German authorities say buildup on river not caused by water levels despite record lows caused by drought
About 20 ships were stuck in traffic along Germany’s Rhine River after a vessel’s engine failure temporarily closed part of the waterway.
A ship with a 1,660-ton load was forced to drop anchor due to an engine failure, closing traffic between Sankt Goar and Oberwesel, river police said.
Continue reading...Owners prioritise multimillion-pound shareholder dividends over paying decent wages, says union
Dockers at Felixstowe are planning eight days of strike action over pay that could cause serious disruption to the UK’s largest container port.
Nearly 1,900 workers plan to stop work for more than a week at the Hong Kong-owned port, starting on Sunday 21 August and ending on Monday 29 August, according to the union Unite. The workers voted 92% in favour of strike action last week.
Continue reading...Fewer than 340 North Atlantic right whales remain and vessel strikes are among the biggest threats to the species
Vessels off the US east coast must slow down more often to help save a vanishing species of whale from extinction, the federal government said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made the announcement via new proposed rules designed to prevent ships colliding with North Atlantic right whales.
Continue reading...Vessel off Yemen with more than 1m barrels of oil aboard has been stranded for six years and is close to breaking up
A rare UN appeal to the public to raise $20m is to be launched on Tuesday in an attempt to prevent an environmental catastrophe caused by the potential break-up of an oil tanker off the coast of Yemen.
The money is needed to offload more than 1.14m barrels of oil that have been sitting in the decrepit cargo ship, Safer, for more than six years because of an impasse between Houthi groups and the Saudi-backed government over ownership and responsibility.
Continue reading...Vessels with ties to Russian oligarchs hit by sanctions are no longer reporting their position to an automatic global locator
In the sparkling azure waters of Antigua, the gleaming £95m superyacht Alfa Nero could be seen at anchor last week by sightseers enjoying the Caribbean coastline. But few of the tourists who spotted its sleek black hull would have appreciated that it was quite a find.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the superyacht, which is linked to the Russian billionaire Andrey Guryev, has vanished off the global tracking maps used to locate marine traffic.
Continue reading...EasyJet cancelled 14 flights, while ferry passengers at Dover face queues, and jams await drivers
Half-term holidaymakers are navigating the busiest day at British airports since the start of the pandemic with some hit by further flight cancellations, while cross-Channel ferry passengers face long queues at Dover and drivers are warned to expect jams.
EasyJet cancelled 14 more flights at London Gatwick in the early morning peak, in the aftermath of IT problems on Thursday that took out 200 of its flights around Europe.
Continue reading...Ship carrying 750 tonnes of fuel from Egypt to Malta ran into difficulty in bad weather on Friday evening
A tanker carrying 750 tonnes of diesel fuel from Egypt to Malta sank in the Gulf of Gabes off Tunisia’s south-east coast, sparking a rush to avoid a spill.
The Equatorial Guinea-flagged Xelo was sailing from the Egyptian port of Damietta to Malta when it requested entry to Tunisian waters on Friday evening owing to bad weather.
Continue reading...John Lansdown seeking up to £76m, which he will use to set up trust to help fellow seafarers
A former P&O Ferries chef is suing the company for £76m over its decision to sack almost 800 staff without notice last month.
John Lansdown, the only seafarer to launch a legal action, has filed a tribunal claim against the company and its chief executive for unfair dismissal, racial discrimination and harassment.
Continue reading...Global Ports Holding facility in Turkey may be breaching UK sanctions by letting vessel dock, say lawyers
A London-headquartered port operator could be breaching sanctions laws by allowing Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to dock his $600m (£460m) superyacht Solaris at a port that it operates in Turkey.
Legal experts said Global Ports Holding, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2007, was taking “a very big risk” by allowing a superyacht owned by a sanctioned individual to use one of its ports.
Continue reading...Latest updates: the PM is facing questions at the liaison committee, which is comprised of the chairs of the Commons select committees
Betts asks Harrington how many people have actually arrived in the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Harrington says it is too early to say, but he says he may be able to tell the committee at the end of the week.
Harrington said that he agreed it took too long to fill in a visa application form. He said at the weekend he spent just under under an hour filling out one out himself, and he was in a more comfortable situation than the refugees who have to fill them out. He said the government was looking at what it can do to make the forms shorter.
Continue reading...Latest updates: warning comes as chancellor is to face Commons Treasury committee this afternoon amid criticism over his spring statement
Q: Is it right for trans women to be able to compete in women’s sports?
Starmer says that should be a matter for the sporting authorities.
I spent a lot of my working life dealing with violence against women and girls first-hand, and I know from that experience, just how important it is to fight for women and fight for equality.
We have had legislation in this country which makes it clear that in some circumstances, particularly at the moment under the law when you’ve gone through a process, you can be recognised in the gender of your choosing, that’s been the position for over a decade now ...
But I equally - I want to be really clear about this - I am an advocate of safe spaces for women.
I don’t think that discussing this issue in this way helps anyone in the long run.
What I want to see is a reform of the law as it is, but I am also an advocate of safe spaces for women and I want to have a discussion that is ... anybody who genuinely wants to find a way through this, I want to discuss that with, and I do find that too many people - in my view - retreat or hold a position of which is intolerant of others.
Of course there are circumstances and anybody who insults family members excites something quite emotional in all of us.
But, on the other hand, to go up and hit someone in that way is wrong, I’m afraid. It was the wrong thing to do.
Continue reading...Demonstrations come after the firm sack 800 staff and the European Causeway ship is detained for being ‘unfit to sail’
Protests are taking place at UK ports over the sacking of hundreds of seafarers, as calls grow for a P&O Ferries’ boss to quit.
The demonstrations come after a ship operated by the ferry firm was detained for being “unfit to sail”.
Continue reading...Latest updates: transport committee chair calls on Peter Hebblethwaite to resign after admitting company chose to sack staff without consultation
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, has delivered his considered verdict on the spring statement at a briefing.
He dismissed Rishi Sunak as a “fiscal illusionist” and warned that public sector workers face “hefty” real-terms pay cuts in the future under Sunak’s plans. He said:
Mr Sunak has proved to be something of a fiscal illusionist. He told us that he cut taxes yesterday. In a sense he did. He increased the floor for NICs and promised a cut in income tax in 2024. So Mr Sunak’s statement contained big new tax cuts. But it also allowed taxes to rise. He can now expect to raise more in tax as a share of national income by 2025 than he expected last October. In fact, taxes are set to rise to their highest level as a fraction of national income since Clement Attlee was prime minister. Not my comparison, that comes directly from the OBR.
[Sunak] is also effectively cutting spending on public services in real terms relative to previous plans. Yesterday he offered them no extra cash at all to deal with higher inflation. The exact scale of this cut relative to previous plans is a little uncertain, but it is significant. It will almost certainly mean some more hefty real pay cuts across the public sector, coming on top of cuts both in real terms and relative to the private sector over the last 12 years.
This is a tax raising chancellor. The tax burden is the highest it’s been since the 1940s.
The chancellor can say as many times as he likes that he’s a tax-cutting chancellor but it’s a bit like a kid in his bedroom playing air guitar – he’s not a rockstar.
The problem is for this chancellor, is that by the end of this parliament seven out of eight people will be paying more taxes – only one in eight will be paying less taxes.
That’s a disaster for working people, for the poorest people in society who are struggling with rising food prices, rising petrol prices and most of all the big increases in tax and electricity bills.
Continue reading...Action comes as Lloyd’s of London returns to profit but warns Ukraine war will present ‘major claim’
• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates
Lloyd’s of London has said it is working with the UK government to implement sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine as fast as possible, including cancelling Russian firms’ insurance cover.
Announcing a swing back to an annual profit as it recovers from the pandemic, the world’s biggest insurance market warned that the war will present a “major claim” for the insurance market this year, but said it was “manageable”.
Continue reading...Union leaders call for employment bill and accuse ministers of failing to challenge sacking of 800 staff
Ministers have serious questions to answer on the growing scandal at P&O Ferries and must make it a catalyst to improve workers’ rights, the Trades Union Congress said on Sunday.
The TUC accused the government of sitting on its hands and failing to protect workers after P&O sacked 800 staff on Thursday with a plan to replace them with cheaper agency workers. It has emerged that ministers were informed in advance about the mass redundancies.
Continue reading...Government accused by Labour of complicity in ferry company’s shock decision to cut 800 UK-based jobs
Government ministers knew about P&O Ferries’ plan to slash 800 jobs before staff were informed but were told by officials it would ensure the firm remained “a key player in the UK market for years to come”, it was claimed on Saturday.
A leaked memo, apparently written by a senior Whitehall official, justified the mass redundancies, stating that “without these decisions, an estimated 2,200 staff would likely lose their jobs”.
Continue reading...Business secretary suggests company appears not to have followed processes for large-scale redundancies
The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, has warned P&O Ferries it could face an unlimited fine if its summary sacking of 800 British staff is found to have breached the law, as protests against the company’s actions took place at ports across the country.
Writing to the company on Friday, Kwarteng said he wanted to express, “in the strongest possible terms, the UK government’s anger and disappointment”.
Continue reading...Analysis: The economic model of the firm, ultimately owned by Dubai royalty, was under question even before the mass sackings
• Angry protests against P&O Ferries take place at UK ports
When Dubai Ports Ltd first bought up the ports and ships of P&O 16 years ago, the question that preoccupied a country reeling from the 2005 Islamist terrorist attacks was Britain’s physical security.
Now, the questions are focused on the economic security of Britain’s workforce.
Continue reading...Analysis: UK government claimed EU exit would let it change employment law, but it has not yet done so
To the layperson, the unceremonious sacking of 800 P&O Ferries workers may look like a consequence of Britain leaving the EU, with any legal action by the trade unions turning into the first big test of workers’ rights post-Brexit.
Despite Boris Johnson’s assurances that Britain’s departure from the EU would be better for UK workers, there have been fears it would be seen by the government as an opportunity to erode workers’ rights in a bid to increase competitiveness.
Continue reading...Labour and unions demand immediate action including suspending licences of parent company DP World
Unions and the Labour party have demanded immediate action over the sacking of 800 British crew by P&O Ferries, including suspending the licences of its parent company, DP World, as it emerged the government was made aware of the move the previous night.
Amid public calls for a boycott of P&O and protests at ports, unions demanded the government urge the firm to reverse its decision, and curb DP World’s involvement in planned freeports.
Continue reading...