Two bulk carriers, Chinese Dingxianghai and Italian Dover Castle, allided on Feb 21, presumably on Singapore Roads or approaches. Details unknown, both vessels are anchored on Singapore Road since then, maybe due to some damages they suffered. Dingxianghai is en route from Vietnam to Indonesia, Dover Castle is en route from Italy to Sattahip, Thailand.

On Feb 22 divers found eight more bodies in the flooded region of the wreck and recovered four of them. Among them was also one Italian child. All bodies were on deck 4 from where the passengers were evacuated on Feb 13. The bodies were taken to Grosseto for an autopsy.

On Feb 22 at 11.30 a.m. the "Commando" capsized and sank on the Ijssel off Krimpen while assisting the "Elevation". The crew of two was saved by the second assistance tug, the "Gepke". Also the "RPA 10", "RWS24", "P4", "P8", "RWS71", "Hebo-Cat 5", "Matador" and "Pieter L." attended. A small part of the wheelhouse remained visible. Dutch report with photos: haveninzicht.nl/g...

The Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport has launched an investigation on the explosion which occurred during the petrol loading operation on the "Christina", during which the tank 1 and the cabin of the ship were severely damaged at the Kuwait Petroleum Europort in Rotterdam. Police and fire announced that something went wrong during loading, but gave no further information about the cause of the explosion. Static charges were thought to be a possible cause of the accident on Feb 14. Dutch report with photo: www.schuttevaer.n...

Beached at Aliaga at 21.02.12

NorthLink has chartered a replacement vessel to stand in while the "Helliar" is in drydock in Gothenburg for urgent repairs. The freighter sustained damage to her propeller stern tube when a rope fouled her propeller while sailing from Aberdeen to Kirkwall in the night of Feb 19, 2012. The vessel limbed into Lerwick harbour in the evening, 12 hours behind schedule. Following further inspections by divers, NorthLink decided on Feb 21 that the damage could not be repaired in Shetland. The "Helliar" left for the 40 hour journey to Gothenburg on Feb 22, while the replacement vessel "Arrow", currently operating in the Irish Sea, will head for Shetland to enter the service on Feb 24.

The "Ratna Shradha" carrying disputed Sudanese crude remained anchored off southwest Japan on Feb 21, 2012, despite a British court ruling giving the tanker permission to unload. The ship had on board 600,000 barrels of crude oil that South Sudan says was seized by neighbouring Sudan in January and which sold it at deep discount to a North Asian trader. The tanker has yet to receive permission to dock from JX Nippon Oil & Energy, operator of the Kiire terminal. It was scheduled to discharge at the terminal. The tanker has remained off the terminal since Feb 14. At least two traders said the cargo had been bought by JX Nippon Oil and Energy. Chambal Fertilisers submitted the case to a British commercial court on February 15, after questions over the legal ownership of the crude emerged.

Sold for scrapping in Chittagong

To be scrapped at Chinese shipbreaker

MSC Armonia arrived from Santos where stewardess Fabiana dos Santos Pasquarelli, 30, had been hospitalized and treated for respiratory problems, cough and fever, but died early Saturday morning. The vessel with 2.000 passengers, mostly Americans, Canadians and Brazilians, and 700 crew members is scheduled to call in Buenos Aires Wednesday morning. In Montevideo an epidemiology team met with the cruise vessel doctors and checked on passengers and crew members before allowing them on shore. Yamandú Bermudez, director of Uruguay’s Public Health ministry said that four crew members were taken to a Montevideo hospital with viral symptoms but “the rest of the crew and passengers did not present any type of symptoms or transmittable incident”, which means “there was no element that merited the impediment to come ashore”. Read more at en.mercopress.com...

Multiple emergency crews responded in the afternoon of Feb 21, 2012, to the Piscataqua River, after the "Miss STacie" which was taking part in the dismantling of the Memorial Bridge got stuck beneath the span and nearly capsized in the strong current. The vessel was moving a barge beneath the bridge when it got turned around by the current and became lodged underneath the span. It began listing to its port side at about 2 p.m. The tug was partially submerged in the river. The two men aboard were rescued by another vessel before emergency crews arrived. At one point during the rescue attempt, the "Miss Staie" appeared as if it would completely capsize, but the boat righted itself as it was freed from the current. The semi-submerged ship was pulled to safety by the tug "Eugenia Mora" at 2:18 p.m., and brought to a dock near the Isles of Shoals Steamship Co. Firefighters wearing cold-water-rescue suits responded aboard the city's fire boat. Another city ambulance crew and city fire department ladder truck Tower 5 also responded to the incident, as did the U.S. Coast Guard, Marine Patrol and firefighters from Kittery, Maine. Local police were called for traffic control in the area as crowds gathered to watch from the riverbank. The Coast Guard and state Department of Environmental Services had to determine how to dewater the tug. Authorities from the Marine Safety Detachment would be responsible for investigating the incident. Report with photos: www.seacoastonlin...

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's vessel Bob Barker will head back down to the Southern Ocean when it sails out of Wellington tonight to begin another anti-whaling campaign. It has been berthed at Wellington's Taranaki Street wharf for the past week while refuelling and taking on supplies before sailing south to once again to protest against the actions of the Japanese whaling fleet. Phil Peterson, Bob Barker crewman, said the plan was once again to team up with sister-ship the Steve Irwin. www.stuff.co.nz/d...

Organisers decided to charter the Braemar after realising there was not enough accommodation to house staff. More than 900 workers - involved in transporting competitors and officials around venues - will live on the luxury liner. The ship features a theatre, two nightclubs, a swimming pool, an extensive library and a casino. Owners Fred Olsen have cancelled three cruises to ensure the liner will be berthed in London’s Docklands for the Olympics. The ship will spend 34 days in the capital from July 12 until August 15 - three days after the Games finish. www.mirror.co.uk/...

(AP) ' The Pentagon is disputing reports that Iranian ships docked at a Syrian port over the weekend. Iranian state-run Press TV said Saturday that an Iranian navy destroyer and a supply ship had docked in the port of Tartus to provide training to ally Syria's naval forces, as Syria tries to crush the opposition movement. But Defense Department press secretary George Little said Tuesday the U.S. military saw no indication that the ships docked or delivered any cargo. Little said Tehran's ships went through the Suez Canal and now appear to be going back through the canal again. ibc.broadcastnews...

The "Olympic Flair" has been victim of a pirate attack only a hours after the "Enrica Lexie" on Feb 17, 2012. The ship at that time was at anchor off Cochin and then entered the port of Kochi.

Interpol has been asked to assist in the investigation that has followed the arrest of an alleged pirate ship crew, captained by a man reported to be a Bulgarian, off the coast of the Comores on February 18 2012, media in Mauritius said. Security forces carried out the arrests of the 10 armed men, who said that they were Kenyan police escorting a vessel to South Africa. However, they had no documentation to prove this and were not wearing Kenyan police uniforms, reports said. While the alleged pirate ship was registered as a fishing vessel, a number of Kalashnikov assault rifles were found on board. Mauritian newspaper l’Express said that it had established that contrary to earlier reports, the vessel was not Mauritian. "A ship cannot fly the flag of Mauritius when it is registered in Mombasa, Kenya," a navy spokesperson was quoted as saying. More at www.sofiaecho.com...

A passenger of the "Aurora" will face a Sydney court on Feb 22, 2012, charged with smuggling 30 kilograms of cocaine into Australia. Customs officials stopped the British man at Sydney's Overseas Passenger Terminal on Feb 17 after a drug detection dog alerted them. He was searched and officials allegedly found several silver packages of cocaine inside a wetsuit he was wearing beneath his clothing. Another 25 packages of the drug were allegedly found in suitcases in the man's cabin. Customs then contacted the Australian Federal Police, who charged the man with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug. Investigators say the haul amounts to a total of about 30 kilograms, and the man charged is now facing life imprisonment and a fine of up to $825,000. It is the same cruise ship on which United States authorities seized 13 kilograms of cocaine in San Francisco in January. An Australian man and two New Zealand nationals have been charged over that discovery.

Even as India is insisting that the legal process has to be followed scrupulously in the case of fishermen killing by two Italian marines on board vessel Enrica Lexie recently, Italy wants a more political resolution to the matter. It has rushed in Under Secretary Staffan De Mistura who will arrive here on Wednesday to discuss the turn of the events regarding the arrest of the two Italian marines. De Mistura will “continue on a political level the action so far carried out by a delegation of experts from the Italian Foreign, Defence and Justice Ministries”, a statement by the Italian Foreign Ministry said. Italy also claimed that the local Indian police had taken “coercive” and “unilateral” action in taking the two marines in custody and removing them from their ship. Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi too will arrive next week on Tuesday. ibnlive.in.com/ne...

Authorities are probing why the "Enrica Lexie" ignored the Italian Navy's objections and docked in Kochi leading to the arrest of two Marines over the killing of two Indian fishermen. A colonel is collecting evidence from military headquarters and the shipping company to ascertain if they sent the "Enrica Lexie" into Kochi harbour in Kerala. The Italian Navy had reportedly objected to the "Enrica Lexie" moving into Indian waters and the disembarkation of its military personnel on board. Latorre Massimillano and Salvatore Girone were arrested by Kerala Police on murder charges. Italy insists that the ship was in international waters when the incident took place and that the Marines cannot be tried in India. New Delhi is not ready to accept either argument. The investigation will find out if the shipping firm took the decision to leave international waters and with whom they negotiated. Meanwhile an Indian court has issued an order permitting the police to search the Italian vessel and seize the weapons used by the Italian Marines. The magistrate court issued the order on Feb 21 after hearing a petition filed by the police seeking the custody of firearms. The weapon used in the incident has been kept under the custody of the Italian diplomats aboard the vessel. A police team from Kochi went on board the ship to examine the log books and papers of the vessel. According to sources, the two Italian Marines were not interrogated by the police. They were being kept under the police custody at the guest house of the Central Industries Security Force. The additional chief judicial magistrate court in Kochi on Tuesday dismissed a criminal miscellaneous petition seeking a directive to the Ernakulam city police to arrest the crew of the "Enrica Lexie".

Marketed as the BBC Euro-Asia Express Line, the new service offers fortnightly sailings to Asia and sails every three weeks to Europe, says BBC Chartering, loading in the ports of Rauma, Finland; Kristiansand, Norway; Hamburg, Germany; Antwerp, Belgium; Bilbao, Spain; and Porto Maghera, Italy; then discharging in Port Kelang, Malaysia; Singapore; Batam, Indonesia; Ho Chi Minh and Haiphong, Vietnam; Hong Kong; Shanghai, China; Masan / Busan, South Korea; Kobe / Yokohama, Japan. BBC says that it will mainly deploy its 7,200 dwt multipurpose ro-ro / heavy lift ships on the service. These vessels, also referred to as ‘K-types’, offer lifting capabilities up to 300 tonnes (two x 150 tonnes) and possess the highest ice class enabling to sail all year round on the designated route. The first sailing eastbound will be undertaken by BBC Karan, out of Rauma; with BBC Bangkok undertaking the maiden voyage westbound out of Masan. Pictured is another of the K-type ships, BBC Konan.

The "Phantom" will have to remain in Oskarshamn port for about two weeks for repairs of the damaged spaces after the cargo shift off Öland. The ship was surveyed at the weekend and it was found that it had not taken in any water in the cargo holds. However, was water ingress in some of the cabins, so that the electrical wiring has to be repaired before the ship can leave port. Swedish report with photo: sverigesradio.se/...

The "Tingvoll" suffered technical problems in the afternoon of Feb 21, 2012. The ship was serving on the Seivika - Tømmervåg route. Mechanics were called to work on the engine of the "Tingvoll", leaving the "Brandal" on the Seivika - Tømmervåg route.

The "Hyundai HT 112" became disabled in heavy ice near Vladivostok. The tug had lost propulsion after its main engine failed and requested to be towed into port. A vessel was dispatched and towed the tug to port. The tug was berthed in Vladivostok on Feb 21, 2012, around 5 a.m.

The "Nina P", which had suffered an engine room fire on Feb 13, 2012, has been towed into Port Louis, Mauritius by the Five Oceans Salvage tug "Coral Sea Fos". The tug has recently been based at Port Louis and was first on hand to respond when the call for assistance went out from the stricken bulker. There are no reports of any injuries to crew on board the "Nina P".