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River Danube News

11 Jan 2024

Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria Unite to Clear Floating Mines in Black Sea

© Grispb / Adobe Stock

Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria signed an agreement on Thursday on a joint plan to clear mines floating in the Black Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine, following months of talks between the NATO allies.Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler, his Romanian counterpart Angel Tilvar and Bulgaria's Deputy Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul to form a trilateral initiative to clear the explosives."With the start of the war, a threat of floating mines in the Black Sea has arisen. To combat it ...

28 Dec 2023

Bulk Carrier Hits Mine in Black Sea, Two People Injured

© Grispb / Adobe Stock

A Panama-flagged bulk carrier that was headed to a River Danube port to load grain has hit a mine in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian military said on Thursday.It was the latest incident of a civilian vessel hitting an explosive in the Black Sea in what Kyiv says is stepped-up Russian attacks on shipping and port infrastructure."A Panama-flagged civilian vessel was blown up on an enemy sea mine in the Black Sea...The vessel lost its course and control, and a fire broke out on the upper deck…

20 Feb 2023

Romania Asks to Check Ukrainian Canal Dredging in Sensitive Danube Delta

© luzitanija/AdobeStock

Romania said on Monday it was concerned by signs that neighboring Ukraine was dredging a canal that sliced through a shared, ecologically sensitive coastal region, and asked if it could check the site.Ukraine has been transporting grain on the Bystroe canal as it develops alternative routes for its exports while access to its Black Sea ports is limited by Russia's invasion.Romania has said it is concerned that any works on the waterway through the shared Danube Delta area could…

19 Aug 2022

Sunken WW2 German Warships Exposed by Low water Levels on Danube

Copyright BGStock72/AdobeStock

Europe's worst drought in years has pushed the mighty river Danube to one of its lowest levels in almost a century, exposing the hulks of dozens of explosives-laden German warships sunk during World War Two near Serbia's river port town of Prahovo.The vessels were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany's Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, and still hamper river traffic during low water levels.However, this year's drought…

05 Aug 2022

Rhine Water Level Falls Again in Germany, Raising Freight Costs

© Dynamoland / Adobe Stock

Water levels on the Rhine in Germany continue to fall in hot weather, sending shipping costs higher because vessels cannot sail on the river fully loaded, vessel brokers said on Friday.Freight shipping on the river continues but with vessels sometimes forced to sail 75% empty.Low Rhine water will also hit output from two German coal-fired power stations in the coming months.The water level is particularly low at the chokepoint of Kaub near Koblenz. The reference waterline level at Kaub was only 56 centimeters on Friday…

28 Jan 2020

Vessel Grounds in the River Danube

© Picsa / Adobe Stock

Shipping on the river Danube was blocked in northern Bulgaria on Tuesday after a Ukrainian vessel ran aground because of low water levels, the Bulgarian maritime agency said.Efforts were being made to remove the Ukrainian ship as 15 other vessels were being held up because of the incident, near the town of Belene, an agency official said. No information was available on what cargoes those vessels were carrying.Bulgarian authorities said the Ukrainian vessel's captain would be fined for not complying with a 22-decimetre depth restriction.

15 Oct 2019

Ukrainian Captain to be Charges over Danube Disaster

Hungarian prosecutors are expected to charge the captain of a cruise ship that struck and sank a small tourist vessel on the River Danube, killing 28 mostly Korean tourists, after police finished their investigation, officials said on Tuesday.The tourist boat Mermaid, with 35 people on board, sank in seconds in May after the river cruiser hit it from behind under a bridge in the Hungarian capital during heavy rain, in the worst disaster on the Danube in more than half a century.Lawyers for the Ukrainian cruiser captain, identified by police as 64-year-old C. Yuriy from Odessa, who has been in custody since he was arrested after the incident, have said he is devastated but did nothing wrong.

27 Jun 2019

Second Ferry Export for Wight Shipyard

Photo: Wight Shipyard Co

UK shipbuilder Wight Shipyard Co has completed its second export order. The order placed by Ultramar, the largest ferry operator in Mexico, consists of two 37m fast ferries which will be transported to Cancun Mexico at the beginning of July.The critical issues for these newbuilds were timely delivery and the weight saving target that needed to be achieved. Fuel costs are high in Mexico and are of paramount importance to Ultramar. The vessels were designed by Incat Crowther, which…

06 Jun 2019

Cruise Captain in Danube Collision Had Previous Accident -prosecutors

The Ukrainian captain of a cruise liner that collided with a Hungarian pleasure boat on the Danube last week was captain of a boat in the Netherlands that caused an accident there in April, Hungarian prosecutors said on Thursday.In a statement the prosecutors also said their investigation showed the captain had "deleted data from his phone" after the collision in Budapest.The Mermaid, carrying a group of South Koreans on a pleasure cruise on the River Danube, capsized and sank on May 29 after being struck by the Viking Sigyn cruise liner. His lawyers said the Viking's captain was devastated by what had happened but had done nothing wrong.Reporting by Krisztina Than

05 Jun 2019

Salvage of Sunken Budapest Boat Begins

Divers found a body in the wreckage of a pleasure boat on Wednesday a week after the vessel capsized and sank on the River Danube in Budapest, officials said, as crews prepared for salvage operations.An estimated 28 people died when the Mermaid boat, carrying 33 South Korean tourists and two Hungarian crew, went down on Wednesday last week after colliding with a cruise liner.Divers found one body in the wreckage on Wednesday morning, authorities said, hours after police found the remains of one of the Korean tourists 60km (37 miles) downstream - underlining the scale of the recovery operation.South Korean and Hungarian crews would start trying to secure the vessel to prevent the loss of bodies and prepare for a possible salvage…

06 Feb 2019

Wight Shipyard Delivers 6th Ferry in two years

Photo: Wight Shipyard Co

Wight Shipyard Co delivered its first multi-million pound export order for a 250-passenger river catamaran to operate for Central Danube Region Marketing & Development GmbH’s Twin City Liner – a tourist service running on the River Danube between Vienna and Bratislava, joining two European capital cities.The passenger river catamaran was handed over to its new owners in an event hosted by Peter Morton, CEO of Wight Shipyard. In attendance were His Excellency Michael Zimmermann…

10 Nov 2017

Damen Buys shares in Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries

(Photo courtesy Damen)

Damen Shipyards Group has entered into a share purchase agreement with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for the acquisition of its majority share in Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI). The Daewoo shipyard in Mangalia, Romania was established in 1997 as a joint venture between Daewoo and 2 Mai Mangalia Shipyard with Daewoo as majority shareholder. With the acquisition of the majority share in the shipyard in Mangalia, Damen takes the next step in strengthening its international shipbuilding and ship repair activities. The Mangalia shipyard is located on the Black Sea coast.

19 Dec 2014

Damen Shipyards Galati wins Dutch Romanian Award

Damen Shipyards Galati has been presented with the Dutch Romanian Business Award for its Corporate Social Responsibility plan, particularly the Group’s community investment initiatives. The Award was presented by Ben Jager of the Dutch Romanian Network to Peter de Kiewit, Damen Sales Manager for Romania at the PSV Eindhoven football club stadium. The jury presented the Award in recognition of Damen’s positive contribution to the social development of the region and the stimulating effect its activities have on the commercial relations between the Netherlands and Romania. Mr de Kiewit commented: “Damen is delighted to have received this award…

20 Aug 2012

Mississippi-like Low Water Levels Threaten Danube

Low water levels in Bulgarian sections of Europe's River Danube threaten navigation safety, ship commerce. Water levels continue to go down and threaten a full stop of any navigation, the Maritime Administration Executive Agency in Ruse warns. If this happens, it will be a repeat of last summer's conditions when huge losses were incurred by ship owners. In the area of the city of Ruse there is a forecast for an additional decrease of 12 cm in the course of the next few days. A sand shallow has formed at kilometer 562 close to Belene island, nearly blockading ships. Effective Saturday, ships with large loads were banned there. Recently…

23 Mar 2012

Cruise Ships on the River – 'Viking Longship' Christening

Viking Longship 'Odin': Photo credit Viking River Cruises

Viking River Cruises christened the first four of its new Viking Longships in Amsterdam, in the presence of appointed celebrity 'Godparents' for all four new ships. Accommodating 190 passengers, the new Viking Longships are 443 feet (135 meters) long and feature 95 staterooms per ship and are scheduled to sail four of Viking's most popular European itineraries, including the River Danube, and other of European major rivers. Viking announced it has commissioned six additional Viking Longships for delivery in 2013, bringing the total number of new ships to be launched in two years to 12.

29 Mar 2011

Leading Austrian Shipyard Selects Paramarine For River Vessel Design

Portsmouth, UK – 29th March 2011 - QinetiQ GRC, the developer of Paramarine advanced marine design software, has been selected by Öswag, one of Austria’s leading shipyards to assist them in the design of river vessels. They will be using Paramarine for stability calculations and damage stability on inland waterway ships primarily for the Danube and the Rhine. Öswag is based in Linz, Austria, where they maintain, repair, modify and construct riverboats for use on the river Danube and Central European lakes. With over 100 staff they can handle vessels displacing up to 3000 tonnes.

19 Jan 2006

Multraship Completes Lifting of Sunken Tug

Dutch salvage and towage company Multraship Salvage BV has successfully refloated the Slovakian pusher-tug Polana, which sank in the River Danube on December 19 last year following a serious fire in it engineroom. Despite a rapid response from local firefighters at the time of the casualty, the fire spread into the Polana's accommodation and other parts of the ship. The vessel subsequently sank in 10-12 m.of water in the Romanian section of the river, off Giurgiu. The Romanian authorities ordered the owners to the remove the vessel immediately because the Polana had over forty tons of fuel on board. Multraship Salvage mobilized its floating sheerlegs Cormorant…

17 Dec 1999

Danube Blockage Seen Lasting Through Winter

The collapsed bridges blocking the River Danube since NATO's March-to-June bombing of Yugoslavia are likely to remain there through the winter, sources said. Despite the best efforts of Hungary and Austria to speed up an appeal for EU funding to clear the river, they said, at a cost estimated between 12 and 30 million euros ($12.3-$30.7 million), it was unlikely any work would begin much before spring. Hungary and Austria, as well as other Danube nations, are eager to get the river cleared, not only to resume shipping, where losses for member states had run up to $175 million by the end of October, but also for fear that a cold winter could create ice blockage and flooding.

08 Aug 2001

Shipping on Danube Slated For Spring 2002

Regular shipping on the river Danube will not resume before the spring of 2002, following the removal of NATO bombing debris from the river in Serbia, the head of the Danube Commission, Hellmuth Strasser, said. The economies of countries using the lower Danube - mainly Romania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia - are losing more than $306 million a year due to the obstruction of the river, he said. The Danube has been blocked along a vital stretch in Serbia since 1999, when NATO bombing destroyed three bridges at the city of Novi Sad. In April a Danish-Hungarian consortium was awarded a 26 million euro contract to begin cleaning debris from the river. Such cleaning, however, has yet to begin, Strasser said. - (Reuters)

10 Sep 1999

Bulgaria, Serbia River Traffic Resumes

River Danube traffic between Bulgaria and Serbia partially resumed at the end of June, immediately after NATO'S air war against Yugoslavia finished, according to officials from Bulgaria's state Danube navigation company. "Bulgarian ships are running to Serbian Danube ports, even up to Novi Sad," said the chief of the Bulgarian River Navigation Authority (BRNA) Dimitar Stanchev. Serbian ships are also running to Bulgarian Danube ports, as well as to Romanian and Ukrainian ports, he added. He said traffic was much less than before the airstrikes but said he could not give volumes at this stage. There have been press reports of a Bulgarian private shipping company planning to open a regular line from the Bulgarian port of Lom to Prahovo in Serbia, hoping to attract tourists and traders.