MarEx eNewsletter - September 17, 2009

September 17th, 2009 Vol. 7, No. 37 Watershed Moment: MERPAC and Mariners Converge on NMC The U.S. Coast Guard's National Maritime Center will play host to the quarterly MERPAC meeting next week. The tenor and progress of this meeting will set the stage for the future success of the Coast Guard's ambitious overhaul of its marine licensing and credential program. When ... Read More>>>Back to Top MarEx Mailbag This week's Mailbag contains but three letters, two of which address last week's lead editorial. The third provides some feedback from a letter published online last week in response to the previous week's editorial. Last week our lead piece referenced the Wrecks of the World Conference held ... Read More>>>Back to Top PLANETDATA / Maritime Security News PlanetData - The Security News Network is a free news and information resource focused on maritime, global, corporate, cyber, homeland and aviation security, law enforcement and intelligence. PlanetData hosts timely and comprehensive content gathered from over 1,000 online sources, as well as from our editors, contributors and members. This newsletter ... Read More>>>Back to Top New Organization Opens to Provide Counter-Piracy Training, Support and Certification Counter-piracy Best Practice Management has essentially been free, but unregulated, so MMWC aims to establish industry-wide structure and regulation. 14th September 2009: A step-change for the international maritime industry's escalating war against piracy is ushered in today, with the official opening of the Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre ... Read More>>>Back to Top GALTEX Pilots File New Rate Increase Request Industry taken by surprise; still analyzing details of new rate proposal. Legal action, says one stakeholder, "possible." In a surprisingly quick turnaround from the August 24th withdrawal of another rate increase that also took local stakeholders by surprise, the Galveston-Texas City Pilots have filed a new request ... Read More>>>Back to Top INTERTANKO Bulletin: Piracy Arming of merchant vessels not to be undertaken lightly. The EU Maritime Security Centre – Horn of Africa (MSC-HOA) stated last week that a warship operating as part of the EU NAVFOR investigated a suspected pirate skiff with a crew of five in the Gulf of Aden. ... Read More>>>Back to Top Newest Maritime Transportation Research To Be Unveiled by CCDoTT Keynote by V.Adm. Al Herberger, USN (Ret.) Long Beach, CA: Southern Californians can hear the latest high-tech research on maritime goods movement on Sept. 30, 2009, by attending IMPACT 2009 at the San Pedro Doubletree Hotel. The agenda will include magnetic levitation freight options, ... Read More>>>Back to Top New Bunkering System Passes Field Tests Buffalo Marine Service uses FuelTrax® to accurately measure and report the fueling of Maersk Wyoming. Houston, September 14, 2009 – Nautical Control Solutions (NCS) announced today that Buffalo Marine Service of Houston successfully tested its FuelTrax bunkering system on a delivery of 1500 metric tons of IFO ... Read More>>>Back to Top U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Alert Alert 06-09: The Coast Guard strongly reminds the parasailing industry, its vessel owners, operators and shore side personnel to be vigilant in their observations of current and forecasted weather and sea conditions with particular attention paid to wind speed. (September 17, 2009) • PARASAILING INCIDENTS ... Read More>>>Back to Top The 3rd Annual "Women on the Water" Conference "Women on the Water" is not just for women—it's for everyone. All participants can gain valuable insights. Conference slated for October 15-17. Please join the Maritime Administration and the Maine Maritime Academy for the third annual "Women on the Water" conference on October 15-17, 2009 on the ... Read More>>>Back to Top THE UN-COMFORT ZONE with Robert Wilson Leadership vs. Power King George III asked Benjamin West, his American painter, what George Washington would do if he prevailed in the Revolutionary War. West replied, "He will return to his farm." The British monarch incredulously said, "If he does that, he will be the greatest man ... Read More>>>Back to Top Large Passenger Vessel Crew Requirements Final Rule Published WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard's Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship Directorate announced Thursday publication of a final rule in the Federal Register that amends regulations for merchant mariner documentation previously published as an interim rule April 24, 2007. The final rule implements Section 3509 of the ... Read More>>>Back to Top CARNIVAL DREAM: Largest Cruise Ship Built in Italy by Fincantieri Today there was the delivery at Monfalcone shipyard of the "Carnival Dream", Carnival Cruise Line's new flagship, which, at 130,000 gross tonnes, is the largest cruise ship ever built in Italy. Present at the ceremony were the acting Vice President of the Senate, Rosa Angela Mauro, the ... Read More>>>Back to Top Hydrographic Services Review Panel Meeting September 23-24 in Duluth, MN The NOAA Hydrographic Services Review Panel will meet September 23-24 in Duluth, Minn., to discuss operations, research and development, hydrographic surveying, nautical charting, and geodetic and geospatial measurements. The panel is a Federal Advisory Committee that advises the NOAA Administrator on carrying out NOAA's Navigation Services mission. Read More>>>Back to Top Graig Ship Management Widens Training Scheme Graig to continue to train in the UK and the Philippines but will also extend training scheme to include Vietnamese officer cadets to widen the pool of skilled crew they can call on. Cardiff-based Graig Ship Management is widening its training scheme by sponsoring twenty Vietnamese officer ... Read More>>>Back to Top McQuilling Services, LLC Weekly Note(s): Number 22 The McQuilling Services Weekly Notes this week focus on (No. 22) "Bunker/Crude: A Deviation from the Norm." With high-cost bunkers back in the limelight and increasing their painful bite into vessel owners' earnings, McQuilling found it a fitting time to update the bunker/crude correlation curves. But as ... Read More>>>Back to Top Countering Piracy in the Modern Era Notes from a RAND Workshop to Discuss the Best Approaches for Dealing with Piracy in the 21st Century. By: Peter Chalk, Laurence Smallman, Nicholas Burger In March 2009, the RAND Corporation convened a small group of experts from the U.S. government, allied partner nations, ... Read More>>>Back to Top MarEx Podcast: Our now regular feature is a popular staple for MarEx readers on the go. Our seventh podcast recounts our August 27th lead editorial referencing changes in the regulatory environment affecting the maritime industry. The article drew more than its share of mail and "click-through" traffic. Tune in and listen now. ... Read More>>>Back to Top Maritime Incidents---September 17, 2009 Egypt Hands Over Pirates to Puntland Government 8 pirates are returned to Puntland after being held in Egyptian prison for holding Egyptian ships hostage. The government of Egypt has formally surrendered eight Somali pirates to the regional authority of Puntland. The ... Read More>>>Back to Top TITAN Salvage Team Nominated for International Maritime Organization's 2009 Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea The TITAN Salvage team involved in the dramatic, 12-hour cliff-top rescue of the 25 crewmembers onboard the grounded cargo ship Fedra and one rescue swimmer last year has been nominated for the International Maritime Organization's 2009 Award for Exceptional Bravery at ... Read More>>>Back to Top EMAIL UNSUBSCRIBE Copyright © 2009 The Maritime Executive. 3200 S. Andrews Avenue, Suite 100 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316