Only weeks ahead of the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention (HKC) for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships, an accident during the recycling of the 'Rem', ex 'SK Supreme', has claimed the life of the 20-year-old worker Satur Bhai from Gujarat on May 20, 2025, who was employed as a helper, a typically untrained, underpaid and unprotected position, He fell to his death while dismantling the vessel at plot No. 50. He was reportedly tasked with removing furniture from deck 7 without a safety harness. The tanker was renamed 'Rem' and re-registered to fly the St. Kitts and Nevis flag before being dumped in Alang. The vessek’s beneficial owner is the South Korean SK Shipping, which according to the NGO Shipbreaking Platform,‘intentionally sidestepped’ international safety and environmental norms in order to “obtain the highest profit for the end-of-life asset. In the past five years, at least 10 workers have lost their lives in Alang As of April 2025, it is estimated that, since 2020, at least 94 ships owned by South Korean companies were dismantled on the beaches of Bangladesh and India. In the last two years alone, three serious accidents, which led to deaths and injuries, also allegedly took place on a South Korean vessel.
News
ADALYNN
The 'Adalynn' was in collision with the tanker 'Front Eagle' near the Khor Fakkan Anchorage on June 16, 2025, at 9:14 p.m. UTC. The 'Front Eagle' was loaded and bound for Zhoushan. The unloaded 'Adalynn' had just departed the anchorage. The 'Front Eagle', with 22 crew members from nations in Eastern Europe and Asia on board, was sailing southbound at 13.1 knots and executed a starboard turn, striking the after port quarter of the 'Adalynn', which was proceeding southeast at 4.8 knots towards the Suez Canal. The collision resulted in a hull breach and a massive fire on the 'Adalynn'. The blaze quickly spread and consumed the superstructure of the tanker. The fire also spread onto the deck of the 'Front Eagle'. The crew of the Front Eagle were able to extinguish it quickly, and there were no reports of injuries. On June 17 at 01.51 a.m. UTC, the 'Front Eagle' changed its status to Not Under Command. The Coast Guard of the UAE National Guard evacuated the 24 crew members of the 'Adalynn', using SAR boats. The cause of the incident was not security-related, but thought to have been caused by a navigational error, however, spoofing of GPS signals has made the area more prone to accidents lately. The 'Adalynn' was at 25.330959, 56.823463, though its anchoring status remained unconfirmed. The Ukrainian government has accused the 'Adalynn' of being involved in the export of Russian oil/oil products from the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, as well as using deceptive practices such as disabling its AIS and conducting shady activities in the Kola Bay area in 2023 and 2024. The last laden voyage was from Ust-Luga in Sep 2024. It delivered 855,000 barrels of Urals crude to the Vadinar refinery on the west coast of India the following month. Since then, it has remained off the coast of the UAE and spent several months at the port of Duqm in Oman. The 'Front Eagle' has protection and indemnity cover with Steamship Mutual. The 'Adalynn' does not have cover from any of the 12 clubs that make up the International Group of P&I Clubs. The area of the collision has been designated a high-risk area where shipowners require additional cover from specialist war insurers, which take on responsibility for hull and P&I claims. Reports with photo and video: https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/3-ships-allegedly-on-fire-near-strait-of-hormuz-in-gulf-of-oman-amid-israel-iran-tensions-picture-emerges https://gcaptain.com/navigation-error-suspected-in-vlcc-suezmax-crash-off-fujairah-amid-rising-gulf-tensions/
CHOKYUMARU NO.68
New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has issued a report regarding the grounding of the 'Chokyo Maru No. 68' on May 16, 2024, at 3-.40 a.m. due to the route not being properly appraised, planned, documented, or resourced before departure. The longliner was inbound to the Auckland pilot boarding area when it grounded on rocks near The Noises island group at the northern end of Motuhoropapa Island. There were 27 crew members on board; nobody was injured and there was no pollution. The vessel suffered a small hole at the bow, heavy scraping of the hull paint and minor damage to the propeller. It was refloated later the same day two Thomson tugs and towed to an Auckland port facility. The vessel’s route from Yaizu, Japan to Auckland, New Zealand was not appraised, planned, documented or resourced before departure as required by industry rules and guidelines and standard seafaring practice. The crew responsible for navigation did not use all available means to determine the vessel’s position in relation to navigable and unnavigable waters. Furthermore, the vessel was not carrying the appropriate nautical publications and large-scale charts that identified local navigational hazards such as The Noises and its outlying rocks. The master was not aware of rocks and islands between the vessel and the pilot boarding area and set a straight-line course that encountered these navigational hazards. Reports with photos: https://safety4sea.com/taic-investigation-fishing-vessel-grounds-due-to-navigational-errors/ https://www.taic.org.nz/inquiry/mo-2024-203 https://www.thedcn.com.au/news/rock-attracted-longliner-refloated-in-nz/
FRONT EAGLE
The tanker 'Adalynn' was in collision with the 'Front Eagle' near the Khor Fakkan Anchorage on June 16, 2025, at 9:14 p.m. UTC. The 'Front Eagle' was fully loaded and bound for Zhoushan. The unloaded 'Adalynn' had just departed the anchorage. The 'Front Eagle', with 22 crew members from nations in Eastern Europe and Asia on board, was sailing southbound at 13.1 knots and executed a starboard turn, striking the after port quarter of the 'Adalynn', which was proceeding southeast at 4.8 knots towards the Suez Canal. The collision resulted in a hull breach and a massive fire on the 'Adalynn'. The blaze quickly spread and consumed the superstructure of the tanker. The fire also spread onto the deck of the 'Front Eagle'. The crew of the Front Eagle were able to extinguish it, and there were no reports of injuries. On June 17 at 01.51 a.m. UTC, the 'Front Eagle' changed its status to Not Under Command. There were no injuries among the crew. The Coast Guard of the UAE National Guard evacuated the 24 crew members of the 'Adalynn', using SAR boats. The cause of the incident was not security-related, but thought to have been caused by a navigational error, however, spoofing of GPS signals has made the area more prone to accidents lately. The 'Adalynn' was at 25.330959, 56.823463, though its anchoring status remained unconfirmed. The Ukrainian government has accused the 'Adalynn' of being involved in the export of Russian oil/oil products from the Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga, as well as using deceptive practices such as disabling its AIS and conducting shady activities in the Kola Bay area in 2023 and 2024. The last laden voyage was from Ust-Luga in Sep 2024. It delivered 855,000 barrels of Urals crude to the Vadinar refinery on the west coast of India the following month. Since then, it has remained off the coast of the UAE and spent several months at the port of Duqm in Oman. The 'Front Eagle' has protection and indemnity cover with Steamship Mutual. The 'Adalynn' does not have cover from any of the 12 clubs that make up the International Group of P&I Clubs. The area of the collision has been designated a high-risk area where shipowners require additional cover from specialist war insurers, which take on responsibility for hull and P&I claims. Reports with photo and video: https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/3-ships-allegedly-on-fire-near-strait-of-hormuz-in-gulf-of-oman-amid-israel-iran-tensions-picture-emerges https://gcaptain.com/navigation-error-suspected-in-vlcc-suezmax-crash-off-fujairah-amid-rising-gulf-tensions/
DALI
New details have emerged about the condition of the 'Dali', as the lawyers gathered information about the ship and continued their discovery process and interview crew members. New revelations from lawyers representing the state of Maryland and other claimants seeking damages from the owner company Grace Ocean Private, and the managers of the Synergy Marine Group, included brake failures on one of the anchors. The hydraulic brake on the port side anchor windlass had been inoperable for nearly two weeks,.The unseaworthy condition meant the anchor windlass could only be operated with the manual brake, a two-man job. Despite that situation, only one man was posted to the bow on March 26, 2024, which meant when the time came to deploy the anchor, he was unable to do so. The lawyers alleged that that had devastating consequences for properly diverting the ship from disaster. Additionally, the documents stated that the ship was without one of its four generators. The crew only ran two of the three remaining generators as it left port. The Chief Engineer admitted that the second blackout would never have occurred if the ship had been using three generators rather than two. The state of Maryland, the city of Baltimore, numerous companies and families of the victims who died on the bridge are all suing the Grace Ocean and Synergy. Depositions have been taken from the crew, but the testimony remains redacted at this time. Earlier, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office asked ZeroNorth for its communications information with Grace Ocean as part of the discovery phase of the case. ZeroNorth owns the software SMARTShip, which is used to remotely monitor vessels. The communications of the owners and managers of the 'Dali' with Alpha Ori and ZeroNorth will be critical in establishing how SMARTShip was utilized onboard the ship, and what information shoreside personnel chose to monitor. The trail Grace Ocean and Synergy is set for next summer.