65 Bolivians who had arrived aboard the 'MSC Armonia', were finally deported from the port on April 11. Only four of the 69 Bolivian nationals who were on the ship, which docked in the port on April 2, have been allowed to stay. They are three siblings from the same family, and the daughter of one of these. Their parents are residents of Girona and the father has Spanish nationality. The rest, however, were taken by bus from the port where they have been held since the 'MSC Armonia' had docked. From there they were due to be flown to Santa Cruz. The cost of the flight will be covered by MSC. The cruise set sail from Brazil in mid-March, and was due to make a series of stops in the Mediterranean before reaching its final destination of Venice. When the ship arrived in Barcelona none of the 1,500 passengers were allowed to disembark due to the fake visas in possession of the group of Bolivians. The falsified documentation was not initially detected by MSC, even once the passengers had boarded and the ship had set sail. But when it was sent to the Spanish authorities ahead of the vessel’s arrival, the alarm was raised. The documents had been faked. The cruise ship was finally allowed to leave the port on April 10 with the other passengers aboard. The Bolivians, meanwhile, were held in the port until they were officially deported. The Spanish authorities rejected asylum requests that were filed by some of the group. They had been sold the tickets by a travel agent who claimed that the package included valid visas to live and work in Spain.
News
POSEIDON
About 100 Ukrainian refugees who have been staying on the 'Poseidon' in Urk for two years will soon have to move temporarily. The ship will undergo an inspection and maintenance. Another ship, the 'Alessia', will temporarily arrive in the port of Urk, which is slightly larger. The residents have already started preparations for the temporary move this week together with Caritas employees. The actual move to the 'Alessia' will take place on April 15, 20ß24. After the inspection and maintenance, the 'Poseidon' will return to the port of Urk in May. Then the Ukrainians will move back.
Tanger-Med
Tangier will today celebrate the opening of the largest container port in capacity terms in the whole of the Mediterranean, something that will bring enormous competition to the likes of Algericas just 25 nautical miles away across the Strait of Gibraltar. The $1.6bn expansion of Tanger Med port, located to the east of the Moroccan city of Tangier, due to be unveiled today will create Africa’s largest port with an annual capacity of 9.5m teu. The port is operated by APM Terminals, Eurogate and a local firm.
Ho Chi Minh
Samsung C&T Corp., a construction unit under Samsung Group, said Tuesday it has won a US$179.5 million project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Vietnam. Under the deal with Petrovietnam Gas Corp., Samsung C&T and Vietnamese firm PTSC will build the Southeast Asian country’s first LNG terminal, in the coastal area 70 kilometers southeast of Ho Chi Minh City for 40 months. The project also calls for the construction of LNG tanks and other related facilities, according to Samsung C&T. Samsung C&T has a 61 percent stake in the project. Source: Yonhap
US GOV VESSEL
The USS 'Boxer (LHD-4)' has returned to San Diego, California, on April 11, 2024, after suffering an engineering casualty, forcing the amphibious warship to return for repairs. The USS 'Boxer' and elements of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit left on April 1 for a Pacific deployment that had been on hold due in part to maintenance issues on the big deck. Following the departure, the 'Boxer' operated off the coast of California recertifying Marines with MV-22B Ospreys after a grounding that was lifted last month. Navy officials did not detail the casualty, but it was thought that the casualty was related to the ship’s rudder. The repairs could take two to three weeks based on the early damage estimates. Marines and aircraft from the 15th MEU were offloaded from the 'Boxer' prior to its return. Report with photo: https://news.usni.org/2024/04/11/uss-boxer-headed-to-san-diego-for-repairs-pacific-deployment-stalled
LAUREN JACKSON
On March 31, 2024, the 'Lauren Jackson' suffered a problem with its steering indicators near Barangaroo wharf in Sydney’s CBD, requiring a system reset. Two days later also the ferry 'Ruth Park' was tied up at the Balmain shipyard. According to the operator Transdev, the 'Ruth Park' experienced a mechanical issue, together with the effects of wash created by another passing vessel. The issue was caused by a faulty component has been resolved, with the component replaced, and the vessel was due to return to service following successful sea trials.
Charleston
South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), Southeast's deepwater port, said that five rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes arrived at Wando Welch Terminal to further modernize operations. The Port has received 14 of the 24 new cranes ordered for the Wando terminal; the terminal currently has 52 RTGs overall. Meanwhile, SCPA reported its strongest May on record, with 204,457 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) handled last month.
Brownsville
The Port of Brownsville is closer to deepening the Brownsville Ship Channel after receiving a key permit June 6 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to advance the Brazos Island Harbor Channel Improvement Project (BIH) to its construction phase.
LIBERTY OF THE SEAS
Level Parker, the father of the 20 year-old Leion Parker, who was missing since he jumped off the 11th deck of the 'Liberty of the Seas', believes his son is still alive and may survived because he's a master diver who works on a commercial fishing boat. He also had multiple life rings thrown at him. US Coast Guard officials called off their search for Levion on April 9, five days after he jumped from the 11th deck of the ship. Francel Parker, who runs an AC business in Port Charlotte, Florida, has also slammed Royal Caribbean for serving his son booze: "I'd like to know how my son was served so much alcohol." The minimum age for drinking on Royal Caribbean cruises departing from the US and the Caribbean is 21. The 'Liberty of the Seas' was just hours from returning to Fort Lauderdale after a four-day cruise when dad Francel caught up with Levion and brother Seth, 18, emerging from a hot tub at around 3.30 a.m. He said to his dad, 'I'll fix this right now,' and jumped out the window in front of other passengers, 57 miles off Grand Inagua at 4 a.m. on April 4, while the hot tub was still packed with revelers. Report with photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13296965/Levion-Parkers-dad-believes-20-year-old-son-alive-jumping-Royal-Caribbean-cruise-ship-hes-master-diver.html
CONCORDIA BAY
The 'Concordia Bay' suffered a mechanical failure of its bow thruster on April 5, 2024, making the vessel unserviceable. The Falkland Islands Government (FIG) was notified by the Workboat Services Ltd. about the issue of the vessel, which has been contracted to undertake the Ferry and Coastal Shipping contract. The 'Concordia Bay' was brought back to Stanley on April 7 for investigations. The Workboat Services Ltd. were working with suppliers. All Ferry and Coastal Shipping services are suspended during this period. Once definitive timelines for repair are known, Workboat Services Ltd. and FIG will jointly advertise a revised schedule, taking into account urgent needs as a priority.
Rotterdam
Container throughput continues to grow in Rotterdam. Following a record year in 2018 and a record quarter in 2019, April of this year was the best month ever for the Port of Rotterdam. 13.6 million tonnes of container freight was handled in April 2019. The previous record month was August 2018 (13.2 million tonnes). Measured in TEU, the standard unit for containers, April 2019 was the second-best month ever, with 1.3 million TEU, just a fraction lower than the record month of August 2018.
San Diego
Matson, Inc., a leading U.S. carrier in the Pacific, and General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard christened the largest combination container/roll-on, roll-off (“con-ro”) ship ever built in the United States in a ceremony at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, CA on Saturday, June 15. The new vessel is named ‘Lurline,’ an iconic name in Matson’s long history, dating to the construction of Captain William Matson’s first ship of that name in 1887. Four more ships were given the name in subsequent years; this vessel will be the sixth. The new Lurline is the first of two new ships being built for Honolulu-based Matson by NASSCO at a total cost of approximately $500 million for the pair, and the third of four new vessels that Matson will put into service during 2018, 2019 and 2020. Named in honor of the ocean deity revered in the native Hawaiian culture, Matson’s two “Kanaloa Class” vessels under construction at the NASSCO shipyard are being built on a 3,500 TEU* vessel platform.