The Tuvalu Maritime Administration started process of de-registering of Twenty-nine Iranian controlled ships, part from the fleet of National Iranian Tanker Company. The company is using the register of the small Pacific country, which has more comfortable requirements for ship's safety and condition. Also the National Iranian Tanker Company was trying to keep its fleet operating after the embargo held by European Union and USA in May 2012. The US government announced a few countries, which are violating the sanctions over Iran and warned them for possible restrictions in trade with them too. First the de-registering of the Iranian ships made Tanzania and was followed by several other countries, which support the embargo versus Iran.
Cosco Shipping plans to order 10 new supertankers
Cosco Tanker Shipping is planning to order 10 new supertankers at price of around 950,000,000 USD. The state-owned Chinese shipowner is in need of fleet capacities increase, amid the rising crude oil imports of the Asian country. The plan is still at early stage, but most probably the contract for the building of the new vessels will be signed in early 2013 and the deliveries will be expected in 2015-2016. The growth of the crude oil imports in China is incredible, because of the improved powers of the heavy production of the country. For the last five years the important in the Asian country grew with 66% and according to the specialists the demand will increase much more. The negotiations for building of the 10 new supertankers for the Cosco fleet are not started year, but in any case the company requested a few offers from several shipyards before making contract with anyone.
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The fishing ship Horiei Maru sank after collision with Nikkei Tiger
The fishing ship Horiei Maru sank after collision with the bulk carrier Nikkei Tiger on 320 nautical miles off Honshu island. The accident happened far away from the shore in Pacific ocean after immediate change of the course of the fishing ship. On board of the fishing ship Horiei Maru there were 22 crew members and only 9 of them were rescued, as 13 others are missing in the cold water of the ocean. The bulk carrier Nikkei Tiger did not suffered any sufficient damages and was able to assist for search and rescue operations of the fishermen. The bulk carrier was proceeded to Eeat-North East direction, with course to North America, when on the radar appeared small fishing ship. The duty officer took safety maneuver to ensure large distance between the two ships, but the fishing vessel suddenly changed its course in front of the bow of the quite larger cargo ship.
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Cargo ship West sank in Okhotsk sea
The cargo ship West sank in Okhotsk sea, after water ingress from the engine room. The vessel was operating with cargo on board, when the engine officers reported hard water ingress into the engine room and sent distress signal to the port authorities and coast guard. The crew abandoned the cargo ship Vest to a life raft wand was saved from the nearby vessel. All the 8 crew members were in good condition and had no injuries. The bad weather and technical malfunction are the main assumptions of the local authorities investigations. The ship was in good condition according to the shipowner and passed all the surveys, before the accident.
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Pirates hijacked chemical tanker Bintang and robbed the crew
The chemical tanker MT Bintang was hijacked and robbed by pirates near Tanjung Piai, Malaysia. The ship was operating on route to Singapore, when armed men boarded the ship with fast wooden boat. They attacked the unarmed ship and were able to hijack it for more than two hours. The pirates robbed everything, which was expensive according to their opinion. They took all the values, technologies and money from the crew before leaving the ship into their fast wooden boat and head to Malaysia. The robberies in the route were quite frequent last years as three more ships were attacked and robbed in the same way. The crew on board of the chemical tanker MT Bintang is in good health and had no injuries during the pirates attack.
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Muezzinoglu ship is drifting on 12 nautical miles off Las Palmas
The general cargo ship Muezzinoglu is drifting on 12 nautical miles off Las Palmas, Spain as the local port authorities refuse to allow berthing of the ship for not having agent. The owner of the vessel bankrupted a few months ago and most of the crew members left the ship during docking in Angola, returning to their countries. The master of the general cargo ship decided to take the ship to the closes European port without any provisions, but after about 1 week voyage, the ship was refused to enter into Las Palmas port. The ship is out of provisions and almost all fuel is consumed, but without any company and any agents the Spanish authorities will not allow the ship to enter into the berth. The crew on board contacted the Turkish Foreign Ministry, as the ship is operating under their flag, but still have no support.
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San Antonio bulk carrier
San Antonio is Handymax bulk carrier, part from the fleet of Challenger Inc. The ship was built by IHI Marine United in Yokohama Shipyard and delivered in March 2012. The bulk carrier is really impressive in measurements and capacity, introducing the most modern technologies in marine engineering and cargo handling. The overall length of the cargo ship San Antonio is 190.00 m, the beam is 32.26 m and the depth is 18.10 m. The vessel has deadweight of 55,800 DWT and gross tonnage of 31,600 GRT. The ship is designed for flexible operations in the worldwide trade roads, as its low draft and Handymax size allow operating in the most important straits and ports. The bulk carrier has five cargo holds, which can carry light and heavy cargoes, equipped with hydraulic hatches covers. The strength of the hull allows loading of various types of cargoes with different density – heavy and light. The vessel San Antonio has double hull and double bottom, which ensures the…
Cargo ship Dong He caught fire in East China Sea
The sand carrier Dong He caught fire in the cargo hold on 75 nautical miles off Sasebo, Japan in East China Sea. The ship was on route from the Japanese port Nagoya to the Chinese port Haimen, when the the technical malfunction caused fire in the cargo hold. The crew tried to extinguish the fire, but without any success. After the fire started growing the duty officers sent a distress signal to the coast guard station. The 12 crew members on board were evacuated from the Patrol boat. The Japanese coast guard engaged 3 patrol boats from its fleet to start the salvage operations and firefighting. The coast guard station is leading the salvage operations of the sand carrier Dong He, but still the tugs have no control over the fire on board. The local authorities reported that all the crew members are in good condition and there are no serious injured people during the accident. There is no danger for the sinking of the vessel according to the current condition…
Kemal Kuru ran aground in Dardanelles
The general cargo ship Kemal Kuru, ran aground in Dardanelles on 0.4 nautical miles off Cape Cankaya, Turkey. The accident happened during voyage from Sevastopol to Porto Marghera, carrying steep products on board. The navigation error of the duty officer and misunderstood situation of maneuvering caused the grounding of the Turkish cargo ship. The Vessel Traffic Center sent rescue boats at the scene of the accident, but the cargo ship Kemal Kuru was able to refloat at own power a few hours later. The local authorities started investigation of the accident and released the ship to continue the voyage. There are no injured people among the 14 crew members on board and no leakage and water pollution during the accident. The survey showed that the hull of the vessel have no sufficient damages from the grounding and the ship can continue operations.
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Pac Basin bought bulk carrier D Handy
The Hong Kong based company Pac Basin bought the new bulk carrier D Handy. The vessel was built in 2012 in the South Korean Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and owned by the Taiwan Maritime Transportation company. The deal was singed in the beginning of September 2012 and the price of the contract was 20,000,000 USD. The ship will be delivered to the new owners during the next month and join the fleet of the Pac Basin. The stagnated situation in the cargo carrying and the decreasing the maritime transport, caused serious debt problems to Taiwan Maritime Transportation, which were forced to repay some of the bank loans to avoid bankruptcy. The multi-million sale will highly support the financial crisis of the company and will help it in the hard financial crisis.
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