On the late morning of June 1, 2024, a crew members of the 'Arbumasa XXIX' was seriously injured when the ship was shifted inside the port of Mar de Plata, when releasing the moorings of the tug 'BR Tornado' that assisted the movement of the vessel. The 46-year-old man got his leg wrapped in a rope at ankle level, leaving him with an open fracture of his right lower extremity. The duty officer in charge of the operation decided to coordinate the movement of the vessel towards section 8 of breakwater 2; subsequently the victim was disembarked on a stretcher by the fire rescue of the Mar del Plata Prefecture and assisted by medical personnel from the company SERVISA. He was transferred to the Private Hospital of the Community (HPC), where a successful surgical intervention was carried out.
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AAL MERKUR
The 'AAL Merkur' was boarded by three perpetrators, who were not armed, on May 29, 2024, at 7.20 p.m. at Phu My Anchorage in pos. 10° 12 N 10° 107.3 E. The alert duty crew noticed the perpetrator, shouted at him and raised the alarm, resulting in the person escaping empty-handed in a wooden boat along with two accomplices.
Tallinn
Active construction is currently underway in the D-terminal of the Port of Tallinn being built by Nordecon, in order to open the first phase of construction of the renovated D-terminal to passengers within two months, the port says in a press release. A digital twin of the new D-Terminal building and the remodeled part which aims to make the building's life cycle more efficient was created in the BIM implementation model. The completion of the extension and reconstruction work of the port is scheduled for summer 2020.
Rostock
Marine battery supplier Corvus Energy is to install its lithium-ion battery storage systems onboard AIDA Cruises’ ships to reduce fossil fuel use and emissions. In a project that will also involve ABB and Siemens, Corvus will install and commission the battery storage systems on the first AIDA ship in 2020. The companies then plan to then use their findings from the pilot project to successfully fit battery systems onboard other vessels in the AIDA fleet. “Our goal is the emissions-neutral ship operation,” said Michael Thamm, group CEO of Costa Group and Carnival Asia.
FV BREIZ
On June 4 the court delivered its deliberations in the case of the sinking of the 'Breiz' off the coast of Port-en-Bessin, two months after the maritime court of Le Havre met from April 2 to 5, 2024. Among the defendants, the skipper of the SNSM boat of Ouistreham, Philippe Capdeville, who was tried for negligence and forgery in a ship's document. He was released. The court just accused him of negligence for an absence of alertness for 41 seconds when he did not respond to the 'Breiz'. This negligence did not cause the sinking of the ship and the death of the three sailors, ruled the court. He was also acquitted for the forgery. Philippe Capdeville did not wish to react at the end of the hearing. For his part, Bertrand Hudault, Channel North Sea general inspector at the SNSM, spoke of a relief for Philippe Capdeville after 3,5 years of pressure, and for all the SNSM volunteers: “We were all convinced that Philippe Capdeville had not made a mistake”. He also believes that this trial will “mark” a before and an after. This case questioned the “criminal liability of rescuers in intervention”. In particular, he requests a “mechanism to better legally protect SNSM volunteers”. An acquittal was also pronounced for the two officials of the DDTM (departmental directorate of territories and the Sea) and the maritime expert prosecuted for involuntary homicide. The court notably considered that there had been “no violation of a duty of care” on the part of the maritime expert, and that he “did not contribute to the realization of the danger”. Only the co-owner of the ship, François Leboucher – absent during the deliberations – was convicted. He received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. During a lengthy reasoning for its entire decision, the court explained that it considered that the co-owner was directly responsible for the facts. Particularly because he was aware of the non-compliant character of the crew. None of the sailors on board had the required diplomas, despite the exemption by Quentin Varin. The judges also mentioned the “non-compliance with the operating conditions of the ship”, in particular with the weight of the dredgers being far too much greater than they should be. He then failed to fulfill his “security obligation for which he must respond”. The prosecutor had requested a 12 -month suspended prison sentence and a two-year sailing ban against Philippe Capdeville, and a six months suspended prison sentence for the co-owner. The same sentence was required for the maritime expert who had submitted a report on the ship shortly before the tragedy. The magistrate also requested a penalty of €30,000 against his company. The prosecutor proposed a principle sentence for the two DDTM agents. The public prosecutor of Le Havre, Bruno Dieudonné, indicated that an appeal was “not excluded”. But that he had to “first analyze in more detail the motivation of the court”.
NIS RANDERS
The former DGzRS lifeboat 'Nis Randers' will become the 'Sea Eye 5' and save lives in the Mediterranean as the 4th ship of the United4Rescue alliance. To finance the purchase, United4Rescue is launching a fundraising campaign on June 4, 2024. The ship will be overhauled in the coming weeks, renamed and is due to start its first deployment in summer.
Rotterdam
The Port of Rotterdam Authority has reached an agreement with Sif Holding n.v. regarding the lease of 20 ha of port site and a 200-m stretch of deep-sea quay at Maasvlakte. Sif’s new lot lies adjacent to its existing port site, where the company already works on the assembly of foundations for offshore wind turbines, the company said in its release. Sif will be using the newly allocated site on behalf of clients active in the offshore wind power sector. The first project to be undertaken at the new site will be the logistics handling of all 94 monopiles (wind turbine foundations) destined for the offshore wind farm Borssele 1 + 2, commissioned by Deme Offshore.
Tangier
Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has concluded an agreement with long-term customer EUROGATE Tanger (EGT) in Morocco to upgrade four ZPMC ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, as part of the terminal’s expansion plans. With a quay length of 821 meters, a terminal area of 400,000 m2 and a water depth of up to 18 meters, the facility is well-equipped to handle the new generation of containerships. The terminal’s equipment fleet already includes several Kalmar machines, including rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs). Furthermore, Kalar will be responsible for the planning, engineering and execution of the entire project, which involves heightening the four STS cranes by 11 meters and extending the booms by six meters. The project with Kalmar will help the terminal serve mega-sized container vessels.
IRVINE BAY
The 'Irvine Bay' was boarded by four perpetrators, armed wuth knives and iron bards, at Dumai Anchorage in pos. 1° 42 N 10° 101.29 E on May 25, 2024, at 2.10 a.m. No injuries to the crew were reported. The pirates stole engine spares of the ship.
PAXOS ISLAND
On the morningof Juen 3, 2024, the Port Authority of Corfu was informed by the Master of the 'Paxos Island', that during the disembarkation process the starboard side main engine could not be started. The ship was carrying out a scheduled route from the port of Corfu to the port of Gaio Paxos with 74 passengers on board. The Central Port Authority of Corfu banned the ship from sailing until the repair of the damage and the presentation of a certificate of class maintenance and seaworthiness by the monitoring classification society.
Wismar
Genting Hong Kong (GHK) has officially secured funding for the construction and post-delivery financing of Dream Cruises’ two new Global Class ships. KfW IPEX-Bank will supply US$2.9 billion, with backing from the Federal Republic of Germany, Finnish export credit agency Finnvera, and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. At an overall cost of €3.1 billion (US$3.4 billion), the two new vessels are currently being built at GHK-owned shipyard MV Werften in Germany for the fast-growing Asian cruise market. “We are very appreciative of KfW IPEX-Bank, the bank consortium, the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Finnvera for supporting GHK in the financing of the Global Class ships,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chief executive of Genting Hong Kong.
Mogadishu
Qatar has established an investment partnership with Somalia to build a new port in the latter's country. The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Qatar said that the partnership between Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani) and Somalia will see the construction of the Hobyo Port in the Mudug region of central Somalia. Hobyo Port is expected to bring multiple economic benefits for Somalia. The port could create new business opportunities for the country by bolstering the commercial relationship with new markets in Africa and providing access to global markets, in addition to providing maritime services to vast areas in Somalia. The Hobyo Port is in proximity to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most important sea crossing points. Hobyo is also important due to its location in the Mudug region, which links the south and north of the country.