Portuguese Coast News

The maiden voyage of a new British aircraft carrier will seek to show allies that post-Brexit Britain is ready to defend Western interests and eager to see China respect international rules, the vessel’s commander said.HMS Queen Elizabeth took part in NATO exercises in the Mediterranean this week, ahead of the eight-month voyage that will cross through the South China Sea in a signal to Beijing that sea lanes must remain open.The carrier is “a hugely powerful statement,” Commodore Steve Moorhouse…

The third - and final - floating wind turbine has been towed offshore as part of the Windfloat Atlantic project, located 20 km from Viana do Castelo on the Portuguese coast. The project, dubbed the first floating offshore wind farm in continental Europe, is operated by the Windplus consortium, consisting of EDP Renováveis (54.4%), Engie (25%), Repsol (19.4%) and Principle Power Inc. (1.2%). Bourbon Subsea Services is responsible for the towing and the connection of the 8.4 MW floating wind turbine supplied by MHI Vestas.With the support of three vessels (the Bourbon Orca AHTS…

At approximately 7:45 p.m., Monday, the captain of the bulk carrier Tamar reported that a second crewmember was killed from an onboard explosion. The New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing pararescuers arrived on board the Tamar at about 9:30 p.m., after deploying from their HC-130 with two small boats and advanced life-saving equipment. They are staying with the ship until higher medical authority can take over care of the injured crew. The Portuguese Coast Guard are scheduled to launch a helicopter and pick up the injured crew members and bring them to Ponta Delgada. They are expected to be within range of the Azores, Portugal within 24 hours.

An explosion aboard Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier Tamar has killed one crewmember and left three others severely injured roughly 1,300 miles offshore Cape Cod, Mass. At approximately 7 a.m., Tamar’s captain contacted watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard command center reporting an explosion in the ship’s forward storeroom killed one crewmember and caused three others to suffer massive burns and are in need of immediate medical attention. The U.S. Coast Guard is coordinating with the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing and the Canadian and Portuguese Coast Guards to provide a medical emergency response. The New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing launched an HC-130 aircrew with six pararescuers and one combat rescue officer.

Britain's Isle of Grain liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal is set to receive the GDF Suez Point Fortin tanker on around May 6, live ship-tracking data on Reuters Eikon shows. The 154,200 cubic metre capacity vessel is currently off the Portuguese coast and is listed as inbound for the Isle of Grain. The vessel appears to have last docked at Algeria's Arzew LNG export plant, where it may have loaded its cargo. Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic

Classification society ABS has provided certification services for the design, fabrication and installation for the first WindFloat facility. The WindFloat Aguçadoura unit is a 2 MW floating wind turbine moored in slightly less than 50 m water depth 4 km offshore the northern Portuguese coast. The WindFloat project is the first offshore wind deployment in the world that did not require heavy lift equipment offshore. Final assembly and pre-commissioning took place in a controlled shoreside environment. This installation also is the first deployment of a semisubmersible structure supporting a commercial size wind turbine. ABS design review…

Maersk container ship disabled, drifting off the coast of Portugal after engine failure. Tug ordered just in case. Maersk Line container ship Gerd Maersk, on passage from the Far East to Bremerhaven, following engine failure, was drifting about 20 miles northwest of Porto. The ship's engineers are working to repair the damage, while a small tug - Castelo de Obidos - lies in the readiness of hundred meters from the Danish-flagged container ship, ready to provide assistance should there be need.

The Portuguese Navy has awarded a major ship handling simulator contract to KMSS. The contract consists of several naval bridge cubicles located on two different locations connected by a fibre optic network. The main shiphandling bridge will be installed at the Navy's tactical centre and will replicate the bridge of the "Vasco da Gama", a MEKO-class frigate. Each of the two naval training sites will be equipped with different configured bridges providing the capacity to train several bridge crews operating in the same exercise scenario, simultaneously. In addition to the bridge facilities, a simulated OPS room will be installed at the tactical centre to provide tactical information to each scenario.