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On the afternoon of April 24, 2025, a crew member of the submarine escort ship 'Aquanaut' required medical assistance. At 2.30 p.m the ship initally notified the MRCC in Bremen, after the 'Trabant' was disabled with an engine damage in the Bight of Neustadt off Sierksdorf.  The lifeboat 'Heinrich Wuppesahl' was deployed to the scene. The 'Trabant' meanwhile reported water ingress, but managed to proceed to the mother ship, secured by the lifeboat, when the medical emergency occurred on the ' Aquanaut'. After initial treatment, the patient was embarked onto the ' Heinrich Wuppesahl' And transferred to Neustadt, where the shore based rescue service was waiting. Report with photo: https://www.seenotretter.de/aktuelles/seenotfaelle/medizinischer-notfall-an-bord-eines-sicherungsschiffes-seenotretter-bringen-besatzungsmitglied-an-land

The tanker 'Isla De Bioko', loaded with urea, was in collision with the barges towed by the tug 'Ginny Rose' on April 27, 2025 at 9.20 p.m. The collision led to one barge sinking and six others going adrift, while sailing downstream on the Mississippi River from St. Rose, Louisiana. The conditions on the river were harsh and challenging at the time of the accident. After receiving news of the collision, the Coast Guard immediately mobilized local assisting tugs, which managed to successfully recover four of the barges, but two of them became fouled in the anchor chains of the 'Red Fin' and 'Bulker Bee 30'. The section near the collision site was temporarily closed off by the Coast Guard while crews assessed whether it was safe to traverse given the sunken barge. On April 28, after the depth of the sunken barge was deemed safe for other vessels and the last two barges were recovered, the channel was reopened, albeit with restrictions. An investigation has been opened into the matter, and salvage plans were being drawn up for the sunken barge.

The damaged and failing Carola Bridge briefly shut down inland shipping on the Elbe at Dresden on the night of Feb 26, the second time in five months that barge traffic has been halted by the risk of falling concrete and steel. On Sep 11, 2024, at about 3 a.m., two spans of the Carola Bridge had collapsed. A light-rail train had just gone by, but it was past and clear of the span, and no one was injured in the collapse. The bridge was one of four main crossings of the Elbe in downtown Dresden, and the loss of the span has been disruptive for businesses and for shipping interests, which use the Elbe to access upriver regions as far as the Czech Republic. The bridge was built 1967-71. It had been inspected properly and passed all routine exams. A post-accident study by the Institute of Concrete Structures at TU Dresden determined that the collapse was caused by hydrogen-induced stress corrosion of the bridge's steel components. This form of corrosion is nearly impossible to detect with conventional methods, the study concluded, as it affects steel elements that are hidden from view. The waterway was shut for four months for demolition and removal, a task made more challenging by the discovery of WWII-era bombs at the demolition site. Later testing revealed that the cause was hydrogen-induced stress corrosion. The surviving bridge spans have similar corrosion problems, and the surviving bridge spans will have to be completely demolished and rebuilt. To ensure safety of navigation in the interim, the city has installed acoustic monitoring systems. Every time the temperature fluctuates, it exerts stress on the surviving steel cables and raises the risk of another critical failure. The city has hired a contractor to complete the demolition of the rest of the bridge on an expedited basis, in hopes of finishing the job by the end of 2025. For now, ships are free to pass through during a limited two-hour slot from 9-11 a.m. each day. They must pre-register, and only necessary crew may be on board during the transit. Report with photo and video: https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/wirtschaft/carolabruecke-spannstahl-schifffahrt-dresden-100.html

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On the afternoon of April 24, 2025, a crew member of the 'Aquanaut' required medical assistance. At 2.30 p.m the ship initally notified the MRCC in Bremen, as the small boat 'Trabant' was disabled with an engine damage in the Bight of Neustadt off Sierksdorf.  The lifeboat 'Heinrich Wuppesahl' was deployed to the scene. The 'Trabant' meanwhile reported water ingress, but managed to proceed to the mother ship, secured by the lifeboat, when the medical emergency occurred on the ' Aquanaut'. After initial treatment, the patient was embarked onto the ' Heinrich Wuppesahl' And transferred to Neustadt, where the shore based rescue service was waiting. Report with photo: https://www.seenotretter.de/aktuelles/seenotfaelle/medizinischer-notfall-an-bord-eines-sicherungsschiffes-seenotretter-bringen-besatzungsmitglied-an-land

The tanker 'Isla De Bioko', loaded with urea, was in collision with the barges towed by the tug 'Ginny Rose' on April 27, 2025 at 9.20 p.m. The collision led to one barge sinking and six others going adrift, while sailing downstream on the Mississippi River from St. Rose, Louisiana. The conditions on the river were harsh and challenging at the time of the accident. After receiving news of the collision, the Coast Guard immediately mobilized local assisting tugs, which managed to successfully recover four of the barges, but two of them became fouled in the anchor chains of the 'Red Fin' and 'Bulker Bee 30'. The section near the collision site was temporarily closed off by the Coast Guard while crews assessed whether it was safe to traverse given the sunken barge. On April 28, after the depth of the sunken barge was deemed safe for other vessels and the last two barges were recovered, the channel was reopened, albeit with restrictions. An investigation has been opened into the matter, and salvage plans were being drawn up for the sunken barge.

On March 2, 2025, the port authorities in Hamburg responded to a major oil spill in Kattwyk Port, after a significant leak was reported. 42,000 liters of an oil-water mixture leaked into the Elbe river from a heavy oil tank at the Green Port, a company specializing in petroleum residue management. The spill contaminated more than 90,000 cubic meters of water. The firefighters, water police, and environmental authorities deployed floating oil barriers to prevent its further spread. Aslo a water-air barrier was activated to stop the pollution from reaching the Elbe’s main current. A police aircraft equipped with special cameras was also monitoring the situation.

Onb Feb 18, 2025, a fire broke out in HJHansen's scrapyard at the port of Kolding. 50 firefighters fought the flames throughout the day, which they brought under control on the evening. It was a complicated extinguishing operation, as pouring water on the burning scrap heap did not have much effect, as the water ran away on the surface of the items in the pile. With the assistane of two cranes, the emergency services were able to separate the pile into smaller fractions. The firefighters contnued working on extinguishing the fire during the night, and they have finished only on Feb 19. Packubgup their equipment, took another couple of hours. Six people were injured in the fire when they were hit by flying fragments. Three of these were taken to the hospital for a check-up, and it was found that no one was seriously injured. Report with photo: https://www.soefart.dk/article/view/1147088/skrotbrand_i_kolding_er_slukket_seks_kom_til_skade

On April 10, 2025, the 'Ocean Adventurer' was detained in Caen with five deficiencies, two of which being regarded as seriously and grounds for a detention: 1) Safety of navigation - Voyage data recorder Inoperative 2) ISM - Ism certificate Not as required The vessel was released again on April 16 and left the port en route to El Astillero.

The 'Isla De Bioko', loaded with urea, was in collision with the barges towed by the tug 'Ginny Rose' on April 27, 2025 at 9.20 p.m. The collision led to one barge sinking and six others going adrift, while sailing downstream on the Mississippi River from St. Rose, Louisiana. The conditions on the river were harsh and challenging at the time of the accident. After receiving news of the collision, the Coast Guard immediately mobilized local assisting tugs, which managed to successfully recover four of the barges, but two of them became fouled in the anchor chains of the 'Red Fin' and 'Bulker Bee 30'. The section near the collision site was temporarily closed off by the Coast Guard while crews assessed whether it was safe to traverse given the sunken barge. On April 28, after the depth of the sunken barge was deemed safe for other vessels and the last two barges were recovered, the channel was reopened, albeit with restrictions. An investigation has been opened into the matter, and salvage plans were being drawn up for the sunken barge.

In Rostock, the fire brigade was called to the site of the crane manufacturer Liebherr in the overseas port on the evening of Feb 26, 2025. Parts of a control station and attachments of a crane used to transport bulk goods were on fire. Since the fire was several meters high, extinguishing the flames was challenging. After the power supply was switched off, the fire in the crane driver's cabin was fought with a pipe. The fire brigade's quick intervention prevented the fire from spreading further. There were no injuries during the operation. 40 members of fire and rescue stations 2 and 3 and the Gehlsdorf volunteer fire brigade were on duty. It was assumed that a technical defect had caused the fire. The extent of the damage was still unclear. Investigations were ongoing. The material damage was estimated to be around 100,000 euros.

Demolition work on the collapsed Carola bridge in the city of Dresden was suspended on Feb 18, 2025, after new fractures were discovered in the structure, with shipping traffic on the Elbe river also halted again. An installed acoustic emission monitoring system had detected steel fractures in two sections of the bridge that were not directly affected by its partial collapse on Sep 11, 2024,due to stress corrosion cracks caused by moisture in a section of the structure, leading to inland shipping traffic on the affected section of the Elbe being suspended for five months. The authoritieshad only reopened the passage under the bridge in central Dresden for inland commercial shipping three weeks ago, with free passage in a one-way system planned from Feb 18. However, the passage has been completely closed again since that morning after the measuring system installed to permanently monitor the collapsed bridge signalled movement. The authorities were now waiting for an engineering firm to assess whether the bridge will hold and whether ship traffic may be allowed to pass under it. The dredger 'Domarin' was meanwhile working on the fairway. Reports with photos: https://www.mdr.de/nachrichten/sachsen/dresden/dresden-radebeul/carolabruecke-durchfahrt-schiffe-elbe-sperrung-100.html https://www.dnn.de/lokales/dresden/carolabruecke-dresden-noch-mehr-schaeden-entdeckt-L2PS2IHRPBDKLPP5JWNNUUHEH4.html https://www.projectcargojournal.com/transport-installation/2025/02/19/first-project-cargo-moves-on-the-elbe-following-carola-bridge-collapse/