A pirate attack on the "Tateyama" in the Strait of Hormuz was thwarted on Feb 28 , 2014. At 12.18 a.m. LT lookouts on the VLCC spotted a two skiffs accelerating towards the tanker. Sensing the ship’s vulnerability due to not having a protective armed security team embarked, the master broadcasted a distress message to other nearby vessels and the Omani Coastguard requesting immediate assistance. As the skiffs closed on the vessel, the master initiated a ship wide lock down and increased the speed of the vessel to maximum. The Combined Maritime Forces counter piracy force CT151 scrambled the Australian frigate HMAS "Darwin", and a Pakistan Navy maritime patrol aircraft was quickly on the scene, joined shortly after by a US maritime patrol aircraft. One of the skiffs stopped in the water while the other reduced speed to 12.5 knots bringing the threat of an attack to an end. When the vessels entered Omani waters the Oman Coastguard took over and managed to stop the skiffs and questioned the men onboard. Report with photo: www.seatrade-glob...

beached at Gadani 05.03.14

sold to Alang breakers,arrived Gulf of Khamphät 04.03.14

On Mar 4 the USS "Michael Murphy" berthed in Pearl Harbor with 17 family members and civilian contractors transferred off the HMCS "Protecteur" five days after the fire onboard. The HMCS "Protecteur" remained under tow, and as of 9 a.m. PST, was approximately 150 nautical miles northeast of Pearl Harbor. Fair weather conditions were expected to continue for the remainder of the transit of the ships which were expected in port on Mar 6. A team of RCN personnel has arrived in Pearl Harbor in order to provide technical support to HMCS "Protecteur"'s crew members and assist the family members. Once in Hawaii, an extensive and detailed damage assessment of the ship would be carried out and an investigation into the cause of the fire initiated. The HMCS "Protecteur" would then be prepared for her return to Esquimalt. Report with photo: www.montrealgazet...

On Mar 1 the "Stena Alegra" suffered a mooring winch failure which spilt hydraulic fluid on its vehicle deck. The fluid was contained onboard the ship and cleaned up by the crew. There was a hydraulic oil leak from caused by a hydraulic malfunction of a mooring winch while the ferry was approaching the berth in Picton. The fluid was pushed into the ship's scuppers and then into its bilge tanks. The bilge tanks would be pumped out later and the material disposed of properly. The spill was dealt with in an efficient and environmentally-friendly way. However, Maritime New Zealand received a complaint regarding a possible spill, but the marine regulator would not be following it up. It was a "tier 2" issue and has been referred to the Marlborough harbourmaster Captain van Wijngaarden to deal with.

On Mar 5 German experts for marine accidents were to start surveys at the "Costa Concordia". The team of the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation (BSU) in Hambrug joined the work of Italian investigators due to the high number of German victims in the sinking of the cruise ship.

The "Azovskiy Veter" ran aground end of January 2014, off Ochakov in the Dneprovskiy Gulf, odin.tc reports. The vessel was en route from Kherson to Poti. The last known AIS position dated from Mar 4 at 11.12 a.m. LT and showed the vessel was still aground, having suffered water Ingress and developing a list of some 10 degrees. The vessel was loaded with soya and corn.

Norwegian owner DOF Subsea says it has entered into an agreement with Louisiana’s Otto Candies for the charter of the Jones Act compliant IMR vessel, MV Chloe Candies, after having been awarded several contracts in North America. DOF Subsea says the charter agreement is for a firm period of one year plus one year option, which will commence beginning of March 2014. The vessel will be operated by DOF Subsea North America to execute subsea projects in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, DOF Subsea said. DOF Subsea North America has also entered into a contract securing utilization of the vessel Chloe Candies for 5 + 2 months. In addition, DOF Subsea North America has entered into a contract utilizing Harvey Deep-Sea for 3 months, plus 2 months options, DOF said in a statement.

22 sailors were quarantined amid fears of tuberculosis on the "Star Isfjord" after it arrived at the port of Brunswick on Feb 24, 2014. A sailor aboard the cargo ship had active pulmonary Tuberculosis, a contagious form of the disease. The discovery of Tuberculosis on the ship resulted in 22 crew members being quarantined on the vessel. Six of the 22 sailors were found to have been exposed to Tuberculosis but didn't have active TB, didn't show symptoms and weren't contagious. They were treated by health workers. The ship departed from Brunswick shortly before 6 a.m. on Feb 28 and docked at Wilmington on Mar 2.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has published its report regarding the loss of the "ECC Topaz". As a result, the MAIB was urging all owners and operators to check all exhaust pipes on their vessels are fully insulated and don't come into close contact with combustible materials. The "ECC Topaz" and its three crew had been 11 miles east of Lowestoft when the boat caught fire on Jan 14. The crew attempted to extinguish the fire but they were forced to abandon the boat and escape in a liferaft as the flames tore through the vessel's structure. The raging fire continued for almost two hours before the boat sank in 33 meters of water. A Coastguard helicopter rescued the three crew after receiving a Mayday call. The MAIB's report found compelling evidence to suggest the source of the fire was due to an uninsulated section of the exhaust pipe from a diesel-fired air heater. The most likely cause of the fire on board was the poorly insulated hot exhaust pipe igniting the plywood structure of the vessel. The compartment where the heater was situated was not fitted with any fire detection or extinguishing systems, and contained several flammable items including sacks of rags, rolls of paper towels and several small drums of oil that would have provided additional fuel for the fire once it was ignited.