Sea navigation on halt due to bad weather

KUWAIT, Oct 20 (KUNA) -- Bad weather conditions have halted sea navigation to and from the country's three major ports: Al-Shuwaikh, Al-Shuaiba and Al-Doha, said Director of Sea Operations at Al-Shuwaikh Port Captain Marzoug Al-Qahtani on Monday.
Captain Al-Qahtani told KUNA that navigation was stopped for safety reasons due to lack of horizontal visibility and after wind speed reached 37 nautical knots.
According to rules of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), navigation must be halted when visibility drops lower than three nautical miles.
Deputy chief of Marine operations at Al-Suaiba Port Captain Shuaib Al-Ali told KUNA winds speed at the harbor exceeded 25 nautical knots and the visibility dropped lower than one nautical C mile. As a result, five ships delayed to sail out of the harbor, three were not allowed to go in and one was in the waiting zone. (end) mjb.tb.nfm