The German-owned MV Kathrin has attracted international attention for carrying tonnes of explosives destined for Israel. After being refused entry by several countries and stripped of its Portuguese flag following pressure from human rights organisations, the ship is now registered under the German flag. This is just the latest example of the German government’s growing complicity in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people, concludes Juliana Rivas.
In recent weeks there has been an interesting development in the movements and enquiries of a German cargo ship called the MV Kathrin. The vessel is owned by Lubeca Marine Germany, a Lübeck-based German company and managed by Africa Global Logistics, a French-based maritime transport and logistics company that is part of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC Group), which is headquartered in Switzerland.
In July, it was loaded in the Vietnamese city of Haiphong with eight containers of Royal Demolition Explosives (RDX) destined for Israel. The two countries have had diplomatic relations since 1993, and over the past decade have increased their cooperation, particularly in the commercial and military fields: Vietnam has purchased weapons systems from the Middle Eastern country, and ten years ago Israel opened a defence attaché office in Vietnam. More recently, in July 2023, they signed a free trade agreement.
The Kathrin’s shipment, also known as hexogen, is a highly explosive artificial white powder invented in Germany in the late 19th century and first used during the Second World War. It is used primarily for military purposes in the manufacture of various types of bombs, ammunition, rockets and detonators, and is known to be more powerful than TNT.
In the early days of October, the Slovenian Maritime Administration announced that the cargo was to be unloaded at the Slovenian port of Koper, from where it was likely to transit to Israel, presumably for use in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and other Israeli war incursions in the region. The ship is also carrying sixty containers of TNT, but there is no concrete information on its destination, other than the Slovenian Maritime Administration saying that the cargo is also destined for Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, would be the final recipient of the RDX cargo. This military company is one of the world’s largest consumers of RDX, which it uses to make weapons. According to a source in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, there is currently a global shortage of this and other raw materials used in the manufacture of bomb explosives.
Based on this information, a global campaign led by the BDS movement and supported by various human rights organisations was launched to call on all states where the ship was due to dock to deny it entry, on the grounds that it would be a violation of international law if the cargo was intended to be used in the commission of genocide, and could lead to complicity in genocide.
After loading in Vietnam, the Kathrin stopped in Singapore to refuel and begin its journey across the Indian Ocean to the Pacific coast of Africa. It requested to dock in Namibian ports, but after an investigation by the Namibian police authorities and confirmation from the ship of the cargo it was carrying, the Namibian government refused to allow the ship to dock.
The Kathrin was next scheduled to dock at an Angolan port. By the end of August, however, the international campaign had grown exponentially, and even the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, had praised Namibia’s decision to deny access, reminding the international community that ‚any military transfer to Israel, which the International Court of Justice has determined may be committing genocide, constitutes a violation of the Genocide Convention‘. She also mentioned her concern with Portugal, which by then had given the ship its flag and allowed it to sail in international waters, which could also be a clear violation of international law. Ultimately, the ship was prevented from docking in Angola and continued its journey towards the Mediterranean.
In Portugal, solidarity movements were outraged and protested, demanding that their government take down the Portuguese flag and not be complicit in genocide. Initially, the Portuguese foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, not only made false statements about the ship’s contents, but also created confusion and misinformation about the ship’s destination. He announced that the ship ‘carries no weapons, no ammunition, no war material, although it carries explosives’ and that its destination was Montenegro and Slovenia. Although the ship’s destination is correct, the final destination of the cargo is Israel, as documented by the import license issued by the Israeli Minister of Economy for the import of RDX by Israel Military Industries (IMI), acquire by Elbit Systems in 2018, as stated in a document obtained by Alexandra Lucas Coelho, a journalist and writer based in Portugal.
What does carrying a national flag mean for the ship and its movements? Any ship wishing to sail in international waters must have a national flag and can carry only one. International law requires this to be done by registering with that state, which is an administrative process at the discretion of each country, as there is no standardised international procedure for this. Fundamentally, flying a flag carries significant obligations, meaning that the ship must obey and operate under the laws and regulations of that state. This also places responsibility for all actions relating to the ship and its crew on the flag state, which is obliged to enforce not only its own laws but also international regulations. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is the existing international regime. The country flying the flag of a merchant vessel must comply with the provisions of this Convention and other signed treaties.
Following this irritating incident involving the foreign minister, and thanks to pressure from solidarity organisations, the Portuguese government carried out its own investigation of the ship and its cargo, which culminated in the ship being de-registered in Portugal, forcing it to be stripped of its Portuguese flag, which finally happened on October 17th.
According to various vessel tracker websites the ship is now registered under the German flag, meaning it is now operating under German laws and regulations. In Germany, registries are under the jurisdiction of certain local district courts. According to the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, „German-owned sea-going ships with a length of 15m and above must be registered in one of the registers of sea-going ships“. The Kathrin is over 130 metres long and has previously sailed under the German flag, so it is already known to the German authorities. It is therefore safe to assume that the Kathrin’s acquisition of the German flag was a straightforward administrative process.
However, this new development raises many questions. Does the German government know about this ship carrying explosives to an Israeli arms manufacturer? This shipment has already attracted international attention and the German Foreign Office was asked about it at a press conference on 11 September. The journalist Florian Warweg referred to the ship’s German ownership, its cargo and destination, and mentioned that Namibia had banned it from docking. He then asked whether the government agreed with the Namibian authorities‘ assessment that the transport to Israel of the explosives in question violated several rulings of the International Court of Justice and thus international law. The spokesperson for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, first acknowledged the “level of detail in the question”, and later saying they didn’t have any specific information on the procedure of this ship. They also stated that they did not know whether the transport of explosives was subject to arms control, that any arms export is subject to national, regional and international regulations and that they would like to familiarise themselves with the issue in order to be able to give a proper answer.
With this in mind, it is safe to assume that the Foreign Office is already aware of the situation of a German ship carrying RDX, which is an essential precursor in the production of various weapons and munitions. RDX is indeed listed among the goods to which the restrictions of the Foreign Trade Regulation (Außenwirtschaftsverordnung) apply. However, it would require an in-depth review of relevant precedence to know whether a German ship in international waters under German flag carrying explosives covered by the Foreign Trade Regulation is actually subject to arms control by the Federal Security Council (Bundessicherheitsrat), a body chaired by the Chancellor and composed of other members of the Cabinet. The German government, by now, should be able to give an informed statement on this matter.
Discussions on this development are ongoing, the MV Kathrin is currently anchored in the international waters of the Ionian Sea, having been denied entry to Maltese waters, and having all requests from the ship been rejected by the Maltese government. Germany is now responsible for the ship under its national flag, and in light of the information provided on international law, as well as statements by various national and international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International, Germany may be further complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
At least 13 countries are supporting South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ in The Hague for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which both states are signatories. Germany, on the other hand, is the only state that has announced that it will intervene as a third party on behalf of Israel in the main hearings – a step that even the USA is reluctant to take. Germany, however, is already acting against the decisions of the International Court of Justice by continuing to supply arms to Israel, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz of the ruling Social Democrats declaring on 10 October that they won’t stop sending weapons.
As the International Court of Justice declared in July 2024, the occupation of the Palestinian territories, the establishment of Israeli settlements in Palestine and the exploitation of its resources constitute a violation of international law. This occupation, the settlements and finally the war in Gaza are being carried out with inhumanity, extreme cruelty and utmost military force, using weapons supplied mainly by the USA and Germany. After this ruling, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution urging Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories and “calls upon all States in this regard, consistent with their obligations under international law (…) to take steps towards ceasing the importation of any products originating in the Israeli settlements, as well as the provision or transfer of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel, the occupying Power, in all cases where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, among many other steps like the implementation of sanctions and support of accountability.
Unsurprisingly, Germany was among few states that abstained from the resolution, claiming “unrealistic deadline for ending the occupation”, need for direct negotiation between parties, and failing to mention Israel’s security interests. Furthermore, an independent UN International Commission recently said that states “must not render aid or assistance in maintaining the unlawful occupation, which includes financial, military and political aid or support”. In recent events involving Germany, Foreign Minister Baerbock gave a speech in the Bundestag that echoed around the world, claiming that civilian structures lose their protected status when they are used by terrorists, effectively giving Israel carte blanche to continue bombing schools, residential buildings, hospitals, refugee camps, universities, roads set up as security corridors, areas declared safe and so much more, making it difficult to comprehend the level of brutality and terror manoeuvres that Israel is committing. Germany is not only turning a deaf ear to the crimes perpetrated by Israel’s armed forces, but is actively supporting and encouraging them politically and militarily to deepen their settler-colonial pretensions of ethnic cleansing and further occupation of Palestinian territories.
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