News

Beached at Chittagong 15.05.25

Eduard Khudainatov, the former CEO of the Russian state-owned oil conglomerate Rosneft, has filed an appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit over his claim to the 'May Amadea', which US authorities seized in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The development came after a US judge ruled in March that Khudainatov could not plausibly claim ownership of the luxury yacht, effectively granting the US Justice Department permission to sell the vessel at auction.

An investigation was launched into the allision of the Panama flagged cargo m/v cargo m/v 'Else', 2449 gt ( IMO: 9006320 ), enroute from Klaipeda to Les Sables with a cargo of ammonnium nitrate, with the northern lock of the Kiel Canal in Kiel-Holtenau upon entering the lock on Aug 29 at 5 a.m. at the pier of the Lindenau Yard in Kiel-Friedrcrichsort. Usually ships stop about 800 meters off the locks on the Kiel Fjord to take a pilot on board, and may only proceed once he has embarked. The 'Else' had ordered a pilot but continued its voyage without reducing speed and crashed into the closed gate with about six knots. The gate was severely damaged, and inspections by divers were to start on Aug 31 to find out if the submerged tanks of it were damaged too. The lock was closed for shipping for the time being, leaving only one of four locks in Holtenau in operating condition. One gate is still under repair after having been hit by the container m/v 'Akacia' 2,5 years ago, another gate is under repair too. It was investigated if this could be used once the now damaged gate has been removed.

Vesselles

arrived Alang anchorage 14.05.25

The scheduled call of the 'AIDAprima' in Geirangerfjord on May 15, 2025, had to be cancelled. Geirangerfjord has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 14, 2005, and even stricter regulations have been in place since 2025. In order to comply with these regulations, the 'AIDAprima' was recently retrofitted with systems that will continue to allow entry into the fjord. Due to technical challenges, this retrofitted system could not be put into operation on May 15, 2025. As a result, the Norwegian authorities have not granted the 'AIDAprima' permission to enter the World Heritage Fjord. The ship turned around and left the fjord again with a 180-degree turn. AIDA canceled the excursions for the Geirangerfjord and credited the onboard accounts. Captain Miklitza reported that the ship would call in Alesund as an alternative. Alesund was already set as a destination for the current voyage, so ideally they would simply change the rotation and call at Geiranger later in the voyage. The ship berthed in Alesund at 8:15 a.m. Almost all excursions that were planned for a later call in Alesund have been rebooked. The 'AIDAprima' will stay in Alesund until 7 p.m. It is still unclear whether Geiranger will be called later in the voyage.

Vorbeifahrt Rheinufer 56567 Neuwied-Feldkirchen (Fahr am Rhein) Gegenüber dem Industriehafen Andernach 26.08.2020 - Imperial Gas 79 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuTSSugJmIk&feature=youtu.be 26.08.2020 - MISSOURI Cargo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgkscB-aLoY 26.08.2020 - WSP14 Wasserschutzpolizei https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjHD9XwE9X8 26.08.2020 - VOYAGE Tankschiff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m7xqvoroX8

The PORT OF KIEL has redesigned the port apron in Ostuferhafen, which is the freight and logistics centre on the fjord. Where once stood a grain silo, there is now an expanded pre-stacking and stand-by area of three hectares for trucks, trailers and pas-senger cars.The State Premier of Schleswig- Holstein, Daniel Günther, visited the Ostufer-hafen on 12th August to hand over the grant notice coming from the State Programme Economy for 5.44 million Euros: The project to redesign the port apron included dismantling three hall areas of the former grain silo, excavation and road works as well as drainage, lighting and security measures and the connection of the area to the infrastructure. Through the new and generous port apron it has been possible to merge formerly separated pre-stacking areas, shorten distances and gain more space for trucks, busses, trailers and passenger cars. Furthermore, IT solutions have been developed to accelerate the handling processes at the gate, which also allow truck drivers to reduce personal contact.Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director at the PORT OF KIEL: “Even under the current circumstances the Ostuferhafen operates in a reliable and safe way. The port of Kiel has proven its systemic importance regarding the transshipment of cross-border freight transport.”In the first seven months of the year 2.1 million tons of cargo have been tran-shipped via the Ostuferhafen (+ 1 %). Additional volumes have been transported by the ferries of the DFDS shipping company to the Baltic States or they have been delivered by the SCA-RoRo-freighters from Scandinavia. Not only general cargo and forest products are unloaded resp. transhipped in Ostuferhafen but also project and heavy cargo, scrap metal and agricul-tural products. The integrated passenger terminal to handle cruise vessels emphasizes the universal character of this port part.

When the 'Glomar Venture' allided with the Vattenfall wind turbine 18 kilometres off the coast of Zandvoort, its lower part was damaged. This concerns the wind farm Wind Farm Hollandse Kust Zuid. This is one of the largest wind farms at sea, stretching from The Hague to IJmuiden. The affected wind turbine has a tip height of 225 metres and is located exactly on the point of the front section. Hollandse Kust Zuid consists of four sectors and has a total of 139 wind turbines. According to initial research, the turbine was hit at the bottom, which is the yellow part that forms the foundation. After the impact, the wind turbine was stopped and then put 'in neutral' and let the blades continue to turn quietly so that they no longer catch any wind. Last weekend, the wind turbine was put back into operation, temporarily at half power. Vattenfall was still guessing about the cause. An exploratory investigation is currently underway by the Dutch Safety Board. They will investigate what exactly happened that day and which factors played a role in this. Depending on these findings, an official investigation will follow later. The 'Glomar Venture' remained at the Damen Shipyard as of May 15.

Two fishermen were rescued by the crew of the 'FWN Sun', en route from La Rochelle to Gibraltar, on the Atlantic, off the Gironde coast on the morning of May 13, 2025. At 9:36 a.m., the CROSS Etel had received a distress alert by VHF from the fishing vessel 'Ablette ' (MMSI: 227309000) 120 miles west of the Gironde, following a water ingress and a subsequent fire. The CROSS immediately launched "a May Day, enabling the mobilization of the Beechcraft customs aircraft, the Spanish hospital ship 'Juan de la Cosa' and the 'FWN Sun' besides the Raffut SAR helicopter from the Cazaux air base. The two fishermen were finally picked up by the 'FWN Sun' from a life raft. The Raffut SAR helicopter then hoisted the castaways and transferred them to the Arcachon health center, where they were treated at 1:20 p.m.

Vesselles

The Port of Beirut (PoB) resumed partial operations on Aug 10 with the first two container ships berthing in the container terminal after the explosion which killed at least 160 persons, injured thousands and made hundred thousands homeless. Out of 16 cranes at the container terminal, 12 were currently operational. The port was gradually resuming operations to ensure the supply of all kinds of goods to citizens. Bassem Al Kaissi, the new Director of the PoB, said that the container terminal will be fully operational by Aug 14. Al Kaissi said that 420 containers were unloaded on Aug 10. The container terminal storage area has been cleaned up and restored to its state before the blast. The container terminal represents 80 percent of the overall cargo movement at the PoB. It is located one kilometer away from the blast epicenter. Container vessels can dock at quay number 16. Shipping movement at the PoB had already plunged by 75 percent due to the economic crisis and has reached 15 percent following the blast. Customs have opened offices in the PoB’s warehouse number 14 which was partially damaged. The customs have become able to carry out the inspection of merchandise- Customs duties are being temporarily paid at the Rafic Hariri International Airport. Tthe PoB is now handling only full containers as groupage consignment requires warehouses which don’t exist now. Amer Al Kaissi said groupage, which represents 15 percent of shipments at the PoB, will be diverted to the Port of Tripoli until the rebuilding of warehouses at the PoB is completed. The first two containerships to berth at the PoB after the blast were the 'Electra' (Gezairi Transport) and the 'Nicolas Delmas' (CMA CGM). The 'Electra', which was carrying 400 containers, was diverted to Tripoli where there was a license to operate but the company insisted to unload it in Beirut when it was told that the PoB has resumed operation. The CMA CGM Group and CEVA Logistics said they are fully operational and ensuring business continuity to serve their customers. The Group has redeployed its employees in its two back-up sites in Beirut Digital District and reinforced its presence in Tripoli. Part of CMA CGM’s vessels has been temporarily directed to Tripoli. Few shipping companies are authorized to operate in other ports such as Tripoli or Saida. BCTC, the Customs and the PoB’s authorities did their best to handle the clearing formalities despite the difficult working conditions. The general cargo area was fully operational on Aug 12 both for imports and exports. This includes wheat and other grains as well as construction steel bars. The cost of rebuilding the port is estimated at around $1 billion.