On April 21, 2024, a person needed to be medevaced from the 'Crown Seaways', which was en route from Copenhagen to Oslo at that time, and sailing in Swedish waters. At 12.28 a.m. zhe Danish Defense Rescue Center was contacted by the crew of the ferry. As the ship was in Swedish waters, the medevac was further handled by the Swedish rescue centre.
News
EF OLIVIA
The 'Hayriye Ana' (IMO: 9557953), en route from Istanbul to A Coruna, was in collision with the 'EF Olivia', en route from Hamburg to Augusta, 14 nautical miles from Capo Passero on the southeastern tip of Sicily south of the ports of Syracuse and Catania, on the morning of April 22, 2024. Both vessels suffered some minor damage. The hull of the container ship was holed midships at the waterline. Both ships diverted to the Sicilian coast, displaying messages of “restricted maneuverability.” The 'Hayriye Ana' has been cited for several deficiencies on recent inspections. In November 2023, the Chinese authorities listed a dozen deficiencies including issues with the vessel’s VDR, an issue also cited by Greek inspectors in January 2024. The Italian Coastguard mobilized an AW139 helicopter and an Atr42 aircraft as well as a patrol vessel to the scene to monitor the vessel’s progress. So far, no pollution has been reported. The 'EF Olivia' reached Augusta Anchorage at 8.50 p.m. UTC and moored in pos. 37° 12.32' N 015° 12.63' E. The 'Hayriye Ana' was underway to A Coruna with a speed of 5,8 knots at that time and an ETA as of April 29. Reports with photos and video: https://maritime-executive.com/article/video-italian-coast-guard-monitoring-after-vessels-collide-off-sicily https://www.fanpage.it/attualita/schianto-tra-nave-cargo-e-portacontainer-al-largo-della-sicilia-guardia-costiera-con-navi-e-aerei/
Rotterdam
APM Terminals Maasvlakte II’s new rail service between its Rotterdam terminal and Venlo, a key logistics hub on the Dutch-German border is proving popular. Following the success of the initial five-times-per-week service, plans are already in place to scale this up to 14 times per week over the coming weeks.
Genova
A 24-hour national labour strike is planned on Jul 24, in all Italian ports and all transportations. The planned strike is subject to confirmation in the coming days.
COLOR MAGIC
On April 19 a person needed to be medevaced from the 'Color Magic', which was en route from Oslo to Kiel in Danish waters. At 06.33 a.m. the patient was hoisted from the ferry by a helicopter of the Danish Defence and transported to shore for further medical treatment.
HAYRIYE ANA
The 'Hayriye Ana', en route from Istanbul to A Coruna, was in collision with the 'EF Olivia' ( IMO: 9252735), en route from Hamburg to Augusta, 14 nautical miles from Capo Passero on the southeastern tip of Sicily south of the ports of Syracuse and Catania, on the morning of April 22, 2024. Both vessels suffered some minor damage. The hull of the container ship was holed midships at the waterline. Both ships diverted to the Sicilian coast, displaying messages of “restricted maneuverability.” The 'Hayriye Ana' has been cited for several deficiencies on recent inspections. In November 2023, the Chinese authorities listed a dozen deficiencies including issues with the vessel’s VDR, an issue also cited by Greek inspectors in January 2024. The Italian Coastguard mobilized an AW139 helicopter and an Atr42 aircraft as well as a patrol vessel to the scene to monitor the vessel’s progress. So far, no pollution has been reported. The 'EF Olivia' reached Augusta Anchorage at 8.50 p.m. UTC and moored in pos. 37° 12.32' N 015° 12.63' E. The 'Hayriye Ana' was underway to A Coruna with a speed of 5,8 knots at that time and an ETA as of April 29. Reports with photos and video: https://maritime-executive.com/article/video-italian-coast-guard-monitoring-after-vessels-collide-off-sicily https://www.fanpage.it/attualita/schianto-tra-nave-cargo-e-portacontainer-al-largo-della-sicilia-guardia-costiera-con-navi-e-aerei/
Churchill
Canada’s arctic port of Churchill is set to resume its first grain shipments since 2015 after a group backed by investor Prem Watsa stepped in last year to buy the facility and a related rail line linking the northern town with the rest of Manitoba. The 88-year-old port on the shores of Hudson’s Bay will resume operations in the next few months, reducing by several days the shipping time to deliver grains to Europe and the Middle East across the Atlantic Ocean.
King Abdullah Port
In the largest commercial operation of its kind in the history of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah Port has received 28 state-of-the-art Liebherr cranes to start the expansion of the container terminals. The latter was decided through a MoU signed with National Container Terminal on the day the port was officially inaugurated in the presence of the Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman last February. The new cranes include 20 gantry cranes and 8 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, which are the largest of their kind, with an outreach of 70 m (25 rows) and a safe working load of 65 t. The cranes that were supplied in this deal will join their operational counterparts in the port. They are the largest cranes exported by Liebherr and can serve mega container ships easily and seamlessly.
DALI
The City of Baltimore on April 22 opposed capping the 'Dali's shipowner’s liability in the Key Bridge collapse. The companies’ actions leading up to the disastrous crash were “grossly and potentially criminally negligent,” the city’s lawyers wrote in a new filing. The 'Dali' was “clearly unseaworthy,” a claim that will have major implications for the companies’ efforts to limit their liability. “For more than four decades, cargo ships made thousands of trips every year under the Key Bridge without incident. There was nothing about March 26, 2024, that should have changed that. But Petitioners, Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd, saw fit to put a clearly unseaworthy vessel into the water. Petitioners’ actions were grossly and potentially criminally negligent. In no way should their liability be limited.” The filing claims that the companies provided the vessel with an “incompetent crew that was inattentive to its duties” and “failed to comply with local navigation customs and/or usage,” failed to properly maintain the vessel and failed to comply with industry standards, among a long list of allegations. Baltimore hired a heavy-hitting lawyer with experience handling maritime disasters and structural collapses to handle its claims related to the Key Bridge collapse. The Maryland Attorney General’s Office also issued a request for proposals for assistant counsel to participate in Key Bridge litigation. The ship is owned by the Grace Ocean Private Limited and managed by Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., which both filed a “limitation of liability” action just days after the crash. The action was aimed at capping the amount of damages the companies could be forced to pay at about $43 million — the value of the 'Dali' and its cargo. The city’s filing ass the first among what were expected to be many objections to the limitation of liability action. The FBI was also conducting a criminal investigation into the accident. The ship reportedly experienced electrical issues before it left port but took off despite of that. Parties with claims against the 'Dali' will have until Sep 24 to file notice in federal court, though there was expected to be a lengthy court fight over whether the owner can successfully cap liability. If the owner had “privity or knowledge” of the issue that caused the crash, or if the ship wasn’t seaworthy before it left port, the limitation of liability action could fail, allowing claimants to pursue bigger monetary awards.
SALVAMAR ALPHERATZ
A boat arrived with 59 sub-Saharan migrants, among them 57 men, one woman and one minor, was in need of assistance in the night of April 21, three nautical miles south of Las Galletas. The 'Salvamar Alpheratz' was mobilized by the CCS of Salvamento Marítimo in Tenerife. The boat was escorted to the Port of Los Cristianos. Video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1782328647761723581
Barcelona
BEST terminal in the Port of Barcelona has recently increased its storage and connection capacity for refrigerated containers, from 1,600 connection points up to 2,750, an increase of 70%, making it one of the terminals with the most connections for refrigerated containers in the whole of the Mediterranean area.
Walvis Bay
NAMPORT’s new container terminal will be officially inaugurated on 2 August, and normal operations are expected to start on it on 24 August. The new terminal, constructed at a cost of N$4 billion, is expected to increase container handling capacity from the current 355 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to up to 1 005 000 TEUs. Firstly, there will be a shutdown on 17 August of container operations in the port to start relocations to the new terminal. The equipment to be relocated include rubber-tired gantries and mobile harbour cranes, while reach stackers, haulers and forklifts will move the containers.