A ship with very close ties to North Korea is currently making its way to Casablanca in Morocco, after docking at the Spanish port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, the NK News vessel tracker shows.
Though not illegal, it’s very unusual to see suspected North Korean vessels in European waters, or even broadcasting their positions along the North African coast. The last vessel to do so was the Morning Glory, which illegally bought a shipment of oil from rebels in Libya, before being commandeered by U.S. military.
The ship, called the Fertility 9, last broadcast its position at 11pm (GMT) after leaving Las Palmas port earlier on Sunday.
Unlike the Morning Glory, the vessel currently near Morocco does not have a North Korean flag, but is likely sailing under what is known in the industry as a flag of convenience (FOC).
Reflagging in this way is fairly common in the maritime industry, as it generally allows ships to circumvent safety and environmental laws, however the DPRK often uses the practice in an attempt hide the identity of some of its fleet.
The Fertility 9 instead has a Tuvalese flag, which would normally make it a more likely candidate for inspection in European ports, though currently there is no record of the vessel being inspected when it was docked in Las Palmas.
The Equasis Maritime database lists the vessel’s manager as East Grand Shipping, a Hong Kong based company with ties to North Korea.
Another member of East Grand’s fleet, the Destiny 1, sank in April last year off the South Korean coast, prompting a rescue from the Coast Guard. Upon arrival, the rescuers found the sinking vessel crewed by North Koreans.
East Grand also shares administrative duties of another vessel, Grand Lady, with what is probably a Hong Kong paper company for the Pyongyang based Korea Kunhae, a North Korean shipping firm.
The remainder of East Grand’s fleet are all operating in Chinese waters relatively close to North Korea. Two of the company’s ships last broadcast their positions after leaving the Chinese port of Dalian and looked to be headed to Nampho, North Korea’s largest port on its western coast.
The Fertility 9 has not been in Asian waters since 2013, having spent the majority of last year in ports on the South and West African coasts. During the last five months the ship docked in Guinea, Ghana and Cameroon before setting sail two weeks ago for the Canary Islands.
Featured image: Marine Traffic