News

On the night of April 11, a migrant boat got in difficulty, and the CROSS Gris-Nez deployed the 'Abeille Normandie' to locate and monitor the boat, as well as the SNSM lifeboat 'SNS-067 Mona Rigolet' from Calais. The lifeboat picked up the 28 occupants of the boat and delivered them to the dock in Calais. On the morning of April 12, the CROSS Gris-Nez was informed of another migrant boat heading towards the Malo-les-Bains area and deployed the 'Ridens' to monitor the it. Once near the boat, some of the occupants requested assistance. The 'Ridens' rescued 19 people from the boat, while the remaining occupants continued on their way. At midday, the CROSS was once again informed of the departure of a boat from the Hardelot area, and engaged the 'DFP1 Jacques Oudart Fourmentin' to locate and monitor it. Once on site, the customs vessel rescued three occupants from the boat. Several people still on board refused any assistance and continued on their way. The three rescued people were dropped off at the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer. In total, 50 people were rescue and safely brought to the ashore, where they were taken into care by land-based rescue services.

The 'Ilse of Cumbrae', serving on the route Largs-Cumbrae, suffered an issue with its hydraulic pump, affecting a vessel's ramp, on the morning of April 12 , The vessel got unavailable for service with the option of operating single-ended if required. Investigations were started. As part of the repairs, the vessel was required to transit to Cumbrae. The 'Loch Shira' was operating as normal on the route meanwhile. On April 13, the repairs have been completed, and the vessel returned to service service.

On the afternoon of April 11, 2025, the Corfu Port Authority was informed that the'MSC Sinfonia', which was moored in the new port of Corfu with 2193 passengers and 730 crew members on board, had sufferd a failure of the starboard side propeller of the propulsion-steering system. The Corfu Central Port Authority initially prohibited the departure of thecruise ship. Upon the presentation of a seaworthiness certificate from the monitoring classification society, it was permitted to depart for a single voyage, accompanied by the tug 'Megalochari XIV' (IMO: 9199452), to the port of Bari, where it arrived late on April 13, and not at 8:00 a.m. as originally planned. On the way from Corfu to Bari, the ship sailed at only four knots at times, thus not reaching the necessary cruising speed to arrive at the port on time. MSC Cruises has canceled its Eastern Mediterranean cruise, which was scheduled to begin on April 12 in Bari, less than 24 hours before departure. Guests with different embarkation and disembarkation ports, were also affected by the cancellations. Guests affected by the cancellations will receive a full refund of their travel costs and a travel credit for a future MSC cruise equal to the price they paid. Meanwhile, technicians were working diligently to resolve the issues. How long this will take was not yet known, as it depended on the severity of the technical issues. The ship remained stationary in Bari as of April 14

The 'Loch Frisa' has suffered an issue with the drencher system. As a consequence, the vesselwas unable to carry any dangerous goods until April 30. Affected bookings were to be contacted directly by the ports. Any customers wishing to travel via Lochaline - Fishnish are required to call Craignure Port (01680 340258 option 2) or Tobermory Port (01688 327089 option 2) directly.

In the midday hours of April 13, 2025, the Halki Port Authority was informed that the'Blue Star Chios', during its arrival at the port of Halki, experienced a malfunction in the electric automatic folding system of the central ramp. Theferry safely moored at the port and disembarked 86 passengers from the starboard side stern ramp, while after manual folding of the central ramp, 21 cars were disembarked. The Halki Port Station of the Central Port Authority of Rhodes initially banned the ship from sailing. Upon presentation of a seaworthiness certificate from the monitoring classification society, the ship was permitted tcontinue its approved route with destination to the ports of Diafani Karpathos - Pigadia Karpathos - Kasos - Sitia - Heraklion - Anafi - Thira - Piraeus.