Passenger ro-ro ship Gerbang Samudra 5 ran aground while approaching a pier in Gilimanuk port, Bali island, Indonesia, at around 21.00 local time on September 30th. No cargo or passengers were on board at the time as the ro-ro was reportedly on a trial run, maybe after repairs. The ship was said to be hard aground one cable away from the pier. One crewmember was injured during the lowering of the lifeboat The vessel was scheduled to be refloated with the high tide.
Fishing trawler Russa Taign suffered an engine failure 12nm to the west of Westray, the Orkneys. The vessel was reported as drifting in gale-force winds and rough seas, with immediate danger to seaworthiness. An RNLI boat from Stromness reached the trawler, but the heavy seas and size of the trawler (160 DWT) relative to the rescue boat made towing impossible. Towing tug Heracles and fishing vessel Keila then assisted with the salvage operation. Keila linked a wire to the stricken trawler, but this broke shortly after towing commenced. After the arrival of towing tug Heracles all the ships eventually arrived at Kirkwall, Orkneys, without reported damage.
The Libyan National Army (LNA) says it intercepted container Vilya and forced it to dock in Tobruk for inspection. The LNA claimed that the vessel was heading to Turkey, possibly with suspect cargo loaded at Khoms and Misrata. However, the Libya Herald said that the inspection found only scrap iron.
Bulk carrier Molat, with 23000 tons of palm kernel on board, has been anchored off the New Zealand port of Tauranga since September 6th, according to Auckland Now. The carrier has been barred from entering Tauranga by the Ministry of Primary Industries after it was discovered the palm kernel was sourced from an unregistered facility in Malaysia. The Molat left Port Klang in Malaysia on August 15th and the shipment, if cleared, is worth about NZ$5.75m on the New Zealand market.
High speed cargo ro-ro Swift 1 was reported in the early hours of October 1st to be on fire in the Bab El Mandeb Strait, northeast of Mocha, Yemen. The crew were understood to have been rescued by ships nearby. Swift 1 left Aden on September 30th. Yemeni rebels have claimed that the ship was hit by one of their rockets.