Analysis: blockage of route through Egypt provides a reminder of its importance to global trade
The impressive span of Al Salam Bridge at El Qantara in Egypt gives a unique view over the Suez canal.
On a normal day a procession of bulk carriers in convoys can be seen for miles creeping into the hazy distance on both sides.
Continue reading...A container ship heading to Rotterdam has run aground in the Suez canal, blocking other vessels from passing through one of the world’s most important waterways. Video posted to social media showed a traffic jam of ships. The 200,000-tonne ship, the Ever Given, is 400 metres long (1,312ft) and 59 metres wide (193ft)
Continue reading...Short-sailings around UK with dining and entertainment to restart but ships will not call at ports
Cruise operator P&O is to restart domestic holidays this summer, but only for UK residents who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
After its fleet has been grounded for over a year, P&O is dipping its toes back in the water by offering passengers short sailings on two of its ships around the UK coastline. Coronavirus restrictions mean the ships will not call at any ports, although there will be the usual onboard dining and entertainment programme.
Continue reading...Five seafarers are stuck in limbo on a beached tanker after a long, terrifying ordeal of abandonment
Tourists are more accustomed to seeing kite surfers or kayaks off the idyllic coast of Umm Al Quwain, in the United Arab Emirates. But today they have gathered on sun loungers to sip coffee and gaze at the unusual sight of a 5,000-ton oil tanker grounded on the sand.
For the crew inside the Panama-flagged MT Iba, however, being grounded on the beach marks another harrowing chapter in an almost four-year ordeal at sea.
Continue reading...‘Legally and morally wrong to expect seafarers to work indefinitely while depriving them of their fundamental rights’
Governments around the world have breached the rights of seafarers during the Covid-19 pandemic, creating a “humanitarian crisis” in which hundreds of thousands of workers are stranded onboard ships, said a UN panel on labour rights in a landmark ruling.
Seafarers had reported physical and mental exhaustion, anxiety and sickness after spending months on board ship during the pandemic. There were also cases of people taking their own lives. Hundreds of people were denied medical care ashore, resulting in a number of deaths, said the UN’s International Labour Organization’s committee of experts.
Continue reading...Inquiry into encounters off coasts of Spain and Portugal says speed could be a factor
Experts investigating a series of extraordinary encounters between orcas and yachts off the coasts of Spain and Portugal believe the animals responsible may have been triggered to target boat rudders by an earlier “aversive incident” involving some kind of vessel.
Related: 'They were having a real go': man tells of orca encounter off Spain
Continue reading...Sweden, Finland and Estonia to jointly assess new information on 1994 sinking of MS Estonia
Nordic leaders have announced that they will examine evidence from a new television documentary that could shatter the official explanation of how 852 people died in a 1994 ferry sinking in the Baltic Sea.
The makers of the five-part documentary series, which was released for streaming on Monday, claimed to have found a hitherto unrecorded four-metre hole in the hull of the MS Estonia.
Continue reading...Revival prompts calls to divert boats to help protect native Indo-Pacific humpbacks
Large numbers of dolphins returned to Hong Kong waters within weeks of the Covid-19 crisis shutting down high-speed ferries, and researchers are now calling for protections before the ferries resume.
Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as Chinese white dolphins and pink dolphins, are native to the Pearl River estuary, but typically avoided the waters between Hong Kong and Macau because of the high volume of high-speed boats.
Continue reading...Rescuers search for more than 40 crew from ship carrying 6,000 cattle that went down en route from New Zealand to China
A second survivor from a cargo ship carrying 6,000 cattle that capsized off southwest Japan has died after being pulled from the water unconscious on Friday.
The Japanese coast guard said the man had been unresponsive when he was found about 120 km (75 miles) north-northwest of Amami Oshima island and transferred to a hospital.
Continue reading...Dispute over exploration of energy reserves in eastern Mediterranean escalates
Greece has placed its military forces on high alert, recalling its naval and air force officers from holiday, as tensions with Turkey over exploration of potentially lucrative offshore energy reserves escalate in the eastern Mediterranean.
With Ankara dispatching the Oruç Reis, a drillship escorted by gunboats, to conduct seismic research in contested waters, Athens stepped up calls for Turkey to stop the “illegal” activities, intensifying a diplomatic offensive that has prompted the US, EU, France and Israel to express growing anxiety over the situation.
Continue reading...MV Wakashio breaking up after running aground at Pointe d’Esny near marine park
The Indian Ocean island of Mauritius is facing an environmental crisis after oil began leaking from a bulk carrier that ran aground in March and started to break up in rough seas.
“We are in an environmental crisis situation,” said the environment minister, Kavy Ramano, while the fishing minister, Sudheer Maudhoo, said: “This is the first time that we are faced with a catastrophe of this kind and we are insufficiently equipped to handle this problem.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Opponents claim exemptions to rules could mean great economic pain for little public health benefit
Tens of thousands of new arrivals to the UK will be able to go food shopping, change accommodation and use public transport from airports during a 14-day quarantine imposed to prevent a second wave of coronavirus, under draft plans to be laid before parliament.
The Guardian understands that about a fifth of people are expected to receive a spot-check to ensure that they are staying at the address or addresses they have provided to the authorities, but enforcement of the quarantine will be limited.
Continue reading...‘Ticking time bomb’ as contracts aren’t honoured and ports stop crews going ashore even for urgent medical care
Thomas Stapley-Bunten was due to finish his contract aboard the Al Shamal, a huge cargo ship carrying liquid natural gas, early last month. The ship docked at the LNG terminal in Fos Cavaou, southern France, as planned, but by then the world was in coronavirus lockdown. He couldn’t disembark, and international flights were grounded, preventing him from getting home to Newcastle, UK.
So the 27-year-old former Royal Navy warfare officer has been stuck onboard as the Al Shamal criss-crosses the ocean from Qatar to Turkey and France and back. The 34-man crew, from the Philippines, India, Russia and Ireland, have had their pay increased by 50%, but they just want to go home.
Continue reading...Cargo ship ran aground near Cork after floating in the Atlantic since September 2018
It leans on the rocks at an almost jaunty angle, framed by the horizon whence it came, not a soul in sight.
MV Alta, a ghost ship that traversed the Atlantic for more than a year without crew or passengers, berthed at last. The 77-metre cargo vessel’s odyssey came to an end during Storm Dennis last Sunday when it ran aground near Ballycotton, a fishing village in County Cork, Ireland, overlooking the Celtic Sea.
Continue reading...Public warned away from MV Alta, which ran aground on Cork coast during Storm Dennis
Abandoned by its crew, the cargo vessel made a lonely odyssey across the Atlantic, a ghost ship seemingly destined never to make port.
The 77-metre MV Alta drifted for over a year, skirting the Americas, Africa and Europe, rusting and derelict yet resolutely afloat.
Continue reading...Passengers aboard the MS Westerdam cruise ship, which was turned away by five countries over coronavirus fears, were allowed to disembark in Cambodia on Friday.
After tests, no one onboard was found to be carrying the Covid-19 virus, and the Cambodian prime minister, Hun Sen, personally greeted the passengers with handshakes and floral bouquets as they stepped off the ship on to a waiting bus
Continue reading...Microsoft billionaire’s innovative and eco-fuelled 112m Aqua vessel to launch after 2024
Bill Gates has ordered the world’s first hydrogen-powered superyacht, worth an estimated £500m ($644m) and featuring an infinity pool, helipad, spa and gym.
The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft has commissioned the Aqua ship – a 112-metre (370ft) luxury vessel completely powered by liquid hydrogen – which was publicised last year at the Monaco yacht show by the Dutch design firm Sinot.
Continue reading...Transport and manufacturing heads criticise paperwork needed to trade with GB
The “straightforward” document that Northern Irish businesses will need to complete to send goods to Great Britain after Brexit is a complex form that includes 31 data elements, it can be revealed.
The Freight Transport Association has raised concerns that hauliers could be fined if they get elements of the “exit summary declaration” wrong, and is calling on the EU and the UK to remove it during their negotiations.
Continue reading...Crew of the Queen Hind saved with 32 sheep but work continues to free thousands stuck in ship’s hold
Rescuers were struggling to save 14,600 sheep after the cargo ship they were being carried on capsized in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania.
The Queen Hind, bound for Saudi Arabia, overturned on Sunday shortly after leaving Romania’s Midia port.
Continue reading...Officer Giorgios Marietakis describes sailor Kushila Stein’s rescue after she lost an oar
On a rescue mission, Capt Giorgos Marietakis only ever has one rule: to tune into his senses and envision the person he is out to save. On Sunday, he put himself into what he imagined would be the mindset of Kushila Stein, a 45-year-old New Zealand woman lost at sea for close to three days.
“I had an image of her being hungry and thirsty,” he said. “I tried to get into her head and think of what she would do. I imagined her beginning to despair and I thought of her doing whatever she could to survive.”
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