Mikhail Pichugin, 45, who was miraculously found alive 67 days after his engine failed during an ill-fated whale-watching expedition by the 'Angel' aboard a rubber dinghy, holding on to the corpses of his brother and nephew, who died during the expedition, was in stable condition despite losing 50 kg. The crew of the fishing vessel initially thought that the tiny inflatable boat was a buoy or a piece of junk. But luckily, they decided to investigate further and found Pichugin. He was rushed to an emergency care unit at the Magadan hospital, suffering from dehydration and hypothermia. He, along with his 49-year-old brother and 15-year-old nephew, traveled to the remote Shantar Islands, a renowned feeding ground for whales, off the northwest shore of the Sea of Okhotsk in early August. However, they went missing on their way back to the city of Okha on the island of Sakhalin on Aug 9. When the family reported them missing, the local authorities launched a rescue operation. For a month, the search went on with no result and was eventually called off, assuming there was no way anyone could survive the storms. The men had taken food to last for two weeks, warm clothes, life jackets, flares, and about five gallons of water with them. The cause of their getting lost at sea was believed to be an engine failure. The local prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary criminal investigation into the deaths. Along with that, Pichugin may face jail time, as under Russian law, his boat was prohibited from traveling more than two nautical miles from the shore. Report with photo and video: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/man-survives-67-days-lost-at-sea-holding-bodies-of-brother-and-nephew-in-a-tiny-boat/ar-AA1sk66y
News
Koper
The Koper port placed 80th on this year’s list of 900 best connected container ports in the world, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). The port has been listed the highest among all Adriatic Sea container ports since the first such ranking in 2006. The first place went to the Shanghai port, while the port of Antwerp was the best in Europe, having been placed 6th in the world.
Klaipeda
In July 2019 Konecranes received an order from Klaipeda Container Terminal (KCT) in Lithuania for two Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes, which will be delivered in Q1 2021. The order follows an earlier agreement for a Konecranes Gottwald Model 5 Mobile Harbor Crane, which was delivered in June 2019.
HMNZS MANAWANUI
The HMS 'Tamar' of the British Navy has found the navigation record book from the HMNZS 'Manawanui' during a patrol off the coast of Upolu, in Samoa. The crew on board the 'Tamar' has been searching for items from the wreck and monitoring oil pollution. The Defence Force said it had no details about how the document was recovered. Meanwhile, another New Zealand Navy ship, the HMNZS 'Canterbury', has arrived in Apia carrying specialist equipment to deal with three containers from the ship which remained out on the reef. The team has emptied one of the containers and one was already empty. The third one holds 3000 kg of food but was not watertight. The containers were damaged and are being moved by tides and swells. The Defence Force was working with a local contractor to float the three metre containers and tow them to shore. It was expected to take at least three days to remove them, depending on the weather.
Gdansk
The world’s largest container ship MSC Gulsun arrived at container terminal DCT Gdańsk on Friday. During its stop, 11,000 containers will be reloaded, which means the largest regular container exchange in Europe. MSC Gulsun is the first ship in the world with a width of 24 rows of containers and a capacity of 23,756 TEU.
Puerto Cortes
Customers and port stakeholders of Operadora Portuaria Centroamericana (OPC), the Honduran subsidiary of International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) operating Puerto Cortes, Central America 4’s (CA-4) largest port, can expect faster cargo movement in and around the terminal with OPC beefing up its partnership with Honduran authorities for improved and more efficient port services. OPC is working with the Honduran government and Puerto Cortés authorities to enhance the port’s competitiveness and better serve its customers in the four-nation CA-4, comprising Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Enhancements include simplified and faster port transactions, and the construction of critical road infrastructure the will improve cargo movement in the region. As part of efforts to expedite intra-regional trade, the Honduran Customs Agency (Dirección Adjunta de Rentas Aduaneras – DARA) has streamlined its systems for early clearance and dispatch of cargo, matching OPC’s already-efficient operations. Operating hours of customs authorities were likewise extended until 7 p.m., thus giving agents and brokers more time to process shipment.
MARAN HERMES
A group of activists protested on Oct 16 as the 'Libra', carrying migrants intercepted in international waters' arrived in the port of Shengjin, one of the two centres Italy opened in Albania, under Rome's jurisdiction, where it plans to process thousands of asylum-seekers outside its borders. The first centre, an area in Shengjin, 66 kilometres northwest of the capital, Tirana, is used for screening newcomers, while the other centre, about 22 kilometres to its east near the former military airport in Gjader, accommodates migrants during the processing of their asylum requests. The protesters displayed a banner that read, “The European dream ends here." The protesters stated that the deal was against human rights. Such a deal has not been democratic because the peoples of both countries have not been asked. The ship had brought the first group of 16 male migrants, 10 from Bangladesh and six from Egypt, who were rescued at sea after departing from Libya. Report with photo and video: https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/top-stories/activists-protest-as-first-group-of-16-migrants-on-italian-ship-arrive-in-albania/ar-AA1sosPY
BALTIC LEADER
A French court has acquitted the captain of the 'Baltic Leader', who was accused of violating EU sanctions in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine when he left the port of Rouen. He was cleared by the Rouen Criminal Court on Oct 10, 2024, after facing charges and having his ship confiscated by French authorities. The prosecution had sought a €16 million fine and a 10-month suspended prison sentence, arguing that the vessel was owned by PSB Leasing, a Russian company under sanctions. At the centre of the case was the question of the ship’s ownership at the time of its interception. Prosecutors contended that the vessel remained under the control of PSB Leasing, a subsidiary of the Russian state-linked Promsvyazbank, which had been targeted by European sanctions. However, the captain’s defence had argued the vessel had already been sold to another company, the TransMorFlot, just days before the war in Ukraine broke out. The court’s ruling followed a similar decision by the Douai Court of Appeal in Dec 2022, which had ordered the release of the ship, determining that TransMorFlot had taken ownership on Feb 16, 2022, nine days before the 'Baltic Leader' was seized.
Los Angeles - Long Beach_mini
The U.S.-China tariff Opens a New Window. spat has led to a reduction of ships coming in from China and a spike in other Asia countries, according to Mario Cordero, the executive director of the Port of Long Beach. “At least in the first six months of this year, there has been a change of 22% reduction from the China origin of the cargo,” he told FOX Business Cheryl Casone on “The Claman Countdown.” Officials at the port announced earlier this month that cargo volumes in July were down compared to the year before, seeing a 9.7% drop.
Istanbul
Istanbul’s Galataport, a megaproject expected to boost the city’s tourism with cruise ports and increase tourism revenues, is and slated to open in May 2020. Galataport is jointly being built by Turkey’s Doğuş Group and Bilgili Holding with an investment of $1.7 billion. It is dubbed one of the world’s largest coastal projects, aiming to become one of the top cruise destinations. In a press conference held yesterday in Istanbul, Doğuş Group Chairman Ferit Şahenk confirmed that the port has a capacity to welcome 25 million visitors per year, including 7 million foreigners. The estimated revenues from the increasing number of tourists will be around $1 billion. “The port also has two museums and a recreation area of 14,000 square meters to host culture and art events,” Şahenk added. The Doğuş Group chairman remarked that a “1.2-kilometer-long coast line, which has been closed to the public for 200 years, is now preparing to welcome its visitors.