During the mooring process of the 'Blue Star Delos' in the port of Mytilene on the morning of April 7, 2024, a mooring cable jammed the starboard side propeller. The ship docked at the port, where it safely disembarked 260 passengers, 29 trucks, 29 cars and five two-wheelers. The Central Port Authority of Mytilini banned the ship from sailing. A diver inspected the propeller and untangled the rope, with no other damage noted. Upon presentation of a sailing certificate by the classification society monitoring the ship, the ban was lifted, and the ferry departed the port for Chios, Vathi, Karlovasi, Fournos, Evdilos Ikarias, Mykonos, Syros, and Piraeus with 175 passengers, 55 vehicles, 10 trucks and 22 two-wheelers on board. When the ship docked in the port of Piraeus, a ban on sailing was again implemented, until the inspection by the classification society monitoring the ship and the presentation of a certificate of saeaworthiness and class maintenance.
News
SEVEN SEAS SPLENDOR
The Spanish Air Force medevaced a passenger from the 'Seven Seas Splendor' with a stroke 500 kilometers from La Palma on April 8, 2024. An air force helicopter based in Gran Canaria hoisted the patient, who was in serious condition. The emergency was attended to by an HD 21 Super Puma helicopter from its search and rescue service (SAR). The Air Force also activated a D4 VIGMA (Maritime Surveillance) aircraft from the same group, which provided the helicopter with wind information at altitude, allowing it to optimize its flight at the highest speed and lowest fuel consumption. The aircraft had previously made contact with the cruise ship to facilitate the helicopter's maneuvering upon arrival. Once the radio coverage was terminated, the satellite communications capabilities allowed the SAR air resources involved to maintain contact with the Canary Islands Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Center and thus coordinate in real time. Throughout the mission, contact was maintained both with the airport of La Palma, which had to extend its opening hours to support air resources, and with the maritime rescue, to update the ship and patient data during the mission and the health resources 112 of the Canary Islands to mobilize. With the patient on board, the helicopter flew to La Palma airport, where she was picked up by an ambulance from the Canary Islands Ambulance Service and taken to the island's general hospital.
Tanger-Med
Tangier will today celebrate the opening of the largest container port in capacity terms in the whole of the Mediterranean, something that will bring enormous competition to the likes of Algericas just 25 nautical miles away across the Strait of Gibraltar. The $1.6bn expansion of Tanger Med port, located to the east of the Moroccan city of Tangier, due to be unveiled today will create Africa’s largest port with an annual capacity of 9.5m teu. The port is operated by APM Terminals, Eurogate and a local firm.
Ho Chi Minh
Samsung C&T Corp., a construction unit under Samsung Group, said Tuesday it has won a US$179.5 million project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Vietnam. Under the deal with Petrovietnam Gas Corp., Samsung C&T and Vietnamese firm PTSC will build the Southeast Asian country’s first LNG terminal, in the coastal area 70 kilometers southeast of Ho Chi Minh City for 40 months. The project also calls for the construction of LNG tanks and other related facilities, according to Samsung C&T. Samsung C&T has a 61 percent stake in the project. Source: Yonhap
FRIO CHIKUMA
The 'Frío Chikuma', which had run aground on sandy bottom a few meters from the shore in the Bay of Puerto Argentino as a result of bad weather in the area, was able to free itself again on April 4 and became operational in the anchoring area to continue receiving fishing vessels until she finished filling her hold. She had arrived from Matadi in the Republic of the Congo, in ballast and once loaded with 9000 tons squid, will carry the fishing products to Vigo. The ship was in good operating condition. The Vigo fleet operates under license from the Malvinas Islands, in its surrounding waters. Report with photo: https://pescare.com.ar/el-reefer-frio-chikuma-varo-por-las-inclemencias-del-tiempo-en-las-islas-malvinas/
CG STEELHEAD
The 'Steelhead' along with other Coast Guard units started a search for Jeffrey Kale, 47, from Clover, South Carolina, on April 6, 2024, after the Coast Guard Sector North Carolina watchstanders received a notification at around 10:30 p.m. from Kale’s family stating he was overdue from a fishing trip aboard a white 32-foot Cape Horn center-console boat. The active search for him was suspended on April 8 at 8:20 p.m., after the rescue crews searched for approximately 72 combined hours and covered more than 7,762 square miles. Rescue crews involved in the search: were a Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City HC-130 Hercules airplane, response boats from the Coast Guard Stations Oak Island and Wrightsville, mltiple good Samaritan boaters and the patrol boat.
Charleston
South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA), Southeast's deepwater port, said that five rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes arrived at Wando Welch Terminal to further modernize operations. The Port has received 14 of the 24 new cranes ordered for the Wando terminal; the terminal currently has 52 RTGs overall. Meanwhile, SCPA reported its strongest May on record, with 204,457 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) handled last month.
Brownsville
The Port of Brownsville is closer to deepening the Brownsville Ship Channel after receiving a key permit June 6 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to advance the Brazos Island Harbor Channel Improvement Project (BIH) to its construction phase.
CELESTYAL DISCOVERY
On April 4, 2024, the Greek Air Force medevaced a 25-year-old Cuban dancer who suffered serious injuries aboard the 'Celestyal Discovery' Air Force personnel swiftly responded to the distress call, initiating a rescue mission at 10:30 p.m. A Super Puma helicopter departed from the base in Rhodes to conduct the evacuation. The incident took place while the 'Celestyal Discovery' was sailing near Karpathos. The injured dancer, who was part of the ship's entertainment team, required urgent medical attention after falling and sustaining severe injuries. She was airlifted to a hospital in Rhodes for immediate medical treatment.
DARK KNIGHT
The 'Dark Knight'along with the drill ship ÄAmbur' was boarded by four perpetrators on March 26, 2024, at 2.40 p.m. in pos. 1° 24.35' N 103° 13.58' E off Pisang Island. Nothing was reported stolen, and no injuries were reported.
Rotterdam
Container throughput continues to grow in Rotterdam. Following a record year in 2018 and a record quarter in 2019, April of this year was the best month ever for the Port of Rotterdam. 13.6 million tonnes of container freight was handled in April 2019. The previous record month was August 2018 (13.2 million tonnes). Measured in TEU, the standard unit for containers, April 2019 was the second-best month ever, with 1.3 million TEU, just a fraction lower than the record month of August 2018.
San Diego
Matson, Inc., a leading U.S. carrier in the Pacific, and General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard christened the largest combination container/roll-on, roll-off (“con-ro”) ship ever built in the United States in a ceremony at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, CA on Saturday, June 15. The new vessel is named ‘Lurline,’ an iconic name in Matson’s long history, dating to the construction of Captain William Matson’s first ship of that name in 1887. Four more ships were given the name in subsequent years; this vessel will be the sixth. The new Lurline is the first of two new ships being built for Honolulu-based Matson by NASSCO at a total cost of approximately $500 million for the pair, and the third of four new vessels that Matson will put into service during 2018, 2019 and 2020. Named in honor of the ocean deity revered in the native Hawaiian culture, Matson’s two “Kanaloa Class” vessels under construction at the NASSCO shipyard are being built on a 3,500 TEU* vessel platform.