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The vessel off the port of Fujairah was a floating armory, according to maritime security consultancy Vanguard Tech.
The consultancy identified the vessel as the Honduran-flagged "fishing support vessel" Hui Chuan, which - per a report from the company security officer - had been operating as a floating armory in the Gulf of Oman. The vessel was boarded by unauthorized personnel while anchored about 38 nm to the northeast of Fujairah, towards the eastern entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, then diverted into Iranian territorial waters. Contact with the vessel has been lost, and its AIS signal has disappeared from tracking.
Floating armories are used by maritime security contractors as a practical solution for the storage of arms, ammunition and personnel in between embarked security missions; this avoids the need to stage weapons and people in nearby coastal states, a legally fraught proposition that occasionally ends in weapons confiscation, arrests and criminal charges. Local firearms laws do not always contain exceptions for security contractors or personnel in transit, and enforcement varies - but at sea, in international waters, the contractor can store and maintain their equipment without interference.
By the nature of their business, floating armory operations tend to be opaque, and the ownership and management of the Hui Chuan are not clear. The 1984-built vessel is flagged in Honduras and owned and operated by a letterbox company in the Marshall Islands. The holding company owns one other vessel, the 1993-built fishing vessel Sunny Ocean.
Fuente: Maritime Executive
