MarEx Newsletter | Russia and Norway Sign Maritime Border Treaty, New MarEx Podcast on Piracy and the IMO

Please Click Here if you are unable to view the newsletter September 16th, 2010 Vol. 8, No. 69 Russia and Norway Sign Treaty on Maritime Border Wednesday, Norwegian and Russian Foreign Ministers Jonas Gahr Støre and Sergey Lavrov signed a treaty on the maritime delimitation and cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean, in Murmansk. President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Jen Stoltenberg both attended the ceremony. The treaty finally resolves a long-standing issue between Norway and Russia. Since 1970 the two countries have negotiated over the maritime boundary in a territory that covers 175,000 square km (67,600 sq miles), mainly in the Barents Sea between proven petroleum reserves on the Russian and Norwegian sides. In April, Stoltenberg and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed an initial agreement on the border, ... Read More>>>Back to Top Hijacked VLCC Turned Into Pirates' Mother Ship, Crew Being Abused The Marshall Islands-flagged VLCC SAMHO DREAM, seized by pirates in April, is being used as a mother ship for pirates. The International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center (PRC) sent an advisory to ship captains warning ships to keep away from the crude carrier as it was suspected of being used as a mother ship for pirates to attack other vessels. The Samho Dream, which is owned by South Korea's Samho Shipping Corp., has 24 crew members, five South Koreans and 19 Filipinos. The vessel was chartered by US refiner Valero to move two million barrels of crude, at a value of $170 million, from the Iraqi ... Read More>>>Back to Top Sailors from Hijacked Ship Return Home The 15 Bulgarian sailors from a hijacked tanker, who were held hostage for 122 days finally returned home to Bulgaria Wednesday. The Bulgarian-flagged chemical tanker, MV PANEGA, was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on May 11 with 15 sailors onboard. The vessel was sailing through the recommended international transit corridor, en route from the Red Sea to India, when pirates boarded the ship. Poor weather conditions prevented the convoy escorting the tanker from spotting the pirates. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said the release was made possible through the actions of the Bulgarian government and the ship's owner Navigation Maritime Bulgare. The ship's owner is not ... Read More>>>Back to Top Founder of Titan Salvage, David Parrot Dies David Parrot, founder and former chief of Titan, died Wednesday morning after a battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Penny and sons, Hunter and Gage. David began his life at sea in 1945 in Newfoundland, when he moved aboard his father's schooner at the age of 6 weeks. In 1980 David sought to purchase the tug TITAN from a Dutch firm but befreo he could get the funding together she was sold. He instead bought another tug, NESTOR and Titan Towing and Salage was born. He worked hard with his one tug to make a name for himself and his company and in 1982, Titan's tug ... Read More>>>Back to Top Royal Caribbean Awards Family of Missing Passenger $1.3 Million A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit surrounding the estate of George Smith IV, who vanished on his honeymoon cruise in 2005. The settlement in the amount of $1.3 million will go to Smith's family, his wife and parents. George and Jennifer Hagel-Smith were on a Royal Caribbean cruise, sailing the Aegean Sea, for their honeymoon in 2005 when George went missing. George's body, which left bloodstains on an exterior overhang of the ship, was never found. In 2008, Smith's parents contested the cruise lines initial award of $1.1 million with a lawsuit; saying that their son's earning capacity was greater than that. During the course of the ... Read More>>>Back to Top New Royal Navy Warship Damaged in Collision The HMS DARING collided with a tug Tuesday in Hampshire, damaging the warship. The 7,500 ton Portsmouth based warship is thought to be the most advanced warship in the world, and was only recently declared ready for action earlier this month. The Type 45 destroyer was returning from routine operations and was being towed into Marchwood by the tug, SWITZER SUSSEX. Officials believe the tug lost power just as it was about to start towing the HMS Daring and was unable to move out of the way. The Royal Navy has launched an investigation into the exact cause of the collision and will ... Read More>>>Back to Top Greek Ship Crashes into Dock, Injures 25 A catamaran carrying 213 passengers from the Turkish resort of Didim to the Greek island of Kos crashed into a dock, Wednesday, injuring 25. Most of the injured were British tourist. Five sustained serious injuries but Greek Authorities report that none of the injuries are life threatening and the most serious are broken bones. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital and the rest of the passengers were disembarked from the catamaran. The Merchant Marine Ministry reported that the ship might have had a mechanical failure causing it to crash into the dock twice. Passengers onboard reported to Sky News that everyone fell to the floor when the ... Read More>>>Back to Top N. Korea Proposes Joint Probe with US Into Ship Sinking North Korea today proposed a joint probe with the US into the March sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean warship. A multinational investigation blamed North Korea for the attack after finding remains of a North Korean designed torpedo. The probe also found that a N. Korean sub was in the area at the time of the attack, which took place near a long disputed maritime border. There were 104 sailors onboard at the time of the attack, 46 of them were killed. North Korea has continuously denied any involvement in the attack, and demanded their own investigators be allowed to examine the evidence, South Korea has denied their ... Read More>>>Back to Top Cruise West World Cruise Terminated, Ship Sold to Danish Investors Last week Cruise West abruptly terminated their 120-passenger vessel, Spirit of Oceanus', 335-day world cruise. The company suspended bookings and shut down its reservations system, replacing its website with a notice of the company's restructuring efforts. Cruise West said the first step in their restructuring was to terminate the 335-day world cruise, which came to a halt in Newfoundland, Canada last week, leaving some passengers stranded. There have been reports that all but a handful of passengers were set to disembark at St. Johns, so it seems just a small amount of passengers had their cruises cut short. It is common for around the world cruises ... Read More>>>Back to Top MTN Satellite Communications Appoints Joseph R. Wright as Chairman of the Board of Directors MTN Satellite Communications (MTN) the global provider of communications, connectivity, and content services to remote locations around the world, announced today the appointment of Joseph R. Wright as Chairman of its Board of Directors. Wright served as Chairman of Intelsat, the world's leading provider of global satellite-based communications services from 2006 to 2008 and was president and CEO of PanAmSat, another satellite–based communications company focusing on broadcast and video distribution from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a senior advisor to Providence Equity Partners and Chart Capital Partners and recently retired as CEO of Scientific Games Corporation. Wright also served as Chairman of GRC International, a provider of advanced ... Read More>>>Back to Top Coast Guard Judges Cleared of Misconduct DHS Inspector General Reports Clear Coast Guard Judges of Misconduct and Issues Recommendations for Improvements The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday publication of two, Department of Homeland Security Inspector General reports that clear Coast Guard Administrative Law Judges of misconduct or bias while also making 11 recommendations to improve the service's handling of suspension and revocation matters. The reports, OIG-10-107 and OIG-10-108, stem from an October 2008 request by the Coast Guard's Vice Commandant for a review of allegations made May 9, 2007, by former ALJ Jeffie Massey. Report OIG-10-107 details recommendations made to address programmatic issues that while not directly related to Massey's allegations, were noted during the ... Read More>>>Back to Top Senate Hearing Underscores Need to Lift Deepwater Drilling Moratorium Today's hearing by the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship offered strong bipartisan concerns that the deepwater drilling moratorium is harming the Gulf region and weakening our nation's energy security. API's President and CEO Jack Gerard offered this reaction after the hearing: "Following the unfortunate incident in the Gulf, deepwater drilling rigs were appropriately subject to, and have already passed thorough government inspections. The industry continues working hard to enhance safety and is ready to be put back to work. "We, therefore, welcome calls from Senators on both sides of the aisle to lift the continuing moratorium on deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium jeopardizes ... Read More>>>Back to Top Navios Maritime Acquires VLCC Tanker Fleet for $587 Million Navios Maritime Acquisition, an owner and operator of tanker vessels focusing on the transportation of petroleum products and bulk liquid chemicals, has acquired a seven VLCC tanker fleet from a private seller for an aggregate purchase price of $587 million. The seven VLCC tankers have an average age of 8.6 years and a remaining charter-out term of 8.8 years with an average charter rate of $40,440 net per day. Five of the seven charters also have a profit sharing, providing potential upside. The VLCC fleet is expected to deliver annualized base earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $74.9 million and aggregate base EBITDA of $651.4 million. ... Read More>>>Back to Top Marlink and Vizada to Provide AP Moller-Maersk with Inmarsat FleetBroadband Marlink to expand Inmarsat FleetBroadband services for an additional 200 vessels, Vizada to provide Vizada Solutions(TM) for optimized communications at sea. Marlink, the global provider of maritime satellite communications, and Vizada, the leading independent provider of global satellite communications services, announced on September 15th, 2010 a significant expansion of Marlink's contract with one of the world's largest shipping companies, AP Moller-Maersk. As part of the renewed agreement, Marlink will provide Inmarsat FleetBroadband airtime services to an additional 200 vessels, increasing the total number of AP Moller-Maersk vessels sailing with FleetBroadband airtime to 370. Vizada will enhance the Inmarsat FleetBroadband service further by providing key Vizada Solutions to allow cost-efficient communications, such as ... Read More>>>Back to Top Offshore Communications 2010: The Power of Communications Offshore Communications Exposition Provides Comprehensive Resource for Communications and IT Solutions in Offshore Environment The future of communications will be unveiled at the annual Offshore Communications Conference and Exposition, to be held November 2 - 4 at the Houston Marriott Westchase in Houston, TX. Hundreds of cutting-edge products and services from more than 70 companies will be showcased before the oil and gas professionals in attendance. The Offshore Communications Exposition will encompass more than 13,000 net square feet of exhibit space, approximately a 30% increase over last year. First time exhibitors include: AfrikaNet, C. Foster Telecom, General Dynamics SATCOM Technologies, ITC Global, JM Test Systems, Marine Technologies, Numerex, Reality ... Read More>>>Back to Top SEACOR Appoints Oivind Lorentzen as New CEO Charles Fabrikant to Remain Executive Chairman SEACOR Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CKH) announced Wednesday that its Board of Directors appointed Oivind Lorentzen as Chief Executive Officer with Charles Fabrikant to remain executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Fabrikant, who will remain active in all aspects of the Company's business, said, "I am extremely pleased and excited to have the opportunity to share executive responsibilities with Oivind, whose vast experience and background in shipping and industrial businesses, particularly in South America, will enhance our vision and business opportunities worldwide. Oivind's experience will further enable SEACOR to capitalize on our diverse portfolio of businesses, strong balance sheet and global presence." Mr. Lorentzen has ... Read More>>>Back to Top RESOLVE Marine Group Refloats Stranded Cruise Ship RESOLVE Marine Group, the marine salvage, firefighting and emergency response company with worldwide operations, has successfully refloated the Clipper Adventurer cruise ship today. The vessel had run aground on uncharted rocks in Coronation Gulf, in Canada's Northwest Passage on Friday, August 27. The RESOLVE salvage team deployed four tugs at high tide earlier today, to free the stranded vessel. The Clipper had sustained several breeches to the hull when it ran aground the rocks last month, with passengers onboard. The Canadian Coast Guard evacuated the passengers without incident before the salvage operations began. The vessel is currently underway to Port Epworth, Nunavut, where she will be stabilized and temporary repairs effected. Read More>>>Back to Top MarEx Podcast: How the IMO and the Shipping Industry are Uniting in Seeking a UN Response to Piracy This podcast looks at how the IMO and the shipping industry and seafarers are uniting in seeking a UN response to piracy and the release of hostages held in Somalia. Click here to listen to the podcast From Maritime Executive Magazine (the business journal for Maritime Executives) and Coracle Online. Produced in association with sponsors ShipServ. Read More>>>Back to Top Building Your Own Internal Auditing Team PMI announces the nest session in the in the Continual Improvement Workshop Series: Building Your Own Internal Auditing Team. Begins on September 30-October 1, 2010 Is your Business effectively managing risk? Are you in compliance? Do you have documented assurances that your Business is accomplishing its objectives, realizing its core values and mission statement? Would you like to facilitate quality, safety and/or environmental management system(s) with a qualified and competent internal auditing team? Learn More on September 30-October 1, 2010 PMI: For additional information on this program at PMI, please contact Mr. Gregg Trunnell toll-free at (888) 893-7829 or via e-mail at gtrunnell@mates.org. Interested individuals ... Read More>>>Back to Top ASBA 2010 Annual Cargo Conference "What's on the Horizon ?" Due to popular demand, ASBA will return to Miami Beach, Florida for our Annual Cargo Conference. This year's conference will be held at the Eden Roc, September 29 - October 1. Prior to our meet & greet opening reception, we will host our golf outing at the Miami Beach Golf Club on September 29. Thursday evening's social event is a dinner cruise up the Intercoastal on the luxurious Biscayne Lady Yacht. All of our social events are designed to give our delegates the opportunity to get to know each other in casual surroundings. We have gathered an excellent group of speakers ... Read More>>>Back to Top Click Here to Unsubscribe Copyright © 2010 The Maritime Executive. 3200 S. Andrews Avenue, Suite 100 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316