Port Of Odessa News

London’s marine insurance market has widened the area of waters around the Black Sea and Sea of Azov that it deems high risk as Russia's invasion of Ukraine intensifies and perils to merchant shipping grow.The insurance industry's Joint War Committee (JWC) said in an advisory dated March 7 that the high-risk area had been widened to waters close to Romania and Georgia after initially adding Russian and Ukrainian waters in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov on Feb. 15.At least five commercial ships have been hit by projectiles since Feb.

Bangladeshi seafarer Asiful Islam recalls the moment when a missile struck his cargo ship last week off the Ukrainian port of Olvia, killing his crew mate."I was just 15 feet away when it hit our ship. Our third engineer, Hadisur Rahman, who was killed, was standing just two feet away," Islam told Reuters from Romania after the remaining crew members were evacuated over the weekend."All we could do was pray out loud. It was the worst night of my life. I had never been to war zone in my life."Many shipping firms have suspended sailings to affected Black Sea ports and other terminals in Ukraine.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will convene a special meeting next week to discuss the risks to seafarers and ships in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN’s shipping agency said on Friday.Over 15 countries earlier this week called for an IMO meeting as concerns grow for the safety of ships and their crews amid ships being damaged by projectiles.Many shipping firms have suspended sailings to affected Black Sea ports and other terminals in Ukraine. Insurance premiums for voyages have soared since Russia’s invasion on Feb.

Over 15 countries have called for a special meeting with the UN’s shipping agency to discuss the safety of ships and their crews sailing through the Black Sea and Sea of Azov after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing dangers to vessels.Many shipping firms have suspended sailings to affected Black Sea ports and other terminals in Ukraine. Insurance premiums for voyages have soared since Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24, an action Moscow calls a “special operation”.An Estonian-owned cargo ship sank on Thursday off Ukraine’s major Black Sea port of Odessa…

An Estonian-owned cargo ship sank on Thursday off Ukraine's major Black Sea port of Odessa, hours after a Bangladeshi vessel was hit by a missile or bomb at a port east of Odessa, underlining the growing peril to merchant shipping after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Many shipping firms have suspended journeys to Black Sea ports and other terminals in Ukraine amid soaring recent insurance premiums for such voyages. At least three commercial ships have been hit separately by projectiles since Feb. 24 when Russia's invasion began.Viktor Vyshnov, deputy head of Ukraine’s Maritime Administration, said six crew members from the Marshall Islands-flagged Helt were picked up by Ukraine's rescue service and taken to a hospital in nearby Chernomorsk after floating in cold water for many hours…

Moldova's naval agency said on Friday that a Moldovan-flagged chemical tanker with a Russian crew was hit by a missile near Ukraine's port of Odessa, injuring two people, and that it was unclear who had fired at the vessel.Vadim Pavalachi, deputy director at the naval agency, told Reuters that the crew of the Millennial Spirit was Russian."We just heard 10 minutes ago that all the crew were saved but two were seriously injured and are on the way to hospital," Pavalachi said.The tanker is small at 2,200 tonnes and the second commercial vessel to be hit since the invasion began.On Thursday, the Turkish-owned Yasa Jupiter cargo ship was hit by a bomb off Odessa. (Reporting by Julia Payne; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)

Insurers have raised the cost of providing cover for merchant ships through the Black Sea, adding to soaring rates to transport goods through the region for vessels still willing to sail after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.Ship owners pay annual war-risk insurance cover as well as an additional "breach" premium when entering high-risk areas. These separate premiums are calculated according to the value of the ship, or hull, for a seven-day period.Ship insurers have quoted the additional premium rate for seven days at anywhere between 1% to 2% and up to 5% of insurance costs…

The global oil market was thrown into chaos on Thursday after Russia invaded Ukraine, with top buyers of Russian oil struggling to secure guarantees at Western banks or find ships to take crude from one of the world's largest producers.At least three major buyers of Russian oil have been unable to open letters of credit from Western banks to cover purchases on Thursday, four trading sources said, citing market uncertainty after the Russian invasion.Russia produces every 10th barrel in the world and oil prices jumped to above $105 per barrel on Thursday, their highest since 2014, due to fears of disruptions.In the Black Sea, a Turkish-owned ship was hit by a bomb off the coast of Ukraine's port city Odessa…

When Russia attacked Ukraine, the nearest naval vessel of a major NATO ally was in the Mediterranean. The last such ship from a major naval member of the Western military alliance left the Black Sea – an area roughly the size of California bordering Russia, Ukraine and NATO members Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania – over a month ago.A French warship completed a tour in early January and no major NATO naval ally has patrolled its waters since, according to Turkish maritime website Turkishnavy.net, which tracks the movements of foreign warships.

German logistics and transportation company Hamburger Hafen und Logistik (HHLA) is paying its 480 employees at the port of Odessa a month’s salary in advance so they can stock up on goods after the Ukrainian port was closed on Thursday.“HHLA as a group is not endangered in its substance by the events in Odessa,” said Chief Executive Angela Titzrath in a statement, adding that all HHLA employees had left the terminal.Titzrath added that the company expected that its employees would be able “to continue their service on land at the terminal” because ports are considered critical infrastructure.S

A Turkish-owned ship was hit by a bomb off the coast of Ukraine's port city Odessa on Thursday, Turkey's Maritime General Directorate said, adding there were no casualties and the ship was safely en route into Romanian waters.Russia on Thursday launched a ground and air offensive into Ukraine."Upon information that the Marshall Islands-flagged Turkish-owned Yasa Jupiter ship was struck by a bomb off the coast of Odessa, it was learned that the ship has no request for help, is en route to Romanian waters, has no casualties and is safe," the authority said on Twitter.(Reuters - Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Ali Kucukgocmen Editing by Ece Toksabay)

A ship carrying two refitted former U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats designed to beef up the Ukrainian Navy transited the Dardanelles strait on Saturday days after Ukraine said it feared Russia might be preparing an attack on it.The ship carrying the two Island-class patrol boats departed Baltimore for the Ukrainian port of Odessa on November 8. Ukrainian sailors have already undergone extensive training on the vessels in the United States. Ukraine got two similar vessels in 2019.The two new boats are part of a security package to Ukraine worth over $2.5 billion since 2014…

Russia warned Britain on Thursday that it would bomb British naval vessels in the Black Sea if there were any further provocative actions by the British navy off the coast of Russia-annexed Crimea.Russia summoned the British ambassador in Moscow for a formal diplomatic scolding after the warship breached what the Kremlin says are its territorial waters but which Britain and most of the world say belong to Ukraine.Britain said Russia was giving an inaccurate account of the incident.

Russia said on Wednesday it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British warship to chase it out of waters Moscow claims in the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimea peninsula.Britain rejected Russia’s account of the incident, saying it believed any shots fired were a pre-announced Russian “gunnery exercise”, and that no bombs had been dropped. But it confirmed that its destroyer, HMS Defender, had sailed through what it described as waters belonging to Ukraine.The…

Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa is set to receive on Wednesday its first ever West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil cargo from the United States, according to industry sources and shipping data, just a month after the front-month futures for the blend turned negative.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) May crude futures sank to minus $38 per barrel on April 20, just days before their expiration, in a quirky trading pattern never seen before, amid overproduction and lack of storage capacity inflicted by the coronavirus-battling restrictions.On Wednesday, the front-month WTI futures were trading at above $32 a barrel.Industry sources said that the Umla tanker has shipped in BP's 80,000-tonnes cargo for further delivery to the Kremenchug refinery of Ukrtatnafta.

Russia on Monday handed back three naval ships it captured last year to Ukraine, something Kiev wanted to happen before a four-way peace summit on eastern Ukraine next month in Paris.The handover, confirmed by the two countries' foreign ministries, occurred in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.Russia seized the ships in the same area in November last year after opening fire on them and wounding several sailors. Moscow said the ships - two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tug boat - had illegally entered its territorial waters. Kiev denied that.Russia returned the sailors…

Twelve people died when a small passenger boat sank on Saturday near the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukrainian authorities said. The infrastructure ministry said in a statement the accident took place near the small town of Belgorod-Dnistrovsky, 40 km (25 miles) southwest of Odessa at around 4 p.m. local time (1300 GMT). There were 36 passengers on board. It gave no further details. Odessa's governor Mikheil Saakashvili confirmed "several casualties" and said on Facebook that most of passengers were rescued. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Ros Russell)

Maine Maritime Academy’s (MMA) training ship, State of Maine, arrived earlier today in Palermo, Sicily, a port-of-call not originally on the itinerary of the college’s annual two-month training cruise. The rescheduled port visit was necessitated by the ship’s 3-day diversion to Siracusa, Sicily, due to an onboard medical emergency experienced by the ship’s master, Captain Laurence Wade. Wade was hospitalized for additional medical care at a local facility. According to Captain Jeff Loustaunau, MMA’s commandant of midshipmen, the remainder of the itinerary of the training cruise remains unaffected by the substitution of the port of Palermo for a previously scheduled visit in Odessa, Ukraine.