Ship Carrying 3,000 Cars Burns off Dutch Coast, One Dead
A fire blazed on a cargo ship off the Dutch coast with nearly 3,000 vehicles on board on Wednesday, killing one member of the crew and injuring several others, the coastguard said.Several crew members were forced to jump overboard after the fire began on Tuesday night on the 199-metre (655-foot) Panama-registered Fremantle Highway as it was en route from Germany to Egypt.The Indian Embassy in the Netherlands said in a social media post the fire had "resulted in the death of an Indian seafarer and injuries to the crew", and that it was in touch with family of the deceased.
C-Job CEO Basjan Faber was Born to Design
Born and raised on the water by entrepreneurial parents, Basjan Faber knew from a young age that his future and fate was in maritime, specifically ship design. Today the CEO leads a vibrant, diverse and fast-growing naval architecture firm that he co-founded with partners in 2007. Headquartered in Amsterdam, C-Job has a unique approach to its business and is expanding its international footprint, as Maritime Reporter & Engineering News discovered when we visited with him in The Netherlands last month.“I have always been inspired by ships…
Rough Weather Hampers Clean-up of North Sea Container Spill
Clean-up efforts after a container ship spill off the Dutch coast are being hampered by rough weather although progress is being made, the Swiss based vessel's owner MSC said on Wednesday.In one of the worst incidents off the coast of the Netherlands, more than 250 containers - some holding hazardous chemicals - fell off the MSC Zoe, one of the world's largest container ships, during a North Sea storm on Jan. 2."This week, a storm is impacting the area being cleaned and unfortunately this will interrupt some operations," MSC said on Wednesday.
Irma Kills Eight on Saint Martin
At least half of Puerto Rico's island without power; storm likely to hit Florida Saturday or Sunday. Hurricane Irma killed eight people on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin and left Barbuda devastated on Thursday as one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century took aim at Florida. Television footage of the Franco-Dutch island of Saint Martin showed a damaged marina with boats tossed into piles, submerged streets and flooded homes. Power was knocked out on Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy and in parts of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. "It is an enormous disaster, 95 percent of the island is destroyed. I am in shock," Daniel Gibbs, chairman of a local council on Saint Martin, told Radio Caribbean International.
Sovcomflot Holds PDVSA Oil Hostage over Debts
Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, sent a tanker in October to the Caribbean with the expectation that its cargo of crude would fetch about $20 million - money the crisis-stricken nation desperately needs. Instead, the owner of the tanker, the Russian state-owned shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, held the oil in hopes of collecting partial payment on $30 million that it says PDVSA owes for unpaid shipping fees. Despite a longstanding alliance between Venezuela and Russia, Sovcomflot sued PDVSA in St. Maarten, a Dutch island on the northeast end of the Caribbean. "The ship owners ... imposed garnishment on the aforementioned oil cargo," reads a March decision by the St. Maarten court.
Boskalis to Reinforce Wadden Sea Dike on Texel
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) announces that the Hollands Noorderkwartier district water board has awarded the contract to reinforce the Wadden Sea dike on the Dutch island of Texel to "Combinatie Tessel", a consortium consisting of Boskalis and KWS, a VolkerWessels company. The contract carries a value of EUR 70 million, of which Boskalis' share is EUR 50 million. Large parts of the Wadden Sea dike on Texel currently do not meet legal safety requirements. The flood defences need to be reinforced to meet these requirements in the future. The project involves the design and construction of the reinforcement of 14 kilometres of Wadden Sea dike and the construction of a number of new structures, including three pumping stations.
ABC Diesel Gasses Ahead With Dual Fuel Ferry
A new ferry is under construction in northern Spain to serve the Dutch island of Texel. The vessel is powered by four main engines from Anglo Belgian Corporation (ABC) and split between two independent engine rooms, each of which can provide sufficient power to ensure normal service at least up to Beaufort 9 wind force. Two of the ABC engines are of diesel/CNG dual-fuel type, running at a maximum 1,000 rpm, and two are 750 rpm diesels, and each has a rated maximum output of just over 2,000 kW.
Ampelmann Gangway for New Wind Farm Support Vessel
Ampelmann, developer of motion compensated access solutions, has reported a contract with Acta Marine for its newbuild wind farm support vessel, the Acta Orion. Ampelmann’s motion compensated gangway will provide Acta Orion with a stable platform in sea states of up to 2.5m Hs to ensure safe, efficient and reliable transfers of personnel to and from the wind turbines. In addition, Ampelmann, in close collaboration with Acta Marine, has developed a fully motion compensated cargo…
Search Continues For Survivors Of Double Caribbean Tragedy
Hopes were fading on Saturday of finding more survivors among about 50 people missing and feared dead after two boats carrying illegal migrants, most of them from the Dominican Republic, sank this week in separate incidents in the Caribbean. Haitian and French authorities reported that they had found 31 bodies so far from the wrecks - which took place off the southwestern coast of Haiti, and off the coast of the small Franco-Dutch island of St. Martin. The double tragedy highlighted the perils of voyages in often small and overcrowded vessels that hundreds of people from poorer Caribbean nations make every year to seek a better life in more prosperous parts of the region.
Four Ships Visit St. Kitts
According to the Marine Division of the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority, four cruise ships with just over 3,700 passengers and 1,800 crew visited St. Kitts on Feb. 16. The Constellation arrived from Barbados with 2,035 passengers and 930 crew members, while the Maasdam with 1,226 passengers and 607 crew also arrived from Barbados. Both docked at Port Zante. The Silver Whisper made an unscheduled visit with 361 passengers and 291 crew members. It docked at the Deep Water Port. It arrived from Dominica and later left for Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. It was originally scheduled to go to the neighboring Dutch island of St. Eustatius. Anchoring off Frigate Bat was the 122-passenger Star Clipper. (Source: sunstkitts.com)
