After an awful 31-day journey at the hands of Somali pirates, the 'Abdullah' with 23 crew members on board, and loaded with 55,000 tons of coal, arrived safely at the Al Hamriya Port in Dubai on April 22 at 4.30 p.m. Bangladesh time, bringing an end to the voyage, during which, on March 12, it was hijacked in the Indian Ocean while en route from Maputo to the United Arab Emirates. The Kabir Group, the parent company of SR Shipping and the owner of the 'Abdullah', verified the vessel’s safe arrival. After the hijack, the pirates reportedly demanded a ransom of $5 millionduring the early stages of negotiations for the crew’s release. The process entailed several discussions, with the ship’s owners, SR Shipping Limited, working relentlessly to ensure the crew’s safe return. The crew was ultimately released on April 13, and the ship began its journey to Al Hamriya Port, arriving there after eight days of navigation. Captain Mohammad Abdur Rashid stated that all 23 crew members were safe and sound. To crew members will fly back to Bangladesh, while the others will remain on board to await the end of the unloading procedure.
News
KONGSFJORD
The police have identified the body, which was found in the trawl of the 'Kongsfjord'. On April 22 the police state dthat it was Latvian Romans Solovjovs (38), who was found south-east of Svalbard. The next of kin have been notified. There was no final autopsy report, but the cause of death was stated to be drowning. The Havøy Kystfiske was grateful for the discovery of Solojovs and expressed their thanks for the efforts of the crew of the trawler for finding and bringing the deceased ashore. They hoped that this finding would give the police the answers they need to close the investigation, and bring some form of closure to the Solovjovs' family. Solovjovs was reported missing to the police following a report of a man overboard on the snow crab vessel "Hunter" off Svalbard on Jan 30, 2023. According to the accident report from February 2023, Solovjovs fell overboard while preparing the rails. Following the accident, the Accident Investigation Board notified the Norwegian Maritime Directorate of what they believed to be safety-critical conditions on board. As a result, the ship was detained in Tromsø until orders from the Norwegian Maritime Directorate were rectified. In that connection, all certificates were confiscated and declared invalid due to serious security discrepancies. The background was precisely the fatal accident. Owner Jøran Helde in Havøy Kystfiske, who owns the vessel, complained about this decision from the directorate. He then stated that the shipping company disagreed with a large number of findings in the audit report, and that it was therefore appealed. The case has not been finally decided. The ship remained docked in Ålesund. The shipping company had to pay half a million Norwegian crowns after it was discovered that the ship had too many foreign employees in the crew.
Whittier
U.S. Coast Guard crews have given up the search for a 49-year-old Cordova man who went missing after an explosion and subsequent fire on a fixed barge at Delong Dock in Whittier, Alaska, shortly after midnight on Monday. The fire spread to the pier and then to the Anagalik, a 99-foot commercial fishing vessel that was initially reported to have two people aboard at the time of the explosion. Whittier Police Department personnel have since confirmed one of those two is safely aboard a different vessel en route to Whittier. The fire has now been extinguished, but the fishing vessel and barge sank in 85 feet of water at the pier with a potential maximum of 5,500 gallons of fuel oil aboard. The fishing vessel owners have contracted Global Diving and Salvage for clean-up and salvage efforts. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak has searched for the missing person by air, and crews aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur and Coast Guard Auxiliary 336 searched nearby waters.
Halsa
With a NOK 1.23 billion offer, Fjord1 won the concession to run the E39 Halsa-Kanestraum route, the latest major ferry connection awarded by the Norwegian Road Authority.
MV KARAR
After three days of preliminary questions, the trial regarding the drug seizure aboard the 'Karar' faced the beginning of a key phase on April 22: the interrogations of the accused. The 14 crew members from Nepal and Bangladesh of the ship, which was transporting the 3.8 tons of cocaine, who will be released this week after four years in prison at the end of the maximum period of preventive detention, will be the first to testify. In the session, six of them already did so, including the captain, who, like the rest, confessed his guilt. Alim Ullah, the 48-year-old Bangladeshi, acknowledged that, after leaving Panama, they loaded the drugs on the high seas off the coast of Colombia and that the instructions were to take them to Vigo, where they were to land it about 350 nautical miles from the Olívic city. Along with the crew, Bueu resident José Manuel Blanco Gestido was on the ship, the only Spaniard on board, whom the captain and the other defendants who testified have incriminated by indicating that he was in charge of supervising the illicit cargo. Given the exceptional situation that the entire foreign crew was experiencing due to their imminent release – the maximum period of deprivation of liberty expires on April 25 at dawn – the prosecutor accepted that the interrogations of the 28 accused would begin with these sailors. The intention of their defense lawyers – given that, lacking economic means and roots in Spain, they will be welcomed in shelters spread across several Galician provinces – is to be excused from attending the trial sessions until the final day. Alim Ullah, the captain, was the first to testify. With the help of an interpreter. He confessed his participation in the drug trafficking operation that failed when at 6:20 a.m. on April 25, 2020, the “Karar” was boarded with the cache inside. The rest of the interrogated crew members also admitted their guilt: Mohammed Iman Sharif, Mohammed Ataur Rahman, Altaf Hossain, Mahfuzul Hoque and Tamang Kiran, all from Bangladesh except the last one, a Nepalese, as well as the remaining eight sailors who was to testify on April 23. All initially face, according to the prosecutor's provisional qualification document, 13,5 years in prison. They related how on the bridge of the “Karar” there was a nautical chart with the coordinates in pencil about the unloading point. When they left their countries of origin, several of them stressed, they were unaware that the voyage was to transport drugs, but already in Panama, where they left, they knew the illicit purpose of the trip and knew that they were carrying bales of cocaine on the ship. Another crew member reported that, after several days of crossing, they loaded the drugs in front of Colombia, a task that took them one or two hours. Other defendants gave more details about this moment, such as the electrician, the only one who did not need an interpreter. To load the bales they used a crane. It was the middle of the night, they were on the high seas and several boats with the drugs approached them. The only Galician who was on board wrote down with a pen in a book and all the bundles were stored in a tank, which was closed with screws and nuts. that Blanco Gestido, he said, secured with a flange. The Nepalese Tamang Kiran was the one who had contact with the outside world through satellite phone. He was speaking with a compatriot named Lama: he is not prosecuted in the case, but, according to the statements, he was one of the leaders in the illicit operation. Settled between Panama and Colombia, he was at the meeting prior to the departure of the “Karar”. Report with photo: https://www.farodevigo.es/gran-vigo/2024/04/22/capitan-karar-confiesa-cargaron-cocaina-colombia-destino-vigo-101392831.html
IUVENTA
A court in Trapani has decided not to initiate a main trial against the accused crew of the 'Iuventa'. The trial, which has been ongoing since 2017 and was based on investigations, was dismissed. The sea rescuers were accused of human trafficking, which could have ended in long prison sentences. The termination of the proceedings became apparent after a hearing in February, at which the main witnesses could not remember their original statements. The charges were based on their previous statements, which alleged that the 'Iuventa' crew had worked with Libyan smuggling networks. These allegations were always denied by the defendants. After the hearing, the public prosecutor came to the conclusion that no crime had taken place and that the main witnesses were not credible. The ship, which was seized, is to be released.
Rizhao
Shandong Landbridge Group has entered into an agreement with Beijing Energy Group to jointly develop a LNG receiving terminal at Landbrige Port in Rizhao. Under the agreement, the two parties will invest RMB6.7bn ($973m) in total for the construction of the terminal, which will have a designed handling capacity of 5m tons of LNG annually. Additionally, the two companies plan to join their efforts to develop overseas energy projects.
Gothenburg
APM Terminals Gothenburg has managed to cut quay crane waiting times by as much as 90% by implementing new standard operational procedures for container lashing. This translates to a reduction from 38 minutes to just four. Using ‘Lean’ methodology, which is being adopted across all of the company’s terminals around the world, a Transformation Team at APM Terminals Gothenburg identified the root cause of the time delay – inaccurate information provided to the vessel crew.
HUNTER
The police have identified the body, which was found in the trawl of the trawler 'Kongsfjord' on April 12, 2024. On April 22 the police stated that it was Latvian Romans Solovjovs (38), who was found south-east of Svalbard. The next of kin have been notified. There was no final autopsy report, but the cause of death was stated to be drowning. The Havøy Kystfiske was grateful for the discovery of Solojovs and expressed their thanks for the efforts of the crew of the trawler for finding and bringing the deceased ashore. They hoped that this finding would give the police the answers they need to close the investigation, and bring some form of closure to the Solovjovs' family. Solovjovs was reported missing to the police following a report of a man overboard on the snow crab vessel "Hunter" off Svalbard on Jan 30, 2023. According to the accident report from February 2023, Solovjovs fell overboard while preparing the rails. Following the accident, the Accident Investigation Board notified the Norwegian Maritime Directorate of what they believed to be safety-critical conditions on board. As a result, the ship was detained in Tromsø until orders from the Norwegian Maritime Directorate were rectified. In that connection, all certificates were confiscated and declared invalid due to serious security discrepancies. The background was precisely the fatal accident. Owner Jøran Helde in Havøy Kystfiske, who owns the vessel, complained about this decision from the directorate. He then stated that the shipping company disagreed with a large number of findings in the audit report, and that it was therefore appealed. The case has not been finally decided. The ship remained docked in Ålesund. The shipping company had to pay half a million Norwegian crowns after it was discovered that the ship had too many foreign employees in the crew.
CP 311
The 'CP 311' rescued a single hand sailor of Spanish nationality who had set of with the 12-m-yacht 'Black Pit' on April 11, 2024, from Crete towards Sicily. After receiving an information on April 19 from the MRCC in Piraeus and acquiring a satellite signal indicating the possible presence of the yacht 110 miles from Cape Spartivento, about 200 km from the Calabrian coast, the Italian Coast Guard, coordinated by the Maritime Directorate of Reggio Calabria, started an SAR operation involving a plane taking off from Catania, the 'CP 311' from Roccella Jonica and two merchant ships, which diverted to the area to search the vessel. Amid very bad weather conditions, 40 knots of wind and worsening seas, the "Black Bit" was finally spotted disabled and adrift with a broken mast by the Coast Guard aircraft. The lone sailor managed to send out light signals to be identified. In the middle of the night, the 'CP 311' reached the yacht and took the man on board. After the initial treatment provided on board the patrol boat, the sailor was dropped off at the port of Roccella for further medical treatment. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XhKpXp-YDE
Sydney
DP World Australia has called for an end to the strikes at its ports this week, warning that the industrial action comes at a time when shipping lines are reviewing stevedore contracts. “The industrial action will cause significant disruption to DPWA customers and importantly the broader supply chain of shippers, exporters and importers. DPWA employees will also be unnecessarily and avoidably impacted by these lost earnings,” said Andrew Adam, chief operating officer at DPWA. DP World’s Brisbane, Sydney and Fremantle container terminals are on a rolling 48-hour strike, while workers at the company’s Melbourne operations have decided to down tools for 96 hours. The workers said in a release their actions this week are in order to fight against automation, outsourcing, cuts to income protection insurance, and “dishonest bargaining” by the company During the recent 12-week bargaining period, DP World said the local union did not make any material concessions to its initial 50 claims. These claims include a wage increase well above CPI, DP World said.
Rijeka
After many creditors withdrew distraint proceedings, the Commercial Court in Rijeka decided on Thursday to postpone the bankruptcy of Croatia’s debt-ridden shipyard “3. Maj” until Aug. 1. Seven days ago the shipyard’s account was blocked for 156 million kuna (23.8 million U.S. dollars). After some of the creditors pulled back, the blockade now amounts to 86 million kuna (13.1 million U.S. dollars). Judge of the Commercial Court in Rijeka Ljiljana Ugrin urged Croatian Electricity Industry and the Croatian government to engage in the process of revocation of the enforcement order, so that “3. Maj” could continue with unfinished shipbuilding contracts.