Four Russian tankers carrying oil and refined products, the 'Anthea','Elsa' (IMO: 9256468), 'Hebe' (IMO: 9259185) and 'Baxter' have become immobilized at sea following the imposition of new Iran-related sanctions by the United States, imposed on April 4, 2024, and targeting the shipping company, Oceanlink Maritime DMCC, and its vessels, citing their alleged involvement in transporting commodities on behalf of the Iranian military. The U.S. Treasury Department aimed to isolate Iran and disrupt its ability to fund proxy groups allegedly supporting Russia in the Ukraine war. The 'Anthea' received 200,000 metric tons of Russian Ural crude oil via STS from two vessels near the Laconian Gulfin late March and is underway to Singapore with an ETA as of April 30. The 'Elsa' received 100,000 metric tons of fuel oil through STS near the Port of Kalamata. The fuel oil was originally supplied to Kalamata from ports in St. Petersburg and Ust-Luga, Russia. The 'Elsa' was underway to Qingdao with an ETA as of May 12. The 'Hebe' was loaded with 100,000 metric tons of fuel oil at St. Petersburg and Ust-Luga. It was heading towards the Suez Canal, with its final destination unclear. The 'Baxter' (IMO: 9282522) was carrying naphtha from the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk and destined for India. The vessel has been drifting in the Arabian Sea since April 5.
News
DALI
For the first time, contractors for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have brought in the East Coast's biggest crane barge 'Chesapeake 1000C' to remove a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The large section of the main span was located in the federal navigation channel, and removing it will help advance the work to clear a limited access channel" for smaller merchant ships. The barge is operated by Donjon Marine and was originally built for in-yard operations at Sun Shipbuilding in the 1970s. It was upgraded from 800 short tons to 1000 short tons in capacity in the middle of its career, and it can lift more than any other floating crane on the East Coast. So far, it has been on standby while smaller cranes handled pieces up to several hundred tonnes in size, but Sunday's big lift speeded up the process by removing a large chunk at once. Report with photos: https://maritime-executive.com/article/east-coast-s-biggest-crane-barge-hoists-giant-piece-of-baltimore-bridge
Tanger-Med
Tangier will today celebrate the opening of the largest container port in capacity terms in the whole of the Mediterranean, something that will bring enormous competition to the likes of Algericas just 25 nautical miles away across the Strait of Gibraltar. The $1.6bn expansion of Tanger Med port, located to the east of the Moroccan city of Tangier, due to be unveiled today will create Africa’s largest port with an annual capacity of 9.5m teu. The port is operated by APM Terminals, Eurogate and a local firm.
Ho Chi Minh
Samsung C&T Corp., a construction unit under Samsung Group, said Tuesday it has won a US$179.5 million project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Vietnam. Under the deal with Petrovietnam Gas Corp., Samsung C&T and Vietnamese firm PTSC will build the Southeast Asian country’s first LNG terminal, in the coastal area 70 kilometers southeast of Ho Chi Minh City for 40 months. The project also calls for the construction of LNG tanks and other related facilities, according to Samsung C&T. Samsung C&T has a 61 percent stake in the project. Source: Yonhap
PHUC HAI STAR
Chittagong 06/2011 https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3699137?navList=homeMostPopular
CARNIVAL MIRACLE
One female passenger has died and 10 others were injured after a shuttle bus of the 'Carnival Miracle' crashed into the transportation area outside a Honolulu cruise terminal on April 12, 2024. A 57-year-old man was dropping off customers at pier 2 when a bystander told him that his vehicle was moving forward. He then jumped into the drivers seat, trying to stop the vehicle, but he accidentally pressed the gas pedal instead of the brakes, colliding with two concrete barriers and 11 pedestrians. The ship was on a 15-day cruise which had departed Long Beach, California, on April 6. Nine of the people hit by the vehicle were cruise ship passengers. The deceased woman was traveling with her husband, who was also injured but was expected to recover. Members of the Carnival Care Team were assisting the guests. Five pedestrians were transported to the hospital. Six other pedestrians refused treatment on the scene. Speed did not appear to be a contributing factor in the collision and it was unknown if drugs or alcohol were contributing factors. Report with photos: https://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-dead-after-bus-crashes-pedestrians-honolulu-cruise/story?id=109203590
Charleston
South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), Southeast's deepwater port, said that five rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes arrived at Wando Welch Terminal to further modernize operations. The Port has received 14 of the 24 new cranes ordered for the Wando terminal; the terminal currently has 52 RTGs overall. Meanwhile, SCPA reported its strongest May on record, with 204,457 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) handled last month.
Brownsville
The Port of Brownsville is closer to deepening the Brownsville Ship Channel after receiving a key permit June 6 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to advance the Brazos Island Harbor Channel Improvement Project (BIH) to its construction phase.
IRONMONGER6
Chittagong 06/2011 https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3699137?navList=homeMostPopular
KONGSFJORD
The 'Kongsfjord' headed from Hopendjupet to Hammerfest after the discovery of a body on the evening of April 12, 2024, in the trawl in connection with shrimp trawling on the Hopendypet off the island of Hopen, far north in the Barents Sea. The police and the Central Rescue Service in Northern Norway were notified, and the vessel with a crew of 20 on board immediately set course for Hammerfest, where it arrived on April 14 at 2 a.m. The Troms police district took care of the dead person then and investigated the matter. The ship set sail again at 4.15 a.m.
Rotterdam
Container throughput continues to grow in Rotterdam. Following a record year in 2018 and a record quarter in 2019, April of this year was the best month ever for the Port of Rotterdam. 13.6 million tonnes of container freight was handled in April 2019. The previous record month was August 2018 (13.2 million tonnes). Measured in TEU, the standard unit for containers, April 2019 was the second-best month ever, with 1.3 million TEU, just a fraction lower than the record month of August 2018.
San Diego
Matson, Inc., a leading U.S. carrier in the Pacific, and General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard christened the largest combination container/roll-on, roll-off (“con-ro”) ship ever built in the United States in a ceremony at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, CA on Saturday, June 15. The new vessel is named ‘Lurline,’ an iconic name in Matson’s long history, dating to the construction of Captain William Matson’s first ship of that name in 1887. Four more ships were given the name in subsequent years; this vessel will be the sixth. The new Lurline is the first of two new ships being built for Honolulu-based Matson by NASSCO at a total cost of approximately $500 million for the pair, and the third of four new vessels that Matson will put into service during 2018, 2019 and 2020. Named in honor of the ocean deity revered in the native Hawaiian culture, Matson’s two “Kanaloa Class” vessels under construction at the NASSCO shipyard are being built on a 3,500 TEU* vessel platform.