|  The Dutch Navy reports that Dutch Marines have killed two pirates and captured 16 others during an operation to free a hijacked Iranian fishing o Monday. Marines from the HMS Tromp used rigid inflatable speedboats to approach the fishing boat for investigation. As the Marines moved closer, pirate opened fire on them and the Marines returned fire. Ten pirates were captured as they fled the fishing boat on a skiff and the remaining six were arrested on the fishing boat. The raid is the first time that the Dutch forces have killed pirates during their joint task force patrols of pirate-infested waters. The bodies of the two pirates killed during the shoot-out were taken to the HMS Tromp for examination before being disposed at sea. Officials said the injured pirates were being treated onboard the frigate, however, there is no word on whether or not the pirates will be taken... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Following Monday’s announcement from Transocean that 2010 had been the “best year” in safety, the company’s executive team has decided to donate the associated bonuses to the families of the eleven rig workers who lost their lives when the Deepwater Horizon exploded. On Monday, Transocean Ltd., owner of the rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, prompting one of the greatest environmental disasters in the U.S., described in their 2010 proxy that they had achieved their best year ever in safety based on their recordable incident rate and severity rates. Many were outraged that despite the great safety flaw that occurred last April killing 11 and injuring 17; top executives of the company who owned the rig were receiving bonuses for outstanding safety. On Tuesday Transocean told CNN that the executive team had decided to donate their bonuses to the Deepwater Horizon... Read More>>> Back to Top |  BAE Systems’ Mobile River facility will begin construction in order to complete a Jones Act oil tanker that was abandoned at the shipyard by previous owners. The 49,000 dwt tanker has now been contracted with BAE Southeast Shipyards in Mobile, Alabama for the remaining work needed to finish the MV American Phoenix. BAE’s Mobile facility was purchased last year from the Boston-headquartered company, Atlantic Marine. This tanker is one of 2 others that is the cause for dispute for Atlantic Marine who were in charge of the shipyard, and joint venture company Mid-Ocean Tanker Co. LLC (MOTC) who now own the vessel after original contractor to Atlantic Marine, AHL Shipping, suffered bankruptcy proceedings. Mid Ocean had purchased the unfinished tanker from New Orleans-based bankruptcy court at a $12.65 million price tag and at 90% completeion. MOTC has been working closely... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Clipper Management to Attend Sentencing WASHINGTON -- Somali pirate Jama Ibrahim is to be sentenced at 9:30 a.m., Thursday, April 7, 2011 marking the first piracy case brought in the District of Columbia. Ibrahim pleaded guilty in September to various charges stemming from the
takeover of Clipper Group vessel, Future, in the Gulf of Aden. The takeover lasted
71 days, ending in January 2009 with the payment of $1.7 million in ransom. Ibrahim previously was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia to a 30-year prison
term for acts of piracy against a U.S. Navy vessel. U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen along with Per Gullestrup, the CEO of the Clipper Group will be available immediately after the sentencing and are expected to make statements outside the courthouse at a press conference. Per Gullestrup, CEO... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Executive Summary This Report to Congress is required by Sections 1121 and 1123 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Energy Act). Section 1121 directs the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to establish a short sea transportation program and designate short sea transportation projects under the program to mitigate landside congestion. The Maritime Administration (MARAD) has implemented this short sea transportation program as the ―America‘s Marine Highway Program‖ (the Program). The Program is intended to expand the use of our inland, Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway System, intracoastal, and coastal waterways for the transportation of freight (loaded in containers and trailers) and passengers to mitigate landside congestion, reduce greenhouse gas emissions per ton-mile of freight moved, and accomplish other... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Despite Fog Impacts in February, Steel Up 84 Percent Over 2010, CEO Dreyer Reports The Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority awarded a $33.2 million construction contract to Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc. for the Phase 3 entry and exit gate at the Bayport Terminal and authorized a $1.1 million amendment to the Port Authority's contract with Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, Inc. for Bayport Terminal, among several matters approved during the April 5 meeting. In his monthly report, Chief Executive Officer Alec G. Dreyer noted that February was a tough month with significant fog-related impacts throughout the port, including 11 consecutive days when port activities were adversely affected by fog delays or were shut down entirely. "Coming out of this lengthy fog slowdown, the Houston Pilots handled a record 95 vessels in one day, a testament to their... Read More>>> Back to Top |  As it gets harder to find seatime, and with people increasingly unwilling to do what it actually takes to get it, faking certificates and indeed experience is a becoming a serious issue. An issue that has unfortunately been brought to the fore in the world of Dynamic Positioning (DP). An article in the Spring edition of 6degrees form the International Dynamic Positioning Operators Association (IDPOA), looks at the fakes breaking the system and discusses cases of trainees ‘flogging’ their logs and even old hands getting a little creative with their time accountancy. The Nautical Institute recently reported a number of cases of brazen DP fraud with trainees claiming faked time, with forged signatures and spurious seatime. IDPOA has learnt of other cases, not yet reported, of the mythical DP logbooks which spend more time at sea than their owners. Action is being taken in the reported... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Sends Report to Congress on America’s ‘Marine Highways’ WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today released a report which will serve as a roadmap to the future in creating and further strengthening the nation’s marine highways. Prepared by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, the report, America’s Marine Highways, highlights the benefits of using coastal and river transportation as part of America’s new clean energy economy. Congress requested the report to show how water transportation can help move the nation to a more environmentally-sustainable transportation system, reduce highway congestion and cut down on the maintenance and replacement costs of the nation’s roads and... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Maersk Drilling has signed a contract with Samsung Heavy Industries in South Korea for the construction of two ultra deepwater drillships. The drillships are scheduled for delivery in the third and fourth quarters of 2013, respectively. The total project cost for the two drillships is close to USD 1.3 billion. This includes a turnkey contract with the yard, owner furnished equipment, project management, commissioning, start-up costs and capitalized interest. The contract includes an option for the construction of two additional drillships. “We see an increasing share of the global oil and gas production coming from deepwater, and this trend will drive a solid growth in the demand for ultra deepwater drilling services in areas such as Brazil, West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico,” says Claus V. Hemmingsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling and member of the Executive Board of the A.P. Moller – Maersk... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Steady progress was made in considering the development of suitable market-based measures (MBMs) for international shipping, at the third intersessional meeting of IMO’s Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) from Ships, held at IMO’s London Headquarters, from 28 March to 1 April 2011.
The GHG Working Group will report its conclusions to IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), when it meets for its 62nd session from 11 to 15 July 2011.
The Working Group, which was attended by more than 200 experts from all over the world, was tasked with providing advice on, among other subjects, the compelling need and purpose of MBMs as possible mechanisms to reduce GHG emissions from international shipping and further evaluating the outcome of work conducted last year by an Expert Group, which had carried out a feasibility study and impact assessment of several... Read More>>> Back to Top |  On Wednesday, Hyundai Heavy announced that they have won a project to supply eight 2-mega watt (MW) wind turbines to Finnish Power for a wind-powered farm in Finland. The world’s largest shipbuilder said in a statement that this latest project coincides with their efforts to diversify their business portfolio from offshore projects to renewable energy. The company also said they plan to increase their annual manufacturing capacity for wind power from 600 MW to 800 MW by 2013. Neither company commented on the value of the deal.
Read More>>> Back to Top |  Steinke’s determination, integrity and strength of character will be missed
The following statement is from John McLaurin, President of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association (PMSA) on the retirement of Dick Steinke, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach:
“There are many words to describe Dick Steinke – honest, intelligent, calm, sincere, balanced and a person of integrity. Dick is an extremely thoughtful and knowledgeable leader. He will be missed in many ways but, most of all, he will be missed for his strength of character. While his retirement is great news for Dick and his family, it is sad news and a loss for the trade community and the general public. Dick’s even keel, common sense personality and management style served the Port and City of Long Beach extremely well.” Read More>>> Back to Top |  Damco is pleased to announce the appointment of Christian Bech Hoengaard as Global Head of Marketing at Damco International effective from April 2011. Christian comes from a position as Head of Marketing at Scandllines where he was responsible for both B2C and B2B marketing as well as advertising and e-commerce. Prior to that he worked with organisational restructuring. Before that, Christian spent 9 years with Clipper Group, where his latest position was as Head of Corporate Marketing with focus on marketing strategy, business development, employer branding, CSR, external communication and PR. During his time at Clipper, he
also ran the company’s commercial tanker activities in the UK. Christian will be based at the Damco corporate headquarter in Copenhagen, Denmark and the Damco organisation welcomes his relevant background and marketing... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Thrustmaster of Texas, Inc. received a contract from Hyundai Heavy Industries for the supply and installation of multiple sets of 5MW azimuth thrusters for the next generation deep water drill ships being built at Hyundai’s shipyard in Ulsan, Korea. The vessels are of the Gusto P 10,000 design and are capable of drilling in water depths of up to 10,000ft. Each vessel uses six underwater mountable thrusters for dynamic positioning per ABS DPS-3 specifications. The units are manufactured at Thrustmaster’s ultra modern facilities in Houston, Texas, claimed by Thrustmaster to be the largest thruster factory in the world. The vessels will be owned and operated by Diamond Offshore, one of the world’s leading offshore drilling contractors. Each thruster is driven by a 5,000 kW variable speed electric motor and can generate about 90 metric tons of open water thrust in any horizontal... Read More>>> Back to Top |  SpecTec is happy to announce a new contract signed with Oceanex Inc for the implementation of AMOS2 Staff Management for crewing services. As part of this project, SpecTec will implement the AMOS2 Crewing Database and configure the system identically to the existing AMOS2 Staff Management database currently being used by Oceanex Inc. both onshore and onboard the company’s three vessels, M/V Oceanex Avalon, M/V Cabot and M/V Oceanex Sanderling. Recent projects to assist Oceanex in streamlining their business operations have included the development of an interface between AMOS and CODA Financials. This interface allows the pertinent information to pass between the AMOS systems to CODA, the financial management software used by the company. With the creation of this interface, vouchers can now be transferred from AMOS system to CODA. As a leading provider of intermodal transportation solutions to... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Forms the Leading Global Communications Services Business Supporting Remote and Harsh Environments Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has completed its previously announced acquisition of the Global Connectivity Services (GCS) business from an operating unit of Schlumberger. Harris combined the former Schlumberger GCS business with its existing Maritime Communications Services business and the recently acquired CapRock Communications, and infrastructure assets from Core180’s government business to form Harris CapRock Communications — the leading provider of managed communications services for remote and harsh environments including those in the energy, government and maritime industries. "Integrating these businesses into a single enterprise creates an organization with... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Inland Transportation Company Using BT FormsT on 14 Vessels San Diego, California, April 5, 2011 - Boatracs Inc., a leader in providing
integrated communications and software solutions to the maritime industry,
announced today it has completed the installation of BT Forms, an electronic
forms product, on 14 vessels for United Barge Lines (UBL), the inland
transportation division of United Maritime Group. The project entailed the
conversion of UBL's Master's Daily Log into an electronic form that captains
can complete with their on-board PC, providing an efficient and easy-to-use
form that transmits data in a cost effective and timely manner. "Feedback from the captains has been excellent," said Rocky Gunter, Director
of Profitability & Financial Analysis for UBL. "We now have... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Thursday, April 14th from 6:30-9:30. Admission is free. Tankers will be the topic of an April 14, 2011 evening symposium presented by SUNY Maritime College’s Department of Global Business and Transportation (GBAT). The meeting will be held from 6:30 to 9:30 pm in SUNY Maritime College’s Special Events Room, Vander Clute Hall. Admission to the event is free. Featured speakers for SUNY Maritime College’s tanker event are: OSG Ship Management’s Director of Chartering Fred Gordon and Rear Admiral North, `66, president, North Star Maritime, Inc. Admiral North is also a member of the board of Genco Shipping & Trading and is the former Captain of the Port of New York. Admiral North will discuss current regulations that the tanker industry must comply with as well as how those requirements impact business. He... Read More>>> Back to Top | 
June 7 & 8, 2011
Halifax, Nova Scotia, CANADA
This conference is being organized as a companion event prior to the International Federation of Ship Masters Associations’ 37th Annual General Assembly June 9 & 10. Both events are being held at the ‘Westin Nova Scotian’ in Halifax.
Papers will be presented on:
• Ship-source Oil Pollution : Legalities, Liabilities, Compensation, Criminalization
• Off-shore Oil/Gas Operations: New Regulatory Requirements
• Averting or Responding to a Marine Environmental Disaster
• “Green” Technologies for Ships: New Developments and Designs
• Places of Refuge for Ships in need of Shelter
• Arctic Shipping: Russia’s Northern Sea...
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