On June 6, 2024, two migrant boats in difficulty in the Strait of Pas de Calais were reported to CROSS Gris Nez. At the end of the night, a migrant boat set sail in the Calais sector The CROSS deployed the “Ridens” to relocate it and check the situation on site. Once in the area, the "Ridens" noticed that the boat was adrift and heavily loaded with 74 people on board. Initially, 18 people requested assistance and were taken care of on board the 'Ridens'. Some time later, the precarious boat still failed to get underway, and the 56 remaining castaways were also rescued by the 'Ridens'. The castaways were dropped off at the dock in the port of Dunkirk. Early on the morning, another migrant boat shipwrecked in the middle of the Pas de Calais Strait, in the British sector. The MRCC of Dover called on several British resources which collected more than 80 shipwrecked people before depositing them at the dock in Dover. The CROSS Gris Nez engages in parallel the 'Abeille Normandie' and the EMSA drone based at the CROSS as reinforcement. After several hours on site, no drifting bodies were observed in this area.
News
SALVAMAR ADHARA
On the night of June 6, the 'Salvamar Adhara' was mobilized by the CCS Tenerife of Salvamento Marítimo to a migrant boat eignt nautical miles southsoutheast of La Restinga (El Hierro). The lifeboat escorted the boat port. On board were 108 sub-Saharan people, among them 72 men, 21 women and 15 minors. The castaaways were cared for by health and safety devices once they had arrived in La Restinga. Report with photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1798748953514778932
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.
PILOT MECHTA
Explosions rocked the temporarily occupied Kerch, near the Crimean Bridge, overnight on May 30, 2024. Four Russian KS-701 Tunets boats were allegedly hit, destroying two by Ukrainian Magura V5 naval drones. The Ukraine could have hit up to seven enemy ship. Besides the ferries 'Conroe Trader' and 'Avangard ferries', the Mechta also sank in the attack. Already on May 19 Ukraine's Defense Forces destroyed the project 266-M trawler 'Kovrove' of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and sank the missile ship Tsiklon missile ship on May 19. With this, one-third of Russia's Black Sea Fleet have been destroyed. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russia-has-now-lost-one-third-of-its-black-sea-fleet-after-ukraine-sinks-ship-with-ua-made-magura-sea-drones/ar-BB1nJMAD
SALVAMAR ALCYONE
On June 6 the 'Salvamar Alcyone' was mobilized by the CCS Bilbao of Salvamento Marítimo to assist the motor boat 'Mari Jose', which had been disabled and adrift with one person on board in the area of the Santoña estuary. The boat was taken in tow and safely pulled to Laredo. Photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1798794067687641285
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.
HNLMS GRONINGEN
The U.S. Coast Guard, Royal Netherlands Navy and Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard suspended a search for three suspected smugglers who went overboard during the pursuit of a non-compliant vessel suspected of smuggling illicit narcotics in the Caribbean Sea, June 4, 2024. In the early morning hours, a Royal Netherlands Navy ship with an embarked U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment deployed for a counter drug patrol identified a vessel suspected of smuggling narcotics in international waters. The vessel failed to stop when signaled and the smuggling vessel operator instead increased speed and changed direction toward the Dutch pursuit boat, called a fast-raiding interception and special forces craft (FRISC). The FRISC boat crew, consisting of Dutch and U.S. Coast Guard boarding team members, discharged their weapons at the go-fast vessel in self-defense and defense of others in response to the life-threatening situation. The go-fast vessel caught fire and sank, and three suspected smugglers went overboard into the water and were not recovered. There were no reported injuries to the combined law enforcement team members. Assets and crews involved in the search efforts included: - Royal Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS 'Groningen'; - Royal Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS 'Pelikaan'; - U.S. Coast Guard helicopter; - Kustwacht Caribisch Gebied helicopter; - Kustwacht Caribisch Gebied cutter 'Jaguar'.
SALVAMAR MIZAR
A cayuco was located by the research vessel 'Ramform Atlas' (IMO: 9629897) on the afternoon of June 5, 2024, en route from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, to Pecem, about 207 kilometers southwest of La Gomera. The boat had more than a hundred people on board, about whom there were no further details for now. The SAR vessels 'Guardamar Urania', 'Guardamar Talía', 'Salvamar Adhara' and 'Salvamar Mizar' as well as the SAR helicopter Helimer 201 were sent to the area and encountered four more boats with a large number of migrants on board and started providing aid. Finally 516 people were rescued from five cayucos with the units working all night. The resonse was coordinated by the CCS Tenerife and the Maritime Captaincy Directorate. Photos: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1798671779826966613
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.