Adriatic Coast News

Italian gas grid operator Snam will invest 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in a new LNG offshore terminal near Ravenna, the company's CEO said on Tuesday.The floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) will add to another LNG terminal already set up in Tuscany, increasing Italy's gas import capacity and reducing dependence from its traditional suppliers, including Russia."To increase energy security for Italy we decided last year, together with the government, to increase the country's LNG import capacity in order to have more flexibility and diversify energy supplies…

A strong earthquake of magnitude 5.7 struck off Italy's Adriatic coast early on Wednesday, but caused no serious damage or injuries but was felt as far away as Rome and northern parts of the country. The quake, which occurred shortly after 7 a.m. (0600 GMT), was followed by more than 50 aftershocks of weaker intensity, the Italian Geophysics and Volcanology Institute (INGV) said. Its epicentre was 35 kilometers (21.7 miles) offshore from Pesaro, a seaside city in the eastern Marche region…

Metal Shark Expands Internationally with New Croatia Engineering Facility.Shipbuilder Metal Shark has established a foothold across the Atlantic with the opening of a dedicated European engineering office.Metal Shark’s first location outside of the United States, “Metal Shark Croatia” is a new engineering facility recently opened in the city of Rijeka on Croatia’s northern Adriatic coast.The facility currently employs nearly 20 naval architects, machinery systems engineers, and…

The European Union’s border agency Frontex launched a new Mediterranean operation called Themis on Thursday, removing the obligation of the previous mission to bring rescued migrants only to Italy. Italy has repeatedly lamented a lack of EU solidarity in managing immigration. The previous Frontex operation, called Triton, required all those rescued at sea to be brought to Italy even if another EU country, such as Malta, was closer. “Triton said that whomever rescued would be taken to Italy,” said Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for Frontex. Triton was a Greek god and the messenger of the sea, while Themis was the goddess of divine law and order.

Croatian tourism has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. The great bulk of this is along the Adriatic coast where, as it has for centuries, life revolves around the sea. Tourists rent sail boats, take coastal cruises or travel to the many island that sit in the crystal Adriatic waters along the length of Croatia. A popular way of experiencing the coast and its islands, is to hire a speed boat and have a knowledgeable local skipper take you out for a day trip. There are…

Two Albanian seamen were killed on Tuesday during the salvage of a multi-deck car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic Coast two days ago, killing at least 11 people, with dozens more missing. The men were killed when a cable connecting their tugboat to the smouldering hulk of the Norman Atlantic snapped and hit them, an Albanian port authority official and Italy's navy said. As salvage operations continued, there was confusion over the numbers on the ship, with dozens…

Two Albanian seamen were killed during an operation to salvage a multideck car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic Coast when a cable connecting their boat to the ferry snapped and hit them, an Albanian port authority official said on Tuesday. The deaths add to a toll of 10 confirmed victims of the disaster, but there was continuing uncertainty over how many might still be unaccounted for on the smouldering hulk of the Norman Atlantic. More than 400 people airlifted from the vessel in a 36-hour rescue operation by Italian and Greek helicopters. The aftermath of the rescue has been marked by confusion over the number of victims, with dozens of names on the ship's manifest unaccounted for and no clarity over whether they had drowned or were not on board in the first place.

Rescue teams on Monday completed the evacuation of 427 people from a car ferry that caught fire off Greece's Adriatic coast, working through the night and defying high seas and freezing weather in a 36-hour drama. Eight people were killed in the incident and many others could be missing, prompting Italian authorities to continue an air search of the sea around the vessel while they sought to verify the number of passengers who had been on board. The fire broke out on a vehicle deck of the Norman Atlantic ferry…

FURUNO NavSkills network of training centers has been expanded with a further two locations in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates and Mola di Bari, Italy. In the UAE, it is FURUNO’s long-term exclusive distributor IMTECH MARINE/Radio Holland Middle East, who has set up a training facility in the building where they have their principal operation, in the emirate of Sharjah. IMTECH/RHME is currently the only NavSkills center in the Middle East. The vision of IMTECH/RHME in the field of training is to offer its customers a full package solution, covering equipment sales, installation, service and operator training. The location is in one of…

A planning boat that is light, fast and economical, yet has the usable deck area of a boat twice it’s size and the stability of a trimaran! Sounds too good to be true, well that was my initial reaction until I attended the Press launch in Italy of the “transformer” Wider 42. I call it transformer because that’s what it does. It can plane at speeds over 50 knots and when it stops, by pressing a button, in 12 secs it transforms the cockpit deck into an are twice its size. To ensure stability, two sponsons, one each side slide out from the hull to increase stability.

Spanish builder Astilleros Armón recently delivered one tug boat powered by two MAN 7L27/38 four-stroke engines and is close to delivering another powered by two similar 9L27/38 engines. The vessels are bound for separate companies of the Italian ‘Ocean Group’. The first project involved the construction of the ‘Neptun’, a Voith-Schneider Tractor Tug constructed at Astilleros Armón Navia in Asturias, Spain as construction C-701. The vessel is powered by two MAN 7L27/38 engines, each developing 2,380 kW at 800 rpm, and was launched in February 2011 with delivery to Adria Tow of Slovenia following in June. Adria Tow was founded in 1992 and provides vessel towing services in the Port of Koper, the largest commercial port on the Slovenian Adriatic coast.

Spanish builder Astilleros Armón recently delivered one tug boat powered by two MAN 7L27/38 four-stroke engines and is close to delivering another powered by two similar 9L27/38 engines. The vessels are bound for separate companies of the Italian ‘Ocean Group’. The first project involved the construction of the ‘Neptun’, a Voith-Schneider Tractor Tug constructed at Astilleros Armón Navia in Asturias, Spain as construction C-701. The vessel is powered by two MAN 7L27/38 engines, each developing 2,380 kW at 800 rpm, and was launched in February 2011 with delivery to Adria Tow of Slovenia following in June. Adria Tow was founded in 1992 and provides vessel towing services in the Port of Koper, the largest commercial port on the Slovenian Adriatic coast.

Last week Croatian maritime authorities restricted navigation off the Adriatic coast to allow two stray whales to find their way out to deep water, Reuters reported. An operation was mounted near the port of Split to rescue the finback whales, a 30-m (100 ft) long female and her calf, which are rarely found in shallow coastal waters. The whales were first spotted near the resort of Makarska, south of Split, some 10 days ago and appeared unable to make their way out because of intense maritime traffic, including tourists trying to approach them in speedboats. The Ministry of Environment warned holidaymakers to keep at least 400 m (0.25 miles) away. Rescue coordinator Melita Peharda of the Institute of Oceanography said the whales' natural sonar could be disturbed by ships' radars.