The 'De Y' with 13 Chinese and Indonesian crew members on board has been detained on March 30, 2024, by the South Korean authorities in waters near Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. The ship was allegedly headed to Vladivostok from North Korea with a stop in Shidao. The ship initially refused orders to stop; however, the South Korean Coast Guard subsequently ordered the vessel to move to Busan, where it anchored in pos. 35° 03.45' N 129° 01.56' E at noon. The authorities have been unable to confirm what the ship was carrying as the crew was refusing to open the cargo hold. The ship was last operated by an owner in Hong Kong. The South Korean Foreign Ministry was conducting an investigation, in close coordination with the USA. The vessel was allegedly involved in the violation of UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea. The ministry has also stated that they believed the ship to have been in North Korea’s Namo port before heading to Shandong, China.
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NORWEGIAN DAWN
Eight holidaymakers who did not make it back to the 'Norwegian Dawn' in time have traveled for 15 hours through six different countries to catch up with the ship, so far without success. The passengers showed up too late when the ship wanted to sail from São Tomé and Príncipe on March 27, 2024. The eight guests, who were on the island on a private tour, missed the final call to the ship and therefore did not make the departure time of 3:00 PM LT. The tour operator contacted the captain to report that the passengers were on their way, but would be late. The Harbour Master tried to call the ship, the captain refused the call. They sent emails to Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), the NCL customer service emergency number, and they said that the only way for them to get in touch with the ship was to send them e-mails, but they were not responding to the emails. Eventually the Sao Tome Coastguard loaded the eight passengers on a boat and took them to the anchored ship, but the captain told the Coastguard to take the passengers back to the island The group was left without their medication and incurred many additional costs, including not having credit cards to use in São Tomé and Príncipe. The passports of the stranded passengers were handed over to local port agents. The Norwegian Cruise Line was working with local authorities and was in contact with the stranded passengers. The group consisted of seven Americans and two Australians, four of which were elderly. One passenger had a heart condition, and another is a paraplegic. There was also a married couple from Delaware, and the wife was pregnant. The group of eight passengers traveled for hours through several countries to reach their ship in Gambia. However, the ship could not dock due to low tide. The group was trying to reach Daakar now, where the ship docked on April 2. Yet another passenger has been without heart medication for days and was very ill. Another passenger, who had been on a different tour, required acute care and was admitted to the São Tomé hospital, leaving her also stranded. The passenger's daughter in California was contacted to coordinate her return to North America. Report with photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13260825/Australians-left-stranded-Africa-cruise-ship.html
MSC ARMONIA
The 'MSC Armonia' was detained in the Port of Barcelona on April 3, 2024, due to problems with the visas of 69 Bolivian passengers. They did not have valid visas for entry into the Schengen area. The company has indicated that the documentats seemed appropriate at the time of boarding of the passengers in Brazil, but that the authorities of the Port of Barcelona have not considered it so.
ANE MAERSK
The 'Ane Maersk', the world's first large methanol powered container m/v made a maiden call at Port of Hamburg, en route from Felixstowe, on March 28, 2024, t 6.20 a.m. UTC. The vessel had started its maiden voyage from the Port of Colombo and is calling at a series of European ports, including Felixstowe, Hamburg, Antwerp, London, and Le Havre. The ship is running on green methanol and emits two-thirds less greenhouse gases than fossil fuels. It is equipped with dual fuel technology and can also run on Ultra-low sulfur fuel (ULSFO) or bio-diesel. The ship sailed again on March 30 at 8.15 a.m. and reached Antwerp as next port on April 1.
SHTANDART
The 'Shtandart' will not participate in the Escala a Castellón, after a stopover in Sète. The Escale à Sète has barely finished when Escale a Castellón, the next gathering of tall ships, already begins. Many ships present on the island set sail on April 1, 2024, for the maritime event which opens on April 5 in the port of Castellón de la Plana. If the Russian frigate, built according to the plans of the flagship of the fleet of Tsar Peter I, is not on the trip, it is because the organization ultimately opposed its participation, a decision taken by the Spanish municipality under pressure from the Ukrainian population based there. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the ship, which found refuge in the port of La Rochelle, has been at the heart of a geopolitical battle. For the #NoShandartInEurope collective, some of whose activists were present in Sète, welcoming the vessel contravenes European regulations put in place following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In 2022, the prefect of Hérault took the decision to prohibit the arrival of the ship for Stopover in Sète, forcing the crew to head towards Port-de-Bouc. But its captain Vladimir Martus has presented himself since the start of the conflict as a dissident to Putin and obtained authorization to participate in several gatherings. Vladimir Martus was asked not to fly the Russian flag out of respect for the Ukrainian people.