The "EDT Hercules", after its collision with the Swedish tank m/v "Prospero", (IMO: 9212589), in the Kiel Canal at Breiholz left the port of Esbjerg again on Feb 23 at 4.30 p.m. Meanwhile the damage at the starboard side stern had been welded. The "Prospero", also having repaired the damage to its port side in the meantime, berthed in Rotterdam from Feb 23 at 3 a.m. until Feb 24, 1 a.m., before heading to Frederikshavn as next port of call. The accident in the Kiel Canal was thought to have been caused by both ships having been sucked to the other after a strong wind gust caught the "EDT Hercules" which was about to pass the tanker at that time and had not enough distance to the slower ship.

The "Ludwigshafen" saved 128 distressed migrants 80 kilometers NW of Tripolis on Feb 23, 2016, from a rubber boat and recovered one dead body from it which was transferred as well as the castaways, among them nine women and two children, onto the Italian patrol boat "Cigala Fulgosi" which also took on board the remainder on the rubber boat. The dead had boarded the boat in Libya already seriously ill and died underway. The rubber boat was sunk as a navigational hazard by the "Ludwigshafen" once the castaways were safe.

The fund initiator PCE must sell the "Helene" to a British investment company due to the failure of a refinancing, for which less capital had been promised as required by the fund investors in recent weeks. This was not changedin spite of the vessel having started a long time charter in January 2016. Investors in the funds and investors of third hand have already paid several million Euros as a subordinated loan to rescue the ship. These loans can be repaid after the sale has been completed. No payments will be made in the original equity. The capital loss was therefore likely to be around 90 percent. The fund is worth around 52,4 million US dollars (including Agio), about 35,8 million US dollars (plus Agio) have been paid by the investors.

Freight and passenger ferry Petersburg (BFI) was loaded at port Baltijsk (Kaliningrad Region) on February 21. As Yury Pyatanov, Director General of the chartering company Trans-Exim Ltd. told IAA PortNews, 60 tickets were bought for the voyage to Sassnitz and 25 tickets back. Low load of the new ferry line is explained with the resumed traffic of trucks across the Polish border. The new ferry line was set up by the Association of Automobile Carriers. The voyage scheduled for February 24 has been cancelled. The next one is scheduled for February 26, 2016. en.portnews.ru/ne...

On Feb 23, 2016 at 0:57 a.m. the CROSS Etel was notified by the Maritime Medical Consultation Centre that a crew member of the "MN Pelican" had injured his hand. Following a conference call, the decision was made to medevac thim by helicopter to the hospital La Cavale Blanche in Brest. The ship was 63 miles southwest of the tip of Penmarc'h at that time. A Cayman helicopter took off from the naval air base Lanvéoc Poulmic with a medical team on board on Feb 24 a.m. and reached the ship at 3:00 a.m. The medical team was hoisted on board, and at 3:44, the wounded and the medical team were winched aboard the helicopter and reached the hospital La Cavale Blanche at 4:10 a.m.

Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Fantasy was stalled for several hours at PortMiami on Monday after a technical issue forced the cruise line to change the ship’s itinerary. The cruise experienced a propulsion problem that affected its maximum cruising speed, according to a statement from Carnival. As a result, the 2,000-passenger ship changed its planned 5-day itinerary with stops in Key West and Cozumel to a route that includes Nassau, Bahamas and Freeport, Jamaica as ports of call. A performance by comedian Kathy Griffin scheduled for Cozumel on Wednesday has been canceled. Guests who purchased tickets to Griffin’s performance will receive full refunds, according to a statement. The cruise line said its trying to arrange an entertainer to be flown in for the cruise. The ship was repositioned from Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale to PortMiami on Monday but was delayed due to clearance issues, causing the cruise line to push back the Fantasy’s sailing time from 4 p.m. to about 9 p.m, a Carnival spokesman said. Read more here: www.miamiherald.c...

El Faro was on a Coast Guard "targeted list" for potentially at-risk vessels under the Alternate Compliance Program, known as the ACP. Video on www.actionnewsjax...

THE cargo ship Grietje makes an unusual shape on the horizon for sea-watchers in Torbay. The vessel, carrying a large piece of equipment for the drilling industry, has been sheltering in the bay since the weekend. On Tuesday afternoon the Antigua/Barbuda-registered ship left the bay, thought to be heading for Suez. The Grietje was built in 2000, and had left the belgian port of Antwerp on Saturday. Read more: www.torquayherald... Follow us: @TQHeraldExpress on Twitter | theheraldexpress on Facebook

Calls to save the historic Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship have been intensifying amid revelations that the stunning and historic ocean liner is currently residing in a state of disrepair in Dubai. As the engine was turns off in 2013 the ship has suffered under pressure from the country's hot, humid conditions leading to significant mould outbreaks. Concerned campaigners feel that if this sort of thing continues without any restorative work being done, the future of this iconic cruise ship could unfortunately the scrapheap, which would be a tragedy for such a beautiful iconic ship. "Its scrap value is decreasing, and weighted against the cost of decontaminating the ship – as it's got asbestos – it could probably be bought for about £3million," said Rob Lightbody, a member of online campaign group The QE2 Story told The Telegraph. "The options now are to scrap it – but clearing it out would cost millions and millions – or just leave it somewhere. It's just sitting in Dubai. Nothing has happened to it in the last two and a half years. There's no power. There's no air. She's filthy." www.stuff.co.nz/t...

German engineering conglomerate Siemens said it will move an 890-ton shipment of gas turbines from Berlin Westhafen port to the Beni Suef power plant project in Egypt. The consignment consists of two SGT5-8000H gas turbines and will take three months to complete. The turbines are scheduled to be shipped via the port of the Rotterdam and Adabiya on the Red Sea before being installed at the plant in mid-May."We expect the plant in Beni Suef to feed electricity into the Egyptian power grid as early as the winter of 2016-2017. Siemens is helping its Egyptian partner to build a powerful, reliable power supply system with proven power plant technology,” said Willi Meixner, Siemens Power and Gas CEO. Each turbine measures 12.6 meters long and 5.5 meters in diameter. Two cranes will be required for each unit to load them onto barges at the Port of Rotterdam, before being loaded onto the heavy-lift ship Wiebke. After arrival at the port of Adabiya, the turbines will be lifted onto a 40-axle trailer which will be used to transport the turbines the rest of the 250-kilometer route along the Nile to the Beni Suef plant. www.breakbulk.com...