The heavy flooding in southern Brazil has hit food storage facilities and affected the shipping of grains to port, seriously impacting the economy of Rio Grande do Sul state, a large soy, rice, wheat and meat producer. Anec, which is an association representing global grain exporters, said on Tuesday May 7th that access to the…
Greece extends exclusion advisory in area of known Russian oil ship-to-ship transfers
The Greek navy has extended an advisory that effectively bans ship traffic off the coast of the southeastern Peloponnese. The extension, announced on Wednesday May 8th, was widely interpreted as a further move to discourage ship-to-ship transfers of Russian oil in the area. It is somewhat unusual for Greece to issue NAVTEX notices for military…
Gaza pier construction finished, aid being loaded onto ship in Cyprus
Aid for Gaza was being loaded onto US-flagged container ship Sagamore (IMO 9322009) in Cyprus on Wednesday May 8th. The intention was that it would be the first cargo to be delivered using a US pier that has been built to help in the provision of supplies. “As of today, the construction of the two…
Investigation after passenger death on cruise ship
A death on P&O Australia cruise line ship Pacific Adventure (IMO 9192351) on May 6th has led to a police investigation in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The ship had departed from Sydney on May 3rd for a three-night Elvis Presley-themed cruise. The incident occurred at around 04:00 local time while the vessel was 12…
Full repairs to damaged Red Sea internet cables delayed by Yemeni government
Full repairs to three submarine internet cables that were damaged in the Red Sea in February are being delayed because of disagreements over who controls access to infrastructure in Yemeni waters. Repairs to the Seacom and EIG cables have been approved by the official Yemeni government, but the consortium that runs AAE-1, which includes telecommunications…
Iran’s capacity to move oil is reliant on Malaysian providers, claims US official
Iran’s capacity to move its oil is reliant on service providers based in Malaysia, claimed US Treasury Department’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson. The top sanctions official said on Tuesday May 7th also said that the US was seeking to prevent Malaysia from becoming a jurisdiction where Palestinian militant group Hamas could…
Two engineers face US jail terms after MARPOL guilty pleas
A chief engineer and a second engineer who were working aboard a product tanker Kriti Ruby (IMO 9391282) pleaded guilty on May 7th to a series of MARPOL violations while their vessel was near a petroleum terminal in Sewaren, New Jersey. Sentencing has been scheduled for October. The US Attorney’s Office in New Jersey said…
Peru Port dispute worsens as China’s COSCO insists on original terms
Chinese state-owned company COSCO insisted on Tuesday on terms agreed with the Peruvian government, as some local officials were reported to have tried to backtrack on a deal relating to operations of a megaport it is building on Peru’s Pacific coast. Hong Kong-based Cosco Shipping Ports said that it would defend its legal rights to…
Maersk and South Africa’s Transnet in legal dispute over Durban Container Port
Denmark based Maersk A/S has said that a successful rival bidder fell short of tender requirements when International Container Terminal Services Inc was awarded a concession to run and expand sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest container port Maersk argued in court filings to Durban High Court that International Container Terminal Services, controlled by Philippines-based billionaire Enrique Razon…
Top Swedish Navy Officer thinks some Russian shadow fleet tankers might be espionage ships as well
The Sweden’s Navy’s top officer has said that Russia could be using some of its so-called shadow fleet tankers to spy on other Baltic Sea states. Russia has long been known to have put military surveillance equipment on its fishing trawlers, to the extent that at the height of the Cold War in the mid-1960s…