The 'Meghna Princess', which ran aground in the Koporskaya Bay of the Gulf of Finland pn Dec 29, 2024, has been refloated on March 7. The salvage vessels MFASS "Baltika", MFASS "Spasatel Karev", SO "Soyuz", RVC "Vodolaz Litvin", a hydrographic group, a diving group, and rescuers of the ASP of the Baltic branch of the Marine Rescue Service participated in the operation. During the salvage operation, 2.300 tons of the cargo of 32,600 tons of mineral fertilizers were unloaded. Soil was washed uut under the vessel. The ship, accompanied by the emergency tug "Spasatel Karev", was now awaiting a diving inspection at an anchorage off Primorsk. The bulk carrer will be handed over to the shipowner upon completion of its inspection and leak testing. No oil spill was detected in the area. Reports with photos: https://ieport.ru/news/684659-morspassluzhba-v-finskom-zalive-snyala-s-meli-balker-meghna-princess.html https://mr-7.ru/articles/2025/03/07/zastriavshee-v-finskom-zalive-sudno-megan-printsess-sniali-s-meli-spustia-dva-mesiatsa-news
News
IVAR AASEN
The 'Ivar Aasen', serving on the route between Solholmen and Mordalsvågen, ran aground on a reef on the late evening of March 5. 2026. The ship was breached, and 1,5 tons oil leaked out. The operator Fjord 1 announced that the connectionwas was suspended with the "Ivar Aasen" blocking the quay at Solholmen. The company was waiting for permits before the ship could be moved, to be able to deploy a reserve vessel. The route was served again on March 6 at 3.35 p.m.
CONGA
During the eastbound transit of the Kiel Canal on March 6, 2025, the 'Conga“ suffered engine trouble at 3.30 a.m at the Rade switch. Already short time after entering the waterway on March 5 at 4.20 p.m.,, the ship had suffered engine problems and berthed in Brunsbüttel at 4.40 p.m. It resumed the transit at 7.30 p.m. After the second failure, the tug ' Stein' (IMO: 9241243) was deployed from Kiel and took the tanker in tow along with the tug ' Wulf 4' (IMO: 9639737). The tanker was berthed in the North port of Kiel at 10 a.m. for repairs of the main engine which had been re-started by the crew in the meantime. It had already failed in Brunsbüttel. The authorities issued a sailing ban, and the tanker was subjected to a PSC. The ship was coming from Misurata, where it had delivered cargo of oil from the Russian port Primorsk, where it had sailed on Jan 26. There is no official information about a Russian loading port, the ship was underway for orders. Therefore, the tanker is currently not on the list of 153 ships sanctioned by the EU. However, the "Conga" had already attracted attention in 2024 in connection with oil transports from Russia. On Aug 14,, there was an STS of diesel oil from the Black Sea to the tanker "Kizomba" off Sicily. The 'Conga' left Kiel again on March 8, bound to Misurata with an ETA as of March 12. Report with photo: https://www.kn-online.de/lokales/kiel/russische-schattenflotte-tanker-conga-havariert-im-nord-ostsee-kanal-IDOY2Q56SVHZHLY2IWHUCVN7VQ.html
SEAJEWEL
The Coast Guard is analyzing the black box of the 'Seajewel', which had suffered an attack while it was unloading its cargo of crude oil at the Sarpom buoys near Savona. The aim of the Genoa DDA is to verify whether the tracker was turned off during the voyage from the oil port of Arzew to Italy. The prosecutor Nicola Piacente and the prosecutor Monica Abbatecola, who have opened an investigation for shipwreck with terrorist purposes, have delegated Digos and the Coast Guard to investigate in detail to discover not only the perpetrators but also the motive for the attack. For this reason, chemical analyses were ordered on the oil and the ship's route, in order to verify any anomalies that could support the hypothesis of a connection between the tanker and the Russian shadow fleet, that traffics Russian oil by triangulating Russian ports with non-European ports or by refueling at sorting centers that operate covertly to sell Russian oil that is under embargo and therefore not marketable in Europe. Among the maneuvers and suspicious transfers cited by activists, one concerns the oil tanker 'Sealeo', which in August, before arriving at the port of Augusta, turned off its tracker for 84 hours. The ship was coming from the Russian port of Novorossiysk and the owner of the 'Sealeo' is Thenamaris, the same as the 'Seajewel' and the 'Seacharm', which suffered an attack in mid-January off the coast of Turkey. Two experts have been appointed by the Genoa Public Prosecutor's Office, Federico Canfarini and the naval engineer Alfredo Lo Noce, to personally verify the hull of the ship, which left Savona on Feb 21 and arrived near Athens on March 26, and has not yet entered the Pureo dock for repairs. As of March 6, it was anchored in pos. 37° 27' N 023° 56' E. The first examination of the images taken by divers showed that the innermost hull of the tanker was dented by the explosion. The attack could have caused serious environmental damage if a second device had exploded together with the first instead of detaching and exploding on the seabed.
LOCH RANZA
The 'Loch Ranza', 206 gt (IMO: 8519887), serving on the route between Tayinloan and Gigha, suffered a technical issue on the morning of March 7, which was addressed in the port of Tayinloan. As a consequence, the scheduled departure from Tayinloan at 09:00 was delayed. It finally departed at 09:20 a.m., 20 minutes late.