Cyprus Shipping Chamber condemns Houthi missile attack

The Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) on Friday condemned the Houthi missile attack on the commercial vessel True Confidence, which resulted in the death of three crew members and the injury of at least four others.

The chamber expressed its sincere condolences to the families of the seafarers who lost their lives and wishes for the recovery of the injured.

“The loss of innocent and defenceless seafarers in the context of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea constitutes a highly unacceptable and dangerous development,” CSC’s statement said.

States and the international legal community should immediately take all neessary measures to ensure the safety of commercial ships sailing in the area and their personnel, the chamber stressed.

The attack, which took place on Wednesday in the Red Sea, set the Greek-owned Barbados-flagged ship True Confidence ablaze around 50 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen‘s port of Aden.

The True Confidence is owned by the Liberian-registered company True Confidence Shipping and operated by the Greece-based Third January Maritime, both firms said in their joint statement. True Confidence Shipping lists FML SHIP MANAGEMENT as its management company. The company is registered to a Cyprus address in Limassol.

The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea since November in what they claim is a campaign in solidarity with Palestinians during the war in Gaza.

A day after the attack, the European Community Shipowners’ Associations held its regular meeting of the Administrative Board on March 7, 2024, in Brussels.

During the meeting, the urgent and pressing need for states to provide adequate protection to shipping and defenseless seafarers was reaffirmed, the CSC stated.

Discussions also focused on the implementation of further measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prioritize low- and zero-emission fuels for shipping, maritime safety, taxation, ship financing, seafarers’ wages, economic security, as well as attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Representing the Cypriot shipping industry at the meeting in Brussels were Philippos Philis, Nicolas Hadjioannou, and Thomas Kazakos.