News

From the night of June 20, 2025, to June 21, numerous migrant boat departures were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez. First, the departure of a boat was reported to the CROSS in the Cayeux-sur-Mer area. The "SNS 708 - Quartier Maître Gilbert Vandenberghe" from the Cayeux-sur-Mer SNSM station was deployed aling with the semi-rigid boat "SNS 7-034 Notre Dame des Sables" from the Berck-sur-Mer SNSM station. The 'Abeille Normandie' took over from the 'SNS 7-034' and monitored the boat. Once on site, the tug launched its RHIB to assist the boat during a migrant boarding phase along the beach. The RHIB rescued one person from the water and delivered him at the beach at Cayeux-sur-Mer. Later on June 20, the CROSS Gris-Nez engaged the 'Minck' to assist another migrant boat that had left from the beach at Hardelot. Once on site, the 'Minck' started monitoring the boat, which was heavily laden and in poor condition. In response to a request for assistance from people on board the boat, the 'Minck' recovered 20 people and continued to monitor the boat, which continued its voyage towards British waters, with the remaining occupants having refused assistance. Once the migrants on board the boat had been taken into care by British assets, the 'Minck' headed for Boulogne-sur-Mer to drop off the 20 people. On the morning of June 21, more migrant boat departures were reported to the cROSS Gris-Nez, starting with a boat from the port of Dunkirk West. The CROSS successively engaged the "SNS 276 - Notre Dame des Flandres" from the Gravelines SNSM station and the 'Oyapock' of the Maritime Gendarmerie and later the 'Ridens' as a relief to monitor the boat. Once on site, the 'Ridens' reported a request for assistance from some of the boat's occupants following an engine damage. During an initial recovery phase, the boat began to break up, and some of its migrants fell into the water. The CROSS Gris-Nez then again engaged the SNS 276,' the 'Oyapock' and an RHIB of the patrol boat 'Flamant' to assist the 'Minck' in recovering the castaways. 38 people were recovered and transferred aboard the 'Minck'. The remaining occupants of the boat were taken into care by British resources. The 'Minck' then headed to the port of Calais, where the rescued people could be taken into care by the land authorities. At the same time, the departure of a boat was reported to the CROSS from the Bay of Wissant. The CROSS deployed the 'Abeille Normandi' to locate it and monitor the boat. Once on site, the tug reported the poor condition of the boat, which was beginning to break up, and launched its two rubber boats, which recovered all 77 people from the boat. The castaways were dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Me, where they were taken into care by the land authorities. In total, during these operations, 136 people were rescued and taken into care by state resources.

On the morning of June 20ß, 2025, the 'AS Sara', en route from Venice to Port Said, rescued 223 migrants from a fishing boat 50 nautical miles south of Kala Limeni, near Crete. 51 people were taken aboard the patrol boats. The Port Authorities of Agia Galini, Kala Limeni, Kokkinos Pyrgos and Paleochora were informed by the SAR Coordination Center of the Greek Coastguard Headquarters about a vessel in difficulties and deployed two patrol ships and a FRONTEX vessel to the position of the wooden fishing boat with the 274 people on board, among them 229 men and 45 minors, which was located by the unmanned aircraft "Heron2". The castaways were transferred to the anchorage of Kala Limeni and with the assistance of the launch 'Eleni' safely disembarked ashore. They were then taken to a temporary accommodation area in the port of Heraklion. During the preliminary investigatio, which was conducted by the Central Port Authority of Heraklion, three Egyptian nationals. aged 21, 34 and 46, were identified as human traffickers andarrested for violating article 83 of Law 3386/2005 "Illegal entry into the country", article 25 of Law 5038/2023 "Facilitation", article 45 of the Criminal Code "Aid" and article 306 of the Criminal Code "Exposure". According to a statement by the survivors, they set off in the early hours of 19.06.2025 from the coast of Tobruk, Libya, paying for their transport to Greece amounts of 170,000 - 200,000 Libyan dinars and 3,000 US dollars. Report with photo: https://www.hcg.gr/el/epikairothta/entopismos-kai-diaswsh-274-allodapwn-sth-8alassia-perioxh-50-nm-notia-twn-kalwn-limenwn-n-krhths-kai-syllhpsh-twn-triwn-diakinhtwn-toys-synexeia-enhmerwshs-anaforika-me-ton-entopismo-kai-diaswsh-73-allodapwn-sth-8alassia-perioxh-19-nm-notia-ths-gayd/

The Port of Rotterdam Authority has reached an agreement with Sif Holding n.v. regarding the lease of 20 ha of port site and a 200-m stretch of deep-sea quay at Maasvlakte. Sif’s new lot lies adjacent to its existing port site, where the company already works on the assembly of foundations for offshore wind turbines, the company said in its release. Sif will be using the newly allocated site on behalf of clients active in the offshore wind power sector. The first project to be undertaken at the new site will be the logistics handling of all 94 monopiles (wind turbine foundations) destined for the offshore wind farm Borssele 1 + 2, commissioned by Deme Offshore.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has concluded an agreement with long-term customer EUROGATE Tanger (EGT) in Morocco to upgrade four ZPMC ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, as part of the terminal’s expansion plans. With a quay length of 821 meters, a terminal area of 400,000 m2 and a water depth of up to 18 meters, the facility is well-equipped to handle the new generation of containerships. The terminal’s equipment fleet already includes several Kalmar machines, including rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGs). Furthermore, Kalar will be responsible for the planning, engineering and execution of the entire project, which involves heightening the four STS cranes by 11 meters and extending the booms by six meters. The project with Kalmar will help the terminal serve mega-sized container vessels.

From the night of June 20, 2025, to June 21, numerous migrant boat departures were reported to the CROSS Gris-Nez. First, the departure of a boat was reported to the CROSS in the Cayeux-sur-Mer area. The "SNS 708 - Quartier Maître Gilbert Vandenberghe" from the Cayeux-sur-Mer SNSM station was deployed aling with the semi-rigid boat "SNS 7-034 Notre Dame des Sables" from the Berck-sur-Mer SNSM station. The 'Abeille Normandie' took over from the 'SNS 7-034' and monitored the boat. Once on site, the tug launched its RHIB to assist the boat during a migrant boarding phase along the beach. The RHIB rescued one person from the water and delivered him at the beach at Cayeux-sur-Mer. Later on June 20, the CROSS Gris-Nez engaged the 'Minck' to assist another migrant boat that had left from the beach at Hardelot. Once on site, the 'Minck' started monitoring the boat, which was heavily laden and in poor condition. In response to a request for assistance from people on board the boat, the 'Minck' recovered 20 people and continued to monitor the boat, which continued its voyage towards British waters, with the remaining occupants having refused assistance. Once the migrants on board the boat had been taken into care by British assets, the 'Minck' headed for Boulogne-sur-Mer to drop off the 20 people. On the morning of June 21, more migrant boat departures were reported to the cROSS Gris-Nez, starting with a boat from the port of Dunkirk West. The CROSS successively engaged the "SNS 276 - Notre Dame des Flandres" from the Gravelines SNSM station and the 'Oyapock' of the Maritime Gendarmerie and later the 'Ridens' as a relief to monitor the boat. Once on site, the 'Ridens' reported a request for assistance from some of the boat's occupants following an engine damage. During an initial recovery phase, the boat began to break up, and some of its migrants fell into the water. The CROSS Gris-Nez then again engaged the SNS 276,' the 'Oyapock' and an RHIB of the patrol boat 'Flamant' to assist the 'Minck' in recovering the castaways. 38 people were recovered and transferred aboard the 'Minck'. The remaining occupants of the boat were taken into care by British resources. The 'Minck' then headed to the port of Calais, where the rescued people could be taken into care by the land authorities. At the same time, the departure of a boat was reported to the CROSS from the Bay of Wissant. The CROSS deployed the 'Abeille Normandie' to locate it and monitor the boat. Once on site, the tug reported the poor condition of the boat, which was beginning to break up, and launched its two rubber boats, which recovered all 77 people from the boat. The castaways were dropped off at the port of Boulogne-sur-Me, where they were taken into care by the land authorities. In total, during these operations, 136 people were rescued and taken into care by state resources.

On June 21, a temporary repair has been carried out at the bow visor of the 'Hebrides', serving on the route Uig-Tarbert-Lochmaddy. Until July 2, contractors were to attend the ferry to conduct further inspections, starting on July1 and 2. An amended timetable will continue to operate up to and including July 2.

Genting Hong Kong (GHK) has officially secured funding for the construction and post-delivery financing of Dream Cruises’ two new Global Class ships. KfW IPEX-Bank will supply US$2.9 billion, with backing from the Federal Republic of Germany, Finnish export credit agency Finnvera, and the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. At an overall cost of €3.1 billion (US$3.4 billion), the two new vessels are currently being built at GHK-owned shipyard MV Werften in Germany for the fast-growing Asian cruise market. “We are very appreciative of KfW IPEX-Bank, the bank consortium, the Federal Republic of Germany, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Finnvera for supporting GHK in the financing of the Global Class ships,” said Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chief executive of Genting Hong Kong.

Qatar has established an investment partnership with Somalia to build a new port in the latter's country. The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Qatar said that the partnership between Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani) and Somalia will see the construction of the Hobyo Port in the Mudug region of central Somalia. Hobyo Port is expected to bring multiple economic benefits for Somalia. The port could create new business opportunities for the country by bolstering the commercial relationship with new markets in Africa and providing access to global markets, in addition to providing maritime services to vast areas in Somalia. The Hobyo Port is in proximity to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, one of the world’s most important sea crossing points. Hobyo is also important due to its location in the Mudug region, which links the south and north of the country.

On the morning of June 21, 2025, the Port Authority of Argosaronic Gulf was informed by the Captain of the'Poseidonas', that before its departure on the scheduled route from Piraeus to Aegina and Agistri with 743 passengers, 54 vehicles, two buses and 32 two-wheeled vehicles on board, an.electrical problem occurred, causing an inability to raise the anchors. The Argosaronic Gulf Port Guard prohibited the ship from sailing until the damage was repaired and a certificate of class maintenance was presented by the monitoring classification society. The passengers and vehicles were forwarded to their destination with the company's care.

The 'Avanza' belonging to the German solo sailor Rüdiger Schwarz capsized on the late afternoon of June 22, 2025, in the German-Danish border region northeast of the island of Rügen. The EPIRB signal of the Seacat 30 alerted the sea rescuers via satellite. The (MRCC in Bremen of the DGzRS, coordinated the SAR efforts closely with their Danish and Swedish counterparts, who had also received the automatic distress call. The MRCC Bremen requested the "Deneb", which was sailing near the accident site, to divert to the position indicated by the distress beacon. The "Deneb" located the capsized 'Avanza', and rescued the skipper from the upturned bottom with a dinghy. A Danish SAR helicopter then hoisted him aboard and flew him to Roskilde for medical treatment. The solo sailor, along with more than 70 other boats, was sailing from the Bay of Wismar to northern Sweden as part of the "MidsummerSail" regatta, when the trimaran capsized about halfway between the northern tip of Rügen and Bornholm. The rescue team informed the traffic control center of the capsized trimaran's position 54° 56' N 014° 01' E.

Marine battery supplier Corvus Energy is to install its lithium-ion battery storage systems onboard AIDA Cruises’ ships to reduce fossil fuel use and emissions. In a project that will also involve ABB and Siemens, Corvus will install and commission the battery storage systems on the first AIDA ship in 2020. The companies then plan to then use their findings from the pilot project to successfully fit battery systems onboard other vessels in the AIDA fleet. “Our goal is the emissions-neutral ship operation,” said Michael Thamm, group CEO of Costa Group and Carnival Asia.

Port of Oslo in Norway has signed a cooperation agreement with an environmental non-profit organisation to help it become emission-free. The Port of Oslo, which first talked about its zero-emission ambition in June, will partner with the Oslo-headquartered Bellona Foundation to achieve its zero-emission goal. Emissions in the port are anticipated to be reduced by 85% by 2030 and gradually reduce until they are eliminated. “The Port of Oslo is in full swing with the green transition, and has begun the phasing in of emissions-free solutions,” said Port of Oslo chairman, Roger Schjerva. “It is enthusiastic about working alongside the Bellona Foundation and exchanging ideas and solutions with Bellona’s network of environmental experts and organizations. Maritime transport and urban ports are crucial in reducing the world’s greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector.”