Fletcher News

A container ship smashed into a four-lane bridge in the U.S. port of Baltimore in darkness on Tuesday, causing it to collapse and sending cars and people plunging into the river below.Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one in a "very serious condition," and were searching for more in the Patapsco River after huge spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the water.The ship "lost propulsion" as it was leaving port, and crew on board notified Maryland officials they had lost control of the vessel, ABC News reported, citing an unclassified U.S.

A major bridge collapsed in the U.S. port of Baltimore in the early hours of Tuesday after being struck by a container ship, plunging cars and as many as 20 people into the river below.Rescuers were searching for survivors in the Patapsco Riverafter huge spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the water.As many as 20 people could be in the river along with "numerous vehicles, and possibly a tractor-trailer or a vehicle as large as a tractor-trailer…

The 1.6-mile (2.57 km) long Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, collapsed in the early hours of Tuesday after a container ship hit it, and as many as seven people may be in the water, officials said.A live video posted on YouTube showed a ship hitting the bridge, after which several of its spans collapsed into the Patapsco River. Unverified videos posted on social media X also showed the impact and collapse. Reuters could not immediately verify the videos.The Baltimore City Fire Department described the collapse as a mass-casualty incident…

Insurance broker Marsh and Lloyd's of London underwriters have expanded a marine war insurance program backed by Ukraine from grain shipments to all non-military cargo, such as iron ore and steel, Marsh said on Friday.Marsh, Lloyd's and Ukrainian state banks launched an initial program in November to cut the cost of claims for damage to ships and crew transporting grain through the Black Sea corridor, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine two years ago."Expanding insurance to cover ships carrying all non-military cargo is extremely important for Ukraine…

A dredging and sand replenishment project at Southern California's Solana Beach is about halfway complete, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said.The project, which reduces coastal storm damage and erosion along a 7,200-foot-long stretch of shoreline, includes construction of a 150-foot-wide beach fill using 700,000 cubic yards of compatible sediment.Operations started Jan. 17 and are on schedule to wrap up in mid-March, according to Caleb Lodge, coastal engineer with the Corps' Los Angeles District.“They’re doing about seven or eight loads a day…

Sweden on Wednesday dropped its investigation into the explosions in 2022 on Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany, saying it lacked jurisdiction in the case but had handed evidence it had uncovered over to German investigators.The multi-billion-dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of blasts in the Swedish and Danish economic zones in September 2022, releasing vast amounts of methane into the air.Russia and the West…

Norwegian-registered Hercules Supply has placed an order for a new multipurpose offshore support vessel (MPSV) from Chinese shipyard Fujian Mawei.Slated for delivery on in the fourth quarter of 2025, the newbuild—a Z 4423 MPSV design from Norwegian naval architecture firm Breeze Ship Design—will be 88 meters long and fitted with battery hybrid propulsion, moonpoool and accommodation for 60 people."With a focus on functionality and efficiency, this design provides flexibility to perform tasks within different offshore segments…

Ukraine rained 15 cruise missiles on Russia's shipyard in the Crimean port city of Kerch on Saturday, damaging one ship, Russian defence ministry said, in an attack that could further undermine Moscow's striking capabilities.Thirteen of the missiles were destroyed in the air, while one hit a ship, the Russian defence ministry said in a typically laconic statement when reporting on Ukraine's strikes on Russian territory or infrastructure. It did not give the ship's name.Ukraine's top Air Force commander said the Russian Navy stationed there one of its most modern ships…

Ukraine said on Wednesday Russian warplanes had dropped "explosive objects" into the likely paths of civilian vessels in the Black Sea three times in the last 24 hours, but that its fledgling shipping corridor was still operating.Ukraine is trying to build up a new shipping lane without Russian approval to revive its vital seaborne exports. Russia said it would consider any vessel a potential military target after it quit a U.N.-brokered deal in July that allowed some food exports…

Ukraine is considering using its newly-tested wartime Black Sea export corridor for grain shipments after other cargo ships follow the first successful evacuation of a vessel on the route last week, a senior agricultural official said on Monday.Russia has blockaded Ukrainian ports since it invaded its neighbour in Feb. 2022 and threatened to treat all vessels as potential military targets after pulling out of a U.N.-backed safe passage deal last month.In response, Ukraine announced a "humanitarian corridor" hugging the sea's western coastline near Romania and Bulgaria.

Aug 18 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan could redirect oil exports to Russia's Baltic Sea port of Ust-Luga instead of Novorossiysk, if the situation on the Black Sea deteriorates, the head of Kaztransoil's transport department said on Friday.Kaztransoil's Abay Beisembaev said during an online briefing: "If the situation in the Black Sea worsens, the volumes that we transport in the direction of the port of Sheskharis (in Novorossiysk) will be transferred to the port of Ust-Luga." Novorossiysk…

A container ship set off from Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Wednesday in a test of Russia's threat to attack shipping after it abandoned a deal last month allowing Ukraine to export grain.The departure of the Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, which had been in the port since Feb. 23, 2022 - the day before Russia's invasion - followed a new Russian attack on Ukraine's grain export infrastructure.Russian air strikes damaged grain silos and warehouses at one of the Danube river ports…

Ukraine on Monday condemned what it called "provocative" Russian actions and called for decisive countermeasures by the international community, a day after Moscow said one of its warships fired warning shots at a cargo vessel in the Black Sea.Moscow said on Sunday that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.Russia has said it would treat any ships…

A Russian warship was seriously damaged in an overnight Ukrainian naval drone attack on Russia's Black Sea navy base at Novorossiysk, two sources said on Friday, after Russia said it had fended off the attack.The civilian port, which handles 2% of the world's oil supply and also exports grain, temporarily halted all ship movement before resuming normal operations, according to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium which operates an oil terminal there. Russia's Defence Ministry said…

Russian state news agency RIA said overnight Russian strikes on the Ukrainian port of Izmail had hit port and grain infrastructure housing foreign mercenaries and military hardware, as well as a naval ship repair yard.RIA cited Sergei Lebedev, a man it described as a coordinator of an underground group in the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv and who it said had sources in Izmail, Ukraine's main inland port across the Danube River from Romania.It quoted Lebedev as saying that there had been eight separate Russian strikes on Izmail and that an oil terminal had been hit…

The car carrier burning off the Dutch coast since Tuesday night is carrying nearly 500 electric vehicles, ship charter company "K" Line said on Friday, significantly more than the 25 initially reported by the coastguard.The fire on the Panamanian-registered Fremantle Highway, which was carrying new cars, resulted in the death of an Indian crew member and injury of seven others who jumped overboard to escape the flames.There were 3,783 vehicles on board, including 498 battery electric vehicles, a Tokyo-based spokesperson for K Line (Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha), which had chartered the vessel, said.

A group of Spanish archaeologists have made detailed diagrams of a 2,500-year-old Phoenician shipwreck to help work out how best to recover it from the sea before a storm destroys it forever.The eight-metre-long Mazarron II, named after the municipality in the southeastern Spanish region of Murcia where it was found off the coast, is a unique piece of ancient maritime engineering.Nine technicians from the University of Valencia underwent 560 hours of scuba diving over more than two weeks in June to record all the cracks and fissures in the ship…

Offshore oil and gas exploration spending will increase more than 20% globally this year and the growth will continue into the next, oilfield services firm SLB said on Wednesday."Offshore is experiencing a renaissance, with significant breadth and anticipated durability," SLB Chief Executive Olivier Le Peuch said at the JP Morgan Energy Power and Renewable Conference, according to a draft of the speech posted on the company's website.SLB, the world's largest oil services and equipment provider, said it expects to see a long tail of activity with 65 lease rounds concluding globally this year, i

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.

President Vladimir Putin sent a frigate to the Atlantic Ocean armed with new generation hypersonic cruise missiles on Wednesday, a signal to the West that Russia will not back down over the war in Ukraine.Russia, China, and the United States are in a race to develop hypersonic weapons, which are seen as a way to gain an edge over any adversary because of their speeds - above five times the speed of sound - and maneuverability.In a video conference with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Igor Krokhmal…

Russia said on Wednesday it would resume its participation in a deal to free up vital grain exports from war-torn Ukraine after suspending it over the weekend in a move that had threatened to exacerbate hunger across the world. The Russian defense ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia. "The Russian Federation considers that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement," the ministry statement said.

Professor Max Mejia has been named as the next president of the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmö, Sweden.Selected following a competitive selection process, Mejia—the university's current PhD program director and associate academic dean— will succeed Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, whose term as WMU president will expire on June 29, 2023.WMU was founded by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1983, providing postgraduate maritime and ocean education, research and professional training.

Iran denies Israel's accusation that Tehran targeted an Israeli tanker on Feb. 10, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.The captain of the Liberian-flagged Campo Square said on Saturday it had been lightly damaged by an airborne object on Feb. 10 while sailing through the Arabian Sea.