A crew member of the 'Yuka D' from the Philippines died after falling from the ship's crane while cleaning it at the Paradip Port on May 22, 2024. The deceased has been identified as Azarcon Earl Wilhelm Curao (26). The sailor was brought ashore by a boat from the anchorage zone and taken to Paradip Port Hospital. Despite prompt medical attention, he died upon arrival at the facility.The ship was anchored at Paradip Port to load a cargo of coal. The Marine Police Station in the Nehru Bangla province launched an investigation. The Philippine embassy has been contacted, and arrangements were being made to repatriate Curao’s body.
News
MV KARAR
A police officer has linked the Castañas clan, from Andalusia, with those accused of the stash of 3,800 kilos of cocaine aboard the 'Karar' in 2020, and companies from Galicia and northern Portugal that manufacture semi-rigid boats like those used by drug traffickers. Police surveillance of the members of the Galician criminal group allegedly led by Juan Carlos Santórum, the main defendant in the 'Karar' plot, began in June 2019 - the ship was boarded in April 2020 - and confirmed trips from Andalusia by members from the Castañas, to Galicia and, from there, to Portugal. During these trips, they visited, according to investigators, ships in which vessels like those used by drug traffickers were built to receive drugs. The agent has mainly referred to the Galician Fidel F., one of the accused, who is dedicated to the manufacture of vessels in Galicia. In the trial being held at the Vigo headquarters of the Provincial Court of Pontevedra, where 28 people are accused, the second witness who testified this week has stated that he never saw a work routine for Santorum, his brother and other defendants. In his story, the police officer has also referred to other investigated persons who are not prosecuted, such as Sergio R.T., whom he has linked, through an intercepted telephone call to Fidel F., with a transaction to purchase 300 HP motors for boats. . In March 2020, the police detected that the businessman in the nautical sector was requesting naval gray paint from a company, the kind used to go unnoticed by the boats that transport drugs to shore. On March 27, all the alarms went off, according to the researcher, following the so-called loss of a Portuguese telephone to Fidel F., which he returned and in which there was no communication. "We don't give it importance, but there is a coincidence with the Central Narcotics Brigade and they tell us that a report from the DEA - United States Agency - related that telephone number to a ship that was bringing a large amount of cocaine. We interpret it as a notice for Fidel F. to contact them by another means because they do not usually use conventional lines," the police officer stated. A subsequent communication from the DEA told the agents that "a guarantee person" was traveling on the ship, a certain José, of Galician origin, and that the ship had departed from Panama. Thus, after filtering the data of travelers who had flown from Spain to the Central American country, they found another of the defendants, José B.G. They tracked the route of the 'Karar', and that coincided with a new call from the Portuguese telephone, in this case to a number located in Madrid, which is attributed to it in the letter of accusation to the Colombian René Robledo, to tell him that "the transport had passed all the points" and would arrive the following week. From there, the organization accelerated preparations to receive the shipment. After an hour and a half of testimony, the defenses protested because the witness, behind a screen, was consulting some notes - 9 pages with 63 days outlined - and the hearing was suspended for a few minutes so that the parties had access to those documents. Back in the room, the defenses have asked that the witness's statement be annulled for procedural fraud and violation of the law by appearing with a script, but the magistrate has rejected it.
Iskenderun
Thick black smoke was rising from burning containers at Iskenderun Port on Feb 6, 2023. The fire was caused by containers that toppled over during the powerful earthquake that struck southeast Turkey. ATurkish Coast Guard vessel was assisting efforts to extinguish the blaze.
Kerch
Russia's Ministry of Transport has set up a ferry service across the Kerch Strait to take over vehicle traffic, offsetting some of the impact of the damage to the Kerch Strait Bridge after a truck was blown up on the westbound road deck of the Kerch Strait Bridge on Oct 7 at about 6 a.m. Two spans of the westbound deck collapsed into the water, but the adjacent eastbound deck remained in place. The blast's timing coincided with the passage of a fuel train on the adjacent rail deck, and it ignited seven fuel tank cars, which burned for hours after the explosion. A Russian salvage diving team has arrived on the site and is completing an underwater survey of the damage, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said Sunday. An above-water inspection process is already under way. Traffic had partially resumed on the bridge by late Saturday, though restricted by the extent of the damage. Russia's Ministry of Transport said that it also resumed suburban commuter rail service over the rail track, though not heavy freight trains. Two ferries are already in operation to provide a bypass route, and eight separate parking lots have been set up for temporary storage for cars and trucks waiting to make the crossing. Two more ferries will join the effort on Monday, the Yeysh and Mriya.
RUNZENG03
After a month of pursuit, the 'Run Zeng 03' was arrested by surveillance officers Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. The ship was the target of an operation related to a transnational crime syndicate, namely fishing theft in Indonesian waters, fuel oil smuggling and human slavery. The government promised to pursue the perpetrators of this crime down to the beneficiaries of the criminal practice of syndicating foreign vessels with national vessels. The 'Run Zeng 03' was captured in the Arafura Sea using the monitoring ship 'Paus 01' belonging to the PSDKP-KKP on May 19, 2024. The ship used prohibited fishing gear, namely trawling, with a catch of 30 tons of mixed fish species. The ship was taken to the PSDKP base in Tual, Maluku. In the initial interrogation, the crew stated that they departed from their home country in May 2023 and caught fish in Indonesian waters since Jan 12, 2024. The ship also carried 12 Indonesian crew members and 18 foreign crew members from China. The Acting Director General of Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervision at the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (PSDKP-KKP), Pung Nugroho Saksono, who led the operation to capture the foreign ships, stated that the capture was expected to uncover the underlying crimes of transnational and organized crime involving foreign-national fishing boat syndicates. The case will be further investigated. Report with photo: https://www.kompas.id/baca/english/2024/05/20/en-penerima-manfaat-akan-dijerat
POSTOJNA
Any civil liability for a ship accident during navigation lies with the captain and the vessel's owner, judge Décio Gabriel Gimenez, of the 3rd Federal Court of Santos (SP), ruled in the case of the accident of the 'Postojna' on Sep 29, 2011. Civil action for damages, including lost profits, which was filed by a terminal against the Port Authority of Santos (APS) and the agency of the freighterwas unfounded. The accident occurred due to the ship's maneuver carried out at the time of leaving the Port of Santos channel, after completion of loading of 44000 tons of sugar, bound to Indonesia, possibly due to the vessel colliding with debris from the previous shipwreck of the Greek cargo m/v 'Ais Giorgios', partially submerged since January 1974 due to a fire. Responsibility for navigation, as explained above, lies with the shipowner and the master (Law No. 9,537/1997). The plaintiff was the company Rumo. Due to rudder damage, the freighter was unable to continue its voyage and re-docked at the Rumo terminal until it was repaired. The company had allegedthat the measures adopted after the accident affected its operations, preventing it from fulfilling contracts signed with third parties. Therefore, it asked for the defendants to be sentenced to compensate it for the losses suffered and compensate the damages. The amount to be paid by the defendants, in the event of conviction, would be determined through an expert opinion, but the plaintiff gave the case a value of R$5 million. With the claim dismissed, the judge ordered the terminal to pay procedural costs and expenses, in addition to legal fees, set at 15% of the updated value of the action, considering the complexity of the case and the time required to resolve the controversy.
Kiel
The Port of Kiel expects another good season in 2023, resulting in 218 cruise calls, said its MD Dirk Claus in the morning of Jan 17, 2023, as part of a presentation reflecting on last year's results. It follows 2022's record-breaking 244 calls, which saw the port handle over 2.24m passengers, 836,000 of those from cruise vessels. The number of calls in 2019 was 37% less by comparison, numbering 178, and passenger volumes 4.1% lower. 2020 had been forecast to become a record season for Kiel, with 200 calls and 880,000 passengers, but aspirations were dashed owing to the pandemic. This year, a number of larger vessels are scheduled to arrive at Kiel on multiple occasions making the gross tonnage of arriving ships similar to 2022. For 2023, the choice of routes and destinations approached from Kiel will be slightly broader. Moving into the future, Claus expects Kiel to settle on between 200 and 250 cruise calls annually. According to the port, last year’s promising results were the result of ‘intense planning’ with international cruise operators. While 11 calls were cancelled owing to the conflict in Ukraine and the resulting loss of St Petersburg from itineraries, nine were newly added as a result of rerouting by operators. Looking ahead, there will be a strong focus on greener shipping with Claus hoping that between 60 and 100 calls can be supplied with green shore power this year. He stated that Kiel will continue to look at strengthening shore power in line with its corporate sustainability strategy to lower carbon emissions. Work on the new Ostuferhafen shore power plant is expected to conclude towards the end of this year, resulting in Kiel being able to offer shoreside connectivity at all its ferry and cruise terminals from 2024. Along with this €17m investment, a further €2m will be invested to install solar arrays. The systems, which will be fitted on roofs at Kiel Port, are intended to cover up to 30% of the port's electricity requirements in the long term. Kiel’s first call is expected to arrive April 7 with the river vessel 'Frederic Chopin'. The first cruise ship of the season, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ 'Balmoral', will arrive a week later. The largest ships to call will be 'MSC Euribia' and 'AIDAnova'. At the other end of the scale, the 'Ocean Majesty' will visit Kiel on six occasions while chartered to Hansa Touristik. The vessel, which celebrates its 57th anniversary this year, is popular with the German source market. One of its calls is scheduled to occur on June 18 during the Kieler Woche sailing festival which will run from June 17-25. Traditionally, this marks the peak of the cruise season with this year no exception: 22 calls are expected by Kiel at the same time as the event takes place. While the highest number of calls is expected between mid-April and the end of September as usual, some ships will continue to call later in the year. 'AIDAnova'’s last departure is scheduled for November 4 whilst December 20 will see Phoenix Reisen's 'Amera' arrive at Kiel as part of a pre-Christmas itinerary. The season will draw to a close a few days later with the 'Spirit of Discovery' on December 29. Costa-, AIDA-, MSC- and TUI Cruises will again be the port's largest cruise customers. The majority of calls account for turnarounds serving the German-speaking source markets, but a number of transit calls will also take place, P&O Cruises’ Britannia, Swiss Ruby, Holland America Line’s 'Nieuw Statendam' and Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ 'Seven Seas Splendor' among them. As in previous years, the Ostuferhafen outside the city centre will be heavily utilised by MSC Cruises and most other cruise ships will arrive at the Ostseekai.
Kerch
The Crimean Bridge across Kerch Strait suffered an explosion and fire in the morning of Oct 8, 2022. Two spans of the motorway bridge collapsed and fell into the water, the railway bridge above the motorway witha cargo train including railway car tanks with fuel, was on fire. All bridge traffic was suspended. The Crimean Bridge was more than a Bridge, both for Russia and Ukraine. For Russia it was a symbol of the Russian “victory” and historical justice. For the Ukraine, it was a symbol of the Russian aggression and Crimea occupation. The navigation span of the Bridge is yet undamaged, and therefore, the Kerch Strait Channel remained navigable. The Kerch Strait Transit is from now on, however, a risky undertaking, so all ship owners are advised to calculate risks and probably, change their ships voyages, avoiding Azov sea calls.
KMP PERMATA LESTARI1
The KMP 'Permata Lestari 1', which was docked in a damaged condition in Bengkalis, caught fire on May 23, 2024, at around 10:00 a.m. WIB at the port of PT. Bumi Laksamana Jaya (BLJ). The Bengkalis Police immediately coordinated with the Fire Department to extinguish it. All 15 crew members were safe. The cause of the fire was still under investigation by the Bengkalis Water Police Unit (Satpolair). The ferry had not been operational for more than two weeks and was heavily damaged by the fire. Report with photos and video: https://www.rri.co.id/daerah/708616/penyebab-kmp-permata-lestari-1-terbakar-masih-dalam-penyelidikan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ3KArvbnGw
CG WALNUT
The oast Guard Cutter 'Paul Clark' has repatriated 31 migrants to Cuba on May 22, following multiple interdictions in the Florida Straits. The first interdiction occurred on the morning of May 17, when Sector Key West watchstanders received a report from the 'Walnut' of a migrant voyage 38 miles southwest of Marquesas, Florida. The 'Walnut' arrived on scene and safely embarked the migrants. The second interdiction occurred on the afternoon of May 17, after an Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew detected a migrant vessel 23 miles north of Matanzas, Cuba. Sector Key West watchstanders diverted the 'Walnut', which safely embarked the migrants. The final interdiction occurred on thze morning of May 18, when Sector Key West watchstanders received a report from a good Samaritan of a migrant venture 23 miles south of Plantation Key, Florida. Coast Guard Station Islamorada boat crews arrived on scene and safely embarked the migrants. Once aboard the Coast Guard cutter, all migrants were treated with dignity and respect, and receive food, water, shelter, and basic medical attention. Report with photo: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3784117/coast-guard-repatriates-31-migrants-to-cuba/
Singapore
On Dec 1, 2022, at about 3 p.m. the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) was informed that 15 empty containers at Keppel Terminal had fallen from the wharf into the water as a result of strong winds during a squall. There were no reported injuries and no immediate impact to port operations. The MPA deployed two patrol crafts to monitor and cordon off the affected area to facilitate recovery work by PSA Corporation Ltd. MPA’s Port Operations Control Centre has restricted all vessel movements in the vicinity of Keppel Terminal until the containers were recovered.
Odessa
For the fourth day in a row, Iranian-made drones attacked Odesa on Sep 26 in the morning, this time against military targets and without civilian casualties. On Sep 23, two civilians were killed during Russian drone attacks on the port city. On Sep 25, Odesa was attacked by three drones, one of which was reportedly shot down by Ukrainian forces. Ukraine has not officially identified the drones, but from the video footage below it appears, according to experts, that they are Iranian-produced Shakhed 136 drones.