On the morning of May 1, 2024, the CROSS Gris-Nez was informed by the Dieppe semaphore that a migrant boat was off the coast of Dieppe ad deployed the lifeboaat 'SNS 080 - Notre Dame de Bonsecours' from the SNSM station in Dieppe, on exercise in the area, to check the situation of the boat. The SNSM launch was then relieved by the 'Yser' of the Maritime Gendarmerie, which reached the boat in difficulty on the afternoon. The 'Yser' recovered 66 castaways including women and children. They were then dropped off at the port of Dieppe where they were taken care of by the land rescue services and the border police.
News
BLUE STAR PATMOS
In the afternoon hours of May 2, 2024, the Port Authority of Syros was informed about the emergency approach of the 'Blue Star Patmos' in the port. The ferry had deviated from its scheduled route, in order to disembark a sick passenger.
Sines
The Portuguese government announced an investment of 547 million euros in the expansion of the Port of Sines in the southwest of the country and an agreement to extend its concession from 2029 to 2049. The agreement was reached last week between Portugal and PSA Singapore for the completion of the 3rd phase of expansion of Terminal XXI, so as to greatly increase its capacity and give another 20 years of operations in Portugal to PSA Singapore. The Sines port, 58 nautical miles south of Lisbon, is one of the major European ports and the great hub port of the Iberian-Atlantic front.
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.
RIDENS
In the morning of May 4, 2024, the CROSS Gris-Nez was informed that a migrant boat was in difficulty off the coast of Calais and depoloyed the 'Ridens' to assist. It launched a boat to reach the position and recovered the 22 castaways on board. A Dauphin helicopter was also engaged to ensure that no other person was in difficulty. The castaways were dropped off at the port of Calais where they were taken care of by the shore based rescue services and the border police. Report with photo: https://www.premar-manche.gouv.fr/communiques-presse/operation-d-assistance-et-de-sauvetage-de-22-personnes-au-large-de-calais-62
POWER JET
On the afternoon of May 2, 2024,, the 'Power Jet' on its scheduled route from Piraeus to the ports of Syros, Mykonos, Paros, Naxos and Santorini with 1106 passengers and 31 crew members on board, experienced an increase of temperature in one of the four main engines five nauztical miles east of Aegina. The ship sailed under its own power to the port of Syros, and after presenting a certificate of seaworthiness from the monitoring classification society, it was permitted to continue its approved route to the next ports with 820 passengers on board.
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.
ADAMANTIOS KORAIS
In the morning hours of May 2, 2024, the Port Authority of Alexandroupoli was informed that during the mooring process of the 'Adamantios Koreis', en route from the port of Samothraki, the passenger ramp pulled the mooring cable which caused the ramp to deform and the lower plate to detach o a length of about 30 centimeters. The passengers disembarked safely, with no injuries reported. The Central Port Authority of Alexandroupoli banned the ferry from sailing until the damage was repaired. Upon presentation of a certificate of class maintenance by the monitoring classification society, it was allowed to sail to the port of Samothraki.
KRITI II
On May 2, 2024, at noon the Central Port Authority of Piraeus was informed about the malfunction of a generator of the 'Kriti II' en route from the port of Heraklion to the port of Piraeus at 7.20 p.m. The ship was towed to port and safely disembarked the 131 passengers along with their vehicles. The Port Department of Tzelepi, which conducted the preliminary investigation, bannded the ferry from sailing until the presentation of a certificate of class maintenance by the monitoring classification society. The ship remained stationary as of May 5.
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.