• Maritime Headlines, 25th Mat 2010

     

    UK P&I CLUB WARNS OVER LOADING IRON ORE FINES IN INDIA

    The UK P&I Club has warned owners of the safety hazards associated with loading iron ore fines in Indian ports.

    The warning follows incidents last year when two vessels capsized while carrying iron ore fines loaded in Indian ports and, with the south west monsoon season closing closer, the club is advising ship owners of their safety responsibilities.

    Peter Harris, a senior claims director at the club said ship owners should follow the Code of Safe Practice for Solid Bulk Cargoes - much of which reflected the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code, which is due to become law in January 2011.

    Both codes emphasise the responsibility of the ship owner in providing cargo that is safe for consignment, as well as a test certificate noting the moisture content and transportable moisture limit.

    Source

     

    THE HAGUE: The first European trial of Somali pirates opens Tuesday in the Netherlands where five men risk up to 12 years in jail for allegedly seeking to hijack a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.

    The suspects, aged 25 to 45, were arrested January 2, 2009, after their boat with firearms was intercepted by a Danish frigate as they were allegedly preparing to board the Dutch Antilles-flagged Samanyolu.

    More at

    The captain of the container ship Maersk Alabama ignored explicit warnings to stay well off the coast of Somalia before his capture by pirates in 2009, according to 16 of its 19 crew members.

    "It's almost like he wanted to be captured," the ship's chief engineer, Mike Perry, told CNN in an interview to air on tonight's "AC360."

    More at

    Leaked! E-mail warnings to the Maersk Alabama prior to attack

    More at

     

    LAOAG CITY – A cargo ship ran aground in the coast of Basco, Batanes, Sunday night, immediately mobilizing Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel to rescue its crew of 13 before dawn Monday.

    It was 10:12 p.m. of Sunday when M/V Ivatan was battered by big waves at the pier in Basco so the captain decided to lower the anchor. But at 2:30 a.m., the anchor’s line broke off and the ship ran aground,” said Coast Guard Maritime Safety Services Officer Allan dela Vega.

    Dela Vega, who had been alerted of the situation since Sunday night, sent a rescue team of the PCG District North Luzon, based at Poro Point in San Fernando City, La Union.

    Lieutenant Commander Armando Balilo, PCG spokesperson, announced by noon yesterday that all 13 crew members of the 170-ton cargo vessel were rescued.

    Upon receiving the report, Admiral Wilfredo G. Tamayo, PCG commandant, ordered the ship’s captain to submit a report and sent a Coast Guard team to conduct an aerial survey of the site.

    Dela Vega explained that Tamayo was concerned over a possible oil spill if the ship damage reached its fuel tank.

    We are monitoring the situation and we will be ready to clean up a possible oil spill,” Dela Vega said. (With a report from John Carlo M. Cahinhinan)

    Source

    Korean crisis latest: Kim Jong-il reportedly told his military it might have to go to war if attacked after the sinking of a South Korean ship...

    More at

    A U.S. destroyer is shadowing a ship off the coast of Somalia after it was taken over by 50 pirates, authorities said.

    The M/V Iceberg was identified last week after the USS McFaul conducted a 36-hour surveillance mission,

    More at

    Oil spill in Singapore Strait after ships collide

    Emergency teams were rushing this morning to contain thousands of tonnes of crude oil spilling into the Singapore Strait after two ships collided in the waterway.

    A cargo tank on the Malaysian registered tanker MT Bunga Kelena 3 was damaged when, at around 6 a.m local time, the vessel collided with the MV Wally

    More at

     

  • Maritime Headlines, 17th Mat 2010

    We are finally done!

    Here we start our weekly headlines picks you might find interesting, enjoy!

     

    U.S. Environmental Regulation of the Maritime Industry
    Maritime TV Web Cast and Live Event Hosted by the Environmental Law Institute and K&L Gates 
    Since 2008, the scope and extent of U.S. environmental regulation of the maritime industry has changed and expanded substantially. Air, water, and waste concerns have resulted in substantial new regulatory requirements and continued reassessment of those requirements by the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    More

     

    Wilson Sons Limited, traded at the BM&FBovespa under ticker symbol "WSON11", announces its results for the First Quarter of 2010 ("1Q10" or "Q1 2010").

    Wilson, Sons has seen mixed consolidated results for the 1Q 2010, driven by growth in revenues and volumes, but with reduced margins.

    Although Brazil's domestic economy has continued to show growth, a strong Real and the global financial crisis have meant continued pressure on exporters and ship owners. This along with the reduced warehousing volume has negatively impacted margins this quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

    More

     

    Greens move for Senate inquiry into Barrier Reef oil spill

    The Leader of the Australian Greens Bob Brown will move for a full Senate inquiry into the grounding of the Shen Neng 1 coal tanker on the Great Barrier Reef.

    Senator Brown said the grounding of the tanker had highlighted a litany of problems with ships travelling through the Great Barrier Reef.

    More

     

    Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. ANW, General Maritime Corporation GMR, Genco Shipping & Trading Limited GNKand Baltic Trading Limited BALT announced today that they will host a joint investor and analyst meeting on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 in New York. Aegean Marine's senior management team is scheduled to present at 10:45 a.m. ET, General Maritime's senior management team is scheduled to present at 11:30 a.m. ET, Genco's senior management team is scheduled to present at 12:30 p.m. ET and Baltic Trading's senior management team is scheduled to present at 1:15 p.m. ET.

    More

     

    Somalia urges int'l community to support it in fighting piracy

    A top Somali government official on Friday called on the international community to provide the authorities with enough resources and support to fight rampant piracy.

    Abdurahman A. Ibrahim, the country's first deputy prime minister and minister of fisheries and marine resources, made the appeals at an informal UN General Assembly meeting on piracy which opened at UN Headquarters.

    More

     

    Shipping Awaits: Does CSNOx stack up?

    The threat of piracy and the vagaries of a recessed shipping market are holding up the verification of the most talked about new technology for the shipping industry, a scrubbing system that is claimed to clean ship emissions of much of their polluting gases.

    More

     

    Japan to build navy base in Gulf of Aden

    Japan plans to establish a $40 million strategic naval base in the Horn of Africa state of Djibouti, where U.S. and French forces are deployed to combat al-Qaida jihadists.

    More

     

    DNV Appoints Antony DSouza as its Regional Manager for the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East

    DNV, one of the world’s leading classification and certification companies that specialises in managing risk, has recently restructured its organisation to provide a stronger focus on its customers and the market. Mr DSouza will lead the strategic direction for DNV’s efforts in the expanded region Indian Subcontinent and Middle East, ensuring alignment of DNV’s vision of making it the preferred partner for its customers in the new region.

    More

     

    Container carriers set large rate hikes from India

    Maersk Line has increased rates on shipments from India to north Europe and the Mediterranean by $200 for a twenty-foot equivalent unit and by $400 for a forty-foot equivalent unit from 17 May

    More

     

    Tanjung Agas park doing well in wooing investors

    The Tanjung Agas Oil and Gas and Maritime Industrial Park, one of the key projects in the East Coast Economic Region (ECER), is doing well in attracting investors, said Pahang deputy secretary (development) Datuk Mahadiah Mohamad.

    More

     

    Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) adopts new inspection regime

    The Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MoU) held its 43rd Committee meeting in Dublin, Ireland from 10 - 14 May 2010. The meeting was held in the Dublin Castle Conference Centre and was opened by Minister of Transport Mr Noel Dempsey TD. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Brian Hogan (Chief Surveyor of the Marine Survey Office), at the Department of Transport.

    The Paris MoU adopted the new “Black/Grey/White List” which is the international league table of maritime flag states. Ireland is on the white list of best performing States and moved from 19th on the list to 8th place this year. This means that Irish ships will now be considered of the highest quality and will be subject to less inspections in ports throughout the region. This will have positive financial consequences for the Irish shipping industry.

    More

     

    Nigeria : Mwun Laments Importation of Arms, Ammunition

    MARITIME Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, has raised an alarm over alleged increasing importation of arms and ammunition into the country through ports and called on the nation's security agencies to checkmate the activities of unscrupulous importers and shipping companies before they distabilise the nation.

    President-General of MWUN, Comrade Anthony Nted, said in Lagos that in most cases, the unscrupulous importers and shipping companies do their nefarious activities mid-stream under the watchful eyes of some unpatriotic armed security personnel who provide them with security.

    He said these unpatriotic Nigerians who were abusing the port concession were also carrying out their unwholesome activities through the private jetties and called on government, Management of Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, and security agencies to set up a task force to monitor the activities of importers and shipping companies.

    More

     

    New General Cargo Terminal, Liquid Jetty planned at Salalah Port

    The Ministry of Transport and Communications has unveiled plans for the development of a major General Cargo Terminal at the Port of Salalah, which will be built alongside a full-fledged Liquid Jetty catering to existing and future petrochemicals industries at the nearby Salalah Free Zone.

    More

     

    Ship Simulator 2008 Hercules Atlas Super Pack Released

    VSTEP today announced the release of Hercules Atlas Super Pack, a new download pack for Ship Simulator 2008.

    More

     

    Out of the depths comes war's lethal legacy

    Environmentalists are becoming increasingly concerned that some of the thousands of wrecked ships around the globe, many of them along Britain's coastline and dating back to the Second World War, are ticking time bombs that could be about to wreak one final act of havoc.

    More

     

    Study reveals urgent need to boost seafaring profession

    A new study on the future global supply and demand of seafarers projects that by 2020, the maritime industry will need to recruit an additional 32,153 officers and 46,881 ratings above 2010 figures to meet growing needs.

    More

     

    IMO set to adopt ship construction standards

    International goal-based standards for new ship construction are set to be adopted when International Maritime Organization's (IMO) maritime safety committee (MSC).

    The packed agenda also includes discussion on piracy and armed robbery against ships off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, the implementation of the Long-Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) system, and the adoption of other amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

    More

     

    Pirates release tanker after ransom is paid

    A UK-flagged tanker seized by Somali pirates has been released after a ransom was paid.

    The 7,926-tonne St James Park was captured in the Gulf of Aden on December 28 while on its way to Thailand from Spain.

    More

     

    Second ship takes Shen Neng coal

    Another ship has been moved into place to take coal from the damaged Chinese coal carrier Shen Neng 1 anchored off Hervey Bay, off south-east Queensland.

    The ship ran aground on Douglas Shoal on the Great Barrier Reef, east of Rockhampton, on the Easter weekend.

    The Shen Neng 1 was refloated and towed to safe anchorage, first off Gladstone in central Queensland, and then transferred to waters off Hervey Bay further south.

    About 19,000 tonnes of the ship's total coal cargo of 65,000 tonnes is being unloaded from the Shen Neng 1 so it can be then towed back to China.

    Conservationists says the operation is endangering the Great Sandy Marine Park, but Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) says there have been no spills.

    More

     

    Somali Pirates Bring Hijacked Bulgarian Ship to Shore

    MV Panega, the Bulgarian chemical tanker hijacked last week by Simali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, has reached the coast of Somali.

    This has been announced Monday by Capt. Hristo Donev, the CEO of the ship operator – Navigation Maritime Bulgare.

    Capt. Donev said that the Somali pirates had not attempted to get in touch with the management of the company yet, and that none of the 15 Bulgarian sailors on board of the hijacked vessel had contacted his family.

    More

     

    LNG Cargo Berthed At UK Isle Of Grain Sunday - National Grid

    The Umm Al Amad liquefied natural gas ship berthed at the U.K. Isle of Grain regassification terminal Sunday, U.K. natural gas grid operator National Grid PLC (NGG) said Monday.

    More

     

    Nigeria: CTN - Importers Commend FG, Fault Man's Opposition

    The Importers Association of Nigeria (IMAN) has commended the Federal Government on the introduction of Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) scheme, saying the scheme would transform the maritime industry. It, however, faulted the position of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) for opposing it.

    More