Zodiac Maritime Ltd is an international ship management company that owns and charters out large vessels. It is part of Ofer Global based in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

and chaired by

Eyal Ofer Eyal Ofer (; born 2 June 1950) is a Monaco-based billionaire, philanthropist and art collector. Born in Israel, he is involved in real estate, energy, technology and product shipment. Ofer is the chairman of Ofer Global, Zodiac Group and Global ...

. It has a long-standing business relationship with

Mediterranean Shipping Company Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., branded as MSC, is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte family with its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, since 1978. It is the ...

History

On 2 January 2010, the MV Asian Glory was hijacked by pirates 1,000 km off the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

. In late 2009 and early 2010, two of its ships (''St James Park'' and '' MV Asian Glory'') were captured by

Somali pirates Horn of Africa * Somali Peninsula, a region of East Africa, also known as "The Horn of Africa" * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Greater Somalia ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali culture ...

. In 2012, ZM owned the

MSC Napoli ''MSC Napoli'' was a United Kingdom- flagged container ship that developed a hull breach due to rough seas and slamming in the English Channel on 18 January 2007. She was deliberately run aground at Lyme Bay to avoid an environmental disaster ...

, the container ship that ran into difficulty in the English Channel. According to a 2014 analysis conducted by

Globes A globe is a spherical model of Earth, of some other celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface that they portray except to scale it down. A model globe o ...

, the companies of the Zodiac group generated together an operating profit of just over $1.5 billion in 2003–12, with an operating profit margin of 39%, and a 0.49% tax rate on profits. In July 2014,

, the principal of Zodiac Group, received an honorary life membership of the

Baltic Exchange The Baltic Exchange (incorporated as The Baltic Exchange Limited) is a Trade association, membership organisation for the Maritime transport, maritime industry, and Shipping markets, freight market information provider for the trading and settl ...

for his contribution to shipping in the UK and global maritime trade. Later that year, he was named in the top 10 most influential people in the shipping industry according to

Lloyds List ''Lloyd's List'' is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734. It was published daily until 2013 (when the final print issue, number 60,850, was published), and i ...

2014. Iran has persistently attacked various vessels and seized ships amidst political issues since 2019. On 29 July 2021, the oil tanker '' MT Mercer Street'', managed by Zodiac, while travelling from

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

(UAE) with no cargo on board, was attacked off the coast of

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. The US military announced that the drone had been produced in Iran. In November 2023, amid the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

, the ''Central Park'', a tanker ship owned by Zodiac Maritime, was attacked in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

by suspected

. On 13 April 2024, the

IRGC Navy The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN; ; officially abbreviated in Persian as NEDSA and also known as the Sepah Navy) is the Navy, naval warfare Military branch, service of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps founded in 1985, and o ...

seized

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

- flagged container ship ''

MSC Aries On 13 April 2024, Iran seized ''MSC Aries,'' a Portuguese- registered and Madeira-flagged container ship owned by Gortal Shipping and leased to Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), which Iran claimed was linked to Israel. The ship, with a crew ...

'' in the

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ''khalīj ʿumān''; ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ''khalīj makrān''; ''daryâ-ye makrān''), is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with th ...

off the Emirati port city of

Fujairah Fujairah City () is the capital of the emirate of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates. It is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, seventh-largest city in UAE, located on the Gulf of Oman (part of the Indian Ocean). It is the only Em ...

, then steered the container ship through the

Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' , ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategica ...

. claiming that it had violated maritime laws. ''MSC Aries'' is leased by MSC from Gortal Shipping Inc., which is an affiliate of Zodiac.

References

{{reflist

External links

company website
Shipping companies of Monaco Ofer family