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/
Papenburg
The Meyer shipyard located in Papenburg, Germany, announced, they secured an order for a new cruise ship. The new customer is NYK who placed an order for a medium size cruise ship for their brand Asuka Cruises. Full article + image: https://www.cruisedeck.de/meyer-werft-sichert-sich-neubau-auftrag/
Cochin
The Cochin Port Trust handled a record 3.20 million tonnes of cargo in December 2020, a monthly record volume for it. The volume is a 10.55 per cent growth over December 2019, said Cochin Port Trust chairperson M. Beena, in a message to the employees and officials of the port trust. Container movement too touched a consistent 60,000 TEUs consecutively in the four months leading to December. The surge in the movement of cargo is being looked upon as new shoots in the port business after the plans of 2020 were washed away in the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth in cargo movement is “charting a new growth trajectory. However, we need to find new vistas for revenue generation by optimum utilisation of resources available to us,” the chairperson told the port community. The port has been recovering from the losses, which had affected it for the past decade. But the pandemic and resultant loss in business had pushed the port into the red. But the port was expected to make a recovery by the end of 2021, the chairperson said. There was optimism stemming from the fact that though there was a substantial fall in cargo movement in the first half of the current financial year, there was some recovery in the second half. The port trust was also optimistic that the inauguration of the Kochi-Mangaluru LNG pipeline earlier this month would pave the way for more gas volumes and revenue for the port. Meanwhile, figures from the Indian Ports Association showed that ports across the country suffered owing to the pandemic and its impact on the global economy. The average fall across the major ports in the country is nearly nine per cent for the period. Mumbai suffered a fall of more than 17 per cent and the Momugao traffic fell more than 23 per cent and JNPT traffic was down by over 12 per cent. Haldia Dock Complex, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, and New Mangaluru suffered lesser falls in business.
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.
Cochin
The coast guard found signs of an accident on the British oil tanker Orange Victoria which was seized in COCHIN after the accident involving a fishing boat on the coast of Vizhinjam The Fort Kochi Coastal Police and the Marine Mercantile Division conducted an inspection of the ship anchored in the open sea on Saturday morning .The paint on this part has been collected by scientific experts for scientific examination . Captain Nikhil told the Coastal Police that they were not aware that the ship had collided with the boat . There are 23 sailors on board . The ship while en route from Singapore to Indian port, presumably struck fiberglass fishing boat 46 nm off COCHIN at night Mar 18. boat was damaged, all 6 crew safe. Hull paint samples are taken, to conduct lab analysis
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
Chittagong
Crew change have resumed at the port of Chittagong, albeit to a limited extent. In case of joining, covid negative certificate is required. In case of sign off, the crew will have to undergo a covid test at a local government approved hospital. Which takes a total of 3 days to stay in a hotel. Then he has to show immigration and airlines authorities when he gets on the plane. We've learned from talking to a crew service provider that this process is safe for all parties. NC Shipping's operations manager said Chittagong port service is now much more efficient and less time consuming. All rules are governed by international standards. "Even in the covid pandemic lockdown, we get international quality service from Chittagong port which has played a positive role in the operation of our ships and maintaining the dynamism of the maritime trade," he added. He thinks crew change approval is part of a continuous process. This is a valiant decision of the government and port authorities