Officials in Baltimore were plannning to open a deeper channel for commercial ships to enter and leave the city’s port starting on April 25. This would be a significant step toward reopening the major maritime shipping hub that has remained closed to most traffic since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last month. The new channel will be 12 meters deep, which is a substantial increase over the three other temporary channels established in recent weeks. It puts the cleanup effort slightly ahead of schedule, as officials previously had hoped to open a channel of that depth by the end of April.
News
Whittier
U.S. Coast Guard crews have given up the search for a 49-year-old Cordova man who went missing after an explosion and subsequent fire on a fixed barge at Delong Dock in Whittier, Alaska, shortly after midnight on Monday. The fire spread to the pier and then to the Anagalik, a 99-foot commercial fishing vessel that was initially reported to have two people aboard at the time of the explosion. Whittier Police Department personnel have since confirmed one of those two is safely aboard a different vessel en route to Whittier. The fire has now been extinguished, but the fishing vessel and barge sank in 85 feet of water at the pier with a potential maximum of 5,500 gallons of fuel oil aboard. The fishing vessel owners have contracted Global Diving and Salvage for clean-up and salvage efforts. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak has searched for the missing person by air, and crews aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur and Coast Guard Auxiliary 336 searched nearby waters.
Halsa
With a NOK 1.23 billion offer, Fjord1 won the concession to run the E39 Halsa-Kanestraum route, the latest major ferry connection awarded by the Norwegian Road Authority.
ABDULLAH
Unloading of cargo from the 'Abdullah' at the port of Al Hamriyah started on April 23 at 12 a.mn., two hours after the ship berthed at the jetty. Meanwhile, all 23 crew members have decided to come back home on the same ship, according to the ship’s owning firm SR Shipping Ltd, a subsidiary of KSRM Group. Earlier, two out of 23 crew members wanted to sign off from the vessel at the UAE port and return home by air.
Rizhao
Shandong Landbridge Group has entered into an agreement with Beijing Energy Group to jointly develop a LNG receiving terminal at Landbrige Port in Rizhao. Under the agreement, the two parties will invest RMB6.7bn ($973m) in total for the construction of the terminal, which will have a designed handling capacity of 5m tons of LNG annually. Additionally, the two companies plan to join their efforts to develop overseas energy projects.
Gothenburg
APM Terminals Gothenburg has managed to cut quay crane waiting times by as much as 90% by implementing new standard operational procedures for container lashing. This translates to a reduction from 38 minutes to just four. Using ‘Lean’ methodology, which is being adopted across all of the company’s terminals around the world, a Transformation Team at APM Terminals Gothenburg identified the root cause of the time delay – inaccurate information provided to the vessel crew.
BIRGER JARL
The 'Birger Jarl'/'Baltic Star', which is mooredin Lunde, right next to Sandöbron, has now been sold. Threats of heavy fines if the ship is not moved have caused the relationship between the owner Leif-Ivan Karlsson and the municipality of Kramfors to become completely frozen. Now a Gothenburg company wants to refurbish the 81-year-old ship to operate the route Gothenburg - Travemünde. An agreement was to be signed on April 24, 2024. The ship was then to be towed to Gustavik, a half a mile south. Here is Norrland's only really large dry dock, big enough to handle the ship. Report with video: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vasternorrland/uppgifter-skandalbaten-i-lunde-sald-till-goteborgsforetag
ROYAL ROMANCE
The Dutch auction house Troostwijk Auctions may auction the 'Royal Romance' of the pro-Russian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk from Ukraine. This was decided by the Ukrainian government agency Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA). According to Troostwijk director Arno Hendrikse, this is the most expensive object that his auction house has ever auctioned.
Sydney
DP World Australia has called for an end to the strikes at its ports this week, warning that the industrial action comes at a time when shipping lines are reviewing stevedore contracts. “The industrial action will cause significant disruption to DPWA customers and importantly the broader supply chain of shippers, exporters and importers. DPWA employees will also be unnecessarily and avoidably impacted by these lost earnings,” said Andrew Adam, chief operating officer at DPWA. DP World’s Brisbane, Sydney and Fremantle container terminals are on a rolling 48-hour strike, while workers at the company’s Melbourne operations have decided to down tools for 96 hours. The workers said in a release their actions this week are in order to fight against automation, outsourcing, cuts to income protection insurance, and “dishonest bargaining” by the company During the recent 12-week bargaining period, DP World said the local union did not make any material concessions to its initial 50 claims. These claims include a wage increase well above CPI, DP World said.
Rijeka
After many creditors withdrew distraint proceedings, the Commercial Court in Rijeka decided on Thursday to postpone the bankruptcy of Croatia’s debt-ridden shipyard “3. Maj” until Aug. 1. Seven days ago the shipyard’s account was blocked for 156 million kuna (23.8 million U.S. dollars). After some of the creditors pulled back, the blockade now amounts to 86 million kuna (13.1 million U.S. dollars). Judge of the Commercial Court in Rijeka Ljiljana Ugrin urged Croatian Electricity Industry and the Croatian government to engage in the process of revocation of the enforcement order, so that “3. Maj” could continue with unfinished shipbuilding contracts.