Danish-flagged container vessel Svendborg Maersk was in the Bay of Biscay last week as hurricane-force winds battered the Atlantic coast of Europe. Amid waves of 30 feet and winds of 60 knots, the Svendborg began losing containers off northern France. After the ship arrived in the Spanish port of Malaga this week, Maersk discovered that about 520 containers were unaccounted for. Stacks of others had collapsed. (21-02-2014)
The 56-year-old master of the Dutch flagged, self propelled barge Fryslan was killed in the port of Rotterdam, after a piece of steel fell off a container and crashed into the wheelhouse of the barge on Feb. 16. His 60-year-old wife and a 45-year old employee of the port terminal suffered fractures and cuts. The accident happened during loading a ship-ship transfer with the 10,585-gt Antigua-Barbuda-flagged container M/V Conmar Avenue (IMO 9483358). (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 21-02-2014)
N4,291-gt Sierra Leone-flagged cargo M/V Andrea (IMO 8209690) was attacked by suspected Somali pirates off the coast of Somalia on Feb. 14. The heavily armed attackers came by boat, but the 17 crew members were safe and no one was injured. Security guards aboard the ship opened fire and could repel the attack, so that the pirates aborted their boarding attempt. The vessel was carrying goods to Mogadishu before sailing to the Comoros. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 21-02-2014)
Belgian flagged, self propelled tank barge Emma, ran aground near Oberwesel on the Rhine on Jan. 30. The ship was running river downstream with a cargo of 1000 tons benzol when it got stuck on the Jungern Ground on rocky bottom. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
76,928-gt Panama flagged container M/V NYK Themis (IMO 9356696) collided with the barge AZ Fuzhou on the East Keppel Fairway on Jan. 30. The container ship suffered a hole in a bunker tank in the collision, resulting in a slight discharge of oil. The two vessels were safely anchored and in stable condition. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
48,311-gt Chinese container M/V Fei He (IMO 9060182) collided with the 11,623-gt Hongkong flagged chemical tanker Lime Galaxy 2,7 miles south of Jurong Island in Singapore on Jan. 29. In the collision a bunker tank of the container ship was ruptured, and some oil spilt. There were no reports of damage to the tanker. Both ships anchored after the collision. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
Pusher tug Amber Brittany (MMSI: 367547330) got stuck on the Ohio River just off of Evansville's riverfront on Jan. 29. The tug was pushing a 15-barge tow with corn to Cairo, Illinois, when the accident happened. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
Austrian pusher ship Herzog Tassilo (MMSI:203999220) underway with barges carrying 3200 tons of coal allided with the entrance of the Main-Danube-Canal-lock in Haidhof, Riedenburg on Jan. 29. The ship which had a crew of seven damaged a dam and continued its voyage. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
2,854-gt Marshall Islands flagged cargo M/V Alba (IMO: 8812942), suffered an engine problem in the Adriatic sea and was taken in tow by the Montenegro-flagged tug Boka Sky (IMO: 6620321) on Jan. 27. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
7,606-gt British ferry Clipper Ranger (IMO 9119402) running the freight ferry service from Stornoway to Ullapool allided with a pier in Stornoway on Jan. 28. Vessel damage reported. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
24-m German sailing vessel Roland von Bremen (MMSI:211146410) sank on the Weser on Jan. 28. Only the mast and some upper works were remaining above water. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
11,435-gt Liberian flagged reefer Costa Rican Star (IMO: 9150822 ) of the Star Reefers UK Ltd., lost two empty containers on Jan. 27. Due to the relatively accurate initial position provided by the ship, the helicopter crew quickly identifed the two containers and marked the boxes with a tag which allowed the maritime prefecture to track the containers in real time and thus avoid collisions. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
NSeven pirates on a speedboat attacked a tug operated by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) in the waterways of Nembe, near Peter’s town on Jan. 25. Pirates reportedly kidnapped the captain and the engineer. Four other crew members were robbed of their valuables. The tug was en route from Port Harcourt to Brass. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)
5,107-dwt general cargo vessel Seminole (IMO 8990396, built 1995) ran aground in Azov-Don Sea Canal on Jan. 24. The vessel was en route from Rostov-on-Don to Turkey with 3000 mt of grain on board. (From our Sr. Correspondent Tim Schwabedissen, 01-02-2014)