Photo: The Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A, branded as MSC, is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, the Iranian state-run IRNA news agency reported, days after Tehran warned it could close the area to sea traffic.
IRNA reported that a Guards helicopter had boarded and taken into Iranian waters the Portuguese flagged MSC Aries.
Shipping security agencies had earlier reported a vessel being boarded and seized by “regional authorities” in the Hormuz Strait between the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
The Aries is leased by international shipping line MSC from Gortal Shipping, an affiliate of Zodiac Maritime, Zodiac said in a statement, adding that MSC is responsible for all vessel activities. Zodiac is partly owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer.
The incident comes amid rising regional tensions since the start of Israel’s campaign in Gaza in October, with Israel and its ally the United States clashing repeatedly with Iranian-aligned groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A, branded as MSC, is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte family with its headquarters in Switzerland since 1978. It is the world’s largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, controlling about 19.7 percent of the global container ship fleet.
Reuters
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