Tugs & Salvage News
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UN buys VLCC to avert Red Sea pollution catastrophe
The FSO Safer, a decaying tanker holding four times as much oil as spilled by the Exxon Valdez is a ticking time bomb threatening a Red Sea catastrophe. Yesterday, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) took a step towards stopping that happening. It signed an agreement with Euronav to secure the purchase of…
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Does it Make Sense to Have a National Emergency Towing Fleet?
In the early hours of October 17, 2014, a Marine Communications and Traffic Services Centre operator in Prince Rupert, BC, noticed a vessel moving slowly and erratically, only 20 nautical miles (37 km) from the coast of Haida Gwaii, too close for safety. The vessel had lost power, the captain…
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RNLI Rescues Four From Sinking Trawler off Penzance
On Tuesday, a Belgian fishing vessel went aground on rocks off Penzance and began taking on water, forcing her four crewmembers to call for help and abandon ship. Shortly before 1800 hours, the beam trawler Sylvia Mary likely struck bottom off the coast of Porthgwarra, Cornwall. The crew made a distress call…
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Place of Refuge: Lessons from the MT Prestige Disaster
A ‘port of refuge’ is a maritime safety principle as old as seafaring itself. Without it, a marine casualty can turn into a much larger problem, as illustrated by the notorious case of the tanker Prestige. On November 13, 2002, the Prestige was navigating the Bay of Biscay carrying 77,000 tonnes of heavy…
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Photos: Wreck of X-Press Pearl Lifted from Ocean Floor off Sri Lanka
Officials from Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Agency (MEPA) are reporting that they expected the remaining components of the containership X-Press Pearl which burnt and sunk off Colombo to be removed by this week. The second phase of the salvage operation was due to conclude with the removal of the wreck and…
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Greenpeace Protesters Cleared of Charges for Blockading Russian Ship
A group of Greenpeace protesters who blocked the arrival of a Russian tanker at a terminal on the Thames last year have been acquitted of charges related to their intervention, and prosecutors do not plan to appeal the decision. Last May, the group used a Greenpeace app to track the…
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GAO: Coast Guard Needs to Improve its Fishing Vessel Safety Efforts
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified a number of actions that the Coast Guard needs to take to help prevent fishing vessel losses and related fatalities. Commercial fishing frequently tops the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ list of most dangerous occupations in the U.S. with over 400 commercial fishing vessel…
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MSC Containership Grounds Departing Singapore
One of MSC’s ultra-large containerships grounded off Batam after departing Singapore. Reports indicate that there were no injuries and pictures show the vessel sitting on an even keel although there were fears that it might be a more serious incident. Officers from the maritime forces in Indonesia told the local…
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