DHAKA: US cargo ship Cape Ray will set sail for the Mediterranean on January 3, local media say.

The vessel is specially equipped to neutralize toxins, as the ones to be moved out of Syria over 2014, reports The Voice of Russia.

According to insider sources, the ship will reach an Italian port ten days after leaving its Norfolk base in the US state of Virginia and will be moored outside the haven.

The vessel has been outfitted with two hydraulic systems that will be used to render Syrian chemicals harmless.

A third hydraulic system will be switched on in case any of the active two breaks down.

Earlier it was reported that the United States could begin the at-sea elimination of Syria’s most hazardous chemical-warfare materials before February, mass media quoted the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as saying on Tuesday.

‘We hope that by the end of January, the destruction on the American ship could start,’ OPCW Director General Ahmet Üzümcü said while in Oslo, Norway, to accept the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize for his organization.

He added, ‘Much will depend in fact on the security situation and unfortunately the security situation has deteriorated over the past weeks. Some roads were not accessible’.

BDST: 1922 HRS, DEC 26, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor