Wait times of more than two hours reported at terminal for cross-Channel ferry to France
French police have temporarily suspended extra EU border checks at the port of Dover as thousands of holidaymakers face long delays in the hot weather.
Waiting times of more than two hours were reported at the terminal in Kent for the cross-Channel ferry to France.
Continue reading...Port has upgraded offshore wind facilities and is to expand quays, ferry terminals and cruise ship services
The operator of Belfast harbour plans to spend £1.3bn over the next 25 years to take advantage of strong economic growth in Northern Ireland, in what would be one of the largest non-governmental investments in the region’s history.
The Belfast Harbour Commissioners said the money would be spent on upgrading the port, with the possibility of residential property developments that could add another £750m in investment on top.
Continue reading...Docked ship reportedly seized outside UAE port by “unauthorised personnel”
The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has said ships entering the strait of Hormuz must cooperate with the Iranian navy as reports emerged of a ship being seized outside a United Arab Emirate port and taken towards Iranian waters.
The UK Maritime Trading Organisation said the docked ship was seized by “unauthorised personnel” while it was anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah near the southern entry to the strait of Hormuz.
Continue reading...Thirty years after first person-to-person transmission was documented in Patagonia, scientists say global heating could increase world’s exposure
An outbreak in rural communities 30 years ago in the Patagonia area of Argentina led scientists, for the first time, to document person-to-person transmission of hantavirus, which until then had been known only to spread through contact with rodents.
Nearly a decade ago another outbreak, also in Patagonia, provided detailed evidence of inter-human transmission when an infected 68-year-old rural worker attended a birthday party in a small village. The infection spread and resulted in 11 deaths.
Continue reading...British guide Martin Anstee, 56, among those evacuated from MV Hondius, which is now heading for Canary Islands
Three people with suspected hantavirus have been medically evacuated from a cruise ship.
They include a British man who was an expedition guide onboard the ship, the MV Hondius. He was named on Wednesday evening as Martin Anstee, 56.
Continue reading...WHO says seven confirmed or suspected cases of hantavirus on MV Hondius, including three passengers who died
A British crew member was in need of urgent medical care and a passenger from the UK remained in a critical but stable condition following a suspected outbreak of hantavirus on a luxury cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Three people have died and medics on Monday were scrambling to evacuate two others from the MV Hondius, which set off in March from southern Argentina carrying 149 people from 23 countries. The crisis emerged late on Sunday after the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was investigating a suspected outbreak.
Continue reading...Fears of ecological disaster as vessel continues to drift after being struck by suspected drone attack
A severely damaged Russian tanker carrying liquified natural gas that has been adrift in the Mediterranean for two weeks, raising concerns of an ecological disaster, has floated into Libyan waters, Italy’s civil protection agency said on Wednesday.
The Arctic Metagaz was part of a Russian “shadow fleet” used to circumvent sanctions imposed on the country’s oil and gas after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It was struck in a suspected drone attack close to Maltese waters earlier this month, causing a huge hole. The crew is believed to have been rescued between Malta and Libya.
Continue reading...DFDS says film was broadcast mistakenly to passengers who had been watching F1 race on France-UK service
A ferry company has apologised after children were left “screaming” when a pornographic film was played on one of its ships from France to Sussex.
DFDS said it was “very sorry” over the incident, which happened onboard the ferry from Dieppe in France to Newhaven.
Continue reading...Experts say hi-tech Fujian will help expand country’s military influence and reach farther beyond its own waters
China’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier officially entered service this week, signalling a new era in Chinese military expansion after a ceremony overseen by the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, state media has confirmed.
The Fujian is China’s first domestically designed and built aircraft carrier, and the third for China’s rapidly expanding navy, which is already the world’s biggest by ship count.
Continue reading...Protest vessel intercepted in the early hours of Friday morning 42.5 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza
The last boat of the 42 vessels in the Gaza humanitarian flotillathat sought to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade has been intercepted by Israeli forces.
A live stream from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) had late on Thursday evening shown the Polish-flagged sailing boat Marinette still “sailing strong towards Gaza” after the Israeli government claimed to have halted the flotilla carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Greta Thunberg.
Continue reading...Greek-owned carrier Eternity C attacked by rebels who claim to have sunk another vessel
Two seafarers on a bulk carrier have been killed in a drone and speedboat attack in the Red Sea blamed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the second incident in a day after months of calm.
The Red Sea, which passes Yemen’s coast, is a critical waterway for oil and commodities but traffic has dropped since the Iran-aligned Houthi militia began targeting ships in November 2023 in what they said was solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Continue reading...Boat overturned after apparently being hit by a large swell, in a region that’s a popular spot with tourists
Six people have died and two others were missing after a boat capsized on Saturday on California’s Lake Tahoe, local authorities have said.
A 27ft-long boat overturned in the afternoon after apparently being hit by a large swell near DL Bliss state park, according to the Coast Guard. Lake Tahoe and its surrounding wilderness region is a hugely popular spot with tourists.
Continue reading...Search for family from Texas was launched in August after report came in that a boat carrying eight people had begun taking on water
Nearly a year after the US Coast Guard suspended the search for a family of four missing after the boat they were on capsized in waters off south-central Alaska, the vessel along with human remains have been found, officials said Wednesday.
The discovery came after three private Alaska companies, including one that uses sonar equipment to search underwater, offered in April to help look for the family, who are from Texas, according to a statement released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety.
Continue reading...UK tech entrepreneur and his daughter were among seven killed when the Bayesian sank in a violent storm
A 55-metre (180ft) barge carrying a heavy-lift crane has begun work to raise the British-flagged superyacht Bayesian from the seabed off Sicily, where it sank last summer killing seven people including the UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch.
The barge, named Hebo Lift 2, with its 700-sq-metre deck, specialist diving apparatus and a remotely operated underwater vehicle, arrived last week in Porticello, a fishing port near Palermo, where marine salvage experts have started operations to raise the Bayesian.
Continue reading...Police declare ‘mass casualty incident’ due to the number of injuries, and say boat that caused accident fled the scene
A boat crashed into a ferry transporting 45 people on the final day of a sand-sculpting festival in Florida, killing one person and injuring at least 12 others, officials said.
The crash late on Sunday in calm waters off Clearwater on the western Florida coast set off an emergency response due to the high number of possible casualties.
“We were just enjoying the ride and all of a sudden we heard the first mate yelling: ‘Hey, hey, hey,’” Marco Vacheco, who was on the ferry with Brenda Alvarez and their two young children, told WFTS. “And we looked back behind us and this big yacht just came through the boat.”
The boat then fled the scene, authorities said.
The Clearwater police department posted on X that there were multiple injuries and the crash had been declared “a mass casualty incident” by the Clearwater fire & rescue department due to the number of injuries.
Continue reading...Another 39 people rescued and brought to shore after incident on vessel at Red Sea resort
Six Russian tourists have died and 39 people have been rescued after a submarine sank near the resort of Hurghada, the latest in a series of fatal accidents involving tourists on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.
Four survivors, including at least one child, were admitted to intensive care, according to an official statement.
Continue reading...Many of 27 people who drowned in 2021 might have survived if rescue services had searched for longer, lawyers argue
Many of the people who drowned in the biggest ever loss of life in a migrant dinghy in the Channel could have been saved if rescue services had searched for them for longer, lawyers for their families have said.
Their comments came after the independent Cranston inquiry, which is scrutinising the circumstances surrounding the mass drowning, heard evidence from an expert into survivability in the water.
Continue reading...Five more rescued and seven still missing from the Sea Story, which was carrying 30 tourists and 14 crew
Egyptian naval forces recovered four bodies and rescued five more people from the Red Sea a day after a large tourist boat sank in rough waters, officials have said. Seven people are still missing.
The Red Sea governor, Amr Hanafi, said the yacht, called Sea Story, had been struck by high waves on Monday and sank in less than 7 minutes.
Continue reading...Sea Story was on diving trip with 31 tourists and 14 crew when it sent distress signal
Two Britons are reported to be among 16 people missing after a tourist boat on a diving trip capsized in the Red Sea.
The Sea Story was carrying 30 tourists from several countries and 14 crew when it sent a distress signal at 5.30am local time (0330 GMT), according to Egypt’s Red Sea governorate.
Continue reading...Labour clamps down on poor working conditions at sea with laws on collective dismissal and minimum wage on cross-Channel ferries
Laws to ensure that the P&O Ferries mass sackings scandal can never recur will be laid before parliament this week as Labour clamps downs on poor working conditions at sea, with cruise and cargo ships also in its sights.
The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, said the new laws would close the loopholes exploited by P&O when it fired 800 crew without warning in 2022, and any company would now face unlimited fines for acting in such a way.
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