Freight volumes in the port of Rotterdam rose 5.8% on a yearly basis in the first half of 2021, as international trade recovered from its coronavirus slump, Europe’s largest sea port said on Thursday.

Traffic took a big hit from COVID-19 in the first half of 2020, and despite its recovery, throughput is still not back at levels seen before the outbreak of the pandemic, port authorities said.

Improvement was most notable in the shipment of iron ore and coal, which increased more than a third from a year ago on strong demand from steel factories in Germany.

Container freight was up almost 9%, despite problems caused by the container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for almost a week in March, disrupting global trade.

Traffic to and from Rotterdam is set to increase further in the coming months as economic growth recovers across the globe, the port said, although the coronavirus remained a cause of concern.

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Edmund Blair)

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A cyber attack has disrupted container operations at the South African port of Cape Town, an email seen by Reuters on Thursday said.

Durban, the busiest shipping terminal in sub-Saharan Africa, was also affected, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Cape Town Harbour Carriers Association said in an email to members, seen by Reuters: “Please note that the port operating systems have been cyber-attacked and there will be no movement of cargo until the system is restored.”

Transnet’s official website was down on Thursday showing an error message.

Transnet, which operates major South African ports, including Durban and Cape Town, and a huge railway network that transports minerals and other commodities for export, confirmed its IT applications were experiencing disruptions and it was identifying the cause.

It declined to comment on whether a cyber attack caused the disruption. The sources, who asked not to be named because they are not authorised to speak to the press, said an attack occurred early on Thursday.

The state-owned company already suffered major disruptions to its ports and national freight rail line last week following days of unrest and violence in parts of the country.

In response to a question on whether the cyber attack on Transnet was linked to the unrest, a government official said: “We are investigating, and when that is confirmed or dispelled we are going to make that announcement.

“Currently we are treating it as an unrelated event.”

The latest disruption has delayed containers and auto parts, but commodities were mostly unaffected as they were in a different part of the port, one of the sources said.

It will also create backlogs that could take time to clear.

Transnet said its container terminals were disrupted while its freight rail, pipeline, engineering and property divisions reported normal activity.

Most of the copper and cobalt mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, where miners such as Glencore and Barrick Gold operate, use Durban to ship cargo out of Africa.

(Reporting by Zandi Shabalala and Tanisha Heiberg; additional reporting by Helen Reid and Alexander Winning, editing by Susan Fenton, Pratima Desai, Barbara Lewis and David Evans)

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52-year old Filipino crewman of bulk carrier STAR GENESIS died in hospital in Burgas, Bulgaria, on Jul 19. Out of 20 Filipino crew 12 were tested positive, 1 died, 1 was hospitalized, the rest remain on board. The ship arrived at Burgas on Jul 14 from UAE via Suez.

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

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A court in Lagos sentenced 10 men to 12 years in prison on Friday for kidnapping the crew of a Chinese-flagged merchant vessel last year, the navy said, a verdict that officials hope will help tackle piracy in the waters off Nigeria’s coast.

Federal high court Justice Ayokunle Faji, who also fined each man 250,000 naira ($608) for each of the three counts for which they were charged, said their actions in kidnapping 18 crew from the FV HAILUFENG II in May 2020, were “an embarrassment to the nation that has impacted the economy negatively”.

The defense counsel said the men would appeal.

The hijacking ended when the navy said it had rescued the vessel’s crew members and arrested the pirates.

The Gulf of Guinea, which spans more than a dozen West African countries, has been known as “pirate alley” for years due to persistent attacks. Last year pirates in the region kidnapped a record 130 seafarers in 22 separate incidents, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Most of the pirates operating in the area come from the Delta region of Nigeria, which is poverty-stricken despite being rich in oil resources.

Last year a Nigerian court made the first convictions under a 2019 anti-piracy law. Before that, there was no specific law against piracy.

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Singapore-based Keppel Offshore and Marine subsidiaries have been slapped with a request for arbitration from an unnamed counterparty in relation to contracts for the delivery of Floating, Production, Storage, and Offloading (FPSO) vessels.

Keppel said this week that the unnamed claimant had withheld $11.3 million due to Keppel’s subsidiaries under the FPSO engineering, procurement, and construction contracts.

Furthermore, the claimant is seeking payment from Keppel of around $31.2 million, “on the basis that the claimant is allegedly entitled to a price reduction under the EPC Contracts,” Keppel said.

“[Keppel’s subsidiaries], in consultation with legal advisors, deny the claimant’s alleged right to such price reductions and vehemently challenge the claimant’s right to withhold payments due to the [Keppel] as well as its supposed right to claim such price reductions.”

Keppel further said it planned to vigorously defend the claim and in addition, seek remedies, including counterclaims “for the sums unduly withheld by the claimant, against the claimant to the fullest extent under the EPC Contracts and at law.”

“The company will provide updates on material developments on this matter as appropriate,” Keppel said without sharing any detail on the identity of the claimant.

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General cargo ship MAXIMA, berthed at Waalhaven, Rotterdam, developed a heavy starboard side list in the evening Jul 21. Water ingress in cargo hold was is thought to be the problem. Tugs and patrol boats were deployed, and additional pumps delivered, to right the ship. Situation was taken under control, as of 0440 UTC Jul 22 there were no tugs/boats at her side, while she remained in the same position.

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/2021/34597/berthed-dutch-cargo-ship-developed-heavy-list-rott/

Deck cargo ship HENG TONG 77 drifted aground on a beach in Karachi area, Pakistan, in the morning Jul 21, after she dragged anchor in rough weather. According to preliminary information, the ship anchored off Karachi for the purpose of crew change, she wasn’t supposed to call Karachi port. She’s en route from Singapore, port of destination unclear, maybe Istanbul Turkey.

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

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Bulker owner and operator Berge Bulk has launched a pilot test to trial the maritime application of solar technology.

The test is being carried out on Berge K2, the company’s 262,600 dwt Capesize ore carrier.

The solar panels convert light from the sun into electricity. Onboard ships, these devices can be used to supplement the diesel generators and reduce the power required from these units.

According to Berge Bulk, the test installation produces ~100 kilowatts of electrical power, which is fed into the main electrical grid on the ship to supplement the bulk carrier’s diesel alternators.

“Through the test, we are observing and assessing how the panels withstand the stresses while at sea and during in-port cargo operations,” the company said.

“Following the pilot, we plan to evolve the trial to a 1,000 kilowatts installation.”

Berge Bulk has become one of the few shipping companies to test this technology, given that solar panels on ships are not very common at present.

The company recently also conducted the first marine biofuel trial on one of its dry bulk carriers.

The trial saw Berge Tsurugi receiveing delivery of GoodFuels’ sustainable biofuel during its call to the Port of Rotterdam on 3 June 2021.

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Industry firsts: Berge Bulk ship tests solar panels

An innovative £10 million research project, led by the University of Strathclyde, has been set up to investigate the potential of harnessing offshore wind and marine renewable energy to produce zero-carbon hydrogen and ammonia fuels.

The multi-disciplinary Ocean-REFuel: Ocean Renewable Energy Fuels project will explore ways of converting ocean energy into fuels for use in heating, energy storage and difficult to decarbonise transport applications.

The news comes as the UK prepares to host COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, in Glasgow and the consortium includes world-leading research teams from the Universities of Nottingham, Cardiff, Newcastle and Imperial College London.

The UK government has the ambition for offshore wind to produce more than enough electricity to power every home in the country by 2030, based on current electricity usage, but there remains extremely large ocean energy potential which can never be fully utilised by the electricity network.

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Major UK project to unlock untapped potential of ocean renewable energy fuels