Rena Owners Statement | The Jackal

8 Oct 2011

Rena Owners Statement

The owners of Rena have issued a statement. Here's the guts of it:
Costamare Inc., parent company of Daina Shipping Co., registered owner of the 3,032 TEU containership RENA, aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the north island of New Zealand, are cooperating fully with local authorities and every effort is being made to control and minimize the environmental consequences of this incident.

The operators of the vessel are Costamare Shipping Company S.A. (a dedicated containership operator with over 35 years of experience in the shipping industry), while Ciel Shipmanagement S.A are the technical managers. Both companies are members of the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association.
However the Costamere Inc. website shows that the Rena is chartered to them by MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company), and is not owned by the Daina Shipping Co., which doesn't seem to even have a website.

Here is an interesting list of Subsidiaries of Costamere Inc.

According to Wikipedia, in 1956 Yuli and Sammy Ofer established the shipping company called Mediterranean routes. I've not found specific information that says Mediteranian Routes is MSC, but this is likely the case.

On Wednesday it was reported:
Michael Hodgins of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which chartered the 21-year-old Rena, told Radio New Zealand it was carrying timber, milk powder, meat and fish.
We now know that is not the case, and the vessel is carrying ferrosilicon. Such lies should raise even more suspicions about what the Rena is actually carrying. We should also be aware that they are trying to hide who the true owners of this vessel are, presumably to avoid paying for the clean up.