A container ship appears to have sustained serious damage after crashing into a wharf at Taichung Port this morning, Sunday, December 26. Taichung Port authorities said that the container ship Asiatic Sun crashed into the Taichung Port Pier 8A as it was attempting to dock at 7:33 am. The Singapore-flagged 1,049 TEU Asiatic Sun is a 143 meter-long vessel with a gross tonnage of 9,610 tons, and was built in 2008 in Busan, Korea. The Maritime Port Bureau of the
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Pumice from Ogasawara Islands volcano appears on Taiwan’s north coast: nuclear power plants on guard
Volcanic pumice originating in the Ogasawara Islands of Japan has drifted to Taiwan’s north coast, and both maritime authorities and the Atomic Energy Council are taking precautions. Eruptions in the Micronesian island group, which includes Iwo Jima, began on August 13, producing enormous drifts of the floating stones that began to clog ports in Okinawa and other parts of Japan last month. See previous story: Volcanic activity, seismic shifts: WWII ships from Battle of Iwo Jima raised from watery graves
Read morePumice stone from volcanoes in Micronesia appears on Taiwan shores
computer simulations of drifting pumice.
Read moreRescue of false killer whale successful: plans for release tomorrow
Marine conservation workers plan to release a false killer whale into the wild tomorrow, after a successful rescue and rehabilitation effort spanning 7 days. Coast guard personnel and the Taiwan Cetacean Society moved the false killer whale to a specialized marine wildlife rescue and rehabilitation facility in Keelung City after finding it beached in Yilan County, November 17. The false killer whale – actually a species of dolphin – was found to have a lung infection, and was in a
Read moreFalse killer whale rushed to rescue center after beaching on northeast coast
Marine conservationists are working in shifts in an attempt to keep a dolphin alive after it was found stranded on a beach at Su’ao in Yilan County, yesterday, November 17. The false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens), which is actually a species of oceanic dolphin, was reported stranded at around noon. Coast Guard officers and a veterinarian went to the scene to evaluate the dolphin’s condition and provide assistance. After examining the animal the coast guard and volunteers from the Taiwan
Read moreCrew abandons ship after Panamanian freighter runs aground in Penghu Islands
The 14-man crew of a Panamanian-registered cargo ship was airlifted to safety after the vessel ran aground in Penghu County following a mechanical failure, Sunday, October 17. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration Magong Signal Station received a distress call from the crew of the Xinyan Fortune at 9:25 am, reporting that the ship had lost power and was adrift around 7 nautical miles northeast of Jibei Island. The coast guard dispatched three patrol boats and a fixed winged aircraft to the
Read moreChinese fishing boat fitted with anti-boarding spikes fails to evade Taiwan coast guard
Taiwan’s Coast Guard intercepted a Chinese fishing vessel operating illegally in waters near the Penghu Islands yesterday, and the boat was fitted with spikes designed to prevent boarding. Coast guard patrol boat #5053 was dispatched at 5:00 am, September 5, after a suspicious vessel was detected on radar. The crew of the patrol boat intercepted the Chinese-registered fishing boat 22.4 nautical miles southwest of Hua Islet. When the coast guard approached the vessel, it was noticed that three long steel
Read moreFishermen net giant sunfish off west coast
Fishermen from Chiayi County accidentally caught a rare ocean sunfish off the coast of Dongshi Township, and it was displayed and auctioned at the Dongshi Fish Market this morning. The fish weighed in at 180 kilograms and fetched NT$20,000 at auction. Seafood merchants noted that the fish is popular among seafood gourmets, with its intestines – known as “dragon intestines, being the most valued part. Wu Chunyu of the Chiayi District Fisheries Association pointed out that sunfish often appear in
Read moreWorld’s biggest container ship makes maiden Suez Canal passage
Taiwan shipping company Evergreen Marine’s newest container ship “Ever Ace” successfully passed through the Suez Canal yesterday, breaking a record for the largest container ship to pass through the waterway. At 400 meters long, 61.5 meters wide, and weighing 235,000 tons, the 23,992 TEU container ship became the world’s largest when it was launched at South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard last month. The Ever Ace traversed the Suez Canal on its maiden voyage to Europe en route to the
Read moreEvergreen Shipping’s new world record megamax arrives at Port of Taipei
Evergreen Shipping’s new 24,000 TEU container ship EVER ACE arrived at the Port of Taipei for the first time today, August 8, breaking a record for the largest ship by tonnage to dock at the port. Evergreen took delivery of the world’s largest megamax container ship earlier this month from Samsung Heavy Industries. At 23,992 TEU, EVER ACE surpasses the previous world record holder, owned by HMM, by 38 TEU. EVER ACE is the first of a series of 10
Read moreCrew rescued from grounded freighter: weather and sea conditions hamper salvage operations
A crew of 9 were lifted off a ship by crane after the vessel ran aground at Budai Port in Chiayi County yesterday, August 5. The crew lost control of the freighter Shanbao II, en route from Penghu Islands to Budai Port, when the rudder broke in heavy seas generated by tropical storm Lupit. The ship drifted into wave breaking blocks near the entrance to the port at around 3:00 pm Thursday afternoon. A rescue team employed a crane and
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