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The 'Maersk Saltoro', which had set sail on Dec 27 from the main port of San Antonio in Chile with more than 1,300 containers full of cherries and an ETA at Nansha as of Jan 20, remained NUC in the the waters of Micronesia as of Jan 28. about 1,200 kilometers northeast of New Guinea, after suffering a technical failure in its main engine, which forced it to stop while the necessary repairs were being carried out. The Maersk company assured that it was in contact with the owners of the ship and the affected clients to report on the progress of the work and the next stages of the trip. The delay could lead to million-dollar losses for those involved in the export chain and also raised questions about legal responsibilities and possible compensation. The expert lawyer and founder of Legal Export, Rafael Durán, stressed that it must be analyzed whether the technical problem can be classified as a fortuitous event that exonerates the shipping company from any fault. To do so, certain criteria must be met: that the event is external, unforeseeable and irresistible. In addition, it is essential to check whether the ship had all the necessary certifications and preventive maintenance to guarantee its navigability. In the event that any negligence is proven, those affected could request relevant documentation from the shipping company, as permitted by Chilean maritime legislation. Exporters should also record any physical or commercial damage suffered by the cargo and submit protest notes within the time stipulated by law. The possibility that the shipping company declares “general average” to distribute the repair costs among the owners of the cargo is an additional concern. This scenario would imply unforeseen expenses for the owners of the containers. Given this uncertainty, exporters are advised to act with diligence, minimize potential damage and document all efforts made to protect their interests.

Latvia's army has sent naval divers to help investigate the damage to the submarine cablee used by the Latvian State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC) in the Baltic Sea. According to the armed forces, a team of divers was on its way to the sea area between Latvia and Sweden on Jan 27. There they will carry out on-site investigations and collect further clues. The divers will be supported by ships from the Swedish Coast Guard. The authorities in Stockholm are investigating a possible serious sabotage. The "Vezhen" re,aomed anchored south of Karlskrona as of Jan 28. The patrol ship 'KBV 034' (MMSI: 266334000) of the Swedish Coast Guard was monitoring the vessel.

Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku has cut the first piece of steel for Costa Cruises’ second LNG-powered ship, which will be named Costa Toscana and be delivered in October 2021. Using its new plasma cutter line, Meyer Turku marked the start of the ship production project during a traditional ceremony at its yard in Turku. Once complete, Costa Toscana will have dual-fuel hybrid engines and onboard LNG tanks to enable her to operate using LNG in port and at sea.

The French port of Marseille Fos plans to spend over US$22 million to reduce air emissions by extending its shoreside electrical connections to every ferry, cruise ship and repair quay in the eastern harbour. The port has also introduced speed restrictions to reduce industrial air pollution. Already available on the Corsica ferry quays, the shore power network will be expanded in two phases to cover North Africa ferry quays and the ship repair hub by 2022 and the cruise terminal between 2022 and 2025. The zero-emissions investment, which is supported by national and regional government, recognises the need to maintain the port’s economic value while improving the city’s waterside air quality.

The 'Sea Lord', towing the hull of the new mine countermeasures vessel 'Scheveningen', has been stuck in the Mediterranean Sea north of Morocco for several days. The ships have been on their way from Romania to France for more than a month for the completion of the newbuilding. The delay has been caused by the bad weather on the Atlantic Ocean and in the Bay of Biscay. It is currently quite stormy on the Atlantic Ocean. The storm that was mainly affecting Ireland, reached wind gusts of up to 183 kilometres per hour. Wave heights of more than 11 metres (sea state 8) were recorded on the morning of Jan 24, 2025, southwest of Ireland, and wave heights of 4 to 5 meters (sea state 6) were measured on the morning on the route from the Strait of Gibraltar to Concarneau. For the 'Sea Lord' that was reason enough to wait in the Alboran Sea, the western part of the Mediterranean Sea, east of Ceuta and close to the Strait of Gibraltar. She entered the port of Malaga on Jan 25. A new storm was expected on Jan 26, which will also affect Ireland and the United Kingdom. Wave heights of more than 10 metres (sea state 8) were forecast for Jan 27 in the Bay of Biscay southwest of Brittany and even more than 13 metres southwest of Ireland in the Atlantic Ocean. A third front will follow on Jan 29 with a high sea state as a result, but this time the peaks are expected off the coast of Portugal. That too is on the route to Brittany and on the evening the waves will reach heights of more than 10 meters. On Jan 31 the sea seems to calm down again. Report with photos: https://marineschepen.nl/nieuws/Storm-houdt-sleepboot-met-romp-mijnenbestrijdingsvaartuig-Scheveningen-langer-in-Middellandse-Zee-240125.html

The Bulgarian Embassy in Stockholm is in contact with the relevant Swedish authorities and is actively following the development of the 'Vezhen' case. This was announced by the BTA Foreign Ministry on the occasion of the information from the Swedish Prosecutor's Office about the detention of the "Vezhen" in the Baltic Sea and the initiation of a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage. "It is possible that the" Vezhen "caused the damage to the cable, but I personally do not assume that this was sabotage on the part of our crew," said the Executive Director of the shipping company "Navigation Maritime Bulgare", Captain Alexandar Kaltchev. He explained that on the evening of Jan 25, the ship was sailing in extremely bad weather with southwest winds of more than 25 meters per second. On the morning, when the wind died down, the crew inspected the ship for damage and found that the port side anchor was damaged and had apparently been dragged along the seabed. Kalchev stressed that even if the ship caused the damage to the data cable, it was not intentional or "sabotage". The 'Vezhen', through a complicated arrangement with several subsidiaries, is de facto owned by Hai Kuo Shipping 2015B, which in turn is owned by ICBC Leasing, a state-owned Chinese company linked to the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China: The ship had left the Russian port of Ust-Luga, which is the same port which the 'Yi Peng 3' had departed from before the Chinese ship destroyed two cables in the Baltic Sea in mid-November 2024. Report with photo: https://www.msn.com/sv-se/nyheter/inrikes/ankaret-skadat-%C3%A4garen-nekar-till-sabotage/ar-AA1xVHOA

International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) recently took delivery of another new quay crane (QC) and eight new hybrid rubber-tired gantries (RTGs) for its flagship Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), establishing the terminal as having the largest fleet of modern container-handling equipment in the Philippines with 18 QCs and 58 RTGs. Manufactured by Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry Co. Ltd. (ZPMC), the QC is part of the five from ICTSI’s 2018 USD80-million capacity improvement program package. With a reach of up to 16 rows across twin, the new QC can service the largest feeder vessels calling the Philippines. It will be deployed at Berth 3.

Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) and the City of Dubrovnik have partnered to introduce sustainable tourism management practices that will preserve the Croatian city’s cultural heritage. CLIA president and CEO Kelly Craighead and Dubrovnik’s Mayor Mato Franković signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which outlines plans to make Dubrovnik a model of sustainable tourism for the Adriatic region. All plans focus on investment, collaboration and best practices that will benefit both Dubrovnik’s residents and visitors. “Today’s agreement validates the work we have already done with Mayor Franković and formalises the cruise industry’s continued commitment to the City of Dubrovnik and its people,” said Craighead.

After the 'Ombo' was damaged during a storm on the evening of Jan 24, the ferry remaine stationary at the Bekhus Quay in Stavanger for repairs as of Jan 28 and will be out of service for at least a week. The battery ferry 'Hella' (IMO: 9871268), which normally operates on the Hella-Vangsnes-Dragsvik route in Sogn, has taken over as a replacement on the route Judaberg-Stavanger. On the morning of Jan 27, one departure from Judaberg was also canceled due to technical challenges, and in addition, the departures from Judaberg at 07.50 a.m. and Fogn at 08.05 a.m. were canceled due to the need for charging. Moire departures may be affected by the ferry's charging needs.

The Swedish intelligence service has seized the 'Vezhen', en route from the Russian port of Ust-Luga towards Denmark, which is suspected of being behind a sabotage against an undersea fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden in the Baltic Sea, which occurred on Jan 26, 2025, and in which at least one underwater data cable between the island of Gotland and Latvia was damaged. The ship had crossed the cable at at 12.45 a.m. The Latvian radio and television company LVRTC, which owns the cable, described the damage as serious. The Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stated that he had been in close contact with the Latvian Prime Minister during the course of the day. The Swedish prosecutor's office said that a number of investigative steps were now being taken, which they would not specify in more detail for the sake of the investigation. The Swedish Coast Guard, the Swedish Defence Force and the police were among those working on the suspected espionage. The ship changed course on Jan 26 and sailed towards Karlskrona, where it moored off Hasslö and Aspö in the Karlskrona archipelago in pos. 56° 04' N 015° 31' E with a ship from the Swedish Coast Guard nearby. Late on the evening, the Coast Guard boarded the ship. The Latvian cable operator stated on Jabn 26 that the damage to the cable was probably due to "external influence". The 'Vezhen' is operated by the Bulgarian company Navigation Maritime Bulgare. Reports with video: https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/europa/unterseekabel-lettland-schweden-102.html https://www.tv4.se/artikel/4EMMULmnbDrkDACHRx7gNT/tv4-pa-plats-vid-fartyget-ser-att-det-har-skador-pa-ankaret https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/har-tvarvander-kustbevakningen-i-jakt-pa-det-misstankta-fartyget

The first cargo of liquified natural gas under the long-term contract between PGNiG and US LNG provider Cheniere Energy arrived at the President Lech Kaczyński LNG Terminal in Świnoujście. The long-term contract, which was signed in November of 2018, will total approximately 39 bcm of natural gas over the 24 year period of the agreement. The official reception ceremony of the first delivery at the LNG terminal in Świnoujście included representatives of the government of the Republic of Poland, local authorities, as well as executives from PGNiG and Cheniere Energy.

The Tanger Med port has emerged as the biggest port in Africa in terms of container capacity, surpassing Africa’s bigger ports like Durban (South Africa) and Mombasa (Kenya). The Tanger Med port now connects Morocco to 77 countries and 186 ports around the world. The Tanger Med II has two new container terminals – TC3 and TC4 – with an additional 6 million container capacity. The TC3, which is operated by Morocco’s main port operator Marsa Maroc, has a capacity of 1 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units). The TC4, which is operated by the Netherlands-based APM Terminals, has a capacity of 5 million TEUs. According to the Tanger Med Port Authority, with its new terminals, Tanger Med port will have a capacity of processing 9 million containers, 7 million passengers, 1 million vehicles and 700,000 trucks. Thanks to its extensions, Tanger Med port has now become the largest port in the Mediterranean region, surpassing some of the region’s top ports like Algeciras (Spain), Valencia (Spain) and Gioia (Italy). The port is located 40 kilometers east of the Moroccan town of Tangier, which is a gateway to both Europe and Africa. “Our aim is to develop an effective port platform integrated with transshipment activities, imports and exports,” Tanger Med Port Authority said on its website. The Tanger Med port has become vital for Morocco’s economy as it handled 317 billion Moroccan dirhams (US$33.14 billion) worth of exports and imports in 2018. It processed an overall tonnage of 52.24 tonnes last year.