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The FBI was investigating sexual assault allegations on the 'Carnival Breeze'. The alleged sexual assault incident took place onboard the ship on a cruise that returned to Galveston on July 28, 2025. As is customary with crimes aboard a cruise ship, an FBI Maritime Liaison Agent, based out of the Texas City Resident Agency, was coordinating with the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the cruise line regarding the incident, also keeping in line with case reviews or open investigations, The cruise was four days and made a stop in Cozumel.

At the 'Kepejora', which sank the Sambre River near Auvelais with nearly 20 tons of fuel oil on board, the operations continued to stem the pollution caused by the shipwreck. The ship has been refloated late on July 29, but the operations have not been completed. On July 26, a floating barrier had been installed to contain the several thousand liters of fuel oil, which leaked from a damaged tank, and prevent any pollution of the Sambre River. The damaged tank was plugged by divers on July 26. The objective of the next operations was to contain the pollution and reopen the lock as quickly as possible. To achieve this, a pump truck arrived on site on July 30. The next objective was to tow the barge to a shipyard for dismantling Report with photo: https://www.sudinfo.be/id1022858/article/2025-07-30/les-operations-se-poursuivent-autour-de-la-peniche-qui-sombre-dans-la-sambre

Ukraine's military intelligence directorate, the GUR, has claimed responsibility for a serious fire aboard the Russian corvette 'Serpukhov' at the port of Kaliningrad, a Buyan-M class vessel. GUR provided what appeared to be a schematic of the vessel's internal spaces, and a brief video of an incendiary device going off. The agency said that the 'Serpukhov' sustained substantial damage from the fire, with its means of communication and automation were completely destroyed. The Buyan class is designed for coastal operations and are heavily armed for their size, carrying up to eight Kalibr or Oniks antiship missiles and up to eight surface-to-air missiles. This was a deep strike behind the Russian lines. The agency's drones have hit Russian oil refineries up to 750 miles away from Ukraine's borders, and have taken approximately 14 percent of Russia's refining capacity offline. The latest strike - a claimed attack on a product pipeline - allegedly disabled all product tanker loadings at the occupied port of Azov. The GUR has also mounted a successful campaign against the Russian Black Sea Fleet, damaging or destroying a claimed one-third of its force and confining the rest to the relative safety of Novorossiysk. The sister ship 'Velykyi' Ustyug was likely damaged by a Ukrainian drone early in the Russian invasion. In June 2022 the 'Ustyug' was photographed in tow to a shipyard, showing signs of fragmentation damage along her port side. Report with video: https://maritime-executive.com/article/ukrainian-spy-agency-claims-it-lit-a-fire-on-a-russian-corvette

Brazil: Agriculture Officers Strike Federal agriculture officers decided to start the strike next Monday (22), which will directly affect trading involving perishable products and may cause delays in berthing and unberthing ships. Federal Revenue tax auditors also announced that they will intensify the general strike that has been ongoing since November last year, as reported in our previous newsletters. Next week, from the 22nd to the 26th of January, there will be no cargo clearance at the ports and airports of São Paulo and Bahia. This means that goods release services will be affected at Viracopos airport, the Port of Santos, Salvador customs (from the 23rd) and Guarulhos Airport. During the period, only perishable, live and dangerous cargo will be released at the sites, in addition to medicines and food, as they are considered essential. It is important to highlight that the import and export of goods of animal and plant origin require the consent and inspection of agricultural officers. The category's national union (Anffa Sindical) informed that the release of certificates and goods at ports, in this case, will respect the last day of the deadline set out in the rules of the Ministry of Agriculture. It is worth remembering that in the last meeting held on December 27th with Sindifisco Nacional, minister Fernando Haddad and the special secretary of Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, stated that they did not plan to make changes to the proposal presented for the payment of the efficiency bonus in 2024 , which motivated the continuation of the strike. The Superior Courts have already pacified the understanding that the strike movement cannot interrupt essential public services. Therefore, the functioning of the productive activity of shipowners/importers/exporters cannot be delayed by the Customs Inspectors' strike. Customs clearance must continue, regardless of the tax auditors' strike. The Judiciary has been intervening effectively on a case-by-case basis, in order to avoid the harmful effects of the Federal Revenue auditors' strike and maintain the regular activity of taxpayers at Brazilian customs. The strike could affect the port and customs sector. Our team is closely monitoring the situation in the North/Northeast ports and will inform you of any updates.

The expedition cruise line Swan Hellenic has finally been able to regain the 'SH Minerva', after a three-year legal battle related to the sanctions placed on Russian companies after the invasion of Ukraine. The ship has been laid up in Uruguay since the spring of 2022, while lawyers sought to find a solution to free the ship from an unintentional legal trap. The ship aws the first of ultimately three ships used to restart the famed Swan Hellenic bran, delivered in 2021 by the Helsinki Shipyard, using a common legal structure with the ships being built for a single purpose finance company, which in turn was leasing them long-term to Swan Hellenic. The leasing deal was with an Irish subsidiary of the Russian financial giant GTLK. After the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of sanctions, Swan Hellenic was barred from making lease payments on the ship, but due to the legal structure and sanctions also could not buy the ship. Swan Hellenic in March 2022 declared its intent to buy the leasing companies, but that too was caught in the legal entanglement of the sanctions. To free Swan Hellenic’s second and third ships from the legal trap, the Helsinki Shipyard declared the construction agreements void and auctioned the incomplete ships, making it possible for the company to buy the ships. However, the process of freeing the 'SH Minerva' proved more complicated and became even more involved in May 2023 when the GTLK subsidiary was declared insolvent and placed in the hands of liquidators. The liquidators who had control of GTLK Europe and its subsidiaries, obtained compliance with all the applicable sanctions for the sale of the assets, including the 'SH Minerva'. After lengthy negotiations, Swan Hellenic has now been able to acquire the ship in accordance with all applicable sanctions. The transaction was completed on July 25, 2025, using shareholders’ funds. The ship remained at Fray Bentos and will undergo routine maintenance and preparations for its return to service in Nov 2025. It has been in Uruguay since April 2022, when it completed its Antarctic cruise season, while the company proceeded with operations of its sister ship 'SH Vega', introduced in July 2022, and the larger 'SH Diana', introduced in April 2023. The 'SH Minerva'' will join the fleet with all three ships operating the 2025-2026 Antarctic cruise season. In March 2026, the 'SH Minerva' will launch the company’s first-ever Asia-Pacific season, sailing to the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Raja Ampat, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan.

Solidarity has been taking hold among the fishermen and the maritime community of Dieppe after the loss of the 'Tim Bao' on July 2, off the coast of Saint-Valery-en-Caux. The two fishermen Evan Bunet and Bryan Lucas, who were aboard the whelk-fishing vessel owned by Franck Villard, were saved, but then there was the idea of offering a charity sale to benefit the shipowner and his two sailors, who were left without their tools. Dieppe fishermen who wish to do so can donate a portion of their catch at the Dieppe fish market on Aug 5 and Oct 15, the proceeds of which will be donated in full to them. Furthermore, on social media, the mayor of Dieppe indicated that the City was keen to financially support the three men. This solidarity donation of €3,000 will be presented to the city council.

At the Alang ship recycling yard on the Bhavnagar coast, Gujarat, the Shree Ram Vessel Scrap Pvt Ltd. (SRVSPL), filed a police complaint alleging a loss of Rs 45 lakh worth of equipment stolen from the 'DV Erica', which had been brought in from Abu Dhabi for dismantling. According to the complaint filed with Alang Marine police station, the theft was believed to have occurred on March 23, 2024, at around 5 a.m. The ship was anchored in the designated waiting area at the outer anchorage after having been towed from Abu Dhabi. When workers boarded the ship for inspection on the morning, they discovered signs of a break-in. Two ropes were found dangling from the stern of the ship, suggesting the thieves used them to climb aboard.

A fire destroyed the opening motors of the BIZERTE port bridge on July 26, 2023. The port remained closed to navigation from that date untill November 19. 2023, date of the re-opening of the Port to navigation.

The 'Wn Hai 503' has been towed to the Laccadive Sea, approximately 150 nautical miles southwest of the coasts of India and Sri Lanka. Five tugs remained on-site to support operations. Meanwhile, a formal request to define a port of refuge, including a comprehensive project plan, has been submitted to Sri Lankan authorities, although the use of other terminals for the vessel's shelter was still under consideration.

The 'Betico 2' was experiencing technical problems on July 25, 2025, and was sidelined in Nouméa for repairs. The service to the three Loyalty Islands have been canceled, affecting approximately 8,000 passengers. Sea trials have been scheduled for Aug 2, with a view to resuming its service on Aug 3. Ticket holders for the canceled routes were notified.

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The Port of Kiel concluded this year’s cruise season with the call of AIDA Cruises’ AIDAnova on Nov 4. The port welcomed a total of 215 ship calls from 26 companies and a total of 1,174,000 cruise passengers, marking the port’s busiest season ever. “We are closing the 2023 season with a good result. The development in the tourism industry shows a clear trend towards the cruise sector, which was also evident in Kiel this season. “For us, the main issue is to make maritime tourism more environmentally friendly on the port side. Shore power was the dominant topic for us and will continue to be so in the coming season,” said Dirk Claus, managing director of SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. Among the ships that visited the port during 2023 was ​​the 'Disney Dream', the first ship from Disney Cruise Line to be welcomed in Kiel, as well as MSC Cruises’ 'MSC Euribia'. Earlier this year, the port of Kiel achieved a milestone by becoming the first German port to supply a ship with liquidified natural gas. Since then, the' AIDAnova' and 'MSC Euribia' have regularly bunkered LNG in the port of Kiel.