As the sailors on board call it, the Athena first docked at Valencia, Spain's largest port.
Under the pretext of going to the duty-free shops in the port, the two reporters found a restaurant where they could see the entire Athena, and while eating, they watched the cargo unloaded from the Athena.
What is unloaded here in Valencia is not grain, but mainly containers of goods.
The grain is loaded in the hold of the ship, and equipment such as a conveyor belt is required to unload the grain from the ship.
Valencia is located on the west coast of the Mediterranean, and large freighters such as the Athena, even if they need to be transited, should be carried out in a port in Italy or Greece, in the heart of the Mediterranean, because this is the least costly.
After a day's stay in Valencia, the Athena continued its voyage north to Marseille, the largest port in France.
The two female journalists were naturally fascinated by France, and their U.S. passports allowed them to enter France visa-free, but they were so busy with tasks that they cut off the idea of going to the city for a stroll.
In Marseille, not only did the Athena unload a lot of cargo, but a large amount of cargo was loaded onto the Athena.
But the grain on board still had no intention of being unloaded.
The Athena stayed in Marseille for a day and a half before leaving Marseille for Italy, where the two reporters became more familiar with the work of large ocean-going vessels after working in the first two ports.
They knew that in order to unload the grain in the lower hold, they had to rely on the professional equipment on the dock, because the grain was transported in bulk, not in containers.
This specialized device is called a grain suction machine, which is somewhat similar to a large vacuum cleaner that will stick a tube into the hold of a cargo ship, suck up the grain particles in it, and transport it to a warehouse or other ship by conveyor belt.
Not long after leaving France, the Athena made a surprise stop at the port of Naples.
This is surprising because it is not the most suitable transit terminal, it is located in the western part of the Apennine Peninsula, and even the layman knows that if you want to transit large freighters, it is better to use the port of Taranto in Italy, where the boot is close to the heel of the shoe.
In the port of Naples, however, the female reporters of the New York Times finally met the food suction machine they had been waiting for.
On the dock of Naples, the giant Athena was quietly docked on the dock, and the giant grain suction machine put its suction into the belly of the Athena, and the donated grain from the United States left the giant ship named after the goddess.
"It's just spectacular," said two reporters on the docks, faithfully recording the spectacle of the unloading of the grain, while continuing to inquire about the whereabouts of the grain.
"So much food, what will happen to it next" The female reporter wore a hard hat and took the time to find a security officer on the dock and quietly inquired.
"It should be loaded onto the ships of other shipping companies and transported to other places, we Italy will not import so much grain," the security officer on the dock saw that the other party was a beautiful young woman, and was also happy to chat with the other party.
"Other shipping companies, isn't it the parent company of the goddess Athena who is responsible for the next transportation" The female reporter was very interested in the shipping company that continued to transport this batch of grain, because only writing about the shipping company was obviously the clue below.
"The ships of the MSC are very recognizable, their cargo ships are all named after women, like the goddess Artemis, the goddess Hestia, as long as you find a freighter with this name, ten of them are MSC freighters."
The dock security officer introduced to the female reporter.
"The woman's name is really strange, I thought the freighter would have a name like Poseidon, Hercules," the female reporter said casually, and she was thinking of an excuse to ask the shipping company responsible for the subsequent journey of this batch of grain.
"What's strange about this, the boss of the MSC is a woman who tells you a secret, this woman is the shipping company that she bought from the mafia.
The shipyards of Naples love this woman to death, and buy new ships almost every year, each with a larger tonnage, and the money is never delayed, and now the shipbuilding industry in Naples is almost exclusively working for the Mediterranean Shipping," the safety officer continued.
"Female boss, mafia, you're not joking, are you?"
the female reporter immediately became excited when she heard such a violent news.
"Of course, it's not a joke, when the MSC asset audit, the boss of Naples almost came, and all the freighters of the entire MSC were lined up and drove in front of the female boss one by one, which woman doesn't know where it came from, but I think it is more majestic than the mafia" The security officer on the dock has worked here all his life, and some things that happen on the dock are also the talk of his life forever.
When MSC was audited, according to the requirements of the audit company, all ships and vehicles belonging to MSC were to be lined up to prevent double counting, and on that day every cargo ship that entered the port of Naples sounded its whistle to welcome the new owner, which the safety officer planned to tell his granddaughter after retirement.
The female reporter continued to inquire about the news of Mediterranean Shipping, but the security officer was just a small person and did not know much about it.
But what he said had already made the female reporters of the New York Times rejoice, the mafia, the female ship king, plus the domestic farmers' association, the Department of Agriculture.
How many other big names are involved in this grain smuggling chain, oh yes, by the way, the oil tankers in Guantanamo Bay that were used to attack American bases seem to be Mediterranean shipping.
At the time, the company said the ships had been hijacked by militants en route off the west coast of Africa.
The United States has always believed that the Cubans did this, because it is very close to the waters of Angola, and Angola is in the midst of a white-haired civil war, and the Cubans directly sent troops to participate in it, and hijacked several cargo ships at all.
"Sir, is there a lot of grain that MSC is responsible for transporting, and where will it go after it is unloaded?"
the female reporter continued.
"I don't know if it's much, but the Mediterranean shipping is very fast, and the grain should be taken away by the Turkish shipping company immediately," the security officer replied. t1706231537: