Southern Coast News

Two Japanese navy helicopters crashed into the sea during a training exercise, killing at least one of the eight crew members on board, the defence minister said on Sunday.The two SH-60 patrol helicopters were conducting anti-submarine exercises on Saturday night near Torishima in the remote Izu island group, off the southern coast of central Japan.Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told a press conference the cause of the crash is under investigation. The two flight recorders had been discovered in close proximity to each other and the probability was high that the two helicopters had collided…

The United States’ Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) approved the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) for Equinor’s Empire Wind project, marking another milestone in advancing the New York offshore wind project.With this permitting action by BOEM secured, Empire Wind is on track to begin construction in its federal lease area off the southern coast of Long Island later this year. Already well advanced in planning and development, Empire Wind 1 could deliver first power to New Yorkers by 2026.

Ukraine destroyed a Russian landing warship off the coast of occupied Crimea in an operation with naval drones that breached the vessel's port side on Wednesday and caused it to sink, Kyiv's military spy agency and armed forces said.There was no immediate comment from Russia, which said earlier that it had destroyed six drones in the Black Sea. The Kremlin declined to comment."The Ukrainian Armed Forces, together with the Defense Ministry's intelligence unit, destroyed the Tsezar Kunikov large landing ship.

Ukraine struck a large Russian landing warship in Crimea with cruise missiles in an overnight attack that killed at least one person and could hinder any Russian attempt to seize more Ukrainian territory along the Black Sea coast.The Russian defence ministry, cited by the Interfax news agency, said Ukraine had used air-launched missiles to attack the Crimean port of Feodosia and that the Novocherkassk large landing ship had been damaged.Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had briefed President Vladimir Putin in detail about the attack, the Kremlin said.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) said it will provide $553 million financing for a Colombo port terminal project, partly owned by India's Adani Group, advancing the first foray by an Indian company into the sector.Sri Lanka, an island off India's southern coast, is mired in its worst financial crisis in over seven decades after its foreign exchange reserves ran to record lows last year, forcing its economy to contract by 7.8% in 2022. Ports-to-edible oils Adani group…

Britain said on Tuesday it would return asylum seekers to a barge on its southern coast as opponents of the policy argued in court that such housing was unlawful.In an embarrassment for the Conservative government's immigration policy, legionella bacteria was detected in the water system of the Bibby Stockholm barge in August, just days after dozens of asylum seekers had been moved on.Following safety tests, the government has started sending letters to asylum seekers confirming they will be moved to the barge, an interior ministry spokesperson said.The government wants to cut the 8 million po

Britain has removed migrants from a residential barge less than a week after they moved in after Legionella bacteria was found in the water supply, the government said on Friday.Britain had begun moving some migrants on to the large Bibby Stockholm barge on its southern coast at the beginning of the week as part of its high-profile strategy to deter asylum seekers from arriving in the country. The policy had divided opinion, with ministers saying they wanted to offer basic and not luxurious accommodation to help save costs, while human rights campaigners said the offer was inhumane. "Environmental samples from the water system on the Bibby Stockholm (barge) have shown levels of legionella bacteria which require further investigation…

Washington Island Ferry Line (WIFL) has been the essential link between the residents, business and visitors of Washington Island and Wisconsin's Door Peninsula for more than eight decades.Picturesque and peaceful Door County isn't named for some intrepid settlers named Door. The name has a more ominous meaning. It's derived from the treacherous passage between the peninsula and Washington Island that mariners called Porte des Mortes, or Death's Door.A unique combination of environmental…

Italian authorities have seized a record 5.3 tonne cocaine haul being transferred between ships off the southern coast of Sicily, police said on Friday.The consignment had an estimated value of 850 million euros  ($946 million) and five people have been arrested, the Guardia di Finanza said in a statement. Police had been tracking a ship that sailed from South America and swooped in the early hours of Wednesday, when a surveillance aircraft spotted packages being thrown from its…

Singapore authorities detained one of the oil tankers from Gatik Ship Management's fleet, a major carrier of Russian oil to India, for three days last month over safety issues, according to port state control data from Tokyo MoU.The Gabon-flagged tanker Lefkada was detained on May 11 after several deficiencies were found, the report from the leading port body showed.They included maintenance of the ship and equipment, fire protection system and life-saving gear.The ship was released on May 13 after the safety issues were rectified, a source familiar with the matter said.The source added the inspection was part of random checks on ships.

Three crew members of a Gabon-registered tanker were missing after the vessel caught fire on Monday in waters off Malaysia's southern coast, Malaysian maritime authorities said.The tanker was on its way from China to Singapore with 28 crew members on board, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said, adding that 23 were rescued by the MMEA and by nearby vessels.The MMEA said it commenced search and rescue operations after receiving an alert at 1600 local time about a tanker on fire.The cause of the incident was under investigation, the maritime agency said.In a separate statement, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore identified the vessel as 'Pablo'.Pablo Union Shipping…

Britain's Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said on Friday a vessel off Yemen's southern coast was involved in an "incident" with a government boat, downgrading the event from its initial assessment of an attack.The agency had previously said the vessel was under attack and that shots were fired, adding that three boats, each with three or four people aboard, were also sighted.UKMTO later said it had confirmed the event by authorities as government agency activity, terming the event incident rather than an attack.Yemen's coast guard, when contacted by Reuters, confirmed a report in Yeme

Britain said on Wednesday it had leased a barge to house 500 migrants on its southern coast as part of efforts to reduce the use of costly hotels as temporary accommodation while asylum claims are being processed.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made cracking down on illegal migration one of his top priorities ahead of an election expected next year and has set out plans to bar the entry of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the Channel.The vessel, the Bibby Stockholm, will be berthed in Portland Port in Dorset and will accommodate 500 single adult males, Britain's interior ministry said.Migrants will be moved aboard "in the coming months" and it will be operational for at least 18 months…

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, most of the fighting has been on land. However, there has also been a less visible – but nonetheless crucial – maritime dimension to the war across the full spectrum of tactical, strategic, economic and diplomatic considerations.After land troops crossed the Ukraine border on February 24 2022, the Russian navy quickly secured control of the northwestern Black Sea. This meant it could contribute to the air campaign against Ukraine by launching cruise missiles from the sea.

At least 12 sailors on a Chinese-flagged cargo ship have died of suspected food poisoning off Vietnam's southern coast, a government official said on Friday.After receiving distress calls from the ship's captain, authorities in the island district of Con Dao deployed helicopters to bring the victims and nine other sailors to a hospital onshore, according to Huynh Trung Son, a local government official."The survivors are in critical condition and our medical staff are trying to save them," Son said via telephone."We haven't been able to identify the nationality of the sailors, but they are likely Chinese," he added.The Wu Zhou 8 ship was en route from Thailand to China, he said, adding that it was not immediately clear what the ship was transporting.The ship was built in 2013 with a carryin

The president of a U.S. maritime trade group has slammed a decision by the Biden administration to approve a temporary Jones Act waiver for vessels shipping oil and other essential commodities to Puerto Rico in the wake of hurricane Fiona.“Granting of this waiver rewards calculated and predatory behavior that undermines a dedicated American supply chain for Puerto Rico, and it is a harmful precedent that invites similar cynical stunts by foreign oil traders,” said Ku’uhaku Park…

The Biden administration on Wednesday approved a waiver of U.S. shipping rules to address Puerto Rico’s immediate energy and other essential needs in the wake of a devastating hurricane.Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said he approved "a temporary and targeted Jones Act Waiver" to ensure Puerto Ricans "have sufficient diesel to run generators needed for electricity and the functioning of critical facilities after Hurricane Fiona." The waiver will allow the use of often cheaper or more readily available foreign-flagged vessels.An estimated 349,000 homes and businesses remained without power in Puerto Rico on Wednesday after Hurricane Fiona hit Sept.

The first grain ship to depart from Ukraine under a U.N.-brokered deal docked in Turkey on Thursday after 11 days at sea, Refinitiv data showed, and the ship's agent in Turkey said it would continue to Egypt after unloading part of its cargo.The Razoni set sail from Ukraine's Odesa port on Aug. 1 under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey between Russia and Ukraine.

Late last month, a Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying corn pulled into the Turkish port of Izmir on the Aegean Sea. The SV Nikolay had loaded the grain at Port Kavkaz, in Russia, six days earlier on June 18, according to documentation provided by an employee of the Russian company that owns the ship.A Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, ship-tracking data and open-source photos and videos yields a different port of origin for the SV Nikolay. On June 18, Reuters’ analysis of a satellite image indicates…

Russian-backed separatists have seized two foreign-flagged ships in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, saying they are now "state property", in the first such moves against commercial shipping, letters seen by Reuters showed.Mariupol, on Ukraine's southern coast, fell under the control of Russian and separatist forces in May after a months-long siege. Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, is fighting to seize the whole of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, via its foreign ministry, informed two shipping companies that their vessels were the subject of "forcible appropriation of movable property with forced conversion into state property”…

Russia and Turkey agreed to pursue talks on a potential safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export grain from Ukraine after discussions in Moscow, the Russian and Turkish defense ministries said on Wednesday.In a statement, Turkey's defense ministry said a Turkish dry cargo vessel, the Azov Concord, had also safely left Mariupol as a result of the talks, and added the ship was the first foreign ship to leave the port since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.Ukraine is one of the top global wheat suppliers, but shipments have been halted by Russia's invasion, causing global food shortages.

A 180,000-square-meter-capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier is said to be the world's first large cargo ship to cross the Pacific using autonomous navigation.Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2021 and delivered to SK Shipping in South Korea, the vessel Prism Courage is equipped with HiNAS 2.0, Level 2 autonomous navigation solution developed by Avikus, a subsidiary of HD Hyundai (former Hyundai Heavy Industries Group).According to Avikus, HiNAS 2.0 creates optimal routes and speeds based on Hyundai Global Service's Integrated Smartship Solution.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Cuttyhunk (WPB 1322) was decommissioned Thursday during a ceremony held at Air Station Port Angeles that was presided over by Capt. Mark McDonnell, 13th Coast Guard District Chief of Response.Cuttyhunk was one of the Coast Guard's 37 remaining 110-foot Island-class patrol boats. The fleet of Island-class cutters is being replaced by 154-foot Sentinel-class cutters built by Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards.Built by Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La.