News

On the evening of Nov 14, the Port Authority of Myrina was informed that the 'Prevelis', which had set sail with 55 passengers on board en route to the port of Lavrio, suffered a breakdown of the vehicle ramp. The ship returned to the port of Myrina, where it was inspected by the Local Ship Inspection Unit (TKEP). The Myrina Port Authority initially prohibited the sailing of ferry PREVELIS until the damage was repaired. Upon presentation of the relevant certificate, the ship sailed for the port of Lavrio

The 'Dali' has arrived at the Fuzhou Port on Nov 13 after a nearly two-month journey from Norfolk, Virginia. The vessel had already undergone some repairs and is to be repaired more extensively at the Fujian Huadong Shipyard in the Luoyuan Bay Port Area. The repair plans are including a complete replacement of the bow. It was challenging to bring the vessel properly into the port due to the extensive damage. The vessel has no functioning anchors, and much of the machinery, including the thrusters, was damaged in the accident. Meanwhile, the litigation against the vessel's owner and operator was still ongoing and expected to extend to mid-2026. The owner, Grace Ocean, and the operator, Synergy Marine, have invoked an 1800s admiralty law to limit their liabilities to $44 million, whereas authorities state that the admiralty law in question is obsolete and are seeking the remuneration of all damages incurred.

Beached at Aliaga 13.11.24

Beached at Alang 14.11.24

The New Zealand Defence Force is closing in on an operation to remove the fuel from the 'Manawanui'. The service has revised its defueling plan and secured approval from the Samoan authorities to proceed, and was in final talks with a commercial salvor. Once the fuel removal contract has been finalized, the salvor will be mobilizing equipment and personnel to Samoa to remove the fuel and other pollutants from the ship. The Royal New Zealand Navy has rotated in a new group of personnel on the ground in Samoa to monitor the wreck and assist with the operation. The vessel's main fuel tanks have remained intact, and the service was keeping up daily drone surveillance of the site. After NZDF conducted a site visit on Nov 5 with the salvor and Samoan authorities, the plans for extracting the fuel from Manawanui's tanks were adjusted and finalized. The NZDF convened a formal Court of Inquiry on the sinking, and on Nov 13, the service announced that it had received the court's interim factfinding report. In a statement, Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding said the court had made good progress and was on track with interviews and evidence gathering. The interim report will be analyzed by a government legal team, and some of its details will be released to the public later in November. The final report, which will include the court's conclusions, is expected by the end of Feb 2025.

The 'Barøy' suffered a fire while she was docked at Bognes in Hamarøy municipality on the foremidday of Nov 14, 2024. The emergency services have rushed to the scene, and the fire service got it under control.There must have been an explosion in a charging unit in a board. There was no fire in the battery pack. The power has been cut, so there was no danger of deterioration, but there is a lot of smoke. The fire brigade has started ventilation. There qwre no passengers on board. One person may have inhaled some smoke, and was checked by health personnel. All the crew members who were on board have been accounted for. The police was investigating at the scene.

On Nov 7, 2024, the ‚Ding Heng 27’, with 18 crew members on board and carrying 800 tons of petrol, was in danger of running aground on the PNG side of the Great Berrier Reef off Kupiano, after it suffered an engine failure. The PNG authorities quickly responded, as darkness was falling and currents and winds were pushing the tanker towards the reef. The RMC’s marine team along with the crew made up 20 minor alterations to the ship’s trim and heading to ensure it kept off the reef. The deployment of a small improvised drogue with the ship’s crane altered the heading along with the bow thruster. This action brought the drift direction from 320 degrees down to the desired clearance bearing of 275 degrees over the ground. The ship was finally towed into Port Moresby by the tug ‘Svitzer Tusker’ on Nov 11. Report with photo: https://www.postcourier.com.pg/authorities-prevent-environmental-disaster/

On Nov 13, 2024, the barge 'Raya Baru', loaded with a cargo of split stones, which was towed by the 'Luis Baru', has run aground in the southern waters of Kangean Island, under the jurisdiction of UPP Sapeken, Sumenep Regency. The ships had departed from the Private Terminal of PT. Bukit Sunur Wijaya in Banten en route to Tanjung Wangi Port, Banyuwangi, on Nov 1. On Nov 12 at around 4 p.m. LT, approximately eight miles from Kemirian Island near Kangean Island, the barge started tilting to port side at an angle of around 10°. It was suspected that there was a leak in the left hull, which caused the tilt to worsen, posing a risk of the barge capsizing. To prevent further potential danger, the captain of the tug decided to intentionally ground the barge in the waters near Kangean Island on Nov 13 at 5 p.m. LT. As of No 14, the barge remainedat the location, awaiting the arrival of diving technicians from Surabaya to conduct a further inspection of the leak.

Beached at Alang 13.11.24 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10160691417815036&set=gm.10163611029303943&idorvanity=6884293942

Beached at Aliaga 14.11.24

After several weeks with no ferries crossing the Northumberland Strait between P.E.I. and Nova Scotia,, the 'Confederation'could return to service on Dec 6, the company said on Nov 13, provided that the repairs to the vesse after the allision with the wharf in Wood Islands, P.E.I., on Sep. 15, leaving a hole in one of its bow visors, are completed on schedule. The company had been exploring bringing back the ferry without its bow visor, but a risk assessment had determined that scenario created a safety risk of high consequence because this piece of equipment renders the vehicle decks watertight. The shipyard in Pictou expected to repair the bow visor by Dec. 3, Assuming this occurs, the 'Confederation' will return to service Dec. 6. If the remaining work is completed earlier than Dec. 3, the ship will return to service as soon as safely possible to do so and then operate four round trips daily until the end of the sailing season on Dec. 20.

Taiwan has rejected allegations by China on Nov. 13, that it turned down requests by the “Yu Zhou Qi Hang” to seek shelter in Keelung Port before the typhoon hit. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) alleged the crew had asked to return to Keelung before Typhoon Kong-rey arrived, but Taiwan’s Maritime and Port Bureau replied they had made no such request, The crew wanted to leave Keelung before the typhoon and decided on their direction by themselves, the bureau said. Since the ship was carrying at least 290 tons of oil products, efforts were launched to prevent an oil spill from affecting the New Taipei coastline. However, since Nov. 2, several attempts at pumping out the oil were abandoned due to rough weather. The Ministry of Transportation wanted a new try to go ahead on Nov. 14, with the task to be completed within two weeks. The necessary equipment has been affixed to the “Yu Zhou Qi Hang,” but the approach of another typhoon, Usagi, might complicate the work. The Central Weather Administration was expected to issue sea warnings for the storm early on Nov 14, with land warnings likely to follow later in the day at the earliest.

A 34-year-old man serving a prison sentence for the hijacking of the 'FWN Rapide', and subsequent hostage-taking of the crew, was arrested again on Nov 12, 2024. He will stand trial again, this time for the hijacking of the German m/v 'BBC Caribbean', now sailing as 'Kimberly', in the Gulf of Guinea in 2017. The convicted man's DNA profile was found to match a DNA trace from Germany. This was a trace on a cigarette butt found on board the freighter. The BBC Caribbean was attacked in international waters on Feb 5, 2017, by pirates armed with AK47 Kalashnikovs. During the hijacking, eight crew members were overpowered and held for weeks in Nigeria under threat of violence. Three crew members had managed to hide on board and were not discovered by the pirates. With a new crew, they sailed the 'BBC Caribbean' to the port of Las Palmas. There, among other things, abandoned cartridge cases of 9mm bullets, 7 cigarette butts, fingerprints and DNA traces were secured. The hostage crew members were taken under threat of automatic firearms in a wooden skiff to the mainland of Nigeria. According to statements from the victims, the pirates celebrated their success on the way with alcohol, pills and marijuana, repeatedly shooting into the air. The pirates were met with jubilation and more shots in the air at a makeshift shelter further in the Niger Delta. The investigation into the hijacking of the 'FWN Rapide', which was attacked on the high seas en route to Nigeria, led to the arrest of the leader of the pirates in South Africa in 2018. In the criminal proceedings that followed his extradition to the Netherlands, the man was sentenced to a prison term of eight years and six months by the Rotterdam District Court in 2022. There was no appeal. In consultation with the German authorities, the Netherlands has made an additional request to South Africa to also prosecute the man for the hostage-taking of the crew of the' BBC Caribbean' and the hijacking of the ship. Based on the German, translated investigation file, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) has compiled a case file for the Rotterdam District Court. The suspect arrested this week by detectives from the National Expertise and Operations Unit (LX) was remanded in custody for two weeks by the examining magistrate in the new criminal case on Nov 14.

The 'Ongiara' was pulled from service on Nov 11, 2024, due to a minor issue, which was not expected to take long to fix. While there was no timeline for how long the city expected the repairs wopuld take, the Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said it should be operational in a matter of days. On Nov 12, work vans sat on its deck as mechanics worked to fix the mechanical issue.

On Nov 14, the 'Costa Diadema' requested the medical evacuation of a passenger. The ship was sailing south of Motril with winds of more than 30 knots. The SAR boat 'Salvarmar Spica' was tasked to take the patient off. The ships rendezvoused near Roquetas, where the boat went alingside on the port side, in the lee of the cruise ship. The passenger was disembarked along with a doctor and a nurse, and they were transferred to Almería.

Beached at Aliaga 11/2024

arrived Bhavnagar Anchorage 14.11.24

The Petersburg volunteer firefighters put out a blaze on the US flagged fishing vessel 'Carole B' in the community’s South Harbor on Nov 13, 2024, at around 7:00 p.m. Nobody was aboard the vessel when it caught fire, and no one was hurt in the response. At around 5:30 p.m., a local volunteer EMT who was passing through the area noticed smoke and flames erupting from the vessel’s galley. They called the police, who summoned two fire engines and 15 firefighters, as well as an ambulance and a PVFD work truck. Once on the scene, the crew moved an adjacent ship away. Altogether, it took them about an hour and a half to completely extinguish the fire. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, while it was suspected that it was started by a miniature heater onboard. The extent of the damage inside the vessel was currently unknown, but there was extensive smoke damage.

The UK MAIB has issued an investigation report on the incident of the girting and capsize of the tug 'Biter', while assisting the 'Hebridean Princess' on Feb 24, 2023. At 3.27 p.m., the twin screw tug capsized off Greenock, while attached to the stern of the 'Hebridean Princess', which was making its approach to James Watt Dock. The two crew members of the tug were unable to escape from the vessel and lost their lives. The investigation found that the accident happened because the tug was unable to reverse direction to operate directly astern of the 'Hebridean Princess' before the tug’s weight came onto the towing bridle and, when this happened, the tug’s gob rope did not prevent it from being towed sideways. The investigation also found that the 'Hebridean Princess'’s speed meant the load on the 'Biter'’s towlines was between two and five times greater than at the port’s recommended speed range. Thereafter, given the tug’s rapid capsize, it was unlikely that the tug crew had sufficient time to operate the emergency tow release mechanism. Once the tug was inverted, the open accommodation hatch might have prevented air from being trapped inside the wheelhouse, potentially limiting the crew’s chance of survival. The investigation also found that the master/pilot and pilot/tug information exchanges were incomplete and that the opportunity to correct the pilot’s assumption about Biter’s intended manoeuvre was lost. Further analysis indicated that the training provided had not adequately prepared the pilot for their role and that it was likely the tug master did not fully appreciate the risks associated with the manoeuvre. Full report: https://safety4sea.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/UKMAIB-Biter-HebrideanPrincess-2024_11.pdf

A 34-year-old man serving a prison sentence for the hijacking of the Dutch 'FWN Rapide', and subsequent hostage-taking of the crew, was arrested again on Nov 12, 2024. He will stand trial again, this time for the hijacking of the 'BBC Caribbean', now sailing as 'Kimberly', in the Gulf of Guinea in 2017. The convicted man's DNA profile was found to match a DNA trace from Germany. This was a trace on a cigarette butt found on board the freighter. The BBC Caribbean was attacked in international waters on Feb 5, 2017, by pirates armed with AK47 Kalashnikovs. During the hijacking, eight crew members were overpowered and held for weeks in Nigeria under threat of violence. Three crew members had managed to hide on board and were not discovered by the pirates. With a new crew, they sailed the 'BBC Caribbean' to the port of Las Palmas. There, among other things, abandoned cartridge cases of 9mm bullets, 7 cigarette butts, fingerprints and DNA traces were secured. The hostage crew members were taken under threat of automatic firearms in a wooden skiff to the mainland of Nigeria. According to statements from the victims, the pirates celebrated their success on the way with alcohol, pills and marijuana, repeatedly shooting into the air. The pirates were met with jubilation and more shots in the air at a makeshift shelter further in the Niger Delta. The investigation into the hijacking of the 'FWN Rapide', which was attacked on the high seas en route to Nigeria, led to the arrest of the leader of the pirates in South Africa in 2018. In the criminal proceedings that followed his extradition to the Netherlands, the man was sentenced to a prison term of eight years and six months by the Rotterdam District Court in 2022. There was no appeal. In consultation with the German authorities, the Netherlands has made an additional request to South Africa to also prosecute the man for the hostage-taking of the crew of the' BBC Caribbean' and the hijacking of the ship. Based on the German, translated investigation file, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) has compiled a case file for the Rotterdam District Court. The suspect arrested this week by detectives from the National Expertise and Operations Unit (LX) was remanded in custody for two weeks by the examining magistrate in the new criminal case on Nov 14.