Red Sea News

Saudi Arabia's shipping group Bahri said on Thursday that one of its vessels, oil tanker Abqaiq, was targeted on April 3 in international waters south west of the port of Hodeidah in Yemen. "The VLCC (very large crude carrier) suffered only minor damage and there were no injuries to our crew aboard. The cargo was unaffected and there was no loss of containment. The crude carrier successfully resumed her northward journey across the Red Sea," Bahri said in a statement.     Reporting by Marwa Rashad and Rania El Gamal  

CMA CGM Group, a world leader in maritime transport, is pleased to announce the start of the Ocean Alliance Day Two Product. Based on the success of Ocean Alliance, the Ocean Alliance Day Two Product strengthens CMA CGM’s service offering by providing even better services and upgrades to the Group’s customers. The Ocean Alliance Day Two Product has a carrying capacity of around 3.1 million TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) with 331 containerships deployed on 41 services. CMA CGM will continue to play a major role within the alliance, deploying a fleet of 121 ships.

Evergreen, together with its joint service partners Hapag-Lloyd and Cosco Container Line, is to merge its two Red Sea services, the Far East - Red Sea (FRS) service and the Strait - Red Sea Express (SRX) service, into a single new FRS service linking China, South East Asia and the Red Sea. The first sailing on the revised schedule will be made by Evergreen's LT Going, expected to sail from Nansha on November 7. While the two existing services use ships of approximately 1600 – 1800 TEU, the new FRS service will utilise six vessels of around 2700 TEU, four of which will be provided by Evergreen and one each from the other two partners. The port rotation is as follows: Nansha - Hong Kong - Shekou - Singapore - Tanjung Pelepas - Aden - Jeddah - Aqaba - Sokhna Port - Singapore - Nansha.

In continuing its work to keep the oceans clean, International Maritime Organization (IMO) encourages member countries to ratify and enforce the London Protocol to prohibit dumping at sea. As part of such efforts, a seminar was held in Djibouti City, Djibouti (11-13 December) on implementing the London Protocol. The workshop introduced participants from Djibouti and Somalia to the benefits of protecting the marine environment of the Red Sea from pollution of dumping of wastes and other matter at sea.

DP World Sokhna recently welcomed the largest bulk cargo vessel to ever arrive to the port and enter the Red Sea, said a press release from the company. Known as a capesize vessel, the M/v Seafarer originally came from Malta carrying steel cargo weighing more than 140,000 MT. Prior to its arrival, DP World Sokhna conducted a bathymetric survey of the port’s topography to ensure its depth relative to sea level was adequate to receive vessels of this size. Ajayy Singh, CEO of DP World Sokhna…

Loyalist Yemeni troops and Gulf Arab forces have seized the Mandab Strait connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden from Houthi fighters, reasserting control over the strategic sea lane, a government spokesman said on Thursday. Residents reported air strikes and shelling by warships in support of a ground push toward the area but could not immediately confirm that the strait had fallen. (Reporting By Noah Browning and Mohammed Ghobari)

APL today announced the launch of a new Red Sea Express 2 (RE2) Service. Directly linking China to the Red Sea ports of Jeddah, Sokhna and Aqaba, the new RE2 Service expands APL’s Asia-Middle East service network to meet its customers’ growing shipping needs. Designed to enable fast connections between Asia and the Middle East, the RE2 Service offers competitive transit times to Jeddah, Sokhna and Aqaba. Serving the Shanghai and Ningbo export market with additional shipment booking cutoff times…

In response to requests from clients and the shipping public for quicker transit times to the Red Sea, Gulf and the Middle East markets, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company announced a rotation change on its GGS USAEC / Far East service, which had previously sailed via the Cape of Good Hope, but will now sail through the Suez Canal and call at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, thereby substantially reducing transit times. This will be a non-stop direct service from the United States to Jeddah. This service will also provide onward connections via Jeddah to all major ports in the Red Sea, Jebel Ali and all other Gulf and Middle East ports, using MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company's dedicated feeder vessels.

Evergreen Marine Corp. partnered with  French-based CMA CGM Grou, & Yang Ming Marine both offer new container services. Evergreen's new route, called South Red Sea Service, connects Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and countries near the Red Sea, as well as provide services into landlocked African countries like Ethiopia through the East African country of Djibouti, reports Focus Taiwan. The new Red Sea service will begin May 2 with a container ship departing from Port of Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia. The new route will be served by five 2,200 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) vessels -- three operated by Evergreen Marine and two by CMA CGM. Meanwhile, Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp.

The U. S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has issued a warning to ship operators of anticipated increase in piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden region from October through early December due to the end of monsoon season. More favorable weather conditions allow for small boat activity in the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Indian Ocean and waters off the Horn of Africa region. Recent attacks have occurred off the Kenyan and Tanzanian coasts, the Southern Red Sea, Seychelles, and Maldives.   

Yemeni marine forces have thwarted an attempt by pirates to attack a national oil tanker in the Red Sea, days after the forces foiled an attack against two oil tankers in the Bab el-Mandab strait in the Red Sea, Yemen news agency Saba reported. According to Coast Defense, pirates tried to take over the tanker and the marines intervened on time. The pirates fled from Yemen’s territorial waters, allowing the tanker to continue its voyage to Hodeida safely.

Three Arab states have promised to donate two ferries each to Egypt, nearly two months after an Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea leaving some 1 000 people dead. The six 70-million-dollar ferries shall operate in the Red Sea and be used primarily to transport Muslim pilgrims and Egyptian expatriates in the Gulf, Independent Online reported. Each of the ships, to be imported from Australia, has a capacity of around 1 500 passengers. (Source: Independent Online)

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Wednesday it had thwarted an attack on a Saudi oil tanker over the weekend by Houthi fighters near the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. The coalition destroyed a boat carrying explosives as it headed towards the tanker on Saturday, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said. Yemen lies on the southern mouth of the Red Sea, one of the world's most important trade routes for oil tankers, which pass Yemen’s shores while heading from the Middle East through the Suez Canal to Europe.

Naval survey ship 'HMS Enterprise' nets stunning images of a Grand Canyon-style ocean floor hidden deep under the Red Sea. Discovering the 250 metre deep canyon after leaving the Egyptian port of Safaga the ship used her sophisticated EM1002 Multibeam echo sounder to create the 3D images, allowing the ocean floor to be seen for the first time. Commanding Officer of HMS Enterprise, Commander Derek Rae, said: “These features could be the result of ancient rivers scouring through the rock strata before the Red Sea flooded millennia ago.

The conflict in Yemen is reportedly escalating and maritime authorities continue to urge vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region to operate in a heightened state of alert. The conflict in Yemen is escalating and two missile attacks on vessels operating off the coast of Yemen have now been reported. The first attack occurred on 1 October 2016 and targeted a vessel operated by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) military; the second occurred on 9 October 2016 and targeted a US Navy vessel.

Nearly 40 tourists rescued  by Egyptian authorities as a passenger boat sinks in the Red Sea  near Marsa Alam  in southern Egypt. The boat carrying 26 French tourists and 10 Egyptians hit coral reefs before it sank off the Red Sea coast - one of the most prominent tourist attractions in Egypt. According to state-media, the boat hit coral reefs during its cruise, after it sailed from Port Ghaleb. The crew sent a distress alert and all of the tourists and the 10 crew members were rescued…

During the reporting period 7 – 13, June 2012, the number of piracy incidents in the High Risk Area (HRA) has remained low, with no incidents reported. Due to the South-West monsoon between June and September, sea conditions in the HRA are expected to be generally unfavourable for small boats. Pirate Activity Groups (PAG) will likely continue to focus their limited efforts in the Northern Arabian Sea (NAS), Gulf of Oman (GOO) as well as in the Gulf of Aden (GOA) and South Red Sea (SRS). There have been no significant changes over the past week. Masters are advised that fishing activity is expected to continue and likely increase in this area over the next few months. There have been no significant changes over last week in this region.

Three Egyptian sailors died and four are missing at sea after their fishing boat sank in bad weather off the coast of Port Said, the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) said. The deaths were the first casualties reported since Egypt closed five ports on the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday because of bad weather. The Red Sea ports of Suez, al-Adabiyah and al-Zaytiyah were shut after wind speeds rose to 27 knots and waves reached 2.5 m. Authorities also closed the Mediterranean ports of Alexandria and Dekheila where wind speeds rose to 40 knots and waves reached 3.5 m. - (Reuters)

During the reporting period of 26 September to 02 October 2012 there were no piracy related incidents in the High Risk Area (HRA). In the period the NATO Shipping Centre received one report of suspicious activity in the Southern Red Sea (SRS) Bab-al-Mandeb (BAM) and Gulf of Aden (GOA). Masters are still reminded to remain vigilant while transiting this area. The Southwest Monsoon season is currently in transition. Improving weather conditions will likely allow pirates to operate further out from shore. Note that pirate activity can still take place during the monsoon season: during this time pirates are likely to operate closer to shore to avoid severe conditions further out at sea.

A 93,000-ton cargo ship blocked the Suez Canal, stopping all transit of the waterway between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The Hong Kong-flagged Okal King Dor drifted at right angles to the canal about 10 km south of the midway city of Ismailiya. The ship was traveling north during a sandstorm when the incident happened at about 11 am local time (0900 GMT). It was not immediately clear what caused the ship to turn sideways in the canal, but the high wind was apparently a factor. Four tugboats realigned the ship and it resumed its course from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The canal was opened after eight hours. (Source: www.jamaicaobserver.com)

Suez Canal Authority (SCA) and the Red Sea Ports Authority signed an agreement with Dubai Ports World (DP World) and Sonker Bunkering Company for the development of Egypt’s Ain Sokhna seaport, reports Egypt Independent. The signing of the deal comes in line with directives by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to upgrade the sea port’s status as part of the broader scheme to develop the Suez Canal region, SCA chief Mohab Mamish said. The joint venture will be responsible for installing a new harbor parallel to the current oil tanker harbor over a period of one year, Mamish said.

Further to our previous media releases detailing a potential new trend in pirate tactics in an area of the Red Sea off Eritrea (see Figure 1), Neptune Maritime Security has had the opportunity to examine the available data through our Intelligence Bank, including material supplied by intelligence sources, and presents the following report to interested parties. In July, pirate activity off Eritrea was limited to small numbers of pirates mounting similarly small-scale attacks on shipping. while underway in position 13:27N-042:39E, approximately 27nm NW off Assab, Eritrea.

DP World and Egypt's General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) have is planning to increase the capacity of Egypt’s Sokhna port located south of Suez Canal, off the Red Sea coast, Egypt’s official State Information Service reported. DP World’s chief executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem and GAFI CEO Mohamed Khodair have discussed the next phase of development in Ain Sokhna. The development will increase the capacity of Sokhna port, which sits south of the Suez Canal on the Red Sea on a maritime trade route from Asia to the Middle East and beyond.