Coast Guard cutters repatriated 136 migrants to the Dominican Republic between May 21 and May 27, following three separate interdictions of migration attempts near Puerto Rico. The first interdiction occurred on May 17, after the aircrew of a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft sighted a 24-foot makeshift vessel taking part in an unlawful maritime migration voyage, approximately 52 nautical miles northwest of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. Coast Guard watchstanders diverted the 'Joseph Napier' which arrived on scene and embarked eight migrants who claimed to be Dominican Republic nationals. The second interdiction occurred May 20, 2024, when Customs and Border Protection (CBP) marine units interdicted a grossly overloaded makeshift vessel, approximately two nautical miles west of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Coast Guard watchstanders diverted the Coast Guard Cutter 'Joseph Tezanos', which rendezvoused with CBP and a Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action marine units and embarked 68 migrants, 60 Dominican Republic and eight Haitian nationals. The last interdiction occurred on May 21, 2024, after the aircrew of a maritime patrol aircraft detected a 30-foot makeshift vessel, approximately 63 nautical miles north of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Coast Guard watchstanders at Sector San Juan diverted the Coast Guard Cutter 'Richard Dixon', which arrived on scene, stopped the migrant vessel and embarked 61 migrants, 59 Dominican Republic and two Haitian nationals. Report with photo: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3789058/coast-guard-repatriates-136-migrants-to-dominican-republic-following-3-separate/
News
ICON OF THE SEAS
The passenger from the 'Icon of Seas' has died after jumping 80 feet deep from the cruise ship on the first night of his week-long voyage on May 26, soon after it left Florida with 7,600 passengers and 2,350 crew members on board en route to Honduras on the morning of May 26. The crew had deployed one of their rescue boats, located the man and brought him back aboard, where he was pronounced deceased. Report with photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13467531/royal-carribbean-cruise-passenger-icon-seas-ship-jump.html
Mumbai
Mumbai Port’s decision to raise the draft level to 10.3 metres and 11 metres to dock vessels at BPX and BPS respectively, subject to low tides being over 60 cm has been welcomed by maritime fraternity. This has avoided the waiting period for the vessels arriving with deep drafts till the tide is favorable for berthing. At times, such vessels had to arrange for discharging the import cargo for reducing the draft in stream and only subsequently berth at BPX/BPS.
Halifax
PSA International Pte Ltd (PSA) has completed the acquisition of Halterm Container Terminal (“Halterm”) in the Port of Halifax, Canada, from Macquarie Infrastructure Partners,a fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets, following formal approval by the relevant regulatory authorities. Halterm is the only container terminal in Eastern Canada that can serve mega container vessels.
EXCELLENCE
On the morning of May 8, 2024, the crew of the FSRU 'Excellence', operating at the Moheshkhali Floating LNG off Bangladesh, spotted a capsized fishing vessel with seven fishermen clinging to the overturned hull. The Excelerate team coordinated a response with all available service vessels and tugs to rescue the fishermen in difficult conditions. Challenged by two-meter seas and winds up to 35 knots, all of them were safely recovered by the crew of the nearby tug 'Svitzer Foxtrot' (IMO: 9592525) and subsequently transferred to a Bangladeshi Naval vessel.
OCEAN VIKING
The 'Ocean Viking' has rescued 41 people off the coast of Libya, including two minors, who were on board a wooden boat in distress on May 28. When the SOS Méditerranée teams arrived, one person was hypothermic and several were suffering from fuel burns.The majority of the people were from Syria. The Italian maritime authorities have designated the port of Ancona to disembark the rescued people.
Salalah
The Port of Salalah, Oman’s major regional gateway port and transshipment hub on the Arabian Sea, set another record in productivity with a delivering 412.97 Port Moves per Hour (PMPH) on vessel Cap San Tainaro handling 3,820 moves in a port stay of 9.25 hours. This is the highest productivity delivered by any port in the region till date.
Rijeka
The Croatian government said it would help a troubled shipyard owned by Uljanik, the country’s largest shipbuilder, resume production. The government, which owns a 25% stake in Uljanik, said in March that it would not back a proposed restructuring plan for the group due to the financial burden it would place on the state. However, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that the government was willing to support 3.Maj, which is located in the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka and is one of the group’s two shipyards, because it did not have as big a debt burden. “Unlike Uljanik, the 3.Maj is not an overly indebted company and there is an interest in the construction of new ships,” Plenkovic told a televised press conference after a government meeting. He said the government expected 3.Maj to draft a plan for its future operations.
SVITZER FOXTROT
On the morning of May 8, 2024, the crew of the FSRU 'Excellence' (IMO: 9252539), operating at the Moheshkhali Floating LNG off Bangladesh, spotted a capsized fishing vessel with seven fishermen clinging to the overturned hull. The Excelerate team coordinated a response with all available service vessels and tugs to rescue the fishermen in difficult conditions. Challenged by two-meter seas and winds up to 35 knots, all of them were safely recovered by the crew of the 'Svitzer Foxtrot' and subsequently transferred to a Bangladeshi Naval vessel.
LAAX
The 'Laax', enroute from Vatika Bay to Imam Khomeini with 14 people on board, was hit by three missiles in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen on May 28. 2024, as it passed 33 nautical miles northwest of the port of Al Mukha (Mocka or Mocha),southwest of Hodeidah. The bulk carrier sustained some damage to one of the cargo holds and was taking on waterm developing a list. It was sailing in ballast after discharging the cargo of about 60,000 tons of soya beans at the port of Ceyhan on May 21. There were no injuries on board. A total of five missiles were launched from Yemen on that day. The ship was now sailing to a port nearby (possibly Djibouti) to assess the extent of the damage. The crew, consisting of 13 Filipinos and one Ukrainian, was safe.
Taranto
This is the 22nd marine port in Yilport Holding’s portfolio, and its first terminal in Italy. The company, ranked 12th among international container terminal operators by Drewry, targets to be ranked among the top 10 by 2025. Chairman Robert Yuksel Yildirim made the following remarks at the signing ceremony: “We have a strong presence in the Mediterranean. We are in Malta and operate seven ports between Spain and Portugal. Being able to enter Italy and work here in Taranto is like filling in the missing piece of a puzzle that we are building globally. The infrastructure was there but there was no one to take care of it. Our intention is to create another success story in Taranto. From today until the end of this year, we will be fixing cranes to ramp up business, visiting potential customers, and promote the container terminal. The project also aims to cooperate with local operators to improve cargo and ro-ro traffic.”
Venice
Palma de Mallorca, Marseille, Barcelona are a few of the European ports that the President of the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority, Pino Musolino, has sent a letter to in recent days, inviting his colleagues to meet in Venice to discuss the economic and environmental impact of the cruise industry and to draw up guidelines for a new sustainable approach to maritime tourism. The ports mentioned above have already accepted and other replies are expected in the coming days. A date will soon be set for a seminar on the issues, to be held in the Venice area.