A series of controlled mini-explosions was scheduled to have taken place Saturday afternoon/evening May 11th, which should have broken parts of the collapsed Baltimore Key Bridge into smaller parts that would be easier to disentangle from the bow of the container ship Dali. The intention is that this will result in the ship being freed…
US House Panel to hold hearing on Baltimore Bridge collapse
The US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on May 15th on the federal government’s response to the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26th, killing six people, after it was struck by containership Dali. The hearing will include Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt, National Transportation Safety Board Chair…
Seven MSC Aries crew members leave vessel
Seven of the crew members of the containership MSC Aries (IMO 9857169), seized by Iranian forces on April 13th, are now on their way home. Iran last week said that the crew had “been released”, but the details of the wording showed that Iran had attached some details to the wording which might have proved…
Brazil floods hit food silos, disrupt routes to major grains port
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…
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…
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…