A crew member of the 'Pacific Challenger' went overboard from the fishing vessel and was reported missing on April 1, 2024, at 8.43 p.m. on about 11 kilometers off the Waimārama coast in Hawke's Bay. When the SAR operation started, it was quite misty with a bit of rain, but it has cleared up a lot with a long, gentle sort of swell and clear visibility in the morning of April 2. A mayday alert was being issued every half an hour to alert boaties about the missing person. The Rescue Coordination Centre of Maritime New Zealand mobilized rescue helicopters from Hastings, Gisborne, Auckland and Wellington to conduct searches over the water, and the Defence Force has also sent two NH90 helicopters. Three fishing vessels responded to the distress broadcasts and assisted too. The Coastguard Hawke's Bay provided a vessel and deployed a marker buoy to verify drift conditions in the water for search planning purposes. The coordination centre completed a drift modelling analysis and was continuing to assess conditions.
News
NORWEGIAN DAWN
Eight holidaymakers who did not make it back to the 'Norwegian Dawn' in time have traveled for 15 hours through six different countries to catch up with the ship, so far without success. The passengers showed up too late when the ship wanted to sail from São Tomé and Príncipe on March 27, 2024. The eight guests, who were on the island on a private tour, missed the final call to the ship and therefore did not make the departure time of 3:00 PM LT. The tour operator contacted the captain to report that the passengers were on their way, but would be late. The Harbour Master tried to call the ship, the captain refused the call. They sent emails to Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), the NCL customer service emergency number, and they said that the only way for them to get in touch with the ship was to send them e-mails, but they were not responding to the emails. Eventually the Sao Tome Coastguard loaded the eight passengers on a boat and took them to the anchored ship, but the captain told the Coastguard to take the passengers back to the island The group was left without their medication and incurred many additional costs, including not having credit cards to use in São Tomé and Príncipe. The passports of the stranded passengers were handed over to local port agents. The Norwegian Cruise Line was working with local authorities and was in contact with the stranded passengers. The group consisted of seven Americans and two Australians, four of which were elderly. One passenger had a heart condition, and another is a paraplegic. There was also a married couple from Delaware, and the wife was pregnant. The group of eight passengers traveled for hours through several countries to reach their ship in Gambia. However, the ship could not dock due to low tide. The group was trying to reach Daakar now, where the ship docked on April 2. Yet another passenger has been without heart medication for days and was very ill. Another passenger, who had been on a different tour, required acute care and was admitted to the São Tomé hospital, leaving her also stranded. The passenger's daughter in California was contacted to coordinate her return to North America. Report with photos: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13260825/Australians-left-stranded-Africa-cruise-ship.html
London
All new ships for UK waters ordered from 2025 should be designed with zero-emission capable technologies, according to ambitious plans set out today by maritime minister Nusrat Ghani to cut pollution from the country’s maritime sector. The commitment is set out in the Clean Maritime Plan published today. The government is also looking at ways to incentivise the transition to zero-emission shipping and will consult on this next year. The plan also includes a £1m competition to find innovative ways to reduce maritime emissions and is published alongside a call for evidence to reduce emissions on UK waterways and domestic vessels.
Whittier
U.S. Coast Guard crews have given up the search for a 49-year-old Cordova man who went missing after an explosion and subsequent fire on a fixed barge at Delong Dock in Whittier, Alaska, shortly after midnight on Monday. The fire spread to the pier and then to the Anagalik, a 99-foot commercial fishing vessel that was initially reported to have two people aboard at the time of the explosion. Whittier Police Department personnel have since confirmed one of those two is safely aboard a different vessel en route to Whittier. The fire has now been extinguished, but the fishing vessel and barge sank in 85 feet of water at the pier with a potential maximum of 5,500 gallons of fuel oil aboard. The fishing vessel owners have contracted Global Diving and Salvage for clean-up and salvage efforts. An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak has searched for the missing person by air, and crews aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur and Coast Guard Auxiliary 336 searched nearby waters.
TRUE CONFIDENCE
The tug 'Red Bull' was deployed to assist the 'True Confidence' after receiving notice of the attack on March 6 at around 6.30 p.m. The tug, stationed in the port of Aden, was ordinarily used for towing old vessels to Pakistan and India to be scrapped. The 'Red Bull' then scoured the area while communicating its position to the US Navy so that it didn’t mistakenly identify it as a hostile vessel. At around 1 a.m. on March 8, the crew spotted a light on the 'True Confidence'. Smoke was still billowing from the ship. The tug’s crew tackled the blaze and then used ropes with hooks to scale up the side of the vessel. The task was made harder by the barbed wire that lined the sides of the vessel at the deck level, presumably installed as a last line of defense against pirates. Parts of the ship were blisteringly hot because of the fire. The crew of the 'Red Bull' connected the tug to the damaged ship, but progress was hampered by a second attack. On the morning of March 9, four combat drones headed toward the 'True Confidence'. A French frigate that sailed nearby and its fighter jets destroyed the drones. The US Navy instructed the 'Red Bull' to switch off its tracking system while it was towing the vessel to safety. However, they only sailed around five miles before the engine of the 'Red Bull' suffered a serious malfunction, and fixing the problem would have required a specialist team. As the 'True Confidence' drifted toward Somalia at the speed of about 1-2 knots, the search for a replacement tug became more frantic. The tug 'Hercules' was found, butit was under US sanctions that cited its owners links to Iran. The owner of the 'True Confidence' received special permission from the US Office of Foreign Asset Control on March 12 to use the 'Hercules' in the salvage mission, owner True Confidence Shipping SA and operator Third January Maritime Ltd. said in a joint statement on March 21. The 'Hercules' was instructed to tow the 'True Confidence' to Djibouti. But weather conditions soon worsened and the choppy waters broke the tow line between the vessels. Once the ships were reconnected. they set off again for Djibouti. Yet as they neared the port limits they were told that the request for entry had been denied. Following the refusal by the Port of Djibouti to grant port of refuge, the tow has continued in a north-easterly direction away from the high risk area, with the intention of seeking refuge at the port of Duqm, the shipowner and operator said in a joint statement on March 20. The 'Hercules' and 'True Confidence' were still on their way to Duqm in Oman, which has dry dock facilities that are used for salvage and repairs. Once there, the agency that provided the ship’s crew will locate the remains of the seafarers for repatriation to the Philippines. There has been no pollution from the 'True Confidence' either from the initial attack or the subsequent salvage and tow to date.
JAG LOK
En route from Aliağa to Ceyhan Port, the 'Jag Lok' suffered an engine failure at İzmir-Karaburun on Aug 4, 2022, and went adrift off Aliaga. The tug 'Sirapinar XVIII' was deployed to assist and pulled the tanker to Aliağa anchorage, where it dropped anchor on Aug 6. The departure permission of the vessel was cancelled by the Harbour Master. Photo: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZfJHj9XwAAyoof.jpg
Ngqura
South African state-run logistics company Transnet has suspended a number of employees for taking part in a lengthy go-slow campaign at the Ngqura Container Terminal in the Eastern Cape. The port said in a statement yesterday it had “suspended a number of employees at its Ngqura Container Terminal for engaging in an illegal industrial action.
Rizhao
Shandong Landbridge Group has entered into an agreement with Beijing Energy Group to jointly develop a LNG receiving terminal at Landbrige Port in Rizhao. Under the agreement, the two parties will invest RMB6.7bn ($973m) in total for the construction of the terminal, which will have a designed handling capacity of 5m tons of LNG annually. Additionally, the two companies plan to join their efforts to develop overseas energy projects.
FV BREIZ
Five people will appear from April 2, 2024, before the maritime court of Le Havre, after the sinking of the 'Breiz'. Among the defendants is the master of the SNSM boat responsible for towing. They are on trial for involuntary manslaughter, after the sinking of the trawler on Jan 14, 2021, off the coast of Lion-sur-Mer, which claimed the lives of three fishermen, after it got in distress off the coast of Nacre. On board were three sailors, including two brothers, from Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and Cherbourg. When the trawler was towed by the SNSM boat, the fishing vessel sank very quickly with all its crew. The bodies of the three sailors were recovered the next day by divers from the wreck. A year after the tragedy, the Office of Investigation into Maritime Events (BEA Mer) released its investigation report. He blamed the rescuers and highlighted the lack of experience of the fishermen and the overload of the trawler at the time of the incident. However, a few months later, in November 2022, the five members of the SNSM who participated in the towing were placed in police custody as part of an investigation for manslaughter, which aroused a lot of emotion among the SNSM rescuers. In addition to the master of the SNSM boat from Ouistreham appearing before the court will be the co-owner of the trawler, a maritime expert and two agents from the Departmental Directorate of Territories and the Sea (DDTM) of Calvados. The penalties incurred are up to ten years of imprisonment.
SIYA
The 'Siya' suffered a fire in engine room and accommodation area at the Yalova shipyard on June 12 at 1. a.m. The crew along with the shipyard fire-fighters and the local fire brigade teams attended along with the SAR tug 'Nene Hatun' (IMO: 9675004), an ŞARK tug as well as other tugs. The fire was extinguished in the morning. The extent of damage and the cause of the fire was yet unknown. Video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1535923898256183296
Tyne
The Port of Tyne has created a new baggage handling for Marella Cruises at its International Passenger Terminal, which is located in North Shields near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. The port has reconfigured 300 square metres of its terminal, creating space to process 1,000 bags as well as a marquee that functions as an undercover baggage handling facility. There are now also 382 additional parking spaces specifically for Marella Cruises’ guests. Marella Cruises’ customer will be able to drop off their luggage before heading straight to a dedicated car park. The baggage will be checked by security and loaded onto the ship, expediting the embarkation process.
Sydney
DP World Australia has called for an end to the strikes at its ports this week, warning that the industrial action comes at a time when shipping lines are reviewing stevedore contracts. “The industrial action will cause significant disruption to DPWA customers and importantly the broader supply chain of shippers, exporters and importers. DPWA employees will also be unnecessarily and avoidably impacted by these lost earnings,” said Andrew Adam, chief operating officer at DPWA. DP World’s Brisbane, Sydney and Fremantle container terminals are on a rolling 48-hour strike, while workers at the company’s Melbourne operations have decided to down tools for 96 hours. The workers said in a release their actions this week are in order to fight against automation, outsourcing, cuts to income protection insurance, and “dishonest bargaining” by the company During the recent 12-week bargaining period, DP World said the local union did not make any material concessions to its initial 50 claims. These claims include a wage increase well above CPI, DP World said.