Freight Ship News

Insurers are about to pay state-owned Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC) $22.48 million for its vessel that was hit by a missile during fighting in Ukraine, two officials involved said on Tuesday.The expected settlement is one of the first shipping claims to have been paid out since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, in a conflict that has added tens of thousands of dollars to risk premiums for every voyage.An explosion on the night of March 2-3 last year rocked the Bangladesh-flagged Banglar Samriddhi and killed a crew member.

A Palau-flagged freight ship has sunk off the coast of Turkey's Black Sea province of Bartin, killing two crew members, the coast guard said on Sunday, adding that search and rescue operations for more crew members were continuing.Bartin Governor Sinan Guner had initially said the ship, the ARVIN, was a Russian dry freight vessel that sank off the coast of the Inkumu region in poor weather, but later corrected that."The ARVIN ship attempted to take refuge at the Bartin port due to poor weather conditions as it carried cargo from Georgia to Bulgaria," Guner was quoted as saying by state-owned Anadolu news agency.The coast guard said the ship had sunk after taking in water amid heavy weather conditions.

Merseyside shipbuilder Cammell Laird has completed the building the $13 million ferry the Red Kestrel, for Isle of Wight ferry operator Red Funnel.The Red Kestrel, a new freight-only RoRo vessel, sailed away from Cammell Laird’s famous River Mersey shipyard following a nine-month build program. In total the project used 45 British supply chain businesses and generated 3000 man hours of work for Cammell Laird's apprentices. Cammell Laird further employed 200 direct workers, 200 sub-contractors and 10 apprentices on the contract.The Red Kestrel will operate between Southampton and Isle of Wight.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim visited the Islamic Republic of Iran to participate  in a ceremony to commemorate seafarers who lost their lives aboard the Iranian-owned oil tanker Sanchi earlier this year.He visited Iran also to participate in the country's national celebration of World Maritime Day (8 September) and met met the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif.Early this year, he issued a statement sympathizing with victims of Iranian vessel collision near China shore.Sanchi, an Iranian tanker carrying condensates collided with a Chinese freight ship in East China coast on January 6.

Chinese salvage crews are still trying to remove 1,900 tonnes of bunker fuel, the heavy oil used in ship engines, from a sunken Iranian oil tanker, the Ministry of Transport said on Thursday, almost a month after it collided with a freight ship. If the fuel is not cleaned up, it could pollute the marine environment, the ministry warned in a release. Bunker fuel is noxious to marine organisms and difficult to remove from the ocean once spilled. Five Chinese vessels, and one Japanese ship and one South Korean…

The stricken Iranian oil tanker Sanchi keeps exploding, hampering efforts to extinguish the fire and rescue survivors, state media Xinhua said on Friday, citing the Ministry of Transport, as the blaze raged and worries grew the ship may break up and sink. The week-long rescue effort following the tanker's collision with a freight ship on Saturday night has been roiled by poor weather, including 3-metre (10 feet) high waves and strong winds, and toxic fumes from the burning oil. Dozens of the rescue boats were forced to retreat from dousing the tanker with foam on Wednesday due to an explosion.

Rescue boats resumed their search in choppy waters of the East China Sea on Thursday for any survivors from the stricken Iranian oil tanker that collided with a freight ship and burst into flames at the weekend, the Chinese government said. The ship remains at risk of exploding and sinking due to spilled oil as the fire raged for a fifth day, the Ministry of Transportation said in a statement on Thursday. Rescue crews were forced to retreat on Wednesday after a blast on the tanker. "Spilled oil covering the ship body and its surrounding water is still burning, which leaves Sanchi at risk of exploding and sinking," said the MOT in the statement. The ministry has sent 12 rescue ships to search for the 31 remaining tanker crew members and to extinguish the fire.

Fire rages for 4th day; tanker collided with freight ship on Saturday. Rescue crews were forced to retreat from a stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea on Wednesday following an explosion on the ship as a fire raged for a fourth day after a dramatic collision. The blast happened on board the tanker in the afternoon after rescue crews were dousing the ship with foam in an attempt to put out the fire, China's Transport Ministry (MOT) said in a statement on Wednesday. The cause and damage to the tanker from the incident were not clear. The ship was carrying condensate, a highly flammable ultra-light crude, to deliver to South Korea when it collided with a Chinese freight ship on Saturday.

Body of crew member found on board; casualty might be worst tanker oil spill since 1991 and concerns grow that tanker may explode, sink. Rescue crews wrestled to bring a blaze on an Iranian oil tanker off China's east coast under control on Monday as fire raged for a second day following a collision with a grain ship, while the body of one of the 32 missing crew members was found on aboard. Concerns were growing that the tanker, which hit a freight ship on Saturday night in the East China Sea and burst into flames, may explode and sink, the official China Central Television (CCTV) said on Monday, citing experts on the rescue team. Poor weather continued to hamper the rescue work, Lu Kang, a spokesman at China's foreign ministry, told a regular news briefing.

A tanker carrying Iranian oil and run by the country's top oil shipping firm was ablaze and spewing cargo into the East China Sea on Sunday after colliding with a Chinese freight ship, leaving the tanker's 32 crew members missing, the Chinese government said.Thick clouds of dark smoke could be seen billowing out of the Sanchi tanker  engulfing the vessel as rescue efforts were hampered by bad weather and fire on and around the ship, Mohammad Rastad, head of Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, told Iranian television.The Sanchi, run by the country's top oil shipping operator, collided with the CF Crystal about 160 nautical miles off the coast near Shanghai and the mouth of the Yangtze River Delta on Saturday evening…

A brand new liquefied natural gas (LNG)-fueled roll-on-roll-off freight vessel, Searoad Mersey II, has commenced service from its home port Devonport, in northern Tasmania, Australia. Touted by Bass Strait shipping and logistics firm SeaRoad as the “cleanest, greenest freight ship ever to trade in Australian waters”, Searoad Mersey II is the first coastal ship in Australia to use LNG fuel-and-power technology and the first pure dry cargo ship in the world to use a roll-on roll-off LNG supply system.

Hili Company, the logistics division of Hili Ventures, has entered into a joint venture agreement with leading international energy logistics company Peterson to provide oil and gas logistics services across the Mediterranean and North Africa. Peterson offers a comprehensive range of safe, reliable and value added logistics solutions to the global energy industry from locations including the Netherlands, North America and the northeast of Scotland. Established in 1920, the organisation has expanded throughout the UK with facilities at several prominent ports, including an integrated asset base in Aberdeen. The joint venture marries Peterson’s expertise in global oil and gas support with the wide-ranging capabilities of Hili Company…

The search for a crew member missing from a containership between Bayonne, N.J. and Ocean City, Md. was suspended, the U.S. Coast Guard reported. The crew member was last reported aboard the 600-foot, Marshall Islands flagged freight ship Ibrahim Dede after departing Bayonne. The crew discovered the man was missing while the ship was in transit to its next port, notifying Coast Guard watchstanders at Sector Hampton Roads at approximately 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. A Coast Guard Station New York 45-Foot Response Boat crew, a Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City H-65 Dolphin helicopter crew and an Air Station Elizabeth City C-130 Hercules airplane crew searched for the crewman from 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to 3:30 p.m.

A Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, forward deployed in Cold Bay, Alaska, medevaced an ailing mariner off the Turkish-flagged 600-foot freight ship 26 Agustos approximately 230 miles southeast of Dutch Harbor, Alaska, Saturday morning. The Jayhawk crew safely hoisted the 46-year-old man and transported him to awaiting emergency medical services in Dutch Harbor. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Communication Station Kodiak received notification that a mariner aboard the 26 Agustos was suffering from abdominal pain. Watchstanders consulted the duty flight surgeon who recommended the medevac. A Coast Guard Air Station…

The Coast Guard is searching for the master of a freight ship reported overboard approximately 60 miles east of Wake Island Sunday. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center were notified at approximately 6 p.m. Saturday, regarding a 49-year-old male Polish national who was reported overboard from the 622-foot freight ship Toscana. The master was last seen at approximately 8 p.m. Friday. Twelve hours passed before the ship realized the crewmember was missing. An HC-130 Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point was launched Saturday and is staging out of Wake Island to conduct the searches. The ship retraced its route to search for the missing crewmember, but has continued on to its next port of call in Yokohama, Japan due to fuel limitations.

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) rescued a 54-year-old man, who was suffering from medical issues while aboard a 655-foot freight ship approximately 150 miles southwest of Tampa, Wednesday. At approximately 9:24 a.m., watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg, Fla., received notification from the ships agent that the master aboard a freight ship suffered a seizure while transiting to Brazil. Watchstanders launched an aircrew aboard an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater.

Somalia begins to build its national tax revenue from imported goods with new freight building up at the Port of Mogadishu. For the first time since the country slid into anarchy, container arrivals hit more than 1,200 in March 2013, reports Xinhua. The Port of Mogadishu was hit by war and piracy that kept off international shipping liners away from its coastline. State officials are presenly in talks with several international investors to modernize the port in readiness for the cargo buildup that is critical in helping to revitalize the stalled national economy. Somalia's Finance Ministry is yet to compute the annual gross domestic product growth that will build up from the past few months of trade generated by the Port…

According to a report from Xinhua, a German freight ship was seized on the morning of Oct. 24 by pirates off the coast of Kenya, a spokesman for the German army said. The spokesman said pirates attacked and captured the ship about 1,930 km east of the Kenyan city of Mombasa. The ship belongs to German shipping company Beluga-Reederei, but it was not immediately known how many people were on board, said German media reports. (Source: Xinhua)

Divers patched a hole in the motor vessel Pac Alkaid Nov. 1, preventing further spillage of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and enabling the freight ship to successfully transit up the Mississippi River to a shipyard in New Orleans. The initial discharge of an estimated 12,000 gallons of bunker oil was caused by a hole in the Pac Alkaid's hull which was approximately five centimeters in diameter and five feet below the waterline. At 2 a.m. Oct. 30 while the Pac Alkaid was anchored five miles southeast of Southwest Pass, the vessel's captain notified the Coast Guard that the ship was leaking oil into the Gulf of Mexico. O'Brien's Response Management hired divers who patched the hole on Sunday afternoon.

The Coast Guard and O'Brien's Response Management are responding to oil which is leaking from the motor vessel Pac Alkaid, which is anchored 10 miles southeast of Southwest Pass near Venice, La. The Pac Alkaid reported the discharge to the Coast Guard at approximately 2 a.m. Oct. 30, when it was anchored five miles southeast of Southwest Pass. Winds and currents pushed the oil to the northwest on Oct. 30, which caused a sheen to wash up against the rocks of the Southwest Pass jetty. The Coast Guard ordered the vessel to move further offshore at approximately 11 a.m. Oct. 30 in order to lessen the impact of the oil on the shoreline. The initial discharge of an estimated 12,000 gallons of bunker oil was caused by a hole in the Pac Alkaid's hull.

In this Coast Guard photo number six oil stains the port side of the Mariano Lauro after 105 gallons spilled on its deck during a transfer operation off Bayridge, N.Y., March 24, 2009. Approximately two gallons spilled into the water and was immediately boomed off and recovered from the water.

The Coast Guard is investigating a report of a commercial fishing vessel that crossed in front of the Motor Vessel Bosse, a large commercial freight ship transiting outbound from the Port of Long Beach on Feb. The Marine Exchange of Southern California and Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service, who jointly monitor vessel traffic in San Pedro Bay, were first alerted of the situation by the Motor Vessel Bosse, after the crew was unable to make radio contact with the approaching, unresponsive fishing vessel. Motor Vessel Bosse was within 400 yards of the fishing vessel when it was forced to take evasive action and turned hard to starboard to prevent a collision. The Vessel Traffic Service then actively tracked the fishing vessel into port using radar and other sensors.

The 200-foot dredge vessel, the New York, completed necessary minimum repairs to its damaged hull enabling it to be moved to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Brooklyn, N.Y., on February 2. The hull was damaged following a collision with the 669-foot freight ship the Orange Sun, north of Shooters Island in Newark Bay, N.J., at about 1:50 p.m. Jan. 24, 2008. Workers from Randive Incorporated installed a steel framed box in the winch room reinforcing the hull and allowing for more stability. Contracted divers also removed and made minor repairs to the dredge vessel's three spuds. The spuds were damaged from the impact of the collision and were holding the vessel in the ground. The repairs needed to make the vessel capable of transit to the Brooklyn Navy Yard took seven days.