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Duncan Miriri News

18 Dec 2023

Commercial Ship Still Hijacked off Somali Coast

(Photo: EUNAVFOR)

A commercial vessel hijacked by unknown assailants remains off the coast of Somalia raising fears of further instability for global shipping as attacks escalate in the Red Sea, maritime security sources said on Monday.A Spanish navy ship was dispatched at full speed on Friday towards the Maltese-flagged Ruen vessel, which sources said had been hijacked.British maritime security company Ambrey said the vessel had reached nine miles offshore from Bander Murcaayo in Puntland, Somalia on Dec.

20 May 2021

First Ships Dock at Kenya's Lamu Deep Water Port

(Photo: LAPSSET)

The first ships docked at Kenya's deep water Lamu Port on Thursday as the country looks to open a new transport corridor linking its vast northern region and neighboring nations to the sea.Kenyan officials hope that the Indian Ocean port, the country's second deep water facility, will attract cargo destined for neighboring landlocked nations Ethiopia and South Sudan, and offer transhipment services where large vessels bring in cargo for onward distribution by smaller ships.The Lamu Port…

21 Sep 2018

Death Toll Reaches 136 in Tanzania Ferry Disaster

(Photo: Ukerewe Distric Council)

At least 136 bodies have been retrieved after a ferry sank on Lake Victoria, Tanzania's top police official Simon Sirro said on Friday, and scores more were still feared missing as rescuers searched for survivors on the morning after the disaster.The ferry MV Nyerere capsized on Thursday afternoon just a few meters from the dock on Ukerewe, the lake's biggest island, which is part of Tanzania.Initial estimates suggested that the ferry was carrying more than 300 people.Thirty-seven people had been rescued from the sea…

18 Sep 2018

Boat Built with Recycled Plastic to Highlight Pollution

(Photo courtesy The Flipflopi Expedition)

Kenyan islanders have built a boat made entirely of recycled plastic collected during clean-ups of the ocean to highlight the growing menace of plastic waste that ends up in the sea.Last year, the Kenyan government imposed the world’s toughest law against plastic bags, with offenders - including producers, retailers, and ordinary Kenyans - risking imprisonment for up to four years or fines of $40,000, in a bid to reduce plastic pollution.Many bags drift into the ocean, strangling turtles, suffocating seabirds and filling the stomachs of dolphins and whales.The construction of the boat has been

10 Sep 2018

Djibouti Nationalizes Stake in Doraleh Container Terminal

© homocosmicos / Adobe Stock

Djibouti has nationalized the two-thirds stake in its Doraleh Container Terminal held by the Port of Djibouti, the government said in a statement, the latest twist in a dispute with Dubai's government-controlled DP World dating back six years.In February, Djibouti ended a contract with DP World, one of the world's biggest port operators, to run its Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT), and seized control of the terminal.A London court later said DP World's contract to run the terminal was still valid.The port of Djibouti, PDSA, is itself majority-owned by the Djibouti state and in turn owns a two-

01 Jun 2017

Pirates Attack Oil Tanker in Gulf of Oman

Suspected pirates in a skiff attacked a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker, MT NAVIG8 Providence, in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday and were driven off by the ship's security, the European Naval Force said. "There was an exchange of small arms fire between the suspected pirates and the maritime security team on board the tanker," the maritime force, known as EU NAVFOR, said in a statement. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri)

12 Apr 2017

Somali Forces Clash With Pirates, Free Indian Ship Crew

Somali security forces clashed with pirates early on Wednesday and freed nine seamen kidnapped on an Indian cargo ship this month, officials said. The pirates seized the dhow Al Kausar off Somalia's coast, part of a surge of attacks after years without a reported incident. The kidnappers took the crew onshore in central Galmudug state on Monday and clashed with troops two days later, the territory's minister for ports and sea transport, Burhan Warsame, said. "We rescued the nine crew and they are healthy and safe," he added. Hirsi Yusuf Barre, mayor of Galkayo town in the area, said the security forces attacked the gang after it tried to move the hostages into an area controlled by the militant group al Shabaab overnight.

21 Mar 2017

Somali Regional Antipiracy Chief Says Sacked over Illegal Fishing Comments

The head of anti-piracy operations in the semi-autonomous Puntland region of Somalia said he had been fired for speaking out about illegal fishing, which he claims could trigger a new outbreak of piracy in the Indian Ocean. Pirates hijacked an oil tanker off Somalia last week, the first such attack in the region since 2012 after shipping firms hired private security and international warships started patrolling nearby waters. Abdirizak Mohamed Dirir, director of anti-piracy operations in Puntland, said the province's president sacked him after he told journalists that permits had been handed to illegal fishing vessels. "The problem with Puntland is that if you talk about illegal fishing, you are seen as a criminal," Dirir told Reuters.

10 Jan 2016

Several Migrants Die in Sea off Somalia

Dozens of Ethiopian and Somali migrants died in the waters off the breakaway Somalia region of Somaliland when their vessel failed mechanically in the course of the voyage and drifted in the sea, a regional Somaliland official said. Ahmed Abdi Falay, the chairman or governor of Sanag region, said the boat, which had started its journey from the port of Bossaso two weeks ago and was heading to an unidentified port in the Arabian Peninsula, was discovered by the Somaliland Coast Guard. "They climbed into the boat and were shocked to find the dead bodies of 10 people and 72 others who were in different stages of suffering, some of them in serious condition," he said from the port city of Maydh on Friday. "The Coast Guard brought the 72 survivors and the bodies of the dead people ashore.

27 Sep 2015

Kenya Releases Ship Carrying Weapons

A Norwegian-flagged ship that was held in Kenya for more than a week over undeclared weapons belonging to the United Nations has been released, the owners of the vessel said. Kenyan authorities boarded the ship at the port of Mombasa on Sept. 17 and uncovered undeclared weapons in a U.N. shipment destined for peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.N. defended the shipment. "Höegh Transporter has finally been released from detention in Mombasa, Kenya, and has continued her ocean voyage," Hoegh Autoliners, the Norwegian owner of the ship, said in a statement issued on Saturday. The U.N. said the arms were inside armoured personnel carriers destined for its Indian peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

24 Sep 2015

UN Defends Arms Shipment in Kenya, Calls Drug Claim Disturbing

Weapons discovered by Kenyan authorities aboard a Norwegian ship were part of a legitimate cargo for United Nations peacekeepers and the vessel should not have been inspected without a U.N. presence, a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday. Kenyan authorities said they uncovered weapons and a drug-like substance stashed inside a shipment of U.N. vehicles when they boarded the Norwegian-flagged Hoegh Transporter at the port of Mombasa last week. "It is unfortunate that the Kenyan authorities inspected the cargo without a U.N. presence, which runs contrary to established protocol and provisions surrounding privileges and immunities," the U.N. said in a statement signed by its spokesman in Nairobi, Nasser Ega-Musa.

04 Mar 2014

Mombasa Traffic up 1.8 percent in 2013

Kenya's main port of Mombasa handled 1.8 percent more cargo in 2013, aided by improved efficiency and capacity, the port's management said. Landlocked neighbors like Uganda and South Sudan rely on the port for the shipment of commodity exports and imports. A report by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) seen by Reuters on Tuesday said a total of 22.3 million tonnes of cargo moved through the port in 2013, up from 21.9 million in the previous year. Container traffic dipped marginally to 900,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2013, down from to 903,443 registered the previous year. The port handled 6.6 million tonnes of transit cargo in 2013 with land locked Uganda remaining the most frequent destination of goods arriving in Mombasa…