An American-owned cargo ship named after the president of the United States docked in a Ukrainian port has just offloaded 10,000 metric tons of the same chemical substance that nearly leveled the city of Beirut this week, according to the Liveuamap news source. The hangar in Lebanon only had 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate, which caused catastrophic damage to the Lebanese capital.
The ship docked in Ukraine, which was previously named Seabreeze before a Florida company registered as Pilin Fleet Management LLC purchased it in 2018, and renamed it Trump D, was registered by Marine Traffic tracking website in the Yuzhi port near Odessa on Friday.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has now ordered “relevant checks” on the storage condition of the substance, which is primarily used for agricultural fertilizer or high-powered explosives after port officials claimed it was safely stored in “big bags.”
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Photos online suggest that the ammonium-nitrate powder was also stored in similar “big bags” in the port of Beirut when it detonated, likely sparked by a nearby fire Tuesday afternoon.
The Trump D was placed under investigation three months ago by Ukrainian prosecutors in Crimea after the previous owners were suspected of stealing sand from the Crimean coast. That investigation has since been closed without charges.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued a statement ordering authorities to ensure that the ammonium nitrate is securely stored and to “carry out extraordinary measures for government supervision” for work safety and “security against manmade disasters and fires.”
