Under pressure from Greece’s navy, traders of Russian oil have found a new place to switch cargoes of crude in the Mediterranean sea near the city of Nador at the eastern end of Morocco’s coast. Since May, Greece’s navy has been holding naval exercises in a location where the trade had been taking place in a attempt to deter it. The new location is close to the Spanish-run enclave Melilla, raising the prospect that Madrid might repeat steps it took to block similar activity 140 miles to the west, near its other enclave Ceuta. Those measures ultimately stopped the practice. The 'Rolin' was s receiving Urals crude from the smaller tanker 'Serendi' (IMO: 9296810). It was the first time that the STS transfer of the grade has taken place there. Two more Aframax-class ship, the 'Ocean AMZ' and 'Sea Fidelity' — have also arrived. All three loaded about 730,000 barrels of Urals from Russia’s Baltic sea port of Primorsk.
News
LUCERNE
On June 2, 2024, the 'Lucerne' assisted a fishing vessel with 17 people on board, which was taking on water three nautical miles off-shore of Duiker Island in Hout Bay and had issued a Mayday call. TheNSRI Hout Bay, Bakoven and Table Bay were activated to respond to base to prepare rescue craft to launch to assist. The 'Lucerne' diverted to assist, reached the vessel. It went aongside as a precaution until the fishing vessel managed to get the engine running again. As a precaution, the skipper headed his vessel away from land to give them added drift time, in case the engine conced out again. The crew had stemmed the ingress of water. The vessel was heading towards the port of Table Bay in up to four-metre swells, occasional rain and fair winds and rough seas. The NSRI Table Bay lifeboat 'DHL Deliverer' reached the vessel where, once on-scene, the 'Lucerne' was released to return to the fishing grounds. A towline was established to begin towing the fishing vessel towards the Port of Table Bay. The towline snapped due to chaffing but was quickly re-established. The ship was finally handed over to the waiting Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) tug 'Blue Jay', that brought the vessel to a berth in the port. The fishing company has initiated repairs.
Tallinn
Active construction is currently underway in the D-terminal of the Port of Tallinn being built by Nordecon, in order to open the first phase of construction of the renovated D-terminal to passengers within two months, the port says in a press release. A digital twin of the new D-Terminal building and the remodeled part which aims to make the building's life cycle more efficient was created in the BIM implementation model. The completion of the extension and reconstruction work of the port is scheduled for summer 2020.
Rostock
Marine battery supplier Corvus Energy is to install its lithium-ion battery storage systems onboard AIDA Cruises’ ships to reduce fossil fuel use and emissions. In a project that will also involve ABB and Siemens, Corvus will install and commission the battery storage systems on the first AIDA ship in 2020. The companies then plan to then use their findings from the pilot project to successfully fit battery systems onboard other vessels in the AIDA fleet. “Our goal is the emissions-neutral ship operation,” said Michael Thamm, group CEO of Costa Group and Carnival Asia.
ANTHEM OF THE SEAS
A 53 yar old crew member of the 'Anthem of the Seas' had to be medevaced off the coast of Ushant by helicopter on the morning of June 3, 2024, due to chest pain. Around 8 a.m. the medical evacuation operation was decided by the Maritime Medical Coordination Center when the ship was 38 nautical miles northwest of the island. The patient was airlifted aboard a Lanvéoc H160 helicopter at 9:18 a.m. and transferred to the Brest hospital center, where he was treated at 10:20 a.m.
CELEBRITY EQUINOX
A passenger of the 'Ecelebrity Equinox' lost consciosness and died in the cabin on the afternoon of June 1, 2024, while the ship was docked at the Port of Mykonos. The local port authority was immediately informed. The 81-year-old female passenger was pronounced dead by the ship's doctor. The Coast Guard report states that the passenger's body was to be transported to the cruise ship's final destination in Civitavecchia, where the ship is due to arrive on June 4. The Mykonos Port Authority conducted a preliminary investigation into the incident.
Rotterdam
The Port of Rotterdam Authority has reached an agreement with Sif Holding n.v. regarding the lease of 20 ha of port site and a 200-m stretch of deep-sea quay at Maasvlakte. Sif’s new lot lies adjacent to its existing port site, where the company already works on the assembly of foundations for offshore wind turbines, the company said in its release. Sif will be using the newly allocated site on behalf of clients active in the offshore wind power sector. The first project to be undertaken at the new site will be the logistics handling of all 94 monopiles (wind turbine foundations) destined for the offshore wind farm Borssele 1 + 2, commissioned by Deme Offshore.
Tangier
Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has concluded an agreement with long-term customer EUROGATE Tanger (EGT) in Morocco to upgrade four ZPMC ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, as part of the terminal’s expansion plans. With a quay length of 821 meters, a terminal area of 400,000 m2 and a water depth of up to 18 meters, the facility is well-equipped to handle the new generation of containerships. The terminal’s equipment fleet already includes several Kalmar machines, including rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs). Furthermore, Kalar will be responsible for the planning, engineering and execution of the entire project, which involves heightening the four STS cranes by 11 meters and extending the booms by six meters. The project with Kalmar will help the terminal serve mega-sized container vessels.
ARK PRESTIGE
On May 29, 2024, the Colombo Additional Magistrate Keminda Perera has issued a foreign travel ban to the Indian captain Raj Dev Yadev of the 'Ark Prestige', which caused an oil spill in Colombo. An investigation was started regarding a hydraulic oil leak from the ship, which was berthed at the dockyard jetty of Colombo Port, where the vessel had arrived for maintenance on April 20. The ban was to prevent him from leaving the country for one month. After considering a request made by the Colombo Port Police, the Magistrate who issued the ban on foreign travel has asked the police to forward the order to the Immigration Controller and inform the captain about the prohibition order. After considering the facts of the complaint, the Magistrate issued the relevant order to be effective for one month and ordered police to inform the court about the progress of the investigation.
ICON OF THE SEAS
The passenger who jumped from the running track on the fifth deck of the 'Icon of the Seas' on May 26, fell 90 feet to his death. Each deck is about 20 feet high. He was likely dead when he was recovered from the water. The doctor on board pronounced him dead once his body was transported to the medical bay. The passenger’s body was then stored in the on-board morgue, which is equipped with eight drawers. The body was removed from the ship after it docked on the morning of June 1. The man’s body was transported via van to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office. The police met the ship and took statements at the docks, and retrieved a copy of the surveillance footage of the fatal incident. The overboard detection system was activated almost immediately, prompting onboard staff into action. The protocol was to immediately make visual contact. One guard also saw the man jump on a security camera feed. The captain stopped and turned the ship around. Once the alert was sounded, the ship’s specialized security team prepared to take a rescue boat out to pick up the man. The rest of the security team was stationed at predetermined lookout spots to do a 360-degree scan of the surrounding waters, while the Coast Guard was also briefed and immediately sent out an aircraft to the site. While the potential rescue got underway, the vessel's medical team was put on high alert. The ship had paramedics, nurses, former ER doctors, and even a surgeon on board – as well as all the lifesaving medical equipment. The man was likely not alive when he was recovered from the water. Report with photo and video: https://nypost.com/2024/06/02/us-news/icon-of-the-seas-jumper-fell-90-feet-sources/
Wismar
Genting Hong Kong (GHK) has officially secured funding for the construction and post-delivery financing of Dream Cruises’ two new Global Class ships. KfW IPEX-Bank will supply US$2.9 billion, with backing from the Federal Republic of Germany, Finnish export credit agency Finnvera, and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. At an overall cost of €3.1 billion (US$3.4 billion), the two new vessels are currently being built at GHK-owned shipyard MV Werften in Germany for the fast-growing Asian cruise market. “We are very appreciative of KfW IPEX-Bank, the bank consortium, the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Finnvera for supporting GHK in the financing of the Global Class ships,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chief executive of Genting Hong Kong.
Mogadishu
Qatar has established an investment partnership with Somalia to build a new port in the latter's country. The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Qatar said that the partnership between Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani) and Somalia will see the construction of the Hobyo Port in the Mudug region of central Somalia. Hobyo Port is expected to bring multiple economic benefits for Somalia. The port could create new business opportunities for the country by bolstering the commercial relationship with new markets in Africa and providing access to global markets, in addition to providing maritime services to vast areas in Somalia. The Hobyo Port is in proximity to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most important sea crossing points. Hobyo is also important due to its location in the Mudug region, which links the south and north of the country.