# Officials Investigating ‘Potential Threat’ Aboard Maersk Containership in Port of Cha



## Geoff Gower (Sep 8, 2011)

Officials are investigating a ‘potential threat’ aboard a U.S.-flagged Maersk Line containership at the Port of Charleston in South Carolina.
The Coast Guard said at approximately 8 p.m. Wednesday authorities were made aware of a potential threat in a container aboard the vessel Maersk Memphis in the Port of Charleston.
The Maersk Memphis*is moored at Charleston’s Wando terminal, which has been evacuated while law enforcement*units from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies investigate the threat.
A 1 nautical mile safety zone has been established around the vessel while law enforcement authorities investigate the threat.
“Federal, state and local law enforcement agencies are currently investigating the type of the potential threat,” the Coast Guard said on Twitter.
Coast Guard officials described the threat as a possible “dirty bomb”, according to Reuters and other media outlets.*A dirty bomb is a combination of radioactive and conventional explosives.*
An unified command has been established to oversee the coordinated response, which the Coast Guard described as ‘active and ongoing’ as of 2 a.m. ET.*
According to Maersk Lines website Maersk Memphis*last called*the port of Newark on June 12 after sailing from Middle East via the Suez Canal and Algeciras.
Maersk Memphis was built in 2007 and has a capacity of 6,188 TEU.*


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Very serious stuff. I wonder how they detected it. Intelligence or physics?


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## BobClay (Dec 14, 2007)

Either way both are likely to be seriously involved. I only hope this is a false alarm, because if not ... the world is edging ever closer to catastrophe.


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## Geoff Gower (Sep 8, 2011)

*FBI to Probe False ‘Dirty Bomb’ Threat Aboard Maersk Memphis*

By Harriet McLeod CHARLESTON, S.C., June 15 (Reuters) – The FBI on Thursday said it was investigating a false threat that a “dirty bomb” was on a container ship at a terminal at the Port of Charleston in South Carolina.
The port was shut on Wednesday night and reopened early Thursday morning by the U.S. Coast Guard after law enforcement officials completed a scan of the container ship Maersk Memphis, the Coast Guard said.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened its investigation because it is a crime to make a false threat against a U.S.-flagged ship, said Donald Wood, a spokesman for the bureau in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Maersk Memphis is a U.S.-flagged ship, according to the Maersk Line website.
No arrests had been made as of Thursday afternoon, Wood said.
The Coast Guard said the “original reporting source of the threat” had been detained for questioning.
Law enforcement agents scanned four containers aboard the Maersk Memphis ship in the Wando Terminal after reports of a “potential threat” on Wednesday, the Coast Guard said.
A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive device designed to release radioactive material, contaminating the area around it.
Copenhagen-based Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company, said the Coast Guard had informed it of the threat of a dirty bomb aboard one of its vessels. It said all crew members were safe and ashore.
The Maersk Memphis, a 300-meter vessel, arrived in South Carolina from New York at about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (2330 GMT), and left Charleston Thursday afternoon for Savannah, Georgia, according to Reuters data. About half an hour later, authorities were made aware of the potential threat and evacuated the terminal, the Coast Guard said. (


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