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 CROSS 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.
News
MSC SINFONIA
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
Chittagong Shipbreakers
Two workers were killed and three others injured after a cable attached to a ship collapsed on them at a shipbreaking yard at Sitakunda in Bangladesh on Saturday evening. The accident happened at the Ziri Subedar shipbreaking yard and is the latest in a series of deaths at Bangladeshi yards this year. On July 31, three workers died after inhaling toxic fumes from a gas leak while dismantling a tanker in the same shipbreaking yard.
Pipavav
The implementation of a range of simple measures to streamline shift changes at APM Terminals Pipavav has reduced vessel idle times, added capacity and reduced impact on crane moves per hour due to shift change by around 16%. At the same time, it has also improved trailer driver and crane operator safety. The Pipavav team has introduced clearly marked parking bays for terminal trailers, which provide a safe distance between each trailer. This provides drivers with a safe area to conduct pre-operation checks and protects them from other vehicles when exiting their trailers.
MONA RIGOLET
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 CROSS 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.
BLUE STAR CHIOS
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.
Colombo
The Sri Lankan government on Friday said it has begun a massive development project to further modernize its ports across the country in order to transform Sri Lanka into a maritime hub in the region. The government information department said in a statement that under this mega development project, the Port of Colombo will continue to develop its facilities for container handling by continuous addition of capacity, advanced handling and processing technology. “The development of the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Port of Colombo will be followed by the West Container Terminal (WCT 1 and 2) ahead of demand. The ECT and the South Asia Gateway Terminal will be expanded to create an ultra large container terminal, expanding the total capacity to 35 million TEUs in the coming years,” Sirimevan Ranasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Shipping and Western Development said. Last year, the Port of Colombo handled a record breaking seven million TEUs(twenty-foot equivalent units).
Sarroch
Saras announces that from 1st September 2019 it will starts direct supply of shipping fuels (bunkering) at specific dedicated areas of the ports of Sarroch and Cagliari. Saras will be able to offer the complete range of marine fuels: in addition to MDO (marine diesel oil) and traditional fuel oils, in fact, it will be supplied the new ecological fuel oil with a very low sulfur content (max 0.5% as per the latest specifications IMO 2020). All products are produced locally at the Sarlux refinery. The service is offered to meet the needs of ships arriving and departing from the above mentioned ports as well as to offer further supply options to the several ships that pass along the Sicilian Channel and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Refueling will be offered with a modern ship, the “M/T Atlantic”, equipped with all the most advanced safety tools and with a specifically trained crew, in order to offer the maximum guarantees to operate in full respect of the environment.
ABEILLE NORMANDIE
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.
ISLE OF CUMBRAE
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.
Aqaba
The Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT) is the only container port in Jordan and the primary trade gateway for the Jordanian market, bordering five countries and three continents. The port handles capacities of 1.2 million TEUs and 1km of berthing. Under a joint Development Agreement between APM Terminals and the Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC), BAM International, a subsidiary of the European BAM Group, built the container terminal in 2013 and the Aqaba New Port in 2014. APM Terminals has invested USD 284 million in developing the terminal’s infrastructure and expanding its capacity.
Saint Nazaire
Celebrity Cruises will offer new and longer European voyages onboard the new Celebrity Apex when she launches in 2020. Passengers onboard the Edge Class ship will visit Greece, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Spain and more when she launches next year.