Here is an investigation report covering an accident where a fisherman alone on his fishing vessel managed to get caught in his fishing gear and it took a navy boarding team to set him free.

It is funny because the guy lived to tell about it. (He was seriously injured which is not funny.) That said, there are important safety lessons to be learned here and thankfully the entire report is only one page as copied below. So it is a simple matter of just taking five minutes to read it.

Division for Investigation of Maritime Accidents – Denmark

Occupational accident – MARIE – 9.12.2009

Summary

The accident occurred on 9 December 2009 at approx. 1230. The fishing skipper, who was alone on board, was about to heave the trawl after the first haul when he was caught by a bridle and pulled up onto the net roller. The fishing skipper was caught on the net roller in approx. 6 hours before he was relieved by the Navy and a rescue helicopter. The fishing skipper was seriously injured in the accident.

Analysis and conclusion

Immediate causes (6.1)

Unsafe acts

The fishing skipper was alone on board and was caught by a bridle and was trapped because he worked right at the net roller, while it was turning.

Unsafe surroundings

It is the assessment of The Division for Investigation of Maritime Accidents that control levers which are hindered in or do not automatically return to neutral position pose a significant safety risk when using net roller equipment.

Contributing causes (6.2)

Persons involved

The fishing skipper was aware that it was unsafe to stay in close vicinity of the net roller during operation.

Safety System

It is the assessment of The Division for Investigation of Maritime Accidents that it is totally irresponsible to operate the net roller, and then work with the lines, when you are alone on board. It is the assessment of The Division for Investigation of Maritime Accidents that the task by the net roller was conducted without any sort of safety precaution and that the risk was unacceptably high.

Safety Culture (6.3)

It is the assessment of The Division for Investigation of Maritime Accidents that the circumstances of the accident and the poor state of maintenance on board demonstrated that there has been insufficient attention to safety on board.

Recommendations

The Division for Investigation of Maritime Accidents recommend all owners of fishing vessels and fishing skippers, to pay special attention to proper maintenance of control handles, which must go to stop when released, so they will not pose a safety risk. – Danish Maritime Authority

There is no word on whether he had a knife with him nor if having one might have permitted him a way of escaping.

Cross-posted on my blog here.

Job Title: Superintendent, US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY

Department: Department Of Transportation

Agency: Maritime Administration

Job Announcement Number: MARAD-10-02-NG

SALARY RANGE: 119,554.00 – 179,700.00 USD /year

OPEN PERIOD: Friday, January 22, 2010 to Monday, April 19, 2010

SERIES & GRADE: ES-0340-0/0

POSITION INFORMATION: Full-Time Permanent

PROMOTION POTENTIAL: 0

DUTY LOCATIONS: 1 vacancy – South Eastern New York, NY

WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED: Applications will be accepted from all groups of qualified individuals.

JOB SUMMARY:
The Superintendent of the US Merchant Marine Academy is responsible for the development of scholastic standards which encourage the intellectual, professional growth and physical well-being of midshipmen, and effective and economical operation of the Academy’s facilities. The incumbent has a profound impact on the Academy’s ability to educate and train individuals to be highly qualified licensed merchant marine officers inspired to sail on vessels of the United States.

Come on board with us and take a journey that will challenge your mind and develop your career. The quality of our lives, the shape of our communities and the productivity of our Nation’s economy depend on our transportation systems. We recognize and value the importance of our workforce and the diversity of backgrounds and ideas that each employee brings. The U.S. Department of Transportation: Careers in Motion.

- DOT (Click to read the full job posting)

Here is a hint of the type of person they are looking for:

1. Experience that reflects the ability to provide executive leadership for planning, implementing and evaluating a comprehensive academic program at the Nation’s maritime academy. This individual must also have the leadership ability to inspire others to fulfill the mission of the organization. The ideal candidate must be respected and well-known in the maritime field and must possess proven technical and managerial credentials. The individual will have a record of proven results and of ensuring organizational goals are met and mission objectives achieved, while simultaneously maintaining high standards, honesty and ethics, process integrity, commitment to diversity, and a culture of open communication and transparency. Merchant marine qualifications desired.

2. In-depth executive management experience and a history of proven success in the merchant marine industry or academic organization. This includes knowledge of maritime transportation including commercial and military logistics and maritime industry leadership. Also included is skill in assessing national and international maritime transportation trends and related critical issues; the ability to work collaboratively across organizational lines, produce results on-time and within budget; and experience managing resources in an academic environment with a track record of outstanding project and program delivery, customer satisfaction, stakeholder outreach, and management of internal business processes.

3. Demonstrated experience in developing and executing communications plans within the organization, with key external stakeholders, and with senior Department officials. This includes the ability to think strategically, set a strategic direction for a large organization, develop tactics to achieve the strategy, and experience measuring, monitoring, and managing to performance. The candidate will possess expertise in planning and management to enable translating DOT enterprise goals and objectives into measurable business areas within USMMA and Maritime Administration operations.

For a change it would be nice to see a USMMA Graduate take the helm for a while.

Found via The Maritime Executive

KUMAR TAKES THE HELM
Dr Shashi Kumar, Ph.D., Master Mariner and the Academy’s 12th Academic Dean has again taken the helm as the Interim Superintendent effective January 4th. He served as Interim Superintendent October 1 through November 14, 2008 while the Academy was then searching for a new Superintendent. Prior to joining USMMA, Dr. Kumar was the founding Dean of the Loeb-Sullivan School of International Business and Logistics at Maine Maritime Academy. He earned an unlimited Master Mariner (UK) certificate of competency and sailed extensively for a decade before entering academe. His significant accomplishments include the Transport Reviews’ 1st prize for new PhD’s in transportation, an award for excellence in teaching; Sam M. Walton Free Enterprise Fellowship (1998-2006) as well as the Maine International Innovator of the Year Award. Dr. Kumar has published extensively and authors an annual review of the U.S. Merchant Marine for the U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings. He continues to serve as the Academy’s Academic Dean.

Best wishes to Dr. Kumar in carrying out his two jobs.

It remains to be seen how the position will finally be filled, again. As a graduate, I believe that an ideal candidate would be another graduate. The Academy does need a strong leader, if for no other reason but to lobby the Government on behalf of the school. After all, there is no ‘Merchant Marine’ wing in the Pentagon to look after the school. The Academy is also working it’s way through the findings of a critical GAO Report from August 2009. (UNITED STATES MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY – Internal Control Weaknesses Resulted in Improper Sources and Uses of Funds; Some Corrective Actions Are Under Way)

What GAO Found
GAO identified numerous instances of improper and questionable sources and uses of funds by the Academy and its affiliated organizations. These improprieties and questionable payments GAO identified demonstrate that, while MARAD and the Academy have been taking action to improve the Academy’s internal controls, the Academy did not have assurance that it complied with applicable fund control requirements, including the Antideficiency Act (ADA). Further, the Academy had numerous breakdowns in its important stewardship responsibilities with respect to maintaining accountability over the receipt and use of funds. For example, GAO identified improper and questionable midshipmen fee transactions related to: (1) fee collections and uses of fees unrelated to goods and services provided to all midshipmen, (2) fee collections that exceeded the actual expense to the Academy for the goods or services, and (3) the use of accumulated excess midshipmen fees for improper and questionable purposes.

GAO found that a weak overall control environment and the flawed design and implementation of internal controls were the root causes of the Academy’s inability to prevent or effectively detect numerous instances of improper and questionable sources and uses of funds. Specifically, GAO found that there was a lack of awareness or support for strong internal control and accountability across the Academy at all levels and risks, such as those that flow from a lack of clear organizational roles and responsibilities and from significant activities with affiliated organizations. The internal control weaknesses GAO identified were systemic and could have been identified in a timely manner had Academy and MARAD management had a more effective oversight and monitoring regimen. For example, GAO found that the Academy did not routinely prepare financial reports and information for use by internal and external users.

GAO found that various actions were taken and in process that were intended to improve the Academy’s internal controls, including actions to address issues of accountability with its affiliated organizations. For example, a permanent position of Assistant Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for the Academy was established in March 2009 with direct reporting responsibility to the MARAD CFO. This action provides a senior financial official at the Academy with authority to conduct needed oversight and monitoring of financial activities on a real time basis. Further, following discussions GAO had with Department and MARAD officials, the MARAD CFO took steps to secure and protect accumulated reserves held in commercial bank accounts of an affiliated organization. However, even though MARAD and the Academy have taken actions, much more needs to be done, including determining the amount of midshipmen fees that were used to cover official Academy expenses, performing a comprehensive analysis of the risks posed by the Academy’s organizational structure and its relationships with its affiliated organizations, and establishing and implementing policies, procedures, and internal controls over many Academy activities.

I have heard at least one person comment that the GAO report helped do in the most recent Superintendent, even though he came in after the fact.

Previous:
US Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent Resigns

Posted by Fred Fry

The crew of the New Zealand trimaran harassing Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean had to be rescued after their boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese ship, anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says. – Stuff.co.nz

Click on the photo to go to the story where there are more photos of what was left after the collision. (Note: The story reports that the vessel did eventually sink)

Sea Shepherd’s newest vessel was covered previously at gCaptain here: ‘Sea Shepherd Unveils New Weapon to Fight Whale Hunters‘

Many of us had doubts that Sea Shepherd had the competency to operate a vessel of this type. I have to say that I am not surprised at all that the end came so quickly for this vessel, although I thought they would destroy it on their own before the Japanese got the opportunity to do it for them. At least nobody appears to have gotten hurt in this incident.

VIDEO

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cross-posted on my blog – Fred Fry International

Welcome to this 190th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 140 here. (Published 15 December 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This will be my last regular edition of Maritime Monday as the compiling author. I would like to thank you all for your attention as well as those who have submitted stories over the years. Like many others, I look forward to reading next week’s edition!

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Shipspotting:

Shipspotting.com is the worlds largest ship photo community with more than 700,000 images submitted by our members.

* T.C, Gleisner and Glennstar, by Wil Weijsters *

* SELIN S., by Ilhan Kermen *

* PETROBRAS 36 – Sinking, by Steve Geronazzo *

* Povl Anker (and lighthouse Blenheim), by Foggy’s Grandmother *

* Coaster Aura being hit by Sea Bailo, by Alain Fierens *

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak is on vacation. Be sure to check his homepage later on as he is sure to comment on the latest pirate news, which as of this morning includes the capture of the fully laden Greek-Flag VLCC tanker MARAN CENTAURUS.

gCaptain has “Dynamic Positioning 101- Heading alteration & speed“.

The Journal of Commerce has “Pirates Kill Ship’s Officer“. Why do you arm merchant ships? Because there is not enough naval vessels in the world to protect merchant seamen everywhere. This happened off Western Africa. Somalia is off Eastern Africa.

The pirates shot and killed the chief officer, or second in command, of the Monrovia-flagged Cancale Star when he confronted them in the early morning hours of Nov. 24 approximately 18 nautical miles from the coast of Benin, the ship’s owners Chemikalien Seetransport said in a statement.

War is Boring has “Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates“.

“There’s a sense that pirates are getting oceanographically smarter,” analyst Martin Murphy said last year. Indeed, pirates have the advantage of initiative: they know where warships are concentrated, and can attack elsewhere, as long as they have the motherships and intelligence to enable long-distance operations.

Tims Times is back at sea and it is rough in “Roll on next port“.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb gives ammunition to the international claim that Americans are just plain dumb when he does not recognize that he is being asked to participate in bunker oil fraud in “Really?” Instead of worrying about America’s reputation in the world, perhaps a little more time should be spent evaluating what a sorry state much of the world is in.

After an hour of waiting, screaming, and throwing bolts at the house on the ship, I pass the buck, and have the ship’s agent call the captain. 2 minutes later, the engineer comes out. He refuses to give me the paperwork. “Forget the paperwork,” he says. “I give you new paperwork.” He is pinching his thumb and forefinger together. No shit, the guy probably wanted to give me a thousand bucks or so for about $50,000 worth of oil. I ignore him. The guy then loses his ability to speak English, mysteriously. I reasonably ask him to be ‘a goddam professional here,’ and he responds by walking away. I am alone again.

BarentsObserver has “Admiral: Russia will have no long-ranging vessels left after 2015“. Seems that they have just not planned for the massive requirements to replace their fleet.

National Geographic has their archive photo “Mayflower II, New York Harbor“, by B. Anthony Stewart.

Sail-World has a project that seems to not take into account certain factors about the environmental qualities of shipping with “Greenheart appeal – make the Greenship dream a reality“.

The longer vision is to provide needy coastal communities around the world with an affordable means of transport. They see that such ships could help impoverished coastal and island regions improve their standards of living, while preserving their traditions and protecting the environment.

The vessel they have in mind is a solar- and wind-powered cargo sailing ship which will be able to sail around the world, completely independent of fossil fuels, visiting both developed and developing countries on a multiple mission of sustainable development and environmental protection. A secondary mission is to represent fair trade and, of course, education.

The Greenheart project is currently focused on the bottom line, fundraising with an ambitious goal of having their first ship in the water by the end of 2010.

There are some ‘green’ aspects of shipping that seem to be ignored as they do not fit the narrative. First, today’s large ships each replace tens of smaller vessels. Today’s power plants are more efficient and ships are designed to be more economical in general. Then there is the issue of the reduced emissions and other pollution prevented by sending cargo by sea instead of by road, rail or air.

Save the National Lighthouse Museum dies: “National Lighthouse Museum Board Disbands, Staten Island misses the boat to host and become a national tourist capital for lighthouse lovers and U.S. Coast Guard Veterans.” At least we still have the great lighthouse museum in Maine.

Perhaps if the NYC’s Economic Development Corporation as well as Borough politicians insisted that they open a bare bones museum and gave them access to the site and historic buildings as well as worked with the museum in the initial years to secure and maintain the pier, the Landmark Nantucket LV 112 Lightship would still be there and the museum would have slowly grew a significant collection of artifacts and could have already attracted millions of tourists to the site, this would of enabled the museum to grow financially secure, as well as permitted them to apply for grants to repair the historic buildings as well as offer increased educational programming to visitors. By opening and operating and being able to accept admission fees and sell souvenirs and concessions the magnificent multimillion dollar museum plan would of been a future reality instead of a flickering dream. Unfortunately the course taken did not lead to a safe harbor for this irreplaceable monument to our nations maritime heritage but to a treacherous rocky shore where the museum plans crashed and sank against the waves of speculative real estate development.

OM Ships International has “Sudden end for Doulos“. (Official Press Release here) Take a virtual tour of the ship here.

Doulos personnel and partners around the world are coming to terms with the news that the ship’s service will end on 31st December 2009. Until this week, the crew had hoped the world’s oldest ocean-going passenger ship could continue sailing until September 2010. But surveys by marine safety authorities confirmed major repairs are required to keep Doulos in service. Early estimates indicated this work would cost over €10 million.

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BarentsObserver has “Murmansk port and Sovcomflot on privatisation list“. Of course any buyer risks the possibility that the Russian Government can seize the company (or owner) if they ever feel the need to steal the company back (or punish the owner).

Of more interest, however, is probably the government’s plan to sell its 25 percent share in Sovcomflot, Russia’s by far largest shipping company. The company had a profit of $406 million (€272 million) in 2008.

Deep Water Writing knows what he wants for Christmas.

So it is not with too much surprise that the second edition of Jack Tar Magazine’s Sexy Girls of Maritime Calendar is at the top of my wish list for Christmas. Featuring twelve pages of the West Coast’s “Sexy, strong and accomplished women who live, play and work on boats” it is the ideal gift for a lonely sailor at sea.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has news that the US has at least two towns with nothing better to do that to see how high they can stack lobster pots in “The 200 Pot Rockland Tree Is Up“.

US Naval Institute Blog has an interview with US-based the owner of Nexus Consulting Group, a firm that specializes in placing armed teams on cargo ships in “RPG’s vs fire hoses: place your bets“.

Salamander: There are a lot of questions out there about arming merchant ships, with the two sides arguing if it is a good idea or a bad idea. There is a large difference of opinion and perspective between what you do and what many European and international organizations feel is the right path to take when it comes to keeping merchant ships away from predation by pirates. Why do you think they have the view that they have?

Doherty: I have to question what their agenda really is. Just this week we have the example of Somali pirates using deadly force. They shot and killed the Captain on one of the vessels. They are using deadly force to terrorize merchant mariners transiting the Gulf of Aden, who are just exercising innocent passage – trying to do their job.

The people who say, “Let’s not use weapons. Let’s not go there yet.” I question their agenda. I think a lot of that attitude comes from the fact that a lot of these organizations and a lot of those people who are supporting that stance are in the United Kingdom.

As I mentioned earlier, I used to be Special Agent Kevin Doherty. In my work, I used to travel through the UK. Even then, on official business with a diplomatic passport, I was not allowed to bring my firearm into the UK. They have some of the strictest firearms laws in the world, and you look that the IMO and you look at the shipping companies and you look at the insurers, they are mostly based in the UK.

You really have to question the agenda of those who know clearly that the Somalis are using deadly force, from AK-47s to RPGs. They are saying, “Don’t arm yourself against that.”

“What is your agenda?” That is my question.

Salamander: Having spent some time in the UK, and worked with the British military, I am very familiar with trying to deal with the point of view that they have.

Doherty: The thing is, they are not saying that we shouldn’t; they are saying that we can’t. They want us to maintain their standards – because they can’t maintain ours. I don’t understand how people can say, “Kevin, you can’t put weapons on ships, you escalate the situation.”

How much higher can I escalate? The pirates are already using deadly force. They are firing RPGs.

Go read the whole thing. I also had a chance to talk with Mr. Doherty and during our discussion he made the point that by limiting your defensive options you are essentially ceding ground to the pirates. And since the pirates are potentially armed with RPGs, the initial goal should be to keep them at least as far away from your ship as the range of an RPG, which he does discuss further down in this article.

Lloyd’s List has the European view in “Use of private guards in pirate waters is not an option“, an opinion piece by Per Gullestrup, the chief executive of Clipper Group.

Use of private guards to secure crew and vessel in pirate waters is, in our view, not an option. Previous cases of piracy have shown that use of force (ultimately deadly) may be required to prevent hijackings. Even if anyone has the right to self defence, the legal implications if a private person ends up using deadly force against a suspected pirate are very diffuse. The legal framework to effectively support use of force engaged by private guards does simply not exist. Not only do subjects like rules of engagement and line of command onboard the vessel give rise to many uncertainties, but even worse, the captain and crew are likely to get actively involved in use of force. Seafarers are not soldiers — and they should not be made to be, either.

Instead, security should be established by government agencies and organisations which — under international law — are entitled to the use of force in order to establish a secure environment and to secure sea lanes.

Clipper has on average one to two vessels passing through Gulf of Aden or in the Indian Ocean along the east coast of Somalia on a weekly basis. Approximately 75% of the transits have been conducted in highly appreciated convoys offered by a number of navies present in the Gulf of Aden. The remaining 25% have utilised the Group Transit System established by the European Union.

Mr. Gullestrup’s company paid a ransom to Somali pirates in January to free their vessel the CEC FUTURE. Personally, I think that is the bigger sin than any mistake armed guards or seafarers might make defending their ship. Given that it will be impossible to have Navy protection everywhere, I think the final solution will be a combination of armed professional and private forces employed in pirate hotspots as well as arms on ships for seafarer use in other areas, just in case.

US Naval Institute Blog also looks at AIS in “Open Source Intelligence For Armchair Admirals“. One question is whether this information should be out there.

MarineBuzz has “Indian Navy: First of Project 11356 Stealth Frigates to be Floated by Yantar Shipyard Russia“.

Tugster has photos: “Thanksgiving Mysteries“. Answers here.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG talks about spending “The Holidays Afloat” away from home.

Indigenous Boats has great photos: “Canadian Canoe Museum – Awe Inspiring“.

Information Dissemination has “More on Sea Fighter“.

SHIPS & THE SEA has “SHIP PHOTOGRAPHS“.

I have been photographing ships since 1970 although my first good quality camera was obtained only in 1975. Since then I have been able to make about half a million photographs of ships, and ships have always been the first reason behind my drive into serious photography. This because first of all I have always been a shipping enthusiast. It all started with a colection of post cards of ships, later I also added brochures and all informative items including books. Photography allowed me a new dimension to my shipping interests and so I have been photographing all kinds of ships in many different corners of the world, always based in Lisbon.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Swedish minister tell shipping to cut emissions by 20%“. One way to meet the reduction of course would be to re-flag…

Kennebec Captain has ““Filipino Monkey” is an Ethnic Slur“.

The Merchant Marine Express has “Being Thankful“.

What we do today, is a stepping stone to something higher (and possibly better) on the ladder for superior living. Family, friends, or both should have something to do with it.

Keep a positive outlook and give thanks to those around you or who influence your life.

Wikipedia has the final voyage of Stalin’s Gulag fleet ship “SS Indigirka“.

Final voyage
On December 8, 1939 the Indigirka left Magadan to return to Vladivostok under Captain Nikolai Lavrentevich Lapshin. It contained 39 crew, 249 fishermen and their families, 50 prisoners under guard, and 835 prisoners with technical skills who had been released to work for the war effort. On December 13, 1939 at 2:20 AM (other reports place the event on December 12, 1939) the ship ran aground in a blizzard off the Japanese coast near Sarufutsu while trying to enter the La Perouse Strait. As the ship turned over, the guards prevented the escape of the prisoners from the holds, and the ship came to rest in shallow water on its side. The Japanese rescued the captain and most of the crew, guards, and fishermen, but it took three days for any rescue of the trapped prisoners to begin. December 16, when the Japanese rescue team then opened the hull with acetylene torches, only 28 survivors (one of whom later died) were found among more than 700 dead prisoners. Overall 741 people perished. According to Sergey Korolyov’s oral statements, he “missed” the Indigirka convoy and was sent from Kolyma to Vladivostok on the next ship on December 23.

Captain Lapshin was tried and executed for abandoning the ship; chief of NKVD convoy who locked the prisoners in a sinking ship was sentenced to eight years. A cenotaph at Sarufutsu commemorates the tragic end of the Indigirka.

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Helsingin Sanomat has “Silja Europa’s rudder failure affects thousands of passengers“.

Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “IMO – France signs Recycling Convention“.

The IMO issued a news release stating that France has become the first country to sign, subject to ratification, the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe an Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009. The Convention will enter into force 24 months after the date on which 15 States, representing 40% of world merchant shipping by weight, have accepted the Convention. Furthermore, the combined maximum annual ship recycling volume of those States must, during the preceding 10 years, constitute not less than 3% of their combined merchant shipping tonnage. (11/23/09).

Houston ship Pilot/photographer OneEighteen has “The Ladder“.

This photo symbolizes a lot about the unknowns of piloting; beginning with whether the thing is tied off OK or not. Four U.S. pilots lost their lives in pilot ladder accidents last year.

Beyond that there are the issues of being woken up in the middle of the night to board a strange ship with an unknown crew. The darkness at the head of the ladder sums it up well.

A study done for the cruise ship industry in Florida tries to compare ship pilots to air traffic controllers in job tension. I really don’t think so.

HollandAmericaBlog has “Goodbye After 36 Years“.

After 36 years of loyal service with HAL, chief housekeeper Pak Soeparno is retiring. Soerparno holds the record for the longest-serving chief housekeeper from Indonesia. He has been a valuable employee for the company, having worked on almost all the ships in the HAL fleet.

The New York Times has “Tuna’s Death Spiral“.

The United States recommended what it hoped would be an acceptable interim compromise of 8,000 tons or lower. But American negotiators were outgunned by the Japanese — where bluefin tuna is the source of high-grade sushi — and by the European Union, whose politicians do pretty much what the big commercial fleets in France, Spain, Italy and other Mediterranean countries tell them to do and who apparently won’t really start worrying until the last fish has been caught.

There is only one honorable course left for the United States. That is to join with Monaco and other countries that have proposed listing the bluefin as an endangered species under an international law known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The law effectively bars commercial trade in any listed species, and has been helpful in protecting other animals like elephants and whales.

Maybe the scientists trying to save the tuna should link our salvation from Global warming to the saving of the tuna…

Funeral Wise has “World’s longest funeral, on a cramped cargo ship in the middle of the Pacific“.

Buenos Aires Herald has “Gov’ts more welcoming than in Europe – African immigrants drift toward Latin America“.

Stowed away on cargo ships and unsure where their dangerous journeys will take them, increasing numbers of African immigrants are arriving in Latin America as European countries tighten border controls.

Some head to Mexico and Guatemala as a stepping stone to the United States, others land in the ports of Argentina and Brazil. Though many arrive in Latin America by chance, once in the region they find governments that are more welcoming than in Europe.

“One night I went to the seaport. I was thinking I was going to Europe. Later I found out I was in Argentina,” said Sierra Leone immigrant Ibrahim Abdoul Rahman, a former child soldier who said he escaped his country’s civil war by sneaking onto a cargo ship for a 35-day voyage.

nbc15 has “Unsung Hero: DeForest Man Survives Hellish Night at Sea – Sailor Kept Horrifying Memories to Himself Until Recently“.

Gunner’s Mate Julius Bellin was serving in the U.S. Navy’s Armed Guard, protecting the cargo Ship John A. Johnson, when a Japanese submarine torpedoed the ship between San Francisco and Hawaii. “It’s an awful feeling to know you have to abandon your ship, and you’re losing your home. And then you’re at the mercy of the sea.”

While Julius frantically tried to pull some of his crew mates to a life raft, the submarine attacked again. “We were on the life raft, and they machine gunned us, they rammed us, they damaged the life raft. But it still held up. My friend, I tried to pull him on the life raft, and we were covered with oil, and he slipped out of my hands, and he got chopped up by the submarine propellers. And that memory stayed with me for quite some time, because I often wondered if I could have done something to save him.”

sfexaminer has “Bar pilots might be unfit for duty“.

Reuters has a current list: “Ships held by Somali pirates“.

Cinema Blend has the upcoming moving on the salvage of the COUGAR ACE in “Invictus Writer Will Dive Into Deep Sea Cowboys“. (See Wired’s story “High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Seas: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace” which is the inspiration for the movie.)

The New York Times also has “Catching Tuna and Hanging On for the Ride“.

Apparently, it never occurred to the authorities that someone might be crazy enough to want to catch a bluefin while sitting in what amounts to a floating plastic chair and enjoying what Melville called a “Nantucket sleigh ride.”

Since the end of July, Lamoureux has caught three bluefins this way, paddling a couple of miles off Race Point, at the tip of Provincetown, hooking a tuna and holding on, the rod clipped to a harness on his chest, while being towed at speeds up to 15 miles an hour before the fish exhausts itself.

Mother Nature Network has “Sushi fraud: When “tuna” isn’t tuna“.

DiverNet has “Minister questions Sea Shepherd link” and Dutch News has “Anti-whaling ship can remain Dutch“. Might this lead to discrimination against Dutch-Flag vessels in Japan? The Japanese can make life difficult if they want to without even appearing that they are doing it on purpose. (On a slightly related note, the Japanese dolphin-killing documentary, The Cove, is now available for pre-ordering at Amazon)

io9 has “Navy-Trained Sea Lions Ready to Arrest Enemy Divers“.

BitterEnd Blog has an OASIS OF THE SEAS PHOTO: “Even the lifeboats are huge“.

intheboatshed.net has video: “Rowing in Venice is under threat – pass the message on!“

euobserver has the ongoing stupidity with “Nordic countries irked by continued EU fish dumping“.

While discarding fish has been illegal in Iceland, Norway and the Faeroe Islands since the 1990s, boats in the European Union are obliged to discard their fish if they catch the wrong fish or if the fish do not measure up size.

European Union quotas strictly limit the amount of fish that ships can bring back to port, but there is no restriction on the amount of fish they can catch. Last year, the EU estimated that between 40 and 60 percent of all fish caught by trawlers in the North Sea was discarded.

The Old Salt Blog has a MAERSK ALABAMA update in “Former crew members sue US shipping firm over hijacking“.

The Old Salt Blog also has “Free Aircraft Carrier – ex USS John F Kennedy Available for Donation to Appropriate Group“.

Popular Mechanics has “Test Drive in the World’s Fastest Personal Submarine“. (Found via Instapundit)

Danger Room has “Navy’s ‘Affordable’ Shoreline Ship: $477 Million Overbudget“.

The Misunderstood Mariner explains “Lines In The Sea“.

Plan Philly has story and photos of the SS UNITED STATES in “They will not abandon the Big U“.

Molten Eagle has yet another sub malfunction for Russia in “One sentence, many submarine questions” and “Russian Sub Alrosa Pending (or not) Updates“.

Notes From the Wooden and Iron World has “A Tale of Two Figureheads“.

Originally built in Scotland in 1878, the Falls of Clyde was under a full restoration project in Honolulu for the Bishop Museum when in 1974 Whitehead was given the job of replacing the original carving. A massive 8ft high, it weighed over a ton and a half. Ever the perfectionist, Whitehead flew out to supervise the fitting of the ‘White Lady’, possibly the first time a carving of this size had been fitted on a vessel in over 100 years.

Mr. Boat Blog has video: “Sewage surfing.“

Financial Times has “Fishermen urge EU to end dumping“.

ShipGaz News has “Largest giant avoids scrapyard“. See Wikipedia for more on the ship here.

The largest cargo vessel ever built has at least for the time being avoided its final fate at the scrappers. Fred Olsen Production has sold its FPSO Knock Nevis to a Malysian bunkering company, which will use the 564,000 DWT giant vessel as a hub for its activities.

YouTube has parking at the shipbreaking yard in “ship accident“.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

Pirate route legality questioned – THE ITF warned today that shipowners and flag states that allow vessels to pass through pirate-hazard waters might be acting illegally.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation said: “The risk of attack is now so great that putting seafarers in harm’s way amounts to a breach of the shipowner’s duty of care.”

The ITF argued that ships should be allowed to travel through the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia and through parts of the wider Indian Ocean only if they have naval protection or are classified as low risk.

“Many of the world’s largest ship registers have provided not one vessel to patrol an ocean that can only be made safe by an increase in the number of warships needed to aggressively patrol and police it,” ITF maritime co-ordinator Steve Cotton said.

The federation also repeated its position that seafarers should not be armed to deal with pirates because that would spark an escalation of violence. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Low-sulphur fuel delay seen – DNV HAS warned that there is “no way” that ships will be burning low-sulphur fuel by 1 January, as required under an EU directive.

The Norwegian class society’s environment chief Eirik Nyhus told a Hamburg conference yesterday that shipping has been slow to retrofit vessels and that changing fuels now pose a risk in terms of boiler safety.

It is also not yet to Det Norske Veritas clear how strict the enforcement of the directive will be. “We don’t know what will happen over the next few months,” he warned.

Nylus expressed hope that the priority of member countries when inspecting vessels will be “safety first”. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories and photos to fred@gcaptain.com for inclusion in future editions as well as suggest areas of coverage.

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Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 25 – 26 – 27 – 28 – 29 – 30 – 31 – 32 – 33 – 34 – 35 – 36 – 37 – 38 – 39 – 40 – 41 – 42 – 43 – 44 – 45 – 46 – 47 – 48 – 49 – 50 – 51 – 52 – 53 – 54 – 55 – 56 – 57 – 58 – 59 – 60 – 61 – 62 – 63 – 64 – 65 – 66 – 67 – 68 – 69 – 70 – 71 – 72 – 73 – 74 – 75 – 76 – 77 – 78 – 79 – 80 – 81 – 82 – 83 – 84 – 85 – 86 – 87 – 88 – 89 – 90 – 91 – 92 – 93 – 94 – 95 – 96 – 97 – 98 – gCaptain Editions: 99 – 100 – 101 – 102 – 103 – 104 – 105 – 106 – 107 – 108 – 109 – 110 – 111 – 112 – 113 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117 – 118 – 119 – 120 – 121 – 122 – 123 – 123a – 124 – 125 – 126 -127 – 128 – 129 – 130 – 131 – 132 – 133 – 134 – 135 – 136 – 137 – 138 – 139 – 140 – 141 – 142 – 143 – 144 – 145 – 146 – 147 – 148 – 149 – 150 – 151 – 152 – 153 – 154 – 155 – 156 – 157 – 158 – 159 – 160 – 161 – 162 – 163 – 164 – 165 – 166 – 167 – 168 – 169 – 170 – 171 – 172 – 173 – 174 – 175 – 176 – 177 – 178 - 179 – 180 – 181 – 182 – 183 – 184 – 185 – 186 – 187 – 188 – 189 – 190 – 191

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Welcome to this 189th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 139 here. (Published 08 December 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find links to all the previous editions at the bottom of this post. You are encouraged to participate using the comment link/form at the bottom of the post. If you have photos or stories to tell, do email me at fred@gcaptain.com.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of the Semester at Sea program:

Semester at Sea’s mission is to educate individuals for leadership, service, and success in shaping our interdependent world. We are committed to providing profoundly transformative study-abroad experiences that emphasize global exchange and awareness. We will continue to make a positive world impact by developing leaders who have the knowledge and perspective necessary to promote greater understanding of all peoples and all cultures.

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Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somalia Pirates: A Defense?“

gCaptain has “Maersk Alabama Thwarts Another Pirate Attack Using Armed Guards“. One issue about arming ships is that you cannot use them if you do not have them onboard.

gCaptain also has “S/V Noordhoek Pathfinder Launched“.

Yahoo News has a great example of how the United States is a land of opportunity for those willing to work for it in “Unique homecoming to Vietnam for US commander“.

DANANG, Vietnam – On the day his side lost the Vietnam War, Hung Ba Le fled his homeland at the age of 5 in a fishing trawler crammed with 400 refugees. Thirty-four years later, he made an unlikely homecoming — as the commander of a U.S. Navy destroyer.

Le piloted the USS Lassen on Saturday into Danang, home of China Beach, where U.S. troops frequently headed for R&R during the war, which ended on April 30, 1975, when the southern city of Saigon was taken by communist troops from North Vietnam.

Deep Water Writing explains “Cable Ops“.

US Naval Institute Blog has the interesting story: “Guest Post by Mike Walling: Coast Guard Forgotten History: A Tsarist Officer in the US Coast Guard“.

The Wall Street Journal has “If Odysseus Had GPS“.

What a momentous change. For most of human history, losing contact with a loved one was all too easy, especially when great distances intervened. Leave-takings must have been particularly fraught when one might not get word of a loved one for months, years—or ever. Laura Linney, as Abigail Adams, brought to vivid life the heartache of an 18th-century parting when John Adams left for Europe in the TV miniseries. In Crusoe’s day, in fact, most people didn’t even have pictures of one another to hang onto.

Marine Log has published it’s November Edition online.

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Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Go Slow“.

IT WAS not so long ago when every new service announcement from a container line proclaimed loudly it would the offer the fastest transit times in the market on the particular route it was serving.

Modern, faster ships were the way to go to meet the demands of just-in-time logistics. The idea of deliberately slowing down would have resulted in much hilarity.

The Journal of Commerce has some of the implications of the ‘Go Slow’ almost ‘Just-in-time’ strategy with “J.C. Penney Sees ‘Havoc’ from Ocean Carrier Cuts“. Are you finding that items you would like to buy are sold out? Shipping issues might be one reason why.

Carrier cutbacks are playing havoc with the supply chains of retailers. “Changes in sailing schedules are killing us,” said Martin Bernstein, transportation excellence director at J.C. Penney.

Bernstein said 25 percent of Penney’s routings this year have been affected by changes in schedules and reduced sailings. This scheduling uncertainty comes at a time when retailers have reduced the inventory they carry in order to cut costs and improve efficiency.

Inside GNSS has the death of LORAN in “Obama Signs Bills Cutting Funds for eLoran, HIGPS, GPS OCX“. LORAN-C dies in the US on 4 January 2010.

CGBlog has “Travel: The Krassin Icebreaker Museum in Russia“.

AP has “AP IMPACT: Some lawmakers send few to academies“. It is these same lawmakers who cry that the academies are not satisfactorily racially diverse enough. It is a double-shame given that Federal Academies are a sure ticket out of poverty.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — As the nation’s military academies try to recruit more minorities, they aren’t getting much help from members of Congress from big-city districts with large numbers of blacks, Hispanics and Asians.

From New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, lawmakers from heavily minority areas rank at or near the bottom in the number of students they have nominated for appointment to West Point, the U.S. Naval Academy or the U.S. Air Force Academy, according to an Associated Press review of records from the past five years.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “NH Beach Cleanup Proves Plastic Fills Our Local Waters“.

MarineBuzz has “Suez Canal: Completes 140 Years of Navigation“.

AP has “Asian carp may have breached electronic barrier“.

Mongabay has “Using fish as livestock feed threatens global fisheries“.

Fish doesn’t just feed humans. Millions of tons of fish are fed every year to chickens, pigs, and even farmed fish even in the midst of rising concerns over fish stocks collapses around the world. Finding an alternative to fish as livestock feed would go a long way toward preventing the collapse of fish populations worldwide according to a new paper in Oryx.

“Thirty million tons – or 36 per cent – of the world’s total fisheries catch each year is currently ground up into fishmeal and oil to feed farmed fish, chickens and pigs,” world-renowned fishery researcher and co-author, Daniel Pauly, told the University of British Colombia (UBC).

Sea * Fever has “Famous Captains Compared“. Ahab, Crunch, etc…

Maritime Compass has a good source in “NMM’s expanded prints & images sites“.

eBay has available a copy of “South From Corregidor“.

intheboatshed.net has “An invitation for 5th December – see the Boatbuilding Academy student boat launch“.

The Journal of Commerce also has “Amsterdam to Lose Last Regular Box Service“.

The port of Amsterdam risks disappearing from Europe’s ocean container map, as its sole box terminal is about to lose its last major liner shipping service.

The Grand Alliance, a group of four ocean carriers, will end calls by its EU1 service at Amsterdam Container Terminal at the beginning of 2010, effectively wiping out the port’s box traffic.

The New York Times has “L.I. Harvests May Signal a Comeback for Scallops“. This is a little different from the tuna issue in that it was the local that saved the industry, partly in order to profit from it.

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Puget Sound Maritime has photos: “A rare look at the Ballard Locks“.

Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) has “Mine clearance vessel arrives in Gulf of Finland – Gas pipeline clearance work to begin in short order“.

One Free Korea has “Somali Pirates Hijack North Korean-Crewed Ship“.

National Geographic has the photo: “Blue Lagoon“.

Space War has “India eyes unbuilt British carrier” as they tire of getting jerked around by the Russians.

Both sides have “dug in their heels” on what they are willing to settle for, according to Indian media reports.

The Russians want $2.9 billion for the work on the 45,000-ton Kiev-class Gorshkov, set to be commissioned in the Indian navy as INS Vikramditya, originally in 2008.

India is willing to pay $2.1 billion for the work.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Curbs to ship pollution would stoke global warming, study says “.

Shipping is slowing climate change by spewing out sunlight-dimming pollution but a clean-up needed to safeguard human health will stoke global warming, experts said. “So far shipping has caused a cooling effect that has slowed down global warming,” Jan Fuglestvedt, of the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research Oslo (CICERO), told Reuters.

“After some decades the net climate effect of shipping will shift from cooling to warming” because of cleaner fuels, he and colleagues in Germany, Britain and Norway wrote in this week’s edition of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

The Monitor has Canada’s “Ferry service awash in problems“.

The Maritime Executive has “Current Events + Costly Regulations = Cottage Industry Opportunities“.

The Horse’s Mouth has “Fish On Fridays. Liz Clark, A Wahine Who Fishes, Sails And Surfs!“

The Merchant Marine Express has “What a trip so far!“

AMVER Blog has a list of ships that joined the program last week in “Welcome Wednesday!“

BitterEnd Blog has “Balckwall Decision: 1869 Supreme Court Case that set Salvage Prescendce“.

CargoLaw has photos of the damage from a collision between the MSC KALINA and the M/T ALJALAA in “Singapore Sling“.

BarentsObserver has “Icy oil spill easier to clean, scientists say“.

Terra Daily has “Japan whaling fleet leaves for Antarctic waters: Greenpeace“.

Information Dissemination has “On Being A Captain….” Written by a ten year old.

Steeljaw Scribe has the photo “Picture Perfect“.

Danger Room has “In Nod to Global Warming, Navy Preps for ‘Ice Free’ Arctic“.

The Old Salt Blog has “Lady Washington Needs Volunteer Tall Ship Sailors“.

The brig Lady Washington, which is currently operating on the Columbia River, has an immediate need for volunteer tall ship sailors to bring her home to Grays Harbor. No experience necessary; new volunteers will be enrolled in the ship’s Two Weeks Before the Mast program, which includes comprehensive training, meals and a bunk. Experienced volunteers are encouraged as well.

The Misunderstood Mariner has a summary on “Oil Rigs“.

Shipgaz has “Capesize rates jump above USD 100,000“.

On the Australia–China trade, fixtures are reported above USD 105,000 per day. A year ago, rates on this trade were fixed below USD 2,000 per day.

The Brothers Brick has the Lego build:”The gales of November came early for the SS Edmund Fitzgerald“. The impressive model is 8.5 feet long.

YouTube has video: “riding the shaft“.

anchored on the mississippi river, riding the propeller shaft on a 700 foot, 13000 horse power steam tanker. the shaft is freewheeling due to the heavy current of the river. I have control of the engine. its at STOP! ZERO!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

Mermaid pod suit advances – CARNIVAL scored a major victory today in its mega-lawsuit against Mermaid pod providers Rolls-Royce and Converteam, as a judge refused to dismiss most of the cruise giant’s claims.

Carnival filed suit last December, seeking $100M in damages and alleging fraud, conspiracy and negligence. It argued that the Mermaid propulsion pods installed on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 have never functioned as promised, requiring repeated repairs, bearing replacements, unscheduled drydockings and hefty costs.

Rolls-Royce and Converteam (Alstom Power Conversion) filed motions earlier this year to have the claims dismissed. But today, the Florida District Court judge threw out most of their arguments, allowing almost all of Carnival’s claims to proceed.

Both Rolls-Royce and Converteam argued that Carnival’s claims were barred by a four-year statute of limitations, dating the alleged misrepresentations to 2002-3. But the judge sided with Carnival, which maintained that claims first arose from a November 2005 drydocking.

Defendants also sought to use procedural arguments for dismissal of fraud, misrepresentation and conspiracy claims. The judge backed Carnival and declined to dismiss almost all of the claims. The judge did dismiss Carnival’s warranty allegation against Converteam and one of five fraud claims against Rolls-Royce. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Canada could end duty – CANADA could drop its duty on imported ships, which has been attacked by companies that see it blocking replacement of Great Lakes ships.

The federal finance department has asked for comments on a plan to end the duty on ships of 179m-plus, including cargo ships on the lakes and in East Coast waters.

The Canadian Shipowners Association has lobbied for years against the tariff, which Ottawa could end as early as January.

But Canadian Shipbuilding Association president Peter Cairns said members want to keep it for ferries and smaller vessels, which they can build.

Chamber of Maritime Commerce president Ray Johnston said the duty imposes adds C$10M ($9.5M) to C$15M to the price of a new ship.

He cited one owner who called the duty like “paying for five ships and only getting four”. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories and photos to fred@gcaptain.com for inclusion in future editions as well as suggest areas of coverage.

—————————————-

Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 25 – 26 – 27 – 28 – 29 – 30 – 31 – 32 – 33 – 34 – 35 – 36 – 37 – 38 – 39 – 40 – 41 – 42 – 43 – 44 – 45 – 46 – 47 – 48 – 49 – 50 – 51 – 52 – 53 – 54 – 55 – 56 – 57 – 58 – 59 – 60 – 61 – 62 – 63 – 64 – 65 – 66 – 67 – 68 – 69 – 70 – 71 – 72 – 73 – 74 – 75 – 76 – 77 – 78 – 79 – 80 – 81 – 82 – 83 – 84 – 85 – 86 – 87 – 88 – 89 – 90 – 91 – 92 – 93 – 94 – 95 – 96 – 97 – 98 – gCaptain Editions: 99 – 100 – 101 – 102 – 103 – 104 – 105 – 106 – 107 – 108 – 109 – 110 – 111 – 112 – 113 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117 – 118 – 119 – 120 – 121 – 122 – 123 – 123a – 124 – 125 – 126 -127 – 128 – 129 – 130 – 131 – 132 – 133 – 134 – 135 – 136 – 137 – 138 – 139 – 140 – 141 – 142 – 143 – 144 – 145 – 146 – 147 – 148 – 149 – 150 – 151 – 152 – 153 – 154 – 155 – 156 – 157 – 158 – 159 – 160 – 161 – 162 – 163 – 164 – 165 – 166 – 167 – 168 – 169 – 170 – 171 – 172 – 173 – 174 – 175 – 176 – 177 – 178 - 179 – 180 – 181 – 182 – 183 – 184 – 185 – 186 – 187 – 188 – 189 – 190

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Release via EU NAVFOR:

On the early morning of 18 November 2009, 350 nautical miles east from the Somali coast, pirates attacked MV Maersk Alabama, a US flagged, Danish owned, 155 meter long, Container ship.

Pirates fired automatic weapons on MV Maersk Alabama who responded with fire from an embarked Vessel Protection Detachment. The crew managed to repel the attack and no casualties were reported. The vessel was previously hijacked in April 2009.

An EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft from Djibouti was tasked to investigate the situation and the closest EU NAVFOR naval vessel was tasked to search for the pirate attack group and neutralise the area.

The Maritime Patrol Aircraft stationed in Djibouti takes part in the EU NAVFOR mission Operation ATALANTA. The main tasks of Operation ATALANTA are to escort merchant vessels carrying food of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP), the protection of vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.

More details at CNN: Pirates foiled in their second attack on Maersk Alabama cargo ship

Original Post

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

The news story out this morning is that the US-Flag MAERSK ALABAMA has been attacked again by pirates. Surely that is news in itself. However, possibly the bigger story is news that the Maersk vessel had armed guards onboard who repelled the attackers.

Maersk Alabama attacked again – MAERSK Alabama evaded a pirate attack off the Somali Coast today, seven months after it was hijacked in nearby waters.

Pirates fired on the 1,098teu box ship with automatic weapons, but guards on the US-flagged ship returned fire and repelled the attack, a statement from EU NAVFOR said. There were no casualties.

An EU NAVFOR naval vessel is searching for the attackers.

During April’s hijacking, Maersk Alabama’s captain was held hostage before he was freed in a commando assault. Three pirates were killed in the operation.

In another incident near Somalia today, pirates have eluded a Spanish military fusillade and swum to freedom.

The pirates had held the Alakrana tuna trawler hostage for 47 days. They escaped to shore after turning over the 36 seafarer hostages, Spain’s defence ministry said.

Helicopters and other forces chased the last group of pirates to leave the trawler. At least one pirate craft was hit by fire but no casualties were reported, said the ministry of defence.

The trawler was freed yesterday after the reported payment of a $4M ransom. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

At least in this case, having armed guards onboard did not escalate the attack. It ended it.

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Welcome to this 188th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 138 here. (Published 01 December 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find links to all the previous editions at the bottom of this post. You are encouraged to participate using the comment link/form at the bottom of the post. If you have photos or stories to tell, do email me at fred@gcaptain.com.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of MarineTraffic.com. Many people are aware of the site due to it’s great global AIS ship tracking. But did you know that they also have a great photo gallery?:

About the Marine Traffic project
This web site is part of an academic, open, community-based project. It is dedicated in collecting and presenting data which are exploited in research areas, such as:

- Study of marine telecommunications in respect of efficiency and propagation parameters

- Simulation of vessel movements in order to contribute to the safety of navigation and to cope with critical incidents

- Interactive information systems design

- Design of databases providing real-time information

- Statistical processing of ports traffic with applications in operational research

- Design of models for the spotting of the origin of a pollution

- Design of efficient algorithms for sea path evaluation and for determining the estimated time of ship arrivals

- Correlation of the collected information with weather data

- Cooperation with Institutes dedicated in the protection of the environment

It provides free real-time information to the public, about ship movements and ports, mainly across the coast-lines of Europe and N.America. The project is currently hosted by the Department of Product and Systems Design Engineering, University of the Aegean, Greece. The initial data collection is based on the Automatic Identification System (AIS). We are constantly looking for partners to take part in the community. They will have to install an AIS receiver and share the data of their area with us, in order to cover more areas and ports around the world.

* MSC FRANCESCA – MARIJ *

* CMA CGM NORMA – Nightshot at Amazone harbor unloading – By MSF Photography Almelo NL *

* FLYING DOLPHIN XXIII *

* A – by Vitwris Dimitris *

* FULL CITY – Full City drifted under stormy conditions and hit the island Saastein close to Langesund in Norway – By Tore Oyvind Moen *

* SHINYO SAWAKO – Salvage tug connecting to the tanker Shinyo Sawako – By E.R. *

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somali Pirates: Attacking Farther at Sea – the 1000 mile mark“. Might they be operating out of the Seychelles and not Somalia?

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak’s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Veterans Day“

gCaptain has “Offshore Wind Farms and the Turbine Installation Vessel” and “US Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent Resigns“.

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs has photos: “Documented proof of Iranian complicity in arms smuggling to terrorists“. (Found via Flags of Convenience)

Hunt of the Sea Wolves has “French commandos storm mothership, arrest 12 pirates“. (Photo from the French Forces website)

French commandos have stormed aboard a Somali pirate ‘mothership’ and arrested 12 gunmen, the military announced, adding that the gangs are increasingly operating in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean.

Anyone know where Marenostrum went? Seems like an amazing amount of blogging effort to just be deleted…

Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “Yarmouth Castle fire and sinking – 13 November 1965“.

The passenger ship SS Yarmouth Castle caught fire and sank on November 13, 1965 while en route from Miami, Florida to Nassau, Bahamas. Of the 376 passengers and 176 crew on board, 88 passengers and two crew died. The ship was built in 1927 with a wooden superstructure. Wood and other flammable materials were used throughout the ship. As the US Coast Guard investigation noted, the foreign-flag vessel was not subject to USCG inspection. Passenger ship construction standards were subsequently strengthened and US law was amended to provide for examination by the Coast Guard of foreign passenger vessels embarking passengers in a US port to ensure compliance with international standards.

US Naval Institute Blog has “Photos From USS John C. Stennis“.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “WWII Lifeboat Survivor’s Diary Retrieved“.

The BBC has “MoD vessel ‘watched yacht hijack’“. The Royal Navy wanted to keep this a secret, but at least once crewmember must have thought that they should have acted and leaked the news.

The crew of a UK military ship watched as a British couple were taken hostage by Somali pirates but were ordered not to open fire, it has emerged.

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CDR Salamander has “The Potemkin Color Guard goes mainstream“. Having been in the Merchant Marine Academy Color Guard, the official explanations coming from the Naval Academy ring hollow with me. Unless somehow the Naval Academy is different and everyone over there is an involuntary active member of the color guard. (And not just a volunteer for unfurling the huge US Flag size #1.) And not for anything, but you just can’t throw someone onto the team who is not an active member. This Navy Times story noted that the USNI Color Guard only has 28 members. I would suspect that any decision over who participates in any event would be decided within the Color Guard itself.

No; internally the Navy I know and love wants to treat everyone the same regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin – it is Congress and Big Navy though that decided that equality isn’t enough. They must take from others to give to someone else – and will do it based simply on self-identified racial and ethnic groupings.

Michele Malkin has more with “Diversity engineers at the Naval Academy“. For me, I know first hand, given that USNA Admissions told me that my spot went to a minority when I called asking why I had not heard from them one way or the other concerning my application. Little did I know at the time that they were doing me a favor in the long run.

After the requisite he said/he said exchanges, where an academy spokesman denied that the school pulled the men because they were white, despite a press release apparently contradicting him, brigade commanders issued a gag order forbidding midshipmen to talk about the controversy to outsiders.

The Maritime Executive has coverage of problems in MARAD with “MARAD: Just a DOT on this Administration’s RADAR?” You know what I find so funny; that so many mariners had the opinion that President Obama was going to be so much better for the Maritime Administration that option B. That still might be the case, if he ever gets around with dealing with it.

We ended 2008 after observing, in my opinion, one of the most productive periods for MARAD in recent history. Active in a myriad of ways, the previous Administrator secured employment for U.S. mariners on a variety of platforms, presided over an efficient and environmentally correct disposal system for more than 100 obsolete vessels of the nation’s three reserve fleets and effectively used his authority to ensure that LNG approvals provided U.S. maritime professionals with employment. Today, most maritime announcements are couched as a triumph of the current administration and a departure from the policies of the past. Maybe I am “reaching” here, but if this is progress, then count me out.

MarineBuzz has “DV Platinum II: India Disallows Beaching and Recycling at Alang Shipyard” and “USS Constitution is America’s Ship of State“.

BarentsObserver has “Nuclear lighthouse projects moves from Barents to Baltic“. Russia gets away once again with having the West pay to clean up their messes. (Summary on RTGs/Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators here)

The lighthouses are in the Finish neighbouring waters, but it is Norway that put in most of the funding, about €11 million. Finland’s share in the joint project is about €1,5 million. The agreement to remove 71 of the 87 lighthouses around the Baltic Sea was signed by Norway’s Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finland’s Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. The last 16 lighthouses with radioactive strontium batteries will be removed with funding from Russia and France.

The strontium source in the lighthouses, or the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), is highly radioactive. It is the heat from the radioactive source that is used to generate power to the lamp in the lighthouse.

The Old Salt Blog has “A Photo for a Monday Morning – Containers on the Husky Racer“.

WebUrbanist has “7 Wonders Of The Modern Shipping World“.

SHIPGAZ News has “Latvian Captain banned from Danish waters“. For one year.

In December 2007 he was intoxicated while having command over the coaster South Michelle during a ballast voyage through Lillebælt. The vessel grounded on the beach just north of the port of Assens on the isle of Fyn. When police entered the vessel the captain was asleep, he was intoxicated with a permillage of 2.75.

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IMOWatch has “Dubious Ownership of Dead US Ship Under Probe“.

SS United States Conservancy has “SS United States Gifts for the Holidays“.

HollandAmericaBlog has “Nieuw Amsterdam Photos: Nov. 13, 2009“.

TimesOnline has “EU set to ignore advice to ban bluefin fishing, says Greenpeace” as their delegates demand the largest quotas possible.

Courthouse News Service has “Amberjack Ban Attacked“.

Environment News Service has “Japanese Government Funding Cuts Could End ‘Research’ Whaling“.

The spending review committee established by Japan’s new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has recommended that funding for the Overseas Fishery Cooperation Foundation be cancelled after 2010.

The OFCF is the largest financer of the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research, which runs the Japanese whaling program. The whaling fleet usually sails for the Southern Ocean in mid-November, hunting whales for scientific research regardless of a moratorium on commercial whaling set by the International Whaling Commission in 1986.

But the research program does not cover its costs, and Japan’s new government is looking for ways to cut spending.

Tugster has photos of a woodboat graveyard in “No Name Fleet 3“.

Towmasters: the Master of Towing Vessels Assoc. Forum has “Snap Back Kills Again: Review Your Procedures & Equipment And Maybe Save A Life.“

Here’s an accident report from the U.K.’s MAIB that deserves to be read and disseminated widely. On the evening of August 7, 2007 the ferry Dublin Viking was alongside the dock at berth #52 in Dublin, Ireland while the crew was preparing to sail on the overnight run to Liverpool. Wind and tidal conditions were “benign.” The 2nd officer, assigned as the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the stern mooring lines, was standing in the snap-back danger zones near the fairleads because it was where he had to be to have simultaneous visual contact with both the line handlers on the dock and the crew members operating the winches. When a winch operator mistakenly heaved in on an already-tensioned line it snapped and recoiled, striking the officer in the legs, breaking both of them while nearly severing the left. He died six days later.

Kennebec Captain has “Oasis of the Seas – Life Boat Damage“.

HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS has “3% of tanker fleet will still be single hulled after 2010“.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has reader tales in “Submarining Is Scary” including ‘the scariest involved things like seeing an officer with a tool’. I have heard a couple times where Merchant Marine graduates that opted to go into the Navy have gotten into trouble because they actually started to fix something, to the shock of those around them.

One Free Korea has “North Korea Accuses South of Provoking Naval Clash“.

Greenpeace has “Vegemite or Marmite – definitely NOT tuna…” Since there is no money in it for politicians to save the tuna, I have no faith in the international community saving the Tuna, especially given that 90% of the tuna stocks are already gone. So my choice is tuna. Get it while you can.

The Merchant Marine Express reports from the AMERICAN TERN in “A Freshened Ship with a content Crew“. Photos of the week for Maritime Monday 22 were of the TERN in Antarctica. (See a summary about the vessel on Wikipedia here: MV American Tern (T-AK-4729)) So it looks like we are in store for some reporting from Antarctica soon, maybe.

Information Dissemination has “Anti-Piracy Reaper“.

Kings Point Waterfront has “Coast Guard has the Eagle……..Welcome Summerwind to Kings Point“. Very nice indeed.

Never Sea Land has the photo “Kidnapped mermaid“.

Honolulu Advertiser has “Artifacts off auction block – Navy raises ownership questions over recovered items from USS Arizona“. (Found via Notes From the Wooden and Iron World)

The Business Insider has “BUY MADOFF’S BOATS“. I thought he would have something bigger. Nothing even approaches 100′.

YouTube has up-close tug video in “tug TRHES part 2“.

towing hual transporter on santander bay.

Video recorded by Javier Alvarez.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

India rejects ship’s recycling – INDIA refused today to grant permission to recycle a US cruise ship.

“There have been allegations that the ship has been brought into India with a falsified flag and registry,” the environment ministry said, explaining why Delhi rejected Platinum II.

The ministry also instructed the Gujarat Maritime Board continue its investigation of the 26,658gt ship’s contents, citing what it termed the “precautionary principle” as a guiding factor in refusing beaching permission.

The ministry’s technical team inspected the ship last month. It has been awaiting permission to beach about 40 km from Alang in Gujarat state.

Shipbreaker Komalkant Sharma, who bought the vessel, had earlier told Fairplay that his facility in Alang is equipped to safely handle toxic materials. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Crew bailed as captain slept – AN INQUIRY has heard crew on the Tongan ferry Princess Ashika say they bailed water out of the flooding vessel with buckets for two hours before waking the captain.

Captain Maka Tuputupu – who has conceded that he expects to be jailed over the 5 August sinking, in which 75 people were killed – did not reach the ferry’s bridge until shortly before it capsized, a witness told the Royal Commission of Inquiry yesterday.

He had time only to send mayday calls before the vessel sank in calm weather 86km northeast of the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa. The witness confirmed that passengers were given no warning of the ship’s plight.

The inquiry also heard that just before the government-owned Shipping Corp of Polynesia purchased Princess Ashika from Fijian owners, the Fiji Islands Marine Safety Authority had described it as a “maritime disaster waiting to happen”.

Later, Tonga’s own marine surveyors advised that extensive corrosion, blocked scuppers, welded ramps, disguised welding and other faults had made the ship “not seaworthy … and should be stopped”, – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories and photos to fred@gcaptain.com for inclusion in future editions as well as suggest areas of coverage.

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Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 25 – 26 – 27 – 28 – 29 – 30 – 31 – 32 – 33 – 34 – 35 – 36 – 37 – 38 – 39 – 40 – 41 – 42 – 43 – 44 – 45 – 46 – 47 – 48 – 49 – 50 – 51 – 52 – 53 – 54 – 55 – 56 – 57 – 58 – 59 – 60 – 61 – 62 – 63 – 64 – 65 – 66 – 67 – 68 – 69 – 70 – 71 – 72 – 73 – 74 – 75 – 76 – 77 – 78 – 79 – 80 – 81 – 82 – 83 – 84 – 85 – 86 – 87 – 88 – 89 – 90 – 91 – 92 – 93 – 94 – 95 – 96 – 97 – 98 – gCaptain Editions: 99 – 100 – 101 – 102 – 103 – 104 – 105 – 106 – 107 – 108 – 109 – 110 – 111 – 112 – 113 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117 – 118 – 119 – 120 – 121 – 122 – 123 – 123a – 124 – 125 – 126 -127 – 128 – 129 – 130 – 131 – 132 – 133 – 134 – 135 – 136 – 137 – 138 – 139 – 140 – 141 – 142 – 143 – 144 – 145 – 146 – 147 – 148 – 149 – 150 – 151 – 152 – 153 – 154 – 155 – 156 – 157 – 158 – 159 – 160 – 161 – 162 – 163 – 164 – 165 – 166 – 167 – 168 – 169 – 170 – 171 – 172 – 173 – 174 – 175 – 176 – 177 – 178 - 179 – 180 – 181 – 182 – 183 – 184 – 185 – 186 – 187 – 188

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Accepts Resignation of U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Superintendent

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today accepted the resignation of Rear Admiral Allen Worley, Superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, New York, effective January 4, 2010.

“The Merchant Marine Academy has gone through an important rebuilding year and is positioned for reaching the next level,” said Secretary LaHood. “We are confident the Academy is on course to continue as the premier institution in maritime education. We appreciate Admiral Worley’s service.”

Secretary LaHood noted that during the last year several steps were taken to upgrade processes at the Academy and to improve educational opportunities for Midshipmen, including cutting student fees in half, hiring an outside accounting firm to improve Academy finances and assigning a blue ribbon panel of national experts to examine the capital needs of the school and make recommendations for its upgrade.

Dr. Shashi Kumar, Academic Dean and Assistant Superintendent for Academic Affairs, will act as interim Superintendent upon Admiral Worley’s departure in January. A nationwide search will be conducted to find a permanent successor.

Admiral Worley has been the Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy since November 2008, the tenth person to hold this post since the institution’s dedication in 1943.

The Merchant Marine Academy, operated by the U. S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, is one of the nation’s primary sources of licensed merchant marine officers and is renowned internationally for its maritime education and training programs. – 9 November 2009

So the search begins for a new Superintendent.

Welcome to this 187th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 137 here. (Published 24 November 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find links to all the previous editions at the bottom of this post. You are encouraged to participate using the comment link/form at the bottom of the post. If you have photos or stories to tell, do email me at fred@gcaptain.com.

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NOTE: It is with mixed emotions that I announce that I will be ending my weekly involvement with Maritime Monday. I expect my last edition to be number 190 which is scheduled for publication at the end of the month. While I really enjoy working on it every week, I am ready to take a break from this non-stop weekly schedule after the 3+ years that the series has run.

The gCaptain crew is evaluating some options in how best to keep the series going. With that said, if putting together a weekly roundup of maritime news and events is something that interests you and is something that you have the time for, then feel free to contact any of us.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Norway’s Tschudi Project Transport:

Tschudi Project Transport offers complete logistic solutions – pre- and on-carriage including documentation, as well as ocean transportation – of non containerised cargo; including over dimensioned and heavy lifts. Geographically, we work globally, but with a focus on Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS.

By drawing on and linking the Tschudi Group competencies within the key elements of logistics (www.tschudilogistics.com) ocean towage and heavy lift transportation (www.itctowage.com) and traditional shipping (www.ottodanielsen.com) plus the respective companies huge global networks, we will be able to cover the complete chain of transport from Works to Site and thereby offer a “one-stop-shopping” facility with a view to achieve the most competitive transport solutions for our clients.

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Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “MV Arctic Sea: Inside Story?“

gCaptain has “Class Action Suit Filed in Hawaii to Declare Jones Act Unconstitutional“.

USA Today has “World’s largest cruise ship rocked by ‘extreme’ seas in North Atlantic“. See video here. Gives another good example of the power of the sea in how it can move the world’s largest cruise ship as it does. Then think of all the smaller ships out there, most all without stabilization equipment. You can find the OASIS OF THE SEAS website here with lots of video including updates of the vessel’s Atlantic crossing.

Reuters has “U.S. requests talks with Mexico over tuna dispute“.

In March, Mexico filed a World Trade Organization complaint challenging U.S. labeling rules for tuna caught using methods less harmful to dolphins that swim near the fish.

The United States bars the “dolphin-safe” label on tuna caught by boats using purse seine nets that also snare dolphins — a technique used by Mexican vessels, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said.

FIS has serious Government overreach in “Senators aim to block proposed raw oyster ban“.

Miami Herald has “Cuban crewmen stuck in Africa after ship begins to list“.

“Cuba is selling cheap labor to people who have no scruples, so Cuban crews have been stuck all over the world,” said Casañas, who first reported the Medea case Tuesday on Faro de Recalada, a Cuban naval forum on the Web.

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IMOWatch links to “Waste Stream Analysis for Platinum II (SS Oceanic, SS Independence)“.

Flags of Convenience has another Iranian weapons shipment handled by German shipping in “Francop: advanced AA platforms aboard“.

Freaque Waves has “Star fish tragedy“.

Hunt of the Sea Wolves has “Spain refuses prisoner exchange with pirates“.

The Merchant Marine Express has “Onward, Crew!“

The Maritime Executive has “Politics, Pilots, Pay – and Predictably, Problems…“

It is, apparently, a very good time to push back against state-sanctioned harbor pilots who are seeking to get rate increases of one sort or another. The weak economy notwithstanding, port authorities, local stakeholders, pilot commissions and state legislators are now regularly eschewing the usual rubberstamp for calls to hike rates and it’s not always about the money, either.

Life Magazine has photos of Sea Shepherd’s newest boat in “Superbad Anti-Whaling Stealth Boat“.

Sea Shepherd News has ‘Capt’ Paul Watson’s reaction in “Fears, Jeers, Cheers, and Loathing for Sea Shepherd In South Park“. Actually, it is a good editorial overall.

I knew as soon as I heard that South Park would be lampooning Sea Shepherd and Whale Wars that it would be viciously brutal. No one gets a free ride with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. But, I also knew that whatever they were planning it would be good for the whales, and that was all that I was really concerned with, so I was not disappointed.

Okay, so I get a harpoon through the head! Hey, s*@# happens!

ryanerickson has “Coast Guard Desktop Wallpaer: A tribute to CG-1705“.

The Malta Independent has “Largest ever seabed clean up yields unusual items“.

The Wall Street Journal has “Panhandling: Florida’s Debate Over Offshore Oil“.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb gives an idea of how important seafarers view their vacation time in “home again.“

If this vacation is as dreary as the last one was, I will light myself on fire.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Photo: The Dory Shop; Cape Ann, Massachusetts“.

BarentsObserver has “Difficulties ahead for Norwegian shipbuilding industry“.

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Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “USCG – Navigation Rules – updated and corrected“.

The US Coast Guard issued an updated and corrected version of the International and Inland Navigation Rules (COMDTINST M16672.2D). The publication is a compendium of: the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS), the Inland Navigation Rules, their respective technical annexes, a listing of the COLREGS Demarcation Lines, the Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge Radiotelephone Regulations, and various other legal provisions regarding compliance and penalties associated with the Navigation Rules. The original version was published on March 25, 1999, by the US Coast Guard Navigation Standards Branch at Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington, DC 20593-7856. This updated version has corrected typographical errors and omissions and includes post-publication 2003 amendments to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREGS). (10/19/09).

Danger Room has “Can Killer Drones Land on Carriers Like Human Top Guns?“

Greenpeace has a video tour of their vessel the ESPERANZA including a good look under the hull in “On board the Esperanza“. Interestingly enough the two cleanest spaces appear to be the bridge and the engine room.

US Naval Institute Blog has “A Rally for the Underdog: Valour IT“.

CNN Justice has an example of what you can find in a container in “Stolen 1965 Volkswagen van recovered after 35 years“.

A 1965 Volkswagen van stolen 35 years ago in Spokane, Washington, was found by customs agents in a shipping container in the Los Angeles port last month, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official said.

Tugster has photos: “USS NEW YORK“, with parts 2 and 3.

Springbored’s Springboard has “Coffee At Sea: Canada Arms Up!“

The BBC has “Three Gorges water plan postponed“.

China has postponed a plan to raise the Three Gorges reservoir to its ideal height of 175 metres due to a lack of water, the firm running the dam said.

There has been less water than expected flowing into the reservoir from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

More water than anticipated has also been let out of the reservoir because of drought further down river.

MarineBuzz has “Mistral: French Amphibious Assault Ship to Visit St. Petersburg” and “Indian Coast Guard Station at Karwar Commissioned“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has the problem of shipbreaking in “Urgent solution needed“.

SHIPBREAKING on beaches is nasty and brutish, shortening some of the lives of workers who toil at shipbreaking for a living. It also, by reliable accounts, adds seriously to environmental pollution, as toxic chemicals are washed out to sea.

Therefore it came as a surprise that a former Bangladeshi official defended the practice at a London conference last week.

The defence by AKM Shafiqullah, former director general of Bangladesh’s Department of Shipping, opined that environmental damage due to ship recycling in Bangladesh is greatly overblown.

CargoLaw has running aground in Croatia in ““Make 25 Knots, Then Sit” – M/V Marko Polo“.

Arctic Focus has “Commerical fishing ban in Arctic set for Dec. 3rd“.

In August, American Secretary of Commerce, Gary Locke, approved a plan that will see a large part of the Arctic remain off-limits to commercial fishing. Federal officials have announced that that plan will go into effect the 3rd of December.

Information dissemination has “USS New York“.

Kennebec Captain has “Cautious Optimism about Right Whales“.

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “HMCS Chicoutimi moving costs secret“.

Trade and Logistics Malaysia has “Shipping companies anchor vessels near Pengeran to save costs“.

EnglishRussia has photos “The Sea of Salty Lakes“.

Breakbulk Industry News has “WWL’s Orcelle Fund Seeks Green Maritime Projects“.

The Orcelle Fund, a grant-awarding body created by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, is looking for innovative new maritime projects to support. The fund provides seed capital for projects developing alternative maritime energy sources and energy-efficient technology. The goal is to find projects with potential commercial viability.

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Australia & New Zealand aid Remote Tongan island“.

HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS has “South Korean shipbuilders overtaken by Chinese rivals“.

Shipgaz News has “2,000 ships to the breakers next year“.

BitterEnd Blog has photos of a marina nightmare in “Boats on fire at Roch Harbor this afternoon“.

The Horse’s Mouth has sea lion photos with “Great White Sharks In San Francisco Bay!“

Inside GNSS has “Galileo Program Recalibrates Schedule, Budget, Open Signal ICD“.

Galileo program managers appear to have bowed to the unavoidable and acknowledged that completing the European satellite navigation system will take longer and cost more than their revised estimates of 2014 and €3.4-billion ($5.04-billion), respectively

70.8% has photos: “Paul Frankowski, sailing historian“.

The Old Salt Blog has “Schooner Mystic to be Sold at Auction“. Interestingly enough, one of the commenters points out that he is handling the sale of another schooner, the VICTORY CHIMES, which can be yours for only $1.5 million.

YouTube has “The Creation of a 21st-Century Expedition Ship“.

Come inside the shipyard for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the National Geographic Explorer.

Also, check out the National Geographic Explorer’s Inaugural Voyage! (Here)

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

Gunfights at sea? Look deeper – FIREARMS to protect merchant ships on the Indian Ocean will not alone solve piracy, a military analyst has warned.

Nick Davis – a military consultant and managing director of Gulf of Aden Group Transits, a provider of unarmed and armed maritime support services – commented on the Spanish government’s decision to allow fishing and merchant vessels under its flag to carry precision rifles while crossing the Indian Ocean.

“Arms onboard are not the solution in this type of area, although it is often the only choice,” Davis told Fairplay. “Armed patrol vessels maintaining a perimeter around the fishing fleets would be better than gunfights within 100m of a slow moving ship.”

Davis added that a subsidy by the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission and the international fishing fleets to Somali authorities in places such as Galmudug/Puntland, in exchange for safe fishing, would be a better solution. “[Such a subsidy] would save €3M [$4.43M] per day in hardware costs for the military to be there,” said Davis, who added that piracy was “getting completely out of hand.”

“The whole solution is based around putting infrastructure and self-sufficiency into Somalia,” he emphasised.

“They need the ability and equipment to generate their own success. They are more than willing to sort themselves out – but they need help.” – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Sunken ferry chief sidelined – JOHN JONESSE, the chief of the ferry company that owned the foundered Princess Ashika, has been stood down from his position and told to seek independent legal advice.

The sidelining of Jonesse has thrown a cloud over the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the sinking of the 32-year-old vessel in the South Pacific on 5 August, with the loss of 78 people.

Tongans are suspicious about the move by the government-owned Shipping Corp of Polynesia, according to local media, fearing that Jonesse’s evidence has already proven damning of government policy.

After initially denying responsibility, Jonesse conceded he was solely in charge of recommending purchase of the former Japanese Inland Sea ferry from Fijian owners, even though he had no shipping experience.

The vessel was later found to have at least 40 major faults, but repairs were still under way when it was despatched on its fatal voyage from Tongan capital Nuku’alofa with about 180 people and cargo aboard. It capsized in calm seas and sank quickly, trapping many passengers below deck.

Jonesse told the inquiry that government surveyors failed to turn up for the pre-purchase inspection and no time limit had been set for the completion of repairs. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories and photos to fred@gcaptain.com for inclusion in future editions as well as suggest areas of coverage.

—————————————-

Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 25 – 26 – 27 – 28 – 29 – 30 – 31 – 32 – 33 – 34 – 35 – 36 – 37 – 38 – 39 – 40 – 41 – 42 – 43 – 44 – 45 – 46 – 47 – 48 – 49 – 50 – 51 – 52 – 53 – 54 – 55 – 56 – 57 – 58 – 59 – 60 – 61 – 62 – 63 – 64 – 65 – 66 – 67 – 68 – 69 – 70 – 71 – 72 – 73 – 74 – 75 – 76 – 77 – 78 – 79 – 80 – 81 – 82 – 83 – 84 – 85 – 86 – 87 – 88 – 89 – 90 – 91 – 92 – 93 – 94 – 95 – 96 – 97 – 98 – gCaptain Editions: 99 – 100 – 101 – 102 – 103 – 104 – 105 – 106 – 107 – 108 – 109 – 110 – 111 – 112 – 113 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117 – 118 – 119 – 120 – 121 – 122 – 123 – 123a – 124 – 125 – 126 -127 – 128 – 129 – 130 – 131 – 132 – 133 – 134 – 135 – 136 – 137 – 138 – 139 – 140 – 141 – 142 – 143 – 144 – 145 – 146 – 147 – 148 – 149 – 150 – 151 – 152 – 153 – 154 – 155 – 156 – 157 – 158 – 159 – 160 – 161 – 162 – 163 – 164 – 165 – 166 – 167 – 168 – 169 – 170 – 171 – 172 – 173 – 174 – 175 – 176 – 177 – 178 - 179 – 180 – 181 – 182 – 183 – 184 – 185 – 186 – 187

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