A court in Trapani has decided not to initiate a main trial against the accused crew of the 'Iuventa'. The trial, which has been ongoing since 2017 and was based on investigations, was dismissed. The sea rescuers were accused of human trafficking, which could have ended in long prison sentences. The termination of the proceedings became apparent after a hearing in February, at which the main witnesses could not remember their original statements. The charges were based on their previous statements, which alleged that the 'Iuventa' crew had worked with Libyan smuggling networks. These allegations were always denied by the defendants. After the hearing, the public prosecutor came to the conclusion that no crime had taken place and that the main witnesses were not credible. The ship, which was seized, is to be released.
News
HAVTIND
On the afternoon of April 22, 2024, at aroudn 4 p.m. there was smoke development on board the "Havtind", north of Shetland, from the battery on a truck. No one was injured. The crew extinguished the battery fire amd established contact with the British Coastguard. The trawler then headed towards Ålesund for further investigations.
Recife
An accident occurred with a ship loader at the sugar terminal in the port of Recife on April 19, 2024. The loader collapsed. and a part of the machine fell into the cargo hold of a ship that was docked at the port to load raw sugar. No one was injured. Experts were assessing the situation. and there was no timeline yet for repairs. The collapsed ship loader was the only one at the terminal, run by Sindacucar. There were currently three vessels waiting to load 71,000 metric tons of raw sugar at the port. The buyers of the sugar were Louis Dreyfus, Tate & Lyle and ASR, destined for the United States and Portugal. The port was evaluating ways to complete loading of the currently docked vessel, as well as alternatives to loading any other vessels.
Alang
At the Alang ship recycling yard on the Bhavnagar coast, Gujarat, the Shree Ram Vessel Scrap Pvt Ltd. (SRVSPL), filed a police complaint alleging a loss of Rs 45 lakh worth of equipment stolen from the 'DV Erica', which had been brought in from Abu Dhabi for dismantling. According to the complaint filed with Alang Marine police station, the theft was believed to have occurred on March 23, 2024, at around 5 a.m. The ship was anchored in the designated waiting area at the outer anchorage after having been towed from Abu Dhabi. When workers boarded the ship for inspection on the morning, they discovered signs of a break-in. Two ropes were found dangling from the stern of the ship, suggesting the thieves used them to climb aboard.
CP 311
The 'CP 311' rescued a single hand sailor of Spanish nationality who had set of with the 12-m-yacht 'Black Pit' on April 11, 2024, from Crete towards Sicily. After receiving an information on April 19 from the MRCC in Piraeus and acquiring a satellite signal indicating the possible presence of the yacht 110 miles from Cape Spartivento, about 200 km from the Calabrian coast, the Italian Coast Guard, coordinated by the Maritime Directorate of Reggio Calabria, started an SAR operation involving a plane taking off from Catania, the 'CP 311' from Roccella Jonica and two merchant ships, which diverted to the area to search the vessel. Amid very bad weather conditions, 40 knots of wind and worsening seas, the "Black Bit" was finally spotted disabled and adrift with a broken mast by the Coast Guard aircraft. The lone sailor managed to send out light signals to be identified. In the middle of the night, the 'CP 311' reached the yacht and took the man on board. After the initial treatment provided on board the patrol boat, the sailor was dropped off at the port of Roccella for further medical treatment. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XhKpXp-YDE
TOKUYO MARU NO.17
The 'Tokuyo Maru No. 17”. with seven crew members on board, allided with the pier of the Namikata National Oil Reserve Base in Imabari City, Ehime Prefecture, on April 22, 2024, at around 8:30 a.m. There were no injuriesand no oil spills reported. The tanker suffered damage to the bow and port side. There also appeared to be damage to the pier where the ship hit it. The tanker, which was destined to Hiroshima, was moored in pos. 34° 18.56'N 132° 28.85' E as of April 23.
Port au Prince
On April 4, 2024, the containerm/v 'Magalie' ((IMO: 7413892)) was hijacked by members of the 5 Seconds gang in the Varreux terminal neighborhood at Port-au-Prince. The gang members took all crew members hostage and stole one-sixth of the cargo, which included rice, Haiti's main staple food. On April 8, Haiti's National Police stormed the ship and engaged in a five-hour gunfight. The operation resulted in the injury of two officers and an unspecified number of gang members being killed. The vessel was retrieved safely, and Haiti's Port Authority assisted in transporting the onboard personnel. The status of the crew members was unknown. The ship was pulled away from the shore by a tug. Gangs have frequently attacked Port-au-Prince's waterfront operations, causing disruptions to the supply and relief flow. Last month, vandals destroyed the Varreux Power Plant and briefly took over and looted the Caribbean Port Services (CPS), the biggest container terminal in the country. The UN's Famine Early Warning System Network states that the terminal's waterside activities may remain closed for several weeks.
Montevideo
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MISSUNDE III
Due to the ongoing problems with the 'Missunde III', the prececessor ferry “Missunde II” returned to operation on the Schlei. The State Office for Coastal Protection, National Park and Marine Protection (LKN) had already sold the old ferry for a scrap value of 17,000 Euros. During test operations, various problems arose when using the new, significantly larger ferry. The authority has now bought back the old diesel ferry for around 50,000 Euros. Since last week it has been operating again on its old route between Kosel and Brodersby. 3.3 million Euros were spent on the new ferry with electric propulsion and solar cells on the roof. The new ferry was originally scheduled to start operating in April 2023. But the transfer from the shipyard in Derben initially failed due to delivery difficulties, then due to low water on the Elbe and finally due to flooding on the Schlei. A January opening date was canceled due to additional work on the jetties. The new start date was March 2024. But further problems arose during test sailings which have shown that some modifications were necessary to the ferry's cable guide. The ferry can no longer be docked when the wind is three to four Beaufort. While the old ship, which is 21 meters long, has a load capacity of 22.5 tons, the new, 34 meter long ferry can transport 45 tons. so it is almost twice as big. The rope is obviously under heavy strain due to the greater weight. In order to be able to catch the much larger new ferry even in stronger winds and guide it safely to the ramps, additional thicker bollards are required. In order to be able to ram this, a soil report is first required. In addition, another rope will be laid through the Schlei. and the “Missunde III” will also receive bow and stern thrusters. Two rows of dolphins on the route across the Schlei are intended to make maneuvering the ferry easier. To do this, the fairway will have to be narrowed.
LAYAR ANGGUN 8
The 'Layar Anggun 8' which caught fire in the waters of Tanjung Berakit, Teluk Sebong District, on the afternoon of April 16, ran aground at 3.18 p.m. WIB after being abandoned by the crew. The Tanjung Uban Maritime and Coast Guard Base Office (PPLP) together with the KRI were mobilized to the ship, which was stuck in 617″ N 104 30′ 050 E at Tanjung Berakit Bintan. The 'KN.Rantos P210' and 'KN Sarotama P.112' provided assistance at 8 p.m. Also the 'KN.Rantos P210' attended as of April 17. Upon their arrival, the fire was still burning, and smoke could still be seen at the stern of the tanker. The 'KN.Rantos P210' tried to get closer to ship to extinguish the fire, but this attempt failed due to the shallow water. Instead, two rubber boats were deployed to extinguish the fire using an alcon pump. The fire was finally extinguished at 10 p.m., but reignited half an hour later. On April 17 at 1.20 a.m. the fire was still burning, so the KRI 'Lepu 861' also lowered a rubber boat to help extinguish the fire. At 4 a.m. the fire was finally put out. The 'KN Rantos P210', 'KN Sarotama P112' and 'KRI Lepu 861' returned to standby to monitor and secure the ship. From 08.00 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. the remaining embers were extinguished and cooled using an alcohol pump, until it was confirmed that the fire in the accomodation block of on the heavily damaged ship had really been extinguished. Reports with photos: https://pilarparlemen.id/tni-al-terus-upayakan-pemadaman-kapal-mv-layar-anggun-8-di-perairan-berakit https://kepripedia.com/kapal-mv-layar-anggun-8-terbakar-di-perairan-berakit/ https://presmedia.id/mv-layar-anggun-8-kandas-dan-terbakar-di-perairan-berakit-pplp-dan-kri-lakukan-pemadaman-hingga-pagi/
Kaliningrad
Ukraine's military intelligence directorate, the GUR, has claimed responsibility for a serious fire aboard the Russian corvette 'Serpukhov' at the port of Kaliningrad, a Buyan-M class vessel. GUR provided what appeared to be a schematic of the vessel's internal spaces, and a brief video of an incendiary device going off. The agency said that the 'Serpukhov' sustained substantial damage from the fire, with its means of communication and automation were completely destroyed. The Buyan class is designed for coastal operations and are heavily armed for their size, carrying up to eight Kalibr or Oniks antiship missiles and up to eight surface-to-air missiles. This was a deep strike behind the Russian lines. The agency's drones have hit Russian oil refineries up to 750 miles away from Ukraine's borders, and have taken approximately 14 percent of Russia's refining capacity offline. The latest strike - a claimed attack on a product pipeline - allegedly disabled all product tanker loadings at the occupied port of Azov. The GUR has also mounted a successful campaign against the Russian Black Sea Fleet, damaging or destroying a claimed one-third of its force and confining the rest to the relative safety of Novorossiysk. The sister ship 'Velykyi' Ustyug was likely damaged by a Ukrainian drone early in the Russian invasion. In June 2022 the 'Ustyug' was photographed in tow to a shipyard, showing signs of fragmentation damage along her port side. Report with video: https://maritime-executive.com/article/ukrainian-spy-agency-claims-it-lit-a-fire-on-a-russian-corvette
Itaqui
Brazil: Agriculture Officers Strike Federal agriculture officers decided to start the strike next Monday (22), which will directly affect trading involving perishable products and may cause delays in berthing and unberthing ships. Federal Revenue tax auditors also announced that they will intensify the general strike that has been ongoing since November last year, as reported in our previous newsletters. Next week, from the 22nd to the 26th of January, there will be no cargo clearance at the ports and airports of São Paulo and Bahia. This means that goods release services will be affected at Viracopos airport, the Port of Santos, Salvador customs (from the 23rd) and Guarulhos Airport. During the period, only perishable, live and dangerous cargo will be released at the sites, in addition to medicines and food, as they are considered essential. It is important to highlight that the import and export of goods of animal and plant origin require the consent and inspection of agricultural officers. The category's national union (Anffa Sindical) informed that the release of certificates and goods at ports, in this case, will respect the last day of the deadline set out in the rules of the Ministry of Agriculture. It is worth remembering that in the last meeting held on December 27th with Sindifisco Nacional, minister Fernando Haddad and the special secretary of Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, stated that they did not plan to make changes to the proposal presented for the payment of the efficiency bonus in 2024 , which motivated the continuation of the strike. The Superior Courts have already pacified the understanding that the strike movement cannot interrupt essential public services. Therefore, the functioning of the productive activity of shipowners/importers/exporters cannot be delayed by the Customs Inspectors' strike. Customs clearance must continue, regardless of the tax auditors' strike. The Judiciary has been intervening effectively on a case-by-case basis, in order to avoid the harmful effects of the Federal Revenue auditors' strike and maintain the regular activity of taxpayers at Brazilian customs. The strike could affect the port and customs sector. Our team is closely monitoring the situation in the North/Northeast ports and will inform you of any updates.