News

On Sep 16, 2024, at about noon, global maritime tracking showed that the 'Akademik Alexander Karpinsky', which is infamous for mapping Antarctica’s banned oil and gas, was hovering at a peninsula in northern Tallinn. An ongoing ban imposed by the European Union since April 17, 2022, however, is thwarting Russian-flagged ships from entering the region’s ports. The implications of the ship’s apparent presence in Tallinn — a location it has been barred from accessing — sent national maritime authorities scrambling. Upon inspection, officials confirmed that the ship was not physically present at the designated location. This apparent discrepancy led to the conclusion that the US-sanctioned ship had employed location spoofing. The ship had engaged in a significant incident of GPS interference, falsely positioning itself within global maritime information systems to appear docked in Tallinn. The ship appeared to have used a “modified AIS”, or even a specialised military variant, which is capable of altering its reported location. This manipulation allowed the ship’s coordinates to be artificially set to a port in Tallinn, while it was actually operating from its St Petersburg home port, about 170 nautical miles away.

On Sep 20, the 'Glen Sannox' has officially started its final run of sea trials on the Clyde, with the ferry’s liquified national gas (LNG) engines being formally tested. This marked a crucial stage to finally getting the twin-funnel passenger car ferry towards entry into service. The ÄGlen Sannox' is to serve on the Arran route between Ardrossan on the mainland and Brodick. It was confirmed by Ferguson Marine shipyard that the duel-fuel powered ferry reached a speed of 10 knots in the Firth of Clyde on Sep 20 in what represented the first major trial of its LNG propulsion system. The key tests had been delayed by a fortnight because the newbuild was taking longer than expected to cool the pipes enough to load fuel. The ferry that was originally to have entered service in 2018. The delivery of the 'Glen Sannox' is scheduled for mid-October now.

The Croatian Captain Marko Bekavac and the First Officer Ali Albokhari of the 'Phoenician M' have been sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment in Turkey after being found guilty of smuggling 137 kg of cocaine on board the vessel. They were arrested along with eight crew members in Oct 2023 and detained in an Ankara prison ahead of their trial, which started in June. Bekavac has a 30-year record at sea with no reported offences. Both Bekavac and Albokhari were sentenced to 30 years each in jail after the cocaine was discovered hidden in the cargo on the coal-laden vessel, which had arrived in the port of Eregli from Columbia. Authorities searched the vessel and found 137 kg of cocaine hidden among the coal. Eight seafarers were acquitted on the same charges as the authorities focused on the responsibility of the captain and his first officer. The ship was detained for 11 days by the UK authorities in May 2023, who inspected the vessel, then named 'Clipper Palma' and found 11 deficiencies across a broad range of categories. The vessel was renamed the next month. Albokhari told the court during the trial that he had reported that the ship did not have sufficient security while it was being loaded in Colombia. He said he had advised the Turkish authorities of this when the vessel arrived in port. It also emerged in court that Bekavac had told the ship’s managers that security should be increased and additional cameras should be added for the Colombian port call. However, his requests were ignored. The Colombian authorities searched the vessel before it sailed and found a small amount of cocaine in the aft peak tank. The ship’s crew comprised 20 seafarers from the Philippines, Finland, Poland, and Russia when it was detained. After arresting the 10 suspects, the authorities released the vessel. The prosecutors were unable to provide any evidence linking the eight crew members to the cocaine, so they were acquitted. However, the state prosecutor said the master and first officer were responsible for managing the vessel. The Croatian government supported the crew during the trial and its ambassador was present at court.

Dozens of passengers and crew members aboard the 'Arcadia' came down sick with a gastrointestinal illness. They reported symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hasn’t yet confirmed it to be norovirus. The ship ship is on a transatlantic round-trip cruise from Southampton, UK, on Sep 3, 2024, to the US. and Canada. The CDC came aboard the ship when in docked in New York on Sep 18 to assess the situation. Upon embarkation all guests were provided with an advisory notice with precautionary health measures for onboard and onshore by P&O Cruises. The cruise line also made announcements to notify passengers and crew of the outbreak.

The Bureau of Customs formally filed multiple complaints against the owners and crew of the 'Tritrust' and 'Mega Ensoleillee' after an illegal transfer of unmarked fuel at the Navotas Fish Port. The total value of the fuel and two fuel tankers amounted to P715,350,000. Violations of the Customs Modernization and Tarff Act, National Internal Revenue Code, and Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law were filed at the Navotas City Prosecutor’s Office on Sep 21, 2024, against nine crew members of the 'Tritrust' and 16 from the 'Mega Ensoleillee', and unnamed owners of the vessels. The accused were caught on Sep 18 after a marking testing conducted by the Enforcement Group-Fuel Marking agents yielded failed results. Unmarked fuel is presumed to be illegally imported. Based on the diesel fuel inventory of the two vessels, the 'Tritrust' contained more or less 320,463 liters while the 'Mega Ensoleillee' had 39,884 liters, according to the BOC-Customs Intelligence and Investigation Services.