WASHINGTON, Aug 3, 2023 (AFP) – The United States is preparing to deploy Marines and Navy personnel aboard commercial tankers transiting the Gulf as part of efforts to deter Iran from seizing ships, a US official said Thursday. The security forces would provide a further layer of protection for the tankers in addition to the warships and planes operating in the strategically vital area, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil passes. […]
Tag: shipping
Strikes end at western Canada ports after deal reached
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — A strike which had shut down ports along Canada’s west coast, including the country’s largest in Vancouver, has ended after 13 days of nationwide economic repercussions, negotiators announced Thursday. More than 7,000 terminal cargo loaders and 49 waterfront employers in 30 ports went on strike July 1, after months of failed negotiations. Port automation, the rising cost of living and outsourcing were the key issues behind the collective action led by […]
Russia unveils new icebreaker in push for energy markets
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday oversaw the launch of a new nuclear-powered icebreaker as Russia pushes to develop the Arctic and seeks new energy markets amid sanctions over Ukraine. Addressing a Saint Petersburg ceremony for the launch of the Yakutia icebreaker by video link, Putin said such vessels were of “strategic” importance for Russia. In addition to floating out the Yakutia, authorities also symbolically raised a flag on another nuclear-powered […]
Iran Guards say released seized Vietnamese tanker
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Wednesday they had released a Vietnamese-flagged oil tanker they seized last month in the Sea of Oman in a tense incident also involving the US Navy. While Iran’s Guards claimed they thwarted an attempt by the US ship to seize the MV Sothys carrying Iranian oil, US defence officials rejected that account and said that Iran seized the tanker and took it into its territorial waters. “The […]
Ship snaps in two off Japan coast, crew safe
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A cargo ship ran aground and broke into two off northern Japan, the coastguard said Thursday, with the crew of the Panama-flagged vessel taken to safety. Aerial images showed the separated stern of the Crimson Polaris tipped upwards and the other part of the stricken boat listing into the sea. A fuel leak from the ship has spread around 24 kilometers (15 miles), a coastguard spokesman told AFP, but the extent […]
Tanker attacked off Oman arrives at UAE anchorage
FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — An Israeli-linked vessel that was attacked off Oman last week anchored off the UAE emirate of Fujairah Tuesday amid accusations Iran was behind the attack in which two crew members were killed. Low visibility due to high humidity made it difficult to see the vessel in its mooring in the Gulf of Oman off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates, an AFP correspondent reported. Tracking service MarineTraffic […]
Megaship blocking Suez Canal may be refloated Saturday: owner
by Bassem Aboualabass CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — The owner of a megaship blocking Egypt’s Suez Canal hopes to refloat it as early as Saturday, as the crisis forced companies to re-route services from the vital shipping lane around Africa. The MV Ever Given, which is longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the span of the canal since Tuesday, blocking the waterway in both directions. At a press conference in Japan Friday […]
Japan calls off active search for missing sailors
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The active search for dozens of sailors from a cargo ship that sank in a typhoon last week was called off Wednesday, Japanese authorities said, with two crewmen the only known survivors. The Gulf Livestock 1, which was carrying 6,000 cows, issued a distress call last week as Typhoon Maysak passed through the area, launching a desperate search for the 43 crew on board. The Japan Coast Guard had been […]
Man found unresponsive after ship sank in typhoon off Japan
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s coast guard said Friday they found a man floating face-down and unresponsive at sea as they searched for survivors from a ship that sank during a typhoon with 43 crew on board. One survivor has so far been rescued from the ship, and early Friday morning, a coast guard vessel “discovered a man face-down adrift at sea,” a statement said. It was unclear if the man, described as “unconscious”, was […]
Desperate search for crew of ship sunk in typhoon off Japan
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese coast guard rescuers searched Thursday for the remaining 42 crew of a ship believed to have sunk in a typhoon, after a lone survivor was found bobbing in a lifejacket. The Gulf Livestock 1, which was carrying a cargo of nearly 6,000 cows, issued a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday from a position 185 kilometers (115 miles) west of Japan’s Amami Oshima island. Japan’s coast guard dispatched […]
Cargo ship with Pinoy crew and 6,000 cows sank off Japan in typhoon: survivor
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A cargo ship carrying 43 crew and about 6,000 cows sank at sea after transmitting a distress signal during a typhoon off Japan, according to a survivor rescued by the country’s coast guard. The Gulf Livestock 1 issued a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday from a position 185 kilometers (115 miles) west of Japan’s Amami Oshima island. Late Wednesday, coast guard rescuers located one survivor, a man identified […]
Stricken ship behind oil spill sunk off Mauritius
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius (AFP) — The broken stem of a Japanese-owned ship which ran aground causing a devastating oil spill in pristine waters off Mauritius, has been successfully sunk in the open ocean, the national crisis committee said Monday. The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island on July 25 and began leaking oil two weeks later, prompting a race against the clock to pump all the fuel off the […]
