Fire erupted in engine room of ro-pax ferry GREIFSWALD on Jun 18 in Black sea, the ship being en route from Chornomork Ukraine to Batumi Georgia. Not much details available, understood the ship was disabled, adrift for several hours, later taken on tow and towed to Chornomorsk anchorage. As of 1300 UTC Jun 19, the hip was approaching Chornomorsk, escorted or towed by two tugs. No injures reported.

New FleetMon Vessel Safety Risk Reports Available: https://www.fleetmon.com/services/vessel-risk-rating/

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https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2021/34261/passenger-ferry-fire-black-sea/

PUBLISHED JUN 18, 2021 3:34 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Argentina’s ports are again paralyzed by the latest in a series of strikes organized by the maritime unions as they seek to pressure the government to prioritize workers in the ports and maritime trades for COVID-19 vaccinations. A total of 16 unions representing the pilots, tug boats, dockworkers, and customs officials, banded together to hold a 24-hour strike on Friday, June 18 repeating their calls on the government to follow through on earlier promises to prioritize their members for vaccinations.

“Despite the multiple meetings held, within the framework of the Vaccination and Immunization Plan for COVID 19, the port, maritime and naval workers demand a response from the authorities, as essential workers,” wrote the Maritime Port Federation and the Naval Industry of the Argentine Republic (FeMPINRA) in announcing the nationwide job action. In May, prior to starting the job actions, FeMPINRA had said that it had reached its limit on the number of deaths among members and their families and was no longer going to standby while members who were performing jobs essential to the economy were being passed over and dying.

The union was encouraged in its efforts by the recent success of the international, long-haul truck drivers, who had staged similar strikes. The truck drivers recently blocked a major boarder crossing to Brazil demanding better health procedures and controls along with prior to the vaccines. They reported that less than one-in-three truck drivers had received a COVID-19 vaccination. After meeting with government representatives, it was announced that they had agreed to provide an additional 4,600 vaccinations to be used for the international truck drivers carrying commence across the border.

Argentina has been struggling with increasing cases during a new wave of the virus that began in late March. Although the case load peaked in late May with a 7-day average of over 30,000, the pace of cases continues to average over 20,000 new cases a day. The government recently announced that it would be administering vaccinations at a rate of 1,000 per day for members of the military and security forces.

The union representing the workers who move the grains in the major ports has repeatedly expressed its concern that the government was not including its members on the priority list for essential workers. They highlighted that agriculture is Argentina’s largest foreign export and a major contributor to the economy, yet their members and families were being regularly put at risk by not being included in the prior categories.

A port official speaking to Reuters said that today’s strike meant that they again would not be able to dock and undock vessels. The strike was centered on the agricultural ports of San Lorenzo and Rosario. Local media said it was uncertain if the action would also spread to the major sea ports, including Necochea and Bahia Blanca, which have also been seeking vaccinations and requiring vessels to undergo a 14-day quarantine before arrival.

The first strike in the ports came in late May lasting for a day and was followed a week later by a two-day strike. The tug boat captains and customs officials staged an additional work stoppage. Further efforts had been posted after government officials said they would prioritize the maritime industry workers. The unions are saying that they will continue to stage these demonstrations until the government fulfills its promise to include workers in the maritime sector among the priority list.

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https://maritime-executive.com/article/argentina-s-maritime-unions-renew-strikes-demanding-covid-vaccinations

PUBLISHED JUN 18, 2021 4:29 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Shipbuilder Damen is making progress on its first fully-electric reversed stern drive tug, which is currently under construction for New Zealand’s Ports of Auckland. Recently, Damen’s Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam installed the tug’s batteries.

The project involved the installation of more than 2,200 batteries totalling nearly 2,800 kWh in capacity (the equivalent of 28 top-end Teslas). With this, the tug – named Sparky – will carry out two or more berthing/unberthing operations with up to 70 tonnes of bollard pull on a single charge. Afterwards, it will take just two hours for the tug to recharge to its full capacity.

For redundancy purposes, the batteries are arranged in strings. If one battery in a string were to fail, the others would simply carry on the work, Damen said.

Ports of Auckland placed the order with Damen in August of 2019 as part of its mission to achieve zero emissions by 2040. Work continues on Sparky, and Damen expects to deliver her towards the end of this year.

Damen put a high priority on the electric tug contract, as it is aiming to transition its business towards zero-emissions propulsion. The company has extensive experience in the construction of fully electric vessels, including seven fully-electric ferries for the City of Copenhagen and a fully-electric cutter suction dredger for an Australian client. It is also constructing a full range of all-electric and hybrid-electric ferry vessels for two public ferry operators in Canada.

Sparky got her name by means of an online suggestion box, open to the general public. Auckland’s port authority disqualified some of the proposals – like Tuggy McTugface, The Fighting Queen of Covid, Electric Disco Biscuit and Doug – and presented the internet community with four final choices. These included Arahi (a Maori word meaning to lead, escort, conduct or drive), Hiko (Maori for electrical, power), E.T. (an acronym for “electric tug”) and Sparky (the final vote winner).

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https://maritime-executive.com/article/damen-makes-progress-on-first-fully-electric-rsd-harbor-tug

PUBLISHED JUN 18, 2021 7:31 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

A U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of Florida in its effort to receive a temporary injunction against the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from enforcing its Conditional Sailing Order on cruise ships operating from Florida’s ports. Because of Florida’s probability of success on the merits of its case and the imminent threat of irreparable injury to Florida, Judge Steven Merryday enjoined the CDC from enforcing the CSO in Florida, while also giving the CDC time to revise its rules to fit within the court’s perception of the agency’s legal authority.

Judge Merryday stayed his order to give the CDC time to respond while also ordering Florida and the CDC to resume mediation regarding the broader case. As of July 18, under the judge’s current order, the CDC’s order and framework for the resumption of the cruise industry “will persist as only a non-binding consideration, recommendation, or guideline, the same tools used by CDC when addressing the practices in other similarly situated industries, such as airlines, railroads, hotels, casinos, sports venues, buses, subways, and others,” writes the judge.

In his 124-page decision, the judge reviewed the merits of the case and Florida’s accusations that the CDC exceeds its statutory and regulatory authority, is failing to recognize the impact of vaccinations and foreign cruises success at resuming sailing, and is delaying action. Florida documented its decline in tax revenues and increased unemployment payments, points the CDC did not dispute but said were broader than the cruise industry relating to Florida’s general revenue. The CDC also argues that Florida lacks standing in its claims and pointed to the issues of timing of the case and the efforts moving forward to restart cruising.

“Florida establishes a strong likelihood that many or almost all cruise ships will remain unable to sail for the entire summer season,” the order finds, continuing that “each day the cruise industry faces uncertainty about when cruises can resume, Florida not only suffers a concrete economic injury resulting from reduced revenue and increased unemployment spending, but Florida faces an increasingly threatening and imminent prospect that the cruise industry will depart the state.”

The judge reviewed each of the arguments, for example citing the history of quarantine efforts in the United States, public heath statues, and the limits of the CDC’s authority as defined by Congress and the constitution. The order confirms Florida’s constitutional and statutory standing to assert the claims in the complaint. In a ruling that could have broader implications for the CDC, the order also finds that “Florida is highly likely to prevail on the merits of the claim that CDC’s conditional sailing order and the implementing orders exceed the authority delegated to CDC or unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to CDC.”

The order provides that the CDC “may propose” not later than July 2 a narrower injunction both permitting cruise ships to sail timely and remaining within CDC’s authority as interpreted by the order.  Florida would then have up to seven days to respond and the judge would conduct a hearing and issue a further order immediately resolving the issue of the preliminary injunction.

The order does not decide the merits of the broader case and instead the judge based on his preliminary finding orders Florida and the CDC to resume mediation. The issues of Alaska and Texas’s motions to intervene in the case also remains unresolved. Because the issue of harm was limited to Florida, the order only covers cruises sailing from ports in Florida.

“The CDC has been wrong all along, and they knew it,” said Governor Ron DeSantis responding to the news of the judge’s decision. “The CDC and the Biden Administration concocted a plan to sink the cruise industry, hiding behind bureaucratic delay and lawsuits. Today, we are securing this victory for Florida families, for the cruise industry, and for every state that wants to preserve its rights in the face of unprecedented federal overreach.”

The CSO, however, was issued on October 31, 2020, during the Trump Administration as well as the original No Sail Order in March 2020.  As the vaccine became more widespread and virus cases began to recede, the CDC issued its framework for the resumption of cruising on April 2, 2021 under the Biden Administration. The CDC this week further revised its recommendations for cruise travelers dividing its guidance based on vaccinations. The cruise industry has previously criticized the CDC’s rules as cumbersome but is proceeding under the framework to resume sailings.

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https://maritime-executive.com/article/judge-grants-florida-s-motion-for-injunction-against-cdc-cruise-rules

After it in recent months acquired MMT and Abyssal, marine robotics and offshore survey company Ocean Infinity has now acquired maritime services company, Ambrey for an undisclosed fee.

UK-based Ambrey offers offshore services including, security, crisis and risk management, intelligence, insurance, fleet operation, and vessel design and build.

With a management team of over 150 full-time staff globally together with over 1350 contractors and crew, Ambrey operates a fleet of over 40 patrol, logistics, and accommodation vessels for its shipping and offshore clients.

“The acquisition combines Ocean Infinity’s robotic vessels, data, cyber, artificial intelligence, and low emission operations with one of the leading brands in the maritime security sector. Ocean Infinity’s data and software capabilities will revolutionize Ambrey’s intelligence and insurance services, whilst its robotic surface and sub-surface vessels have huge potential for Ambrey’s shipping and offshore client base,” Ocean Infinity said.

Also, Ocean Infinity said that Ambrey’s vessel manufacturing and fleet management capabilities will bring meaningful operational advantages as Ocean Infinity moves closer to mobilizing its ‘Armada’ fleet of robotic vessels, set to be the largest fleet of its kind in the world.

“Ambrey’s and Ocean Infinity’s highly complementary competencies will enable the enlarged group to expedite its strategy of becoming the world’s leading marine robotics company, with technology and sustainability at its core,” Ocean Infinity said.

Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinity’s CEO, said: “There is no limit to the possibilities of robotics, which will eventually touch every corner of the maritime industry. There is an immediate opportunity for robotic uncrewed vessels to play a huge role in maintaining safe operating environments for our clients. The market presence and capabilities that the Ambrey team bring, along with a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit, will augment and strengthen our in-house capabilities in a way that will unquestionably move us forward in becoming the world’s leading ocean technology and data business. On behalf of everyone at Ocean Infinity I extend a very warm welcome to the team.”

Ocean Infinity’s footprint now extends to offices in Europe, North America, Middle East and Africa, and the full-time headcount of the enlarged group is approximately 500.

Chris Charnley, Ambrey Group Managing Director said: “Along with my co-founder, John Thompson, we firmly believe that with Ocean Infinity we share a common vision to keep pushing boundaries and to revolutionize the maritime industry.  Ten years ago we started on our journey to build the world’s leading maritime security firm.

“In recent years, we have built upon our foundations in risk management to expand to a wider range of marine support services. Our staff and crew have consistently delivered for our clients in the most complex and difficult of operating environments. It is through their hard work, professionalism, and dedication that we have built Ambrey’s successful business today. As we look to the future with Ocean Infinity, technology and green operations are leading the way. Together, we seek to revolutionize our industry and broaden our service offering, underpinned by our greatest asset, our people, and the combined expertise of our new team.”

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/ocean-infinity-acquires-ambrey-488267

When Dutch boat captain and engineer Ernst-Jan de Groot applied to continue working in Britain after Brexit, he became ensnared in a bureaucratic nightmare because of an online glitch and says he is now likely to lose his job.

Under new immigration rules coming into force, de Groot faces the prospect of losing the right to come to Britain to work unless he can successfully apply for a visa through a government website by the end of June.

Following its departure from the European Union’s orbit at the end of December, Britain is changing its immigration system, ending the priority for EU citizens over people from elsewhere.

While the government has so far processed more than 5 million applications from EU citizens to continue living in Britain, lawyers and campaigners estimate there are tens of thousands who, like de Groot, risk missing the deadline.

Those who succeed are not given a physical document to prove they have the right to live or work in Britain, so they remain hostage to websites when they need to show evidence of their status at borders, or when they apply for mortgages or loans.

The experience of de Groot and eight other applicants spoken to by Reuters shows how Brexit has put some EU citizens at the mercy of government websites and officials, and how Britain may be inadvertently discouraging people with skills it needs.

“I am trapped in a bureaucratic maze that would even astonish Kafka, and there is no exit,” de Groot said. “I have tried everything I can think of to communicate the simple fact that their website is not functioning as it should.”

Labyrinthine nightmare
De Groot, 54, has worked happily in Britain on and off for the past six years.

He sails long, narrow barges from the Netherlands to England to be used as floating homes. He also spends a few months a year building boats at a shipyard near London and captains a tall ship around the west coast of Scotland in the summer.

A fluent English speaker, de Groot says he followed the post-Brexit rules by applying for a frontier worker permit to allow him to work in Britain while not being resident.

The online application was straightforward until he was asked to provide a photo. The next page of his application, which was reviewed by Reuters, said: “you do not need to provide new photos”, and there was no option to upload one.

A few weeks later, his application was rejected—for not having a photo.

So began a labyrinthine nightmare of telephone calls, emails and bureaucratic disarray. De Groot estimates he has spent over 100 hours contacting government officials who he said were either unable to help or gave conflicting information.

Some officials told him there was a technical issue that would be resolved quickly. Others said there was no problem.

Each time he phoned, de Groot said he asked the person to make a record of his complaint. On his last call, he said an official told him they did not have access to individual cases, so that was impossible.

He tried to start a new application to bypass the glitch but each time he entered his passport number it linked to his first application and he remained trapped in the photo-upload loop.

The Home Office, the government department that administers immigration policy, did not respond to requests for comment about de Groot’s case or the lack of physical documents proving the status of successful applicants.

Take back control
Over the past two decades, Britain experienced unprecedented immigration. When it was part of the EU, the bloc’s citizens had a right to live and work in the country.

A demand to reduce immigration was a driving force behind the campaign for Brexit in the 2016 referendum, with supporters calling for Britain to “take back control” of its borders.

Most EU citizens who want to stay will need to have applied for settled status before July. Others, such as de Groot, need to apply for visas to work in Britain.

Landlords, employers, the health service and other public departments will be able to ask for proof from EU nationals of their immigration status from next month.

The Home Office has a reputation for aggressively targeting people who do not have the correct documentation.

The government apologized three years ago for the Home Office’s treatment of thousands of Caribbean migrants, who were denied basic rights, including some who were wrongly deported, despite having arrived legally in Britain decades earlier.

So far this year, 3,294 EU nationals were denied entry to Britain with some taken to detention centers because they could not show a correct visa or their residency status.

Lawyers, charities and diplomats say some EU nationals may be unaware they need to apply, or are struggling to navigate the bureaucracy.

Chris Benn, a British immigration lawyer with Seraphus, a law firm contracted by the EU delegation to the United Kingdom to provide advice about the rules, has spent the last three years speaking at events telling EU citizens how to navigate the new system.

Although Benn said it was impossible to know how many people still need to apply, he is worried tens of thousands of people, and possibly a hundred thousand, may miss the deadline.

Benn says he is still meeting well-educated, fluent English speakers who don’t realize they need to apply. He is particularly worried the elderly, and people in rural areas such as those working on farms, may be unaware of the new rules.

“If even a very small percentage miss out, you will have very widespread issues,” he said.

Mistaken identity
While the system has worked well for millions, the nine EU nationals struggling with applications spoken to by Reuters say it seems overwhelmed. They complain of long waits to speak to staff in call centers and, when they get through, they are not given case-specific advice.

One of them, a Spanish student in Edinburgh, told Reuters he was concerned he would be unable to finish his studies because his settled status application in November has been put on hold.

Three days after applying he was informed in documents reviewed by Reuters that police considered he was being investigated for “culpable and reckless conduct” – an offence in Scotland for behavior that exposes an individual, or the public, to the significant risk to their life or health.

The student, who asked not to be named publicly for fear of jeopardizing career prospects, said he had never been in trouble with the police and he had no idea what the alleged investigation might relate to.

He requested details from the Scottish police. In replies seen by Reuters, they said their databases showed he was not listed for any crime, nor under investigation.

He has approached his university, campaign groups for EU nationals and the Spanish embassy asking for help. So far, no one has been able to get him out of the bureaucratic maze.

“The panic has been constant and gradual,” he said. “I end up thinking about it all the time because I might get literally kicked out of the country.”

A spokeswoman for Police Scotland directed questions to the Home Office.

The Home Office did not respond to requests for comment about the student’s case or complaints about call centers.

De Groot is equally frustrated. The company that usually employs him to captain a ship in the summer has started to look for someone else.

Diplomats say another problem is looming: what will Britain do with EU citizens who don’t have the right documents by July?

The government has said those who miss the deadline will lose the right to services such as free non-urgent healthcare and could be deported. Guidelines suggest leniency will only be granted in certain cases, such as for people with a physical or mental incapacity.

Even those with settled status are concerned that without a physical document as proof, they could still end up in immigration limbo if websites fail.

When Rafael Almeida, a research fellow in neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh, applied for a mortgage this year, he was asked to provide a share code generated by a government website to prove his settled status.

Almeida said the website would not work and he was greeted with a message: “There’s a problem with this service at the moment. Try again later.”

After a month of failed attempts to generate the code, Almeida’s mortgage broker persuaded the lender to accept only his passport as proof of identity. The website is still not working.

The Home Office did not respond to requests for comment.

Almeida is worried that from next month he will unable to access healthcare, apply for a job if he ever wants to, or return to Portugal to see family or friends.

“I am incredibly anxious, I am incredibly frustrated with the people who should have been taking care of this,” he said. “I am just really worried for the future.”

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/brexit-bureaucracy-creates-nightmare-488329

Shipbroker McQuilling Partners Inc. and emissions trader Vertis Environmental Finance have partnered to offer carbon offsetting and advisory (CO&A) services to the shipping industry.

The agreement will provide ship-owners, oil companies, refiners and traders with direct access to carbon offsetting and advisory solutions to address their environmental sustainability and carbon-neutral shipping needs, as well as their future environmental compliance requirements.

With carbon market experience in similar sectors like aviation, Vertis Environmental Finance will provide clients of McQuilling Partners Inc. and its affiliates with access to verified, emissions reduction credits.

John Schmidt, CEO of McQuilling Partners Inc., said, “This partnership of market leader advisory experts in the maritime and environmental industries will enable interested parties to confidently navigate the developing regulatory environment of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) to efficiently design and implement their strategy for meeting these requirements.”

Marc Falguera, CEO of Vertis Environmental Finance, said, “The first wave of commercial zero-emission shipping and the use of carbon offsetting is increasingly catching on in segments of the maritime and fuel industries as companies look to enhance their environmental positioning. We are excited to address this huge challenge and help the industry achieve its environmental ambitions and obligations.”

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/mcquilling-vertis-partner-offer-carbon-488294