News

11 crew members of the 'MSC Flavia' were tested positive for the coronavirus on June 26, 2020, upon the arrival at Ningbo anchorage, coming from Hong Kong, where nine of them had signed in, arriving from Indonesia, Greece and Croatia. Of the 11 infected crew members, two had higher-than-normal temperature, the rest are was asymptomatic. The ship was allowed to berth on July 1.

The 'Al Messilah' has been delayed at the port of East London due to a legal dispute over loading a cargo of South African sheep. The South African National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) recently filed suit to block the vessel's voyage. On June 10, 2020, the NGO secured an injunction from the Grahamstown High Court to prevent the vessel from loading until after a hearing on July 16. Its operator and the cargo owner, Kuwaiti meat supplier Al Mawashi, may not transport any sheep from the feedlot or export any sheep from South Africa until after the outcome of the hearing. Al Mawashi proposed that it could satisfy the South African National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' concerns by reducing the number of sheep on the voyage from 70,000 to 56,000. The NGO disagreed, and the court ruled against Al Mawashi once again. The injunction remains in place until July 16.

The delivery of the 'Iona' by the Meyer Yard in Papenburg had been postponed to the end of August. Further delays could not be ruled out. The shipyard has already missed two delivery dates of May and July. Originally due to embark on her maiden voyage to Norway in May, the 'Iona' has undergone sea trials and the ship has been essentially finished. It completed drydocking at Damen-Verolme shiprepair and successfully transited the Ems river from the Papenburg shipyard to the outfitting facility at Bremerhaven. Initial sea trials were undertaken, which was followed by the ship sailing to Rotterdam to undergo a dry dock inspection from June 2 to 9, 2020. It was unclear what work was carried out during this period. The 'Iona' recently embarked on a second round of sea trials off the coast of Norway, and has since returned to Bremerhaven on June 21.

The number of migrants who were tested positive for COVID 19 rose to 30 on the quarantine ship "Moby Zazà". After being rescued in the Mediterranean by the humanitarian vessel "Sea Watch 3", 211 migrants had been transferred to the quarantine ship and had been swabbed from which emerged the presence of 28 cases of coronavirus, who were immediately isolated on a deck of the ship. From the daily tests of the last few days, however, two other infections have resulted.

The 'Star Europe' sailed around the world for more than three months with the body of a deceased sailor in a freezer, before finally finding a country that would welcome the corpse. Fears of corona infection were the reason for the rejection in a dozen countries. The dead sailor's body was finally allowed to land in Dangjin on July 1, 2020, to the great relief to the ship's crew and management, who thanked the country for the friendly attitude. For the past three months, the ship had only been met with rejections from port authorities and coast guards in more than a dozen countries that refused to allow the ship to dock and bring the body ashore for the repatriation to the family of the deceased in Indonesia. In some places, authorities said they did not have facilities to conduct Covid-19 tests on the corpse, while others said they were unable to conduct tests on the entire crew. The macabre voyage began on March 23, when the 48-year-old Indonesian sailor collapsed and died, presumably due to a heart failure, being on a guard on the bridge as the ship approached Panama. The body was then stored in a freezer on board, while Star Europe unsuccessfully tried to find a port in Central America, South America or later in Asia that would accept it. The ship even experienced refusal to go to port to load and, in another case, to refuse to go to port, even at the anchorage. Neither the deceased sailor nor any of the other crew members on board had at any time shown signs of being infected with Covid-19.