NAVY SEALS INSPECTING RADIOACTIVE SHIP OFF NJ

FOX news.com | 11/12/2002

[madvlad]

Navy SEALs Inspecting Radioactive Ship Off New Jersey

Thursday, September 12, 2002

NEWARK, N.J. — Pentagon officials confirmed to Fox News Thursday that Navy SEALs had been, and were still, involved in the inspection of a possibly radioactive container ship off the coast of New Jersey.

The Liberian-flagged M/V Palermo Senator was ordered back to sea by the Coast Guard Wednesday after traces of radioactivity were found in the hold during a routine inspection at the Port of Newark.

The 708-foot freighter, owned by a German subsidiary of South Korea-based Hanjin shipping, was anchored in an exclusion zone six miles from shore.

U.S. Navy radiation specialists from the submarine base in Groton, Conn., were heading to the ship, the Pentagon sources said.

The defense officials emphasized that "the concern level is not rising" about the ship. They added that the inspection was not linked to any intelligence about a vessel carrying illicit nuclear materials to the U.S., and that the presence of Navy personnel was a precaution.

Sandra Carroll, a spokeswoman for the Newark FBI office, told the Associated Press that investigators from the U.S. Department of Energy were to conduct testing either on or near the ship Thursday.

The Palermo Senator had stopped in Singapore, Malaysia and Egypt, among other destinations, before docking at Newark on Tuesday.

Authorities would not say what the readings were, or whether they were at levels considered dangerous.

Inspectors had hoped to test the ship Wednesday, but high seas whipped by 55 mph winds made that impossible, Carroll said.

It was not immediately known what form the tests would take, or whether they would be carried out on board the ship or from vessels near it. Officials at the Energy Department did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

[uncbob]

If they had a previous radioactive cargo I wonder where it is now

[Gunrunner2]

My thoughts, exactly.
Was the radioactive ship discovered after the cargo was unloaded? Or was it discovered before any unloading could take place?
If already unloaded, where are the cargo containers?

[stanz]

And who authorized its shipment.

[UCANSEE2]

Looking on the inside of the ship is where they are making their mistake.

Look on the underneath!

[mhking]

Extensive conversation about this ship is ongoing here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/749437/posts

[RobRoy]

It was offloaded to a small pleasure craft two days ago.

It's easy to spot at night...

[wideawake]

Hmmm . . . a German subsidiary. Hamburg is Germany's largest hotbed of terrorist activity and its largest seaport.

The Senator also made stops in Saudi and the UAE as well as Jeddah.

[Ispy4u]

Hamburg is over 30 miles inland and has no port for such ships.

[wideawake]

You are mistaken. Hamburg is the second busiest seaport in Europe and the largest in Germany.


http://www.ipvs.de/englisch/Hamburg.htm

http://www.2747.com/2747/world/city/hamburg.htm

The CIA World Factbook also lists Hamburg among Germany's major seaports.

[vannrox]

Click here to see the photo gallery of all the Ships of the shipping com-pany.

[wtc911]

Rohde & Liesenfeld is a German based global shipping concern with operations in 34 countries. Their Global HQ is in HAMBURG....one of the world's busiest ports.

btw...R&L's NYC HQ was in the Trade Center. They lost two people last year. One was a friend.

[MossbergPump]

Yes, it is a bit inland, but...

Hamburg is at the upper end of the Elbe River estuary and is the world's 6th largest container-handling deep water port ranking larger than Los Angeles.

[finnsheep]

Most likely it was the glazed tiles themselves that were the source of the radiation. Uranium gives a yellow color to ceramic glazes. Low levels of radiation have been a problem before in imported Asian ceramics and enamels.

[mewzilla]

Would tiles set off a neutron detector?

[uncbob]

It was offloaded to a small pleasure craft two days ago

If this is true that is bad news
That would be a logical way to get a weapon in
they wouldn't risk off loading in a port with more likelihood of detection or something going wrong in transit

[Shermy]

Don't forget old x-ray equipment. Unscrupulous "hazardous waste companies" will just dump the stuff anywhere, say with other scrap metals. Shows up time to time in Mexico.

[Ispy4u]

See my last post.

My apologies, I am wrong.