|  On Tuesday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the maritime industry’s appeals to California’s offshore air pollution rules that would require vessel’s to use low-sulfur fuel within 24 miles of the coast. The Air Resources board who adopted the rules in July 2009 says the rules will increase port calls for ships by $30,000 per ship, or an estimated $360 million a year. However, the board says the cost is minimal when broken down by cargo, adding just 12.5 cents to the cost of a plasma TV. Experts say the new ruling will reduce sulfur emissions by 90 percent, prevent nearly 100,000 cases of asthma and an estimated 3,500 premature deaths. In 2015 similar regulations from the federal government will be imposed to the 200 mile economic zone around the U.S. The Pacific Merchant Shipping Association successfully appealed California emissions regulations back in... Read More>>> Back to Top |  UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov today expressed his Office's commitment towards building prosecutorial capacity in Somaliland to assist in efforts in dealing with piracy in the region. The UN's chief anti-crime official met with the President of Somaliland, Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud and the Minister of Justice, Prof. Ismail Muumin to discuss UNODC's counter-piracy work in East Africa. Through enhancing ongoing efforts to deal with piracy, UNODC is set to assist authorities tackle this crime as well as look into addressing the underlying causes of piracy to achieve longer-term success. Mr. Fedotov also visited the recently refurbished Hargeisa Prison in Somaliland. The prison, officially opened in November 2010, forms part of UNODC's counter-piracy work in Somaliland and marks the first newly renovated facility in the the area in 50 years. The prison is seen as critical in... Read More>>> Back to Top |  BP has confirmed that an employee has lost a laptop containing the names, social security numbers, phone numbers, and addresses of 13,000 compensation claimants resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. The data contains a mass spreadsheet of filed claims before the Gulf Coast Claims Facility took over claim processing in August, however, the personal information is now at risk for the spill victims. BP has reported that while the computer was password-protected and can be remotely disabled, the information itself was not encrypted. In an effort of recovery from the troubled company, BP is offering to pay for the claimants to have their credit monitored by Equifax credit bureau. A spokesman for BP, Curtis Thomas, has stated that the company sent letters to the 13,000 affected and notified them of the possible breach of security and payment offer for credit... Read More>>> Back to Top |  by Ernst G. Frankel Now over 50 years since Malcolm McLean introduced containerization to break bulk shipping and thereby revolutionizing liner shipping, we are entering a new challenge, that of the mega ship. The widening of the Panama Canal, increase in its lock size, and order of mega ships by major liner operators and LNG shipping companies, present a new and difficult challenge to U.S. shipping and ports; few American ports on the US East coast are able to admit and serve such large ships,and apart from Savannah none seems to plan the major expansions required to take advantage of these new services provided by the large ships expected to serve the US East coast. The new liners have a 14.5m draft, beam of 59m (193 ft.), and deadweight of 165,000 tons, with a total capacity of 18,000 TEU. The expanded Panama Canal will encourage other liner operators to follow suit and... Read More>>> Back to Top |  by Harry Valentine Steam powered ships and marine vessels have sailed the oceans and waterways of the world for well over a century. Many navies still boil water to produce steam in their ships and submarines to drive steam turbines that in turn drive electric generating equipment. The propellers on many navy and commercial ships are electrically driven. New developments in thermal energy storage technology provides opportunity to re-introduce steam power to ships and vessels that sail relatively short distances, in contrast to extended oceanic voyages. Some thermal storage systems involve groups of well-insulated accumulators capable of holding saturated water at high-pressure, even within the super-critical range. Other systems store thermal energy in the latent heat of fusion of mixtures of molten salts. Thermal Energy Storage: The solar thermal power industry... Read More>>> Back to Top |  U.S. military aircraft and a destroyer responding to the unrest in Libya have fired upon a Libyan coast guard vessel that launched missiles at merchant vessels in the port of Misrata. Following multiple explosions in the port on Monday a P-3C maritime patrol aircraft fired at the VITTORIA. The 40-foot patrol boat was badly damaged and had to be beached. In addition a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt and guided-missile destroyer, USS Barry, fired upon other patrol vessels in the port, destroying one and forcing the crew onboard a second to abandon ship. Officials from the US Sixth Fleet say forces fired upon the vessels after receiving confirmed reports that Libyan ships were harassing merchant vessels in the port. Officials say their goal was to prevent them from firing into the port where innocent civilians could be harmed. On Tuesday, officials were in the process of assessing... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Newest deepwater container terminal starts new era in Vietnamese ports Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province, Vietnam – The CMA CGM Columba arrived as scheduled at the newly opened Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT). At 131,263 DWT and with a capacity of 11,500 TEU, CMA CGM Columba is the largest container vessel ever to call in Vietnam. Located approximately 50km southeast of Ho Chi Minh City, CMIT is the first container terminal in Vietnam to offer shipping lines direct access to the newly dredged and certified -14m Cai Mep Terminal Channel as well as offering 22 row outreach super-post Panamax quay cranes to the world’s new generation of vessels. “CMA CGM is delighted to be CMIT’s first customer” commented Jean-Charles Tassoni, General Director of CMA CGM Vietnam. “We are confident in the ability of... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Kirby Corporation (“Kirby”) (NYSE:KEX) announced last today that it has entered into an agreement with K-Sea Transportation Partners L.P. (“K-Sea”) (NYSE:KSP), an operator of tank barges and tugboats participating in the coastwise transportation primarily of refined petroleum products in the United States, pursuant to which a subsidiary of Kirby will merge with K-Sea, with KSea surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of Kirby. The total value of the transaction is approximately $600 million (before post-closing adjustments and fees) and will consist of cash, Kirby common stock and the refinancing of K-Sea debt. The transaction will be financed through a combination of available cash, borrowing under Kirby’s revolving credit facility, a new bank term loan of up to $540 million and the... Read More>>> Back to Top | | Converteam announces today the signing of an agreement with GE pursuant to which the financial Converteam shareholders commit to sell their shares to GE. Pierre Bastid and Florent Battistella will retain a significant shareholding in Converteam after the closing of the transaction. This agreement is based upon the founding principles of an ambitious growth business project and a rapid integration of Converteam into GE Energy as its center of excellence for Power Conversion. An ambitious growth business project This transaction will enable Converteam to: - Significantly increase its global reach in a market where critical mass is key to remaining competitive and to seizing new business opportunities,
- Benefit from additional investment capacity and superior infrastructure to grow successfully in Power Conversion and access first tier client...
Read More>>> Back to Top |  A message from John Konrad, Author of "Fire on the Horizon" Hi, This is just a note of thanks for those who have read my book, "Fire On The Horizon". I want to say thanks for the support! As a 1st time writer, the overflowing inbox of kind words and emails of thanks from those in the maritime community have been greatly encouraging! I also wanted to thanks Sebastian Junger for his amazing review of the book plus his help and inspiration in the writing process (If you haven't read it already run to your library for a copy of his book "The Perfect Storm"), pulitzer prize winning editor Tom Shroder for turning my words into a page turning novel and David Hirshey at HarperCollins for believing that a mariner could write a nationally best selling book. As a special thanks to those who first purchased the book, we are offering the following FREE... Read More>>> Back to Top |  A U.S. District Court in San Juan issued a temporary restraining order on Friday in favor of Crowley Puerto Rico Services, Inc. The order prevents the Puerto Rico Ports Authority from beginning security inspections of Crowley's customers' cargo coming into the island from the U.S. mainland, while not inspecting the cargo of Crowley's competitors. The Ports Authority eventually plans to inspect all cargo coming onto the island from the U.S. mainland. It is months away, however, from being ready to do so at facilities operated by Crowley's competitors. There are no plans to carry out similar inspections of cargo coming from foreign locations. Crowley's concern is that conducting the inspections solely at Crowley facilities would not improve security and yet put Crowley at a severe competitive disadvantage. "We very much support the Puerto Rico government's goal in... Read More>>> Back to Top |  OSX Leasing, a subsidiary of OSX, an EBX Group company, entered into a Letter of Intent with SBM Offshore (Single Buoy Moorings Inc Offshore), to start project activities for the engineering, procurement, construction, and installation (EPCI) of FPSO OSX-2 (Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel), to be chartered and operated by OSX to its client OGX for 20 years in the Campos Basin, in Rio de Janeiro State. The FPSO OSX-2 will have oil production capacity of 100.000 bopd, storage capacity of 1.300.000 bbls and total estimated CAPEX of US$ 775 million, as it shall be provided for in the relevant EPCI definitive agreement currently in negotiation between OSX and SBM. After the EPCI signature, the chartering of FPSO OSX-2 shall be contracted between OGX and OSX, providing for an average daily rate around US$ 290.000,00, with oil production start-up expected for mid of 2013. The banks... Read More>>> Back to Top |  More than 60 percent of service stations in Tohoku region are back in operation * More than 24 million liters of fuel delivered to Tohoku region since earthquake
* Larger five million-liter product tankers will be sent to Shiogama fuels terminal
* Ensuring environmentally safe operations with rigorous integrity checks for service stations TOKYO- In an ongoing effort to quickly and safely supply much needed fuel to the areas in Japan hardest hit by the earthquake, ExxonMobil Group Japan has increased fuel supply into its Tohoku region dealer service station network by 140 percent above pre-earthquake levels. “ExxonMobil is a member of the Petroleum Association of Japan and continues to work very closely with the government to address the challenge of delivering fuels to help relief and... Read More>>> Back to Top |  April 5-6, 2011, at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute, Linthicum Heights, Maryland, near Baltimore, Maryland
Theme: INTERMODAL’S ROAD AHEAD
The supply chain of the future will be intermodal, but the fundamentals remain the same. Companies want the best value for shipping their products: the most efficient transportation for the lowest cost, and the value proposition may not be truck or rail alone. Shippers will face complex decisions to make as carriers contend with congestion, air quality issues, rising fuel costs, driver shortages, and new regulations.
We would like to introduce the waterways as the newest piece of the intermodal mix. The marine highway can be a link in an intermodal supply chain that moves goods to their destination by ocean, inland river or Great Lakes in a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly way. Marine transportation can... Read More>>> Back to Top |  A report requested by President Obama and released today by the Department of the Interior shows that more than two-thirds of offshore leases in the Gulf of Mexico and more than half of onshore leases on federal lands remain idle, neither producing nor under active exploration and development by companies who hold those leases. “We continue to support safe and responsible domestic energy production, and as this report shows millions of acres that have already been leased to industry for oil and gas productions sit idle,” Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said. “These are resources that belong to the American people, and they expect those supplies to be developed in a timely and responsible manner and with a fair return to taxpayers. As we continue to offer new areas onshore and offshore for leasing, as we have done over the last two years, we will also be exploring ways to provide... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Crowley Maritime Corp. announced today that Carl Fox will assume the role of senior vice president of corporate services on June 1. Fox will continue to work out of the company's Jacksonville office while reporting to Bill Pennella, Crowley's vice chairman and executive vice president. In his new position, Fox joins the company's senior leadership team and will manage several departments, including Information Technology; Corporate Communications; Human Resources; Safety, Security, Quality and Environmental (SSQE); People Development and Learning; Strategic Projects, and Facilities Development and Travel. Within the Crowley organization corporate services are centralized and support needs of the company, its subsidiaries and business units. Fox, who is currently serving as vice president of strategic initiatives and marketing for the company's liner and logistics units, is replacing Susan... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Eugene Mattioni, Esq., Shareholder and Vice President/Secretary of the Philadelphia-based law firm of Mattioni, Ltd. has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River and Bay. The Exchange is an association dedicated to promoting commerce on the Delaware River and Bay and supports many associated businesses in the industry. Mr. Mattioni’s maritime practice involves investigation of casualties and the handling of claims for pier damage, collision, pollution and personal injury and death. He is a licensed Master Mariner of steam and motor vessels and has experience in ship handling, cargo operations and vessel management. The Mattioni firm also maintains an office in Swedesboro, New Jersey. Read More>>> Back to Top |  International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) has explained how a ship manager was recently asked to pay $436,000 in communication costs as the result of an error which unwittingly allowed the crew of a ship unrestricted access to the internet over a three-month period. In the latest issue of its Claims Review, ITIC notes that it was the policy of a particular shipping company to upgrade the communications packages on all its time-chartered and owned vessels from systems which provided email and satellite telephone communications only, to systems that also included limited onboard internet access at fixed monthly rate payments. These new systems were gradually being fitted throughout the fleet. When the existing communications unit on board one ship (which did not include internet access) failed during the first few months of 2009, it was replaced by a modern broadband unit, but not by the new... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Beginning April 1, the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) welcomes a new chaplain dedicated to serving mariners and other workers in the offshore exploration and production industry. The Rev. Winston Rice, a former offshore worker and maritime lawyer, joins two current chaplains for SCI’s Ministry on the River, the nation’s only full-time pastoral care ministry on the Ohio and Lower Mississippi River systems, extending the Institute’s inland ministry efforts into the Gulf of Mexico.
SCI’s new chaplain understands the challenges faced by offshore mariners and workers. With a father and grandfather who between them have worked in the petroleum exploration and production industry over the past 100 years, he says he was“born into the oil patch.” Before becoming a lawyer, Rice worked in the industry, too, including working as a rotary floor hand, or... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Wärtsilä, the marine industry's leading solutions provider, and Aker Solutions, the international oil and gas services company, have agreed to combine their fields of expertise to develop a new and environmentally sound concept for offshore wind farm installation vessels. According to the contract, which was signed earlier this year, Wärtsilä will provide the new installation vessels with the ship design, electrical power generation, propulsion machinery and high-end automation, whilst Aker Solutions will supply the jacking system. Wärtsilä, together with Aker Solutions, will also offer a 24/7 global support service for maintenance, repairs, and component supply to the vessels. The two companies have selected the best technologies for this custom designed installation vessel, which enables a highly efficient way of setting up offshore wind power generation. The three... Read More>>> Back to Top |  USS Frank Cable (AS 40) sailors trained Military Sealift Command (MSC) civilian mariners (CIVMARS) on weapons handling and transfer procedures for the first time on board the ship, March 22. The training involved the Sailors attaching a 3,000- pound, inert presettable launchable vehicle (PLV) torpedo to an MSC-operated crane while moving it from its case to a munitions transporter and back. "The evolution went extremely well," said Machinist's Mate 1st Class Lucian King, quality assurance safety observer. "The civilian mariners' dedication to learn and the eagerness of the Sailors to work together with MSC matched up perfectly to help support the mission of the ship." As part of its mission, Frank Cable is to transfer torpedoes, tomahawk missiles, small arms and ammunitions to submarines and surface ships moored alongside at anchorage. The ship's CIVMAR crew must... Read More>>> Back to Top |  At its annual Spring Conference on March 21, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA)-representing the interests of seaports throughout the Western Hemisphere-elected Jerry A. Bridges (pictured), executive director of the Virginia Port Authority (VPA), to serve as the international trade association's 2011-12 chairman of the board. Mr. Bridges is slated to be installed as chairman for a one-year term on the final day of AAPA's 100th annual convention, set for Sept. 11-15 in Seattle. He will assume the AAPA chairmanship from A.J. "Pete" Reixach Jr., executive port director for Port Freeport, in Freeport, Tex., who began his one-year term as the association's chairman in September 2010. "Jerry Bridges has an impressive and extensive résumé in the maritime industry, including serving as the chief executive at two major American port... Read More>>> Back to Top | 
Pacific Maritime Association gives four awards that underscore company-wide emphasis on accident prevention
A major maritime employer group has recognized the outstanding safety record of the Foss Maritime workers who tie up and release ships at Puget Sound ports. The Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) - whose members include key Foss customers - honored the company's ongoing commitment to safety and accident prevention with four awards. Foremost was the recognition of Foss Line Service for reducing its annual injury rate more than any of its Washington state-based competitors. Foss line-handlers recorded no time lost for injuries in 2010. Gary Faber, President and COO of Foss Maritime, lauded Foss Line Service's achievement: "Our customers expect this, which is why we appreciate the recognition coming... Read More>>> Back to Top |  First Ever Seafarers' House Port Everglades 5K Run/Walk to benefit Seafarers' House April 2, 2011 5:30 pm start USATF Certified course Runners and walkers welcome BBQ, DJ and one of the most unique backdrops you will find for a 5k event! Online registration closeson April 1 - because it is inside Port Everglades, register early- valid photo ID required-bring ID with you!!!! REGISTER NOW TO SECURE YOUR SPOT - Registration and all details at this link! (If you have already registered --we look forward to seeing you there -- bring your ID!) For run info: 305-360-1385 To volunteer: 954-383-0644
Register, Run, and Raise Funds to benefit the work of...
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