News

Francesco Schettino, who has already served more than half of his sentence following the 'Costa Concordia' disaster, may soon be released from prison. A court will decide on April 8 whether he will be transferred to open prison. There is even a job in the Vatican on offer. The 63-year-old is to take part in a digitization project for Vatican cultural assets. He could benefit from a Vatican program for the rehabilitation of prisoners. Schettino has reached the deadline for alternative measures, according to his lawyer Paola Astarita. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2017 in the final instance and has been behind bars ever since. He has critically processed his behavior during this accident," the lawyer explained on March 4.

On March 4 at midnight, a fishing boat with 10 people on board alerted Salvamento Marítimo via VHF Channel 16 after the propulsion was fould by a rig, which had got entangled in the propeller and was disabled fouf nautical miles northwest of Fisterra. The fishermen requested towing assistance. The RCC in the Coruña mobilized the 'Salvamar Altai'r, which took the vessel in tow and safely pulled it to the port of Corcubión.

After the first three attempts to refloat the 'H&S Wisdom', on the Humber have failed, it may take weeks to remove the ship from the shoals, as the grounding happened during one of the highest water levels of the year on the evening of March 2, which was still above the forecast. A similar water level is needed to free the 'H&S Wisdom', which is not expected again until the end of the month. It will then take until October before a similarly high water level can be expected. The plan was now to unload part of the cargo to give a salvage attempt at the end of March a better chance of success. Report with photo: https://www.schuttevaer.nl/nieuws/actueel/2025/03/05/amasus-schip-hs-wisdom-liep-vast-op-een-van-de-hoogste-waterstanden-van-het-jaar-en-dat-bemoeilijkt-de-berging/

On March 5, a radar echo was located 14.5 nautical miles south of Gran Canaria. The CCS Las Palmas of Salvamento Marítimo mobilized the 'Salvamar Macondo' ton investigate. The SAR boat located a cayuco and accompanied it to Arguineguín, where the 68 people on board, among them one woman, all of sub-Saharan origin, safely disembarked. Report with photo: https://x.com/salvamentogob/status/1897340296561877166

The damaged and failing Carola Bridge briefly shut down inland shipping on the Elbe at Dresden on the night of Feb 26, the second time in five months that barge traffic has been halted by the risk of falling concrete and steel. On Sep 11, 2024, at about 3 a.m., two spans of the Carola Bridge had collapsed. A light-rail train had just gone by, but it was past and clear of the span, and no one was injured in the collapse. The bridge was one of four main crossings of the Elbe in downtown Dresden, and the loss of the span has been disruptive for businesses and for shipping interests, which use the Elbe to access upriver regions as far as the Czech Republic. The bridge was built 1967-71. It had been inspected properly and passed all routine exams. A post-accident study by the Institute of Concrete Structures at TU Dresden determined that the collapse was caused by hydrogen-induced stress corrosion of the bridge's steel components. This form of corrosion is nearly impossible to detect with conventional methods, the study concluded, as it affects steel elements that are hidden from view. The waterway was shut for four months for demolition and removal, a task made more challenging by the discovery of WWII-era bombs at the demolition site. Later testing revealed that the cause was hydrogen-induced stress corrosion. The surviving bridge spans have similar corrosion problems, and the surviving bridge spans will have to be completely demolished and rebuilt. To ensure safety of navigation in the interim, the city has installed acoustic monitoring systems. Every time the temperature fluctuates, it exerts stress on the surviving steel cables and raises the risk of another critical failure. The city has hired a contractor to complete the demolition of the rest of the bridge on an expedited basis, in hopes of finishing the job by the end of 2025. For now, ships are free to pass through during a limited two-hour slot from 9-11 a.m. each day. They must pre-register, and only necessary crew may be on board during the transit. Report with photo and video: https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/wirtschaft/carolabruecke-spannstahl-schifffahrt-dresden-100.html