The crew of the 'Galaxy Leader' expressed their hope for an early return to their families, when a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited the vessel on May 12 near the port city of Hodeidah. It was the first time that the organization did so, after the vessel was hijacked by the Houthi group. The delegation has met all 25 detainees to check on their condition and listen to their concerns. The crew consists of different nationalities, including Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Mexican and Filipino nationals. The Houthi group, also known as Ansar Allah, claimed that the crew have regular communication with their families. The Houthi group warned they will not be released until Israel's war on Gaza stops and permanent ceasefire is reached with Hamas.
News
Rostock
On May 2, a HLC 295000 heavy load crane of Liebherr mounted on the deck of the 'Orion I' crashed in the Seaport of Rostock during a test when lifting a pontoon which was filled with 5.550 tons of water. The crane boom broke off, and parts fell onto the 'Orion I', which started to list to port side, and onto the quay edge. Heavy metal pieces flew around. Five people inside the crane's cabin were injured by the heave jerk. The fire brigade, ambulances and police attended with a large contingent. They tried to free the victims from the steel mesh. There were two serious and three minor injuries. A total of 120 people were on board the 'Orion I' who were now being evacuated and looked after. A rescue helicopter has landed. In addition, large amounts of oil leaked out, which the fire brigade has to collect before it got into the water. It is the second accident on the Liebherr site within a few months. In January, two loading cranes fell into the water during tests. The salvage then took several months. Reports with photos and video: https://www.nonstopnews.de/meldung/32916 https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/Rostock-Erneutes-Unglueck-mit-Hafenkran,hafenkran156.html https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/panorama/id_87809036/rostock-krank-knickt-im-hafen-ab-fuenf-verletzte.html
Everett WA
The American destroyer USS 'Kidd' returned to Everett after nearly 50 crew members aboard were tested positive for coronavirus as of April 27, 2020. This was the second reported outbreak of COVID-19 aboard a US Navy vessel at sea. After concerns were raised about cases aboard the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt', one sailor assigned to that ship died from coronavirus complications. Roughly half the crew members on the USS 'Kidd' have been tested for the virus, and some have been evacuated. 45% of the ship have been tested for COVID-19, with 47 total positive results. Two Sailors have been medically evacuated. 15 sailors have been transferred to USS 'Makin Island (LHD 8)' for monitoring due to persistent symptoms. None were in the ICU or on ventilators. Sailors aboard the USS 'Kidd' were wearing PPE and N95 masks. Initial COVID-19 testing of sailors from the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt' were now complete, there are 955 active cases, along with 14 recovered cases. The USS 'Kidd' was on a counter narcotics mission' when ait was reported at least 18 crew had fallen ill with the virus.
USNS ALAN SHEPARD
The USNS 'Alan Shephard', which ran aground in Bahrain on July 15, 2023, ran aground while the master briefly stepped away for dinner, a summary of a service investigation revealed. The Military Sealift Command vessel was on its way for repairs ahead of sea trials when it got stuck near Khalifa Bin Salman Port, according to the report, which a spokesperson from Naval Forces Central Command shared with Military Times on May 8, 2024. The investigation, which wrapped up in August 2023, found that within roughly 20 minutes of the ship’s master leaving to eat, a loss of situational awareness and poor procedural compliance led to the grounding. With a crew composed of civilian mariners licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard, the vessel continued its transit from a repair yard to the Bahraini port after the ship’s master left the bridge for a meal, leaving another officer at the helm. But just minutes later, in order to avoid hitting a fishing vessel, that junior officer turned the ship into a shoal, grounding it on the soft bottom. The officer “was not cognizant of the ship’s position in relation to the shoals and shallow water while he was maneuvering the vessel to avoid the contact,” the report noted. The master’s failure to be present on the bridge, as required, whenever the ship is operating in restricted waters also played a role in the incident. The ship was refloated on the morning of July 16 with assistance of Bahraini tugs and the rising tide. No injuries were reported, and there was no operational impact. A diver inspection and American Bureau of Shipping evaluation revealed only minor scratches to the paint on the hull of the ship, and no other damage.
AR MILINO
A fisherman went over board when the 'Ar Milino' was hauling in the nets approximately 10 nautical miles northwest of Perros-Guirec early on May 14, 2024. An SAR operation was launched at 1:30 a.m. The CROSS Corsen immediately mobilized significant, involving an H160 helicopter of the French Navy and a Dragon 29 of civil security, two SNSM lifeboats, a customs launch and eight fishing vessels. As of 9:40 a.m., the fisherman had not yet been found.
Marseille
The 'AIDAblu' made a brief stopover yesterday in Marseille on April 26, 2020, to embark several hundred crew members of one of his sisterships, the 'AIDAsol', which has been moored in the port for 1,5 months. The transfer took place to facilitate the repatriation of AIDA personnel via Germany. The 'AIDAblu' set sail again in the afternoon. At the same time, another cruise ship which had been berthed in Marseille since last month, the 'Europa 2' of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, set sail to also return to Germany, its arrival in Hamburg was scheduled for May 2. The Marseille areas now hosted six cruise ships, the 'Costa Smeralda', 'MSC Magnifica' and 'AIDAsol', 'Le Boréal', 'L’Austral' and 'Le Lyrial'. The repatriation operations of the international personnel of these ships was still in progress, in particular via flights chartered by the owners. This was particularly the case for the crew members of the 'MSC Magnifica', which arrived on April 20 and who also landed 4 tonnes of food surplus, donated to local associations to help the most disadvantaged.
GEO BARENTS
On the morning of May 13, the 'Geo Barents' has rescued 43 migrants, who were adrift in a wooden boat in the waters of the central Mediterranean while fleeing from Libya. The Italian authorities, within their policy of assigning ports distant from humanitarian vessels, forced the ship to disembark the castaways in the port of Civitavecchia, about a thousand kilometers from the place where the rescue took place, with an ETA as of May 16. The 'Geo Barents' was blocked a month ago in the port of Marina de Carrara for 20 days despite a Civil Court in Calabria lifting an administrative blockade suffered by the ship.
LASCAUX
The 'Lascaux' has rescued the two crew members of the 15,75-m-sailing yacht "Alborán Cognac" on May 12, 2024, en route from Gibraltar to Banco del Hoyo. The Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 519 charter yacht had been struck by orcas at around 9 a.m., about 26 kilometers off Cape Spartel at the southern entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, The rudder blade and the hull was damaged. When water entered the boat, the sailors made an emergency call. Salvamento Marítimo urged the crew to put on their life jackets and activate the AIS, as well as have the radio beacons ready in case of need for location. A helicopter took off from Spain, and the tanker, which was sailing nearby, was asked to divert to the stricken ship. One hour after the emergency call, the shipwrecked people were safely taken on board by the tanker and dropped off in Gibraltar at 10.30 a.m. The yacht sank while it was being towed by a Moroccan patrol boat towards the port.
San Diego
The number of coronavirus cases aboard the USS 'Kidd' rose to 64 as the Navy destroyer pulled into port at San Diego on April 28, 2020, to get medical care for the crew and to disinfect and decontaminate the ship. The 'Kidd' was the second Navy ship to have an outbreak of the disease while at sea, the other being the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt', an aircraft carrier that has been docked at Guam for a month and has more than 900 sailors with confirmed cases of COVID-19, but the entire crew has now been tested. The Navy has moved swiftly to get the 'Kidd''s crew ashore. That was a point of contention with the 'Roosevelt', whose skipper, Capt. Brett Crozier, felt compelled to write to several other commanders pleading for more urgent Navy action to protect his crew of nearly 5,000. Crozier was then relieved of command for what the Navy's top civilian official at the time, Thomas Modly, called poor judgment. Modly resigned several days later, and the Navy is now seeking higher-level approval to reverse his move and restore Crozier to command. The Navy said that 63% of the 'Kidd''s crew of more than 300 had been tested as of April 28. One sailor was medically evacuated to the United States on April 22 after experiencing shortness of breath. Fifteen were transferred to another ship with a medical facility for closer observation of symptoms. Sailors being removed from the 'Kidd' at San Diego will be isolated with twice-daily medical screenings. Crew members who have tested negative will enter quarantine for a period of observation, with military health professionals monitoring them for symptoms. Also, a small contingent of sailors who tested negative will remain on the ship for essential services and deep cleaning. The cleaning is expected to take two weeks. The destroyer had been off the Pacific coast of Central American doing counter-narcotics operations. The Navy said no deployed ships currently have known coronavirus cases aboard. 13 ships that previously had one or more active cases while in port have zero cases now.
Flensburg
The Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft shipyard a which had been operating at a loss for some time, filed for self-administered insolvency on April 24. The goal of the shipyard’s filing was to permit it to start afresh. The future of Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in the medium term was in building Ro-Ro ferries, according to the message delivered by the management at a workers meeting on Sunday April 26. The move is specifically designed to allow the company to start from fresh without existing contractual obligations to customers and suppliers. Though an administrator will be brought in from outside the company, the company management will continue to control the business which is a different process to bankruptcy in German law. Investor Lars Windhorst is prepared to put money into the business through his Tennor Holding investment vehicle. Tennor Holding took 100% control of the yard in 2019. He has said, however, that the money should not be used on loss making contracts. The former majority owner Siem Industries is interested in contracting 4 further Ro-Ro ferries from the yard. Siem recently took delivery of LIEKUT, the eighth of a series of vessels built by FSG for the company to charter out. FSG had been making significant losses for a number of years. The Siem group acquired the company for a token €1 back in November 2014 after severe liquidity problems. Those losses massively increased in recent years, however, with the yard losing an eye watering €111m in 2018. The hugely increased losses were due in part to delivery delays with Irish Ferries 'W.B. Yeats' and the subsequent penalty payments made to Irish Continental Group (ICG). The agreed contract price to build the 'W.B. Yeats' is understood to have left little to no margin for the yard in the first place.