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The "Guardians", now sailing as 'Stellar', had purged its tanks in 2021 off the coast of Normandy. Until now, no prosecution had been initiated without visual cross-checking. On the morning of Jan 13, 2021, the tanker, loaded with nearly 5,000 tons of rapeseed oil, left the port of Rouen en route to Rotterdam. CleanSeaNet, a satellite monitoring system for pollution at sea managed by the European Maritime Safety Agency, spotted an oily surface approximately 10 nautical mile off the Normandy coast, near Le Havre. According to initial findings, the chemical tanker had illegally discharged approximately 36 cubic meters of wastewater containing vegetable oil residues at a distance of 10.01 nautical miles (approximately 18 km) from the French coast, although regulations require a discharge at least 12 nautical miles. Satellite images, combined with the vessel's trajectory, strongly correlated the passage of the 'Guardians' with the presence of the slick. Based on this information, the prosecutor of Le Havre initiated proceedings against the captain and the ship's owner for illegal discharge of polluting substances. The authorities, however, were unable to fly over the area until the next day, when the ship and the polluting slick, approximately 15 kilometers long and 500 meters wide, were no longer visible. investigations conducted by the maritime police failed to gather any direct evidence on site: no water samples, partly due to highly unstable weather.The prosecutor, who initially immobilized the ship, nevertheless initiateds legal proceedings. In the first instance, in March 2022, the Le Havre District Court acquitted the captain and owner of the 'Guardians', finding that the evidence provided was insufficient. This decision was contested by environmental associations Surfrider Foundation and France Nature Environnement, civil parties, who have appealed. The case has since taken an unprecedented legal turn, with environmental groups hoping for a conviction based on satellite images. Three years after the events, the Rouen Court of Appeal delivered its decision on April 25, 2025. In a ruling, overturning the first instance decision, the Rouen Court of Appeal found the Cypriot company Valsa Holding Ltd, as owner and operator of the tanker,, guilty of the unlawful discharge of polluting substances, along with the ship's captain. A total fine of €80,000, of which €60,000 will be paid by the shipowner, was set. In addition, France Nature Environnement and Surfrider, as civil parties, will receive €10,000 in damages and €1,000 under Article 475-1 of the French Code of Criminal Procedure for costs incurred. In France, this was the first time that prosecutions have been initiated based on satellite images, without visual findings, and followed by a conviction. This could lead to more legal proceedings in the future.

Michael White, age 18, from North Carolina, was arrested after a violent attack left another passenger unconscious during a four-night Bahamas cruise aboard the 'Liberty of the Seas', which´had departed Port Everglades on April 14, 2025. Upon the ship’s return to Florida on April 18, authorities arrested the suspect at the port. The alleged attack began when a male passenger and a woman confronted a group of youths who were jumping up and downinside an elevator, causing it to sway. The situation quickly escalated. When the elevator stopped on the eighth floor, the victim and the woman attempted to exit but were blocked. Once outside the elevator, the victim told deputies he was punched in the face by several individuals, causing him to stagger backward and fall. While on the floor, he was repeatedly kicked and eventually blacked out. When he regained consciousness, he was lying in a pool of blood. White was identified as one of the alleged attackers and was facing a charge of aggravated battery causing bodily harm. An additional suspect was also taken into custody. White was taken to the Broward County Jail and later released on April 19 after posting a $5,000 bond.

An accident occurred with a ship loader at the sugar terminal in the port of Recife on April 19, 2024. The loader collapsed. and a part of the machine fell into the cargo hold of a ship that was docked at the port to load raw sugar. No one was injured. Experts were assessing the situation. and there was no timeline yet for repairs. The collapsed ship loader was the only one at the terminal, run by Sindacucar. There were currently three vessels waiting to load 71,000 metric tons of raw sugar at the port. The buyers of the sugar were Louis Dreyfus, Tate & Lyle and ASR, destined for the United States and Portugal. The port was evaluating ways to complete loading of the currently docked vessel, as well as alternatives to loading any other vessels.

At the Alang ship recycling yard on the Bhavnagar coast, Gujarat, the Shree Ram Vessel Scrap Pvt Ltd. (SRVSPL), filed a police complaint alleging a loss of Rs 45 lakh worth of equipment stolen from the 'DV Erica', which had been brought in from Abu Dhabi for dismantling. According to the complaint filed with Alang Marine police station, the theft was believed to have occurred on March 23, 2024, at around 5 a.m. The ship was anchored in the designated waiting area at the outer anchorage after having been towed from Abu Dhabi. When workers boarded the ship for inspection on the morning, they discovered signs of a break-in. Two ropes were found dangling from the stern of the ship, suggesting the thieves used them to climb aboard.

A 47 year old, female assistant of the 'AF Claudia' lost her life on the night to April 24, 2025. She was killed by a truck driver who was backing up his vehicle on the ferry's ramp in the port of Patras without noticing her. The truck driver, a 44-year-old Greek man, was hospitalised. The Patras port authorities started investigating the accident. A preliminary information collected by the Greek Coast Guard suggested that she was disembarking on foot when she got caught under the wheels of the truck’s coach. The victim was a low-ranking crew member of Greek nationaity.. The ferry is currently chartered by the Attica Group. A local labour union called for a 24-hour strike at the port over the incident and a protest rally was scheduled to take place in the afternoon of April 25

On April 24, 2025, at 12.30 a.m. a barge loaded with coal sank on the Maas off Monsin Island in Liège after colliding with another ship. The 'Litore', which was connected to it, was able to detach itself in time. The quick maneuver prevented the pusher tug from sinking too. The barge was carrying a cargo of coal. It sank in just a few minutes to the bottom of the river. No injuries were reported. The crew members were all safe and sound. The submerged barge did not impede river traffic. Navigation on the Maas therefore remained possible in this area. The authorities were investigating the cause of the collision. Report with photo: https://www.flows.be/binnenvaart/2025/04/schip-geladen-met-steenkool-zinkt-in-maas-bij-luik-na-aanvaring/

On April 4, 2024, the containerm/v 'Magalie' ((IMO: 7413892)) was hijacked by members of the 5 Seconds gang in the Varreux terminal neighborhood at Port-au-Prince. The gang members took all crew members hostage and stole one-sixth of the cargo, which included rice, Haiti's main staple food. On April 8, Haiti's National Police stormed the ship and engaged in a five-hour gunfight. The operation resulted in the injury of two officers and an unspecified number of gang members being killed. The vessel was retrieved safely, and Haiti's Port Authority assisted in transporting the onboard personnel. The status of the crew members was unknown. The ship was pulled away from the shore by a tug. Gangs have frequently attacked Port-au-Prince's waterfront operations, causing disruptions to the supply and relief flow. Last month, vandals destroyed the Varreux Power Plant and briefly took over and looted the Caribbean Port Services (CPS), the biggest container terminal in the country. The UN's Famine Early Warning System Network states that the terminal's waterside activities may remain closed for several weeks.

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The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) on April 23, 2025, rescued a fisherman who had suffered a seizure off the coast of Gujarat and brought him back to land for medical treatment. The ICG station in Pipavav received information from the Fishing Association of Jafrabad in Amreli that a crew member of the Indian fishing boat 'Maa Kuldevi' had suffered a medical emergency at sea about 90 kilometres from the coast. The 'C-419' was immediately diverted to the position and proceeded with maximum speed and established communication with IFB Maa Kuldevi (IND-GJ-14-MM-1649). Uponn its arrival, the crew found that the patient, Kalu Deva Bareiya (57), was having severe chest pain and seizure episodes. The fisherman was safely transferred onto the 'C-419', which then proceeded to nearest harbour i.e. Pipavav, where the patient was handed over to representatives of the local Fisheries Association for onward transfer to a hospital and further treatment. The condition of the patient was stable.

On April 19, 2025, at around noon, the 'MSC Talia F', loaded with containers, some of them containing dangerous goods, suffered engine damage and was disabled approximately eight nautical miles east-northeast of Punta Melenara (Lat. 28.2159 Lng. -15.1904), en route from Valencia to Nouakchott. The ship was drifting south at approximately two knots speed amid north-northeastern winds of 25 to 30 knots speed and a swell of approximately two meters height. Salvamento Marítimo depolyed the emergency tug 'Heroinas de Sálvora' (IMO: (IMO 9960112) to the scene, which arrived at 9:50 p.m. LT and secured a tow line just before midnight. The vessel was safely towed to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where it was safely berthed on April 20 at around 4 a.m. UTC. tThe likely cause of the failure was a fuel pump malfunction. On April 21 at 4.30 a.m. the ship left the port again after repairs and finally arrived at the port of destination on April 24. Report with photos: https://safety4sea.com/container-ship-suffers-mechanical-failure-off-gran-canaria/

Ukraine's military intelligence directorate, the GUR, has claimed responsibility for a serious fire aboard the Russian corvette 'Serpukhov' at the port of Kaliningrad, a Buyan-M class vessel. GUR provided what appeared to be a schematic of the vessel's internal spaces, and a brief video of an incendiary device going off. The agency said that the 'Serpukhov' sustained substantial damage from the fire, with its means of communication and automation were completely destroyed. The Buyan class is designed for coastal operations and are heavily armed for their size, carrying up to eight Kalibr or Oniks antiship missiles and up to eight surface-to-air missiles. This was a deep strike behind the Russian lines. The agency's drones have hit Russian oil refineries up to 750 miles away from Ukraine's borders, and have taken approximately 14 percent of Russia's refining capacity offline. The latest strike - a claimed attack on a product pipeline - allegedly disabled all product tanker loadings at the occupied port of Azov. The GUR has also mounted a successful campaign against the Russian Black Sea Fleet, damaging or destroying a claimed one-third of its force and confining the rest to the relative safety of Novorossiysk. The sister ship 'Velykyi' Ustyug was likely damaged by a Ukrainian drone early in the Russian invasion. In June 2022 the 'Ustyug' was photographed in tow to a shipyard, showing signs of fragmentation damage along her port side. Report with video: https://maritime-executive.com/article/ukrainian-spy-agency-claims-it-lit-a-fire-on-a-russian-corvette

Brazil: Agriculture Officers Strike Federal agriculture officers decided to start the strike next Monday (22), which will directly affect trading involving perishable products and may cause delays in berthing and unberthing ships. Federal Revenue tax auditors also announced that they will intensify the general strike that has been ongoing since November last year, as reported in our previous newsletters. Next week, from the 22nd to the 26th of January, there will be no cargo clearance at the ports and airports of São Paulo and Bahia. This means that goods release services will be affected at Viracopos airport, the Port of Santos, Salvador customs (from the 23rd) and Guarulhos Airport. During the period, only perishable, live and dangerous cargo will be released at the sites, in addition to medicines and food, as they are considered essential. It is important to highlight that the import and export of goods of animal and plant origin require the consent and inspection of agricultural officers. The category's national union (Anffa Sindical) informed that the release of certificates and goods at ports, in this case, will respect the last day of the deadline set out in the rules of the Ministry of Agriculture. It is worth remembering that in the last meeting held on December 27th with Sindifisco Nacional, minister Fernando Haddad and the special secretary of Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, stated that they did not plan to make changes to the proposal presented for the payment of the efficiency bonus in 2024 , which motivated the continuation of the strike. The Superior Courts have already pacified the understanding that the strike movement cannot interrupt essential public services. Therefore, the functioning of the productive activity of shipowners/importers/exporters cannot be delayed by the Customs Inspectors' strike. Customs clearance must continue, regardless of the tax auditors' strike. The Judiciary has been intervening effectively on a case-by-case basis, in order to avoid the harmful effects of the Federal Revenue auditors' strike and maintain the regular activity of taxpayers at Brazilian customs. The strike could affect the port and customs sector. Our team is closely monitoring the situation in the North/Northeast ports and will inform you of any updates.