Five Indonesian fishermen stranded for several days onboard a sinking fishing boat in the South China Sea were rescued on Sep 20, 2024, by the 'Alpha Optimism', en route from Fang Cheng Gang to Port Hedland. The bulk carrier was underway between mainland Malaysia and Borneo when the crew spotted the sinking vessel, with its crew waving with flags from the top deck. Crew from the Alpha Optimism set out in a lifeboat to rescue fishermen from the stricken fishing boat.
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GEO BARENTS
On Sep 19, 96 migrants were rescued by the crew of the 'Geo Barents' from an overcrowded wooden boat in the Central Mediterranean. Many were women and children, the majority travelling alone. They were all safe on board the NGO ship. This rescue was possible thanks to the alert and aerial support from Seawatch. In the rund of the afternoon of Sep 19, 109 more people were rescued from a second overcrowded wooden boat in the Mediterranean. They were fleeing Libya. During the rescue, a boat from the Libyan Coast Guard approached the scene and conducted dangerous maneuvers. The boat eventually left, and all survivors were brought aboard the 'Geo Barents'. With 205 people on board, the ship heading towards Genoa, which has been designated as a place of safety by the Italian authorities. Photos: https://x.com/MSF_Sea/status/1836761102165705041 https://x.com/MSF_Sea/status/1836822789359067194
Recife
An accident occurred with a ship loader at the sugar terminal in the port of Recife on April 19, 2024. The loader collapsed. and a part of the machine fell into the cargo hold of a ship that was docked at the port to load raw sugar. No one was injured. Experts were assessing the situation. and there was no timeline yet for repairs. The collapsed ship loader was the only one at the terminal, run by Sindacucar. There were currently three vessels waiting to load 71,000 metric tons of raw sugar at the port. The buyers of the sugar were Louis Dreyfus, Tate & Lyle and ASR, destined for the United States and Portugal. The port was evaluating ways to complete loading of the currently docked vessel, as well as alternatives to loading any other vessels.
Alang
At the Alang ship recycling yard on the Bhavnagar coast, Gujarat, the Shree Ram Vessel Scrap Pvt Ltd. (SRVSPL), filed a police complaint alleging a loss of Rs 45 lakh worth of equipment stolen from the 'DV Erica', which had been brought in from Abu Dhabi for dismantling. According to the complaint filed with Alang Marine police station, the theft was believed to have occurred on March 23, 2024, at around 5 a.m. The ship was anchored in the designated waiting area at the outer anchorage after having been towed from Abu Dhabi. When workers boarded the ship for inspection on the morning, they discovered signs of a break-in. Two ropes were found dangling from the stern of the ship, suggesting the thieves used them to climb aboard.
DALI
The 'Dali' has officially left the Port of Norfolk on Sep 19, and is expected to head towards Zhoushan. The US Coast Guard provided a 500-yard safe zone with three tugs, not affiliated with the Coast Guard, as well as two additional Coast Guard crews — one from the Portsmouth station and one from Station Little Creek - around the 'Dali' up until the Chesapeake Bay Lighted Whistle Buoy, where the ship then continued unaccompanied. Report with photos: https://www.wavy.com/news/local-news/norfolk/dali-leaving-port-of-virginia-headed-towards-china-u-s-coast-guard-says/
Port au Prince
On April 4, 2024, the containerm/v 'Magalie' ((IMO: 7413892)) was hijacked by members of the 5 Seconds gang in the Varreux terminal neighborhood at Port-au-Prince. The gang members took all crew members hostage and stole one-sixth of the cargo, which included rice, Haiti's main staple food. On April 8, Haiti's National Police stormed the ship and engaged in a five-hour gunfight. The operation resulted in the injury of two officers and an unspecified number of gang members being killed. The vessel was retrieved safely, and Haiti's Port Authority assisted in transporting the onboard personnel. The status of the crew members was unknown. The ship was pulled away from the shore by a tug. Gangs have frequently attacked Port-au-Prince's waterfront operations, causing disruptions to the supply and relief flow. Last month, vandals destroyed the Varreux Power Plant and briefly took over and looted the Caribbean Port Services (CPS), the biggest container terminal in the country. The UN's Famine Early Warning System Network states that the terminal's waterside activities may remain closed for several weeks.
Montevideo
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CONNEMARA
The 'Connemara' has lost power while heading into the Cook Strait enroute to Wellington with 88 people on board, and drifted in the sea for more than two hours on the night of Sep 19. 2024. The ship had left Wellington at 9.38 p.m. and lost power about 40 minutes later. There was no immediate risk to anyone on board, while the ferry was drifting slowly in a southeast direction, away from the land. Maritime New Zealand, and the Rescue Co-ordination Centre, were both monitoring the situation. On Sep 20 at 2 a.m. the tug 'Tapuhi' took the 'Connemara' in tow back to Wellington, and a second tug, the 'Tiaki', served as steering tug. By 6 a.m. it was towed to the Pipitea Wharf. People started to disembark at about 7.30 a.m. The vessel would have to remain in dock until the MNZ investigation was completed.
Kaliningrad
Ukraine's military intelligence directorate, the GUR, has claimed responsibility for a serious fire aboard the Russian corvette 'Serpukhov' at the port of Kaliningrad, a Buyan-M class vessel. GUR provided what appeared to be a schematic of the vessel's internal spaces, and a brief video of an incendiary device going off. The agency said that the 'Serpukhov' sustained substantial damage from the fire, with its means of communication and automation were completely destroyed. The Buyan class is designed for coastal operations and are heavily armed for their size, carrying up to eight Kalibr or Oniks antiship missiles and up to eight surface-to-air missiles. This was a deep strike behind the Russian lines. The agency's drones have hit Russian oil refineries up to 750 miles away from Ukraine's borders, and have taken approximately 14 percent of Russia's refining capacity offline. The latest strike - a claimed attack on a product pipeline - allegedly disabled all product tanker loadings at the occupied port of Azov. The GUR has also mounted a successful campaign against the Russian Black Sea Fleet, damaging or destroying a claimed one-third of its force and confining the rest to the relative safety of Novorossiysk. The sister ship 'Velykyi' Ustyug was likely damaged by a Ukrainian drone early in the Russian invasion. In June 2022 the 'Ustyug' was photographed in tow to a shipyard, showing signs of fragmentation damage along her port side. Report with video: https://maritime-executive.com/article/ukrainian-spy-agency-claims-it-lit-a-fire-on-a-russian-corvette
Itaqui
Brazil: Agriculture Officers Strike Federal agriculture officers decided to start the strike next Monday (22), which will directly affect trading involving perishable products and may cause delays in berthing and unberthing ships. Federal Revenue tax auditors also announced that they will intensify the general strike that has been ongoing since November last year, as reported in our previous newsletters. Next week, from the 22nd to the 26th of January, there will be no cargo clearance at the ports and airports of São Paulo and Bahia. This means that goods release services will be affected at Viracopos airport, the Port of Santos, Salvador customs (from the 23rd) and Guarulhos Airport. During the period, only perishable, live and dangerous cargo will be released at the sites, in addition to medicines and food, as they are considered essential. It is important to highlight that the import and export of goods of animal and plant origin require the consent and inspection of agricultural officers. The category's national union (Anffa Sindical) informed that the release of certificates and goods at ports, in this case, will respect the last day of the deadline set out in the rules of the Ministry of Agriculture. It is worth remembering that in the last meeting held on December 27th with Sindifisco Nacional, minister Fernando Haddad and the special secretary of Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, stated that they did not plan to make changes to the proposal presented for the payment of the efficiency bonus in 2024 , which motivated the continuation of the strike. The Superior Courts have already pacified the understanding that the strike movement cannot interrupt essential public services. Therefore, the functioning of the productive activity of shipowners/importers/exporters cannot be delayed by the Customs Inspectors' strike. Customs clearance must continue, regardless of the tax auditors' strike. The Judiciary has been intervening effectively on a case-by-case basis, in order to avoid the harmful effects of the Federal Revenue auditors' strike and maintain the regular activity of taxpayers at Brazilian customs. The strike could affect the port and customs sector. Our team is closely monitoring the situation in the North/Northeast ports and will inform you of any updates.