21 tons of ammunition container shipped to Israel? ! Dockers: Not allowed!
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Dozens of dockworkers managed to stop a container full of ammunition scheduled to be shipped to Israel from boarding a ship.
On October 18, local time, officials from the Greek Coast Guard and the dockworkers union said that dozens of dockworkers at the Port of Piraeus successfully prevented a container full of ammunition from boarding the ship. The ammunition was originally planned to be shipped to Israel..
An unnamed union member told Reuters that the container arrived at the Greek port of Piraeus on Thursday with 21 tons of ammunition inside.
The cargo arrived by truck from North Macedonia and was scheduled to be loaded onto a Marshall Islands-flagged ship bound for the Israeli port of Haifa. But the nature of the cargo has not been verified by Greek media.
It is understood that before this incident, the dockworkers union had called on workers to protest and block the shipment of weapons and ammunition that would be used in the Gaza war.
They wrote in a statement posted on Facebook: "Now is the time to speak out and we will not allow the port of Piraeus to become a springboard for war. We fight for peace and will not allow Greece to participate in the war!"
Photos uploaded later on the same Facebook page showed people holding flares and a slogan spray-painted on the truck that read: "Murderers, get out of the port."
The truck carrying the cargo remains at the port and port authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.
A Greek coast guard official said an arrest warrant had been issued for a union leader; another official said the container held a valid transit permit.
The Kathrin, a small cargo ship registered in Portugal, is under investigation by a human rights organization for allegedly transporting "explosives" to Israel. Crews are scrambling to find ports with essential services after cargo ships were refused docking in Namibia, the Balkans and now Malta.
At the group's urging, Kathrin was denied entry, causing her to sail to Slovenia and Croatia. However, the ship eventually sailed west toward the Mediterranean.
The German-managed vessel, a double-decker heavy-lift vessel capable of transporting approximately 400 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), has been en route since loading at Vietnam's Hai Phong port in late July. The MV Kathrin was allegedly carrying eight containers of RDX Hexogen explosives and had been "targeted" since August.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, reiterated those claims, saying the material could be used in attacks on Gaza. However, there is currently no information on how the shipment will arrive in Israel.
Malta joins other countries in denying docking rights to ships. A government spokesman confirmed that the Kathrin's requests for crew changes and refueling services had been rejected. After the failed docking, the MV Kathrin is said to have changed its automatic identification system signal "by order" as it left the Adriatic Sea.
The ship arrived at its anchorage in Malta on October 7 but still has no clear next destination amid mounting pressure.
According to various sources, the Kathrin is transporting hazardous items that may be used in military operations in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
