Front Page	E-mail PagePrint Version

Specialty port closed after threat disclosed aboard cargo ship

PORT HUENEME - 06/26/06 - Port Hueneme (pronounced Why-Knee-Me), the only deep-water harbor between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay area, has been closed today while federal and local authorities investigate a possible terrorist threat on a cargo ship.

The action came just before noon after a dockworker discovered a possible threat written in the cargo hold of the Wild Lotus, a 30,000-ton refrigerated cargo ship carrying bananas from Guatemala, according to Will Berg, the port's marketing director.

Berg told reporters that the message read: "This nitro is for you Mr. George W. Bush and your Jewish cronies."

The source of the message, scrawled in marker on a stanchion in the ship's cargo hold, was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Secret Service, the US Coast Guard, and state and local authorities, he said.

About 20 people aboard the Panamanian-registered ship - which last called at the Guatemalan port of Quetzal - were reportedly taken off the ship and are being interviewed by authorities.

Dockworkers already outside the port were being kept out, though anyone inside the port was allowed to remain, according to authorities.

The 135-acre port - which consists of two main terminals, several breakbulk facilities, and a foreign trade zone - is located about 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles and serves as the major port of entry for California's central coast agricultural region.
 
The port acts as a port-of-call for a number of ocean carriers serving the Pacific Rim, Latin America, and Europe and ranks among the top seaports in California for general cargo throughput.

The niche markets that Hueneme serves include the import and export of automobiles, forest products, and agricultural commodities including fresh fruit and produce.

The port, in fact, is the top seaport in the US for citrus export and ranks among the top ten ports in the country for automobile and banana imports.

Neither Berg nor a spokesman for the FBI would not comment on when the port would be able to resume full operations.

Go back, or read the latest Front Page stories:

EU Slams Intel with Record Fine

SANTA CLARA – 05/20/09 – Giant microchip maker Intel has been slapped with a record $1.45 billion fine following an eight-year investigation by the European Commission, which found that the California-based firm ''violated EU competition rules by exploiting its dominant position with a deliberate strategy to shut out'' its rivals for European business, particularly Advanced Micro Devices; Intel ''takes strong exception'' to the ruling and says it will appeal to the EC courts in Luxembourg.