Mediterranean Coast News

President Joe Biden will announce in his State of the Union speech on Thursday that the U.S. military will construct a temporary port on Gaza's Mediterranean coast to receive humanitarian aid by sea, senior administration officials said.Planning for the operation, initially based on the island of Cyprus, does not envisage the deployment of U.S. military personnel in Gaza, the officials told a news briefing.The officials also said that Hamas is delaying a new deal with Israel on…

Italian authorities said on Wednesday they had impounded a ship involved in migrant rescue operations in the central Mediterranean Sea, citing safety procedure irregularities.Under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government, installed last year, Italy has taken a tougher stance towards migrant rescue NGOs, accusing them of facilitating the work of people traffickers.The Ocean Viking ship was seized while docked in the port of Civitavecchia, northwest of Rome on the Mediterranean coast."In particular, some of the crew did not possess the necessary licenses to handle the life-saving e

A fire that engulfed hundreds of shipping containers at Turkey's Iskenderun Port after massive earthquakes in the region has been extinguished, the defense ministry said on Tuesday, but it was not clear when operations would resume at the port.Turkey's maritime authority said on Monday that the port, located on the Mediterranean coast in the southern province of Hatay, was damaged due to the earthquake that struck Turkey and neighboring Syria.Drone footage showed fierce flames blackening hundreds of containers on the dock…

Hundreds of shipping containers were ablaze at Turkey's Iskenderun Port on Tuesday, shutting down operations and forcing freight liners to divert vessels to other ports.Turkey's maritime authority said on Monday that the port, located on the Mediterranean coast in the southern province of Hatay, was damaged due to the earthquake that struck Turkey and neighbouring Syria.Drone footage showed fierce flames blackening hundreds of containers on the dock, with water jets from a fire truck dwarfed by the scale of the blaze that broke out on Monday.

Israel said on Thursday it will sell Haifa Port, a major trade hub on its Mediterranean coast, to winning bidders Adani Ports APSE.NS of India and local chemicals and logistics group Gadot for 4.1 billion shekels ($1.18 billion).Gadot and Adani made it to the end of a two-year tender process that Israel hopes will lower import prices and help shorten notoriously long wait times at Israeli harbors."The privatization of the port of Haifa will increase competition at the ports and lower the cost of living…

German Naval Yards has converted and and will delivery later in May the high-performance tug Abeille Normandie to the French shipping company Les Abeilles. The vessel arrived at the shipyard for conversion in September 2021.The 91 x 22-m vessel has a 282 ton towing capacity and 20,800 kW (28,300 hp) of power, and will be available to the French Navy as a multifunctional emergency tug.Designed to be multifunction, the ship has the ability to accommodate 300 shipwrecked persons…

Israel's Environmental Protection Ministry said on Thursday that it would not allow oil tankers to enter its Red Sea resort of Eilat as planned under a deal with partners from the United Arab Emirates to transport crude from the Gulf to Europe via Israel.The announcement could lead to the cancellation of the deal, one of the biggest to emerge from the normalization of ties between Israel and the UAE last year. Environmentalists had petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to block the agreement.Signed between an Israeli state-owned company and a venture with Emirati and Israeli owners…

Dubai's DP World has pulled out of a joint bid with an Israeli company to privatize Israel's Haifa port, Israel's privatization body said.Israel is selling its state-owned ports and building new private docks in an effort to encourage competition and lower costs.DP World had signed an agreement with Israel Shipyards Industries for exclusive cooperation in the privatization of the Haifa port, one of Israel's two main sea terminals on its Mediterranean coast.But in a statement released late Thursday…

Israel has opened a new shipping port along its Mediterranean coast that will bring much needed competition to a sector plagued by delays and boost the country's standing as a regional trade hub.The 5.5 billion shekel ($1.7 billion) Bay Port at Haifa, which will be operated by Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), will enable larger classes of cargo ships, carrying 18,000 containers or more, to dock in Israel.The country is selling its state-owned ports and building new private docks in an effort bring down costs and cut above-average wait times for vessels to unload.

The first cargo ships from Dubai that docked last year in the Mediterranean port of Haifa were met by celebration in Israel. Flags waved. Reporters gathered. The prime minister walked the pier and gave a speech about the fruits of making peace.There was zero fanfare, however, when oil tankers began arriving at the smaller Israeli port of Eilat on the Red Sea in an arrangement with Emirati partners. Rather than washing machines and cleaning supplies for consumers, the ships unloaded…

Leading container lines are diverting ships to Lebanon's smaller terminal of Tripoli after the devastating explosion at Beirut's port that killed 145 people also paralysed vital trade.Lebanon, which imports almost all it uses, relies on container ships to bring in everything from refrigerated food cargoes to clothing and other consumer goods.There is no firm date for Beirut port to re-open, and this is a strain on supply chains.Data from shipping intelligence platform MarineTraffic showed three container ships had arrived in Tripoli in the past 24 hours after being diverted from Beirut…

A powerful blast in port warehouses near central Beirut storing highly explosive material killed 78 people, injured nearly 4,000 and sent seismic shockwaves that shattered windows, smashed masonry and shook the ground across the Lebanese capital.Officials said they expected the death toll to rise further after Tuesday's blast as emergency workers dug through rubble to rescue people and remove the dead. It was the most powerful explosion in years in Beirut, which is already reeling from an economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus infections.President Michel Aoun said that 2…

Saudi Arabia has temporarily halted production at two Aramco oil facilities that were attacked by Yemeni rebels, interrupting about half of the company’s total output.Saudi Aramco said the production of 5.7 million barrels of crude a day had been suspended after drone attacks on the world’s largest oil processing plant at Abqaiq – near Dammam in the Eastern Province – and the country’s second-largest oilfield at Khurais, about 200 kilometers away.Earlier, the oil giant said that emergency crews contained fires at its plants.After visiting the incident locations, Amin H. Nasser, Saudi Aramco President & CEO, said: “We are gratified that there were no injuries. I would like to thank all teams that responded timely to the incidents and brought the situation under control.

NGO Shipbreaking Platform said that accident at the shipbreaking beach of Chattogram, Bangladesh killed two and severely injured thirteen. The accident occurred in the afternoon of Saturday 31 August at Ziri Subedar shipbreaking yard. During scrapping operations on the ship CSL VIRGINIA a heavy cable collapsed, hitting several workers at once. Aminul Islam, 35 years old, and Tushar Chakma, 27 years old, lost their lives.Thirteen workers  suffered severe injuries and were taken to Chattogram Medical College Hospital for treatment. Following the accident, local authorities ordered the temporary closure of the yard. Investigations are ongoing.The container ship CSL VIRGINIA was beached in Bangladesh in February 2019.

French liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal operator Elengy, a unit of the energy giant Engie, is preparing the sale of access capacities to the Fos Tonkin LNG terminal for the period 2021-2030.Within the sale process, Elengy will offer its potential customers several types of services, including the conventional unloading of Medmax-type LNG tankers (vessel with a capacity of 75,000m3 of LNG), the reloading of micro-tankers for LNG bunkering needs, as well as the LNG trucks loading.Compared to currently-used shipping fuels, LNG is economically competitive and reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by a quarter, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 90% and sulphur (SOx) emissions and particulate matter by almost 100%. The sale will be launched in February 2019.

Around 100 people are thought to have drowned from a migrant boat off Libya's western coast, a coastguard official said on Friday. The coastguard picked up 14 survivors from the boat just east of the capital, Tripoli, the official said. Separately, the coastguard said it had intercepted 200 migrants from two other migrant boats east of Tripoli. Libya is one of the main departure points for migrants trying to cross to Europe by sea, usually in flimsy inflatable boats provided by smugglers that often get punctured or break down. Some make it to international waters where they hope to be picked up by international vessels, but increasing numbers are intercepted by Libya's EU-backed coastguard and returned to Libya.

Hundreds of Israeli surfers in black skull-and-crossbones shirts took to the waves on Friday in what they said was a record-breaking protest against potential environmental damage from off-shore gas development.Organizers said 992 people, among them athletes and actors, paddled out and held hands to form a circle opposite Herzliya, promoting their demand that a planned gas rig be relocated further from Israel's Mediterranean coast.A slogan on their shirts read: "Don't poison us."Israeli…

A new study seeks to determine the extent to which biofouling on ships’ hulls is contributing to the spread of invasive aquatic species in the Mediterranean Sea – a phenomenon commonly associated with ship ballasting operations. According to recent research published by Tel Aviv University’s School of Zoology, half the ships passing along the Mediterranean coast of Israel are carrying invasive ascidians, presenting a global threat to ecosystems around the world. TAU’s Dr. Noa Shenkar…

Some of Spain's biggest port terminals came to a standstill on Monday as shipping companies redirected cargos to avoid a dockers' strike. After months of talks between unions, companies and the Spanish government over a reform of port hiring practices, dockers held the first of several planned strikes to protest against possible job losses. Some container shipping firms such as Maersk re-routed boats destined for the southern port of Algeciras to get around the strike, during which dockers will stop working every other hour on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week.

A Russian naval intelligence ship sank off Turkey's Black Sea coast on Thursday after colliding with a vessel carrying livestock and all 78 personnel on board the navy ship were evacuated, Turkish officials said. The rescued crew members of the Russian ship Liman were in good health after the collision with the Togo-flagged Youzarsif H, Turkey's Transport Minister Ahmed Arslan said. The incident took place in fog and low visibility 18 miles (29 km) from Kilyos village on the Black Sea coast just north of Istanbul. Turkish authorities dispatched a tugboat and three fast rescue vessels, the coastal safety authority said. Advisers to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim conveyed his sadness over the incident to Russian counterparts, according to sources in his office.

South Africa’s  competition watchdog  is seeking to fine Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K-Line) as much as 10 percent of its annual revenue in the country for colluding on a tender for the transport of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles, reports Reuters. The commission believes action must be taken against it for price fixing‚ market division and collusive tendering involving the transportation of Toyota vehicles from South Africa to Europe‚ North Africa (Mediterranean Coast) and the Caribbean Islands via Europe‚ West Africa‚ East Africa and Red Sea (Latin America) by sea. The Commission said K-Line rigged bids with rivals between 2002 and 2013 to fix prices and divide the market for shipping from South Africa.

Spanish authorities said on Wednesday they had rescued 50 migrants from Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa who were found the day before drifting in two boats off Spain's Mediterranean coast. Spain's maritime rescue service said it first spotted an inflatable boat with six Moroccan men stuck in high winds as it tried to cross the from Morocco's northern coast to the southern Spanish region of Almeria. A second boat with 34 men and 10 women from sub-Saharan African countries later was found in the same area. One woman was treated for burns but the rest of the migrants were in good health, the service said in a statement. All of the migrants were taken aboard a medical ship and transferred to Spain.

France's hardline CGT union said on Monday that workers at Elengy, which operates three liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in France, will go on strike from midnight until May 26 midnight included.   The union said that from Tuesday morning, its members will block two out of three Elengy terminals at Montoir-de-Bretagne on the Atlantic coast and at Fos Tonkin on the Mediterranean coast, where no trucks or vessels will be allowed to load or unload.   The CGT said its members at Elengy will be joining oil sector workers, whose rolling strikes over planned labour reforms have intensified in recent weeks and led to fuel supply disruptions in France.     (Reporting by Bate Felix)