News

On Jan 24, 2025, Salvamento Marítimo has assisted the 'CMA CGM Sinnamary', which had suffered engine problems amid stormy weather at the southern end of the Vigo Estuary and requested help. The tugs ‘María Pita’, ‘Doctor Pintado’ and ‘Helechosa’ were deployed to the ship, which was situated between the southern island of Cíes and Monteferro. The vessels left the port a few minutes before 10:30 a.m. and reached the ship at around 11:00 a.m. The container ship had since regained a speed of 8.3 knots, so it did not need to be towed and entered the estuary escorted by the three ships. It sailed again on Jan 25, next headed to Rotterdam. Report with photo: https://www.vigoe.es/vigo/maritima/operativo-de-salvamento-maritimo-en-la-ria-por-un-portacontenedores-con-problemas-en-el-motor/

The 'Medstraum' was taken out of service in Stavnager after its battery capacity dropped to 84 percent on Jan 2, 2025. Now a new electric vessel is on the way. Prior to the phase-out, the operator Fjord1 experienced that the battery was unable to store enough energy. This led to more frequent charging and delays in the route service. This has created a mood of rebellion on Vassøy and the other city islands.

The Mexican government is upgrading the Port of Manzanillo, one of the country’s main Pacific Ocean ports, with four new terminals. The terminals will include a specialized container facility with capacity to handle 1.75 million TEUs per year, another for agricultural bulk, one more for mineral bulk and one specialized for hydrocarbons.

Middle East-India-Africa Express (MIAX) to start operations in October 2019 Hapag-Lloyd is expanding its African liner services and will offer its MIAX (Middle East-India-Africa Express) service starting in October 2019. It will include direct connections between the Arabian Gulf, India, Colombo (Sri Lanka), La Réunion, South Africa and West Africa.

On Jan 24, 2025, the authorities of the port of Douala confirmed the start of operations to unload the 30,000 tons of diesel aboard the 'Serenade' offered to Bangui by Moscow. While he was visiting Moscow, the president of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera discussed with his Russian counterpart Putin, the issue of the diesel that the latter ordered to be transported to the Central African Republic, but which had remained blocked for some time in Cameroon.

On the late evening of Jan 24, 2025, the 'Aspö 3' encountered problems with one of the engines and had to be taken out of traffic on the route between Karlskrona and Aspö for investigations and repairs. After troubleshooting, the ship returned to service on Jan 25.

US-based McDermott International has received a contract to provide front-end engineering design (FEED) services for the Sohar LNG Bunkering Project in Oman. The project has an aim of establishing Oman as a regional LNG bunkering hub capable of supplying LNG as a fuel to marine vessels. Under the deal, awarded by Total Oman E&P Development B.V. in partnership with Oman Oil Company S.O.A.C., the scope of work during the FEED phase includes fully defining the onshore mid-scale LNG facilities and preparing a competitive tender for the engineering, procurement, supply, construction and commissioning phase.

Maiden call by Marella Cruises in Kiel. In the early Tuesday morning (16th July) the cruise ship Marella Explorer (see also CruiseMapper) berthed in the port of Kiel with 2,000 mostly anglo-phone passengers on-board. The vessel follows an itinerary of 14 days leading it all across the Baltic Sea. It started in Newcastle on 13th July and will conclude its cruise in the same port on 27th July.

The 'PEtter Dass', serving on the route Mekjarvik-Kvitsøybuen, suffered a technical failure on the afternoon of Jan 24, 2025, which also meant that several people have not been able to get home to Kvitsøy during weekend, but have had to find other options for accommodation. Only on Jan 26 the islanders could return home shortly before 9 a.m.

On Jan 25, 2025, the wreck of the 'Amnah' has been removed from the dock in Marport, Istanbul, about one month after it sank during cargo operations. The ship, which was backed up with safety precautions, was tied to dock number 5 and the necessary safety precautions were taken. After the removal of the ship, seabed and dock bottom checks were carried out. Once the examinations have been completed, dock number 4, where mega container ships dock, will be opened to maritime traffic. Reports with photos: https://turkdeniz.com/amnah-isimli-konteyner-gemisi-marporttaki-rihtimdan-kurtarildi https://www.denizhaber.com/marportta-batan-amnah-gemisi-guvenli-sekilde-cikarildi/123605

Norwegian shipping and tank terminal company Odfjell SE has finalized the sale of its stake in Odfjell Terminals Jiangyin (OTJ), China. The indirect 55% equity interest in OTJ has been sold by Odfjell Terminals Asia Holding to Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) for a price of about USD 46 million.

All new ships for UK waters ordered from 2025 should be designed with zero-emission capable technologies, according to ambitious plans set out today by maritime minister Nusrat Ghani to cut pollution from the country’s maritime sector. The commitment is set out in the Clean Maritime Plan published today. The government is also looking at ways to incentivise the transition to zero-emission shipping and will consult on this next year. The plan also includes a £1m competition to find innovative ways to reduce maritime emissions and is published alongside a call for evidence to reduce emissions on UK waterways and domestic vessels.