June 19th, 20190MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co is once again at the centre of a huge cocaine bust at the Port of Philadelphia. Authorities yesterday revealed they had found 16.5 tonnes of cocaine on the 9,962 teu , which was raided on Monday morning when it docked at the US east coast port, having come from Colombia. The street value of the haul was...
June 18th, 20190Three officers of the Grimaldi Group who were on the conro ship which caught fire while transiting off the island of Mallorca last month have been arrested in Spain for alleged arson. The third officer Cristian Porritiello and two other crewmembers whose names have not been revealed are accused of setting off two fires on the ship on...
June 6th, 20191Dr Esteban Pacha, acting chair of the trustees of Apostleship of the Sea, writes exclusively for Splash today. Hardly a day goes by that seafarers’ wellbeing and mental health doesn’t crop up in conversation. They were seldom discussed when I was a seafarer in the 80s and 90s, so what has changed? Globalisation has separated...
May 23rd, 20196The amount of back pay owed to crew remains alarmingly high despite greater scrutiny from mainstream press and the general public. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) told Splash today the only remedy for the scourge is for ITF - or a similar body - to have the powers to stop any ship where wages were owed. The ITF...
May 21st, 20190Mercator, once India’s third largest shipping line, has hit severe financial difficulties with local newspaper, Hindu Business Line, reporting the company has not paid its 350 crew for the past two months. The Mumbai owner - led by HK Mittal - has enormous debts and has been racking up sizeable losses in recent years. Today, it is...
May 9th, 20190A massive explosion and ensuing fire on the 29-year-old pipelayer yesterday evening saw 14 seafarers suffer burn injuries, three critically. The accident happened in the Caspian Sea. The fire on the ship, owned by Azerbaijan’s Caspian Shipping Company, and operated by Saipem, was put out after five hours with the injured crew taken...
May 8th, 20192The West of England P&I Club has recently undertaken an analysis of claims involving seafarers who have deserted their vessel over the past 10 years, data that points towards the tough conditions for those working in ship’s galleys. Although these types of claims are not common and nor are they particularly expensive, they can be...
May 7th, 20191Royal Boskalis Westminster (Boskalis) revealed today that its heavy transport vessel was hijacked on Sunday around 80 nautical miles offshore Equatorial Guinea. After unloading in Equatorial Guinea, the vessel left for Malta on Sunday and was attacked Sunday afternoon, with the ship boarded by armed pirates. All twenty crew...
April 29th, 20190A long running court case came to a close Monday in Hong Kong with the Chinese master and boxline APL found guilty of bringing nine Singaporean military vehicles from Taiwan into Hong Kong without a proper licence two and a half years ago. APL, now part of CMA CGM, faces a fine while the master, Pan Xuejun, could receive a jail term of...
April 25th, 20195International dry bulk shipping association Intercargo has published its latest annual bulk carrier casualty report, which highlights the ever present threat cargo liquefaction faces to the lives of seafarers around the world. Intercargo data shows 101 of the 188 lives (53.7%) lost on bulk carriers above 10,000 dwt in size in the...
