The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) was notified on April 16, 2024, of a fire aboard the 'Layar Tanggun 8' in Singapore territorial waters off Pedra Branca. All 12 crew members have been safely recovered by a Singapore Police Coast Guard craft and were transported to Singapore.. A firefighting vessel from the Singapore Civil Defence Force and MPA patrol craft, including tugs, were mobilized to combat the fire. No pollution was reported, and there was no immediate risk to navigational safety. The MPA was issuing regular navigational broadcasts for passing vessels to keep clear of the vicinity of the burning ship.
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MSC ARIES
After Britain's Merchant Shipping Authority UKMTO announced that the 'MSC Aries' was seized near the Strait of Hormuz between the United Arab Emirates and Iran, about 50 nautical miles northeast of the port city of Fujairah, the British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps has called on Iran to release the detained ship. He called the seizure unacceptable and a blatant violation of international law, and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the ship and crew. The Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari threatened consequences if Iran decided to escalate further. Expert Hasan Alhasan from the International Institute for Strategic Studies speculated that the seizure could be in retaliation for the attack on the consulate in Damascus in order to save face without causing a major escalation.
Port Hedland
Thirty-eight vessels at anchor off Port Hedland, waiting to load iron ore.
Agaete
In a ruling last week, the Court of Justice of the EU rejected an appeal presented by Fred. Olsen S.A. over a sentence dictated by the General Courts of the EU in March 2018, whereby the continued exclusive use of the Port of Agaete on the Island of Gran Canary, by Fred. Olsen, constituted a subsidy by the Government of the Canary Islands to said shipping line.
MV KARAR
A police officer who has been detained in Vigo and removed for possible links to drug trafficking in connection with the seizure of the 'Karar', will finally testify in the trial. The defenses, after his arrest in March, requested that he not testify for his accusations and urged Internal Affairs to clarify whether it investigated the mysterious lack of 60 kilos of cocaine among the 3,824 kilos seized from the tug. The Pontevedra Court has resolved that he will testify as he is the main witness of the National Police. The trial begins on April 17, 2024, in Vigo. The chief inspector of the National Police who served as liaison for the Ministry of the Interior in Colombia until March, was arrested in Vigo last month.
KBV 003
Divers from the Swedish Coast Guard have, in connection with an exercise, dived on the seabed in the Pukavik Bay to find any oil which could have leaked from the the grounding of the roro ferry 'Marco Polo' in Oct 2023. So far no oil has been found. The descended from the 'KBV 003-Amfitrite' in the area on three occasions. The locations that have been relevant have been selected based on received information about suspected oil finds. Some places have been designated by the County Administrative Board in Blekinge County. Visibility below the surface has varied from good to non-existent. The oil that leaked from the 'Marco Polo' was of a type that under certain conditions sinks below the surface, can drift with currents or completely sink and settle to the bottom. When the temperature in the sea rises, there is the possibility that it will rise to the surface again or reach the shore. Any oil finds are reported to the municipality concerned and to the Norwegian Maritime and Water Authority. Report with photo: https://www.kustbevakningen.se/nyheter/resultatlosa-dykningar-efter-olja-i-pukaviksbukten/
Cancun
Two identical 37-metre, 459-passenger catamarans have been completed by Wight Shipyard Co (WSC). The Incat Crowther-designed vessels will be transported to Cancun, Mexico, for Ultramar early next month.
Rotterdam
The first paperless, instantly financed and fully door-to-door tracked container made its way from Korea to the warehouse of Samsung SDS in Tilburg via Port of Rotterdam on blockchain-based platform DELIVER. ABN AMRO, Port of Rotterdam and Samsung SDS demonstrated that blockchain technology enables interoperability, and that integrated container tracking and tracing, required cargo documentation processing and financing can all be done in a trusted, secure and paperless way.
VLADIMIR LATYSHEV
A company is demanding €600,000 from the owner of the 'Vladimir Latyshev', which has been detained in Saint-Malo on March 1, 2022, after the start of the Russian war in Ukraine. The ship was to deliver steel coils to Algiers. On April 16, 2024, the Saint-Malo commercial court had to resolve the financial dispute between the buyer of the goods transported by the ship at the time of its immobilization and two Russian companies, the owner and the operator.
FRANCISCO Y CATA
The 'Francisco y Cata' suffered an engine failure and went adrift three nautical miles from the mouth of the Rota marina on April 16, 2024, and requested towing assistance. The CCS Cádiz of Salvamnto Marítimo mobilized the SAR vessel 'Salvamar Suhail', which safely pulled the boat to Rota. Report with photos: https://twitter.com/salvamentogob/status/1780308539812073907
Marseille
On 27 June the Corsican Parliament officially approved the upcoming 15-month public ferry service between Marseille and the island, starting on 1 October 2019.
Dar es-Salaam
In one of the biggest pushbacks against Chinese president Xi Jinping’s Belt Road Initiative Tanzania has suspended the construction of the $10bn Bagamoyo port project, citing the onerous financial conditions put in place by Beijing. The project, which broke ground four years ago and was set to be run by China Merchants Holding International, would have been the largest port in East Africa. Tanzania’s president John Magufuli has accused the Chinese project backers of presenting “exploitative and awkward” terms in exchange for financing. Chinese financiers set “tough conditions that can only be accepted by mad people,” Magufuli told local media. “They told us once they build the port, there should be no other port to be built all the way from Tanga to Mtwara south,” Magufuli told a delegation of business people at State House in Dar es Salaam earlier this month. “They want us to give them a guarantee of 33 years and a lease of 99 years, and we should not question whoever comes to invest there once the port is operational. They want to take the land as their own but we have to compensate them for drilling construction of that port,” he said. Magufuli also said the new Bagamoyo port risked undermining the ongoing $522m expansion of Dar es Salaam port that would enable it to triple its current capacity when complete by the end of this year. Source : Splash247