News

The Maldives Customs Service intercepted more than 8,000 cartons of cigarettes illegally shipped into the country aboard the 'Jawks Javaahiru' on Oct 25, 2024, which is operated by the Hawks Private Ltd., one of the nation’s leading fuel importers and distributors. Under a court order, authorities subsequently searched the Hawks Boatyard on suspicion that more cigarette cartons may be stored there. Approximately 1,695 million cigarette sticks of Manchester brand have been found during the search on the boatyard, in the accommodation block and workshop by the customs service. The cigarettes were brought in aboard the 'Hawks Javaahiru' and taken to Thilafushi on a local boat, whichi is owned by the company and was unloaded after regular business hours. The company management was not involved in the smuggling operation. It was done by some employees in connection with some foreigners,. The management only learned of this when police also came with a court order to search the premises, Hawks was cooperating with authorities and would conduct an internal investigatio and has suspended the employees implicated in the attempted cigarette smuggling incident. Report with photos https://edition.mv/sports/37060

On Nov 6, the 'Salvamar Spica' has rescued 15 migrants from a boat, which had been located by a merchant vessel about 20 nautical miles south of Faro Sabinal. The castaways were transferred to Almeria. The 'Salvamar Gienah' has transferred 21 people to Motril from a boat which was previously located by the Guardia Civil south of Almuñécar. On the morning, the 'Salvamar Mizar' was mobilized to a cyuco which was located ten nautical miles south of El Hierro with 55 people on board. T'he migrants were accompanied to the port of La Restinga. The 'Guardamar Polimnia' has rescued 68 people from a rubber boat 42 nautical miles east of Arrecife. Report with photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1854147707532718127

In the largest commercial operation of its kind in the history of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah Port has received 28 state-of-the-art Liebherr cranes to start the expansion of the container terminals. The latter was decided through a MoU signed with National Container Terminal on the day the port was officially inaugurated in the presence of the Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman last February. The new cranes include 20 gantry cranes and 8 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, which are the largest of their kind, with an outreach of 70 m (25 rows) and a safe working load of 65 t. The cranes that were supplied in this deal will join their operational counterparts in the port. They are the largest cranes exported by Liebherr and can serve mega container ships easily and seamlessly.

ICTSI subsidiary ICTSI Americas BV has acquired 100% of the shares of Libra Terminal Rio S.A. (Libra Rio) to run the Terminal de Contêineres 1 (T1Rio) container terminal in the Port of Rio, Brazil. Libra Rio holds the concession rights to operate, manage and develop T1Rio and was acquired by ICTSI from Boreal Empreendimentos e Participações SA. The deal to take over the port container terminal concession was disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange, reported Manila Standard. ICTSI said: “The parties will work to sign a share purchase agreement in due course.” Concession until 2048

The US Coast Guard medevaced an ailing woman from the 'Grand Princess' 70 miles off Oahu on Nov 5, 2024. Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu watchstanders received a phone call on Nov 4 at 6 p.m. from the cruise ship, requesting a medevac for the 29-year-old woman who was experiencing symptoms of appendicitis, while the ship was sailing approximately 570 nautical miles northeast of Kauai. Watchstanders consulted with the duty flight surgeon, who recommended a medevac. On Nov 5 at 6:17 p.m. an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point rendezvoused with the 'Grand Princess' about 70 nautical miles east of Kaneohe, Hawaii. The helicopter crew hoisted the woman and transported her to The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. The patient was in stable condition. Report with video: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/3958726/coast-guard-medevacs-ailing-woman-from-cruise-ship-70-miles-off-oahu/

On Nov 6, the 'Salvamar Spica' has rescued 15 migrants from a boat, which had been located by a merchant vessel about 20 nautical miles south of Faro Sabinal. The castaways were transferred to Almeria. The 'Salvamar Gienah' has transferred 21 people to Motril from a boat which was previously located by the Guardia Civil south of Almuñécar. On the morning, the 'Salvamar Mizar' was mobilized to a cyuco which was located ten nautical miles south of El Hierro with 55 people on board. T'he migrants were accompanied to the port of La Restinga. The 'Guardamar Polimnia' has rescued 68 people from a rubber boat 42 nautical miles east of Arrecife. Report with photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1854147707532718127

NAMPORT’s new container terminal will be officially inaugurated on 2 August, and normal operations are expected to start on it on 24 August. The new terminal, constructed at a cost of N$4 billion, is expected to increase container handling capacity from the current 355 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to up to 1 005 000 TEUs. Firstly, there will be a shutdown on 17 August of container operations in the port to start relocations to the new terminal. The equipment to be relocated include rubber-tired gantries and mobile harbour cranes, while reach stackers, haulers and forklifts will move the containers.

The 300-hectare shipyard of Hanjin Philippines may be taken over by several shipping companies that would transform it into a major global port, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said in a chance interview recently. He said the shipyard could be a sprawling multipurpose mixed-use port facility that would be jointly operated by several players. This, he said, is one of the proposals received by Hanjin creditors for the development of the shipyard after Hanjin Philippines declared bankruptcy early this year. “It’s a good masterplan that has been proposed and it is targeted to be implemented this year,” Lopez said. He declined to name the companies but hinted that these include foreign players. Another source said creditors are in negotiations with an American and a Japanese company. Officially, Hanjin has fully shut down just this month, ending the last of its remaining maintenance operations, sources said. As of this writing, the creditors have not made any official announcement yet regarding the final plans for the shipyard.

The 'Hermanos Guerrero' suffered a rudder failure two nautical miles west of Punta Baños on Nov 6, 2024, at around 9.30 a.mn. UTC (Lat. 36.7100 Lng. -2.8883) and requested towing assistance with four crew members on board. The CCS Almería of Salvamento Marítimo mobilized the SAR boat 'Salvamar Spica' (MMSI: 225987262) from Almería, which took the ship in tow and safely pulled it to Almerimar at around 10.45 a.m.

On Nov 6, the 'Salvamar Spica' has rescued 15 migrants from a boat, which had been located by a merchant vessel about 20 nautical miles south of Faro Sabinal. The castaways were transferred to Almeria. The 'Salvamar Gienah' has transferred 21 people to Motril from a boat which was previously located by the Guardia Civil south of Almuñécar. On the morning, the 'Salvamar Mizar' was mobilized to a cyuco which was located ten nautical miles south of El Hierro with 55 people on board. T'he migrants were accompanied to the port of La Restinga. The 'Guardamar Polimnia' has rescued 68 people from a rubber boat 42 nautical miles east of Arrecife. Report with photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1854147707532718127

With further development to its existing solid European products, Ocean Network Express (ONE) has announced the launch of a new direct service, the Indian Ocean Service 3 (IO3), which covers South East India, Mediterranean, and North Europe. The new product will offer new port coverage and boost reliability to a wider range of direct port call options to ONE’s valued customers. It will also further expand ONE’s already comprehensive service offerings and allow its clients to enjoy greater choice while bringing efficiency and additional values to the supply chain. The first sailing of the loop is now expected to start from 26th October 2019. IO3: Indian Ocean Service 3 Rotation: Visakhapatnam – Krishnapatnam – Chennai – Tuticorin – Colombo – Cochin – Damietta – Piraeus – Rotterdam – London Gateway – Hamburg – Antwerp – Le Havre – Damietta – Jeddah – Colombo – Visakhapatnam (Fixed day weekly service, 63-day rotation)

APM Terminals has become the first Peruvian port to introduce a customer platform that logs, streamlines and coordinate General Cargo operations in the port of Callao. During the pilot phase, the platform, which was developed together with maritime and customs agents, enabled users to complete transactions 67% faster and operations were completed 12% faster. APM Terminals Callao invested nearly USD 1 million in the implementation of MOST, a new state-of-the-art platform that can be used by maritime agents, customs agencies and carriers, among others. MOST can be used to register cargo and view real-time information, make online payments and generate authorizations for the loading and unloading of all types of General Cargo, from anywhere, anytime. The platform is a clear milestone in the efficient management of port logistics using world-class technology.