A shipping data technology company says questions need to be asked about last week’s hijacking of a bunkering vessel in the Mediterranean.
Data by Tel Aviv-based Windward shows ownership and flag changes made to the 846-dwt Elhiblu 1 (built 2015) before the hijacking bear similarities to the 2014 incident involving the 2,560-dwt cargoship Blue Sky M (built 1976), which was abandoned by crew with 970 migrants onboard.
The Elhiblu 1 rescued 108 people from the sea off Libya. However, they took control of the ship when it was ordered back to Libya, and reportedly forced the captain to head to Malta.
International Chamber of Shipping secretary general Guy Platten is concerned for the safety of ships when asked to return migrants to Libya.
“If a ship is directed to disembark rescued people in Libya, it creates a potential for conflict between the crew and desperate and frustrated people that might object to being returned. Given the numbers picked up in such large-scale rescue operations, the crew of the rescuing ship can easily be outnumbered and overwhelmed,” he said.
However, Windward has uncovered “anomalies” in the ship’s behaviour in the days before it was hijacked.
The Elhiblu 1 switched from the Turkish flag to the Palau flag four weeks earlier. Shortly after that, it changed ownership from a Turkish company to a single-ship Palau-registered company.
The ship had been operating exclusively in Turkish waters since January 2017 but departed for Libya four days before the hijacking, crossing the Dardanelles on 23 March. The vessel entered Libya’s exclusive economic zone around midnight between 25 and 26 March, and the rescue operation was around 12 hours later. The alleged hijacking occurred in the early hours of 27 March.
The vessel was heading for Tripoli, a port that rarely sees such small tankers. In the past year, there have been no other calls there by tankers of the size of the Elhiblu 1, which is just 52 metres long.
Windward said: “All of the above behaviours are similar to the modus operandi of the notorious Blue Sky M. On New Year’s Eve 2014, the Blue Sky M, laden with hundreds of migrants, was abandoned by its crew and set on autopilot towards Italian shores.
“The Blue Sky M also had a strong past affiliation with Turkey, and made a major deviation from its pattern-of-life prior to embarking on the journey that turned out to be part of an elaborate human-trafficking scheme.”
However, Windward’s analysis falls short of drawing direct conclusions about the Elhiblu 1. “There will surely be an investigation into what happened. The only thing we can be sure of right now is that there are questions that need to be asked,” the company said.
The Elhiblu 1’s owner, listed on Equasis as Salah Ali M Elhiblu, could not be reached for this story.
