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Russian maritime crew delivers relief supplies to Horn of Africa

Russian crew of the Sea Master One motorship cruising under the Panamanian flag has delivered a total of 50,000 tons of humanitarian foodstuffs to the countries

VLADIVOSTOK, October 25 (Itar-Tass) — Russian crew of the Sea Master One motorship cruising under the Panamanian flag has delivered a total of 50,000 tons of humanitarian foodstuffs to the countries in the Horn of Africa.

Since the beginning of autumn, the Sea Master One has effectuated four journeys with calls into the ports of Mombasa /Kenya/, Jibuti /the Republic of Jibuti/, as well as Berbera and Boosaaso /Somalia/.

The consignments consisted of sorghum, maize and vegetable oil. It was supplied to the East-African nations plagued by an unparalleled drought by the United Nations.

The Sea Master One’s crew includes twenty seamen from the Russian Far-Eastern city of Nakhodka. The ship’s operator, the Marine Bulk company is also based there.

Spokespeople for the shipping line said the motorship had enjoyed a reinforced escorting by Spanish and German naval forces on all the four missions to the pirate-infested waters of the Indian Ocean’s northwest sector.

Four men with submachine guns, who had been dispatched by a foreign company, did the guarding aboard the Sea Master One.

Gennady Semerov, an executive at Marine Bulk who accompanied the humanitarian missions, said the crew was given a reliable defense against the pirates.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization /FAO/ sent a letter of gratitude to the owners, the operator and crewmembers of the motorship.

Tuesday, the Sea Master One calls out of Mombasa and will head for the South African Republic. It will load a consignment of ore there and will carry it across the Indian Ocean to Singapore.

The motorship that was built in Japan in 1985 has the deadweight of 24,000 tons, which puts it into the category of large ships.

The Marine Bulk executives believe the participation in humanitarian missions to the Horn of Africa has considerably raised the prestige of Russian seafarers in the global commercial fleet.