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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.

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

Cyprus continues to address every facet of its maritime offering to lure more shipowners to the island. The country’s deputy minister for shipping Natasa Pilides has revealed plans to abolish initial ship registration fees to boost one of Europe’s fastest growing flags. Members of parliament will vote on the issue later this month with a view to making the regulation official in time for Cyprus’s shipping week, which kicks off on October 6. The Cypriot register today is the 11th largest in the world with 24.4m gt on its books.

Napier Port, the third largest port on New Zealand’s North Island, has placed an order with Damen Shipyards Group for an Azimuth Tractor Drive (ATD) Tug 2412 Twin Fin for delivery later this year. The contract was signed by Sjoerd de Bruin, sales manager Pacific for Damen and Napier Port CEO Todd Dawson at Napier Port main office. Napier Port is currently developing a sixth wharf which, at 350 metres long, will be capable of handling the larger vessels that are expected to access the port in the near future. As a key transport hub for the Hawke’s Bay region of the North Island, the port already hosts a wide range of vessels including container ships, cruise ships, cargo and timber carriers. The ATD Tug 2412 Kaweka will join two existing Voith-type tugs at the port; the Te Mata and Ahuriri. Tractor tugs work best at Napier Port due to their ability to operate effectively in a swell, to tow indirectly, and their manoeuvrability, the last particularly important due to the tight berthing arrangements in the harbour. Just 24-metres in length but with 72 tonnes of bollard pull, the ATD Tug 2412 delivers just the combination of power but compactness that the Napier Port management team is seeking.

A dispute between the state-run oil company Petrobras and steelmaker Gerdau delayed the first dismantling the 'Petrobras 32',of an oil production vessel in Brazil by at least a year, in a setback for local shipyards. The operation had been hailed as a chance to reinvent Brazil's struggling shipbuilders as industrial recyclers, generating jobs as Petrobras plans to spend $9.9 billion in the next five years to retire another 10 ships of the same kind. The FPSO was set to wrap up its decommissioning by Dec 2024 under a new Petrobras sustainability program. Instead, the work began only in March 2025, according to the head of a local metalworker's union in Rio Grande do Sul state Benito de Oliveira Goncalves The dispute between Petrobras and Gerdau over removing petroleum residues from the vessel had stalled work for more than a year. The sale of the FPSO took place on July 7, 2023. In a collaboration supervised by Petrobras, the steel company Gerdau S.A. and shipyard Ecovix have been entrusted with the responsible and environmentally sound recycling of the unit.

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.

The port in Northern Ireland has committed GB£254m of investment to deliver new marine and estate infrastructure. Belfast Harbour’s investment is part of a 2019-2023 Strategic Plan to boost Northern Ireland’s economy. The plan focuses on increased collaboration and partnerships with key city stakeholders to drive growth and regeneration in Belfast’s waterfront area and has been unveiled alongside an outlook through to 2035. Belfast Harbour’s chairman, David Dobbin, said: “Over the next five years Belfast Harbour intends to invest £254 million in new Port and estate infrastructure and facilities. This major investment programme is really only possible because of our Trust Port status which allows us to reinvest every penny of our net earnings back into the business.” Belfast Harbour will upgrade its cranes and material handling equipment, install new ramps to accommodate larger vessels and build new storage facilities. Work will also begin on digital ‘Smart Port’ initiatives to provide greater automation and a new unified system to coordinate cargo and shipping communications.

On the 9th of September 2019 the work for the contract “Dredging Het Nieuwe Diep”, commissioned by the Port of Den Helder, has started. Dutch Dredging is expected to carry out the remediation of 200,000 m3 of partially contaminated spoil until mid-December. The survey vessel “Hydrograaf” started the pre-dredge survey on the 9th of September, a so-called “baseline measurement” of the work. The work will then be carried out in 3 phases. In Phase 1, a bed leveller equipped with a so called dirt-plough will be employed. This is due to the fact that the top layer of silt contains a considerable amount of soil-foreign material. The specifically developed dirt-plough consists of long thin spikes that sink through the layer of silt and rake the dirt from the soil. The dirt will be ploughed to free locations where it can be dredged by means of a grab dredger and will be discharged into skips on the quay for removal and disposal. In the Phase 2, a bed leveller, trailing suction hopper dredger and a grab dredger will subsequently commence with the dredging works to the north and south of the Moorman bridge. They will restore the required depth. During Phase 3 the contaminated sediment will be removed. This phase is carried out by a grab dredger and several hopperbarges. The dredged material will be loaded in to the barges, which will transport the sediment to a depository for polluted sediment.

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

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.

The US Coast Guard informed that it reopened the Houston Ship Channel, on September 13, after a protest demonstration near Baytown, Texas. Namely, on September 12, 22 Greenpeace US climbers created a blockade from the Fred Hartman Bridge in Baytown. The closure on the ship channel started on September 12, after Sector Houston-Galveston watchstanders received notification that about 11 individuals were suspended from the Fred Hartman Bridge. A US Coast Guard Station Houston 29-foot Response Boat-Small boat crew, a US Coast Guard Station Galveston 45-foot Response Boat-Medium boat crew and the crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter Tiger Shark were launched to the scene.

Last week, the Dutch multimodal operator Multi Modal Rail B.V. launched a new container rail service between Rotterdam and the French town of Ottmarsheim, Port of Rotterdam said in its release. Starting with one round trip per week, the shuttle connection is expected to swiftly expand to two round trips per week. The train calls on each of Rotterdam’s major terminals. After being loaded in Rotterdam on Thursday, the shuttle departs from the sea port on Friday and arrives/departs in Ottmarsheim on Saturday. The train is back at Maasvlakte for unloading on Sunday morning. The shuttle service is offered as a complement to the two existing container rail services between Rotterdam and Strasbourg.