800 Japanese 4-Wheel-Drive Trucks En Route

TOKYO — A ship carrying 800 Japanese four-wheel-drive vehicles for the U.S.-led multinational force, delayed for a day until the Japanese government agreed to guarantee the crew’s safety, sailed for the Persian Gulf today, the shipping company said.

The $11 million in cargo, Japan’s first installment of the $1 billion it has promised in aid for the effort against Iraq, also included an unspecified number of water trucks and air conditioners.

Departure of the Sea Venus from the port of Nagoya was delayed when the All-Japan Seamen’s Union insisted that the government guarantee the safety of the Panamanian-registered car carrier’s 16 Filipino and four Japanese crew members. The union said its members should not be forced to sail into the tense gulf region.

The Panamanian-registered ship, owned by Kawasaki Kisen Co. Ltd., will take about three weeks to get to the area, the ship’s agent said in a telephone interview.

The vehicles are expected to be used by military staffs in the multinational forces assembled in Saudi Arabia, according to a Foreign Ministry official.