'A ship of mass confusion'

2008-04-24 09:03

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - The Chinese ship with the consignment of weapons for Zimbabwe has become "a ship of mass confusion".

Stephen Olley of Lloyd's Maritime Intelligence Unit in London said that the ship possibly could be found in an area off the Cape coast where radio beacons could not find it, but that another possibility was that the ship's captain had switched off the ship's transponder.

Beacons which were set up along coastlines worldwide could normally determine where a ship was located according to radio signals which the ship's transponder sent out to identify it.

The beacons cannot receive these signals if a ship is beyond the reach of a beacon.

"It's impossible to say whether the ship is moving and, if it is, in which direction," said Olley.

"It's quite possible that the captain switched off the transponder to make finding the ship more difficult."

'Strange situation'

The ship moved in an easterly direction from Cape Town late on Tuesday afternoon which meant that it had turned around.

Later on Tuesday night, the ship moved past Cape Point, heading north in the direction of Angola and Namibia.

"It is one of the strangest situations I've ever encountered," said Olley.

The Chinese department of foreign affairs said on Tuesday that the shipping company might recall the ship and its load to China in light of the controversy over the weapons shipment.

Olley said it was impossible to determine when the ship would need fuel as no one knew whether it had refuelled on its way from China.

Amnesty International appealed to the international community on Wednesday to halt all weapons orders to Zimbabwe until the violence against its citizens had ended.

- Beeld