On April 12, 2025, at 4.45 a.m. the 'Tranquilo', en route from Duisburg, was in a head-on collision with the tank barge 'Benedetto' (MMSI: 211883850), which was en route from Rotterdam, on the Waal near Nijmegen. The 'Tranquilo' berthed in Moerdijk on April 13. The 'Benedetto' berthed in Boven-Hardinxveld, Giessendam, the same day. No reports on damages.
News
ABEILLE NORMANDIE
On the morning of April 15, numerous migrant boat departures were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez between the Walde Lighthouse and Dunkirk. The CROSS deployed several maritime rescue resources to monitor the boats. Initially, the CROSS Gris-Nez engaged the 'Abeille Normandie' to track a boat off the coast of Gravelines. The emergency tug quickly launched its RHIB to assist the occupants of the boat, which was experiencing engine difficulties, and rescued 11 people and brought them to the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer. At the same time, the CROSS deployed the 'Cormoran' to conduct boat surveillance off the coast of Equihen. Upon arrival, the patrol boat launched its RHIB and made contact with the boat, some of whose occupants requested assistance. In total, the RHIB picked up 12 people and dropped them off at the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Furthermore, the CROSS deployed another patrol boat, the 'Pluvier', to assist a boat in distress off the coast of Bleriot. Once the 'Pluvier' arrived on scene, some of the boat's occupants requested assistance. It picked up seven people on board and dropped them off in Calais. In total, 30 people were assisted and taken into care by the emergency services.
Nassau
Global Ports Holdings (GPH) is to operate Prince George Wharf and related areas at Nassau Cruise Port in The Bahamas for the next 25 years. According to an agreement with the Government of The Bahamas, GPH has joined forces with the Bahamas Investment Fund and the Yes Foundation to create the Nassau Cruise Port Ltd. (NCP) consortium. GPH will use its global expertise and operating model to manage Nassau Cruise Port. “I am delighted that NCP has signed a port operation and lease agreement for Prince George Wharf at Nassau Cruise Port,” said Mehmet Kutman, chairman and co-founder of GPH.
Davao
Kudos Trucking Company has ordered two Konecranes Noell Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes and two Konecranes Gottwald Model 5 Mobile Harbor Cranes (MHCs) for their terminal in Davao City, the Philippines. Konecranes booked the order in June 2019.
GRANDE COSTA DAVORI
In the hearing on April 15, the National Transportation Safety Board approved final conclusions from the investigation of the fire aboard the 'Grande Costa D'Avorio' in the port of Newark in 2023. The investigators confirmed that the fire started when the Jeep Wrangler that longshoremen used as a pusher vehicle overheated and burned inside the cargo bay, setting nearby vehicles on fire. The 'Grande Costa D'Avorio' carried used cars from the U.S. to Africa, including forklifts that were so damaged that they could not roll, and "non-runner" vehicles that have to be pushed aboard. The Terminal operator Ports America's local unit in Newark was in the practice of using ordinary passenger vehicles as pusher trucks to shove non-running but still-rolling cars up the loading ramp and up the interior ramps inside the vessel. The Jeep Wrangler was in use in an industrial application for which it was not intended. This particular vehicle model was subject to a recall notice because its transmission had a tendency to overheat under extreme offroad use. Overheating would cause the transmission fluid to boil out of the housing and contact hot engine parts or exhaust piping, where it would catch fire. To address this known problem, the recall required installing an audible hot oil alarm and a warning light on the dashboard; the Jeep had had this service done - but the alarm was just a warning, not a shutoff. On the day of the fire, the 'Grande Costa D'Avorio' was loading 920 used cars for export, including nonrunners. At about 0 p.m., a longshoreman was driving the Wrangler on his 38th push run of the day up the nterior ramps, a far heavier task than the offroading conditions addressed by Jeep's recall. He was shoving a nonrunner ahead when he heard a clunk, and he saw fireballs dripping from underneath the vehicle. Based on the recall notice, the evidence from the scene and the extreme duty cycle imposed on the Jeep, The NTSB concluded that the casualty was caused by the decision to use a vehicle that wasn't designed for the application, resulting in its transmission oil boiling over and catching fire on hot engine parts. The Jeep operator was not able to get the fire out with an extinguisher, and the ship's fire alarm system went off, alerting the crew. 22 minutes after the fire was discovered, the master ordered the space sealed off and the fixed CO2 firefighting system discharged. However, the crew could not close the Deck 12 garage door because there was no external control to operate it. In order to close it, one crew member would have had to stand inside the burning space, hold an actuator button down to shut themselves in with the smoke and fire, then make their way 120 feet aft to a ladder well on the port side - between tightly parked cars. The lack of a button on the ramp side of the door was a SOLAS violation, according to NTSB, but the class society told the agency that it was acceptable because the door stays closed while at sea and does not need to be operated under way - only in port. The captain agreed that closing the door with crew members on the fire side would be unsafe, so the garage door stayed open. The CO2 system was discharged anyways with the door still fully open; an ATF study performed after the fact found that if the crew had had a practical way to close the door, the CO2 would have put out the fire. When the firefighters arrived on scene, the incident commander ordered a squad into the space to attack the fire. The local fire department's decision to open and close other compartment boundaries for moving personnel in and out further reduced the CO2 concentration and the fixed firefighting system's effectiveness, the NTSB concluded, ultimately increasing the severity of the fire. The NTSB noted that this decision was contrary to normal marine firefighting practice. Two firefighters went missing in the space and a SAR effort began. The compartment's ventilation system was turned on to clear smoke, removing the rest of the CO2 and introducing fresh oxygen. The two missing men lost their lives inside the space, and the fire burned for days. The NTSB believed that the two firefighters were exposed to an unnecessary risk when they were ordered into the CO2 flooding zone without being informed that it had been activated. The incident commander did not communicate the fact that the CO2 system had been discharged to the personnel entering the ship; at one point, a fire battalion chief even climbed a ladder well and opened a hatch to look in, despite the risk of asphyxiation on the other side. The NTSB found that most of the local first responders had not recently taken marine firefighting classes, and they were not familiar with the vessel's fire control plan or with CO2 flooding systems. The lack of marine vessel firefighting training left the land based firefighters unprepared to respond to a vessel fire, resulting in an ineffective response that contributed to the fire's spread, vessel damage and led to the firefighters' casualties. The NTSB believed that local Newark firefighters should never have entered the space to fight the fire. The best method to extinguish that fire was to work with the crew to close the Deck 12 door and allow the CO2 to function. The NTSB has issued a recommendation to AAPA to inform all port authorities of the risks of the dangerous misuse of passenger trucks as pusher vehicles. It also asked seaports to help out their local fire departments to increase awareness, adopt basic vessel familiarization and firefighter training among first responders. The NTSB also recommended that the 'Grande Costa D'Avorio''s class society should change its guidelines to require SOLAS fire doors to be closeable from both sides.
Ancona
Fincantieri floated Silversea’s new ultra-luxury cruise ship, Silver Moon, out of the building dock at its yard in Ancona, Italy on 29 August. Representatives from Fincantieri and Silversea and other invited guests watched as the 596-guest ship touched water for the first time during a traditional coin ceremony. Fincantieri will now work with its partners to outfit the vessel’s interiors ahead of her sea trials and delivery in 2020. “Today, with the float out of Silver Moon, we draw ever-closer to achieving my father’s dream of a 12-ship fleet,” said Manfredi Lefebvre, Silversea’s executive chairman.
Koper
The Koper port placed 80th on this year’s list of 900 best connected container ports in the world, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). The port has been listed the highest among all Adriatic Sea container ports since the first such ranking in 2006. The first place went to the Shanghai port, while the port of Antwerp was the best in Europe, having been placed 6th in the world.
PSP CORMORAN
On the morning of April 15, numerous migrant boat departures were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez between the Walde Lighthouse and Dunkirk. The CROSS deployed several maritime rescue resources to monitor the boats. Initially, the CROSS Gris-Nez engaged the 'Abeille Normandie' to track a boat off the coast of Gravelines. The emergency tug quickly launched its RHIB to assist the occupants of the boat, which was experiencing engine difficulties, and rescued 11 people and brought them to the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer. At the same time, the CROSS deployed the 'Cormoran' to conduct boat surveillance off the coast of Equihen. Upon arrival, the patrol boat launched its RHIB and made contact with the boat, some of whose occupants requested assistance. In total, the RHIB picked up 12 people and dropped them off at the quay in Boulogne-sur-Mer. Furthermore, the CROSS deployed another patrol boat, the 'Pluvier', to assist a boat in distress off the coast of Bleriot. Once the 'Pluvier' arrived on scene, some of the boat's occupants requested assistance. It picked up seven people on board and dropped them off in Calais. In total, 30 people were assisted and taken into care by the emergency services.
ALTZEK
The 'Altzek', loaded with coal bound from Nacala in Nampula, to Poland via Las Palmas, caught fire following an engine room explosion on the afternoon of April 13, 2025. Four tugs with fire-fighting equipment from the CFM-Logistic and Corredor Logístico Norte were mobilized to the site, but the fire had already been extinguished by the ship’s crew. There were four minor injuries among the crew members. They were out of danger and undergoing treatment at a clinic in Nacala after being dropped off in the port. A team of naval engineers was called to carry out a technical assessment of the ship to determine whether it could continue its voyage. Report with photos: https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-four-sustain-minor-injuries-in-coal-ship-fire-280217/
Liege
Konecranes Port Services will retrofit electrification to a Model 2 Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor crane in DP World’s Liège Container Terminal in Belgium, lowering the terminal’s local emissions and noise. Strategically located along the Meuse river in eastern Belgium, the Port of Liège is the third-largest river port in Europe, directly linked to both Antwerp and Rotterdam. The DP World Liège Container Terminal (DPW LCT) is the only trimodal terminal in Wallonia, operating four barges to Antwerp every week.
Gdansk
The world’s largest container ship MSC Gulsun arrived at container terminal DCT Gdańsk on Friday. During its stop, 11,000 containers will be reloaded, which means the largest regular container exchange in Europe. MSC Gulsun is the first ship in the world with a width of 24 rows of containers and a capacity of 23,756 TEU.