Pomeroy News

Speakers from the vanguard of maritime digitalization will be joined by the first British astronaut and science communicator Helen Sharman at the Connected Future Conference during London International Shipping Week (LISW) 2023.Moving from smart talk to practical solutions and bringing stakeholders together will be the key themes of an industry event organized by Inmarsat, a Viasat business, in partnership with Smart Maritime Network. Staged at Inmarsat headquarters on September 12…

An Italian charity ship was escorted into the port of Lampedusa by police on Tuesday after rescuing 49 Africans in the Mediterranean, with Interior Minister Matteo Salvini calling for the crew to be arrested.A judicial source said a magistrate had ordered that the boat, the Mare Jonio, be seized as an investigation is launched into allegations of aiding and abetting human trafficking.The vessel picked up the migrants, including 12 minors, on Monday after their rubber boat started to sink in the central Mediterranean…

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Tuesday he would not let an Italian-flagged charity ship disembark 49 Africans rescued in the Mediterranean, setting up a fresh confrontation with humanitarian groups over migration.The Mare Jonio picked up the migrants, including 12 minors, on Monday after their rubber boat started to sink in the central Mediterranean, some 42 miles (68 km) off the coast of Libya.The vessel headed straight for the nearby Italian island of Lampedusa but was not granted permission to dock and is currently sailing close to land, awaiting further instructions.Salvini, who heads the anti-immigrant League party, has told non-governmental organisations that Italy's ports are closed to them…

Naples is ready to defy Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and let in a charity-run ship carrying 32 migrants that is blocked in the stormy Mediterranean, the city mayor said on Thursday.His offer adds to a growing challenge from opposition politicians to Salvini's far-right League, which has vowed to bar migrants and make life difficult for those already here.Both Italy and Malta are refusing to let the Sea-Watch 3, a ship operated by a German non-governmental organisation (NGO), dock and set down the migrants who were rescued off Libya on Dec. 22.Both countries say they have taken in too many migrants and accuse NGO rescue ships…

A ferry heading to Lithuania from Germany was able to continue its journey on Tuesday, hours after it lost power following an engine room incident, Lithuania's Defense Ministry said.The Lithuanian-flagged Regina Seaways, carrying 335 people, restored power to its main engine four hours after it issued a distress call due to a suspected fire in its engine room, the ministry said.No one was reported injured and the ferry was expected to dock in the port of Klaipeda by 2100 GMT, a spokesman for Danish ferry company DFDS said."There was vibration and there was smoke, but no fire was noticed," the spokesman said, contradicting reports from the Lithuanian military of a fire on board.Lithuania's Defense Ministry said the fire had been extinguished and that four Lithuanian military ships had been

Sri Lanka is shifting a naval base to a port built and controlled by China, it said on Monday, a move that will strengthen security at a harbor that foreign powers fear China could use for military purposes.The base currently in the tourist district of Galle will be moved 125 km (80 miles) east along Sri Lanka's southern coast to Hambantota, nearer a main shipping route between Asia and Europe.The $1.5 billion deepwater port is likely to play a major role in China's "Belt and Road" initiative and is under a 99-year lease to China Merchants Port Holdings at a cost of $1.12 billion.Government and diplomatic sources have told Reuters that the United States, India and Japan have raised concerns that China might use the port as a naval base.The Sri Lankan government and Chinese embassy in Colom

The United States on Thursday said it will impose tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union, reigniting investor fears of a global trade war as Washington's allies took steps to retaliate against U.S. goods.The move, announced by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in a telephone briefing on Thursday, ended months of uncertainty about potential tariff exemptions and suggested a hardening of the Trump administration's approach to trade negotiations.It also sent a chill through financial markets…

ABS has announced it is engaged in a two-year project with the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) to deliver the industry’s first bow-to-stern Condition-based Class asset management program. The objective of the two-year joint project is a landmark advancement in the classification industry—enabling the move from purely calendar-based surveys to an entirely condition-based classification model—using digital solutions to increase MSC’s operational availability and flexibility. Throughout the project, ABS is collecting data from newly installed hull sensors, as well as from sensors on all classed machinery on board three MSC vessels.

Greece will not tolerate any challenges to its territorial integrity, its prime minister said on Thursday, days after Turkish and Greek coastguard vessels collided close to disputed islets in the Aegean Sea. Each side blamed the other for Monday’s collision off an islet known as Imia in Greek and Kardak in Turkish. They came to the brink of war in 1996 in a sovereignty dispute over the islets. Seeking international support, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras underlined that Greece’s border was also that of the 28-nation European Union, and his foreign minister briefed the head of NATO and the U.S.

Alaska and parts of western Canada braced for a possible tsunami on Tuesday after a magnitude-7.9 earthquake struck the Gulf of Alaska, sparking evacuations in coastal Alaska and a tsunami warning for California that was later lifted. In Alaska, people packed into high schools and other evacuation centers after the quake hit shortly after midnight local time (0900 GMT). Officials had warned residents as far south as San Francisco to be ready to evacuate coastal areas but by 5:15 a.m. PST (1315 GMT) the U.S.

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake hit the Gulf of Alaska in the early hours of Tuesday, prompting warnings of a possible tsunami down the Canadian and U.S. west coast and as far away as Hawaii. Local radio on the Alaskan island of Kodiak, close to the epicenter, urged listeners to move away from coastal areas. "This is a tsunami warning. this is not a drill. Please get out to higher ground," said the announcer on KMXT public radio. "If you are on the flats, get up on one of the hills ... There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The quake, initially measured at magnitude 8.2, hit around 250 km (160 miles) southeast of Chiniak, Alaska at a depth of 25 km at 0931 GMT, the U.S. Geological Survey said. "If you are located in this coastal area, move inland to higher ground.

Kenya's main port, Mombasa, handled 10.6 percent more cargo in the first nine months of this year, helped by an expansion of its handling capacity and a new railway system, the port’s management said on Monday. Activity in east Africa's biggest port is considered a measure of economic activity for the region. Mombasa handles imports such as fuel for Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The increased traffic comes despite prolonged tensions over an election in August which was nullified and then rerun in October. Mombasa handled 22.8 million tonnes of cargo between January and September compared with 20.6 million in the same period last year, Catherine Mturi, the port managing director, said.

Bahrain accused Qatar on Monday of illegally seizing three boats with 16 sailors on board, state news agency BNA reported, worsening an already deeply troubled diplomatic situation in the region. Coast Guard Commander Commodore Alaa Siyadi told BNA the boats were seized over the past three days. The report gave no details on the nature of the boats or where they were seized. Qatari officials said they were checking the report. Siyadi said the seizure raised to 15 the number of boats seized, and the number of sailors in Qatari custody to 20, adding that some of the boat seizures date back to 2009, BNA reported. Bahrain, together with Saudi Arabia…

India's navy seized a ship carrying about 1,500 kg of heroin worth 35 billion rupees ($545 million) on Sunday in what it said was its biggest ever drugs haul.   The vessel, which was operating under the name MV Henry under the Panama flag, was intercepted off the Gujarat coast near the city of Porbandar, said S. Paramesh, deputy director general at the Indian Coast Guard.   It was sailing from Dubai to Alang, a town in Gujarat known for shipbreaking, Paramesh said.   The eight crew members aboard, all of whom were identified as Indian nationals, are under investigation.   ($1 = 64.1100 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Additional reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Tom Lasseter and Robin Pomeroy)

West African countries have detained eight Chinese ships for fishing illegally and the boats' owners could be subject to millions of dollars in fines, environmental group Greenpeace and government officials said. Inspectors from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau boarded the ships off their coasts which they found to be violating regulations on catching protected fish and using nets with small holes to facilitate bigger hauls. The arrests came after a two-month regional patrol on a Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza which carried inspectors from the West African countries, in a bid to supplement national efforts, which are often hamstrung by budget and technology constraints.

Spanish dock workers have called nine days of strikes to protest government plans to allow ports to hire non-unionized labor, El Pais newspaper reported on Tuesday, threatening to disrupt trade for up to three weeks from March 6. Dockers last week called off a planned three-day strike after the government said it would put its reforms on hold and open talks, but the decision to push ahead with a bigger strike came after the government signaled it would not change parts of the plan, El Pais said, citing the CETM union. Reuters could not reach CETM for comment. The proposals would allow companies operating in ports to hire staff that do not belong to unions, a move unpopular with union members but which would help bring Spain in line with European Union regulations.

Hurricane Matthew weakened slightly on Saturday as it moved towards Jamaica and Cuba, although with winds of up to 155 miles per hour (250 kph) it is powerful enough to wreck houses, forecasters said. The strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean since Felix in 2007 was forecast to make landfall as a major storm on Monday on Jamaica's southern coast, home to the capital and Jamaica's only oil refinery. It could affect the island's main tourist areas such as Montego Bay in the north. With Matthew about 420 miles (675 km) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center downgraded its designation to a Category 4, from the top Category 5, on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, but Jamaican authorities said they were taking all possible precautions.

An oil rig that ran aground off a Scottish island on Sunday may have leaked around 53 tonnes of diesel but has not caused any serious pollution, Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said. The Transocean Winner rig broke away while being towed during a storm and became grounded off the northwestern Isle of Lewis. "Aircraft yesterday flew over the location and surrounding area to make careful observations for pollution around the rig and the nearby coast and sea and no sheen or sign of pollution has been found," the MCA said on Thursday. Diesel is much lighter than crude oil which is the cause of the worst slicks and the MCA said it posed "much lower environmental risks". Two of four diesel fuel tanks on the rig were believed to have been damaged.

A U.S. warship took its first delivery of Italian-made biofuel on Thursday as part of the Navy's programme to use more alternative energy. The USS Mason was refuelled alongside an Italian vessel, the Andrea Doria, in the seas off of Italy's southern coast with a mix produced by Italy's Eni that has 5.5 percent palm oil biofuel blended into marine fuel. The two destroyers travelled at about 5 knots side by side with a supply ship, the Etna, between them pumping the fuel to both ships through large black tubes. "It's a first today," U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Reuters aboard the Mason.

An Italian merchant ship rescued 26 migrants off the coast of Libya in rough seas and others were feared missing, the Coast Guard said on Saturday. The Coast Guard received a call from a satellite telephone on Friday but no voice was heard. It tracked the signal to a location about seven miles off the Libyan coast, a spokesman said. An Italian merchant vessel in the area was diverted and on Friday night rescued the 26 from a rubber boat that had taken on water. The spokesman said such boats used by human traffickers can hold between 100-120 people and are usually full but no information was available on the number that might be missing.

1783 - The last naval action of the American Revolution takes place when the Continental frigate Alliance, commanded by Capt. John Barry, battles HMS Sybil south of Cape Canaveral, Fla. Sybil is damaged in the fight and returns to the two warships that did not join in the battle. 1933 - The Pacific Fleet provides assistance after an earthquake at Long Beach, Calif. 1943 - USS Savannah (CL 42) and USS Eberle (DD 430) intercept German blockade runner Karin in the South Atlantic. After boarding the ship, a timed explosion goes off, killing 11 of Eberles boarding party.

Greece appealed to its European Union partners on Tuesday to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with a growing migrant crisis as new data showed 21,000 refugees landed on Greek shores last week alone. That number is almost half Greece's overall refugee intake in 2014 and brings total arrivals this year to 160,000, even as it struggles with a debt crisis that has forced it to accept a third international bailout. The influx of refugees, mainly from Syria, has strained an already ill-prepared reception system in Greece that relies heavily on volunteers, forcing thousands to camp out in filthy conditions and triggering sporadic clashes and brawls.

Chinese authorities began late on Thursday to right a cruise ship that capsized on the Yangtze River, after divers sent to search for survivors found no signs of life inside. With only 14 survivors found, including the captain and chief engineer, since the ship carrying 456 people overturned during a freak tornado on Monday night, the rescue mission has now become an operation to recover hundreds of bodies. "In a situation in which the overall judgment is that there is no chance of people being alive, we could start the work of righting the boat," transport ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang told a news conference. State television confirmed that the righting operation had begun.