The Bradfield Bulletin - 7th November

I’M NOT sure if everyone else feels this way, but it feels like this week has been one of those longest, yet shortest, ones ever. When my kids were little, someone told me, “the days are long, but the years are short.” Never a truer word has been spoken!

Out at sea, though, some days must feel very long indeed.

This week saw two alarming piracy incidents off Somalia, Hellas Aphrodite, a Greek-owned tanker, was attacked and boarded about 550 miles off Mogadishu. Pirates reportedly opened fire with small arms and RPGs before the 24 crew locked themselves in the citadel and radioed for help.

Days earlier, Stolt Sagaland came under fire from armed men in a skiff launched from a suspected mothership, but armed guards returned fire, forcing the attackers to retreat. All seafarers are safe.

Meanwhile, in South East Asia, the ReCAAP Information Sharing Centre reported 97 incidents of armed robbery in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore between Jan and Sept, almost three times last year’s figure, though numbers have eased in recent months.

Even beyond these threats, life isn’t getting easier. An ITF Seafarers’ Trust study shows shore leave has plunged since the pandemic, with many crew getting little or no time ashore. Tighter turnarounds, smaller crews, and stricter port security are key factors, and shore leave is now described as “rare, brief, and in danger of extinction.”

Here's some more news from this week:

Today’s picture shows two MSC vessels side by side. MSC Shanvi III (Koala service) and MSC Abidjan (Australia Express service) were alongside at DP World Terminal, Fremantle at the same time. It seems that, for this voyage, MSC’s Koala service is being worked at DP World instead of its usual terminal at Patricks.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and fingers crossed for some fine weather!