PUTRAJAYA, May 9 — Transport Minister Anthony Loke today said the ship claimed to be owned by an Israeli company while using the port in this country has actually changed ownership to another company based in Hong Kong.

He insisted that his ministry had inspected and investigated the matter and found that the vessel was registered under ZIM Rotterdam earlier.

"But they have changed hands and the ship is now called MV Rotterdam and the ownership of the ship is not ZIM Rotterdam but under the GoldStar Line company.

"Our policy is that we strictly stipulate that the ZIM Rotterdam shipping company is not allowed to dock in Malaysia, but when the ship has changed hands and belongs to another company, we cannot stop it (using a domestic port) because we are a trading country,” he told the media after a Madani Goodwill and Ministry of Transport Monthly Gathering here today.

Earlier, a report by a local portal claimed that a cargo ship belonging to an Israeli company was spotted departing from Malaysia last week, less than five months after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that all ships belonging to the Zionist regime were prohibited from using ports in this country as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

On December 20, the Malaysian government decided not to accept ships flying the Israeli flag to be anchored in the country with immediate effect.

At the same time, Anwar was reported as saying that the government also imposed a ban on any ship on its way to Israel from loading cargo at Malaysian ports. — Bernama