Cairo: The standoff between Libya and tankers calling at the North African country continues with more threats for ships with plans to load oil there. The Trident Hope (105,595 dwt, built 2003) is bound for Ras Lanuf, Libya’s third largest port, but authorities there have said the ship, owned by Greece’s Zahara Shipping, will be impounded if it enters Libyan waters.
Libya’s five-year civil war sees two competing governments in the east and the west arguing whether shipments from Ras Lanuf are permitted. The National Oil Corp in Tripoli in west Libya, where there’s an Islamist-backed regime, said July 2 it had lifted the force majeure at the port, something that is disputed by the rival faction in the east.
Other ships calling Libya in recent months have been met by airstrikes with seafarers killed.
