Phuket News

The super luxury passenger vessel MV Mein Schif 3 of TUI Cruises with 2,430 passengers and 995 crew on board made her maiden call at the Port of Colombo on 26th November 2018. The vessel was welcomed at the East Container Terminal (ECT) of Sri Lank Ports Authority (SLPA).Chairman of Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) – Dr.Parakrama Dissanayake said that the Port of Colombo was honored by the presence of Mein Shiff 3 in Colombo. “The Port of Colombo has become an extremely busy port and this year the port also became the fastest growing port in the world in terms of handling containers. The next area we are focusing is the passenger vessels and we have plans to construct a state of the art passenger terminal at the Port of Colombo…

Thailand on Saturday raised the shipwreck that killed 47 Chinese tourists in July, part of an ongoing investigation into the cause of the boat capsizing, officials said."The Phoenix is an important piece of evidence to determine the cause of the accident," Tourist Police Bureau Deputy Chief, Major General Surachate Hakparn, told reporters."When the case is final, it will be able to restore Chinese tourist confidence," he said separately in a statement.The Phoenix went down in high seas in July off Thailand's west-coast island of Phuket with 101 people on board, made up of 12 crew members and 89 tourists, all but two of them from China.

Galileo Maritime Academy has this month announced the completion of its new architect designed professional crew training center and crew residence in Phuket, Thailand.The “T” shaped buildings comprise state-of-the-art training and recreation rooms, a seafarer medical center, a culinary arts and hospitality school, a three meter deep survival training pool and first class accommodation for 30 students.This central complex is located just above Yacht Haven Marina, the largest superyacht marina in Asia…

Thailand suspended efforts on Thursday to salvage a boat that capsized and sank off its resort island of Phuket, officials said, putting the death toll in its worst tourist-related disaster in years at 46.The Phoenix had 101 on board, including 89 tourists, all but two of them from China, when it went down in rough seas last Thursday during an outing to a small island. Forty-two passengers and the crew of a dozen Thais were rescued.The salvage operation was suspended because the boat lay deep and currents were rough, Phuket police commander Teerapol Tipcharoen told reporters.Divers would retrieve a final body from the shipwreck when weather conditions permit…

Thai rescue workers pulled three more bodies from the Andaman Sea, officials said on Tuesday, as the grim task of identifying more than 40 dead gets underway following a boat accident off the coast of Phuket last week."Three more bodies were found. One found near Phi Phi island," Somnuek Prempramote, commander of Naval Area 3, told a news conference in the popular holiday island off Thailand's west coast.The boat, the Phoenix, went down off Phuket in high seas on Thursday with 101 people on board, including 89 tourists, all but two of them from China, during an outing to a small island. Twelve Thai crew were also on board.The death toll…

Forty nine people are missing after a boat carrying 97 people, including Chinese tourists and Thai crew, capsized in rough seas off Thailand's tourist island of Phuket, the Thai navy said on Thursday. Thailand is in the middle of its monsoon season which brings with it adverse weather conditions. "Right now we are still looking for 49 people. We have helped 48 people from the capsized boat. We have sent boats to help," Rear Admiral Somnuk Prempramote, commander of the Royal Thai Navy Region 3. "They were all wearing life jackets," he added. The boat was one of three to encounter difficulties at sea in the area on Thursday, the navy said. Another two boats, including a yacht carrying 39 people, also capsized but its passengers have been brought to safety.

Since mid 2015 when MCA first approved a Thailand based seafarer training facility, that destination has experienced growth as a popular focus for both advanced seafarers and also entry level crew to complete STCW 2010 and the new updating STCW courses.Anthony Gould, CEO and major investor in Galileo Maritime Academy, said at the recent launch of their Survival Craft and Fast Rescue Boats training facility in Phuket, “Over the last three years international professional seafarers coming to Phuket…

Royal Australian Navy will commission the first of three new destroyers today (On 23 September). In continuing our reflective stories of previous ships that have carried the name HMAS Hobart, this is the story of Hobart (II). The second ship to bear the name Hobart was one of three Perth class guided missile destroyers built in the United States for the Royal Australian Navy. She was commissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 18 December 1965 under the command of Captain Guy Griffiths. Following sea trials and exercises in the United States and Canadian waters, Hobart arrived in her namesake city on 1 September 1966. She berthed in her home-port of Sydney for the first time on 7 September 1966.

Asian luxury cruise line Dream Cruises said it will homeport its inaugural vessel, Genting Dream, year-round in Singapore from December 3, 2017. Christened in November 2017, Genting Dream currently sails from Hong Kong or Guangzhou. With the move, the 151,300-metric-ton cruise ship will tap new markets, calling at more than 10 ports in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Significant growth in the Asian cruise industry over the recent years has presented new opportunities for the region, and Dream Cruises said it aims to be a pacesetter in Singapore.

A Cambodian-registered container ship and a fishing boat sank in rough seas off Phuket on Wednesday morning, but the navy saved both crews. The cargo ship Sinaran Andaman reportedly suffers an engine problem en route from Tub Lamu and the heavy seas forced it onto the nearby rock sat Koh Hae island south of Phuket about 10am. It began taking in water. The 10-member crew managed to board a lifeboat and were airlifted in good health condition by a Royal Thai Navy helicopter. The 10 crew members, six Indonesians and four from Myanmar were rescued by a helicopter of the 3rd Naval Area Command. The 68-metre-long, 793-gross-ton ship belongs to Andaman Unik Co in Penang, Malaysia. It was last in port at Tub Lamu, Phang Nga.

The MV Blue Star, belonging to Chalong Sea Sports, caught fire and sank in Burmese waters while on a week-long dive trip. All 20 or so people on board are safe, though they lost their belongings, and a great deal of expensive dive gear is understood to have gone down with the boat, reports the Phuket Gazette. The Blue Star was a 28-metre live-aboard vessel with 13 cabins capable of accommodating up to 26 passengers. She had a maximum speed on 10 knots. Citing the Finnish principal of Chalong Sea Sports…

Yacht Solutions at Italthai Marine has expanded its facility and tripled its superyacht yard capacity in response to the overwhelming demand for space in Thailand’s first dedicated superyacht facility in Bangkok. Since the partnership began in January between Yacht Solutions and Italthai Marine (ITM) at Samut Prakarn in Bangkok Yacht Solutions has received more enquiries for shipyard work than ever before and has already undertaken work on 43-meter SY Douce France, 45-meter MY Big Fish, 52-meter MY Elysium, a 60-meter Oceanco MY, 62-meter SY Lamima and 40-meter MY Amoha.

Heavy seas at Phi Phi Island have sunk a large passenger ferry, beached a cargo boat and heavily damaged at least six speedboats and 20 longtail boats, inform the Phuket Gazette citing Thailand Marine Police officials. The Andaman Jet Wave ferry, moored overnight with no persons on board is registered to carry 250 passengers, but had yet to begin its daily operations of carrying tourists to and from Krabi and Phi Phi when it fell victim to the storm. Strong waves also beached a large cargo ferry, which sustained heavy damage by the pounding of the surf. Source: Phuket Gazette

Tidetech and NAPA have agreed the supply of tidal current prediction data for ship optimisation fuel saving, initially for South East Asia and UK–Europe. Tidetech applies the science of oceanography to create data models that benefit commercial shipping – cruise ships, ferries, container ships, tankers – and offshore operations. Following a successful three-month trial aboard a 8,530DWT cruise ship – using Tidetech’s Singapore and Malacca Straits models – the agreement includes developing an expanded data model to cover the vessel’s full operating area of Phuket…

The Royal Thai Navy today called off its search for the remaining missing crewmen of the Bangladeshi cargo ship 'MV Hope', which almost capsized in heavy seas south of Phuket on Thursday night. Salvage of the vessel proceeding. The news comes after the search yesterday failed to locate any more of the five missing crewmen, reported the Phuket Gazette, citing Capt Thammawat Malaisukkarin, Director of the Naval Civil Affairs. During the search efforts, five Bangladeshi crewmen were rescued by the German container ship Buxmoon.

The Bangladeshi freighter 'MV Hope' capsized a short distance south of Phuket with 17 crew rescued and 13 still missing in rough seas. The 97 m in length 'MV Hope', started taking in water in heavy seas at about 1:10am, reports the Phuket Gazette, citing Capt Thammawat Malaisukkarin, Director of [Thai] Naval Civil Affairs. Another Bangladeshi cargo ship, MV Bux Moon, was nearby and rendered assistance, bringing on board 17 people. The Royal Thai Navy Third Area Command, based at Cape Panwa on Phuket’s east coast, dispatched s vessel to search for the missing crew. A helicopter was also on standby but the weather was still too bad for it to take off. Source: Phuket Gazette

Thai authorities seek new ways to get people from Phuket International Airport to their destinations on the Andaman Sea island. One possibilty discussed at a recent meeting would be to build a quay pier next to the airport in order to carry passengers by speedboat or hydrofoil the 13 miles to Patong, reports The Phuket News. Phuripat Theerakulpisut, Director of Marine, Phuket Branch, explained, that they had drawn up a plan and were were waiting for approval and budget for the project, etimated to cost around B180 (US$ 605-million).

Fire on an LPG tanker anchored off the Phuket deep-sea port off Muang District Sunday caused about US$647,000 damage before it was put out. The fire broke out in the radio room on the second deck of the ship which has two LPG tanks, each capable of holding 10 million litres of the gas, about 5,000 litres of bulk oil and 200 litres of diesel oil, according to the 'Bangkok Post'. Fire-fighting launches from Tambon Wichit Municipality and the Phuket deep-sea port were rushed to the scene and were able to put out the fire in about two hours. No injuries were reported.

According to some reports, the world’s first mining operation in the world to use vessels for dredging ore from the sea bottom was developed in 1907 by Australian Edward Miles. He dredged the sea bottom around Thailand’s modern tourist island of Phuket to recover tin, which had been mined on the island for hundreds of years. By the 1960s some innovative entrepreneurs had begun to build iron rafts using drills to loosen the sea bottom allowing them to vacuum the residue to the surface in order to separate the tin.

USS Cape St. George (CG 71), USS Benfold (DDG 65) and USS Halsey (DDG 97) returned to San Diego Nov. 3 following a six-month deployment as part of the Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group (PELESG). PELESG ships, which deployed from San Diego May 4, conducted maritime security operations (MSO) and theater security cooperation activities in the 5th and 7th Fleet Areas of Operation. Capt. Jon Padfield, commander, Amphibious Squadron 3 (COMPHIBRON 3) and leader of the PELESG, said that Cape St.

Chinese police were checking Friday to see if a Japanese cargo ship commandeered by pirates about four months ago may have been found on its shores, a Japanese shipping industry source said. The 6,594 dwt chemical tanker Global Mars left Malaysia with 17 people aboard on February 22. The Panama-registered ship's crew - seven South Koreans and 10 from Myanmar - were found in mid-March on an island off Phuket, Thailand. South Korea's Maritime Affairs Ministry and a South Korean shipping firm said the ship's last contact was on February 22 when it was some 385 km (240 miles) north of Indonesia. The vessel was reported to have been carrying a cargo of palm oil and is owned by Japan's Global Marine Service Co. Ltd.