as saying.
According to DN, the ship was recently in the Russian port city of Taman in the Black Sea.
