On May 15, 2024, the 'Miss Sally Dane' was deployed to remove the oil barge 'MMLP 321', carrying 30,000 barrels of vacuum gas oil, which had broken lose from a tug and allided with the Pelican Island Causeway, causing it to partially collapse, at 9.48 a.m. The U.S. Coast Guard coordinated the response along with local, state, and federal agencies. Watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and coordinated the launch of a Coast Guard Station Galveston boat crew to respond. 3,000 feet of containment boom were deployed in the vicinity of the allision. The intercoastal waterway has been closed from Pelican Cut (mile marker 351.5) to the Galveston Causeway (mile marker 357.3) and a 5.8-mile safety zone has been issued for the surrounding waters. Mariners were urged to avoid the area. No injuries have been reported. The barge had slammed into a bridge pillar, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to Pelican Island, that is home to a university. One person on the barge was knocked into the water and quickly rescued. The barge had gone adrift from a tug which was backing out of the Texas International Terminals, a fuel storage operator next to the bridge, after losing control of two barges it was pushing. The current was very bad, and the tide was high. Fire trucks drove over the bridge as workers and law enforcement officials looked at the remnants of the collapsed rail line. A large piece of broken concrete and debris from the railroad was hanging off the side of the bridge and laying on the barge. The rail line only serves as protection for the structure and has never been used. Engineers from the Texas Department of Transportation were en route to inspect the roadway and determine if there was damage. The bridge remained closed until it is deemed safe to use. Involved with the response were: - U.S. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston; - U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Texas City; - U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Houston; - U.S. Coast Guard Station Galveston; - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; - Texas Department of Transportation; - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; - Texas Parks and Wildlife; - Texas General Land Office; - Texas A&M; - Galveston County Office of Emergency Management; - Galveston County Police Department; - Galveston Fire Department. Reports with photos: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3776804/coast-guard-partner-agencies-responding-to-pelican-island-causeway-allision-in/ https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-news/barge-hit-bridge-galveston-texas-oil-spill/3541844/
News
BORKUM
The 'Borkum', that will dock in Cartagena in the next few hours and that according to the Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine (Rescop) is carrying weapons to Israel is actually destined for Slovenia, according to the information handled by the President of the Government of Murcia, Fernando López Miras. He has asked that his statements be understood “with caution” because it is not a matter for the Community of Murcia. "but an exclusive competence of Ports (of the State) and the Government of Spain." López Miras has explained that as far as he knows the vesseö S destination is Slovenia and, therefore, Israel is not the disembarkation point. He has also clarified that the port of Cartagena also does not have the necessary facilities to unload the material and containers transported by the vessel, although he has referred to the official information that State Ports can offer. Rescop alerted on May 14, 2024 of the arrival on May 16 of the ship at the port of Cartagena, where it would make a stopover, since its destination would be the port of Ashdod. According to this organization, the ship contains 20 tons of rocket motors, 12.5 tons of rockets with explosive charge, 1,500 kg of explosive substances and 740 kg of cannon propellant charges, although the Navy has neither confirmed nor denied its arrival at the port of Cartagena.
Vado Ligure
Terminal operator APM Terminals (APMT) has released a video of the final three ship-to-shore (STS) cranes arriving at the Vado Gateway terminal, which it hopes will be the next major logistics hub for the Mediterranean and Europe. The Vado Gateway terminal is scheduled to open on December 12, 2019, and will be built with a 700-meter deep-sea berth specifically to handle the latest Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS), as well as an automated gate and stacking area. APMT announced the inauguration date in July 2019 – a story PTI reported on at the time. Located in the Vado Ligure Port Complex in the northwest of the country, it will be the first semi-automated port in Italy and be integrated with an already existing reefer terminal.
Hamburg
The Port of Hamburg, Germany’s largest universal port, saw its inland and hinterland cargo traffic grow by 12.1% – 2.57 million tons – in the first quarter of 2019, according to its latest financial results. The data also shows that, for the first quarter of 2019, the Port has handled 34,640 TEU – 20ft standard containers – an increase of 20% in comparison with the same period last year.
DALI
The Fort McHEnry limited access channel has opened on May 15 for commercial vessel traffic to an available depth of 45 feet, seven weeks after the Francis Key Bridge was struck by the 'Dali'. The Fort McHenry Limited Access Channel will be open daily from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. The channel has a 350-foot horizontal clearance and a vertical clearance of 214 feet because of BGE powerlines. The available depth may increase based on future survey analysis operations as salvage operations continued. Deep draft vessels will require a Maryland POilot and a two tug escprt. All transits must be at the slowest safe speed but not to exceed five knots until the 'Dali' has been removed, then 10 knots will be possible. The three other temporary channels currently in use, 20, 14 and 11 foot deep, remained ipen and should be uitilized by vessels that do not requier the deeper channel.
Mumbai
The Government of Maharashtra, India, India has named the Virgin Hyperloop One – DP World Consortium as Original Project Proponent (OPP) for the Pune-Mumbai Hyperloop Project, making it the first hyperloop project in the world. In a statement, Virgin Hyperloop One described it as a “landmark announcement” for the building of the Mumbai-Pune hyperloop transportation system.
Balboa
Starting August 1 and until November 30, 2019, the Panama Canal will promote the implementation of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) annual recommendations on speed and maritime transit aimed at protecting cetaceans, which include whales, dolphins and other large aquatic mammals, during their nearby seasonal migration. With these measures, ships should proceed at a speed of not more than 10 knots in specified areas. Panama has monitored this requirement since December 1, 2014 when maritime traffic separation devices (TSS) were installed by both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean entry points to the Canal.
Mombasa
The new Lamu Port in Kenya took a big step towards completion yesterday with the announcement that its first of 22 berths is finished. According to the South Sudan and Ethiopia Transport Corridor Development Authority, the second and third berths will be completed by December 2020.
Montevideo
Shandong BaoMa Fisheries Group has shelved plans to build a port in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo that could accommodate 500 Chinese vessels, amid legal complications and strong opposition from local residents and environmental organisations. The US$200 million project, which included a free trade zone, shipyard and fish processing and freezing plants, on a private 28-hectare site in Punta Yeguas, a mostly rural area with a public park, required a change in the legal designation of the land.