The 'Meghna Princess' was thrown off course by a GPS jammer and struck an underwater rock near Russia's Ust-Luga port on Dec 29, 2024. As of March 6, the ship was still stuck in pos. 60° 19' N 028° 35' E. After loading 25,000 tonnes of fertiliser in St Petersburg, the ship with 25 crew members on board had left the port on Dec 27 and was heading to Ust-Luga to load another 25,000 tonnes of cargo. The vessel struck a rocky seabed, significantly damaging its hull and propeller and allowing water to flood several of its tanks. The crew found cracks in the hull and water in some tanks, though the cargo remained intact. A diving team confirmed a week later that the ship was stuck on a rock, with the propeller damaged. Once the cargo has been unloaded and the ship refloated, it will need towing for repairs, which will take significant time. The sailors on the vessel were running low on drinking water and food. he crew has been without fresh water for two months, relying on melted snow for drinking water. Despite repeated pleas for assistance, the Russian port authorities did not respond. After months of efforts and lobbying by the BMMOA, the International Transport Workers' Union (ITF) and Meghna Group, a Russian salvage company was hired last week to recover the ship. The salvage operation has started, with repairs expected to follow shortly.
News
MV MEGHNA PRINCESS
The 'Meghna Princess', which ran aground in the Koporskaya Bay of the Gulf of Finland pn Dec 29, 2024, has been refloated on March 7. The salvage vessels MFASS "Baltika", MFASS "Spasatel Karev", SO "Soyuz", RVC "Vodolaz Litvin", a hydrographic group, a diving group, and rescuers of the ASP of the Baltic branch of the Marine Rescue Service participated in the operation. During the salvage operation, 2.300 tons of the cargo of 32,600 tons of mineral fertilizers were unloaded. Soil was washed uut under the vessel. The ship, accompanied by the emergency tug "Spasatel Karev", was now awaiting a diving inspection at an anchorage off Primorsk. The bulk carrer will be handed over to the shipowner upon completion of its inspection and leak testing. No oil spill was detected in the area. Reports with photos: https://ieport.ru/news/684659-morspassluzhba-v-finskom-zalive-snyala-s-meli-balker-meghna-princess.html https://mr-7.ru/articles/2025/03/07/zastriavshee-v-finskom-zalive-sudno-megan-printsess-sniali-s-meli-spustia-dva-mesiatsa-news
SIDRA HALIMA
The "Sidra Halima" was detained on March March 6, 2025, in Ambarl with 14 deficiencies, three of which being regarded as seriously and grounds for a detention: 1) Fire safety - Fire doors/openings in fire resisting division Not as required 2) Life saving Appliances - Launching arrangements for rescue boats Inoperative 3) Life saving Appliances - Lifeboats Not properly maintained The vessel was released again on March 6 and left the port en route to Novorossiysk with an ETA as of March 11. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063576908591
LOCH RANZA
The 'Loch Ranza', 206 gt (IMO: 8519887), serving on the route between Tayinloan and Gigha, suffered a technical issue on the morning of March 7, which was addressed in the port of Tayinloan. As a consequence, the scheduled departure from Tayinloan at 09:00 was delayed. It finally departed at 09:20 a.m., 20 minutes late.
SPSL UDEME
In Benin, the public prosecutor of the CRIET requested prison sentences against the crew of the SPSL 'Udeme' as well as police officers and a smuggler. At the hearing on March 6, the public prosecutor made his submissions in the legal procedure, which was initiated after the ship ran aground on the beach of Fidjrossè, 18 people are being prosecuted before the special jurisdiction. Among them, three military sailors, a police officer and the 14 crew members of the ship. The civil servants are accused of "abuse of office". The crew members are being prosecuted for "navigating without a permit and violating the rules". The smuggler is accused of "trafficking in petroleum products". In its submissions, the public prosecutor requested prison sentences ranging from three to five years against eight defendants and acquittal on the benefit of the doubt for ten people. The second deputy special prosecutor, after recalling the facts that motivated the prosecution, requested five years in prison, including two years in prison and one million CFA francs against the head of the information and communication department of the maritime prefecture and the commander of the river police, at the time of the incident. The public prosecutor accuses them of "abuse of office". According to the magistrate's explanations, the two civil servants have contacts with the ship's representative, an informant of theirs. But he allegedly did nothing to secure the ship. The public prosecutor blamed the commander of the Cotonou river base for having summoned some members of the crew after their first arrest. Concerning the informer, smuggler and representative of the ship to the officers, the public prosecutor wants the Court to sentence him to five years in prison and two million CFA francs. The second deputy special prosecutor charges him with "smuggling, complicity in abuse of office and illegal introduction of petroleum products". According to the magistrate, he is the beneficiary of the petroleum product that was being transhipped when the ship had a technical breakdown. Among the 14 crew members, five of them, including the captain of the ship, could spend their next three years in prison and may have to pay two million CFA francs, which were the sentences that the public prosecutor requested for them. They were charged, according to the magistrate, with "navigation without a permit, trafficking in petroleum products, and introduction into Benin's territorial waters". The prosecutor denounced, that they chose to turn off their transponder to avoid being detected. The representative of the public prosecutor requested the confiscation of the ship and all the products it was carrying. He also asked the Court to uphold the civil party represented by the State Judicial Agent (AJE) and to order the defendants to pay the sum of 300 million FCFA claimed by the Beninese State. The public prosecutor, during his requisitions, proposed acquittals. The commander of the Cotonou naval base at the time of the events could be among them. The deputy prosecutor suggested that he be acquitted for the benefit of the doubt. According to the magistrate, the officer did not position himself on any operation when the smuggler contacted him. The smuggler, the magistrate maintains, stated this in his statements before the Court. Like the commander of the naval base, nine other defendants including members of the crew can hope to regain their freedom soon. According to the public prosecutor, these are people who could not prevent what happened. Following the public prosecutor's requisitions, the lawyers pleaded for their clients. Mr. Moustatpha and Mr. Agbanlin requested the acquittal of the members of the ship's crew. According to the counsel, the offenses charged against their clients could not be established because the ship was not in transit in Benin. Had it not been for the breakdown, the lawyers maintained, no one would be talking about the ship. They demanded the pure and simple acquittal of their clients.
JESSICA B
On the morning of Feb 27, 2025, the cargo m/v 'Friends RS 1' (IMO: 7382665) was in allision with the 'Jessica B' in the port of Gemlik, when she was maneuvering to depart from the port stern ahead, and hit the 'Jessica B' at its berth with the port side aft. The 'Jessica B' suffered a puncture at starboard side above the waterline, leading to the discharge of ballast water into the sea under pressure. Authorities initiated a damage assessment on site. The 'Friends RS 1' dropped anchor off Gemlik at 8.50 a.m. UTC in pos. 40° 25' N 029° 05' E. An investigation was launched regarding the extent of any environmental impact and assess potential pollution in the surrounding waters. The 'Jessica B' berthed in Tuzla on March 4, while the 'Friends RS 1' was detained following the investigation and remained moored off Gemlik as of March 10.
CONGA
During the eastbound transit of the Kiel Canal on March 6, 2025, the 'Conga“ suffered engine trouble at 3.30 a.m at the Rade switch. Already short time after entering the waterway on March 5 at 4.20 p.m.,, the ship had suffered engine problems and berthed in Brunsbüttel at 4.40 p.m. It resumed the transit at 7.30 p.m. After the second failure, the tug ' Stein' (IMO: 9241243) was deployed from Kiel and took the tanker in tow along with the tug ' Wulf 4' (IMO: 9639737). The tanker was berthed in the North port of Kiel at 10 a.m. for repairs of the main engine which had been re-started by the crew in the meantime. It had already failed in Brunsbüttel. The authorities issued a sailing ban, and the tanker was subjected to a PSC. The ship was coming from Misurata, where it had delivered cargo of oil from the Russian port Primorsk, where it had sailed on Jan 26. There is no official information about a Russian loading port, the ship was underway for orders. Therefore, the tanker is currently not on the list of 153 ships sanctioned by the EU. However, the "Conga" had already attracted attention in 2024 in connection with oil transports from Russia. On Aug 14,, there was an STS of diesel oil from the Black Sea to the tanker "Kizomba" off Sicily. The 'Conga' left Kiel again on March 8, bound to Misurata with an ETA as of March 12. Report with photo: https://www.kn-online.de/lokales/kiel/russische-schattenflotte-tanker-conga-havariert-im-nord-ostsee-kanal-IDOY2Q56SVHZHLY2IWHUCVN7VQ.html
KAREEM .R
The "Kareem R" was detained on March 6, 2025, in Iskenderun with 14 deficiencies, three of which being seriously an grounds for a detention: 1) Safety of navigation - Nautical publications Expired 2) Fire safety - Remote Means of control (Machinery spaces) Not as required 3) Radio communications - MR Radio Installation Not as required The vessel was released again on March 7 and left the port en route to Damietta with an ETA as of March 10. The last detention was on Jan 25, 2024, in Ambarli with 24 deficiencies for eight days.
SEAJEWEL
The Coast Guard is analyzing the black box of the 'Seajewel', which had suffered an attack while it was unloading its cargo of crude oil at the Sarpom buoys near Savona. The aim of the Genoa DDA is to verify whether the tracker was turned off during the voyage from the oil port of Arzew to Italy. The prosecutor Nicola Piacente and the prosecutor Monica Abbatecola, who have opened an investigation for shipwreck with terrorist purposes, have delegated Digos and the Coast Guard to investigate in detail to discover not only the perpetrators but also the motive for the attack. For this reason, chemical analyses were ordered on the oil and the ship's route, in order to verify any anomalies that could support the hypothesis of a connection between the tanker and the Russian shadow fleet, that traffics Russian oil by triangulating Russian ports with non-European ports or by refueling at sorting centers that operate covertly to sell Russian oil that is under embargo and therefore not marketable in Europe. Among the maneuvers and suspicious transfers cited by activists, one concerns the oil tanker 'Sealeo', which in August, before arriving at the port of Augusta, turned off its tracker for 84 hours. The ship was coming from the Russian port of Novorossiysk and the owner of the 'Sealeo' is Thenamaris, the same as the 'Seajewel' and the 'Seacharm', which suffered an attack in mid-January off the coast of Turkey. Two experts have been appointed by the Genoa Public Prosecutor's Office, Federico Canfarini and the naval engineer Alfredo Lo Noce, to personally verify the hull of the ship, which left Savona on Feb 21 and arrived near Athens on March 26, and has not yet entered the Pureo dock for repairs. As of March 6, it was anchored in pos. 37° 27' N 023° 56' E. The first examination of the images taken by divers showed that the innermost hull of the tanker was dented by the explosion. The attack could have caused serious environmental damage if a second device had exploded together with the first instead of detaching and exploding on the seabed.
ANGVIK
On March 6, 2026, the 'Angvik', serving between Gomalandet, Kirkelandet, Nordlandet and Kristiansund. suffered a mechanical failure off Kristiansund in Møre og Romsdal, and was disabled and adrift. An MOB of Maersk Training in Melkvikan and the lifeboat 'Bergen Kreds' proceeded to assist. The MOB kept the ship in a safe distance from the nearby rocks amid a light gale from the west with a wind gusts of 22 m/s. The lifeboat then went alongside and pulled the ferryboat to a berth in Kristiansund, where troubleshooting and repairs commenced with mechanics of Kystvågen. The service was cancelled as the other ship, the 'Framnæs', could not be put into operation, as the rafts did not return from certification by Certex until March 7, when the 'Framnæs' could enter the regular route at 07:00 a.m. Report with photos: https://www.brunsvika.net/nyhetsarkiv-alle-artikler/32183-maersk-training-forst-til-sundbaten
FRIENDS RS 1
After - on the morning of Feb 27 - the 'Friends RS 1' was in allision with the cargo m/v 'Jessica B' (IMO: 9262534), in the port of Gemlik, on March 1 she was detained in the port with 24 deficiencies, 12 of which being regarded as seriously and grounds for a detention following the damage investigations: 1) Pollution Prevention - Ballast Water Record Book Entries missing 2) Certificate & Doc - Oil record book Entries missing 3) Structural conditions - Decks - Cracking Damaged 4) Structural conditions - Bulkhead - cracking Damaged 5) Structural conditions - Other (Structural conditions) Other 6) Emergency systems - Abandon ship drill Insufficient frequency 7) Safety of navigation - Charts Not updated 8)) Life saving Appliances - Inflatable liferafts Not ready for use 9) Life saving Appliances - Embarkation arrangement survival craft Not properly maintained 10) Life saving Appliances - Lifeboat inventory Not as required 11) Fire safety - Other (Fire safety) Other 12) ISM - Ism certificate Not as required The vessel was released again on March 5 and remained moored at Gemlik Anchorage in pos. 40° 25' N 029° 05' E as of March 10. The 'Jessica B' berthed in Tuzla on March 4, https://www.facebook.com/share/p/12HRMXiQiZf/
MAYA S
The "Maya S" was detained on March 4, 2025 in Aliaga with 15 deficiencies, one of which being regarded as serious and a ground for a detention: 1) Fire safety - Fire pumps and its pipes Not as required The vessel was released again on March 7 and left the port en route to Braila with an ETA as of March 11. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063576908591
NRP POLAR
On the early morning of March 5, 2025, the 'Polar' sank at its mooring at Lisbon’s Alfeite Naval base following a rapid entry of water. It came to rest on a water depth of 30 metres. There were no victims nor any danger of pollution resulting from the shipwreck. The instruction sailboat used since 1985 to train cadets at the Naval School, was already being worked on by technical teams to refloat it. It was built in 1977 as ''Anne Line' at the Phoenix B.V. shipyard in Westerbroeck, Rotterdam. Initially registered in Viersen (FRG), it operated on cruises until 1982. In 1983, the Portuguese Navy incorporated it into its fleet and it was used to train cadets. Since 1985, it has served as a training ship for the Naval School, playing a fundamental role in the training of future naval officers.
PENELOPE A
Beached at Aliaga 06.03.25 towed by Protug 40 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10161205504070036&set=g.6884293942