Spanish Coast News

Germany's top utility RWE has signed a Letter of Support with the Port Authority of A Coruña to facilitate the scaling-up of the port capacity in support of the Spanish government’s floating wind targets.Working together under a Letter of Support, the partners will investigate the potential for transforming infrastructure at the Port of Coruña, in northwest Spain, into a logistic hub for the marshalling, assembly and deployment of major components for commercial-scale floating…

Killer whales severely damaged a sailing boat off the coast of southern Spain, the local maritime rescue service said on Thursday, adding to dozens of orca attacks on vessels recorded so far this year on Spanish and Portuguese coasts.In the early hours of Thursday, a group of orcas broke the rudder and pierced the hull after ramming into the Mustique on its way to Gibraltar, prompting its crew of four to contact Spanish authorities for help, a spokesman for the maritime rescue…

A Spanish Navy ship tasked with updating nautical charts to make navigation safer got stranded on Thursday near the island of Ibiza in the Mediterranean, the Navy said.The vessel Malaspina was exploring an area of shallows to the west of the island and got stuck on one of them. Rescue teams have been sent to help remove the vessel from the ground, the Navy said in a statement."After an initial inspection... no structural damage can be seen," it said.

Three migrants rescued in Spain's Canary Islands, after apparently enduring an 11-day journey from Nigeria crouched on the rudder of a fuel tanker, should now be returned home under stowaway laws, a police spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday. In a photograph distributed on Twitter by the Spanish coast guard on Monday, the three stowaways are shown crouching on the rudder under the hull, just above the waterline of the Alithini II.The 183-metre ship, sailing under a Maltese flag, arrived in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria after setting out from Lagos in Nigeria on Nov.

One migrant died and 26 were missing after their dinghy capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Spain's Canary Islands, the Spanish Coast Guard told Reuters on Tuesday.The coast guard rescued 34 people after the vessel capsized around 135 miles off the southern tip of Gran Canaria on Monday. Another two vessels carrying around 63 people, including two children, were found floating in the sea around 40 miles to the south. All those onboard were rescued, the coast guard said.Authorities were alerted on April 24 to a dinghy that had left Cabo Bojador in Western Sahara…

The Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Society in cooperation with ACSM, the Spanish provider of subsea services, have this week recovered the wreckage of a light aircraft Piper PA-34 Seneca, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of delta de l'Ebre, close to Tarragona in Spain, at a water depth of 113 meters.Together with the aircraft, the SASEMAR/ACSM recovered the body of one of the pilots and return it to the family.The light aircraft disappeared from the radar on the November 3rd…

Eleven years ago, environmental scientist Jesse Ausubel dreamed aloud in a commencement speech: What if scientists could record the sounds of the ocean in the days before propeller-driven ships and boats spanned the globe?They would listen to chit-chat between blue whales hundreds of miles apart. They would record the familiar chirps and clicks among a pod of dolphins. And they would do so without the cacophony of humankind – and develop a better understanding of how that undersea racket has affected sea life.It was a flight of fancy…

At least 17 migrants died in the space of 24 hours while trying to cross the sea from North Africa to Spain, and rescuers picked up more than 100 others, the Spanish coast guard said on Monday.Two rafts were found in the Western Mediterranean between the Iberian peninsula and Morocco and Algeria with 80 people aboard, and 13 dead. They were taken to the Spanish North African enclave of Melilla, the coast guard said.The coast guard also found four bodies and rescued 22 men in the Atlantic off the southern Spanish city of Cadiz.Spain has now become the main destination for undocumented migrants and refugees from Africa and the Middle East trying to reach Europe.More than 47,000 people made the treacherous journey to Spain, often on flimsy dinghies and rafts, between Jan. 1 and Oct.

Five migrants drowned and 193 were rescued in the western Mediterranean sea off the Spanish coast, the Spanish coastguard said on Thursday, after six rafts sank.Spain has become the main entry point for migrants fleeing Africa to seek a better life in Europe, overtaking Italy and Greece, as Italy's new populist government refuses to admit rescue boats.Dozens of migrants dressed in hooded white forensic suits disembarked from a rescue vessel on Thursday in the port of Motril in the southern region of Andalusia, video footage showed.Survivors from one of the rafts rescued said four other people had been lost at sea earlier in the journey…

The RB Eden vessel carrying 70,000 tonnes of U.S. sorghum turned around just before reaching the Spanish port of Cartagena and is now heading to Singapore, Thomson Reuters Eikon ship-tracking data showed.This marks the second U-turn for the ship amid a trade tussle between the United States and China. Anti-dumping measures announced by Beijing in mid-April led exporters to divert hundreds of thousands of tonnes of U.S. sorghum. But China dropped its sorghum probe on Friday in what was seen as a goodwill gesture.The RB Eden initially loaded at grain merchant ADM's elevator in Corpus Christi, Texas, on March 18, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

Global maritime services firm, Ardent, and Ardentia Marine Group, a Spanish salvage, engineering and commercial diving company, have formally partnered for future operations following the signing of a cooperation agreement in June 2016. Ardentia has been the emergency response and underwater services provider for the Spanish Coast Guard since 2009, and has intervened in nearly 100 operations with marine casualty control, fuel and bunker removal, refloating and wreck removal. The company maintains a strong presence in Spain and Portugal.

Spanish emergency services picked up 470 immigrants travelling in dozens of rafts across the Strait of Gibraltar on Tuesday and 227 from the same stretch of water the day before, a spokesman for the Maritime Safety Agency said. More than 75,000 have tried to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa, landing in Italy, Greece, Spain and Malta, the UNHCR agency says, with about 800 people dying in the attempt. About 10,500 children, two-thirds of them unaccompanied or separated from their families, were included in those numbers, as people flee violence in Africa and the Middle East, often using unseaworthy vessels and with the help of smugglers.

A report released by WWF points to ship accident-prone areas: the South China Sea & East Indies, east Mediterranean & Black Sea, and the busy shipping lanes around the British Isles, North Sea and Bay of Biscay. The busy shipping lanes around the British Isles, North Sea and Bay of Biscay had the fourth largest number of shipping accidents in the world, with 135 reported incidents between 1999 and 2011 including fires, collisions and leakage of toxic waste. The North Sea is one of the most intensively sailed seas in the world with over 120,000 ship movements taking place there every year. The WWF report also names the South China Sea and East Indies, east Mediterranean and Black Sea, as dangerous hotspots for accidents involving ships.

The cruise ship AIDAbella broke a Guinness World Record and is now the largest cruise ship ever to pull a water-skier. The world record was set in early October off the Spanish coast in the Bay of Alicante. In the shallow waters during the early morning sunshine, Jan Schwiderek, a reporter for the TV show “Galileo”, skied behind AIDAbella at a speed of 14 knots for a time of precisely 6 minutes and 25 seconds. Using a “flying start”, Schwiderek stepped onto his skis from a speedboat driving at full throttle.

EU Members and coastal states worldwide are in danger of “losing the plot” over the response to the Prestige spill, according to the International Salvage Union (ISU). “Much has been achieved since the loss of the Prestige. In particular, there is now a much clearer understanding of the importance of taking the right decision when confronted with a request for a place of refuge. New guidelines in this area are about to be adopted by the IMO. Unfortunately, however, governments appear to be at risk of losing the plot when it comes to the fundamental issue: preventing the next Prestige. “While there is always room for improvement in the management and operation of ships, no amount of fresh regulatory action will eradicate the potential for another Prestige.

Salvage workers and shipping experts were studying a possible mid-sea transfer of nearly 30,000 tons of gasoline from a damaged tanker at risk of exploding, the ship's operators said. Spanish authorities insisted the tanker would not be allowed back into the country's waters to carry out the potentially risky operation. A tugboat carrying equipment and specialists for the operation had joined the Greek-owned tanker Castor, around 56 km (35 miles) off the Spanish port of Cartagena in the Mediterranean Sea, the ship's operator Athenian Sea Carriers said in a statement. The 1977-built Castor sought refuge in ports in Morocco, Gibraltar and Spain last week after developing a large crack in its main deck but was refused entry amid fears sparks could set off an explosion.

The captain of the damaged Greek tanker Castor, which is carrying 29,000 tons of gasoline and is in danger of exploding, has reportedly told Spanish authorities he and his crew will abandon ship if it was not allowed refuge immediately, the ship owners said. "The rescue team have now issued a warning of a strong smell of gasoline around the vessel," Athenian Sea Carriers said in a statement. Tanker experts are agreed that the rubbing of deck plates alongside a crack in the ship's deck could lead to a spark that would ignite the ship's cargo. "A statement was issued today from the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Center in Madrid officially requesting the vessel to abandon its current position and remain at least 30 miles off the Spanish coast," said Athenian Sea Carriers.

The situation aboard the motor tanker Castor, which suffered heavy weather damage on December 31 is deteriorating rapidly. The owner, manager, classification society and the salvors are concerned that the situation is becoming untenable and that the vessel and its cargo are now in peril. The vessel remains some 40 miles off the coast of Cartagena on the Spanish Coast, still seeking a sheltered location to offload its cargo of 29,500 tons of gasoline. Athenian Sea Carriers CEO, Nicolas Hondos, said, "Our options have narrowed considerably in the last 24 hours. We are becoming concerned that we will not be able to find a positive way out of this very difficult situation.

A salvage operation began on Sunday to prevent Castor -- a stricken petrol tanker lying off Spain -- from cracking open and spilling thousands of tons of gasoline into the western Mediterranean, Cyprus, the flag state, said. "The salvor told us the salvage operation started today. He is quite optimistic that it will be successful," a senior surveyor at the Cypriot department of merchant shipping said. Authorities had earlier said the Castor might have to be blown up as a last resort if the salvage operation failed. Castor has proven to be somewhat of an enigma, and is sure to raise the level of discussion around the world regarding ships in distress. Castor, laden with 29,500 tons of gasoline, developed a 20-metre (60-foot) crack in its deck on December 31.

A situation ongoing at press time half way around the world promises to affect the way in which ship emergencies are handled in the U.S. and abroad. Last month, debates were raging and political fur was flying as the stricken tanker, Castor, carrying 29,000 tons of gasoline, was held in limbo as authorities on many levels debated the best course of action. The ship, which was damaged but still afloat and operational, was turned away from three countries - Morocco, Spain and Gibraltar - as it went to for assistance. Greek operator Athenian Sea Carriers said that the Moroccan Coast Guard instructed the vessel to move 40 miles offshore…

The European Union has launched a Maritime Safety Agency in an effort to boost safety regulations following the Prestige outcome. It is reported EU governments decided to create the EMSA after the Erika incident in 1999, but the agency is now being implemented following the effects on the Spanish coast.

All single-hulled oil tankers visiting Australian ports will be subject to increased inspections, under new measures to protect the marine environment announced today. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services, John Anderson, said further protection would come through the introduction of legislation to increase the amount of compensation following an oil spill to $480 million. Anderson said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has upgraded its inspection regime after the sinking of the Prestige off Spain and the European Commission's subsequent crackdown on certain vessels. Anderson said AMSA's…

The European Commission (EC) has adopted rules prohibiting transport of heavy fuel in single hull tankers and setting an earlier date for phase-out of single hull tankers. Further work is planned with regard to clarification of legal responsibility for maritime accidents. On January 2, French President Jacques Chirac and Commission President Romano Prodi discussed the issue of maritime safety. This followed the collision of the Turkish tanker Vicky with a sunken carrier off the French coast on Wednesday. The tanker was transporting 70,000 tons of highly flammable kerosene. Against the backdrop of this accident and the ongoing oil pollution caused by the accident of the tanker "Prestige" off the Spanish coast last November…