Caicos News

Royal Caribbean Group has suspended cruise visits to Labadee, a secluded peninsula in Haiti, for the next seven days following months of escalating gang violence in the country, a senior company executive said in a Facebook post on Thursday.The company will continue the suspension as required with three days advance notice to guests sailing on impacted itineraries, Royal Caribbean International President and CEO Michael Bayley said.Violence by powerful armed gangs had gripped Haiti, causing thousands to flee their homes, after anti-government protests broke out early in February.The violent cl

SEACOR Holdings Inc. announced it has concluded the sale of its Caribbean liner and logistics business SEACOR Container Lines LLC (“SEACOR Island Lines”) to King Ocean Services Ltd. The transaction includes all operations and assets.King Ocean specializes in marine transportation and logistics solutions to close to 50 destinations across the Caribbean and South and Central America out of their Port Everglades facilities in Ft Lauderdale, Fla.“For 40 years, King Ocean, a multi-generational…

Twelve mariners were rescued after a small cargo vessel capsized near the Dominican Republic.Carnival Corp said the crew aboard its cruise ship Carnival Vista rescued six from the water early Wednesday morning after the cargo vessel Two Brothers capsized about 30 miles north of Puerto Plata overnight.Carnival Vista’s officers under the direction of Captain Paolo Severini immediately altered the ship’s course, in coordination with Carnival’s Fleet Operations Center in Miami, when…

The Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) announced that Mark Heward has joined its team as Director. Heward came aboard with MITAGS in October 2022, after retiring from a 22-year active service career in the Royal Navy.“We are thrilled to welcome Mark Heward aboard as the Director of MITAGS. Mark’s underway time, leadership, management and training experience together with being fully STCW qualified and his continuing education experience are a rare combination,” said Eric Friend, MITAGS Executive Director.

The Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) said Friday that Mark Heward had joined as Director of MITAGS.Heward came aboard with MITAGS in October 2022, after retiring from a 22-year active service career in the Royal Navy.Eric Friend, MITAGS Executive Director, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Heward Heward aboard as the Director of MITAGS. Mark’s underway time, leadership, management, and training experience, together with being fully STCW qualified…

An ailing crew member was medevaced from a U.S.-flagged tug Patriarch on Tuesday, approximately 207 miles of east Turks and Caicos, and 287 miles north of Puerto Rico, the U.S Coast Guard said.The Crowley-owned Patriarch was en route from Jacksonville, Fla. to San Juan, Puerto Rico when the vessel's master contacted Coast Guard Seventh District command to request a medevac for a 59-year-old man on board who was suffering from medical complications and needed higher level medical…

Two fisherman reportedly adrift for two weeks and presumed lost at sea were rescued with help from a good Samaritan towboat crew and the U.S. Coast Guard.Domingo Jimenez, 45, and Ramon Castillo, 29, both from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, departed Samana, Dominican Republic on May 2. On May 5, USCG Sector San Juan watchstanders received a report from a concerned family member stating Jimenez and Castillo were overdue after heading out in their 25-foot vessel to fish approximately 132 miles northeast of Samana.The U.S.

Hurricane Dorian took aim at the Bahamas and the Florida coast on Thursday, spurred on by warm Atlantic waters as it threatens to strengthen into a dangerous Category 3 storm.Dorian earlier sideswiped the Caribbean without doing major damage but is expected to strengthen and slam the Bahamas and the southeastern United States with rain, strong winds and life-threatening surf over the next few days, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.U.S. President Donald Trump urged Floridians to heed official warnings.

The Coast Guard, Drug Enforcement Administration and Bahamian authorities eradicated more than 200,000 illegal marijuana plants in the Bahamas.On Wednesday Feb. 6, 2019, a Coast Guard forward deployed MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Operation Bahamas, Turks & Caicos (OPBAT) recognized what appeared to be a strong smell of marijuana while flying over Andros Island on a joint narcotic interdiction patrol. The Coast Guard helicopter transported United States DEA agents and Royal Bahamas Police Force Officers from the Drug Enforcement Unit to the area to identify and eradicate over 200…

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) yesterday (5th February) launched a five-day capacity building seminar to help UK Overseas Territories support safe maritime trade.The seminar, delivered as part of the Government’s Overseas Territories Seabed Mapping Programme, will focus on international regulations, with sessions on maritime safety information training, best practice governance and maritime law. This guidance, given by experts at both the UKHO and MCA, will help each of the 10 participating territories to comply with international obligations and share their own maritime safety information with ships operating in their waters.For these ships, this information, including up-to-date bathymetry (seabed mapping data), navigational warnings and observations, is essential to safe navigation.

The Coast Guard, a good Samaritan and Turks and Caicos Police Maritime Division rescued an overdue fisherman Tuesday approximately 100 yards off the eastern shore of East Caicos Island. Rescued was Timothy Hamilton, 65, of Cockburn Harbor, South Caicos Island. Hamilton was reported overdue to the Turks and Caicos Police Maritime Division Monday, who requested the Coast Guard’s assistance at approximately midnight. Hamilton departed Cockburn Harbor at 7 a.m. Monday and was expected back later in the evening. A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, deployed to Great Inagua, Bahamas, launched Tuesday morning to search for Hamilton and located him 100 yard from shore near East Caicos Island at anchor waving his arms at 8:46 a.m.

The U.S. Coast Guard has medevaced a 57-year-old man from the cruise ship MSC Divina approximately 110 miles west of Great Inagua, Bahamas, Monday. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 7th District Command Center received a request for a medevac from the cruise liner for a passengers reportedly suffering from stroke-like symptoms, and directed the launch of a Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew to assist. The helicopter crew arrived on scene, hoisted the patient and is flying him to Cheshire Hall Medical Centre in Providenciales…

Hurricane Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms in a century, churned across northern Caribbean islands on Wednesday with a potentially catastrophic mix of fierce winds, surf and rain, en route to a possible Florida landfall at the weekend. Irma is expected to become the second powerful storm to thrash the U.S. mainland in as many weeks but its precise trajectory remained uncertain. Hurricane Harvey killed more than 60 people and caused damaged estimated as high as $180 billion when it hit Texas late last month. The eye of Irma, a Category 5 storm packing winds of 185 miles per hour (295 km per hour), moved away from the island of Barbuda and toward the island of St. Martin, east of Puerto Rico, early on Wednesday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami reported.

Carnival Corporation & plc today officially opened an all-new, highly anticipated expansion of its operations in Cozumel, Mexico, adding a third berth to the company's pier at Puerta Maya, the most popular cruise destination in the Caribbean. With an investment of more than $20 million, the all-new "arm" was added to the company's existing pier to allow three ships to be moored at the terminal at the same time. To mark the occasion, three of the company's ships – Carnival Breeze, Carnival Freedom and Carnival Triumph – arrived today and became the first trio of ships to use the new three-berth pier. The pier will accommodate any ship across Carnival Corporation's 10 brands, including its next-generation ships.

A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crew, working under the direction of Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, assisted in the seizure of 5,050 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated wholesale value of $4.6 million Wednesday. While on routine patrol, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection maritime patrol aircraft located a 35-foot go-fast vessel transiting at a high rate of speed without navigation lights. A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater, Florida, MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew and…

Two stranded men are safe after the Coast Guard rescued them off an Island in the Bahamas Tuesday afternoon. Coast Guard 7th District watchstanders received a request for assistance from the Royal Bahamian Defense Force to rescue two U.S. citizens from a remote island. The men were ferrying the motor vessel Bye-Luv Ya-Sea Ya from Turks and Caicos to Fort Pierce, Florida, when the vessel began taking on water and eventually ran aground on Lady Slipper Key, just north of Crooked Island, Bahamas. A Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew forward deployed in the Bahamas arrived on scene, landed, and took the two men safely aboard. Once aboard the Jayhawk helicopter, the men were transported to Great Inagua, Bahamas. No medical concerns were reported.

Seven crewmembers were rescued after their 100-foot coastal freighter began taking on water and sank approximately 45 miles north off of Cap Haitien, Haiti, Friday. Watchstanders at the U.S. Coast Guard 7th District command center in Miami received a report from a tug stating they heard a distress call from a vessel claiming to be taking on water off the coast of Great Inagua, Bahamas. A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew deployed in support of Operations Bahamas, Turks…

Seven crewmembers were rescued after their 100-foot coastal freighter began taking on water and sank approximately 45 miles north off of Cap Haitien, Haiti, Friday. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 7th District command center in Miami received a report from a tug stating they heard a distress call from a vessel claiming to be taking on water off the coast of Great Inagua, Bahamas. A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew deployed in support of Operations Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) launched and located the coastal freighter Calypso approximately 50 miles off the coast of Great Inagua. The helicopter crew lowered a rescue swimmer down with a dewatering pump. The freighter Calypso began to slowly transit to the coast of Haiti to investigate the source of the flooding.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) rescued 64 Cuban migrants and 100 Haitian migrants during a busy week of illegal maritime migration attempts from Cuba and Haiti into the United States. The 64 Cuban migrants were repatriated last week following three separate interdictions at sea in the Florida Straits dating back to August 7. On Monday, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Paul Clark located an overloaded Haitian sail freighter in Bahamian waters. A deployed Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk…

Approximately 55 Haitians are being rescued by Coast Guard and Turks and Caicos rescue crews, 100 meters off the South Dock in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, Wednesday. The Haitian migrants fell into the water Wednesday morning when their overloaded sail freighter capsized off the coast of Providenciales. The incident was reported from Turks and Caicos police to Coast Guard 7th District command center watchstanders Wednesday morning. Turks and Caicos officials reported they were on scene with the sail freighter when it capsized. Turks and Caicos police rescued 32 migrants and are continuing rescue efforts for any missing people in the water.

Maritime security and safety experts are meeting in Nassau, Bahamas, this week to examine mutual threats and solutions and challenges and opportunities in the region. Maritime Security Caribbean 2014 is being held at the Melia Nassau Beach hotel, attended by representatives of government and industry. In addition to security threats from criminals or terrorists, there is a heightened awareness today of the environmental threats posed by norovirus and ebola and other communicable health problems.

Representatives from 11 countries and territories from North America, the Caribbean and Europe have committed support for the conservation of the Sargasso Sea eco-system for the benefit of present and future generations, informs the Sargasso Sea Alliance (SSA). The Alliance explains that for more than two years, it has collaborated with the Bermuda government  in a push for the establishment of safeguarding measures for the Sargasso Sea, a unique two-million-square nautical mile ecosystem in the North Atlantic that is without effective legal protection…

The Caribbean is a complex maritime environment, with multiple countries and territories, significant seaborne commerce and a wide variety of threats to safety, security, stability, the environment and sovereignty. A diverse group of stakeholders gathered in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) to discuss those challenges and reaffirm their commitment to address them. A major theme throughout the conference was that partnerships and collaboration are important to achieving maritime security in the region.