MU DU BONG

scrapped

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sold to Breakers

sold to Mexican Breakers

North Korean shipowner hits out at sanctions

The owner of the North Korean ship Mu Du Bong has hit out at plans by Mexican authorities to scrap it. This ship ran aground in Mexico in mid-2014, and was impounded seven months later. The ship’s ownership company was sanctioned by the UN due to an earlier weapon smuggling case in Cuba. “We solemnly declare that we will certainly have all spiritual and material losses and damages inflicted upon us by unreasonable US-manipulated UN ‘resolutions’ paid and have the right to claim indemnity generation after generation,” a statement by the management company stated via North Korea’s official newswire. The manager claimed the ship was carrying out legitimate business and that its seafarers were not employed by Pyongyang. The statement is not the first time the ship’s manager has taken aim at the UN resolutions which call for freezing assets associated with the sanctioned Ocean Maritime Management (OMM), noted a report carried by NK News, a leading authority on North Korean trade, stated Mexico has moved to scrap the rusting ship as it feels it has become a safety and environmental concern. Leo Byrne who tracks North Korean shipping for NK News told Splash today: “Many of the vessels that were linked to OMM are now on the UN’s blacklist. Since they were designated they appear to have kept a pretty low profile, though some have been seen very close to Chinese ports, while a few others appear to be running domestic routes between local ports.” http://splash247.com/north-korean-shipowner-hits-out-at-sanctions/

Detained North Korean ship to be scrapped

Mexican authorities have moved to confiscate the blacklisted "Mu Du Bong", which has been detained in the port of Tuxpan since the summer of 2014. The Mexican Ministry of Communications and Ports and the Captain of the Port of Tuxpan said in an official statement on Apr 20, 2016, that the government would take possession of the ship as an abandoned vessel, in lieu of dock fees and other expenses related to its maintenance. The vessel's operator, the sanctioned firm Ocean Maritime Management, had reportedly refused to pay for the cost of the ship's detention, and had left her unmanned. In addition, the Port of Tuxpan alleged that the vessel constitutes a hazard to local navigation and to pipeline facilities. The confiscation will take effect immediately, SCT said, and she will be transferred to the Property Disposal Service for scrapping. The freighter went aground on a coral reef off of Tuxpan in July 2014, damaging the reef and requiring lightering for a refloat attempt. Mexico detained her, but it allowed her 30-plus crewmembers to return to North Korea last year. The U.N. Security Council blacklisted the Ocean Maritime Management in 2014 for arranging an illegal shipment on the freighter Chong Chon Gang, which was seized in Panama and found to be carrying arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, hidden under thousands of tons of Cuban sugar. In 2015 North Korea condemned the continued detention as a rampant violation of the dignified sovereignty of the DPRK. Reports with photos: http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/detained-north-korean-ship-to-be-scrapped https://www.nknews.org/2016/04/mexico-declares-n-korean-ship-abandoned-will-sell-for-scrap/