On June 20, 2024, the 'Neustadt' started monitoring the Russian reconnaissance ship "Vasily Tatishchev" off Kiel. The vessel, stationed in Kaliningrad, has followed the units of the NATO maneuver Baltops. Accompanied by a patrol boat from the Danish Navy and the Federal Police's ship, the surveillance ship sailed past Rügen and Rostock to Kiel on June 19. The next morning, the ship, equipped with highly sensitive antennas and radomes, moved into position on the Kiel-Baltic Sea route between Fehmarn and the Kiel lighthouse. No violations of the shipping regulations have been identified so far. The Danish Navy is also within sight of the Russian ship and was observing every movement on board. the Russian ship, which was positioned about halfway between the northwestern tip of Fehmarn and the southern tip of Langeland, circling there at a slow speed, on the afternoon. The reconnaissance ship of the Russian "Vishnya" class (Project 864), which was built in Poland from 1985 to 1988, was commissioned in 1988 and is one of two ships of this type in the Baltic Sea. The Russians do not have to take German data protection regulations into account, as the tapping measures are carried out from on board a naval ship. The status of naval ships is comparable to that of diplomatic missions. Only when the ship enters German or Danish territorial waters can the federal police or Danish Navy take action. In this case, the reconnaissance automatically becomes a case of espionage. The position of the Russian ship is in an area outside German and Danish territorial waters. There, the crew can carry out their mission for the Russian Navy and the secret service without being disturbed. According to various sources, there is room on board for over 100 soldiers and specialists. Since the start of the Baltops naval exercise, reconnaissance ships of the Russian Navy have been tracking the units of NATO states. No incidents or dangerous situations have been reported so far. In addition to the "Vasiliy Tatishchev", the reconnaissance ship "Zhigulevsk" was also on site.
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SANTA REGINA
On June 11, 2024, at 3.12 a.m. the 'Santa Regina', en route from Paranagua to Nansha, was boarded by six perpetrators, armed with knives, west of Pulau Cula in po.s 1° 3.4 N 103° 37.5 E. Two crew members were tied up by the intruders, who had entered the vessel's engine room through the steering gear door. Later, the robbers stole some spare parts of the engine from the machinery space. An engineer discovered the incident and reported it to the Captain. Promptly, the Captain of the bulk carrier alerted others by raising an alarm. All crew members were assembled in response to the emergency alarm. The Captain reported the incident to the Singapore Port Operations Control Centre (POCC) through email with the assistance of ship's agent. The incident was reported to the Republic of Singapore Navy's (RSN) Maritime Security Task Force (MSTF) and the Singapore Police Coast Guard. It was also conveyed to the Indonesian authorities.No injuries were reported.
PHILIPP OLDENDORFF
On June 21, 2024, at around 5.30 a.m. the cruise ship 'Insignia' arrived at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife with 67 rescued migrants and the bodies of another six who did not survive the journey on the Canary Islands route aboard a cayuco. Those rescued, among them 61 men, three women and three minors, were of sub-Saharan origin. The rescued people were being cared for by a large health device made up of personnel from the Canary Islands Emergency Service (SUC), Primary Care and Red Cross volunteers, with the support of the National Police and the Civil Guard. Up to four tents have been set up to assist survivors. Five of the people have already been transferred to different health centers. One of them has been taken to the Ntra. Sra. de Candelaria University Hospital in serious condition and the rest were in moderate and mild condition. The cruise ship, which was heading from Gambia to the island of Tenerife, had reached the cayuco with five bodies and 68 survivors on June 20 at 12:30 a.m. The 'Philipp Oldendorff', en route from A Coruna to Ponto Ubu, had spotted the canoe drifting 440 nautical miles south of Tenerife and providied first assistance to those affected. The 'Insignia' was diverted to the area and rescued the survivors. The canoe was left adrift with another two deceased whom it could not recovered due to the bad weather conditions in the area. After the 'Insignia' reported that one of those rescued was in critical condition and needed to be medevaced, the Helimer 201 SAR helicopter was mobilized but, later, the doctor on board confirmed that the victim had died. and the helicopter returned to Tenerife South Airport, where it had left. The aritime Rescue requested a definitive count of the rescued people from the ship that carried out the rescue and mobilized the guard ship 'Urania', which first encountered the cruise ship 'Insignia' in case she needed support or assistance. It subsequently proceeded to locate the canoe that carried a searchlight provided by the cruise ship. The weather conditions in the area have been adverse. and the coordination of the emergency has been carried out by the Tenerife MRCC under the direction of the Tenerife Maritime Captaincy. Report with photo: https://mirametv.com/llega-a-tenerife-el-crucero-insignia-con-6-migrantes-fallecidos-y-67-supervivientes
OTARIA
The U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on June 17, 2024, issued a sanction against the 'Otaria', its managing company Stellar Wave Marine L.L.C,, and the captain of the tanker, for shipping sanctioned cargo. The sale of these Iran-associated sanctioned cargoes contributes to a fund that is used by Houthis for weapon procurement. These weapons purchases enable the Houthi military to carry out attacks on commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea. The OFAC has imposed sanctions after in late May 2024, the tanker loaded the sanctioned cargo, which is linked to Houthi’s financer Sa’id al-Jamal. The vessel is scheduled to arrive in Singapore for discharge on June 20.
KAUNAS
The Ukraine will restart the RoPax ferry service for passengers and cargo between Chornomorsk and Batumi with the 'Kaunas' on July 9, 2024, for the first time since the Russian invasion. It is the latest step to build back exports and foreign trade following the moves in April and May to restart container operations. It is a 61-hour run to the port of Batumi on the southern coast of Georgia. The company Urkferry had operated this route dating back to December 1996. Ukrferry restarted its operations in July 2023 with its ferry 'Vilnius', operating between Romania and Georgia. Additionally, at the end of May, the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority reported that negotiations were underway to also resume a ferry service connection to Baku. Ukraine had announced plans to stop all shipments via Russia nearly a decade ago. The service had been launched in 2016 as part of the Trans-Caspian corridor designed to bypass Russia. It was designed to connect to China providing Ukraine another route to export primarily grain and metal products. Restarting the ferries follows the expansion of the container service. At the end of May, Hapag-Lloyd, resumed its feeder service between Chernomorsk and Constanta, Romania after a Turkish freight forwarder reopened the route in April with chartered vessels. Maersk working with Iteris was also resuming the deep sea service after having been moving containers via the Danube. MSC Mediterranean Shipping was also scheduled to restart feeder service from Odesa this month. The companies reported strong demand for the service. Hapag said its Danube service had booked solid when it was announced. Returning to the deep sea ports was a means of expanding capacity. Ukrainian officials also said that they were looking to expand with direct service to Turkey and later Egypt. Cargo volumes have already doubled since the services were resumed and the expectation is that they can quickly reach pre-war volumes.