After South Africa, another Moroccan phosphate ship detained in Panama

A Moroccan Phosphate ship was held yesterday night in Panama by a complaint from the Polisario Front. According to the pro-polisario website Western Sahara Resources Watch, the Danish vessel Ultra Innovation that was carrying a phosphate cargo to Canada «has been detained by a national court».

The same source indicates, that the vessel was crossing the Panama Canal shipping around 50 000 tones of Phosphate rocks probably destined for Arguim, a Canadian retail supplier of agricultural products and services in North America.

The seizure of the vessel comes just a few weeks after another phosphate ship was detained in Port Elizabeth by a civil maritime court order on the 1st of May. The latter was on its way to New Zealand when it got stopped by the South African authorities.

«The order issued in South Africa regarding the cargo of the NM Cherry Blossom is a standard temporary measure made on the basis of only one party's allegations,» Othmane Bennani Smires OCP legal counsel told Reuters.