Japan's commercial cargo ship hit by missile in Black Sea off Ukrainian coast

In another turmoil to the global trade and commerce, as Russia Ukraine war intensified, a Japanese-owned cargo freighter was shelled in the Black Sea, south of Ukraine, critically injuring one crew member on board. In an online post, the Ukrainian defence ministry announced that a Panama-registered freighter Namura Queen was caught ablaze after a missile hit the Japanese vessel at the port of Odesa while it was loading the grains. As hostilities between the two nations escalated, foreign vessels at the Black Sea ports of Mariupol and Odesa got hit, prompting International Maritime Organization to urge the warring nations to protect seafarers in the world’s commercial maritime waterways. 

Panama-flagged, 2020-built, 85,065 dwt bulk carrier Namura Queen was transiting the Ukrainian port of Pivdenny (Yuzhny), east of Odesa when it was attacked. Japan’s Nissen Kaiun Co, which owns the vessel, did not make comments. Interfax Ukraine reported on Saturday that the missile hit Namura Queen’s stern, damaging the rudder propeller group and set the entire ship ablaze with crew on it, though all on board managed to flee. This would be another trade vessel hit after an incident involving a Turkish-owned, Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier that was hit by a bomb off the coast of Odessa earlier yesterday.

Turkish Maritime General Directorate confirmed the incident in a Twitter post, saying that one of the crew members of 20 Philippines nationals was reported injured. The ship transited to Romanian territorial waters later. 

A Moldova-flagged 1974-built, 2,200 dwt chemical tanker Millennial Spirit similarly transiting with the commercial oil supply in the international waters was bombed in the Black Sea, Moldova’s naval agency said in a statement. As the foreign vessel was targeted, the lifeboats were destroyed, and the ship's crew had to abandon the vessel with life preservers. They were later escorted by Ukrainian rescue vessels as the ship is operated by a Ukrainian company.

Moldova authorities meanwhile say they have “no clue” who fired the missile on the ship. Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine separately blamed a Russian warship for launching assaults in the waterway, saying two crew members and the ship’s captain were in critical condition. Another projectile hit a Minnesota-based commercial vessel chartered by one of the world’s largest food suppliers, Cargill Inc., in the Black Sea. 

Turkey, a key player in the Russia-Ukraine war 

Ukraine had earlier asked NATO member Turkey to close the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits to Russian war vessels. Although Turkey, which shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea, is in a dilemma as it has warm bilateral ties with both Ukraine and Russia. “We are calling for the airspace, Bosphorus [Istanbul] and Dardanelles [Canakkale] Straits to be closed. We have conveyed our relevant demand to the Turkish side. At the same time, we want sanctions imposed on the Russian side,” Ukrainian Ambassador to Türkiye Vasyl Bodnar said in a presser in Ankara.

Under the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits Ankara is a strategic and a key player in Russia Ukraine as it has control over the straits in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea and can limit warship – civilian or military vessels’ –  passages in an event of a war. But the Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu published a statement stating that it cannot block the Russian warships accessing the Black Sea via its straits due to a clause in an international pact. The pact was signed during Hitler’s rule in Germany in 1933. In 1936, Britain, the Soviet Union, and Turkey held a meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, and agreed to hand over the operations of key straits, including the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles, and the Sea of Marmara to Turkey. The agreement was signed by Britain, France, the USSR, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, Yugoslavia, and Japan. 

Image: AP