British Coast News

Danish shipowner ESVAGT and offshore wind farm developer MHI Vestas have sealed long-term contracts for the delivery of two new service operation vessels (SOVs) for separate wind farms off the Netherlands and the U.K.The wind farm service vessels will work the fields Borssele 3-4, located 22 km off the coast of Zeeland in the Netherlands, and Triton Knoll, which is 33 km off the coast of Lincolnshire in England, which together will produce 1,600 MW green energy from 2021. An option for an additional SOV for servicing the farm Moray East off the U.K. is also included.

The 83-year-old British man was homeward bound from the Azores Islands when his yacht became disabled through storm damage. The crew of the Russian warship Vice-Admiral Kulakov responded to the lone yachtsman's MAYDAY call from his yacht Elixir in the North Sea. The yachtsman was given medical aid, telling the Russian sailors his yacht was pounded by a strong gale more than ten days ago while traveling to the UK from the Azores Islands. The yacht engine and electric equipment were disabled, and the main sail was torn. The Russian sailors brought hot food and drugs to the yacht. Ship technicians repaired the yacht's electric equipment and started up its engine.

Bad weather, a still smouldering hold, cause the tow to pull back out of the 200-mile zone. The team of firefighting experts is unable to go onboard MSC FLAMINIA due to bad weather conditions, and In the coming days a further deterioration of the weather is predicted. Therefore, MSC FLAMINIA and the group of tugboats have pulled out of the 200 mile zone and maintain a position approximately 200 miles off the British coast.
 According to the salvage team on site the fire in cargo holds 4, 5 and 6 has been extinguished. However, smoke is visible above cargo hold 7 and the temperatures in this area are rising. The stricken container ship is still listing by 10 degrees.

 A decision to enter a sheltered coastal area has not yet been made but is expected in soon.

A team of firefighting experts has again boarded MSC FLAMINIA. It is as yet unsure when a one-by-one inspection of containers can commence. This inspection aims at eliminating any smoldering fires inside of containers. Firefighting and shipbuilding experts on site are among other things assessing the stability of the vessel. Overall, the situation onboard MSC FLAMINIA continues to improve. According to firefighting experts, almost no smoke generation can be observed from cargo holds 4 and 5. Nevertheless, hotspots inside of individual containers should still be reckoned with. A permission to enter a sheltered coastal area will be decided upon by authorities in the coming days.

Two U.S. sailors died after waves swept them from the deck of a nuclear submarine off the coast of southwestern England on Friday, British coast guards said. The USS Minneapolis-St. Paul was leaving Plymouth harbor in rough weather around midday, said Sean Brooks, a coast guard spokesman. Four sailors were tied to the vessel with ropes — a routine precaution — but two fell into the surging water. British rescue boats picked up all four, Brooks said. The nuclear-powered attack submarine, which is based in Norfolk, Virginia, has a crew of 110 and can reach speeds exceeding 30 mph. Its weapons include torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles. Sixth Fleet is the operational arm of U.S. Naval Forces Europe and is primarily responsible for the Mediterranean and western and central Africa.

In what would on first appearance be a stupid New Year joke is indeed reality. A tanker carrying 70,000 tons of flammable kerosene, travelling in one of the world’s busiest waterways, inexplicably missed several warning signs and hit a ship dubbed Tricolor, a ship which was sunk with its cargo of 3,000 luxury cars in mid-December in the English Channel following its collision with a containership. In a vast understatement, a British Coast Guard official was quoted by one of the wire services as saying: This accident should not have happened. Really? Warnings of the sunken ship, which is submerged in about 75 ft. of water and apparently visible only at low tide, include half-hour warnings broadcast in the area, fluorescent buoys and a radar beacon.

Norwegian cruise company NCL Holding ASA said on Wednesday pre-tax profits almost doubled in the nine months to September 30 amid firm market sentiment and strong demand. The Miami-based company said third-quarter earnings were negatively affected by between $18 and $19 million due to accidents with two of its cruise liners and reduced demand in the Mediterranean due to the conflict in Kosovo. NCL posted pre-tax profits before extraordinary items of $36.18 million between January and September, up from $18.6 million in the same year-ago period. Operating profits edged lower to $64.3 million from $65.7 million, while revenues grew by 13 percent to $651.8 against $575.4 million.

Spanish fishermen who say they were unlawfully barred from British waters won permission from Britain's highest court last week to sue the government in a claim which could top $160 million. The House of Lords upheld a 1998 Court of Appeal ruling that a group of nearly 100 owners and managers of Spanish vessels were entitled to sue over the government's moves to prevent them "quota hopping". The practice involves foreign companies, individuals and organizations buying or acquiring control of British fishing interests, thereby gaining control over their quotas. Five Law Lords held that the British government's actions had breached its European Union obligations so seriously that the Spanish could take it to court.

A British lifeboat crew was left high and dry after thieves stole the keys to their boathouse, pocketed their tea and biscuit fund and made off with the crew's whisky. The theft at the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) station at Brighton Marina in southeast England left the rescue crew without a way into their boathouse for an hour until a spare key was found. Luckily, there were no emergency calls while they waited. The raid was not the Brighton station's first. In 1977, the group's lifeboat itself was taken and later found bobbing off the British coast.

Thief Steals Lifeboat Crew's Keys, Whiskey A British lifeboat crew was left high and dry after thieves stole the keys to their boat house and made off with the crew's whiskey. The theft at the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) station at Brighton Marina, southeast England left the rescue crew helpless for an hour until a spare key was found. Luckily there were no emergency calls while they waited. "Who'd break into a lifeboat station? We wouldn't have been able to access our boat," crew member Tony Parsons said. "They took our tea and biscuit fund collection, and they've stolen our whiskey, which is the worst thing," he added. The raid was not the Brighton station's first. In 1977 the lifeboat itself was taken and later found bobbing off the British coast.