Six Somalis go on trial in a Paris court on Tuesday charged with taking the 30 crew of luxury sailing ship Le Ponant hostage in the Gulf of Aden in 2008. The six men, aged 25 to 50, face life in prison if convicted of kidnapping and theft as part of a gang after they were arrested in a French airborne operation on land in Somalia after a ransom was paid. Only one admits to being a pirate, two admit to having been aboard the elegant 88-metre three-master but only to sell goats, cigarettes and the mild narcotic khat. The other three deny ever having set foot on the boat. Le Ponant left the Seychelles on March 30, 2008 with 30 crew and no passengers on board, headed for Yemen where they were to take on passengers for a cruise. On entering the notorious Gulf of Aden on April 4,2008 the ship was boarded by pirates armed with assault rifles who forced the crew to head for Somalia. More to read at au.news.yahoo.com...

Italian Costa Cruises have decided to deploy a second cruise ship, Costa Atlantica, to Asia from May 2013. The 2,680-guest Costa Atlantica features 1,057 cabins. Having previously operated the 1,680-guest Costa Classica in Asia, the double positioning of the 2,394-pax Costa Victoria and Costa Atlantica in Asia will offer a combined daily passenger capacity of 5,074. More to read: ttgasia.com/artic...

The Boudicca cruise liner was making a 13-night trip to the Canary Islands when it was hit with a suspected norovirus outbreak, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea. The ship, which was carrying 800 passengers, was met by ambulances at a port yesterday (May 21st, 2012) following the ordeal. Witnesses said a woman in her 80s was taken off the liner by helicopter after having a heart attack. It’s not know if this was linked to the bug, which is highly contagious, but many other passengers suffered through an ordeal. "There were two nurses wandering around all the time visiting people, most of them elderly," a passenger told the UK's Daily Mirror. More to read: www.theaustralian...

Summer 2013 will see Royal Caribbean International deploy nine ships in Europe, including three ships based from UK ports. In addition to Independence of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas sailing from UK ports, Barcelona-based Liberty of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas, and Italy-based Navigator of the Seas and Splendour of the Sea, today Royal Caribbean completed its 2013 European deployment with the addition of Legend of the Seas sailing from Venice and Rome and Vision of the Seas homeporting in Copenhagen and Stockholm. In total Royal Caribbean International will offer 276 sailings to 88 culture-rich ports on 58 exciting European itineraries for 2013.

The ID Integrity lost power on Friday, May 18th, 2012 about 65 nautical miles east of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park boundary. It passed safely over Shark Reef on the weekend and is now under tow to Cairns instead of Townsville due to weather conditions and a tug boat crew member taking ill, owners ID Wallem Shipmanagement say. The ID Integrity is being towed by AMSA's Pacific esponder, escorted by the PB Leichhardt. A third tug, PT Kotor, went to its aid but was not needed. The carrier is due to arrive in port on Wednesday May 23rd, subject to weather conditions, the company says.

Boxship Guang Yi suffered engine failure after leaving Quanzhou, China, in Taiwan Strait, on May 19 2012. Vessel either returned under own power to Quanzhou, or was towed, same day, and apparently after fixing problem sailed again to Taichung, Taiwan, arriving there May 20. Maritime Bulletin www.odin.tc

The Transport Minister Carl Sargeant welcomed that the wreck removal of the "Carrier" has been completed ahead of schedule. The closure of the cycleway was necessary to complete the work. The Minister thanked local residents and visitors for their patience and co-operation while this work was on-going. The cycleway is now open as the salvage operation has been completed safely and successfully. Temporary speed restrictions which were put in place regarding this incident will also be lifted on May 25.

On May 19, 2012, the US Coast Guard coordinated a rescue about 650 miles northeast of Bermuda. Two people on a sailboat initially reported having a loose keel and later said they had to abandon ship because of flooding. Using AMVER, the Coast Guard contacted the "Pohjanmaa", which was three hours from the yachts' last known position, to divert and help. Both sailors were saved. They were en route from St. Martin to the archipelago of the Azores, Portugal, when they abandoned ship into a life raft with a satellite phone and activated their EPIRB.

The "Victoria Mathias" was inaugurated at the Lloyd Yard by RWE Essen in Bremerhaven on May 21, 2012. The ship will have Bremerhaven as base for the support of the offshore-windpark "Nordsee Ost" 30 kilometers north of Helgoland With this RWE started into the commercial use of offshore-wind-energy by German companies. RWE is also develping "Innogy Nordsee 1, 2 and 3". German report with photo: www.weser-kurier....

The battleship Iowa, a storied vessel that languished for years in the U.S. Navy's mothball fleet, was scheduled to begin its final journey Sunday, May 20th, 2012, from San Francisco to its permanent home as a museum in the Port of Los Angeles. Four tugboats were set to guide the Iowa, among the biggest U.S. battleships ever built, under the Golden Gate Bridge and out of the San Francisco Bay. One of them, the 7,200-horsepower Warrior, will chug down the coast with the massive ship in tow, and is expected to arrive in Southern California on Thursday. The Iowa will open for public tours in San Pedro on July 7 and remain as a central attraction on the community's waterfront, officials said.