Irish investigative outlet, The Ditch, has uncovered documentation that indicates that 40 bulks of military grade steel, sold by Basque steel factory, Sidenor, are about to be shipped through the Catalan port of Barcelona to Haifa. The steel is to be delivered to the address of Israeli Military Industries, which is one of the main producers of the ammunition Israel uses in its ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and its illegal military occupation.
The steel is produced in a manufacturing facility in Matamorosa, Cantabria, Spain, and scheduled to be loaded on the ZIM Luanda on July 1. The ZIM Luanda (IMO: 9403229) is sailing under the flag of Malta and is scheduled to dock in Mersin, Türkiye on July 6, before heading to Israel’s ports to unload the steel.
Basque company Sidenor, has already shipped 1,207 tonnes of steel in four different shipments to Israeli weapons maker IMI Systems since August 2024. The last shipment was uncovered while on its way and faced heavy protests, especially in Türkiye.
The ZIM Luanda is operated by ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, Israel’s largest shipping company, which plays a key role in ensuring the necessary supplies for Israel to continue its genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation are being provided. However, the owner of the vessel is the Greek BlackSea Marine Inc., and it is managed by the Greek shipping company Danaos Shipping Co Ltd
Leading legal and UN human rights experts agree: transferring military materiel (including dual-use items like military grade steel carried by the ZIM Luanda) to a state imposing a system of apartheid and unlawful occupation; plausibly committing genocide, as determined by the International Court of Justice; and carrying out wars of aggression against sovereign states in the region, is illegal under international law. States and corporations that knowingly allow or engage in such transfers, or states that fail to act when corporations under their jurisdiction are involved, are themselves complicit.
We call on the grassroots movements and civil society in:
The Spanish State, the Basque Country and Catalonia:
- To put pressure on the steel producer Sidenor to immediately stop any illegal military and dual-use exports to Israel and for the Basque as well as Spanish authorities to hold the company and its management responsible for complicity in genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation.
- To mobilize workers that produce and transport the illegal cargo to refuse to be pushed into complicity, not to handle illegal cargo, and to join the BDS movement in concrete action. We also call on customs officials not to process the customs formalities for the ZIM Luanda and its illegal cargo and of any vessel that is involved in illegal military transfers to Israel.
- To put pressure on the port and local authorities in Barcelona to investigate, and block any illegal transfer of military and dual-use cargo.
Greece:
- To put pressure on the manager and owner of the ZIM Luanda to sever any relation between the vessel and Israel's shipping company ZIM, and ensure that the vessel will not be involved in illegal transfers to Israel again. The registered owner is responsible for the vessel’s legal and regulatory compliance.
- To put pressure on the Greek state and judicial authorities to hold the company accountable for their complicity in arming Israel’s genocide.
Malta: To put pressure on the government and shipping registry of Malta to immediately adopt a policy that reaffirms that they will uphold their obligations to ensure that no military supplies for Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid nor for any conflict area across the world will be carried under their flag. Antigua and Barbuda has set the standard for such policy. Adopt it and implement it now. Malta has to seek cooperation from coastal states to stop and confiscate the cargo.
Other coastal states in the Mediterranean: Stay alert and guarantee that your ports will reject any requests for docking or otherwise servicing the ZIM Luanda to ensure that your ports don’t aid and assist this illegal transfer and the ZIM Luanda does not pass through your territorial waters.