|  The United Nations Refugee Agency reports that a ship carrying 600 migrants trying to flee the violence in Libya, sunk off the African nations coast on Friday. The vessel reportedly broke apart shortly after leaving port near Libya’s capital city of Tripoli. A spokesperosn for the U.N. agency says they do not know the fate of the hundreds of passengers onboard the vessel, but they are working to find out. So far 16 are confirmed dead after the bodies of 14 adults and 2 babies washed ashore. Witnesses to the tragic accident who were onboard a second vessel that left shortly after, say they saw the ship broken into pieces and bodies floating in the water. This most recent sinking is not the first migrant vessel to fail to reach safety – in March two boats, carrying 120 and 360 migrants headed for Italy never reached the Italian coast. Those passengers, along with those onboard... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Twenty-four Chinese sailors were freed Friday after the Indian Navy warned pirates onboard the hijacked vessel, that warships were on their way. After receiving warnings from an Indian navy maritime reconnaissance plane that naval warships were closing in, pirates onboard the Panama-flagged cargo ship, FULL CITY, fled in their skiff back to their mothership. China’s Ministry of Transport reports that the crew is safe and in good condition, and the vessel will continue on its original voyage. FULL CITY was hijacked last Thursday morning, nearly 850nautical miles southwest of India’s coast. |  Fire Onboard Indian Tanker Put Out Officials say the fire that broke out in the engine room of the ORCHIDS Saturday night, has been extinguished. The India flagged chemical tanker was about 60 nautical miles south of New Mangalore port when the crew discovered the fire. The local Coast Guard was notified of the fire at 8:50 Saturday night, and sent two fastpatrol vessels from New Mangalore and redirected an Offshore Patrol Vessel CGS VARUNA to the distressed ship’s location.
A nearby tug, BAHSMEK SAHARA, just 3 miles away was the first to arrive and contributed significantly to the extinguishing of flames.
Local Coast Guard officials say none of the 29-crew members were injured in the fire and they report no evidence of an oil spill. The ORCHIDS, owned by Seven Islands Shipping Mumbai, resumed its voyage to Kochi on Monday morning.
Read More>>> Back to Top |  The coast guard has suspended their search for a missing 63-year old passenger who was reported missing Tuesday. The Celebrity cruise line says the Celebrity Millennium’s closed-circuit video surveillance shows the woman climbing over the railing Monday night and letting go. The 2,000-passenger cruise ship was sailing from Cabo San Lucas to San Diego when the woman went missing. The woman was last seen by her brother in her cabin onboard the Millennium on Monday night between 8:00 and 9:00. When the ship arrived in San Diego on Tuesday, the woman was not onboard and authorities were notified. Celebrity says the ship’s GPS satellite marked the location where the woman jumped overboard. The Coast Guard spent 25 hours searching more than 1,900 square miles before suspending the operation at 10:51 Wednesday morning. The Coast Guard says the... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Leading accountant and shipping adviser, Moore Stephens, says companies operating within UK tonnage tax could consider leaving the UK, as a result of HMRC’s decision to unilaterally reinterpret the regime rules. Sue Bill, a tax partner with Moore Stephens, says, “Given the substantial increase in the UK fleet since 2000, it is widely considered that UK tonnage tax has been a success. At the outset, the regime promised clarity and stability, but HMRC’s unilateral reinterpretation of the rules could be detrimental.” HMRC’s decision to reinterpret the legislation results from comments in the 2004 EU guidelines on state aid to maritime transport. The changes, set out in HMRC’s tonnage tax manual, focus in particular on the strategic and commercial management tests that are fundamental to qualification for the regime. HMRC says that this follows ‘ten years of... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Prominent UK and US maritime lawyer and maritime author Dr John A.C. Cartner is calling on the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to enact changes to the Safety at Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) to combat the continuing problem of piracy facing the global merchant fleet by allowing ships to carry armed guards. Piracy is a growing phenomenon with 1,181 seafarers captured and eight killed in 2010. According to Dr Cartner, managing member of Washington-based law firm Cartner & Fiske LLC, under SOLAS and other laws it is a ship master’s doctrinal duty to protect the lives of those aboard his ship, but that he may not currently lawfully do this with private armed guards. As pirates endanger the lives of persons aboard ships, SOLAS should be amended under the tacit acceptance procedure of the Convention to give limited transactional immunity to the shipowner and master placing... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Total announces that its subsidiary, TEPA (Block 17/06) Limited, and Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol E.P.), have discovered hydrocarbons in the north-eastern area of the deep offshore block 17/06.
Drilled in a water depth of 445 meters, the Canna-1 well discovered hydrocarbons in reservoir of Miocene age and produced more than 5,000 barrels per day of high quality oil (33° API) during a production test. Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) is the concessionaire of the Block 17/06. TEPA (Block 17/06) Limited is the operator of the Block 17/06 with a 30% stake. Total’s partners in the block are Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção S.A. (30%), Sonangol Sinopec International (SSI) Seventeen Limited (27.5%), ACREP Bloco 17 S.A. (5%), Falcon Oil Holding Angola S.A. (5%) and PARTEX Oil and Gas (Holdings) Corporation... Read More>>> Back to Top |  WASHINGTON – Dimitrios Grifakis, 57, of Kallithea, Greece, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Baltimore to obstructing a Coast Guard inspection that took place aboard the M/V Capitola from May 3 to May 11, 2010. Grifakis was then the Chief Engineer of the Capitola.
The guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General, Environment & Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Rear Adm. Dean Lee, Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard's 5th District; Special Agent in Charge Otis E. Harris, Jr. of the Coast Guard Investigative Service-Chesapeake Region; and Acting Special Agent in Charge Christian Spangenberg of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Criminal Investigation Division.
According to Grifakis’ guilty plea and other court documents, the investigation... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Piracy and armed robbery against ships off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean will be high on the agenda when IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) meets at the Organization's London Headquarters for its 89th session from 11 to 20 May 2011.
The busy agenda also includes adoption of amendments, concerning lifeboat release hooks, to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and work related to the implementation of the Torremolinos Protocol on fishing vessel safety, as well as goal-based standards for vessel construction and the long-range identification and tracking of ships. The MSC will also consider the approval of a number of draft resolutions for submission to the IMO Assembly, to be held in late 2011.
Piracy and armed robbery against ships to be discussed
The MSC is expected to discuss the... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Daily Video Journal Wraps Up After Attracting a Devoted Audience Who Followed Each Stage of the Ship's Transformation Following the most extensive drydock in Princess Cruises history, today the first passengers set sail aboard the completely transformed Grand Princess in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The ship's remarkable 24-day drydock that transformed it from top to bottom also made the vessel a media star with daily video updates that attracted more than a half million views. The Grand Princess Drydock Journal captured the dramatic process with 26 video updates plus more than 300 photos of the daily progress at the shipyard in the Bahamas, including the unforgettable removal of Skywalkers nightclub from the ship's stern and the complete demolition and rebuilding of the atrium to create the new Piazza. Hosted... Read More>>> Back to Top |  The expertise of an American Salvage Association (ASA) member culminated in locating and recovering the “black boxes” of Air France Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009, killing all 216 passengers and 12 aircrew on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. The black box recoveries took place in 3,900 meters of water (msw) and were made possible using the ASA member company-designed and operated Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The recoveries were completed in a very short period of time given the technical complexities of operating in extreme water depths. The ROV located the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) within 12 hours on its first dive on April 27. Unfortunately, the critical Memory Unit had separated from the chassis of the FDR. An intensive and methodical visual survey of the sea floor was then initiated in search of the proverbial needle in the... Read More>>> Back to Top | | WASHINGTON – The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) today announced it is seeking to fill five senior executive positions for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the two new bureaus that will replace the former Minerals Management Service (MMS). “The positions we are announcing today will be critical to the smooth and effective functioning of the two new bureaus,” said BOEMRE Director Michael R. Bromwich. “Those selected for the positions will have enormous responsibilities and, together with our other top-level managers, will be responsible for completing the efficient reorganization of the former MMS and for implementing meaningful and lasting regulatory reforms, as well as ensuring operational continuity and efficiency.” The positions will be filled... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Richard D. Steinke to Receive 2011 Connie Award To be Presented in California in September Richard D. Steinke, who will retire this year as executive director of the Port of Long Beach and who was instrumental in developing the Port into one of the world's largest container harbors, has been selected to receive the Connie Award to be presented on the West Coast by the Containerization & Intermodal Institute (www.containerization.org). The industry-wide dinner event honoring Mr. Steinke will be held on Wednesday, September 21, at the Renaissance Hotel in Long Beach, CA. Recipients are recognized with the prestigious award for significant influence on containerization in world trade and transportation and are honored for innovative spirit in their careers and at their respective companies,... Read More>>> Back to Top |  “Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s position as a front runner in the marine market is confirmed,” said the company’s Sales Director for Africa, Middle East and Black Sea (AMB), Nikolai Norman, as the company scooped the Shipping Company of the Year Award at the annual ShipTek Maritime Awards in Dubai in April. Norman collected the prestigious award for Wilhelmsen Ships Service at a ceremony at Crown Plaza in the Emirate state on 19th April. The ShipTek Maritime Shipping Company of the Year Award recognises an organisation which maximises every opportunity to innovate, and contribute to meeting the ever changing demand of its customers. Wilhelmsen Ships Service was acknowledged as a company which has high operating standards and is totally committed to safety and quality. “We are delighted to have been awarded this honour,” adds Norman. “Our company... Read More>>> Back to Top |  EU Naval Force (EUNAVFOR) in conjunction with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) have collaborated to develop an integrated maritime monitoring service (MARSURV) to allow EUNAVFOR to track merchant vessels in the High Risk Area off the coast of Somalia. EMSA is the technical cooperation platform of the Commission and EU Member States in the field of maritime safety. This monitoring service has been designed to fuse multiple sources of ship specific information (MSCHOA registration and UKMTO reporting information) and positional data (Long Range Information Tracking – LRIT and SATELLITE AIS) in a real time environment. MARSURV will greatly enhance the ability of counter-piracy forces to manage and risk assess the thousands of merchant vessels transiting across this huge area. It will also assist in incident management and improve the ability to warn merchant ships in imminent danger of... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Highest Attendance and Largest Exhibition since 1982
Attendance at the 2011 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) reached a 29-year high of 78,150, up 8% from last year, as offshore energy industry experts from around the world came together at the world's largest event for offshore resources development. OTC was held 2-5 May at Reliant Park in Houston. Attendance surpassed the 2010 total of 72,025, and the sold-out exhibition was the largest since 1982 at 603,000 square feet, up from 568,000 square feet in 2010. New this year was the OTC Parkway spanning from Reliant Center to Reliant Arena, which increased the outdoor exhibition space. The event had 2,520 companies from 40 countries, including 306 new exhibitors in 2011, and added exhibitors from Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines. "The outstanding attendance underscores that OTC is... Read More>>> Back to Top |  The Department of Defense announced today that the departments of the Navy
and Army signed a Memorandum of Agreement May 2 transferring all five of the
Army’s Joint High Speed Vessels to the Navy. The U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command will own and operate all 10 JHSVs,
which will be designated as USNS and crewed by civil service and contract
mariners. Initially, the JHSV program was envisioned to have five of the first 10
JHSVs assigned to the Army and the remainder to the Navy. However, at the
Army/Navy Warfighter Talks in December 2010, both services agreed to
transfer the Army’s five JHSVs upon signing of this MOA. All 10 JHSVs will
now be assigned to the Navy. MSC has been slated to operate the Navy JHSVs since August 2008. In May
2010, MSC announced that the vessels would each... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Wärtsilä, the marine industry's leading solutions provider, has been contracted by Kleven Maritime of Norway to design a new LNG powered Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) of the Norwegian operator Rem Offshore. The scope of the order also includes the propulsion machinery, automation and other equipment for the same vessel. Wärtsilä is the clear market leader in supplying design and propulsion solutions for LNG powered PSVs, a position that is further strengthened with this order. Furthermore, this comprehensive scope of supply emphasises Wärtsilä's strong position as a total solutions provider and a system integrator with the capability to offer marine customers a single-source of supply for all their needs. This simplifies and speeds the design and ship building process and reduces the risk of delays. Rem Offshore's new LNG powered PSV, the first such vessel for its... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Employment in the International Shipping Services sector in Ireland grew by 10% last year according to recent analysis published by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO). The information is based on companies that have elected to join the dedicated Irish Tonnage Tax scheme, a measure introduced in the 2002 Finance Act to help secure the future of the Irish shipping sector. In 2010 five new companies elected to join the scheme contributing to the overall increase of 44% in the number of vessels covered by Tonnage Tax. Direct employment has risen from 314 to 346 people at these companies as a result of this initiative. Commenting on the data, IMDO Director Glenn Murphy said “The results are a positive indication that after long periods of decline for the industry that policy support measures have encouraged investment which has led to growth and new employment. We are optimistic that direct... Read More>>> Back to Top |  The UK Ship Register continues to increase in size with a number of new registrations since the beginning of 2011. During March and April CMA CGM registered an additional four container ships on the UK Flag totalling almost 500,000 GT. The four ships, all of which were new builds, include the Columbia, Centaurus, Cassiopeia (all 131,332 GT) and the Titus (90,931 GT). This takes CMA CGMs UK fleet to 37 ships with a combined gross tonnage of just over 2.6m. A further two vessels are due to join the Register in May increasing the total tonnage to 2.86m. Zodiac Maritime Agencies has also continued to increase the size of their UK Fleet. So far this year they have registered six ships with the UK Flag, the largest of which are the Maersk Edison, Erving and Eubank (all new-build containerships of 141,649 GT). Additional new registrations include the Stargate and Westgate, new-build... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Washington, DC Area (Linthicum Heights, Maryland), USA
June 6-7, 2011
MITAGS
An international survey (Michel et al., 2005) has identified over 8,500
sunken shipwrecks in marine waters around the world, including more than 1,500 sunken tank vessels (≥ 150 gross tons) and nearly 7,000 sunken non-tank vessels (≥ 400 gross tons). These wrecks may contain as much as 20 million tons (140 million barrels) of oil and other hazardous materials. Sporadic or continuous leakages or potential sudden massive spillages from these wrecks, 75 percent of which stem from World War II, pose a con/nual risk across the globe.
The problem of potentially-polluting wrecks has long been discussed and recent incidents around the world have caused government agencies and responsible parties to look... Read More>>> Back to Top |  Incat Crowther is pleased to announce that contracts have been signed with Russian builder Pacifico Marine for two catamaran ferry projects. Incat Crowther and Pacifico Marine have formed a relationship that sees the design company assist Pacifico Marine to service the Russian market with proven designs. The relationship has already found success with the contracts for these two vessels, and both companies are hard at work to secure further orders. The vessels are being constructed for operation during next year’s APEC summit to be held in Vladivostok, the administrative centre of the Primorsky region. It is envisaged that the locally constructed vessels, operated by Vladmorpass Co. Ltd, will not only provide comfortable and efficient transport for the APEC summit members, but will also showcase the region’s maritime industry. The first of the two vessels will be a Read More>>> Back to Top |  LONG BEACH, Calif./PRNewswire/ -- The Journal of Commerce announces the dates for the Trans-Pacific Maritime conference, the must-attend annual event for professionals involved in the movement of containerized cargo between Asia and North America and globally. The 2012 and 2013 events will both take place at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach and Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center in downtown Long Beach, Calif., maintaining the event's current location by overwhelming preference of attendees. Both events will begin on Sunday and run through Tuesday, with possible inclusion of some additional programming on Wednesday. The 12th annual JOC TPM event will take place March 4-6, 2012. The 13th annual JOC TPM will take place March 3-5, 2013. A record-breaking 1700+ attendees, representing 17 countries including China, Switzerland, Korea, Australia, Taiwan and others,... Read More>>> Back to Top | | |
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