News

Due to technical problems with the auxiliary engine and emergency power system, the "Femøsund" has been taken out of service on Aug 20, 2019, and the sailings on the route Femø-Kragenæs were taken over by the ferries "Askø" and "Christine" while a new engine was fixed at the quay in Bandholm.

The "Slavutich 18", which had suffered an engine failure at Kherson on Apr 1, 2019. was taken in tow by the tug "Horoz" on Aug 15, bound to Tuzla for repairs, after repairs could not be carried out by the crew. ETA at Tuzla shipyard was in the night of Aug 19. During th eIstanbul Strait passage, a coastal safety tug provided escort service for the vessel and strait traffic safety.

APM Terminals Maasvlakte II’s new rail service between its Rotterdam terminal and Venlo, a key logistics hub on the Dutch-German border is proving popular. Following the success of the initial five-times-per-week service, plans are already in place to scale this up to 14 times per week over the coming weeks.

A 24-hour national labour strike is planned on Jul 24, in all Italian ports and all transportations. The planned strike is subject to confirmation in the coming days.

The scheduled departure of the "Prinsesse Isabella" from Samsø on Aug 20 at 8.15 a.m. had to be cancelled due to a leak which occurred on one of the large hydraulic hoses. In order to repair the damage, a technician was called. After the ferry finally sailed from Samsø with all four engines on, she rushed to Hou with an arrival time as of 10.30 a.m. The scheduled departure at 10.45 has been changed to 11.20 p.m. Delays were reduced in the run of the day and at 4.10 p.m. the Samsø Rederi announced that the ferry was back on schedule.

In the early morning hours of Aug 18, 2019, the captain of the 'Maria Gloria' alerted the National Maritime Authority that a crew emember was suffering strong chest pains. Captain Francisco Romano Saverio decided to conduct a medical radio consultation with a professional from the Naval Prefecture of Argentina. The Chief Medical Officer Juan Ignacio Casadei considered the possibility of an acute coronary syndrome to be very high, so he recommended the urgent medevac of the patient for transfer to a medical center. The "María Gloria" was 195 kilometers from the coast of Trelew. In compliance with the provisions of the SAR protocol, General Prefect Eduardo René Scarzello ordered the launch of a Dauphin PA 42 Helicopter from Trelew. The hoist was carried out during noon. The helicopter was positioned approximately 15 meters above the deck of the "Maria Gloria". Once aboard the helicopter, the fisherman was transferred to a local care center. The Maritime Authority informed that the patient was stable and out of danger. Report with photo: https://www.infobae.com/sociedad/2019/08/19/impresionante-rescate-en-altamar-prefectura-salvo-a-un-pescador-en-medio-de-un-fuerte-temporal/

Canada’s arctic port of Churchill is set to resume its first grain shipments since 2015 after a group backed by investor Prem Watsa stepped in last year to buy the facility and a related rail line linking the northern town with the rest of Manitoba. The 88-year-old port on the shores of Hudson’s Bay will resume operations in the next few months, reducing by several days the shipping time to deliver grains to Europe and the Middle East across the Atlantic Ocean.

In the largest commercial operation of its kind in the history of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah Port has received 28 state-of-the-art Liebherr cranes to start the expansion of the container terminals. The latter was decided through a MoU signed with National Container Terminal on the day the port was officially inaugurated in the presence of the Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman last February. The new cranes include 20 gantry cranes and 8 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, which are the largest of their kind, with an outreach of 70 m (25 rows) and a safe working load of 65 t. The cranes that were supplied in this deal will join their operational counterparts in the port. They are the largest cranes exported by Liebherr and can serve mega container ships easily and seamlessly.

The "Maersk Seoul" lost two containers overboard on Aug 18, 2019, at 4 a.m. in position 26 40 04S, 045 38 09E, in the Indian Ocean. The ship had sailed from Luanda on Aug 9 and was headed to Singapore with an ETA as of Aug 28.

On Aug 18, 2019, at 1 p.m. the "Burdigala II" allided with a security pole at the Chaban Bridge on the Garonne in Bordeaux. 11 people were injured in the accident, the ship suffered serious bow damage. The ship had sailed from the quay of Brazza in Bordeaux and was preparing to pass the bridge Chaban-Delmas when an electronic problem foccurred that led it to hit a central security pile on the Garonne. The ship with 97 people on board, including seven crew members, was able to return to the wharf. The fire brigade attended with 36 vehicles and 55 men as well as two fire boats to evacuate the wounded. Three more seriously injured people were taken to the CHU and Saint André Hospital. The victims suffered from bruises and neck pain. All other were evacuated were taken aboard aboard a Batcub and the river cruise ship "Sardane" of the Bordeaux River Cruise. French report with photo: https://www.sudouest.fr/2019/08/19/bordeaux-accident-du-bateau-de-croisiere-burdigala-ii-au-pont-chaban-11-personnes-blessees-6460283-2780.php

BEST terminal in the Port of Barcelona has recently increased its storage and connection capacity for refrigerated containers, from 1,600 connection points up to 2,750, an increase of 70%, making it one of the terminals with the most connections for refrigerated containers in the whole of the Mediterranean area.

NAMPORT’s new container terminal will be officially inaugurated on 2 August, and normal operations are expected to start on it on 24 August. The new terminal, constructed at a cost of N$4 billion, is expected to increase container handling capacity from the current 355 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to up to 1 005 000 TEUs. Firstly, there will be a shutdown on 17 August of container operations in the port to start relocations to the new terminal. The equipment to be relocated include rubber-tired gantries and mobile harbour cranes, while reach stackers, haulers and forklifts will move the containers.