Two vessels on their way to New Zealand

Two bulk vessels filled with phosphates from occupied Western Sahara are within the next weeks arriving New Zealand.

Published 25 October 2008

One of the vessels -Tenshu Maru (IMO number 9317080) - is destined for the fertiliser producer Ballance Agri-Nutrients. Tenshu Maru is apparently managed by the Philippino shipping company Astro Shipmanagement from Ceby City.

The other, Alam Sempurna (IMO number 8312071), is for the importer Ravensdown, and is managed/owned by Malaysian company Pacific Carriers. 

Tenshu Maru is estimated to arrive Northport (Marsden Point), berth MP1, on 31st of October, to discharge phosphates rock. Estimated to continue on the 1st of November.
Then she arrives Tauranga on the 1st of November, continuing towards Timaru Point on the 3rd, where she will arrive on the 5th, before continuing southwards on the 6th. She will reach her last port, Southport (Bluff) on 7th of November, before finishing the discharging on the 8th. 

The vessel Alam Sempurna is estimated to arrive Port of Napier on the 9th of November, before continuing towards Lyttleton on the 11th. According to the Napier arrival information, she is supposed to come from "Laayoune, Morocco". New Zealand and the rest of the international community do not consider Laayoune - or El Aaiun - as it is correctly spelled, to be within Morocco.

After Napier, Alam Sempurna will reach port of Lyttleton on the 12th of November 2008.

The phosphate is shipped out of Western Sahara in the disregard of the wishes and interests of the Sahrawi people. Morocco is earning billions of dollars a year from the phosphate industry in the country that they occupied in 1975. Such trade is in violation of a legal opinion by the UN from 2002. Three shipping companies have over the last year announced they will not longer ship such phophates, out of ethical concerns.
 

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