On the morning of April 29, the crew of the 'Salvamar Alpheratz' accompanied a canoe near Los Cristianos, south of. Tenerife, with 101 sub-Saharan migrants on board, among them four women. The fishing vessel 'Carmen Delia' had remained on standby until the arrival of the SAR boat. The response was coordinated by the CCS Tenerife of Salvamento Marítimo.
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ANDROMEDA STAR
The Houthis launched two new attacks on April 26, 2024, the 26th, marking the third consecutive day of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. They claimed to have attacked the 'Andromeda Star' and 'Maisha'. The UK Maritime Organization also confirmed that the incident occurred 14 nautical miles southwest of Al Mukha, Yemen near the northern part of the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The captain of the 'Andromeda Star' reported that two missile attacks caused minor damages to the vessel. Despite the attack, the vessel, en route from Primorsk to Vadimar, continued transmitting signals indicating it had no contact with Israel. The Indian Navy assisted the ship, and all 30 crew members, including 22 Indians, were reported safe. The destroyer INS 'Kochi' responded and evacuated the crew after the attack. The missile directed to the 'Maisha' exploded close to the vessel. The master of the vessel stated that the crew onboard felt the repercussions. The tanker was en route from Cochin to the Suez Canal. The case of the 'Andromeda Star' is of particular interest, as it belongs to the so-called shadow fleet hauling Russian oil around the world. The aframax was bought in Nov 2023 by the Seychelles company Algae Marine. After a collision with the Bulgarian cargo m/'Peace' in the Danish Strait, it turned out that the ship’s insurance documents were not valid and the vessel’s emergency generator was faulty, raising again concerns about the potential for an environmental catastrophe with a number of near-disasters reported among the ageing fleet of tankers of the shadow fleet
Kiel
The Port of Kiel expects another good season in 2023, resulting in 218 cruise calls, said its MD Dirk Claus in the morning of Jan 17, 2023, as part of a presentation reflecting on last year's results. It follows 2022's record-breaking 244 calls, which saw the port handle over 2.24m passengers, 836,000 of those from cruise vessels. The number of calls in 2019 was 37% less by comparison, numbering 178, and passenger volumes 4.1% lower. 2020 had been forecast to become a record season for Kiel, with 200 calls and 880,000 passengers, but aspirations were dashed owing to the pandemic. This year, a number of larger vessels are scheduled to arrive at Kiel on multiple occasions making the gross tonnage of arriving ships similar to 2022. For 2023, the choice of routes and destinations approached from Kiel will be slightly broader. Moving into the future, Claus expects Kiel to settle on between 200 and 250 cruise calls annually. According to the port, last year’s promising results were the result of ‘intense planning’ with international cruise operators. While 11 calls were cancelled owing to the conflict in Ukraine and the resulting loss of St Petersburg from itineraries, nine were newly added as a result of rerouting by operators. Looking ahead, there will be a strong focus on greener shipping with Claus hoping that between 60 and 100 calls can be supplied with green shore power this year. He stated that Kiel will continue to look at strengthening shore power in line with its corporate sustainability strategy to lower carbon emissions. Work on the new Ostuferhafen shore power plant is expected to conclude towards the end of this year, resulting in Kiel being able to offer shoreside connectivity at all its ferry and cruise terminals from 2024. Along with this €17m investment, a further €2m will be invested to install solar arrays. The systems, which will be fitted on roofs at Kiel Port, are intended to cover up to 30% of the port's electricity requirements in the long term. Kiel’s first call is expected to arrive April 7 with the river vessel 'Frederic Chopin'. The first cruise ship of the season, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ 'Balmoral', will arrive a week later. The largest ships to call will be 'MSC Euribia' and 'AIDAnova'. At the other end of the scale, the 'Ocean Majesty' will visit Kiel on six occasions while chartered to Hansa Touristik. The vessel, which celebrates its 57th anniversary this year, is popular with the German source market. One of its calls is scheduled to occur on June 18 during the Kieler Woche sailing festival which will run from June 17-25. Traditionally, this marks the peak of the cruise season with this year no exception: 22 calls are expected by Kiel at the same time as the event takes place. While the highest number of calls is expected between mid-April and the end of September as usual, some ships will continue to call later in the year. 'AIDAnova'’s last departure is scheduled for November 4 whilst December 20 will see Phoenix Reisen's 'Amera' arrive at Kiel as part of a pre-Christmas itinerary. The season will draw to a close a few days later with the 'Spirit of Discovery' on December 29. Costa-, AIDA-, MSC- and TUI Cruises will again be the port's largest cruise customers. The majority of calls account for turnarounds serving the German-speaking source markets, but a number of transit calls will also take place, P&O Cruises’ Britannia, Swiss Ruby, Holland America Line’s 'Nieuw Statendam' and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 'Seven Seas Splendor' among them. As in previous years, the Ostuferhafen outside the city centre will be heavily utilised by MSC Cruises and most other cruise ships will arrive at the Ostseekai.
Kerch
The Crimean Bridge across Kerch Strait suffered an explosion and fire in the morning of Oct 8, 2022. Two spans of the motorway bridge collapsed and fell into the water, the railway bridge above the motorway witha cargo train including railway car tanks with fuel, was on fire. All bridge traffic was suspended. The Crimean Bridge was more than a Bridge, both for Russia and Ukraine. For Russia it was a symbol of the Russian “victory” and historical justice. For the Ukraine, it was a symbol of the Russian aggression and Crimea occupation. The navigation span of the Bridge is yet undamaged, and therefore, the Kerch Strait Channel remained navigable. The Kerch Strait Transit is from now on, however, a risky undertaking, so all ship owners are advised to calculate risks and probably, change their ships voyages, avoiding Azov sea calls.
SALVAMAR ADHARA
The 'Salvamar Adhara' rescued 109 migrants within a few hours on April 29. In thenight the Guardia Civil noticed a cayuco 12 nautical miles from La Restinga with 69 people on board. The SAR boat escorted it to the port. Some hours later a cayuco with 40 people on board was notices three nautical miles from La Restinga and also accompanied to the port. The resonses were coordinated by the RCC of Salvamento Marítimo in Tenerife. Report with photo: https://twitter.com/salvamentogob/status/1784519557714940002
Singapore
On Dec 1, 2022, at about 3 p.m. the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) was informed that 15 empty containers at Keppel Terminal had fallen from the wharf into the water as a result of strong winds during a squall. There were no reported injuries and no immediate impact to port operations. The MPA deployed two patrol crafts to monitor and cordon off the affected area to facilitate recovery work by PSA Corporation Ltd. MPA’s Port Operations Control Centre has restricted all vessel movements in the vicinity of Keppel Terminal until the containers were recovered.
Odessa
For the fourth day in a row, Iranian-made drones attacked Odesa on Sep 26 in the morning, this time against military targets and without civilian casualties. On Sep 23, two civilians were killed during Russian drone attacks on the port city. On Sep 25, Odesa was attacked by three drones, one of which was reportedly shot down by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine has not officially identified the drones, but from the video footage below it appears, according to experts, that they are Iranian-produced Shakhed 136 drones.
MAISHA
The Houthis launched two new attacks on April 26, 2024, the 26th, marking the third consecutive day of attacks on vessels in the Red Sea. They claimed to have attacked the 'Andromeda Star' and 'Maisha'. The UK Maritime Organization also confirmed that the incident occurred 14 nautical miles southwest of Al Mukha, Yemen near the northern part of the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The captain of the 'Andromeda Star' reported that two missile attacks caused minor damages to the vessel. Despite the attack, the vessel, en route from Primorsk to Vadimar, continued transmitting signals indicating it had no contact with Israel. Np one was injured in the attack, and the tanker continued its voyaage. The missile directed to the 'Maisha' exploded close to the vessel. The master of the vessel stated that the crew onboard felt the repercussions. The tanker was en route from Cochin to the Suez Canal.
Kerch
Russia's Ministry of Transport has set up a ferry service across the Kerch Strait to take over vehicle traffic, offsetting some of the impact of the damage to the Kerch Strait Bridge after a truck was blown up on the westbound road deck of the Kerch Strait Bridge on Oct 7 at about 6 a.m. Two spans of the westbound deck collapsed into the water, but the adjacent eastbound deck remained in place. The blast's timing coincided with the passage of a fuel train on the adjacent rail deck, and it ignited seven fuel tank cars, which burned for hours after the explosion. A Russian salvage diving team has arrived on the site and is completing an underwater survey of the damage, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said Sunday. An above-water inspection process is already under way. Traffic had partially resumed on the bridge by late Saturday, though restricted by the extent of the damage. Russia's Ministry of Transport said that it also resumed suburban commuter rail service over the rail track, though not heavy freight trains. Two ferries are already in operation to provide a bypass route, and eight separate parking lots have been set up for temporary storage for cars and trucks waiting to make the crossing. Two more ferries will join the effort on Monday, the Yeysh and Mriya.
Yaizu
Yaizu Port is one of the leading fishing ports in Japan. In August 2022, the VesselTracker AIS receiving station opened at Yaizu Port.