Frens, it's 11 pm, Egypt local time, and there is some interesting activity in the Great Bitter Lake. Big EG is still anchored there, but there's a new satellite beacon for a cargo ship right alongside EG, but no ship outline or further identifier of what ship it is. Also in the lake are three tugs, two "Mossad" brothers (Mosaed 2 & 3) and Mosaheb 2. Aaannnnd.....one other cargo ship lurking very close by, XIANG RUI KOU. It's a Chinese Heavy Load Carrier, appears to be mostly laden (Draught 8.3m/9.7 m max). Most interestingly, its point of origin is Rotterdam, Netherlands ....the EG's final destination. No other ships appear to be in the Lake right now.
Could that mystery cargo ship beacon be a crane ship? Is there offloading going on? I've read that canal authorities are holding EG in place until financial liabilities get sorted out, but does the same hold true for the cargo? Maybe this is all coincidence, but it definitely is outside the pattern of activity I've observed in the past couple of weeks.
It is! The pic I saw showed it empty, and with a different paint job, but same ship! It's a tow truck! Ha!
Yes, great for putting containers on.
I wonder whether it currently has a crane.
It's been so long now, I hope there was no live cargo in those containers.
edit: Int his picture it does have a small crane
https://live.staticflickr.com/1489/24808530884_d33c48821b.jpg
That crane is nowhere near what would be required to move containers
That's what I thought, too. Maybe that's what mystery ship is there for.
That's for loading food etc.
The cargo ship with no details is two hours old in the exact position of the EG from 12 hours ago.
I wonder if they turned the EG's transponder off.
Bait and Switch time?
update: EG's transponder is sending again as of 6 mins ago
The EG's position data is 12 hours old on my screen as well