Robert Birsel News

A surge of diesel and gasoline exports from China in the last northern winter eased then-prevailing fuel shortages in Asia but a repeat performance this year is unlikely.China's exports of refined products have eased from high levels in recent months, partly as a result of stronger domestic demand, but a lack of available quotas and shrinking profit margins for fuels have also played a role.In the northern winter of 2022-23 China played an outsized role in easing a squeeze on the availability of refined fuels…

Parts of the river Rhine in Germany have been closed to shipping because of a rise in water levels following recent heavy rain, German authorities said on Thursday.Rhine river shipping has been stopped around Maxau in south Germany, the German inland waterways navigation agency WSA said.High water means vessels do not have enough space to sail under bridges, preventing vessels reaching Switzerland.Central and northern sections of the river are open to shipping.Water levels are forecast to fall, allowing shipping to resume later on Thursday or on Friday, said the water level forecasting service

The Australian government on Sunday described as "serious and ongoing" a cybersecurity incident that forced ports operator DP World Australia to suspend operations at ports in several states since Friday.DP World Australia, which manages nearly half of the goods that flow in and out of the country, said it was looking into possible data breaches as well as testing systems "crucial for the resumption of normal operations and regular freight movement".The breach halted operations at the containers terminals in Melbourne…

The captain of a dive boat that caught fire and sank off the California coast in 2019, killing 34 people on board in one of the state's deadliest maritime disasters, was found guilty on Monday of a federal charge of seaman's manslaughter.Jerry Boylan, 70, was convicted by a U.S. District Court jury in Los Angeles on a single charged count of "misconduct or neglect of a ship officer" under a federal homicide statute dating from steamboat accidents in the early 1800s.The felony conviction…

Two Chinese icebreaker research vessels and a cargo ship set sail on Wednesday for the Antarctic with more than 460 personnel on board to help complete construction of China's fifth station on the world's southernmost continent.China's biggest flotilla of research vessels deployed to the Antarctic will focus on building the station on the rocky, windswept Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea, a deep Southern Ocean bay named after a 19th century British explorer.Work on the first Chinese station in the Pacific sector began in 2018.

The world is not on track for zero-emission fuels to account for 5% of international shipping fuels by 2030, a new analysis has found, jeopardizing the shipping industry's 2050 decarbonization goal.Launched at the Global Maritime Forum's annual summit in Athens on Wednesday, the assessment finds that current scalable zero-emissions fuel (SZEF) production in the pipeline would cover just a quarter of the fuel needed by 2030. And the delivery of zero-emission vessels is also faltering. At the end of 2022, there were 24 ships capable of running on SZEF, mostly methanol, with another 144 on order.

Russia on Tuesday released video footage showing an armed naval inspection unit boarding a cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea on Sunday and questioning the captain about why the ship had not stopped when demanded to by a Russian warship.Russia said that it fired warning shots with automatic weapons at the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after it failed to respond to a demand for it to halt, though it was unclear why the ship was boarded so close to Turkey.In a video released by the Russian defense ministry…

Iran's Revolutionary Guards' navy has unveiled new vessels equipped with 600-km range missiles at a time of rising tensions with the U.S. in the Gulf, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.The announcement was made during a military exercise off the coast of Abu Musa island, one of three Gulf islands under Iranian control but disputed by the United Arab Emirates.The news agency gave no details about the missiles but cited a commander on the need to defend the islands."The islands of the Persian Gulf are part of Iran's honour and we will defend them…

A burning car carrier off the Dutch coast is being towed to a new location away from shipping routes as part of a difficult operation to salvage the ship, the Dutch water board Rijkswaterstaat and media said.The ship will be towed to a location 16 km north of the Dutch islands Ameland and  Schiermonnikoog, Rijkswaterstaat said in a statement on Sunday.The towing operation began on Sunday, and it was not known when the ship, which was traveling from Germany to Egypt when the fire broke out…

A Chinese research ship and five escort vessels were in Vietnam's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Friday, close to gas blocks operated by Russian firms in the South China Sea, a day after Vietnam urged the ships to leave.The Chinese vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10 began operating in Vietnam's EEZ on May 7, representing the most significant incursion since 2019, according to Ray Powell, who leads Stanford University's Project Myoushu on the South China Sea.He said China's conduct and Vietnam's reaction were a "worrying escalation."China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, including areas that are within Vietnam's EEZ. The 2019 standoff lasted for more than three months and largely targeted a block then operated by Russian state oil firm Rosneft ROSN.MM.

A Chinese fishing vessel with 39 crew members on board has capsized in the Indian ocean and President Xi Jinping has ordered that all efforts be made to search for survivors, state media reported on Wednesday.The distant-water fishing vessel Lupeng Yuanyu 028, owned by Penglai Jinglu Fishery Co Ltd based in Shandong province, capsized early on Tuesday, state-run CCTV reported.The 39 people on board - 17 Chinese crew members, 17 Indonesians and five from the Philippines - were missing, CCTV said.Xi said all efforts should be made for the rescue and early warning alerts of safety risks would be

New Zealand's last exports of livestock by sea have been completed and live exports have ceased, its agriculture minister said on Friday, as it fully implemented a ban on export shipments of animals on the grounds of their welfare.The government announced in 2021 that shipping animals offshore, largely for building herds in trading partners like China, would be halted but farmers would be given two years to transition out of the profitable export business."Our position on the map means that the journey to northern hemisphere markets will always be a long one and this brings unavoidable animal

Philippine rescuers searched the smoldering ruins of a burnt-out ferry on Thursday for any survivors or more victims of a fire that swept through the inter-island vessel killing 29 people, including a 6-month-old baby, authorities said.Investigators have yet to identify the cause of the fire that started at about 11 p.m. (1500 GMT) on Wednesday off the southern island of Basilan, when many passengers were asleep in air-conditioned cabins on the ferry's lower deck. "I thought I was dreaming but when I opened my eyes it was dark and we were surrounded by smoke…

At least 29 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa died when their two boats sank off the coast of Tunisia as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, the Tunisian coast guard said on Sunday. Separately, in the last four days, five migrant boats have sunk off the coast of the southern city of Sfax, leaving 67 missing and nine dead, after a significant increase in boats heading towards Italy.Tunisia has taken over from Libya as a main departure point for people fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa and the Middle East in the hope of a better life in Europe.Houssem Jebabli…

At least two vessels carrying Australian coal have arrived in China for the first time since an unofficial ban on imports was introduced more than two years ago, and several more are on the way, shiptracking data showed. The cargoes are being closely monitored by coal traders as they are keen to see how smooth Chinese customs procedures will be.China last month, in a partial easing of the import ban, granted permission to just four central-government owned firms to bring in Australian coal. Tiger East, a dry bulk vessel loading some 73,300 tonnes of Australian thermal coal from Queensland, is discharging at the southern Chinese city of Taishan…

Two people died and nine were missing after a cargo ship sank off southwestern Japan early on Wednesday amid fierce winter winds, the coast guard said, as it continued to search for survivors.Six people who were rescued remained unconscious, while five had revived as of 8:30 p.m. local time (1130 GMT), the Japan Coast Guard said, partly citing information from its South Korean counterpart.The 6,651-tonne Hong Kong-registered Jintian - which had 22 crew on board who were Chinese or Myanmar nationals according to media reports - issued a distress call late on Tuesday…

Sri Lanka's largest port began on Wednesday construction of a $700 million terminal project, partly funded by India's Adani Group, an official said, marking the first foray by an Indian company into the sector. India has this year provided the most financial support to its southern neighbour, which is facing its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades. India is now keen to see long-term projects by Indian companies take off in Sri Lanka. "Dredging commenced in the morning," Upul Jayatissa, managing director of the state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), told Reuters.

Navy vessels from Australia and New Zealand will be exempt from a temporary ban on foreign ships entering the ports of the Solomon Islands, the Pacific island nation's prime minister told parliament on Monday.Foreign military vessels responding to a request for assistance from the Solomon Islands government would also be exempt, Prime Minister Manesseh Sogavare said.The Solomon Islands signed a security pact with China in April, which a leaked draft said allows the Chinese navy to replenish in Honiara…

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that Venezuela would support Cuba in the reconstruction of its only supertanker port in Matanzas, which was partially destroyed by a fire after lightning struck one of the its crude tanks.Cuba has long relied on the 2.4 million-barrel Matanzas terminal, about 130 km from Havana, for most imports and storage of crude and heavy fuel oil.Maduro directed Venezuela's oil minister and the president of state-run PDVSA to get in touch with the corresponding Cuban authorities "to begin the design of the reconstruction of the supertanker yard," he said

China's threat of force is undiminished, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said on Thursday, even though Beijing's largest ever military drills around the island seemed to be scaling down.Furious about a visit to Chinese-claimed Taiwan last week by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China launched ballistic missiles and deployed multiple aircraft and warships in recent days to simulate sea and air attacks.China said on Wednesday it would keep up patrols but had "completed various tasks" around Taiwan, signaling a possible end to the war games even while keeping up pressure.

The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Wednesday a supply chain pilot data-sharing project aimed at easing bottlenecks at congested U.S. ports has begun exchanging data and doubled in size.USDOT announced the planned project in March with truckers, shippers, wholesalers, retailers and ports "to develop a digital tool that gives companies information on the condition of a node or region in the supply chain."The effort known as the Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) program included 18 initial participants including FedEx…

Three grain ships left Ukrainian ports on Friday while the first inbound cargo vessel since Russia's invasion was due in Ukraine to load, as Kyiv called for the safe passage deal to be extended to other cargoes such as metals.The July 22 deal marked a rare diplomatic breakthrough as war rages in eastern Ukraine, with Kyiv trying to rebuild its shattered economy after more than five months of conflict."We expect that the security guarantees of our partners from the U.N. and Turkey will continue to work…

Three ships loaded with grain under a recently concluded deal have left Ukrainian ports, the Turkish Defense Ministry and Reuters witnesses said on Friday.The Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, which groups Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel, said two ships were setting off from Chornomorsk and one from Odesa.The three vessels carrying a total of about 58,000 tonnes of corn have been authorized to leave Ukrainian ports as part of a deal to unblock grain exports.The Turkish Defense Ministry said on Twitter the Panama-flagged Navistar…