Twist in the tale and piracy surcharge
Five members of a group of Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi-owned oil tanker are reported to have drowned as they made their getaway. The pirates were in a small boat that overturned in rough seas as they left Sirius Star after a US$3 million ransom was paid. A relative of one of the pirates said, 'They were afraid of a chase from outsiders [foreign naval forces] who invaded Somalia waters'. Three others managed to swim ashore empty-handed from the boat, which was thought to be overloaded and going too fast for the choppy conditions.

Airbus takes to the seas
Somewhat ungainly in appearance, the new special purpose ro-ro vessel City of Hamburg (10,893gt) has been completed by Singapore Technology Marine in Singapore for Fret Cetam SAS, a joint venture between Höegh Autoliners and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

Red Plum in rescue drama
The future of the Royal Navy's sole Antarctic patrol ship is assured despite a 'significant' flooding incident that caused extensive damage and almost resulted in her sinking. The MoD has said HMS Endurance will be returned by heavy lift ship or barge to her base port of Portsmouth for repair and return to service, although no timescale was given.

Bulk carrier rates tumble
Recently seen loading on the West Coast of North America has been the 31,247gt Panamanian bulk carrier Triton Seagull, which formerly operated within the LB/IVS Pool. Handysize bulkers of this size (190m by 32m) were commanding a daily rate of US$89,000 towards the middle of last year, but the Baltic Dry Index, which measures the cost of shipping bulk commodities around the world, has fallen by nearly 95 per cent from a high of last May to its lowest level seen since 1987.

Carnival predicting drastic decline in net revenue
In releasing better than expected results for the last quarter of 2008, Carnival Corporation predicted a worse than expected year for 2009. For full-year 2009 Carnival is now predicting a six to ten per cent decline in net revenue yields (excluding currency), much steeper than its October prediction of a one to five per cent drop.

Jonathan Swift damaged
Irish Ferries withdrew Jonathan Swift (1999/5,989gt) earlier than planned with the catamaran going to dry dock with A&P, Falmouth, after suffering port bow damage when striking the berth at Holyhead arriving from Dublin on 27 December 2008.

Ben-My-Chree dry docked
The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company had to send Ben-My-Chree (1998/12,504gt) to the Mersey for dry-docking from 9 to 12 January for repairs to propeller damage and replacement of a stern tube seal caused by contact with fishing gear, claimed to have been placed indiscriminately in the approaches to Douglas Harbour.

Early start for Dover-Boulogne
The Dover-Boulogne service, due to have been opened by LD Lines in July, now looks set for a 12 February start with Seven Sisters (2006/18,425gt) making two daily return trips between new sailings from Dieppe to Dover and back. LD reconsidered their position following the demise of SpeedFerries in late 2008.

Vision for the veteran
Spanish operator Vision Cruises chartered the veteran Princess Daphne (1955/15,833gt) for two cruises over the Christmas and New Year holiday. Both sailings operated round-trip from Malaga and included Funchal on New Year's Eve for the traditional firework display. Built by Swan Hunter on Tyneside as Port Line's Port Sydney, she was latterly owned by Majestic International as Ocean Monarch.

End of charter for Majesty
Leicester-based travel group Page & Moy is ending its summer charter of the 500-passenger Ocean Majesty (1967/10,417gt) after 14 years. On completion of this year's season, which again features cruises to Northern Europe, the vessel departs from Southampton on 24 September on her final cruise for the British firm, which will be a seven-day sailing to Barcelona, calling at Vigo, Lisbon and Valencia. She is then being returned to her Greek owners, Majestic International Cruises.

Six Pearls for Fantasia
On 10 December, MSC's new flagship, MSC Fantasia (2008/133,500gt), was given a Six Golden Pearls award by the classification society Bureau Veritas, eight days before she was christened in Naples by actress Sophia Loren. Fantasia is the first cruise ship to receive this accolade, which comes in recognition of her corporate compliance with the three highest international standards in the areas of Environment (ISO 14001), Health and Safety (OHSAS 18001) and Food Safety (ISO 22000).

Cutbacks forced on boxboat operators
The CMA CGM/China Shipping FAL4 (Europe-Far East) loop joint venture, which started in July 2008, has been suspended along with the Asia-North Africa and Asia-Eastern Mediterranean services operated by the French carrier. CMA CGM have said that four newbuildings of 9,700TEU that were destined for the FAL4 loop will be redeployed to the FAL1 Asia-Europe run.

Maersk's new reefer service
Maersk announced that they would phase in a new reefer container service, to be known as Euromed Services, from Ashdod, Israel, on 7 January. The first vessel, one of four serving this network, will be the new Maersk Buton (2008/35,835gt), delivered by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction in late July 2008.

The French connection
Prime contractor, DCNS has completed a €300 million refit and upgrade of the French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. Three years in the planning, the complex engineering project was achieved on time in just 15 months, a time frame determined by the constraints of refuelling the ship's nuclear reactors. This involved the replacement of 64 fuel rods, 32 for each of the two reactors and provided an opportunity for inspection and extensive overhaul of the propulsion system from the steam turbines to the propellers.

Overdue and overweight
New Zealand's problems with its naval fleet renewal programme appear no nearer a solution. Only one of the seven ships ordered as part of the NZ$500 million Project Protector is in service, but even that has been plagued with problems that need another NZ$20 million to rectify. As a result of the issues with HMNZS Canterbury, the Navy has refused to accept delivery of the remaining six vessels, comprising two offshore and four inshore patrol vessels, which have problems of their own.

'Cold Iron' tugs in Oregon
Built in 1999, Willamette is one of a number of dual-purpose tugs operated by Portland, Oregon-based Shaver Transportation that undertakes both ship-assist work and barge pushing. For the latter employment, she is fitted with 'push knees' forward and an elevated pilot house for enhanced visibility.

Freight giant's DFDS stake
Global logistics specialist DSV has taken a 25 per cent stake in Danish ferry operator DFDS forming a new joint venture company with existing shareholder JL-Fondet to control 56 per cent of the Copenhagen-based operator.