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.
News
QUEEN ANNE
The Rescue 118 helicopter was mobilized for a medevac from the 'Queen Anne' off the coast of County Donegal on May 31, 2024. The cruise ship was located 40 nautical miles north of Tory Island, en route from Invergordon to Greenock. The helicopter hovered above the decks of the ship, with a crew member being winched down. One of the ship’s passengers was winched onto the helicopter to receive further assistance. Report with photo: https://www.donegaldaily.com/2024/06/01/rescue-118-called-to-cruise-ship-off-donegal-coast/
Beirut
The Port of Beirut (PoB) resumed partial operations on Aug 10 with the first two container ships berthing in the container terminal after the explosion which killed at least 160 persons, injured thousands and made hundred thousands homeless. Out of 16 cranes at the container terminal, 12 were currently operational. The port was gradually resuming operations to ensure the supply of all kinds of goods to citizens. Bassem Al Kaissi, the new Director of the PoB, said that the container terminal will be fully operational by Aug 14. Al Kaissi said that 420 containers were unloaded on Aug 10. The container terminal storage area has been cleaned up and restored to its state before the blast. The container terminal represents 80 percent of the overall cargo movement at the PoB. It is located one kilometer away from the blast epicenter. Container vessels can dock at quay number 16. Shipping movement at the PoB had already plunged by 75 percent due to the economic crisis and has reached 15 percent following the blast. Customs have opened offices in the PoB’s warehouse number 14 which was partially damaged. The customs have become able to carry out the inspection of merchandise- Customs duties are being temporarily paid at the Rafic Hariri International Airport. Tthe PoB is now handling only full containers as groupage consignment requires warehouses which don’t exist now. Amer Al Kaissi said groupage, which represents 15 percent of shipments at the PoB, will be diverted to the Port of Tripoli until the rebuilding of warehouses at the PoB is completed. The first two containerships to berth at the PoB after the blast were the 'Electra' (Gezairi Transport) and the 'Nicolas Delmas' (CMA CGM). The 'Electra', which was carrying 400 containers, was diverted to Tripoli where there was a license to operate but the company insisted to unload it in Beirut when it was told that the PoB has resumed operation. The CMA CGM Group and CEVA Logistics said they are fully operational and ensuring business continuity to serve their customers. The Group has redeployed its employees in its two back-up sites in Beirut Digital District and reinforced its presence in Tripoli. Part of CMA CGM’s vessels has been temporarily directed to Tripoli. Few shipping companies are authorized to operate in other ports such as Tripoli or Saida. BCTC, the Customs and the PoB’s authorities did their best to handle the clearing formalities despite the difficult working conditions. The general cargo area was fully operational on Aug 12 both for imports and exports. This includes wheat and other grains as well as construction steel bars. The cost of rebuilding the port is estimated at around $1 billion.
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.
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/
ENAK
On the afternoon of June 1, 2024, the 'Enak' has recovered a 190-ton-barge of the Arnold Ritscher company which had broken lose and became wedged under the new pier in Timmendorf Beach on May 21 in heavy seas. The pontoon was lifted piece by piece and pulled away from the bridge and then taken to the port of Neustadt, where the extent of the damage will be examined in detail. The salvae operation started at 6 a.m.. Workers had welded four 1.5-ton salvage lugs at the barge, through which the steel cables were pulled. Large amounts of water had to be pumped out of the compartments of the barge, which had suffered cracks in the grounding. The recovery work took a total of ten hours. The cost of the recovery amount to some 100000 Euros. Several attempts to recover the platform had failed due to the bad weather conditions during the days following the grounding. In addition, the preparations for the recovery were much more complex than initially assumed. An initial report found that the bridge was stable and that there was no major damage. Only minor damage was caused to the bridge. Among other things, three pleasure boat piers had to be replaced. Reports with photos and video: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Timmendorfer-Strand-Bergung-des-Pontons-hat-begonnen,ponton132.html https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Timmendorfer-Strand-Ponton-mit-Kran-unter-Seebruecke-verkeilt,ponton132.html https://www.der-reporter.de/tdf-strand/artikel/arbeitsponton-hat-sich-losgerissen-und-beschaedigt-neue-seebruecke https://www.ln-online.de/lokales/ostholstein/gefahr-an-neuer-seebrucke-in-timmendorfer-strand-arbeits-ponton-hat-sich-losgerissen-LW4LUAWQJNE4NB7KV2QRNTFKDY.html https://www.hamburg.de/nachrichten-hamburg/18682056/arbeitsponton-an-timmendorfer-seebruecke-losgerissen/ https://www.zeit.de/news/2024-05/23/vorbereitungen-fuer-bergung-von-havariertem-ponton-begonnen
Kiel
The PORT OF KIEL has redesigned the port apron in Ostuferhafen, which is the freight and logistics centre on the fjord. Where once stood a grain silo, there is now an expanded pre-stacking and stand-by area of three hectares for trucks, trailers and pas-senger cars.The State Premier of Schleswig- Holstein, Daniel Günther, visited the Ostufer-hafen on 12th August to hand over the grant notice coming from the State Programme Economy for 5.44 million Euros: The project to redesign the port apron included dismantling three hall areas of the former grain silo, excavation and road works as well as drainage, lighting and security measures and the connection of the area to the infrastructure. Through the new and generous port apron it has been possible to merge formerly separated pre-stacking areas, shorten distances and gain more space for trucks, busses, trailers and passenger cars. Furthermore, IT solutions have been developed to accelerate the handling processes at the gate, which also allow truck drivers to reduce personal contact.Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director at the PORT OF KIEL: “Even under the current circumstances the Ostuferhafen operates in a reliable and safe way. The port of Kiel has proven its systemic importance regarding the transshipment of cross-border freight transport.”In the first seven months of the year 2.1 million tons of cargo have been tran-shipped via the Ostuferhafen (+ 1 %). Additional volumes have been transported by the ferries of the DFDS shipping company to the Baltic States or they have been delivered by the SCA-RoRo-freighters from Scandinavia. Not only general cargo and forest products are unloaded resp. transhipped in Ostuferhafen but also project and heavy cargo, scrap metal and agricul-tural products. The integrated passenger terminal to handle cruise vessels emphasizes the universal character of this port part.