Chem-Ranger

Hours after American forces conducted strikes on Houthi missile launch sites in Yemen, the group claimed another attack on the 'Chem Ranger', en route from Jeddah to Shuwaikh, with missiles on Jan 18, 2024. U.S. forces denied that the missiles struck their target with both of them splashing down in the water without causing any damage. The ballistic missile attacks appear to have been just one of several attempted Houthi strikes reported on Jan 18. In a series of advisories released in the night, Royal Navy security agency UKMTO reported two UAV approaches and apparent near-misses in the Gulf of Aden. In one instance at the east end of the gulf, a merchant ship reported that four unidentified UAVs were flying nearby, and one UAV went into the water at a position about 800 meters away. In the second incident, at a position about 115 nautical miles southeast of Aden, a vessel reported that one UAV went into the water 30 meters off the port side. No damage was reported in either encounter.

Following its departure from Singapore, the 'Chem Ranger', while under way in position 01 18 30N, 104 04 46E, about 6.2 miles northwest of Tanjung Tondong, Pulau Bintan, was boarded by perpetrators. The crew noticed them in the engine room on April 30, 2020, at 5.15 a.m. The general alarm was raised, and the crew members mustered. The Master reported the incident to the Singapore authorities and a safety navigational broadcast was initiated. The Singapore Navy, Singapore Police Coast Guard and the Indonesian authorities were notified. The Master took the tanker back to the port of Singapore and requested assistance from the authorities, to conduct a search on board for the perpetrators. Upon its arrival in Singapore, the Singapore Police Coast Guard officers boarded the tanker and conducted a search. There was no sighting of the perpetrators on board. The crew members were not injured, and nothing was stolen.

The Connecticut based company Chembulk filed a two-million U.S. dollars lawsuit last week in a federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, looking to arrest the "Chem Ranger". In addition to targeting the vessel, the lawsuit focused on registered owner Lantern Maritime as the defendant. The vessel was en route to Venice to Cristobal as of Aug 17, 2019. The complaint stated that Lantern Maritime removed the vessel from Chembulk's service on Aug 7 after Chembulk began raising issues in February. Subsequently, Chembulk alleged, Lantern refused to allow the vessel to take on a load of phosphoric acid, costing Chembulk 185,000 U.S. dollars in a sub-charter with Midgulf International. In April, the complaint stated Chembulk discovered it had overpaid Lantern 815,184 U.S. dollars in hire between Nov 2014 and 2018, 524,098 U.S. dollars of which is outstanding. Chembulk was also looking to recoup at least 250,000 U.S. dollars in lost profit from the vessel being unavailable and 229,690 U.S. dollars for the fuel still onboard. In addition to attorney?s fees and interest, damages total two-million U.S. dollars.