General cargo ship Bothnia Fin (IMO 9953913) suffered a steering failure shortly after it left Brake on the River Weser. It ran aground on Harriers and island coast during the evening of October 30th. The ship was refloated with tug assistance and towed back to Brake, where it berthed late that night. After PSC inspection and class safety confirmation, the ship was allowed to resumed voyage and it left Brake during the evening of October 31st.
2022-built, Cyprus-flagged, 2,518 gt Bothnia Fin is owned by Bothnia Fin GmbH care of manager Blue Fin Shipping of Buxtehude, Germany. It is entered with Gard P&I on behalf of MS Bothnia Fin GmbH and with Gad As (claims leader) for Hull and Loss of Hire, on behalf of Reederei Hinsch GmbH. As of November 1st it was at anchor on the Elbe River, near Wedel.
An attempted smuggling operation from container ship Olivia I (IMO 9686912) was caught on video after a tip-off led to the vessel being monitored by Spanish law enforcement agencies as it passed Gibraltar en route from Cartagena, Colombia. On October 24th a patrol boat spotted and trailed behind the container ship off the Spanish North African enclave of Ceuta until officers saw and filmed a drop-off. It was made in a rather unusual fashion. Two stowaways (apparently hiding in a container) threw the cocaine into the water and then jumped in themselves, with the plan being that the accomplices on land would rescue the stowaways and retrieve the cocaine. They were promptly picked up by the authorities. The Olivia I was taken to Algeciras for investigation and held there until the afternoon of October 25th, when it was allowed to resume scheduled voyage to Malta. The ship then sailed to Genoa, where it arrived on October 31st. It was clear that neither the crew nor operator (nor owner) knew anything of the container-based smuggling operation.
2015-built, Marshall Islands-flagged, 70,704 gt Olivia I is owned by Menelaos Marine LLC care of Technomar Shipping Inc of Athens, Greece. It is entered with UK Club on behalf of Menelaos Marine LLC.