The 'Bressay Bank' berthed at the Mains Pier in Lerwick on the afternoon of April 23, 2024, where a crew member received medical attention. The Shetland Coastguard had received a call just after 11 a.m. to assist with the vessel which was berthing there. A crew member disembarked from the vessel and was awaited by Lerwick’s coastal rescue team and the ambulance service. The ship then left the port again en route to Hanstholm with an ETA as of April 25. Report with photo: https://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2024/04/24/emergency-services-attend-medical-evacuation-of-french-vessel
News
DALI
Officials in Baltimore were plannning to open a deeper channel for commercial ships to enter and leave the city’s port starting on April 25. This would be a significant step toward reopening the major maritime shipping hub that has remained closed to most traffic since the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last month. The new channel will be 12 meters deep, which is a substantial increase over the three other temporary channels established in recent weeks. It puts the cleanup effort slightly ahead of schedule, as officials previously had hoped to open a channel of that depth by the end of April.
Toulon
More than 1,000 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier 'Charles de Gaulle' have tested positive for COVID-19, a number that could continue to surge as the crew awaits approximately 930 more test results. The outbreak onboard the French navy’s flagship forced leadership to call off the remaining two weeks of the carrier’s scheduled deployment to the North Atlantic. The ship, which carries a crew of nearly 1,800, pulled into port last week at Toulon Naval Base in southern France. In all, 1,081 crew members from the Charles de Gaulle naval group have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. That total comes almost entirely from the carrier, and includes at least two U.S. sailors who were assigned to the ship as part of the U.S. Navy’s Personnel Exchange Program. The American sailors have since been removed from the ship and were receiving excellent host nation medical care at French facilities. The declining health of one French sailor, meanwhile, necessitated a transfer to the intensive care unit. Partially complicating the early detection process onboard the 'Charles de Gaulle' was the rate of asymptomatic carriers. Of the confirmed cases, nearly half showed no symptoms. Additionally, masks were not made available until late in the ship’s deployment. T The debilitating spread of the virus onboard France’s lone carrier, has sparked concern about the nation’s ability to remain ready to fight. Unlike the U.S. Navy, which touts 10 other active carriers in addition to the coronavirus-stricken USS 'Theodore Roosevelt', losing the 'Charles de Gaulle' for an extended period could cripple France’s nuclear deterrence capabilities.
Turku
On March 31, 2020, around 9 a.m. a fire broke out aboard the new built Panama flagged cruise ship 'Mardi Gras', 183200 gt (9837444), which is currently built at the Meyer yard in Turku. The fire occurred in a cabin on the upper deck, and fire crews managed to limit the fire to one cabin. In total, 18 fire brigade units were sent from the rescue service to the shipyard, but the fire could quickly be extinguished by the shipyard's own fire department. However, the ship must be checked to make sure there were no remaining hot spots. All workers were evacuated from the ship, but no one was injured in the fire. The cause of the fire was still unclear.
CAPE CORDELL
scrapped at Fortuna,Canada 04/2024 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=336461709446582&set=pcb.336461746113245
ABDULLAH
Unloading of cargo from the 'Abdullah' at the port of Al Hamriyah started on April 23 at 12 a.mn., two hours after the ship berthed at the jetty. Meanwhile, all 23 crew members have decided to come back home on the same ship, according to the ship’s owning firm SR Shipping Ltd, a subsidiary of KSRM Group. Earlier, two out of 23 crew members wanted to sign off from the vessel at the UAE port and return home by air.
Galveston
The US Coast Guard medevaced a crewmember from a 600-foot tanker at anchorage approximately 15 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas, on April 19, 2020. Coast Guard Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders received a report of a 58-year-old man reportedly experiencing symptoms of an upper respiratory illness. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon as well as local CDC and county health partners who recommended the medevac. Watchstanders launched a Coast Guard Station Galveston 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boat crew. The RB-M boat crew transferred the patient to awaiting emergency medical services personnel at Station Galveston who transported him to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Turku
On March 31, 2020, around 9 a.m. a fire broke out aboard the new built Panama flagged cruise ship 'Mardi Gras', 183200 gt (9837444), which is currently built at the Åbovarvet Meyer Turku. The fire occurred in a cabin on the upper deck, and fire crews managed to limit the fire to one cabin. In total, 18 fire brigade units were sent from the rescue service to the shipyard, but the fire could quickly be extinguished by the shipyard's own fire department. However, the ship must be checked to make sure there were no remaining hot spots. All workers were evacuated from the ship, but no one was injured in the fire. The cause of the fire was still unclear.
JOANNE MARIE
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released an investigation report on April 8, 2024, on the flooding and partial sinking of the 'Joanne Marie' on June 25, 2023, in New Orleans, Louisiana, which was found partially submerged while moored at a shipyard on the Harvey Canal at6 a.m. There were no crewmembers or shipyard workers on board the vessel. An estimated 10 gallons of diesel fuel were released into the water. Damage to the vessel was $176,751. Analysis After the vessel was refloated, no water ingress into any vessel spaces was found, indicating the hull condition did not contribute to the flooding. Postcasualty testing found that, when water was pumped into the through-hull pipe for the propulsion shaft seals’ cofferdam overboard discharge, it entered the cofferdam, which was open to the engine room. The shaft seal cofferdam discharge system had two bilge pumps whose discharges combined into a single overboard line. The discharge lines had valves installed to prevent water ingress. After the casualty, investigators found that a wire nut had lodged in a spring-loaded check valve on the starboard-side bilge pump discharge line, obstructing the valve and forcing it to remain partially open (the swing-type check valve on the portside bilge pump worked properly). Investigators could not determine how the wire nut had entered the cofferdam. The wire nut may have been inadvertently dropped or fallen into the cofferdam when the deck plate covering the cofferdam was removed for regular maintenance. The Coast Guard and company representatives found that the wire nut was small enough to pass through the cofferdam bilge pump inlet strainer, so when the cofferdam bilge pump activated, the wire nut was pulled through the strainer and subsequently the pump impeller and discharge line before reaching the spring-loaded check valve. The spring-loaded design of the check valve held the wire nut in place, leaving the valve in a partially open position and susceptible to backflow. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the flooding and partial sinking of the 'Joanne Marie' was the ingress of water into the engine room through a through-hull pipe located near the waterline due to an obstructed spring-loaded check valve on a cofferdam bilge pump discharge. Contributing to the sinking were inadequate procedures for securing unattended vessels. Full report: https://safety4sea.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/NTSB-Partial-skinking-of-towing-vessel-Joanne-Marie-2024_04.pdf
BIRGER JARL
The 'Birger Jarl'/'Baltic Star', which is mooredin Lunde, right next to Sandöbron, has now been sold. Threats of heavy fines if the ship is not moved have caused the relationship between the owner Leif-Ivan Karlsson and the municipality of Kramfors to become completely frozen. Now a Gothenburg company wants to refurbish the 81-year-old ship to operate the route Gothenburg - Travemünde. An agreement was to be signed on April 24, 2024. The ship was then to be towed to Gustavik, a half a mile south. Here is Norrland's only really large dry dock, big enough to handle the ship. Report with video: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vasternorrland/uppgifter-skandalbaten-i-lunde-sald-till-goteborgsforetag
Guam
One crew member of the USS 'Theodore Roosevelt' which was being anchored off Guam has died of a corona virus infection on April 14, 2020. The woman had been in intensive care but died of health complications. More than 550 crew members of the 5.000 crew members were tested positive. The ship has been largely evacuated during the recent days. Commander Brett Crozier had been fired as he wrote a letter expressing his concern about the crew situation and asked for help by the Navy.
Cape Town
A 52-year old Cape Town truck driver was killed on March 20, 2020, when the spreader from a Transnet Port Terminal crane collapsed and crushed his truck cab inside the container terminal. The accident occurred around 11h00 on Friday morning when the truck arrived to collect a container at the TPT terminal. The reach stacker crane passed over the truck when the spreader bar was dislodged and fell onto the cab of the truck. The reason why the spreader fell was not clear but one witness claimed that the crane involved in the accident had been receiving attention from a technician shortly beforehand. Immediately following the accident the crane operator attempted to hoist the spreader off the truck but was unsuccessful. The driver of the truck was trapped in his cab and died at the scene despite the efforts of Transnet paramedics who were quickly on the scene. Following the accident the South African Police Services opened an inquest docket for further investigation. Operations remained suspended for some hours until all regulatory authorities currently onsite, concluded their assessments. The maintenance of the Kalmar equipment at the port was recently taken over by Transnet.