The Acting Chief of the Danish Defense, Michael Hyldgaard, has asked for more time to prepare and "quality-ensure" the report on the 'Iver Huintfeldt's deployment in the Red Sea and on the problems that emerged during combat. The statement has therefore been postponed. "It is absolutely crucial that we can professionally vouch for the product we have to send to the department. We need to coordinate with the Naval Command and the Ministry of Defence's Material and Procurement Agency to check and verify a number of information. That is why we have asked for the deadline to be postponed", accodring to Michael Hyldgaard. The case of the frigate Iver Huitfeldt's problems during combat in the Red Sea came to light last week, when the defense media Olfi was able to publish information about system failure and defective ammunition during a Houthi drone attack on March 9. It was also completely new information for Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, who asked for an explanation of the case on April 9. The statement was leaked on Feb 10, which cited the statement that the Ministry of Defense had been informed of the technical faults on the ship, although Troels Lund Poulsen denied knowledge of the matter. A few hours later on the same day, the Minister of Defense received a new statement with a new explanation. The Minister stated at a press conference. Here he then announced that the Chief of Defense Flemming Lentfer was removed from his job. At the same time, he asked for a thorough explanation of the case, which has now been postponed indefinitely. “I take the matter very seriously. It is absolutely crucial that both I, as the responsible minister, and the parties in the Folketing are continuously informed of possible serious problems when we deploy Danish soldiers. The Defense Command has asked for more time to ensure the quality of the report. I have informed the parties of the Folketing about this today", said Troels Lund Poulsen on April 11.
News
SALVAMAR ADHARA
On April 11 a cayuco was located in the vicinity of La Restinga (El Hierro). The CCS Tenerife of Salvamento Marítimo mobilized the 'Salvamar Adhara', which escorted the boat to the port. There were 71 peodle aboard, among them one woman and several minors. The castaways were cared for by the health and safety teams, Report with photos: https://twitter.com/salvamentogob/status/1778387720269656168
Rotterdam
APM Terminals Maasvlakte II’s new rail service between its Rotterdam terminal and Venlo, a key logistics hub on the Dutch-German border is proving popular. Following the success of the initial five-times-per-week service, plans are already in place to scale this up to 14 times per week over the coming weeks.
Genova
A 24-hour national labour strike is planned on Jul 24, in all Italian ports and all transportations. The planned strike is subject to confirmation in the coming days.
IDALINA
The Arcona 460 s/yy “IdaLina”, sailing on the Pacific, suffered a broken rudder shaft. A large hole in the hull meant that the ship ultimately had to be abandoned and sank. Arcona Yachts, the shipyard where the “IdaLina” was built, wanted to investigate the case. However, it was still unclear how the rudder shaft could have broken. The Arcona's rudder system comes from the Danish manufacturer Jefa. On April 8, 2024, the Swedish sailing couple Ingmar and Tina Baath Ravudd began preparing for their long-awaited arrival in the Marquesas after making a stopover in the Galapagos, when the rudder wick broke. They spent two hours trying to stabilize it, dismantling all the pilot connections, but during that time the hole in the hull grew to 6 inches in diameter and the water poured in, despite the two electric pumps which were running at maximum. It was also impossible to push the rudder outwards in order to be able to plug the hole more easily. When the water was 20 centimetreshigh, they decided to abandon the 'Idalina' onto the liferaft. Fortunately, they were sailing in a group of four yacht, all Swedish, and were quickly picked up by the 'Pacific Wind', a Bavaria 44 owned by a compatriot who was only a few hours' sailing time away. In the first few seconds of a video filmed by the couple, it can be seen that the rudder shaft was broken immediately below the point where the rudder quadrant sits on the shaft. The lower bearing probably tore a large hole in the hull. Reports with photos and video: https://voilesetvoiliers.ouest-france.fr/securite-en-mer/naufrage/video-ils-filment-les-derniers-instants-du-naufrage-de-leur-voilier-en-plein-pacifique-0a898a16-0148-11ef-b4e8-6352e833645c https://www.yacht.de/special/seenot/seenot-im-pazifik-erst-bricht-der-ruderschaft-dann-sinkt-die-arcona/
CUYAHOGA
The nvestigations into the fire on the 'Cuyahoga' in Ashtabula Harbor on March 15 were expected to move into a new phase next week, according to an Ashtabula Fire Department Invesigator. The Ashtabula Fire Department, the United States Coast Guard, and the National Transportation Safety Board all have jurisdiction in the case, as well as investigators from the ship's owners and insurance companies of all the entities involved.The vessel was docked for work at the time of the fire, with about two dozen workers doing repairs and another 15 crew members on board preparing to take the vessel to Erie for more work. At that time, a cargo hold caught fire. The first step after bringing the fire under control was to remove the 400,000 gallons of water and foam that were used to extinguish the fire.
Churchill
Canada’s arctic port of Churchill is set to resume its first grain shipments since 2015 after a group backed by investor Prem Watsa stepped in last year to buy the facility and a related rail line linking the northern town with the rest of Manitoba. The 88-year-old port on the shores of Hudson’s Bay will resume operations in the next few months, reducing by several days the shipping time to deliver grains to Europe and the Middle East across the Atlantic Ocean.
King Abdullah Port
In the largest commercial operation of its kind in the history of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah Port has received 28 state-of-the-art Liebherr cranes to start the expansion of the container terminals. The latter was decided through a MoU signed with National Container Terminal on the day the port was officially inaugurated in the presence of the Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman last February. The new cranes include 20 gantry cranes and 8 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, which are the largest of their kind, with an outreach of 70 m (25 rows) and a safe working load of 65 t. The cranes that were supplied in this deal will join their operational counterparts in the port. They are the largest cranes exported by Liebherr and can serve mega container ships easily and seamlessly.
BAYERN
In the morning of April 11, 2024, a fire broke out aboard the FGS 'Bayern' in a dock in the overseas port in Bremerhaven. The Bremerhaven fire department was alerted at around 10 a.m. The fire broke out when a unit was being put into operation and was extinguished by the crew. Three people were exposed to smoke, and one person was taken to the hospital. A total of around 22 fire and rescue service personnel were involved in the operation. The police have started an investigation into the cause of the fire. The fire brigade had already been called to the naval ship on MArch 31 because of a fire. There was a slight development of smoke below deck. The operational security service and the Navy personnel had initiated initial firefighting measures and were able to make thework easier for the fire brigade. One person suffered smoke inhalation but was able to continue working.
RUTH PARK
On April 2, 2024, the 'Ruth Park' suffered a mechanical fault that resulted in it unexpectedly heading to starboard and then to port side. The 'Ruth Park' was sailing along the Parramatta River near the Gladesville Bridge when the vessel lurched to starboard before moments later heading in the opposing direction. After ensuring the two passengers on board had disembarked safely at Barangaroo wharf on April 2, the ferry was removed from service. The incident came two days after the 'Lauren Jackson' suffered a problem with its steering indicators near Barangaroo wharf in Sydney’s CBD on March 31, requiring a system reset.The 'Ruth Park' was tied up at the Balmain shipyard. According to the operator Transdev, the 'Ruth Park' experienced a mechanical issue, together with the effects of wash created by another passing vessel. The issue was caused by a faulty component has been resolved, with the component replaced, and the vessel was due to return to service following successful sea trials. An investigation determined the incident was not the result of any steering failure.
Barcelona
BEST terminal in the Port of Barcelona has recently increased its storage and connection capacity for refrigerated containers, from 1,600 connection points up to 2,750, an increase of 70%, making it one of the terminals with the most connections for refrigerated containers in the whole of the Mediterranean area.
Walvis Bay
NAMPORT’s new container terminal will be officially inaugurated on 2 August, and normal operations are expected to start on it on 24 August. The new terminal, constructed at a cost of N$4 billion, is expected to increase container handling capacity from the current 355 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to up to 1 005 000 TEUs. Firstly, there will be a shutdown on 17 August of container operations in the port to start relocations to the new terminal. The equipment to be relocated include rubber-tired gantries and mobile harbour cranes, while reach stackers, haulers and forklifts will move the containers.