Maritime news

There was a fire on 'Arctic Storm' extinguished by crew members. The 314-ft fishing vessel was saved by the people on board using the ship's Halon chemical firefighting system.

The Coast Guard helped with the evacuation of the passengers. MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria and 2 47-foot motor lifeboat crews from Coast Guard Station Grays Harbor monitored, in the same time 'Good Samaritan' ships were trying to evacuate 78 of 120 people to commercial fishing vessels Northern Voyager, Golden Alaska, Sea Dawn and Excellence.

The situation is dangerous because on board the Arctic Storm has 188,00 gallons of diesel fuel. The good news are that there is no pollution and no injured crew members reported. The Coast Guard will start investigation to find the cause of the fire.

by VesselFinder

Invoicing error led to a ship broker being asked to pay the bill for a bunker supply amounting to over $750,000.

ITIC cites the case of a chartering shipbroker that arranged a fixture for a sailing from the Black Sea to Singapore. The recap showed the sameness of both the registered ship-owner and the disponent owner with whom the negotiations had been concluded.

The disponent owner asked the shipbroker to arrange the deal of bunkers, and an order was placed with a supplier. The cost of the bunkers was $777,278.000. But instead of ordering the bunkers on behalf of the disponent owner, the shipbroker mistakenly ordered them on the registered owner's behalf, taking the name from the recap.

The bunkers were duly supplied and the vessel signed for them. The bunker supplier invoiced the registered owner (not the disponent owner), care of the broker, for the cost of the bunkers. The invoice was sent to the disponent owner but wasn't paid when due. When chased for payment, the disponent owner replied, "Regarding the payment for bunkers, I have passed to the financial side and they must be arranging payment, the delay is due to our company currently being audited and is going to be ending in the coming weeks'.

When additional requests for payment met with a similar response, the bunker suppliers instructed lawyers to gather the amount owed. When lawyers approached the registered ship owner they were told that the registered owner had never given any instructions for the purchase of the bunkers and that the responsible party must have been the disponent owner. If the bunkers had been purchased in the name of the registered owner, this was a misrepresentation on the part of the party that had secured the information to the bunker supplier.

Lawyers consequently turned their attention to the shipbroker, claiming that it was responsible for breach of warranty of authority. There wasn't prospect of going after the ship and the brokers entered a settlement with the bunker suppliers.

by VesselFinder

A passenger vessel has been brought safely to anchor after she ran aground on the west cost of Scotland.

The Serenissima, became lodged on sand and gravel in Oban Bay at around 6:30 p.m. on 20th of May, Monday.

There were 112 people onboard the passenger ship when it ran aground. None of the 61 travelers or 51 crew members were injured during the accident.

The grounded passenger ship Serenissima is an 87-metre vessel that ran aground at the bow at a spot known as the Corran Ledge as it made its way from Ireland to the port of Oban.

The MCA reported there weren't any reports of injuries, and no reports of pollution or of water entering the passenger ship Serenissima.

Strong winds hampered first attempts by the crew members and the Oban RNLI lifeboat team to help the ship, but it was eventually re-floated at about 1:10 a.m.

The grounded passenger ship Serenissima is now anchored in Oban Bay and is going to undergo a dive inspection later on Tuesday.

by VesselFinder

5 board crew members of Costa Crociere have been placed under investigation as part of a new probe, which is related to the tragedy of January 2012, which led to the deaths of 32 people.

The executives are being probed for potential collusion in the crimes of dereliction of duty and manslaughter, which the captain of Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, and other crew members are being accused of.

Top executives from parent company Carnival also sit on Costa Crociere's board.

The new investigation is a independent from the 1 involving Capt. Schettino that led to a preliminary hearing this week.

The 2nd probe has been opened after a group of lawyers representing some of the travelers on the Costa Concordia on its fateful journey, grouped together in the "Justice for Concordia" association, reported the company's management to authorities in April for their potential involvement in the incident.

Prosecutors are only investigating executives that were sitting on the board at the time of the accident of Costa Concordia, on 13th of January, 2012, sources reported. "It's an obligatory step," the Grosseto prosecutors reported when asked about the new investigation, without commenting further.

by VesselFinder

China insists North Korea to free a Chinese fishing boat and its crew. The owner of the boat informed that its property had been seized for more than 15 days. 2 days ago Yu Xuejun (the owner) revealed more information; armed North Koreans attacked the boat on 5 May despite the boat was in Chinese waters and the kidnappers asked a ransom of 600,000 yuan (£64,000).

The Chinese embassy had asked the foreign ministry of North Korea to release the boat and all crew members. North Korea informed that the boat was in North Korean waters.

Yu Xuejun explained that the North Korean side wanted money to be paid by noon on Sunday to a firm in Dandong or the boa would be confiscated and the crew released.
The attackers are not known but there is suspicion on North Korean armed forces and their desire to make money.

There was another case when 3 private Chinese ships with 29 crew members were attacked and captured by a North Korean gunboat demanding for $190,000 ransom. The crew members were released less than 14 days later. There are cases that were not reported because the owner paid the ransom, this time the ransom is higher.

These cases will rise the tension between the 2 countries. It is known that China is main ally of North Korea, providing most of its fuel and most of its trade but the relations have been often difficult because of such incidents and the weapons programmes of North Korea.

by VesselFinder