• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Several U.S. Ships Join Mission to Monitor Faina

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS080930-12
Release Date: 9/30/2008 5:04:00 PM

From Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet Public Affairs

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- Several U.S. ships are now operating in the vicinity of Motor Vessel Faina, the Belize-flagged cargo ship, which was captured Sept. 25 and is anchored off the coast of Somalia near the harbor city of Hobyo.

The U.S. 5th Fleet continues to actively monitor the situation.

"We will maintain a vigilant watch over the ship and remain on station while negotiations take place," said Rear Adm. Kendall Card, task force commander leading the efforts to prevent the weapons aboard M/V Faina from being offloaded from the ship.

"Our goal is to ensure the safety of the crew, to not allow off-loading of dangerous cargo and to make certain Faina can return to legitimate shipping."

This incident highlights the complexity of the situation in the region. MV Faina is owned and operated by "Kaalybe Shipping Ukraine" and is carrying a cargo of T-72 tanks and related equipment. Its crew is comprised of citizens from Ukraine, Russia and Latvia. There is no indication that the ship had a security team aboard.

For more news from Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/local/cusnc/.