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Sicily News

11 Oct 2023

Moby Selects Kongsberg Maritime for Ro-Ro Propulsion Upgrade

Source: Kongsberg Maritime courtesy of Moby

Kongsberg Maritime has won a contract to upgrade the propulsion systems on five ro-ro passenger ferries for Italian operator Moby. The vessel upgrades will together reduce CO2 emissions by more than 30,000 tons per year.Moby operates a fleet of ro-ro passenger ferries, operating in the western Mediterranean, including routes between the Italian mainland, Sicily, and Sardinia.Three of the ships, the Moby Vinci, the Sharden, and the Moby Aki, will all receive a Promas Lite propulsion system, which combines rudder and propeller into one propulsion unit.

09 Oct 2023

"Made in Sicily": $126M RoPax Ferry Ordered

A contract was signed to build a 140m, 1000-passenger, 200-car RoPax in Italy. Photo courtesy Fincantieri

A new ferry, fully owned by the Sicilian Region and entirely "Made in Sicily", will carry out the connection service with Lampedusa and Pantelleria. The President of the Sicilian Region Renato Schifani and the CEO and General Director of Fincantieri Pierroberto Folgiero signed the contract for the construction of a new ferry (Ropax Class A), for a price of almost $126m.“The signing of this contract represents a turning point for connections with the smaller islands of Sicily," said Schifani.

21 Jul 2023

Italian Authorities Seize Record 5.3t Cocaine Haul Off Sicily

For illustration -. Credit: 4kclips/AdobeStock

Italian authorities have seized a record 5.3 tonne cocaine haul being transferred between ships off the southern coast of Sicily, police said on Friday.The consignment had an estimated value of 850 million euros  ($946 million) and five people have been arrested, the Guardia di Finanza said in a statement. Police had been tracking a ship that sailed from South America and swooped in the early hours of Wednesday, when a surveillance aircraft spotted packages being thrown from its…

02 Jun 2023

German Rescue Ship Blocked in Italy Over breach of migration law

A German charity said on Friday its rescue ship was impounded by Italian authorities for breaching tougher migration rules introduced by the country's right-wing government as part of a crackdown on NGO sea-rescue activities.The Mare*Go organization said it disobeyed instructions to take 36 migrants it picked up on Thursday to the Sicilian port of Trapani, taking them instead to Lampedusa island, saving itself hours of navigation."The rescue ship is blocked for 20 days" in Lampedusa, the NGO in a statement, adding it would also "likely face a fine because we broke the new Italian Decree Law" sponsored by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.Noting that Trapani was 32 hours away from the location where the migrants were picked up…

26 May 2023

Mediterranean Boat Carrying 500 Migrants has Disappeared, Rescuers Say

Image by Italian NGO Emergency

A boat carrying about 500 migrants, including a newborn baby and pregnant women, has disappeared in the central Mediterranean, two charities said on Friday. Alarm Phone, a group that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, said it lost contact with the boat on Wednesday morning. At the time, the boat was adrift, with no working engine, in high seas about 320 km (200 miles) north of the Libyan port of Benghazi and more than 400 km away from Malta or Italy's southern island of Sicily.

11 Apr 2023

Italy's Coast Guard Works to Rescue 1,200 Migrants Drifting at Sea

Credit: Italian Coastguard

The Italian coast guard is carrying out operations to rescue two boats carrying a total of 1,200 people, it said on Monday, after a surge in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa over the weekend. One of the boats, which is carrying 400 people and is in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Calabria, southern Italy, had previously been sighted in Maltese waters. Earlier on Monday, German NGO Sea-Watch International, which had located the fishing boat with one of its planes…

10 Apr 2023

Italy's Coastguard Works to Rescue 1,200 Migrants Drifting at Sea

© ernestos / Adobe Stock

The Italian coastguard is carrying out operations to rescue two boats carrying a total of 1,200 people, it said on Monday, after a surge in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa over the weekend.One of the boats, which is carrying 400 people and is in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Calabria, southern Italy, had previously been sighted in Maltese waters.Earlier on Monday, German NGO Sea-Watch International, which had located the fishing boat with one of its planes, said one merchant ship in the area had supplied fuel and water to the boat in distress, but Maltese

27 Mar 2023

Italy's Coast Guard Seizes Banksy's Migrant Rescue Ship

A rescue ship funded by British street artist Banksy was seized in Lampedusa on Sunday after Italy's coast guard said the boat had disobeyed its instructions to head to Sicily after carrying out a migrant rescue operation. The coast guard said it had ordered the MV Louise Michel ship to dock in Trapani in Sicily after it performed an initial rescue operation in Libya's Search And Rescue area. The ship instead went to assist migrants on three other boats in Malta's Search And Rescue area. The coast guard added that it was already on its way to assist the three other boats at the time. It ordered the Louise Michel to dock in accordance with a new law passed in Italy this year establishing a code of conduct for migrant charity ships, the coast guard said.

23 Mar 2023

Italy's Coast Guard Rescues More Than 700 Migrants

The Italian coast guard has rescued around 750 migrants in two separate operations off the country's southern coastline, hours after at least five people died and 33 were missing in an attempted sea crossing from Tunisia.The coast guard said some 295 people were rescued from a fishing boat intercepted 167 km from the eastern coast of the Calabria region, while about 450 were rescued from another fishing vessel 185 km east of Syracuse in southern Sicily.The second vessel was in precarious state of seaworthiness…

13 Mar 2023

Thirty Migrants Missing in Shipwreck off Libya. Charity Blames Italy

© Carlo Toffolo/AdobeStock

Thirty people are missing and 17 were rescued in the central Mediterranean on Sunday after the boat in which they were travelling from Libya capsized in bad weather, Italy's coastguard said.The tragedy comes just weeks after a Feb. 26 shipwreck near the southern region of Calabria, in which at least 79 died. Alarm Phone, a charity that picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, assumed the 30 people were dead and blamed Italy for not sending its coastguard despite being repeatedly alerted on Saturday that the boat was in trouble."Clearly…

03 Feb 2023

Italy: Eight Migrants Found Dead, Two missing on Ship off Lampedusa Coast

©Carlo Toffolo/AdobeStock

Eight migrants were found dead, and around 40 were rescued by the Italian coast guard overnight on a ship off the coast of the island of Lampedusa, Italian media reported on Friday. The rescuers took the survivors to the main port on Lampedusa, which lies to the south of Sicily, news agency ANSA said. Italian authorities escorted another three stricken vessels carrying 156 people to Lampedusa, one of the main entry points for people trying to reach Europe. Italy is facing a surge in arrivals from North Africa.

08 Jan 2023

Italy Rejects NGO Ship's Request for Closer Safe Port

The Italian government has rejected a request from a ship run by Doctors Without Borders non-governmental organisation (NGO) to assign a safe port closer to the place where it rescued 73 migrants, an NGO official said on Sunday.Italy's interior ministry did not comment on the issue.The dispute is part of a broader tug-of-war between Italy's right-wing government and NGOs over where to disembark migrants saved in the Mediterranean sea.On Saturday Doctor Without Borders' ship Geo Barents received permission from Rome to dock to Ancona port, which is in central Italy and on the country's east coast, far away from Sicily where NGO boats…

21 Apr 2022

USCG Commissions Sentinel-class Cutter Clarence Sutphin Jr.

(Photo: Ryan Schultz / U.S. Coast Guard)

The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned its 47th Sentinel-class cutter, USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147), into service on ThursdayBuilt by Bollinger Shipyards and officially delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard on January 6 in Key West, Fla., Clarence Sutphin Jr. is Patrol Forces Southwest Asia's (PATFORSWA) sixth 154-foot Sentinel-class cutter.Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander, presided over the commissioning ceremony at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

01 Nov 2021

Retrofitted Pair to Be First Tier III Tugs in Italian Ports

Ali Gurun, Vice President of Sanmar, and Alberto Dellepiane CEO Italy for Rimorchiatori Mediterranei. (Photo: Sanmar Shipyards)

Sanmar Shipyards said it has signed a contract to deliver two cleaner and greener versions of its Bogacay series of tugs to Sicily-based operator Rimorchiatori Augusta Srl. BOGACAY LII and BOGACY LIV have been refurbished and their propulsion systems upgraded using the latest technology to make them IMO Tier III emissions compliant. They will be delivered to Augusta Port in Sicily towards the end of 2022.The 24.4m x 12m x 5.45m sister tugs will be powered by two Caterpillar CAT 3512E C rating main engines…

26 Jul 2021

Largest Italy-built Cruise Ship Delivered

MSC Seashore - Credit: Fincantieri

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has said it has delivered the MSC Seashore - the largest cruise ship to be built in Italy - to the cruise division of MSC GroupAlso, Fincantieri said Monday that MSC Seashore's sister ship MSC Seascape was under construction at the Monfalcone shipyard. MSC Seascape is expected to enter service in the winter of 2022.Pierfrancesco Vago, executive chairman of the Cruise Division of MSC Group, said the construction of MSC Seashore is an investment that generates an impact on the Italian economy of almost 5 billion euros and the employment of up to 4…

13 Jul 2021

Wärtsilä Wins Multi-engine Order for New Italian Ferry

The new Caronte & Tourist ferry (Image: NAOS)

Wärtsilä said it will provide the main and auxiliary engines, as well as the fuel storage and supply system, for a new Italian ferry designed to operate on liquefied natural gas (LNG).The vessel is under construction at the Sefine shipyard in Turkey and has been ordered by Caronte & Tourist Isole Minori, based in Milazzo, Italy.The 109.98-meter-long ferry will be capable of accommodating 800 passengers and up to 115 cars on two vehicle decks. Expected to be delivered in 2023, the vessel will mainly operate between Milazzo in Sicily and the Aeolian islands.The order with Wärtsilä…

09 Jul 2021

Grimaldi Group’s Fifth Hybrid RoRo Christened

(Photo: Grimaldi Group)

The fifth in a series of 12 hybrid ro-ro ships for the Grimaldi Group has been christened in the port of Catania.Built by the Chinese Jinling shipyard in Nanjing, Eco Catania and its sister vessels already in service in the Mediterranean are part of the GG5G (Grimaldi Green 5th Generation) class, which rank among the largest and most eco-friendly ro-ro ships in the world.With a transport capacity of more than 500 trailers, these green giants are able to halve CO2 emissions compared to the previous generation of ro-ro ships operated by the Grimaldi Group…

06 Jul 2021

MSF Denounces Seizure of Migrant Rescue Vessel in Italy

French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Monday an MSF vessel that rescued hundreds of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean last month has been detained in Italy, suggesting the seizure was politically motivated.Thousands of migrants embark each year on the crossing, often departing in small, inflatable boats from Libya with hopes of reaching Europe.So far this year, 866 migrant deaths have been recorded in the Mediterranean, according to the U.N. migration agency. Most of them, 723, died on the central Mediterranean route where the MSF vessel was operating.MSF’s research ship, the Geo Barents, was seized on July 2 in Augusta…

03 Mar 2021

Italian Magistrates Set to Level Charges Against Sea Rescuers, NGOs

A German aid group that operated a migrant rescue boat in the Mediterranean said on Wednesday Italian magistrates were set to charge 21 individuals and three human rights groups with aiding illegal immigration from Libya.The announcement came after magistrates in the Sicilian city of Trapani said they had concluded a three-year investigation centered on the Iuventa boat, which was run by the Jugend Rettet non-governmental group.The magistrates did not make their findings public, but the Iuventa crew, which is kept abreast of legal developments, said they had been charged and faced up to 20 years in jail."Saving lives is never a crime.

25 Feb 2021

Livestock Carrier Returns to Spain After Months Stuck at Sea

A shipload of Spanish cattle that had been drifting for months due to concerns over the bovine bluetongue disease docked in Spain on Thursday, the government said, but the fate of the animals remains unclear.The Karim Allah left the Mediterranean port of Cartagena on December 17 carrying 895 cattle destined for sale in Turkey. A second ship, the ElBeik, set sail the next day from Tarragona with a cargo of nearly 1,800 cows.Even though the cattle had clean veterinary certificates, according to Spain’s government, Turkish authorities rejected both vessels and suspended live animal imports from Spain after an outbreak of the insect-borne…

14 Sep 2020

Migrants Rescued by Danish Tanker Land in Italy After 40 Days at Sea

Maersk Etienne (Photo: Maersk Tankers)

A group of migrants who had been blocked aboard a tanker in the Mediterranean for more than a month were allowed to land in Sicily on Saturday after Italy agreed to take them in, NGO Mediterranea said.The 25 people still at sea disembarked late on Saturday in the port town of Pozzallo, in Sicily, in southern Italy, due to health reasons, ending a “nightmare”, the statement said.“The longest and most shameful stand-off of European maritime history ends,” Mediterranea tweeted after the landing.The migrants had been transferred on Friday to the Italian charity ship Mare Jonio…

20 Aug 2020

Fincantieri Floats Out MSC Seashore

(Photo: Fincantieri)

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri announced Thursday it has floated out the new cruise ship MSC Seashore at its shipyard in Monfalcone. The vessel has been moved to a wet dock where interior outfitting work will continue until delivery to MSC Cruises in July 2021.MSC Seashore, which will be MSC Cruises’ longest ship at 339 metres and the largest and most innovative ever built in Italy, is the third of four vessels in MSC Cruises’ Seaside class, following MSC Seaside and MSC Seaview launched in 2017 and 2018 respectively.

07 May 2020

Italy Detains Migrant Rescue Ships

The vessel Alan Kurdi is detained in Palermo (Photo: Sea-Eye)

Italian coastguards have seized two charity rescue boats at the port of Palermo citing "technical and operational" irregularities, which the owners called an excuse to hinder missions to save the lives of migrants at sea.The seizure of the German-flagged Alan Kurdi and Spanish-flagged Aita Mari this week followed a sharp rise in the number of migrants reaching Italy, which has angered and embarrassed the government as it battles the coronavirus epidemic.For years Italy was the primary route into Europe for hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers and other irregular migrants.