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The 'Med Star' is remaining at the centre of legal disputes in Gibraltar following its arrest in Dec 2023 and the court-ordered sale in April 2024. However some creditors have now been paid from the proceeds of the sale. The Supreme Court has awarded just over £130,000 to MH Bland for unpaid maritime services, including towage, pilotage and maintenance. The fees will be paid from the proceeds of the sale of ship. The funds are currently held by the Admiralty Marshal. The court rejected an additional claim of just over £155,000 for port dues, citing insufficient evidence of a legal assignment from the Gibraltar Port Authority. A separate application for these funds can anyway be made. The ship was previously the subject of a claim by GibDock in 2023, which led to its arrest and subsequent sale in 2024. The crew have also pursued claims against its former owners, adding further complexity to the case. With competing creditors seeking a share of the ship’s proceeds, including the Moroccan Bank who provided a mortgage to its previous owners, a further judgement is expected to determine the final distribution of funds. The vessel is now owned by the Greek company, European Management Maritime. Report with photo: https://www.gbc.gi/news/legal-battles-over-mv-med-star-continue-gibraltar-court-rules-maritime-claims

On Feb 13 at 1.30 p.m,. the 'Waesche' offloaded approximately 37,256 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated value of more than $275 million, at 10th Ave Marine Terminal in San Diego. The offload was a result of 11 separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions or events off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South America by the Coast Guard Cutter from December 2024 through to February. Report with photo: https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/4064928/media-advisory-coast-guard-to-offload-more-than-275-million-of-cocaine-in-san-d/

Russia has sent a cargo of Ural oil to Cuba on the 'Akademik Gubkin', which is on the list of ships owned by Moscow companies under US sanctions, in a challenge by the Kremlin and Havana to Washington. The tanker loaded 100,000 tons of crude oil at the Baltic port of Ust-Luga on Jan 29, 2025. It then set off for Matanzas, where it is due to arrive at a supertanker base on Feb 19. The AIS does not show a destination port, something quite common for fuel shipments from Russia to Cuba. The 'Akademik Gubkin' is the first of the Russian state-owned ships on the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department, in the section corresponding to Rosnefteflot, a subsidiary of the Rosneft firm. The US Government had imposed sanctions against Russian oil, covering more than 150 entities and individuals, including the main producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, insurance companies, transporters, 183 tankers and dozens of traders and senior energy officials. This, with the aim of affecting the main supply of resources for the invasion of Ukraine. The sanctions put at risk around 1.5 billion barrels per day of Russia's crude oil flows from its Pacific and Arctic ports. At the start of 2025, Havana's ambassador to Russia, Julio Antonio Garmendía, assured that Moscow would sign a contract with the Cuban regime for the granting of a credit of 60 million dollars for the purchase of fuel from the Eurasian nation. To date it is unknown whether the agreement was made effective. ·

Greenpeace has painted “RISK” on the side of the 'Prosperiy' in the Kattegat to draw attention to the huge environmental risk that all the old Russian shadow tankers pose to nature and the marine environment. The tanker is one of the many hundreds of aging tankers in the so-called shadow fleet, which helps finance Putin’s war against Ukraine by transporting Russian oil. Its legal owner is unknown. and the ship was subject to US sanctions on Jan 10, 2025, but it is not on the EU’s sanctions list. “We have seen that it has an effect when these oil tankers are placed on the EU’s sanctions list. In the short term, it is the most effective tool we have right now to eliminate this specific threat to our marine nature. The EU will need to get many more oil tankers on the sanctions list now, and ensure a mechanism that more effectively and automatically expands the list if new shadow tankers are launched,” says Greenpeace campaign manager Sune Scheller. According to Greenpeace, the EU has so far only placed 79 vessels on the sanctions list in connection with Russia’s illegal war - 52 of which are oil tankers. Greenpeace has previously identified 192 crude oil tankers as belonging to the shadow fleet. According to data from the research firm Windward, the shadow fleet numbers more than 1,200 tankers, of which more than 1,000 are sanctioned and are on average 21 years old – or about eight years older than the global average age of tankers, increasing the risk of a major environmental disaster. The EU is discussing the possibility of intercepting tankers from the so-called shadow fleet that leave the Baltic Sea and sail through the Baltic Sea loaded with Russian oil. Dozens of tankers from the shadow fleet sail through Danish waters loaded with Russian oil every month. Denmark is among the Baltic Sea countries that will take tougher measures to stop the extensive traffic of older tankers that transport oil through the Baltic Sea and Danish waters. The plans discussed in the EU could risk violating the rules for freedom of navigation set out in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Last week, the Danish Maritime Authority announced that it would begin carrying out port state controls on high-risk tankers anchoring off Skagen. Ships with safety flaws or lacking documentation and insurance risk being detained. Report with photo: https://www.maritimedanmark.dk/greenpeace-i-ny-aktion-mod-russisk-olietransport

On Feb 12, 2025, the medical evacuation of a South Korean crew member of the 'Sao Unioson' became necessary off Khanh Hoa. At 10:30 a.m. the Vietnam Maritime Search and RCC eceived an emergency call from the ship, stating sailor was suffering from a life-threatening acute appendicitis. The Center immediately dispatched the 'SAR 273' with a medical team from Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa province) on board, which examined the patient and administered first aid. However, Park Yechan's condition quickly deteriorated, with severe abdominal pain and a high risk of peritonitis. It was therefore decided to evacuate him to the mainland for urgent treatment. On Feb 13 at 02:30 a.m. the 'SAR 273' docked at Regional Centre IV Port in Nha Trang, where the patient was transferred to hospital for appropriate medical treatment. Report with photo: https://lecourrier.vn/evacuation-medicale-dun-marin-sud-coreen-au-large-de-khanh-hoa/1277500.html