Good Samaritans Save Young Cruise Passenger from the Water
On Monday, two good samaritans from the U.S. Virgin Islands saved a young cruise passenger after she went over the edge of a dock in her wheelchair. The cruise ship Carnival Fascination had moored at the West Indian Company (WICO) Dock on St. Thomas, USVI for a port call on Monday. During the call, a young passenger's wheelchair went off the dock, sending her into the water. Two entertainers from the USVI Department of Tourism - Randolph Donovan, Jr. and...
Continue Reading...
Alex Rogers: We Are Accelerating Biodiversity Loss in the Ocean
[By Jessica Aldred] Professor Alex Rogers is one of the world’s preeminent marine biologists, who has advised the UN, Greenpeace, WWF and G7 countries on ocean ecology. He is science director of the REV Ocean foundation, a visiting professor and senior research fellow at Oxford University and was a scientific consultant on the BBC’s Blue Planet II series. He has three marine species named after him, including the zombie snot worm, Osedax rogersi.
Continue Reading...
16-Year-Old Activist Travels to Climate Summit Aboard Racing Yacht
Prominent Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, has attracted both attention and controversy by traveling to a summit on climate change in New York aboard a racing yacht. The vessel, the Malizia II, is fitted with solar panels and water turbine generators, which will enable her to make a carbon-free transatlantic crossing. Malizia II is the racing vessel of Team Malizia, the ocean race team of Monaco businessman Pierre Rainier Stefano Casiraghi. The Malizia, an IMOCA 60 built in 2015,...
Continue Reading...
MSC Gulsun Sets New Container Loading Record
The Port of Tanjung Pelepas has broken the record for vessel utilization again. On July 28, the container ship MSC Gulsun departed Tanjung Pelepas with 19,574 TEU of boxes on board. The Gulsun has a nameplate capacity of 23,756 TEU, making her the largest boxship in the world. She can accommodate an additional feeder's worth of cargo more than the previous titleholder, the 21,413 TEU OOCL Hong Kong. (Real-world capacities are lower due to stowage limitations.) The new loading milestone means...
Continue Reading...
On First Mission, UK Frigate Tracks Russian Warship in the Channel
A Royal Navy frigate has monitored the transit of the second Russian warship to sail through the English Channel in a week. HMS Medway followed the progress of veteran Russian cruiser Marshal Ustinov as she sailed from the North Sea, past Dover and into the Channel. The brand-new patrol ship – on her first mission – was dispatched from Portsmouth to spend 36 hours monitoring the Ustinov before handing over to the Marine Nationale as the Russian warship continued south...
Continue Reading...
U.S. Bans Visas for Seafarers Who Help Move Iranian Oil
In a message to the "maritime community" Thursday, the U.S. State Department said that it will use an anti-terrorism law to deny visas to seafarers who work aboard vessels carrying Iranian oil. The announcement came as the Iranian-controlled tanker Grace 1 prepared to get under way from Gibraltar, where she had been detained since July 4. "The United States assesses that the M/T Grace I was assisting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) by transporting oil from Iran to Syria. This could...
Continue Reading...
Vanguard Bank Tensions Show That China Remains Undeterred
[By Trinh Le] For weeks, Chinese and Vietnamese coastguard vessels have been involved in a confrontation after the Chinese survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 8 entered waters near the Vietnam-controlled Vanguard Bank on 3 July. The incident has upset both Hanoi’s leadership and the Vietnamese public, and led the U.S. to criticise Beijing for “bullying behavior” in the area. The ship briefly left the region to resupply, only to return in recent days. This latest stand-off harks back to a similar...
Continue Reading...
Pipeline Spill Contained in Mississippi Delta Bayou
Cleanup crews are responding to an oil spill from a pipeline in Cox Bay, Louisiana, near Port Sulphur on the Mississippi River Delta. Watchstanders from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans received a report from the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator’s Office at about 0900 hours of an oil discharge in Cox Bay. The owner of the flowline, Time Energy, reports that the source of the leak has been secured. An incident management team from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans visited the site...
Continue Reading...
The Maritime Security Challenge in Sabah
[By Zachary Abuza, PhD] In 2013, a group of several hundred armed militants from the southern Philippines landed in the Sabahan city of Lahud Datu in an attempt to retake the land in the name of the Sultan of Sulu. 10 security personnel and six civilians were killed. Among the militants, 45 were killed, 30 were captured and nine were sentenced to death. Since then, the eastern Sabah State of Malaysia has witnessed a series of armed incursions and kidnappings, one...
Continue Reading...More News Stories
