Harmful algae blooms (HABs) present a problem for marine ecosystems, associated industries and societies across the world. Global ocean warming and increasing acidification, both driven by climate change, create increased risk of harmful algal bloom events in many places in the world.
On the evening of October 2nd, 2021 Beta Offshore reported a crude oil release near its pipeline, initially estimated to be more than 144,000 gallons. Beta Offshore, a subsidiary of Amplify Energy, operates 3 platforms installed in 1981 in the federal waters of San Pedro Bay, connected to Beta Pump Station in Long Beach via a 17.7 miles long pipeline.
Los Angeles port is the largest and busiest port in the Western Hemisphere, handling more than 9 million TEU containers each year. It is the 7th largest port in the World.
A record number of container ships have been waiting in the waters outside the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to unload cargo. The bottleneck results from a shortage of trucks and drivers to pick up goods and overwhelming demand for imported consumer products.
The ninth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 hurricane season, Ida, has explosively intensified after entering the Gulf of Mexico on August 27th.
Hurricane Ida doubled in less than 24 hrs from 70 mph winds to 150 mph winds and landed near Port Fourchon as a Category 4 hurricane.
On March 23rd, the 400m long ULCV (Ultra Large Container Vessel) was 5th in the North-bound convoy of 25 ships when the ship ran aground at Km 151 the Suez Canal, completely blocking traffic in both directions. Smit Salvage and local authorities engaged dredgers, excavators and tugs to assist in dislodging the vessel. At 1305 UTC on March 29th, Skytek’s REACT system captures the “Ever Given” being re-floated with the assistance of the 14 tugs and proceeding slowly under its own power to Great Bitter Lake for underwater inspection and damage assessment.
On 4th August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded. Due to the mobile nature of vessels and cargo at ports, insurance companies had little insight into their potential exposure at the time of the catastrophic event.
On 4th August 2020, a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded. Due to the mobile nature of vessels and cargo at ports, insurance companies had little insight into their potential exposure at the time of the catastrophic event.
On 12 August 2015, a series of explosions at the Port of Tianjin killed 173 people, according to official reports, and injured hundreds of others. The explosions occurred at a container storage station in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin, China. The first two explosions occurred within 30 seconds of each other. The second explosion was far larger and involved the detonation of about 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate (approx. 256 tonnes TNT equivalent). Fires caused by the initial explosions continued to burn uncontrolled throughout the weekend, resulting in eight additional explosions on 15 August.