There were renewed concerns about pollution coming from the 'MSC Baltic III', after some small tar balls were found on the beach near the vessel last week. The Canadian Coast Guard collected the tarry substances, approximately the size of tennis balls, for analysis. No other oil has been observed on the water or the shoreline. An underwater survey was conducted on April 13 with no signs of oil. The vessel still contains about 1.700 tons of heavy fuel and marine gas oil. The salvage company hired to clean up and remove the wreck has resumed the process of heating and pumping oil from the vessel into tanks on the deck. A barge will be brought alongside the vessel when the weather allows, to transfer the oil onto tanks onto the barge. The Coast Guard sremained on-site and was working with the salvage company to ensure that contaminant are removed from the vessel as quickly as possible.
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WHITE EAGLE
The 'White Eagle' has been lying idle in the port of Nador for more than two months for reasons that were remainng unclear. The ship was en route from Sierra Leone to Lebanon, but switched off its AIS near the coast of Rabat. Then it unexpectedly berthed in Nador. What happened in the meantime remained a mystery. The ship has had a total of seven different names since it was built in Shanghai in 1991. It has previously been called 'Breadbox Falcon', 'Saphir', 'Baltimar Sirius' and 'Moresby Chief', among others. It was suggested that the ship had technical problems, but it was not towed, and the port of Nador has no repair facilities. Rumors of smuggling were now circulating. The 'White Eagle' has been involved in drug trafficking investigations in the past. However, the ship has not yet been fully searched. The crew, mainly of Filipino origin, has been on board all the time and is not allowed to leave. Even a visit by the Philippine ambassador did not change that.
NORDKAPPFANGST
The 'Nordkappfangst' was destroyed by a fire, which broke out in the engine room, on the evening of April 12, 2025. off Honningsvåg, outside Nordvågen in the Nordkapp municipality. while catching shrimps. The skipper Stig Ivar Pettersen was down to pack some shrimp, when suddenly there was smoke around him, and he heard the alarms. Pettersen tried to reach the fire extinguisher, but had to give up because of the smoke. He contacted the fishing boat "Amalie Sofie" that was nearby, via coastal radio. Captain Arnt Magne Johansens alerted his deckhand Even Vigeland (29), wjho had his first week on the shrimp trawler. They could only see a red dot in the middle of the sea. Also the rescue helicopter SAR Queen was on its way, but the fire developed so quickly that it did not arrive in time. Pettersen and his deckhand put on their life jackets and survival suits. The "Amalie Sofie" arrived about five minutes later. It was dark, visibility was poor, and the weather conditions were bad. The crew of the 'Nordkappfangst' was standing on the deck before they had to jump into the water to escape the rapidly spreading flames. One of them was drifting behind the boat, where the flames were the worst. Johansen and Vigeland had to circle around the burning shrimper, but managed to throw a rope. After a short time, both fishermen were rescued. Pettersen had inhaled a lot of smoke, which meant that he had to wear an oxygen mask for 20 minutes in the ambulance. Report with photos: https://www.vg.no/nyheter/i/xmv2jl/fiskebaat-i-full-fyr-maatte-hoppe-i-sjoeen
BAYESIAN
The salvage start of the "Bayesian" will be on 'April 26, and the wreck is to brought to shore by the end of May, Simon Graves, a principal investigator for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch told a pre-inquest hearing said on April 15. The inquests into the deaths of Lynch and the other three British victims are being held in Ipswich. Inquests were opened and adjourned in October pending the completion of probes by both the UK investigators and a criminal inquiry by Italian prosecutors. An MAIB interim report on whether there were any breaches of maritime legislation could be published online in four to six weeks, with the final report to follow in months. The Coroner Nigel Parsley said he was in the hands of the criminal investigations as to when a final inquest hearing date could be set. The inquest in the UK is examining the deaths of the British tech mogul Mike Lynch and his daughter, Hannah, 18, as well as Morgan Stanley International bank chairman Jonathan Bloomer, 70, and his 71-year-old wife Judy Bloomer, who were also British nationals. The others who died were US lawyer Chris Morvillo and his wife Neda Morvillo, and Canadian-Antiguan national Recaldo Thomas, who was working as a chef on the yacht. Angela Bacares, Lynch's wife and Hannah's mother, was among the 15 survivors.
FERDINAND
The two upper segments of the crane boom of the 'Ferdinand' became detached on April 10, 2025, in the port of Barth. Using their own resources, the employees of the Ueckermünde-based hydraulic engineering company Colcrete managed to repair the defective crane, The damaged second-to-last segment was removed, and the upper end piece was reattached to the remaining boom. Although this shortened the boom somewhat, the reach was sufficient for the remaining sheet piles of the construction of the new marina. allowing to pull the remaining steel piles of the sheet pile barrier by the afternoon of April 14. To make things worse, the barge "Roock 84," which was alongside and was supposed to transport the 15-meter-long, two-ton sheet piles, sank on April 12. The loaded sheet piles were recovered and have been stored on the crane platform. The sunken barge was brought back to the surface on April 15. A small leak above the normal waterline led to the sinking. As it was continuously loaded with sheet piles, the barge sank deeper until the leak was below the water surface, so that the barge filled up with water in the access channel to the new Barth marina, which had recently been dredged to a depth of three meters. The barge was then completely unloaded and pumped dry. Because the leak was now above the water surface again, there was no danger as long as the barge is not moved. The dredging of the remaining sand barrier was scheduled to continue on April 22. Reports with photos: https://www.ostsee-zeitung.de/lokales/vorpommern-ruegen/ribnitz-damgarten/barth-pannen-bei-arbeiten-am-neuen-yachthafen-kran-kaputt-und-schiff-gesunken-QK3LTZCQ5RFTBFFVTVGL2IAWMM.html https://www.ostsee-zeitung.de/lokales/vorpommern-ruegen/ribnitz-damgarten/gesunkenes-arbeitsschiff-im-barther-yachthafen-gehoben-zufahrt-nach-ostern-frei-DYFYV6TWZVELXONFQ6DRB7HRVU.html