Category Archives: Shipping industry

Explosion at Dubai’s Jebel Ali port sends tremors across city

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Fiery blast on container ship was powerful enough to be seen from space by satellite

A container ship anchored at Dubai’s port caught fire late on Wednesday, causing a huge explosion that sent tremors across the United Arab Emirates’ commercial hub.

The blaze sent up giant orange flames on a vessel at the crucial Jebel Ali port, the busiest in the Middle East, and unleashed a shock wave through the skyscraper-studded city, causing walls and windows to shake in neighbourhoods as far as 25 kilometres (15 miles) away.

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Recipe for inflation: how Brexit and Covid made tinned tomatoes a lot dearer

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Combine the pandemic with rising raw material costs, stir in a labour shortage, a twist of Brexit, add a pinch of poor weather and voila …

Tinned tomatoes are a taken-for-granted store cupboard staple, relied upon by Britons to whip up home cooked favourites such as spaghetti bolognese. But the price could soon make you take notice, amid warnings of higher shopping bills, set against a backdrop of soaring global food prices.

From the packaging to the transportation and the energy used in manufacturing, nearly all aspects of the production of this popular ingredient now cost more. The crushed tomatoes alone are 30% dearer than a year ago, at €0.48 per kilo. The same pressures are driving the prices of many foods higher, meaning Britons will probably face bigger bills for groceries or meals out this autumn.

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‘We were deceived’: hundreds protest in Venice at return of giant cruise ships

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Ban on huge vessels passing St Mark’s Square proves to be temporary after liner docks in city for first time in 17 months

Anti-cruise ship campaigners in Venice claim they were “deceived” by the Italian government as hundreds protested against huge vessels docking in the historic city’s port on Saturday.

Residents were caught by surprise on Thursday when a cruise liner sailed into the lagoon city for the first time since the pandemic began, despite prime minister Mario Draghi’s government declaring that the ships would be banned from the historic centre. The 92,000 tonne ship MSC Orchestra collected 650 passengers before leaving for Bari, in southern Italy, on Saturday.

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Twelve crew rescued from cargo ship adrift in huge seas off Norway

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Four crew jump off stern as Dutch ship listed dangerously, while remaining eight airlifted off deck

A Dutch cargo ship is adrift in the Norwegian Sea after all of its crew members were airlifted, with some having to jump into the rough waters to be rescued.

The Eemslift Hendrika, which was carrying several smaller boats from Bremerhaven in Germany to Kolvereid in Norway, made a distress call Monday, reporting a heavy list after stormy weather displaced some of its cargo.

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Suez canal blockage: last of the stranded ships pass through waterway

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Canal authority says investigation into the cause of Ever Given grounding is nearing completion

The last ships stranded by the grounding of a giant container vessel in the Suez canal passed through the waterway on Saturday, according to the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

More than 400 vessels were stranded in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea when the giant container ship Ever Given became wedged across the vital waterway on 23 March. The ship was freed on Monday.

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Who pays for Suez blockage? Ever Given grounding could spark years of litigation

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Ship likely to be centre of protracted legal battle over what caused it to run aground in the Suez and who is to blame

After hauling its 220,000-ton bulk down the Suez canal a week after blocking the essential waterway, the Ever Given container ship is likely to become the centre of a protracted battle over who will pay for its rescue.

The 400-metre-long vessel was aground on the banks of the Suez canal for a week, causing an estimated £7bn loss each day in trade owing to ships stuck on either side, and up to £10.9m a day for the canal. “We managed to refloat the ship in record time. If such a crisis had occurred anywhere else in the world, it would have taken three months to be solved,” said Osama Rabie, the head of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA).

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Suez canal ship freed and heading to lake for inspections – video

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A vast container ship that had blocked the Suez canal in Egypt for almost a week has been completely refloated by salvage teams with the help of tides that swelled to their highest point with the full moon. Dredgers and excavators worked throughout the weekend to dislodge thousands of cubic metres of sand caked around the 400-metre-long Ever Given ship. Tugboats managed in the early hours of Monday first to move it, then pull it free. The vessel is being hauled to a lake where it will undergo technical inspections

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Suez ship partially refloated but bow remains stuck – video

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A vast container ship blocking the Suez canal in Egypt for almost a week has been partially refloated, but the vessel’s bulbous bow – or front end – is still stuck at the canal’s edge.

Dredgers, excavators and tugboats worked throughout the weekend fighting changing wind conditions and the tide to dislodge thousands of cubic metres of sand caked around the 400-metre-long Ever Given ship, managing in the early hours of Monday to first move it, then pull it free. Further tugging operations will resume once the tide rises later on Monday

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Suez canal: Ever Given container ship freed after a week

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Salvage teams and strong tides help to refloat vessel that had blocked key trading artery

Salvage teams succeeded on Monday in freeing a massive container ship that had been stuck in the Suez canal for the past seven days, blocking billions of dollars’ worth of cargo from crossing one of the world’s busiest marine waterways.

Insurers, the shipping industry and the thousands of businesses reliant on container goods were still counting the cost of the accident as traffic resumed in the evening with more than 422 vessels, carrying a vast range of items from crude oil to cattle, waiting to cross.

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Stranding of Ever Given in Suez canal was foreseen by many – analysis

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Analysis: As ships ballooned in size, worst-case scenario was flagged up by organisations such as OECD

Authorities have blamed strong winds, possible technical faults or human error for the stranding of the Ever Given in the Suez canal.

But the running aground of the “megaship” – which salvage teams continued to try to free on Sunday as preparations were made for the possible removal of some of its containers – and the disruption of more than 10% of global trade, has been in the making for years longer according to analysts, who say an accident of this magnitude was foreseeable and warnings were ignored.

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How the Suez canal blockage can seriously dent world trade

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Analysis: 12% of global shipping uses the canal with any delays disrupting supply chains, fuelling shortages and hiking prices

World trade’s pre-eminent shortcut – the Suez Canal – is facing “massive” disruption which could cause cargo delays around the globe, shipping experts warned on Friday.

The narrow, 120-mile passage of water linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean allows ships of colossal proportions to navigate a relatively direct route from Asia to Europe, rather than taking a 3,500-mile diversion around Africa.

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Efforts to dislodge Ever Given in Suez canal continue – video

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Efforts to dislodge the stricken container ship blocking the Suez canal continue as fears mount that the operation could take weeks. The 400-metre-long Ever Given ran aground on Tuesday and has blocked traffic through one of the world's busiest shipping routes 

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Suez canal: Dutch and Japanese teams brought in to help free ship

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Salvage teams from Netherlands and Japan called in to help refloat Ever Given, which is blocking canal

Salvage teams from the Netherlands and Japan have been enlisted to redraw plans to free a giant container ship blocking the Suez canal, as fears grew that the operation could take weeks.

Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine Corp, which leased the vessel, said the Dutch firm Smit Salvage and Japan’s Nippon Salvage had been appointed by the ship’s owner and would work alongside its captain and the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on a plan to refloat the ship and let traffic resume on one of the world’s key trade routes.

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How a container ship blocked the Suez canal – visual guide

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The Ever Given, a 220,000-ton, ‘megaship’, became lodged in sand on eastern bank of canal on Tuesday

A container ship nearly 100 metres longer than the height of London’s Shard ran aground on Tuesday morning in the Suez canal, blocking one of the most vital arteries of the global economy.

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Container ship runs aground in Suez canal causing traffic jam – video

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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)

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P&O to restart UK cruises this summer – but only for vaccinated passengers

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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.

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Bangladesh shipbreakers win right to sue UK owners in landmark ruling

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Appeal court clears wife to sue company in London over husband’s death while helping to scrap tanker in Chittagong

British shipping companies that sell old vessels to be scrapped cheaply in dangerous, low-paid conditions in Bangladesh, India or Pakistan may now be sued in London for workers’ deaths or injuries.

In the first ruling of its kind by any higher court anywhere in the world, the court of appeal of England and Wales has held that a shipping company in London selling a vessel in south Asia could owe a legal “duty of care” to shipbreaking workers in Bangladesh even where there are multiple third parties involved in the transaction.

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Crew of oil tanker beached off UAE to go home after four years at sea

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Five men abandoned without wages on ship that ran aground have received settlements and will be repatriated to their families

The crew of an oil tanker who have not set foot on dry land for nearly four years after being abandoned on board their ship, which later ran aground off the United Arab Emirates, are finally going home to see their families.

The seafarers, who said they experienced “living hell” on board the 5,000-ton MT Iba after the tanker’s owner hit financial problems and stopped paying salaries almost three years ago, have been given a settlement for wages owed to them. They hope to be repatriated in March.

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Calling all billionaires: here’s how to keep your superyacht Covid-free

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As the rich and famous isolate on the seas, a new catamaran is designed to keep the virus out

It is a problem not many us have to consider: how to ensure your multimillion dollar superyacht remains a coronavirus-free zone despite taking on board crew from around the world.

But for the billionaire owners of floating luxury homes there is now a solution – a very expensive one, naturally. An Australian naval architecture firm is launching a new double-hulled support vessel, in which new crew and guests can isolate while they await coronavirus test results from onboard medical staff.

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‘Humanitarian crisis’: UN panel decries Covid rules that trapped crews at sea

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‘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.

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