News

The Jordan-based Arab Bridge Maritime has acquired the 'Cotentin' from Brittany Ferries. The vessel was one of two RoPax ferries that Brittany Ferries announced in June would leave its fleet. It became surplus on the Cherbourg–Rosslare route, where it wasreplaced by another vessel, while Brittany Ferries’ oldest RoPax, the 1992-built 'Barfleur, became redundant following the closure of the Cherbourg–Poole route and temporarily replaced the 'Cotentin' between Cherbourg and Rosslare. Brittany Ferries attributed the fleet reduction to rising costs associated with the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and increased financing costs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Arab Bridge Maritime formally took delivery of the 'Cotentin' in Cherbourg on Oct 19, 2026, when the ferry was renamed 'Nefertiti' and transferred from the French to the Jordanian flag. It became by far Arab Bridge Maritime’s largest RoPax in terms of freight capacity. Arab Bridge Maritime had also acquired the 'Ciudad de Ibiza' from Spain’s Trasmediterránea and renamed it 'Al Jisr'. Attica Holdings RoPax 'Lefka Ori', now renamed 'Daleela Express', was also sold to a company with a registered CO-address at Arab Ship Management, the ISM manager for Arab Bridge Maritime’s fleet. Arab Bridge Maritime announced record profits for the first nine months of the year, and said another RoPax was set to join its fleet alongside a capacity expansion on the Safaga–Duba corridor between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Following the acquisition of the 'Cotentin', Arab Bridge Maritime’s fleet now comprised of 12 vessels, consisting of five RoPax ferries, three RoRo vessels and four high-speed ferries.

Maersk announced that the 'Spirit of Melbourne', operating on its OCEANIA service, has been renamed 'TW Vijay' on Oct 27, 2026, due to a change in ownership. The carrier requested customers note this vessel name change for their records and future reference.

After the 'La Lupita' grounded on the morning of Oct 31 on the shore of Paraguaipoa beach, residents were reluctant to inspect the boat because they feared it belonged to a drug cartel. Upon realising there were no crew members on board, they began boarding the vessel. Later some residents began looting the vessel. The community was against a small group that has stripped it, removing the metal to sell it. According to residents, no security officials or local authorities had arrived in the area to investigate the origin of the 'La Lupita'. They also demanded that the vessel be protected so it could serve as a tourist attraction in the municipality. The residents suspected that the shoü came from the coast of Falcón state or the eastern shore of Lake Maracaibo, and they asserted that it had been without a crew for a long time because there was no food or personal belongings on board. The vessel's registration number is AMMT-PE-0068, a Venezuelan naval registration formally issued by the National Institute of Aquatic Spaces (INEA), which places its origin in the state of Falcón. It may have been carried by the currents to Paraguaipoa. Reports with photos and video: https://elpitazo.net/regiones/fotos-desvalijan-barco-que-encallo-en-playa-de-guajira-la-embarcacion-llego-sin-tripulantes/ https://noticialdia.com/al-dia/identifican-el-barco-hallado-a-la-deriva-en-paraguaipoa-es-pesquero-y-pertenece-a-la-capitania-de-puerto-de-las-piedras-en-falcon/ https://ultimasnoticias.com.ve/video/misterio-en-zulia-barco-fantasma-encalla-en-las-costas-de-paraguaipoa/

The Bureau of Investigation and Analysis for Maritime Accidents (BEAmer) has released its report on the collision between the 'Ghjulia des Slops' and the mooring launch 'CB21' on Dec 5, 2025, in the Port of Marseille, which caused the launch to sink. The launch was in transit at Lavera in the port of Marseille-Fos. The vessels collided without seeing each other clearly. It was dark, and the service vessel only saw the launch at a distance of ten meters. While the 'CB 21' sank, only minor damage was caused to the 'Ghjulia des Slops'. The two mooring crew members were rescued by the service vessel, as well as by two pilot boats and another mooring launch that arrived on the scene. BEAmer has published its findings and recommendations regarding this accident. In particular, the 'CB 21' had failed to properly communicate its activity on the port's surveillance channel. Other vessels were not informed of the launch's movements. For its part, the 'Ghjulia des Slops', which was too focused on the 'Cap Pinède', with whom it had agreed on a maneuver and did not monitor the port side from which the 'CB 21' was coming. It did not use detection equipment such as radar. The investigation could not determine whether the service vessel had properly activated its navigation lights at the time of the collision. The BEAmer reiterated that it was preferable to change course or reverse in a situation of an imminent collision. It also recommendeds implementing a procedure to ensure the proper functioning and activation of navigation lights. The bureau also ordered the Port of Marseille Authority to study the implementation of a relevant communication procedure to inform all port users of vessel movements, including mooring crews. Report with photo: https://lemarin.ouest-france.fr/shipping/une-mauvaise-communication-a-cause-le-naufrage-dune-vedette-de-lamanage-au-port-de-marseille-rapporte-lenquete-88d8e90e-d6dc-11f1-84f3-5611f158a658

Sold to Breakers 540 USD/TO

The 'Initiatives-Cœur', skippered by Violette Dorange, returned to Roscoff, just hours after the start of the Route du Rhum on Nov 1, 2026, after a collision at sea with Romain Pilliard's trimaran 'Use it again' (MMSI: 228049890), for a technical stopover and a check-up of her monohull with her team. The force of the collision caused significant damage to both yachts. The 'Initiatives-Cœur' had to head to Lorient (Morbihan), the home port, to repair the IMOCA and try to continue the journey to Guadeloupe. It had suffered a few cracks in the foil, all along the starboard side, a little bit at the stern, but the most serious damage was that the crash box, the watertight compartment at the front of the boat, which was completely fractured. The team was now trying to analyse the situation to know when the yacht can set sail again. To carry out the repairs, the yacht had to proceed to Morbihan. To get there, the team had to plug the leak and secure the boat in Roscoff. The yacht has to cross finish line before it closes on Dec 3. Dorange in 2024 became the youngest participant in the Vendée Globe. "The whole point is to repair it as quickly as possible, because we have to cross the finish line before it closes on December 3rd," explains Dorange. The race against time is on.

On Nov 3, 2026, at 8 a.m. the 'Dupuy de Lôme" (A759)' was emitting black smoke at Burøya in Bodø. The main rescue center informed that the was scheduled to dock in Bodø. Bodø Port was following and would not accept any more emissions. The smoke emission came from auxiliary engines that had not been running for a while when being started. The ship has regularly been observed on missions in northern waters and ports in Norway – such as Bergen and Tromsø – to monitor Russian military activity in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean. Report with video: https://www.nettavisen.no/nyheter/svart-royk-over-bodo-skyldtes-fransk-spionskip/s/80-95-214460

Two weeks after the fire started aboard the 'Espirito Santos Express', carriers have advised customers that they expected the vast majority of the cargo to be either severely damaged by the fire or a total loss. Salvage teams were meanwhole making progress with the fire as well as with another containership, the 'HMM Platinum', which reported a fire around the same time. The containership was operating under charter to Hapag-Lloyd on a shared route with Ocean Network Express. The full details on the fire were not released by claims consultant WK Webster. The 28 crew members had evacuated the ship on Oct 15, approximately 975 nautical miles northwest of Tristan da Cunha. The crew was rescued by the passing bulk carrier 'Aeolian Arrow', whose the chief officer was thrown overboard from the rescue boat, and the rescue boat was subsequently swamped and lost. Efforts to recover the officer were unsuccessful. Both Hapag and ONE reported that the owners, Seaspan, have advised them the fire remaied under control. A team from SMIT had reached the drifting vessel. On Oct 28, Webster had advised it understood the vessel was still ablaze. It would take considerable time to bring the vessel into a port of refuge and assess the damage in more detail. There was no word on whether the fire started in the containers. The 'HMM Platinum' has anchored off Durbanon Oct 28 after a fire on board, which had started around the end of September, while the ship was navigating off the southern coast of Lavanono, Madagascar. The vessel was also bound for Brasil, when the fire began. Reports indicated that there were approximately 2,300 TEU aboard. HMM had reported the fire had been controlled, working with a salvage team from SMIT. However, the vessel was delayed by weather and had moved away from South Africa while tugs remained with it as a precaution. The crew was reported to be safe, and the ship appeared to be waiting for space in Durban so that it could complete its survey to determine the full extent of the damage.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has detained and banned the 'Wooyang Venus' from Australian ports for 90 days after AMSA inspectors found crew work and rest records had been deliberately falsified to mask excessive hours worked. On Oct 29, the AMSA had conducted a port State control inspection of the 'Wooyang Venus' in Newcastle following a Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) complaint and found that work and rest records had been falsified and did not reflect the hours actually worked by crew on board. The 'Wooyang Venus' had previously been detained twice by the AMSA, and falsified hours of work and rest were a contributing factor: On August 2026, it found work and rest hours were not recorded and monitored correctly, and in December 2023, it identified evidence of incorrect work and rest records. Under the MLC, vessel owners and operators must meet minimum standards for seafarers’ living and working conditions, including requirements relating to hours of work and rest. AMSA said that accurate records were essential to demonstrate minimum rest requirements are being met and fatigue is being effectively managed. Deliberately falsifying records designed to protect seafarers was unacceptable and presented a significant risk to the safety of crew on board and protection of Australia’s marine environments. The AMSA issued the 90 days ban under section 246 of the Navigation Act 2012, based on the deliberate falsification, the recurrence of materially similar deficiencies and concerns about the effectiveness of the owner and operator’s safety management arrangements. The ship left Newcastle on Oct 31 enroute to Boryeong with an ETA as of Nov 18.

The 'Louise 1', inked to Russia's Shadow Fleet, was targeted with two limpet mines, which were attached to its hull on Oct 29, 2026, when the sanctioned tanker was approximately 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, transiting outbound from the Strait of Hormuz. At around 10:12 p.m. UTC the tanker was approached by a small boat, which then attached two explosives to the hull above the waterline. When the devices detonated, they sparked a fire in the engine room, disabling the vessel. The location of the blast damage was above the waterline, reducing the risk to the ship. The crew was able to extinguish the fire, and the 'Louise 1' got back under way to its destination. All crew members were reported safe. No pollution has been reported. Babak Taghvaee, a security analyst with the Greek defense industry publication Flight, reported that the assailants were members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy special forces, and that the attackers used a Maham 7 - a 220-kilo bottom mine. The tanker belongs to the Aquarius Maritime Ventures SA, based in Panama, is operated by the PRY Shipping LLC, based in the United Arab Emirates, and its technical management is handled by Anagha Ship Management, of India. Its last available AIS signal in the reviewed records was registered near Khor Fakkan on Sep 28, leaving its movements immediately before the attack unclear. The tanker had transported approximately 735,000 barrels of Russian crude oil from the Urals in February 2026, more than one million barrels to India in March, and another shipment exceeding one million barrels in May, including oil associated with Lukoil.

Hijacked on Oct 29 northeast of Somalia, the 'Azini' was freed by the Indian Navy, which rescued its 20 crew members on Nov 2. The European Maritime Safety Centre (MSCIO) had feared the vessel could be used as a mothership to launch attacks against merchant ships in the Indian Ocean. The operation was meticulously coordinated over 48 hours. Forces involved were the Navy destroyer 'Kolkata', maritime reconnaissance assets and Marine Commandos augmented via a precision airdrop by an Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 aircraft. Report with photo and video: https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/marine-marchande/somalie-la-marine-indienne-libere-un-boutre-detourne-par-des-pirates https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cGvsva_Ztk

The monohull yacht 'Initiatives-Cœur' (MMSI: 228115260), skippered by Violette Dorange, returned to Roscoff, just hours after the start of the Route du Rhum on Nov 1, 2026, after a collision at sea with Romain Pilliard's trimaran 'Use it again' for a technical stopover and a check-up of her monohull with her team. The force of the collision caused significant damage to both yachts. The 'Initiatives-Cœur' had to head to Lorient (Morbihan), the home port, to repair the IMOCA and try to continue the journey to Guadeloupe. It had suffered a few cracks in the foil, all along the starboard side, a little bit at the stern, but the most serious damage was that the crash box, the watertight compartment at the front of the boat, which was completely fractured. The team was now trying to analyse the situation to know when the yacht can set sail again. To carry out the repairs, the yacht had to proceed to Morbihan. To get there, the team had to plug the leak and secure the boat in Roscoff. The yacht has to cross finish line before it closes on Dec 3. Dorange in 2024 became the youngest participant in the Vendée Globe.

Just hours after leaving the port of Donges on Oct 31 , 2026, at 9.45 p.m., an oil terminal within the Nantes-Saint-Nazaire maritime port, the 'Aretea', with 26 crew members on board, broke down off Noirmoutier-en-l’Île, in the Vendée region, on Nov 1, at 1.30 a.m. The captain reported a major mechanical problem, which was directly affecting the main engine of the vessel, rendering it inoperable. The tanker dropped anchor, and regular contact was maintained between the ship and government services. The captain indicated that he was not requesting emergency towing assistance immediately, preferring to call upon a specialised engineer appointed by the shipowner, which was scheduled to arrive during the afternoon of Nov 2 to conduct a thorough investigation of the propeller shaft and the engine block. The maritime authorities were monitoring the situation closely in order to prevent any risk to navigation and the coastal environment. On Nov 3 at 7.30 a.m., repairs were completed, and the ship resumed its voyage to Setúbal with an ETA as of Nov 6. The vessel has a rigorous inspection history. Regularly inspected by international port authorities over the past 11 years, the ship had, until now, been the subject of no reservations or major deficiencies.

The 'Huckleberry Finn' was to be moved to the Helsinki-Tallinn route in in the first quarter of 2027 in the TT Line's collaboration with Viking Line. Viking Line announced this in a press release on Nov 3. The 'Huckleberry Finn' was currently operating between Trelleborg and Travemünde. The announcement raised questions what flag the ship would receive and what would happen to the TT-Line employees who were currently working aboard the 'Huckleberry Finn', but Eleonora Hansi, Head of Communications at Viking Line Scandinavia, could not give answers. In early October, TT-Line and Viking Line announced that the two shipping companies would start a partnership on the Helsinki-Tallinn route. The partnership meant that the TT-Line was entering the ferry market between Finland and Estonia for the first time.

The Brasilian authorities have seized approximately 33 kg of cocaine concealed in a submerged compartment of the 'Omicron Atlas', which was docked at the Port of Santos, on Oct 27, 2026. The operation was carried out by Brasil’s Federal Police (PF) in cooperation with the Brasilian Navy. Divers from the Federal Police and the Navy’s Southern-Southeastern Naval Patrol Group discovered the narcotics during an underwater inspection of the vessel. The cocaine was hidden inside a compartment below the waterline. Divers retrieved a package containing multiple tablets of the substance, which was subsequently transferred to the Federal Police headquarters in Santos for forensic examination. Laboratory testing confirmed that the seized material was cocaine. The vessel had arrived from India and was destined for Singapore. However, investigators have not yet determined where the narcotics were loaded onto the ship or the intended destination of the consignment. The Federal Police has launched an investigation to establish how the drugs were concealed aboard the vessel, identify those responsible, and determine whether organised criminal groups involved in international narcotics trafficking were linked to the shipment. The seizure formed part of ongoing efforts by Brasilian law enforcement and maritime authorities to counter the growing use of commercial shipping vessels by transnational criminal organisations seeking to move illicit drugs between continents. The ship left Santos on Oct 28 and anchored off the port in pos. 24° 06' N 046° 14' W, where it remained stationary as of Nov 3. Report with photo: https://world-border-congress.com/cocaine-seized-from-submerged-compartment-of-merchant-vessel-at-port-of-santos/

The MSV 'Al Jusufi', with 14 crew members on board, was struck by an unidentified aerial object, while sailing near Limah off Oman's coast on Nov 2, 2026, and caught fire. All 14 crew members abandoned the vessel in a liferaft after it was struck by the projectile. The Omani Coast Guard rescued the crew, but one seafarer succumbed to his injuries. He was being taken to a hospital at Khasab Port in Oman when he died. The deceased was a resident of Salaya, Devbhumi Dwarka in Gujarat. The deceased has been identified as Gandhar Nahim Ajij, 26. The authorities were coordinating to provide immediate assistance to the survivors. Arrangements were made for the swift repatriation of the crew members and the mortal remains of the deceased seafarer. The vessel had departed from Al Hamriya Port on Oct 31 at 10.10 a.m., headed to Porbandar in Gujarat. Report with photos: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/one-seafarer-dead-in-attack-on-indian-flagged-cargo-vessel-al-jusufi-off-oman-coast-govt-us-iran-war-strait-of-hormuz-news-101793680530699.html

The Gabonese Navy announced on Nov 1 that the body of the fifth and final person reported missing after the sinking of the 'Prospector 5' has been recovered. Four bodies were recovered inside the submerged wreck between Oct 29 and Oct 31, under the supervision of the Public Prosecutor at the Court of First Instance of Tchibanga. The search operations for the missing persons have thus ended. A judicial inquiry was opened on Oct 25 to determine the circumstances and causes of the accident.

After having been caught with seven tons of anchovies in its holds on April 9, 2026, off the coast of Anglet, in French territorial waters, without authorisation, the captain of the 'Beti Aingeru', based in Orio, Gipuzkoa, near San Sebastián, was summoned to appear before the Bayonne court on Oct 29. Despite his absence, he was fined €30,000 and had his fishing license suspended for six months.

One week after the grounding of the "Use it again!" in a storm in Cook Bay on Feb 9, the damage is still being investigated in Ushuaia. On the circumnavigation of the world from east to west, the skipper Romain Pilliard and co-skipper Alex Pella had sought shelter from a severe storm, but were unable to anchor. Alex Pella fell asleep below deck while on watch before the trimaran drifted onto the rocks. After being rescued by the Chilean Navy and making the 110 nautical mile journey to Puerto Williams , the ship continued to the larger port of Ushuaia. It turned out that the "Use it again!" can continue the circumnavigation, however, the damage caused by the crash on the rocks was more serious than expected, especially at the middle hull. After consultation with the designer and technical experts, it was decided to take the trimaran out of the water in Ushuaia and quickly get started with the repair. Bow and daggerboard were also damaged, but the structure did not appear to be affected. The shaft bracket is broken and could further damage the center hull. The co-skipper will not continue the voyage and left in the evening of Feb 13. Alex Pella has not yet made a statement about his decision. It remained unclear how long the repair work would take and whether and when there would be a replacement for Alex Pella. German report with photos: https://www.yacht.de/regatta/alle_news/nach-strandung-und-rettung-user-it-again-crew-trennt-sich-bei-weltumseglung

On the evening of Nov 1, 2026, the 'Haltbakk Bunker' suffered engine trouble and needed assistance, while being located on the east side of Stormolla, in the middle of the channel on the way into Ulvsvågssundet amid wind speeds of around 7-8m/s. The NSSR lifeboat 'Sundt Flyer' was deployed to the tanker and took it in tow to Svolvær. The ship was pulled to the quay in Osan and safely moored. Report with photo: https://livecenter.norkon.net/frame/lofotposten/23033/default?p=lc-12760181-23033-lofotposten