Marine Link
Tuesday, April 16, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Port Authority News

15 Apr 2024

FBI Opens Criminal Probe Into Deadly Baltimore Bridge Collapse

(Photo: Ronald Hodges / U.S. Coast Guard)

The FBI said on Monday it opened a criminal probe into the collapse of a Baltimore bridge in March when a ship crashed into a bridge support, while local officials confirmed the recovery of a fourth body from the incident.FBI agents boarded the cargo ship Dali to conduct court-authorized law enforcement activity regarding the crash, an FBI spokesperson said. The spokesperson said there was no other public information available and the bureau will have no further comment.The body…

14 Apr 2024

Singapore Alliance Building Electric Tug and Supply Boat

Source: CSA

The Coastal Sustainability Alliance (CSA), an industry collaborative effort led by Kuok Maritime Group (KMG), has announced the start of construction of its first fully electric PXO-series tug (e-tug) and supply boat (e-supply boat) by PaxOcean Group.The zero-emissions vessels are among the first and largest local electric harbour craft designed for operation in Singapore’s coastal waters. They are targeted for deployment in 2025, ahead of the nation’s goal for all new coastal…

11 Apr 2024

Singapore Marine Biofuel Premiums Drop Further on Soft Demand

© Adwo / Adobe Stock

Spot marine biofuel premiums have weakened further at the world's largest bunker hub Singapore, weighed by slow demand, market sources said this week.Premiums for the flagship B24 marine biofuel blend recently traded between $120 to $130 a metric ton over 0.5% low sulphur fuel oil quotes, on a delivered Singapore basis, according to sources from bunker suppliers, trading firms and shipowners.The premiums extended declines from early first quarter when the product traded down to about $140 a ton…

11 Apr 2024

New Study Offers Safety Recommendations for Green Shipping Corridors

© Zdenar Adamsen / Adobe Stock

A new report offers safety recommendations for ship owners and port authorities seeking to establish green shipping corridors.As the shipping industry continues to make progress toward its decarbonization goals, a number of green shipping corridors are being being set up as maritime routes that help to enable the use of low- and zero-emission lifecycle fuels such as methanol, ammonia and hydrogen, as well as other green technologies. To date, more than 30 green shipping corridors…

08 Apr 2024

Singapore Trials Charging Point at Marina South Pier

© Sunday Cat Studio / Adobe Stock

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has launched the first pilot trial for electric harbor craft charging point at the Marina South Pier (MSP).The charging point was awarded to the Pyxis Energy, Pyxis Maritime, and SP Mobility partnership. Pyxis’s fleet of electric harbor craft operating at MSP will serve as the base offtake to ensure optimization of the charging infrastructure.The Pyxis and SP Mobility partnership has deployed a 150kW land-based direct current fast charger with a Combined Charging System 2 connector at MSP.

04 Apr 2024

Peru's PM Says China-built Megaport Should Launch this Year After Dispute

© Zerophoto / Adobe Stock

A resolution to end a dispute between Peru and China's Cosco Shipping could come as soon as this week to ensure a megaport will start operations as planned by the end of the year, Peru's Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen said on Thursday.The Peruvian port authority said in Marchit hoped to annul its decision granting exclusivity of the port's operations to Cosco, citing an "administrative error."Cosco, which is investing $1.3 billion in the first stage of the terminal, has said the push affects the "security and legal stability of investments."On Thursday…

03 Apr 2024

German Prosecutors Probe Ship for Possible Russian Sanctions Breach

© HN Works / Adobe Stock

A cargo ship leaving Russia that made an unscheduled stop at the German port of Rostock is under investigation there for carrying cargo in possible breach of sanctions, German authorities said on Wednesday.The Atlantic Navigator II, managed by Canada-based CSAL and sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, has been detained by German customs. On board are 251 containers of birch wood, which is subject to EU sanctions against Russia, prosecutors said."Investigations are under way against the captain of the freighter on initial suspicion of a violation of the Foreign Trade and Payments Act…

01 Apr 2024

Season's First 'Saltie' Calls Port of Duluth-Superior

(Photo: Port of Duluth-Superior)

The first "saltie" of the 2024 Great Lakes shipping season entered the Port of Duluth-Superior on Monday,Oceangoing vessels that visit the Great Lakes are called "salties".This year, the first to call the Port of Duluth-Superior is the Portuguese-flagged Barbro G, a 623-foot bulk carrier operated by Sweden’s Brochart KB, which completed the season’s first full transit of the St. Lawrence Seaway en route to the Great Lakes’ westernmost port.By tradition, this first full transit from the Atlantic Ocean marks the annual opening of the Duluth-Superior Harbor…

28 Mar 2024

New Tug Delivered to Mongla Port Authority

The Mongla Port Authority in Bangladesh has taken delivery of its new tug, M.T. Joymoni.The newbuild is a RAmparts 3200-CL designed by Canada's Robert Allan Ltd. and built by Cheoy Lee Shipyards, in China.The RAmparts 3200-CL was designed by Robert Allan Ltd. in 2008 exclusively for Cheoy Lee Shipyards, with the first tug, Ocean Pioneer, delivered to Ocean Sparkle in India in 2011. Based on the RAmparts series, the hull form was developed to provide a high performance, multi-function tug in a shallow draft configuration, with bollard pull of up to 85 tonnes, the designer said.M.T.

28 Mar 2024

New Response Vessels Commissioned in Sydney

(Photo: Incat Crowther)

A pair of new response vessels has been commissioned in Sydney Harbour.The state-of-the-art vessels, Burra and Girawaa, were designed by Incat Crowther and custom-built by Birdon in Port Macquarie to assist in major on-water incidents, including pollution response, police operations and firefighting both on and from the water.The vessels have the ability to travel at speeds of 27 knots, making them the fastest response vessels ever commissioned by the Port Authority of New South Wales (NSW).

27 Mar 2024

Baltimore Rescuers Lose Hope for More Survivors from Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies

Rescuers have lost hope of finding more survivors of the Baltimore bridge collapse, the coast guard said, as efforts switched on Wednesday to looking for bodies of the missing and more answers to why a container ship smashed into the span.Search divers were expected to return near dawn to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of the bridge in Baltimore Harbor to search for six workers missing and now presumed dead.The disaster has forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S.

27 Mar 2024

Divers to Search Baltimore Harbor

Search divers were expected to return near dawn on Wednesday to the waters surrounding the twisted ruins of a bridge knocked down in Baltimore Harbor by a faltering cargo ship, leaving six workers missing and presumed dead.The disaster also forced the indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, and created a traffic quagmire for Baltimore and the surrounding region.As the odds of their survival vanished, the search for the six workers was suspended on Tuesday evening…

26 Mar 2024

Six Presumed Dead After Baltimore Bridge Collapse

Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies.

Six workers were missing and presumed dead from a bridge that collapsed in Baltimore Harbor early on Tuesday after a massive cargo ship crippled by a power loss rammed into the structure, forcing the closure of one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.With dive teams facing increasingly treacherous conditions in the darkened, wreckage-strewn waters, active search-and-rescue operations were suspended about 18 hours after the accident, U.S. Coast Guard and Maryland…

26 Mar 2024

Cargo Ship Lost Power Before Slamming Bridge in Baltimore

Collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore (Credit: Screenshot/StreamTime Live)

A massive cargo ship smashed into a bridge while sailing out of Baltimore early on Tuesday, sending cars and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one of whom was hospitalized, and searched for more in the Patapsco River after huge metal spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the icy water around 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT).The ship reported a power issue before impact…

26 Mar 2024

Ship That Hit Baltimore Bridge Also Involved in 2016 Antwerp Accident

Collapsed Key Bridge in Baltimore (Credit: Screeshot/StreamTime Live)

The ship that caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early on Tuesday was also involved in an accident in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2016.The Antwerp port authorities said the container ship Dali hit a quay on July 11, 2016, as it tried to exit the North Sea container terminal.The port authority could give no details about the cause of the accident, but said the ship had remained at the dock for repairs for some time after the incident."As a general rule, these accidents are investigated and ships are only allowed to leave after experts have determined it is saf

20 Mar 2024

Unidentified Gunmen Open Fire at Pakistan's Gwadar Port, Two Attackers Killed

(Photo: Saadsuddozai / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Unidentified gunmen opened fire at Pakistan's Gwadar port authority complex in its restive Balochistan province, Geo News reported on Wednesday.Two attackers were killed in retaliatory firing by security personnel, the TV channel said, adding that a blast preceded the firing.Gwadar’s deputy commissioner and police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Gwadar is located near the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil shipping route in the Arabian Sea.The deep-water port…

19 Mar 2024

RWE Joins Forces with Spanish Port to Create Floating Wind Hub

© Tjeerd / Adobe Stock

Germany's top utility RWE has signed a Letter of Support with the Port Authority of A Coruña to facilitate the scaling-up of the port capacity in support of the Spanish government’s floating wind targets.Working together under a Letter of Support, the partners will investigate the potential for transforming infrastructure at the Port of Coruña, in northwest Spain, into a logistic hub for the marshalling, assembly and deployment of major components for commercial-scale floating…

22 Mar 2024

Fortescue Conducts World's First Ammonia Bunker Trial in Singapore

Source: MPA

Fortescue has conducted the world's first ammonia marine bunker operation in the port of Singapore, the city-state's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) and the Australian mining company said on Friday.The Singapore-flagged Fortescue Green Pioneer was loaded with liquid ammonia from an existing facility at Jurong Island's Vopak Banyan Terminal for the trial, Fortescue and MPA said in a joint statement.The vessel is dual-fuelled and can adopt ammonia for bunkering in combination with diesel.

13 Mar 2024

Second Russian Tanker, Hit by Sanctions, Docks in China

© Nightman1965 / Adobe Stock

Russian tanker Krymsk, hit by sanctions, docked on Wednesday at the Chinese port of Dongying in eastern Shandong province, home of independent refiners, to discharge 700,000 barrels of Russian Sokol crude, LSEG and Kpler shipping data showed.This is the second Russian oil tanker, hit by sanctions, to dock at Chinese ports this month. Last week, tanker Liteyny Prospect discharged its 700,000-barrel Sokol crude cargo at the Chinese port of Huanghua near Cangzhou city in Hebei province.The Dongying port authority declined comment when contacted by Reuters.

26 Feb 2024

Herculaneum Port Site Cleared for Redevelopment as Intermodal Hub

(Photo: St. Louis Regional Freightway)

A 300-acre property along the Mississippi River in Herculaneum, Missouri recently received Port District zoning making way for redevelopment as an intermodal transportation hub and industrial park.Located on the shipping lanes of the Mississippi River, the site has been utilized since the 1700s as a port. With its easy access for barge loading and offloading and the site’s proximity to early lead mines in adjacent Washington County, under early French ownership the port was utilized to ship lead cannonballs and shot to Europe to support Napolean’s army.

28 Feb 2024

Mauritius Allows Norwegian Dawn Cruise Ship to Dock After No Trace of Cholera Found

© Björn Wylezich / Adobe Stock

Mauritius will allow a ship belonging to Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings to dock after no trace of cholera was found in samples taken from passengers on board, a senior health official said on Monday.Authorities on the island nation off the coast of east Africa prevented the Norwegian Dawn from docking over the weekend over what they said were "health risks," without elaborating.Samples were taken from around 15 passengers who were experiencing a mild stomach illness.Bhooshun Ori…

05 Mar 2024

Singapore and Australia Formalize Corridor Collaboration

© ake1150 / Adobe Stock

Singapore and Australia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to formally collaborate on establishing the Singapore-Australia green and digital shipping corridor.The MoU was signed by Chee Hong Tat, Singapore’s Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance, and Catherine King, Australian Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government.Both countries will work with interested partners to explore opportunities to develop zero or near-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission fuel supply chains for the maritime industry…

11 Mar 2024

Cargo Ship Sinks Near Vietnam, All Crewmembers Rescued

© Prapat / Adobe Stock

A Vietnam-registered cargo vessel sank in about 380 nautical miles east of Vung Tau, Vietnam, local officials said.At about 4 p.m. on Sunday, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Singapore operated by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), received a distress alert from the general cargo vessel Hung Phat 89 (HP89) within the Singapore Maritime Search and Rescue Region.MRCC Singapore immediately issued navigational broadcasts for vessels in the vicinity to keep a lookout and report sightings of the vessel in distress…