Franklin Paul News

U.S. National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy said at a Senate hearing Wednesday that investigators had conducted interviews with key cargo ship personnel in the investigation of the March 26 Baltimore bridge collapse.The Dali cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, sending it crashing into the harbor and killing six people. Work to clear the wreckage and restore traffic through the Mid-Atlantic state's shipping channel is ongoing.Homendy said investigators remained on site and had interviewed the pilots…

A massive cargo ship smashed into a bridge while sailing out of Baltimore early on Tuesday, sending cars and people into the river below and closing one of the busiest ports on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.Rescuers pulled out two survivors, one of whom was hospitalized, and searched for more in the Patapsco River after huge metal spans of the 1.6-mile (2.57 km) Francis Scott Key Bridge crumpled into the icy water around 1:30 a.m. (0530 GMT).The ship reported a power issue before impact…

The Biden administration on Friday released new rules that will make it easier for offshore wind developers to claim a subsidy for facilities planned in areas that have historically relied on fossil fuel industries for employment.The revision follows nearly a year of warnings by offshore wind companies that their projects might not move forward without access to certain subsidies in President Joe Biden's landmark climate change law, the Inflation Reduction Act.Offshore wind is a critical part of Biden's plan to decarbonize the U.S.

British security firm Ambrey said on Sunday that it had received a report that a Yemeni fishing vessel had been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden."Crew on board the fishing vessel were off-boarded in Bosaso, Somalia.

Yemen's Houthi group Ansarullah targeted a vessel in the Red Sea, a Yemeni military source told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.Earlier on Tuesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) organization received a report of an incident in the Red Sea approximately 50 nautical miles west of Yemen's Hodeidah.Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel's war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations…

French shipping group CMA CGM said on Monday that it is rerouting some of its vessels via Cape of Good Hope in the wake of attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea region.All other "CMA CGM containerships in the area that are scheduled to pass through the Red Sea have already been instructed to reach safe areas and pause their journey until further notice," the Marseille-based group said in a statement on their website.(Reuters - Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama, Editing by Franklin Paul)

A senior official from Yemen's Houthis on Tuesday warned cargo ships in the Red Sea to avoid traveling toward the occupied Palestinian territories, after the Iran-aligned group claimed an attack on a commercial tanker earlier in the day.The Houthis earlier said they hit a Norwegian commercial tanker with a missile in their latest protest against Israel's bombardment of Gaza, underlining the risks of a conflict that has shaken the Middle East.In addition to avoid heading toward the Palestinian territories, ships that pass Yemen should keep radios turned on and quickly respond to Houthi attempts

Danish shipping firm Maersk has sold 20,000,000 shares in Norway's Hoegh Autoliners, cutting its holding to zero, according to a stock exchange filing.The sale at a price of 90.00 Norwegian crowns ($8.34) per share represented approximately 10.48% of the share capital and votes in Hoegh Autoliners, the Norwegian firm said.(Reuters - Reporting by Nora Buli, Editing by Franklin Paul)

An attempted hijacking of a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday appears to have been carried out by armed Somali pirates and not Yemeni Houthis, despite the firing of missiles from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen afterwards, the Pentagon said on Monday."We're continuing to assess, but initial indications are that these five individuals are Somali," said Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder."Clearly a piracy related incident," Ryder added.A U.S. Navy warship responded to a distress call on Sunday from the chemical tanker Central Park.

A U.S. court has removed an emissions permit for Sempra's Port Arthur LNG export terminal in Texas, potentially halting construction of the facility.In its decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday found that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) failed to impose the same emissions limits on the Port Arthur plant as on other projects, including the Rio Grande LNG project which is now under construction.The approximately 13.5 million-metric…

A submarine on a tourism expedition to explore the wreckage of the Titanic has gone missing off the coast of southeastern Canada, according to the private company that operates the vessel and the U.S. Coast Guard.OceanGate Expeditions said in a statement on Monday that it was "mobilizing all options" to rescue those on the underwater vessel, which typically has five people on board.British billionaire Hamish Harding is among the passengers, according to a social media post from a relative.The Coast Guard said on Twitter that a boat on the surface…

Workers at a Liverpool port, owned by Peel Ports Group, will go on strike from Monday for two weeks after talks with the port operating company broke down due to disagreements over increase in pay, UK's Unite union said on Friday.Peel Ports' board has continued to deny workers a pay rise while its profits soared, Unite said, adding that "any chance to halt the industrial action has been lost after Peel Ports board intervened to stop the deal, which had been agreed in principle, from going ahead."Nearly 600 dock workers at the Liverpool port went on strike from Oct. 11 and to Oct.

The Biden administration is considering following Canada in barring Russian ships from U.S. ports, a government official said on Wednesday.A White House spokeswoman said no decision has been made.On Tuesday, Canada shut its ports to Russian-owned ships and barred them from Canadian waters.Russian-flagged ships represent a very small percentage of U.S. traffic, but barring Russian cargo from the United States would have a dramatically larger impact, the source said. It was not clear if the administration is seriously considering that more drastic step.U.S.

The U.S. mediator for indirect talks on border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel said on Thursday that the negotiations he was hoping to revive should be concluded in a short period if they were to succeed.Amos Hochstein, speaking to Al Hadath TV during a visit to Beirut, said holding the indirect talks last year between the two sides in the presence of the United States and the United Nations was an important milestone but that it remained to be seen whether the right time to resume the talks was now."Perhaps there should be some shuttle diplomacy first…

The Biden administration on Tuesday said it will explore the potential of offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico, part of its goal to supercharge growth in clean energy over the next decade."This is an important first step to see what role the Gulf may play in this exciting frontier,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement.While the Gulf of Mexico is a major hub for offshore oil and gas production, it has had little renewable energy development. President Joe Biden has made the expansion of clean energy…

The Biden administration granted oil refiner Citgo Petroleum a maritime shipping waiver allowing it to move fuel between U.S. ports on a foreign flagged vessel, two sources told Reuters on Friday, making it the second company to secure one this week.The waivers are intended to help ease distribution of fuel after a major pipeline serving the U.S. East Coast was forced shut by a cyberattack last week, triggering widespread shortages of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.The Department of Homeland Security had announced the second waiver on Friday…

President Joe Biden believes the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline is a "bad deal for Europe" and his administration will be reviewing restrictions on the project included in a bill that passed during the Trump administration, the White House said on Tuesday.The restrictions on the undersea pipeline project were included in the annual defense policy bill that passed on Jan. 1. Sanctions in the measure apply to any companies helping Gazprom, the Russian state energy company leading the project…

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said Thursday she would resign, citing the intrusion of the U.S. Capitol by violent supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump.Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is the first Cabinet secretary to announce her departure after the events. Many lower-level administration officials have announced they would resign, including several White House aides.Chao said her resignation would take effect Monday, just nine days before Trump is set to leave office.

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on companies based in China and the United Arab Emirates, accusing them of supporting the sale of Iranian petrochemicals as Washington increases pressure on Tehran in the closing days of President Donald Trump's term.The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement it had blacklisted the four entities for facilitating the export of Iranian petrochemical products by Triliance Petrochemical Co. Ltd, which was hit with sanctions by…

Federal prosecutors in Brazil filed a civil lawsuit against Danish shipping company Maersk and former executives representing the firm for alleged corruption involving shipping contracts with state-run oil firm Petrobras, they said on Friday.The lawsuit requests that a judge freeze almost 1 billion reais ($198 million) in assets in order to make sure funds are available to pay for damages resulting from the alleged scheme.Prosecutors said there was evidence of bribe payments to…

Oil traders are hiring expensive U.S. vessels, normally only used for domestic shipments, to store gasoline or ship fuel overseas, five shipping sources said, in a sign of the energy industry's desperation for places to park petroleum amid a 30% drop in worldwide demand.Billions of people worldwide are living under confinement rules due to the coronavirus pandemic, destroying demand for gasoline and other fuels and creating a supply glut. Storage tanks onshore and floating storage in tankers on the water are rapidly filling, leaving fewer options for traders looking to sock away oil.Several shippers said they have started to book Jones Act (JA) vessels for foreign voyages or to store refined products.

Latin America's largest port in Santos in Brazil will maintain regular operations, port operators said after meeting with dock workers and authorities on Wednesday to discuss measures to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.In a statement sent to Reuters, Regis Prunzel, president of operators group Sopesp, said a crisis committee was created with representatives from all stakeholders at the port, where most of Brazil's coffee, sugar, soybeans, corn and cotton are exported to the world.One of the measures agreed on Wednesday will reduce large group gatherings on port premises…

A U.S. Navy warship seized weapons believed to be of Iranian “design and manufacture,” including 150 anti-tank guided missiles and three Iranian surface-to-air missiles, the American military said on Thursday.In a statement, the military said the guided-missile cruiser Normandy boarded a dhow, a traditional sailing vessel, in the Arabian Sea on Sunday.“The weapons seized include 150 ‘Dehlavieh’ anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), which are Iranian-manufactured copies of Russian Kornet ATGMs…