On June 4, 2024, the sailing yacht 'Windy' suffered a mechanical failure and was disabled and adrift in calm winds three nautical miles from Cabo Prior. The 'Salvamar Betelgeuse' was mobilized by the CCS Coruña to assist the sailboat, which was taken in tow along with its two crew members and safely pulled to the Marina Coruña. Video: https://x.com/i/status/1798002900029071771
News
FV BREIZ
On June 4 the court delivered its deliberations in the case of the sinking of the 'Breiz' off the coast of Port-en-Bessin, two months after the maritime court of Le Havre met from April 2 to 5, 2024. Among the defendants, the skipper of the SNSM boat of Ouistreham, Philippe Capdeville, who was tried for negligence and forgery in a ship's document. He was released. The court just accused him of negligence for an absence of alertness for 41 seconds when he did not respond to the 'Breiz'. This negligence did not cause the sinking of the ship and the death of the three sailors, ruled the court. He was also acquitted for the forgery. Philippe Capdeville did not wish to react at the end of the hearing. For his part, Bertrand Hudault, Channel North Sea general inspector at the SNSM, spoke of a relief for Philippe Capdeville after 3,5 years of pressure, and for all the SNSM volunteers: “We were all convinced that Philippe Capdeville had not made a mistake”. He also believes that this trial will “mark” a before and an after. This case questioned the “criminal liability of rescuers in intervention”. In particular, he requests a “mechanism to better legally protect SNSM volunteers”. An acquittal was also pronounced for the two officials of the DDTM (departmental directorate of territories and the Sea) and the maritime expert prosecuted for involuntary homicide. The court notably considered that there had been “no violation of a duty of care” on the part of the maritime expert, and that he “did not contribute to the realization of the danger”. Only the co-owner of the ship, François Leboucher – absent during the deliberations – was convicted. He received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. During a lengthy reasoning for its entire decision, the court explained that it considered that the co-owner was directly responsible for the facts. Particularly because he was aware of the non-compliant character of the crew. None of the sailors on board had the required diplomas, despite the exemption by Quentin Varin. The judges also mentioned the “non-compliance with the operating conditions of the ship”, in particular with the weight of the dredgers being far too much greater than they should be. He then failed to fulfill his “security obligation for which he must respond”. The prosecutor had requested a 12 -month suspended prison sentence and a two-year sailing ban against Philippe Capdeville, and a six months suspended prison sentence for the co-owner. The same sentence was required for the maritime expert who had submitted a report on the ship shortly before the tragedy. The magistrate also requested a penalty of €30,000 against his company. The prosecutor proposed a principle sentence for the two DDTM agents. The public prosecutor of Le Havre, Bruno Dieudonné, indicated that an appeal was “not excluded”. But that he had to “first analyze in more detail the motivation of the court”.
Rostock
On May 2, a HLC 295000 heavy load crane of Liebherr mounted on the deck of the 'Orion I' crashed in the Seaport of Rostock during a test when lifting a pontoon which was filled with 5.550 tons of water. The crane boom broke off, and parts fell onto the 'Orion I', which started to list to port side, and onto the quay edge. Heavy metal pieces flew around. Five people inside the crane's cabin were injured by the heave jerk. The fire brigade, ambulances and police attended with a large contingent. They tried to free the victims from the steel mesh. There were two serious and three minor injuries. A total of 120 people were on board the 'Orion I' who were now being evacuated and looked after. A rescue helicopter has landed. In addition, large amounts of oil leaked out, which the fire brigade has to collect before it got into the water. It is the second accident on the Liebherr site within a few months. In January, two loading cranes fell into the water during tests. The salvage then took several months. Reports with photos and video: https://www.nonstopnews.de/meldung/32916 https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/mecklenburg-vorpommern/Rostock-Erneutes-Unglueck-mit-Hafenkran,hafenkran156.html https://www.t-online.de/nachrichten/panorama/id_87809036/rostock-krank-knickt-im-hafen-ab-fuenf-verletzte.html
Everett WA
The American destroyer USS 'Kidd' returned to Everett after nearly 50 crew members aboard were tested positive for coronavirus as of April 27, 2020. This was the second reported outbreak of COVID-19 aboard a US Navy vessel at sea. After concerns were raised about cases aboard the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt', one sailor assigned to that ship died from coronavirus complications. Roughly half the crew members on the USS 'Kidd' have been tested for the virus, and some have been evacuated. 45% of the ship have been tested for COVID-19, with 47 total positive results. Two Sailors have been medically evacuated. 15 sailors have been transferred to USS 'Makin Island (LHD 8)' for monitoring due to persistent symptoms. None were in the ICU or on ventilators. Sailors aboard the USS 'Kidd' were wearing PPE and N95 masks. Initial COVID-19 testing of sailors from the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt' were now complete, there are 955 active cases, along with 14 recovered cases. The USS 'Kidd' was on a counter narcotics mission' when ait was reported at least 18 crew had fallen ill with the virus.
SALVAMAR MIZAR
On June 4 the CECOES was notified of a cayuco 14 nautical miles from the Playa de Santiago (Gomera). The CCS Tenerife of Salvamento Marítio mobilized the SAR helicopter Helimer 201 which located the boat, and the 'Salvamar Mizar', which rescued the 40 people on board, among them four minors and four women. The castaways were transferred to Los Cristianos (Tenerife). Report with photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1798019519224619340
IRVINE BAY
The 'Irvine Bay' was boarded by four perpetrators, armed wuth knives and iron bards, at Dumai Anchorage in pos. 1° 42 N 10° 101.29 E on May 25, 2024, at 2.10 a.m. No injuries to the crew were reported. The pirates stole engine spares of the ship.
Marseille
The 'AIDAblu' made a brief stopover yesterday in Marseille on April 26, 2020, to embark several hundred crew members of one of his sisterships, the 'AIDAsol', which has been moored in the port for 1,5 months. The transfer took place to facilitate the repatriation of AIDA personnel via Germany. The 'AIDAblu' set sail again in the afternoon. At the same time, another cruise ship which had been berthed in Marseille since last month, the 'Europa 2' of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises, set sail to also return to Germany, its arrival in Hamburg was scheduled for May 2. The Marseille areas now hosted six cruise ships, the 'Costa Smeralda', 'MSC Magnifica' and 'AIDAsol', 'Le Boréal', 'L’Austral' and 'Le Lyrial'. The repatriation operations of the international personnel of these ships was still in progress, in particular via flights chartered by the owners. This was particularly the case for the crew members of the 'MSC Magnifica', which arrived on April 20 and who also landed 4 tonnes of food surplus, donated to local associations to help the most disadvantaged.
ARBUMASA XXIX
On the late morning of June 1, 2024, a crew members of the 'Arbumasa XXIX' was seriously injured when the ship was shifted inside the port of Mar de Plata, when releasing the moorings of the tug 'BR Tornado' that assisted the movement of the vessel. The 46-year-old man got his leg wrapped in a rope at ankle level, leaving him with an open fracture of his right lower extremity. The duty officer in charge of the operation decided to coordinate the movement of the vessel towards section 8 of breakwater 2; subsequently the victim was disembarked on a stretcher by the fire rescue of the Mar del Plata Prefecture and assisted by medical personnel from the company SERVISA. He was transferred to the Private Hospital of the Community (HPC), where a successful surgical intervention was carried out.
AAL MERKUR
The 'AAL Merkur' was boarded by three perpetrators, who were not armed, on May 29, 2024, at 7.20 p.m. at Phu My Anchorage in pos. 10° 12 N 10° 107.3 E. The alert duty crew noticed the perpetrator, shouted at him and raised the alarm, resulting in the person escaping empty-handed in a wooden boat along with two accomplices.
San Diego
The number of coronavirus cases aboard the USS 'Kidd' rose to 64 as the Navy destroyer pulled into port at San Diego on April 28, 2020, to get medical care for the crew and to disinfect and decontaminate the ship. The 'Kidd' was the second Navy ship to have an outbreak of the disease while at sea, the other being the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt', an aircraft carrier that has been docked at Guam for a month and has more than 900 sailors with confirmed cases of COVID-19, but the entire crew has now been tested. The Navy has moved swiftly to get the 'Kidd''s crew ashore. That was a point of contention with the 'Roosevelt', whose skipper, Capt. Brett Crozier, felt compelled to write to several other commanders pleading for more urgent Navy action to protect his crew of nearly 5,000. Crozier was then relieved of command for what the Navy's top civilian official at the time, Thomas Modly, called poor judgment. Modly resigned several days later, and the Navy is now seeking higher-level approval to reverse his move and restore Crozier to command. The Navy said that 63% of the 'Kidd''s crew of more than 300 had been tested as of April 28. One sailor was medically evacuated to the United States on April 22 after experiencing shortness of breath. Fifteen were transferred to another ship with a medical facility for closer observation of symptoms. Sailors being removed from the 'Kidd' at San Diego will be isolated with twice-daily medical screenings. Crew members who have tested negative will enter quarantine for a period of observation, with military health professionals monitoring them for symptoms. Also, a small contingent of sailors who tested negative will remain on the ship for essential services and deep cleaning. The cleaning is expected to take two weeks. The destroyer had been off the Pacific coast of Central American doing counter-narcotics operations. The Navy said no deployed ships currently have known coronavirus cases aboard. 13 ships that previously had one or more active cases while in port have zero cases now.
Flensburg
The Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft shipyard a which had been operating at a loss for some time, filed for self-administered insolvency on April 24. The goal of the shipyard’s filing was to permit it to start afresh. The future of Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft in the medium term was in building Ro-Ro ferries, according to the message delivered by the management at a workers meeting on Sunday April 26. The move is specifically designed to allow the company to start from fresh without existing contractual obligations to customers and suppliers. Though an administrator will be brought in from outside the company, the company management will continue to control the business which is a different process to bankruptcy in German law. Investor Lars Windhorst is prepared to put money into the business through his Tennor Holding investment vehicle. Tennor Holding took 100% control of the yard in 2019. He has said, however, that the money should not be used on loss making contracts. The former majority owner Siem Industries is interested in contracting 4 further Ro-Ro ferries from the yard. Siem recently took delivery of LIEKUT, the eighth of a series of vessels built by FSG for the company to charter out. FSG had been making significant losses for a number of years. The Siem group acquired the company for a token €1 back in November 2014 after severe liquidity problems. Those losses massively increased in recent years, however, with the yard losing an eye watering €111m in 2018. The hugely increased losses were due in part to delivery delays with Irish Ferries 'W.B. Yeats' and the subsequent penalty payments made to Irish Continental Group (ICG). The agreed contract price to build the 'W.B. Yeats' is understood to have left little to no margin for the yard in the first place.