Greek-owned ship hit in the Black Sea – The condition of the sailors

An attack on a ship flying the Greek flag occurred off Novorossiysk in the Black Sea, as announced by the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Vasilis Kikilias, speaking to ERTnews.

The minister noted that such attacks have been observed in the area in recent months. As he said, the ship sustained some material damage; it had departed from Thessaloniki without cargo and was scheduled to transport oil. “It remains to be seen whether it was hit by a drone or a small missile. We will do whatever is necessary to safeguard our fleet,” he added.

“Earlier this morning we had a strike on a ship flying the Greek flag off Novorossiysk in the Black Sea – a tanker with 24 sailors on board, 10 of them Greek. They are all in good health. The vessel was chartered by Chevron.

It is estimated that this strike occurred as part of the pressure being exerted by countries in the region and may also be related to decisions allowing the partial transport of Russian oil for one month. I have informed the Prime Minister and also briefed the Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

He continued: “Where we believe there is an issue or a problem, we will protest strongly and make all the necessary moves at the level of the European Council and wherever else required, because I consider the targeting of ships flying the Greek flag -and Greek crews on vessels that are lawfully leased or chartered- to be unacceptable and very dangerous.

Greek sailors and the shipping sector are simply trying to do their job. In principle they should remain outside any political interests or, certainly, outside military conflict,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Shipping, the vessel involved is the tanker MARAN HOMER (N.P. 12502), which had departed from the port of Thessaloniki bound for Novorossiysk and at the time of the incident was empty of cargo. The ship was chartered by Chevron.

Statement from the managing company

Maran Tankers Management Inc., the managing company of the Greek-flagged tanker MARAN HOMER (IMO No. 9761372), stated that today, March 14, at approximately 04:35 local time (01:35 GMT), while the vessel was sailing outside Russian territorial waters awaiting instructions to enter the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) Terminal in Novorossiysk, Russia — where it was due to load a cargo of Kazakh crude oil — it was struck by an unknown object.

There were no injuries and the crew is safe. Only minor material damage was recorded on the deck and deck equipment of the vessel. The tanker was empty and there was no environmental pollution. The ship has already departed from Novorossiysk.