Product tanker SAMUS SWAN reportedly suffered fire in engine room on Sep 11, south of Sicily, while en route from Livorno to Gabes Tunisia. Fire was extinguished by crew, but tanker was disabled. Two crew were injured during accident, one of them to a degree that he had to be airlifted to hospital. Understood she was towed to Augusta Sicily, and anchored at Augusta anchorage on Sep 13.

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Container ship TANTO MITRA collided with coal barge at Banjarmasin outer anchorage, southern Kalimantan, Java sea, in the morning Sep 13 on arrival from Jakarta. Understood collision occurred while the ship was maneuvering to anchor. TANTO MITRA sustained heavy damages in bow area, including 1×5 meters hull breach and dents. As of 0030 UTC Sep 14, the ship heaved anchor and started moving towards Banjarmasin, escorted by tug.

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Royal Dutch Shell on Monday began evacuating staff from a U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil platform, and other energy companies began preparing for hurricane-force winds from a second Gulf Coast storm in as many weeks.

Tropical Storm Nicholas was about 105 miles (115 km) south of Port O’Connor, Texas, and moving north with winds of 60 miles per hour (97 kph). It could become a hurricane just ahead of landfall on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Waves stirred up by Nicholas neared 12 feet (3.7 m) in height were reported outside of Port Aransas, near Corpus Christi, Texas, with wind gusts up to 54 mph about 40 miles east of Padre Island, the National Weather Service said.

Rainfall totals of up to 16 inches and possibly 20 inches in some isolated areas were in the forecast for coastal Texas.

Nicholas is the second cyclone to threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast energy complex in recent weeks. Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on oil production and refining facilities in late August and early September.

More than 40% of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico’s oil and gas output remained offline on Monday, two weeks after Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

Shell began evacuating non-essential personnel from its Perdido platform, which was unaffected by Ida. It was continuing to assess damages to its West Delta-143 hub, a transfer station for three major oilfields that remain offline.

Ports batten down
Shippers were warned of hurricane-force winds at oil export terminals on the Texas coast. The Port of Corpus Christi could see hurricane force winds in the next day, the U.S. Coast Guard said, and pilots there suspended activities.

The Coast Guard ordered vessels in the Texas ports of Houston, Galveston, Texas City and Freeport to cease cargo transfers if winds reach 40 mph. It barred inbound transit of 500 gross tons and greater vessels at all four.

Refiners also began making preparations for the storm. Phillips 66 refineries in Sweeney, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, activated their hurricane plans, Exxon Mobil prepped its Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, petrochemical complexes for severe weather, and Citgo Petroleum said it was securing its Corpus Christi refinery in Texas.

“The big thing is going to be the rain. It’s going to be a slow-moving storm. When storms move at 5 of 8 miles per hour it can take a while for them to clear out,” said Phil Klotzbach, a researcher at Colorado State University.

U.S. crude futures were up more than 1% on Monday to $70.56 a barrel, while gasoline futures were roughly flat at $2.1625 a gallon.

Oil imports and exports face potential delays from Nicholas. Vessels that were unable to load or discharge during Ida could be rerouted again, shippers said.

The first supertanker scheduled to dock since Ida at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the largest U.S. privately owned terminal for crude exports and imports, has yet to load, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton, Marianna Parraga, and Arpan Varghese; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Steve Orlofsky)

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/hvac-three-challenges-challenge-engineers-490567

Royal Dutch Shell on Monday began evacuating staff from a U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil platform, and other energy companies began preparing for hurricane-force winds from a second Gulf Coast storm in as many weeks.

Tropical Storm Nicholas was about 105 miles (115 km) south of Port O’Connor, Texas, and moving north with winds of 60 miles per hour (97 kph). It could become a hurricane just ahead of landfall on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Waves stirred up by Nicholas neared 12 feet (3.7 m) in height were reported outside of Port Aransas, near Corpus Christi, Texas, with wind gusts up to 54 mph about 40 miles east of Padre Island, the National Weather Service said.

Rainfall totals of up to 16 inches and possibly 20 inches in some isolated areas were in the forecast for coastal Texas.

Nicholas is the second cyclone to threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast energy complex in recent weeks. Hurricane Ida wreaked havoc on oil production and refining facilities in late August and early September.

More than 40% of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico’s oil and gas output remained offline on Monday, two weeks after Ida slammed into the Louisiana coast, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

Shell began evacuating non-essential personnel from its Perdido platform, which was unaffected by Ida. It was continuing to assess damages to its West Delta-143 hub, a transfer station for three major oilfields that remain offline.

Ports batten down
Shippers were warned of hurricane-force winds at oil export terminals on the Texas coast. The Port of Corpus Christi could see hurricane force winds in the next day, the U.S. Coast Guard said, and pilots there suspended activities.

The Coast Guard ordered vessels in the Texas ports of Houston, Galveston, Texas City and Freeport to cease cargo transfers if winds reach 40 mph. It barred inbound transit of 500 gross tons and greater vessels at all four.

Refiners also began making preparations for the storm. Phillips 66 refineries in Sweeney, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana, activated their hurricane plans, Exxon Mobil prepped its Baytown and Beaumont, Texas, petrochemical complexes for severe weather, and Citgo Petroleum said it was securing its Corpus Christi refinery in Texas.

“The big thing is going to be the rain. It’s going to be a slow-moving storm. When storms move at 5 of 8 miles per hour it can take a while for them to clear out,” said Phil Klotzbach, a researcher at Colorado State University.

U.S. crude futures were up more than 1% on Monday to $70.56 a barrel, while gasoline futures were roughly flat at $2.1625 a gallon.

Oil imports and exports face potential delays from Nicholas. Vessels that were unable to load or discharge during Ida could be rerouted again, shippers said.

The first supertanker scheduled to dock since Ida at the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the largest U.S. privately owned terminal for crude exports and imports, has yet to load, according to Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton, Marianna Parraga, and Arpan Varghese; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Steve Orlofsky)

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/energy-firms-face-storm-us-gulf-490581

PUBLISHED SEP 8, 2021 7:11 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

Additional information came out regarding the attack on an OSV in Gabon over the weekend. Details suggest that, unlike typical piracy attacks, the vessel may have been targeted with local authorities investigating people that were hired onshore to provide services to the vessel in the anchorage.

Family members of the crew along with a representative of the management company Proactive Ship Management based in Mumbai speaking to the Indo-Asian News Service confirmed the violent nature of the attack. The boarders came aboard shortly after midnight on September 5 and were reportedly armed with Ak-47s. They opened fire when the Indian crew aboard the Tampen attempted to fight back. The ship’s chief officer and cook suffered multiple gunshot wounds and were taken to a hospital.

The report also suggests during the fight, the boarders threw the ship’s second engineer overboard. Details are confused with some outlets suggesting he might then have been kidnapped while others said the authorities were searching the anchorage for the missing crew member.

Captain Sunil Kumar of Proactive speaking IANS said that the Tampen had been sailing with a crew of 17 Indians from Cameroon to Dubai when the vessel developed problems with its propulsion system. They had decided to anchor in Gabon’s Owendo anchorage.

While in the anchorage three people were hired from shore to provide services. Two were technicians servicing the vessel while the third collected garbage from the ship. The Gabon authorities are reportedly investigating these three individuals for possible involvement in the attack.

The shipping company said that there is an armed security guard aboard the OSV and that their focus has been on assisting the crew. However, the families complained to the Indian media that the company was not responsive. The company said it would provide a replacement crew but it expected that the crew would stay with the vessel and it would continue its voyage.

The Indian company began operating the Tampen, a 4,300 dwt supply vessel built in 2006 after it was sold by Bourbon. The Tampen is currently registered in St. Kitts and Nevis.

While there have been prior assaults on ships and kidnappings in Gabon, security analysts at Dryad International termed the attack unusual. They noted if confirmed it would be the first kidnapping in Gabon in 2021.

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https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/indian-ship-manager-confirms-violent-attack-on-osv-in-gabon