On the morning of May 27, the crew of the “Humanity 1” was informed by the civil emergency hotline Alarmphone about a boat in distress in international waters off the Libyan coast. The “Humanity 1” set course for the last known position of the boat and found it at midday. It was a completely overcrowded inflatable boat with 82 people on board, which was unable to maneuver and was floating on the open sea without any rescue equipment. The crew immediately initiated rescue measures and took the people on board the “Humanity 1”. During the first rescue, Alarmphone also reported to the crew a second marine emergency in the immediate vicinity. A short time later, the crew of the rescue ship discovered a small, overcrowded plastic boat with 18 people on board. The “Humanity 1” also took these survivors on board. About half of those rescued were minors, including several small children and babies. The majority of the minors were unaccompanied. Numerous women, including several pregnant women, were also among the survivors. Several people were suffering from severe seasickness and skin burns. The Italian authorities assigned the ship to the port of Livorno, almost 1,200 kilometers from the rescue site, which means at least three days of sailing with an ETA as of May 30. The aid organization accused the authorities of “knowingly violating the survivors’ right to rapid disembarkation as enshrined in maritime law.” The captain therefore immediately asked the ItalianMRCC to assign a closer port.
News
LG ISLA SANTA CRUZ
In the night of May 26, 2024, the “Isla Santa Cruz” had to be abandoned by its crew when it began to sink for unknown reasons near Salinas, while the ship was towing a semi-submersible that had been seized with 169 packages of drugs 150 miles from the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). A rapid reaction team was immediately deployed to find the 12 crew members as well as the three people who had been captured in the semi-submersible, who were all rescued. During the SAR operation, the coordinating centers of Ecuador, the United States and Peru participated. In addition, two ships of the Ecuadorian Navy, an aircraft of the Colombian Armed Forces, a merchant ship and a fishing vessel were involved.
Papenburg
The Meyer shipyard located in Papenburg, Germany, announced, they secured an order for a new cruise ship. The new customer is NYK who placed an order for a medium size cruise ship for their brand Asuka Cruises. Full article + image: https://www.cruisedeck.de/meyer-werft-sichert-sich-neubau-auftrag/
Cochin
The Cochin Port Trust handled a record 3.20 million tonnes of cargo in December 2020, a monthly record volume for it. The volume is a 10.55 per cent growth over December 2019, said Cochin Port Trust chairperson M. Beena, in a message to the employees and officials of the port trust. Container movement too touched a consistent 60,000 TEUs consecutively in the four months leading to December. The surge in the movement of cargo is being looked upon as new shoots in the port business after the plans of 2020 were washed away in the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth in cargo movement is “charting a new growth trajectory. However, we need to find new vistas for revenue generation by optimum utilisation of resources available to us,” the chairperson told the port community. The port has been recovering from the losses, which had affected it for the past decade. But the pandemic and resultant loss in business had pushed the port into the red. But the port was expected to make a recovery by the end of 2021, the chairperson said. There was optimism stemming from the fact that though there was a substantial fall in cargo movement in the first half of the current financial year, there was some recovery in the second half. The port trust was also optimistic that the inauguration of the Kochi-Mangaluru LNG pipeline earlier this month would pave the way for more gas volumes and revenue for the port. Meanwhile, figures from the Indian Ports Association showed that ports across the country suffered owing to the pandemic and its impact on the global economy. The average fall across the major ports in the country is nearly nine per cent for the period. Mumbai suffered a fall of more than 17 per cent and the Momugao traffic fell more than 23 per cent and JNPT traffic was down by over 12 per cent. Haldia Dock Complex, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, and New Mangaluru suffered lesser falls in business.
PREVELIS
In the afternoon of May 27, 2024, the Port Authority of Tzelepi was informed by the Master of the 'Prevelis' that before the ship's departure a malfunction occurred in the port sie anchor winch. The ship had a scheduled route from the port of Piraeus to the ports of Thira, Anafis, Kasos, Karpathos, Diaphanio, Halkis and Rhodes, with 117 passengers and vehicles on board. The Central Port Authority of Piraeus initially banned the ship from sailing. Upon the presentation of a certificate of class maintenance from the monitoring classification society it was allowed to continue sailing.
CG MUNRO
The crew of the 'Munro (WMSL 755)' offloaded approximately 33,768 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated value of $468 million, on May 21, 2024, in San Diego. The offload was a result of eight separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions or events off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South America by the Coast Guard Cutter in February and March. Reports with photos: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3788220/media-advisory-coast-guard-to-offload-approximately-33768-pounds-of-cocaine-in/ https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3789060/multimedia-release-coast-guard-crew-offloads-468-million-worth-of-cocaine-in-sa/
Cochin
The coast guard found signs of an accident on the British oil tanker Orange Victoria which was seized in COCHIN after the accident involving a fishing boat on the coast of Vizhinjam The Fort Kochi Coastal Police and the Marine Mercantile Division conducted an inspection of the ship anchored in the open sea on Saturday morning .The paint on this part has been collected by scientific experts for scientific examination . Captain Nikhil told the Coastal Police that they were not aware that the ship had collided with the boat . There are 23 sailors on board . The ship while en route from Singapore to Indian port, presumably struck fiberglass fishing boat 46 nm off COCHIN at night Mar 18. boat was damaged, all 6 crew safe. Hull paint samples are taken, to conduct lab analysis
ELLORA
On May 27, 2024, at noon, the Port Authority of Milos was informed that the 'Ellora' with nine people on board had suffered a damage to the rudder 12 nautical miles northwest of Milos. The fishing vessel 'Konstantinos' immediatelycame to assist and assisted the yacht to reach the port of Adamanto upon Milos. The Milos Port Authority, which was conducting the preliminary investigation, baneed the yacht from sailing until the damage was repaired and a certificate of seaworthiness has been presented by the monitoring classification society.
SALVAMAR CAPELLA
On May 27, the fishing vessel 'Nuevo Avril', based in San Juan de La Arena, suffered water ingress and sank 14 nautical miles westnorthwest of Cabo Peñas. The SAR helicopter Helimer 222 was mobilized by the CCS Gijón of Salvamento Marítimo and has rescued the two crew members, who had abandoned ship onto the life raft, and has taken them to El Musel, where an ambulance was waiting. The 'Salvamar Capella' was also deployed to the area to rule out a contamination due to the sinking. No signs of contamination were detected. The raft, the radio beacon, lifebuoys and some boxes were recovered by the SAR boat.
Chittagong
Crew change have resumed at the port of Chittagong, albeit to a limited extent. In case of joining, covid negative certificate is required. In case of sign off, the crew will have to undergo a covid test at a local government approved hospital. Which takes a total of 3 days to stay in a hotel. Then he has to show immigration and airlines authorities when he gets on the plane. We've learned from talking to a crew service provider that this process is safe for all parties. NC Shipping's operations manager said Chittagong port service is now much more efficient and less time consuming. All rules are governed by international standards. "Even in the covid pandemic lockdown, we get international quality service from Chittagong port which has played a positive role in the operation of our ships and maintaining the dynamism of the maritime trade," he added. He thinks crew change approval is part of a continuous process. This is a valiant decision of the government and port authorities