Two bits of news today - the first is that Zeebrugge have finally updated their port schedule, probably as a result of my pestering emails! Anyway, this shows that
GLOVIS SUMMIT will call at Zeebrugge on 25 Aug ie after calling at Southampton. It confirms
GLOVIS COMPANION arriving there on 31 Aug which is spot on my estimate for her. The Zeebrugge port schedule is not always right though and it has LAKE GENEVA down to arrive on 1 Sep, which I feel is a tad ambitious and it also shows
GRAND RUBY arriving there on 12 Sep which is simply not feasible.
Surprisingly the schedule does not feature ELEKTRA which is enroute there.
The other news is that GLOVIS SPLENDOR did not dock in Shanghai as widely expected to load the final shipment of Q3 to Zeebrugge. Has the final ship already left? I doubt it, but it will have to depart in the next few days though if I'm correct. Could GRAND SAPPHIRE be it?
GLOVIS SUMMIT is now in the Atlantic heading up the coast of Portugal at just under 18kts. She is due into Southampton early on Monday morning and then heads to Zeebrugge arriving there on 25 Aug. She needs to keep the speed up!
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GLOVIS COMPANION is still racing up the Red Sea towards Suez. She has 500NM to go and so should just make it for tomorrow night. I expect her to then head to Zeebrugge ETA 31 Aug.
LAKE GENEVA has gone 'dark' ie she has switched off her AIS transponder. This is not an uncommon occurrence in this part of the world and the idea is that it prevents a planned attack. It's a flawed argument in my opinion since the last ship that was recently attacked with drones with fatal consequences had also gone 'dark' when approaching this area. This says to me that a 'state intelligence organisation' was tracking the ship. I think it would be safer to keep the transponder on and have the message "Armed guards onboard" or similar to dissaude an opportunist attack but maintain the safety aspect of the AIS transponder. There are too many 'ghost ships' in this area at the moment and a significant collision is inevitable sooner or later.
Anyway she had posted an ETA for Suez of 25 Aug on her AIS but I'm not sure I believe that - I think she can easily make 24 Aug, perhaps this is part of a (not so) cunning deception plan. I think the earliest she will arrive in Zeebrugge is 2 Sep
GRAND RUBY departed Shanghai in the early hours of this morning and is I believe heading for Southampton. She updated her estimate for Suez to 7 Sep and so I estimate she will arrive in Southampton on 16 Sep. She does appear on the Zeebrugge port schedule (see above) and we'll just need to keep an eye on it to see whether it gets updated.
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Weatherwise, there is nothing significant to report, which is nice.
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