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Welcome to this 121st edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 71 here. (Published 13 August 2007)

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 Miami, Florida’s ANTILLEAN MARINE SHIPPING CORP.:

In 1960, the Babun brothers— Jose, Teofilo, and Abraham—fled Cuba’s communism and settled with their families in Miami leaving their successful lumber and cement businesses behind them, three years later, equipped with a single break-bulk ship the Babuns launched a liner service on the working river.

Originally coming from Cuba, Antillean’s historic heritage has been preserved in the Dynamic young leadership embodied by assured that the company balances the value of its history with the demands of a state-of –the-art shipping company.

Antillean Marine Shipping Corporation is one of the Miami River “anchor” marine cargo companies handling over one million tons yearly. Antillean Marine has been providing regular liner service to ports in the Dominican Republic, Haiti twice weekly for over thirty-seven years.

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Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Follow Up: Lehmann Timber Finally Safe in Port“.

Also check out EagleSpeak’s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Coast Watchers in the South Pacific“.

gCaptain has “A Ship Dock In The Middle Of Hong Kong Pleases Shoppers“.

gCaptain also has more on waterproofing electronics with “A Secret Look At Golden Shellback Water Resistant Coating“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has the shocking story of death on the container ship CM LONDON EXPRESS in “The Case Of The One-Way Assassin“. A must read for engineers, Captains and seafarers in general. This happened to an engineer, but it could have happened to any member of the crew in any number of places onboard ship.

MarEx Newsletter has “A Time for Restraint: Maritime Disasters Usually Not What They Seem…“

In the latest twist out west, the Cosco Busan operator is now accused of fabricating records to hinder the NTSB and DOJ probes of the November 2007 allision in San Francisco Bay (see the USDOJ press release elsewhere in this e-newsletter). I don’t know who else can be charged for what else, but it is getting pretty hard to follow along without a scorecard. To say that this has been the most bizarre set of circumstances I have ever witnessed in relation to any maritime accident would be a gross understatement. I’ve said it once before and I’ll reiterate for you again: I’m not going to make any suppositions or predictions in this case.

The New York Time’s ‘DOT EARTH’ has “A Little Oil Goes a Long Way” looking at the Arctic and oil.

Skipper’s Scrivenings (USNS MERCY) starts a new tradition in “Promotions – Mercy Style“.

Tugster has photos of a couple Stena Bulk ships in “Bear Ships” and includes a link to an interesting PDF document with photos of a number of ice-strengthened ships with ice damage.

Going back into the archives of Freaque Waves, he posts “A list of freaque wave encounters” with ships. I found it as he recently posted “Peril in the age of internet” noting that the reference for one of the incidents was web based and no longer to be found.

Kiwi at Sea has an update from the Falkland’s in “A brief review” as they try to iron out some kinks in their new ferry service using a landing craft. He also describes a recent flight from hell but it is so nauseating that I won’t touch it with an internet link halfway around the world. So you can go to his homepage and find it yourself. I’d take a plane full of drunken seaman over what he encountered.

Pinoy Maritime has a pretty obvious list once you think about it in “10 common reasons why seafarers quit shipboard job“.

Tims Times has two stories of seamen drinking on planes in “Plane drunk“.

Daily Dispatch (South Africa) has “Chinese cargo ship off Port Alfred told: ‘B***** off’“. It is a good short story, including this money-quote:

“They dropped anchor without permission…I went out and explained to the master, over the side of the boat, that he was a naughty boy and that he must bugger off over the horizon – which he did.”

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “45 Dead In Congo Boat Disaster“. Another 77 passengers are missing. Seems that the aids to navigation in the river were stolen.

Information Dissemination has the scent of blood in the water as Congress investigates the Navy in “Prepare For Casualties in the Coming Shipbuilding War“.

The List Universe has “Top 10 Catastrophic Shipwrecks“. Seems that the list is missing a couple of the more recent sinkings.

Logistics Management has “Ports of LA/Long Beach are being taken to court by truckers“.

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IceNews has “Russian navy resumes Arctic sea patrols“.

The Russian navy has resumed its patrols of the Arctic sea around the Svalbard archipelago, an area claimed by both Russia and Norway. There has been no activity by Russia’s military in this region since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But now the Russian navy has stated it plans to increase military activity in the waters.

Headquarters, United States European Command has “USS Elrod practices boarding procedures with Russian Federation Navy during Exercise Northern Eagle“. I hope we are learning more from the Russians than they are learning from us.

Kennebec Captain has “Typhoon!” as he navigates his ship around typhoon Kalmaegi.

Sea * Fever remembers in “French film director Louis Malle and the SS Andrea Doria“.

BitterEnd notes that even Vessel Assist vessels sometimes need assistance themselves in “Oh No! Salvation takes a dump“. Well it is kind of the nature of boating.

BitterEnd also catches Washington State Ferries trying to unload their corroded steel electric ferries on eBay with an opening bid of $350,000 each. Seems that the listings are no longer active..

Shirlaw News Group has “Tanker explosion kills eight in Greece“. The ship is the FRIENDSHIPGAS and the explosion took place while the ship was in a shipyard. Lloyd’s List covers the fallout in “Anger as Greek LPG carrier blast kills eight“. I am a bit suspect of the maritime unions blaming the Greek Government for being lax on safety issues since at the end of the day it is the workers who choose whether or not to work safely and follow safety rules. More details also to be found at MarineBuzz

MarineBuzz also has photos of “Danish Fort Dansborg of 17th Century at Tharangambadi Coast - Part 1“.

Press Register has “Mobile container terminal gets surprise customer” as the Hapag-Lloyd container ship ROME EXPRESS calls the not-yet completed container terminal in response to the Mississippi River oil spill.

Sarah Outen plans to row across the Indian Ocean. Dear Sarah, please don’t do it.

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Lloyd’s List has “UK maritime organisations launch One Voice“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Shooting the messenger“.

Shipping provides a unique insight into what is going on in the real world. Those working in the industry usually know weeks ahead of the financial markets about the true state of global commerce. Official economic data may not start to reflect shifting trends for several months.

American Shipper has “New York studies how to cope with cargo growth“.

The agency noted the last time it did a comprehensive port study, growth was seriously underestimated. That Comprehensive Port Improvement Plan forecast the port would not exceed 5 million TEUs until 2015, while volumes actually hit 5.3 million TEUs in 2007. Similarly, the study thought the port would only be handling 674,000 vehicles by 2020, but instead, the port was already handling 930,298 vehicles last year.

Hello Estonia has “Estonian duo make first Gulf of Finland swim“. It is much nicer to go by ferry.

BarentsObserver has “Murmansk based tall ship got port ban to Norway“. The ship is the sail training ship SEDOV, the worlds largest four-masted tall ship. The situation is worse than indicated in the title as the order has come from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the ship is also forbidden from calling UK and Irish ports. One theory is that there is a fear of the ship being arrested in one of these ports.

TIMESONLINE has “Shipping sector rides wave of boom in trade“.

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “Russia & China Island Deal” as Russia returns an island and a bit to China. No mention of what Russia got in return. So does that mean that there were some payoffs to some Swiss banks accounts? Certainly Russia didn’t return the territory out of the goodness of their hearts.

Life at SEA has “See-Saw between Ship and Shore.” I always looked at going to sea as putting my life on hold. While it was not that long ago, none of the ships I sailed on had internet or email. I didn’t have a mobile phone and satphone calls from the ship cost $10 a minute. And you never called from the ship. Phone calls from shore were not cheap either.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “This Picture Could Cause A Fuss” discussing a recent photo of the USS PROVIDENCE moored at the North Pole in open water.

The Horse’s Mouth has photos of what can happen when you fail to pay your slip fees at ‘Marina Del Ray’.

The Horse’s Mouth also has the biggest fishing story ever for this week’s edition of “Fish On Fridays.” And no, it didn’t come with a bikini.

Robin Storm - In Search of Severe Weather has “NOAA goes diving for U-boats in North Carolina“.

Molten Eagle has “The ‘Littorals’ - Part 1 - Submarines and Surface Craft” defining what the littoral zone is and where subs fit into it.

Houston Ship Channel Pilot / Photographer OneEighteen has a couple interesting photos taken while at work in “Lightning on Galveston Bay” and “Night Thunderstorm“. Sure thunderstorms are cool, but not as much when you are standing on a gasoline tanker loading cargo in Beaumont, Texas. And yes, they stop cargo ops for the storm, but it’s still not a comfortable felling out there. Oddly enough, I took comfort in the fact that my ship was old and made it that long through numerous storms without any problems.

Terra Daily has “Study: Falling icebergs harming ecosystem“.

Never Sea Land has video of “Orca plays with dog!“

Cruise Bruise covers a case in San Diego, California, where the harbor police rescued a harbor cruise entertainer who jumped overboard only to shoot him to death shortly thereafter as he violently attacked one of his saviors.

blue water: news of my escape has “coming down” as he runs into another member of crew that rubs him the wrong way. That’s never good, but worse so when you’re working on a small tug.

Maritime Compass has “Cooking for 100 aboard ship?” providing a link to a copy of a ‘General mess manual and cookbook for use on board vessels of the United States Navy (1904)’.

Courier Mail has “Anti-whaling flagship docks in friendly territory” as Sea Shepherd’s STEVE IRWIN arrives in Brisbane, Australia to refit for the next whaling season.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

USCG may not ignore right whales when designating routing measures - The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed a decision of the federal District Court that had sanctioned the failure by the US Coast Guard to consider the impact on the endangered North Atlantic right whales in its designation of ship routing schemes. Various environmental advocacy groups had brought suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for failure to issue an emergency rulemaking requiring ship speed reductions in waters frequented by the right whales and against the Coast Guard for failure to consider the impact on right whales in its designation of vessel routing measures under authority of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act. The District Court had granted motions for summary judgment in favor of the two agencies. The environmental advocacy groups appealed. The appellate court found that the failure of the Coast Guard to consider the impact on right whales in its designation of vessel routing measures constituted final agency action and was thus reviewable. It remanded the case to the District Court to review on the merits the allegations of the environmental advocacy groups regarding the Coast Guard’s responsibility to consider the impact on North Atlantic right whales in its designation of vessel routing measures. Defenders of Wildlife v. Gutierrez, No. 07-5278 (DC Cir., July 18, 2008). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

DOJ – company that managed Cosco Busan indicted - The Department of Justice issued a news release stating that the company that managed the COSCO BUSAN when it allided with a bridge abutment in San Francisco Bay on November 7, 2007 has been indicted for negligently causing the resulting oil spill, falsifying documents, and killing migratory birds. An indictment is merely an accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. (7/23/08). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Collision tug had no licensed master - NO LICENSED master was aboard the tug that was pushing the oil-laden barge cut in half on the Mississippi River at New Orleans, the US Coast Guard has learned. - Representatives of the DRD Towing tug Mel Oliver told the Coast Guard that one crewman aboard had an apprentice mate’s licence and that none of the others aboard was licensed at all.

The tug was pushing the American Commercial Line barge yesterday morning near the Crescent City Connection Bridge when the barge was struck by the Lauren Maritime-managed chemical tanker Tintomar, which was laden and headed downriver, at about 0130.

The barge spilled all of its nearly 1,400-tonne cargo of Number 6 fuel oil into the river, while the 46,733dwt Liberian-flagged tanker’s cargo of bio-diesel and styrene remained intact. According to the Coast Guard, the fuel oil is lighter than regular fuel oil and dissipates quickly, but miles of the river were closed.

About 13,700m of containment boom has been deployed on the river and another 8,840m will soon be deployed.

Neither injuries nor damage to wetlands have been reported. - 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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Welcome to this 120th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 70 here. (Published 6 August 2007)

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.

NOTE: gCaptain is Seeking an Engineer Blogger. So click on the link if interested.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos are a couple I have taken this last week while working in Zurich, Switzerland. Even though the country is landlocked, doesn’t mean that it does not have ships. As it so happens, Switzerland has one of the largest fleets of paddle steamers:

Switzerland has a large paddle steamer fleet, most of the “Salon Steamer-type” built by Sulzer in Winterthur or Escher-Wyss in Zürich. There are five active and one inactive on Lake Lucerne, two on Lake Zürich, and one each on Lake Brienz, Lake Thun and Lake Constance. Swiss company CGN operates a number of paddle steamers on Lake Geneva. Their fleet includes three converted to diesel electric power in the 1960s and five retaining steam. One, Montreux, was reconverted in 2000 from diesel to an all-new steam engine. It is the world’s first electronically remote-controlled steam engine and has operating costs similar to state of the art diesels, while producing up to 90 percent less air pollution. - Wikipedia

Lake Zurich side-wheeler

Lake Zurich Paddle Steamer underway

Docking the paddle steamer

Side-wheels

Lake Zurich Search and Rescue

Lake Lucerne - Another Great Lake for side-wheelers

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This Week’s Items:

Some former members of the US Merchant Marine Academy Offshore Sailing Team will remember sailing coach Chris Winter. I met up with him during my recent visit to Finland. He is off to the Olympics as the Head Coach for the Finnish National Sailing Team. (Feel free to share and let everyone know in the comments if you know of any other maritime industry folks headed to the Olympics.)

EagleSpeak has an update on the M/V LEHMANN TIMBER in “USS Momsen to the rescue“. Also check out “Somalia: Death by Piracy” as the pirates cut off the supply lines to the failed country despite UN attempts to keep them open.

Also check out EagleSpeak’s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: The Continuing Saga of J.H. Morrill“. This is great timing as I had just finished reading Mr. Morrill’s book on his escape to Australia after the fall of the Philippines. So this is a must-read for any one who enjoyed his book ‘South From Corregidor’.

gCaptain has exclusive video of an amazing new product “Golden Shellback Preview - Run Electronic Gear Underwater“. Go to minute 21 of the video and be amazed.

gCaptain also has an explanation of “Milestones In Ship Construction“.

euobserver has “EU to give extra cash to fishermen struggling with high oil prices“.

CNN has “Mexico seizes homemade sub carrying cocaine“.

BarentsObserver has “Russian sailors go abroad“.

Of the students studying in Russian maritime colleges, more than 90 percent go abroad to work. Now Russian authorities intend to make the sailors work for Russian companies.

Cruise Bruise has coverage of the detention of the cruise ship PACIFIC CLIPPER by the US Coast Guard as it was sinking-at-the-pier in “Cracked Hull Leaking Death Ship Was Headed To Venezuela With 1200 Aboard Until The USCG Stopped Her“. (OK, it wasn’t exactly sinking, but I doubt any of the passengers would have been comforted to find out that the crew had the flooding from the huge crack in the ship’s hull under control…)

Sea * Fever has “Has that SuperDuper yacht turtled? (Wall Street Journal)” with photos and well deserved criticism of Russian billionaire Andrey Melnichenko newest superyacht “A”. I recently posted about another example of ugly yacht syndrome in “Finland Gets an Ugly New Presidential Yacht“.

BitterEnd explains the reasoning behind deciding when to pass up some salvage/tow work in “Managing Risks“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “The Case Of The Rusty Assassin” covering the triple death in the chain locker of the supply vessel VIKING ISLAY. One died because the space lacked oxygen. The other two died because they went in after the victim without the proper equipment.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Shippers say job action slow SoCal port operations“.

Dockworkers at the nation’s largest port complex are continuing to take shift breaks at the same time and working at a slower pace, causing cargo traffic to slow down, a spokesman for the association representing West Coast shippers said Wednesday. The workers have been taking coordinated breaks every day since Friday and have taken other small job actions, Pacific Maritime Association spokesman Steve Getzug said. They include tractor drivers moving “more slowly than normal” and brief delays during the transferring of containers onto trucks or back on ships, he said.

MarEx Newsletter has “Officer Shortfalls Estimated at 34,000 and Rising“.

The July Edition of Marine Log is now available online.

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Popular Science has the very cool: “The Hyper-Sub - The first submersible speedboat transforms from wave rider to deep diver in seconds“.

[Continue Reading →]

Welcome to this 119th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 69 here. (Published 30 July 2007)

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 GPS Marine:

The General Port Services group (GPS) was founded in 1964 and has now developed into a diverse organisation covering all aspects of the marine industry.

The company’s commercial activities include a variety of floating plant, dredgers, tugs, barges and heavy lift equipment, all of which is available for employment throughout Europe and the UK. Our own fleet of tugs can be employed in coastal or international towage and are available to deliver marine plant to projects and assist on site in connection with your specific requirements.

In 2005 GPS founded a new company in Sliedrecht, The Netherlands to expand it’s business on the Continent.

Three floating sheerlegs and tugs are available to carry out heavy lift projects, salvage, wreck removal, marine demolition and diving activities.

An experienced team is available 24 hours per day to meet your expectations. - Link

Sheerleg GPS Atlas photographed installing the deckhouse onto the brand new cutter dredger TSHD ABUL at the Yard of IHC Sliedrecht. Photo’s © 2007: Hans de Jong Maritime Pictures

GPS Marine Services also lifted on july 6 a brandnew yacht from the shore at Krimpen aan den IJssel with 3 sheerlegs. Photo: GPS Marine Services.

GPS Marine shifted 2 cranes at the ports of Nantes and Saint Nazaire on request of Port Autonome Nantes-St. Nazaire. The request followed after the successful salvage of the MAN ship’s engine at Saint Nazaire. Photo: GPS Marine Services

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Inland Barge “Guan” lifted above the water (5) Photo’s: © 2006 Hans de Jong - Series of photos here

Their homepage can be found here.

More great photos can be found here and here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somalia: Ransom paid, ship and crew released” covering the ship LEHMANN TIMBER and “If it weren’t for bad luck, they’d have no luck at all…” as the ship then runs aground and is awaiting assistance.

Also check out EagleSpeak’s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Aiming the Ship’s Guns (IV): Analog Computers“.

gCaptain has a really bad move by NOAA in “NOAA To Make Surface Chart Cutback” as they plan to cut back the area covered on one of their charts to exclude most of the offshore area.

gCaptain also has the very dramatic and detailed “The Secrets Behind Cruise Ship Cutaway Illustrations“. In short, they are building the ship in the computer from scratch. Really interesting.

The Journal of Commerce has “Searching for solutions - NOL’s Widdows says additional capacity for exports must await renewed growth of imports“.

“The problem isn’t boxes,” he said. “If I suddenly got 10 times more equipment in North America, exporters might get boxes, but they’re not going to get more space on ships. The problem is vessel capacity, and the capacity is what it is because the inbound market has turned negative in terms of growth.”

He said carrier capacity in the Pacific is driven by the more lucrative import market, and that export volume alone can’t justify investment in new services.

What’s needed is a ship that can carry containers in one direction and containers and bulk in another, since a good part of the demand for export is for grain, hay, waste paper and other low-value bulk cargo that does not need to go into a container.

Lloyd’s List notes a shift from containers in “US container shortage forces chicken reefer switch“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Takeover trial” noting Germany’s all of a sudden problem with takeovers now that one of their own lines, Hapag-Lloyd, has become the target instead of the buyer.

Marine Link has “Last Liberty Ship Departs James River Reserve Fleet“. The ship is the ARTHUR M. HUDDELL which will ultimately end up in Greece.

Tims Times gets a fresh fish dinner courtesy of some of the crew taking advantage of a little time at anchor.

Mr. Boat Blog has “The Frisian Solar Challenge for boats.“.

Information Dissemination has a rumor that a shipbuilding program is going to be cut short in “DDG-1000 Hits an Iceberg, Taking on Water“. The rumor mentions bringing back construction of new DDG-51 class Destroyers….

Kennebec Captain has a detailed post on how he handles “Planning Fuel Requirements“.

Robin Storm - In Search of Severe Weather has “New Wind Measurement Technology May Help Olympic Sailing, Aviation and Weather Forecasting“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has the bizarre “Ship’s Cat Thrown Into River“. The ship is the UK’s HMS BELFAST. They are looking for two girls and a boy (teenagers) and if they manage to find them, I think a fitting punishment would be to toss them into the Thames as well.

Bloomberg has “Newcastle Port Coal Ship Loading Halted by Protesters“. Apparently, this is the new tactic that the global warming alarmists are going to take, disrupting the supply of energy. Or at least attempting to.

AP has “13,000 Japanese protest US nuclear carrier“. The carrier is the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON which will be home-ported at the Port of Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo.

AFP has “Polish shipyard workers protest EU ultimatum“.

MarineBuzz has interesting notes in “High Time for Philippine Coast Guard to Take Corrective Actions“.

MarineBuzz also has “Kenichi Horie and Wave Powered Suntory Mermaid II Set Record in Pacific Ocean“. Rowing all of a sudden seems pointless, at least as long as the seas are not flat.

blue water: news of my escape posts photos from his tug the KATHLEEN TURECAMO.

EU Referendum has “A chilling tale from North” covering the news that the Arctic ice cap has failed to melt as quickly as expected.

idredge has “First video of world’s biggest dredger “Cristobal Colón”” as it is launched.

syracuse.com has a photo and story of “Turbines approach CNY on Erie Canal” with one of the largest shipments to use the canal in recent years.

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BarentsObserver has “Russia’s biggest sub ready for scrapping“. It’s a TK-13 Typhoon-class nuclear submarine and we (the US) are helping pay to dismantle it.

Lloyd’s List has “Hong Kong’s new cruise terminal hits delays“.

Cargonews Asia has “It’s bargain basement time on Asia-Europe” noting low container rates in the trade route despite ships sailing mostly full.

Blueflipper has “Looters heading for Greece” as it’s shoreline is opened to divers.

Never Sea Land has photos of “Birth of a marina“.

Molten Eagle has “Novel Approach to Anti-Submarine Warfare - AUNs“. Of course its novel, now.

MarEx Newsletter has “Coming Into U.S. Port With False Oil Record Book is a Crime“.

The Mission to Seafarers has their July-October issue of FLYING ANGEL NEWS available for download. (PDF Link)

TheNational has “The angel of the high seas” covering Fujairah’s seaman’s center service boat, the FLYING ANGEL which visits ships where seaman have little chance of getting ashore.

YLE has “Finnish Navy Marks 90th Anniversary“.

Anchorage Daily News has “Commercial fishermen face burdensome new rules” and it is not just griping by the industry either. Take this one example:

By September, any water running off the decks will be considered “incidental discharge” — if the Clean Boating Act gets the nod from Congress.

“Hosing off your recreational or fishing boat would be subject to EPA regulation and permitting. We don’t think this makes sense,” said Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, adding that it also applies to bilge water, cooling water and ballast discharges.

All recreational boaters are lined up to get a pass on the EPA permits, but not America’s small fishing boats. Murkowski is taking heat from the huge sport-boat lobby for holding up the bill last week.

“We’ve got some 9,700 vessels in the Alaska fleet, predominately small boats with an average length of 36 feet. I think it is absolutely appropriate that if we exclude recreational vessels, as I believe that we should, that it is reasonable to also provide for permit relief for the smaller commercial vessels,” she said in a phone interview.

The Marine Exchange of Alaska calls it “a nightmare for anyone who operates a watercraft, from a 950-foot container ship to a 14-foot outboard.”

Cal Maritime. Follow The Voyage 2008 uploads a copy of the ship’s daily paper, the Bear’s Tales. The only thing I found interesting in Friday’s edition was that they show movies on three channels in the evening, and you can check out the ECDIS on ‘channel 16′.

Tugster has great photos of the Eisenhower Lock in “Seawaymax” as the ATLANTIC HURON and ALGOPORT squeeze through with little room to spare.

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International Trade Law News has the US “Court of International Trade Dismisses Harmonized Tariff Schedule Gender Discrimination Case“.

On July 3, 2008, the U.S. Court of International Trade (CIT) denied Totes-Isotoner Corporation’s (”Totes”) claim alleging that the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTSUS) violated the equal protection and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution by setting higher duty rates on men’s gloves than women’s gloves.

Skipper’s Scrivenings takes the USNS MERCY south of the Equator in “Neptunus Rex” on their way to East Timor.

Inhabitant has images of the art exhibit “FLOODED LONDON Depicts Life After Global Warming“.

Inhabitat also has cools photos of a “SHIPPING CONTAINER PLAYGROUND“.

The Age (Australia) has “Container home plan would lead to ghettos, says critic“.

The Wall Street Journal has “Ship Shape: Ports Spearhead Drive to Clean Up Shipping“.

Chron.com has “Storm signals fly over old ship - Galveston tries not to take sides on bid to relocate Battleship Texas“. The ship is located in La Porte. I spent my 21st birthday there. Never made it to the battleship though.

The Boston Globe has “World’s fastest cargo ship is tugged slowly out of dry dock” including video as the USNS CAPELLA leaves drydock after some hull cleaning.

The LA Times’s Greenspace has “Black cloud over estimates of tugboat, cargo ship soot“.

Bellona has good news in “Russian floating nuclear plant builder Sevmash diverting cash to other projects“.

ST. PETERSBURG - The construction of the Russia’s first floating nuclear power plant, the Mikhail Lomonosov, has been ceased because its main contractor – the Sevmash factory - spent the money earmarked for the plant on other project, and have not even begun the realisation of the floating nuclear facility, sources at the plant told Bellona Web.

Shirlaw News Group has “Grim toll of African refugees mounts on Spanish beaches“.

Offshore Magazine has “World’s largest LNG vessel named“. The ship’s name is MOZAH.

BitterEnd explains the difference in “Towing vs Salvage“.

BitterEnd also has the “BitterEnd Burgee Contest” with a prize.

Professional Mariner has “Toxic gas leaks from ship at Corpus Christi; 30 people exposed“.

Life at SEA has “OFFICER SHORTAGE DRIVES INITIATIVE FOR QUALITY“.

IMC Brokers has video: “Is it a Plane? Is it a Boat?“.

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has news of a job opening with a one-year contract: “Doctor Needed For Pitcairn Island“.

My life at sea has a photo of the top of a drill pipe they removed from the ocean floor in “Bottom of tree where we had to cut 1.5″ steel casing and mutiple pipes inside.“.

Hellenic Shipping News has the “80th anniversary of Maersk Line“.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

UK – report on fatal confined space entry - The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) issued the report of its investigation of work undertaken in a dangerous enclosed/confined space and the consequent attempted rescue on board an offshore supply vessel resulting in the loss of three lives off the East Yorkshire coast on 23 September 2007. One crewmember entered the chain locker to do some work and collapsed. The crewmember standing by raised the alarm, entered the chain locker, and also collapsed. A third crewmember donned an Emergency Escape Breathing Device (EEBD) before entering the chain locker. The EEBD became dislodged and the third crewmember collapsed. All three died. There was a failure to recognize that the atmosphere in the chain locker could become oxygen-deficient over time and appropriate precautions were not taken. Report No. 12/2008 (7/9/08). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

MARAD – ISO Superintendent for USMMA - The Maritime Administration (MARAD) is in search of a new Superintendent for the US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) located at Kings Point, New York. Pay starts at $114,468. The job comes with housing and with reserved seats at all Academy football games. MARAD-SES-2008-03 (7/9/08). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Yard spying evidence mounts - BUSAN prosecutors say they have sufficient evidence to charge a Chinese surveyor with illegally obtaining shipbuilding technology from a South Korean shipyard.

According to a statement from prosecutors obtained by Fairplay 24, the Chinese citizen known only as ‘Mr J’ stole “core technology” while stationed as a ship surveyor at the yard on behalf of a Chinese shipping company that had ordered container ships.

The prosecutor’s office, which said today that it has completed its investigation, added that the suspect is from an unnamed American classification society and that 1,500 files with information relating to vital technology for construction of LNG carriers and drill ships had been downloaded into a notebook computer last year.

‘Mr J’ was arrested just before he was about to leave the country. Prosecutors have revealed two other instances of what they termed illegal downloads relating to construction of LPG carriers and large product tankers.

But they are not pursuing those cases because the two Chinese ciitzens involved were operating from China and Hong Kong at that time. - 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.

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Welcome to this 118th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 68 here. (Published 23 July 2007)

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 U.S. Shipping Partners:

U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. is a leading provider of long-haul marine transportation services, principally for refined petroleum products in the U.S. Jones Act trade. We are also a leading provider of coastwise transportation of petrochemical and commodity chemical products.

Our existing fleet consists of eleven vessels; six integrated tug barge units (“ITBs”); one product tanker; three chemical parcel tankers; and one articulated tug barge unit (“ATB”). With the addition of a series of ATB units currently under construction, we are adding double-hull newbuilds to our fleet that will serve customers in both the refined petroleum product and chemical markets. U.S. Shipping Partners L.P. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol “USS”. - Link

ITB MOBILE tug separated from the barge

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Launch of ATB GALVESTON

ITB BALTIMORE

The MV Baltimore arrived in the port of Nampo, North Korea, on Sunday, carrying 37,000 tons of bulk US wheat as part of a major expansion of international aid. (Associated Press/WFP/Lena Savelli) - The Boston Globe

Reuters has a video report “UN steps up aid to North Korea” with video of the ITB BALTIMORE discharging aid cargo.

The Boston Globe has “US ships food aid to North Korea“.

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somalia: Pirates Don’t Care About UN“.

Also check out EagleSpeak’s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Tank Landing Ships (I)“.

gCaptain has the map: “Google Earth - Pirate Attacks World Wide“.

gCaptain also has interesting sailor trivia in “Nautical Star Tattoos“.

Miami Herald has “100 firefighters put out blaze on cargo ship“. The ship was the M/V ATLANTIC loading all sorts of cargo bound for Haiti. For every seaman who took firefighting and had to hear about putting out a mattress fire, her you go, the cargo included mattresses. (Mattress fires are difficult to extinguish.)

The Journal of Commerce has “Overboard! Search continues for ways to reduce the number of containers falling off ships“.

In 2006 and 2007, there were “significant” incidents where at least 36 ships lost a total of more than 1,600 boxes overboard. The full extent of the problem is unclear because there’s no central repository for the data, and many ship lines understandably aren’t eager to publicize lost containers.

The Telegraph (UK) has “Drunk Swede tried to row home from Denmark“. The title sounds more dramatic than it really was as he did make it halfway through the three mile trip before deciding to take a nap. Of more interest was that the guy was 78 years old. Janus at The Telegraph has commentary why this can’t happen to Danes in “Swedes, booze and boats“

Robin Storm - In Search of Severe Weather has “Extreme Ocean Storms Have Become More Frequent Over Past Three Decades, Study Of Tiny Tremors Shows“

The Jersey Journal has “Bayonne dry dock worker burned“. He was working on the USNS DAHL.

Skipper’s Scrivenings (USNS MERCY) has “Last Day in Nha Trang” Vietnam. They saw over 11,000 patients.

Tims Times comments on ship chandlers in “Ship swindler“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook celebrates the blog’s first birthday (Congrats!) and has VHF radio follies in “Yacht Jams Communications, Europe Cut Off“.

Sea * Fever has the video presentation “Surfing the Amazon River“.

American Shipper has “West Coast dockers’ contract expires, talks continue“.

BitterEnd notes “JULY 4th: DEADLIEST BOATING HOLIDAY” and provide interesting details that all small boaters should review.

Life at SEA has “Hundred Years of SOS : At a glance.“.

Information Dissemination has “China Cruises the East China Sea“.

Kennebec Captain docks and loads cars in “Mumbai part two“.

Ekathimerini has “Ferry crew provide differing accounts“. They are the crew of the ferry THEOPHILOS which ran aground recently forcing evacuation of the passengers.

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Net News Publisher has “Flags of Convenience Fly in Face of Fisheries Protection“.

Real and Present Danger: Flag State Failure and Maritime Security and Safety, a joint WWF and International Transport Workers’ Federation study, found ships under flags of convenience were also involved in piracy, people trafficking and arms smuggling.

“Many of the thousands of ships plying the world’s oceans are effectively without nationality, their owners operating under a veil of corporate secrecy and anonymity within a system that allows them to easily evade international laws and regulations,” said the report’s author, independent consultant Matthew Gianni.

Does anyone have any doubt that this is the only outcome an ITF study was going to report? You can find a copy of the report here on the WWF website. Here is a profile of ‘independent’ author/consultant Matthew Gianni:

Matthew Gianni is an independent advisor and advocate for ocean conservation based in the Netherlands. He is a co-founder of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition – a coalition of 60 NGOs, conservation and fishers organizations worldwide formed to promote UN General Assembly action to protect deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems – and serves as the Political Advisor to the coalition. He is also an advisor to IUCN and the EU’s Hermes Project and is a member of the Executive Committee of the North Sea Regional Advisory Council and the Steering Committee of the Global Oceans Forum. Mr. Gianni regularly speaks on marine conservation issues at a variety of international fora, including annual meetings of the United Nations General Assembly oceans working group (UNICPOLOS); the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament; and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has actively participated in international negotiations at the UN General Assembly, the UN FAO, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development. Mr. Gianni coordinated international campaigns against high seas driftnet fishing, unsustainable shrimp aquaculture, and ‘pirate’ or flag of convenience fishing while a campaigner and then Director of the Greenpeace International Oceans Campaign. He also worked as a commercial fisherman, becoming an environmental activist to successfully to oppose a major dredge disposal project along the central coast of California. Mr. Gianni has been quoted in numerous news publications including BBC World, CNN, New York Times, Le Monde, Financial Times, Guardian, Estado de Sao Paulo, Asahi Shimbun, Reuters and AP. - Link

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Bellona has “In new AMEC twist, Russia offering to scrap aged British nuke subs“. Yes, like they have a great track record dismantling their own subs.

delawareonline has “Bananas stolen from Port of Wilmington“.

Less than two weeks after two trailers and a tractor carrying 57,000 pounds of chicken were stolen from the Food Bank of Delaware, two trailers full of bananas have been taken from the Port of Wilmington. Police say the bananas are valued at $40,000.

Shirlaw News Group has “38 dead after ferry sinks in cyclone-battered Burmese delta“.

Maritime Global Net has news of “THREE ORDERS FOR SKYSAILS“.

Steeljaw Scribe has “The Next USS America: LHA-6” as the US Navy names it’s newest Amphibious Assault Ship.

Never Sea Land has video of the Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten in “Serious fun…“. Yep, I miss racing. Although my favorite was Block Island Race Week.

Freaque Waves has impressive video of “4D ocean wave measurement“.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has submarine man overboard stories in his post and many more posted in the comments.

ExpressIndia has “India to get Russian nuclear submarine after 17 yr wait“.

India Daily has an editorial on India’s other yet-to-be-delivered naval asset in “India should stop wasting money – Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov no worth $2 billion – who to blame for the mess? How much are kickbacks?“.

Pat Dollard has “U.S. Navy Won’t Let Iran Shut Gulf, Will Defend Ships“.

MarEx Newsletter has “Idle Thoughts Before the Holiday Weekend: two steps forward, one back - STCW: It’s not just a pipe dream anymore…” as part of Joseph Keefe’s mission to get STCW Certified after being ashore for about 20 years.

MarEx Newsletter also has the to be expected “Protecting the Jones Act is Rallying Call at MM&P Convention“. What is their plan for protecting the Jones Act? Getting Obama elected President of course. I just don’t see the good Senator doing much to help you if you end up being captured by pirates. (Then again, there is probably not a whole lot of Jones Act trade off Somalia.) I guess they don’t think opening more of the US coast to offshore oil drilling will create any more jobs for seafarers. At least not union jobs. (A discussion of the two candidates is probably worth it’s own post.)

FINNJETweb has photos of the GTS FINNJET beached at Alang, India, ready for scrapping after failing to find a buyer for the ship. Another good photo can be found at Helsingin Sanomat here.

Neptunus Lex has a photo of some of the newest to enter the US Naval Academy in “Keeping the pump primed“.

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The BBC has “Stolen war plaque cut into four“.

The BBC also has “Ghost ship firm to scrap carrier” as Able UK prepares to dismantle the French aircraft carrier Clemenceau. An initial attempt to scrap the ship in India failed.

The Monitor has “Two for me, one for me” covering the issue of pay based on your nationality and where you live.

Operators of UK-registered ships do not discriminate on any grounds other than nationality/domicile nor in any other way than pay.

So they only discriminate a little? People with the same license should get the same pay. Then on top of that, those living in more expensive jurisdictions should get a cost of living adjustment if they want to recognize the variation in cost of living in different countries. Of course, this means a pay-raise for those living in the third world. That’s OK, because they are the ones earning the least, so it will cost companies the least. Then again, you can’t really go and cut anyone else’s salary, since this is an issue of third-world seafarers getting a lower salary.

The June edition of Marine Log is online:

chron.com has “Remnants of ghost ships for sale“. You can find ESCO Marine’s website here.

MarineBuzz has “Weekend Fact: Wine goes Green and Cheap” and “World:Top Ten Container Ports of 2006“.

The Manila Times has “Why Sulpicio Lines gets away with its wake of deaths and disasters“.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has extreme funding problems for the Philippine Coast Guard in “The Curse of Can Do is Bilingual“.

blue water: news of my escape has “new views” as he signs on the tug KATHLEEN TURECAMO as a deckhand.

Mr. Boat Blog has a photo of a “Monster crab with claws the size of a man’s hand.” Be sure to follow the link to the main story which has more photos.

The Horse’s Mouth has a chart of “The Earth Before 1492.“

Without linking to any specific post: The Maritime Antiques Blog.

The April edition of SHIPS and SHIPPING (Baird-Online, Australia) has been posted online.

Also available are AUSMARINE and Work Boat World.

this is hampshire.net has “The next generation of superliners“.

CNN has “Offshore oil drilling: An early jump in Florida“.

IMC Brokers has video of close quarters “Dredger maneuvering“.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Dioryx Maritime receives MV Argolikos, first ever container ship to be made in Philippines“.

Cal Maritime. Follow The Voyage 2008 has “Many Backgrounds - One Crew” noting that the training ship also has cadets from the Texas Maritime Academy (over 100) and Massachusetts Maritime Academy. (I don’t think I was ever at sea on a ship with more than 3 cadets.)

Professional Mariner has “Gaining real-world skills at SUNY’s Maritime College” on the school’s training ship, the EMPIRE STATE VI

intheboatshed.net has photos: “Oldest complete steamship SS Robin is demasted and towed away for restoration“.

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “Cambodia’s Only Private Island Resort“.

Lloyd’s List has “Maersk orders 16 biggest ever reefer boxships“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog covers the popularity of ‘blank check’ companies for maritime acquisitions in “Cheque mates“.

Flickr has photos of the USS PUEBLO in North Korea.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

CBP – ship deserter apprehended - The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a news release stating that it apprehended a ship deserter at the Rainbow Bridge border crossing in Niagara Falls, New York. The individual, a Turkish national, had been refused entry into Canada and attempted to return to the United States. Detailed examination revealed that he last entered the United States at Houston Seaport on as a crewmember on a foreign ship. He failed to depart with the ship. He is now being held in a detention facility pending removal. (6/26/08). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Union anger over yard privatisation - Unions in Gdansk have claimed Poland’s restructuring plans for two Polish shipyards are invalid because they were not consulted over the plans.

On 26 June Poland offered the EC two rival plans – one from the Ukrainian ISD and another from the domestic Polish Shipbuilding Company – for the privatisation of Gdynia shipyard. Vice-treasury minister Zdzislaw Gawlik told the Polish press that ISD’s offer, which would merge Gdansk shipyard with Gdynia and limit production capacity, was the better of the two. - Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

ECDIS becomes mandatory - MANDATORY carriage of ECDIS is to become a reality, following agreements reached at the Nav 54 meeting at the IMO on 2 July.

The precise wording of the proposed amendments to Solas remains to be worked out, but the main points have been agreed as a recommendation to MSC 85 later in the year. The industry is being given a long lead time to get used to the idea of ECDIS carriage, with first effective date falling on 1 July 2012. From then onwards, all new passenger ships of 500gt and above and tankers of 3,000gt and above built for international voyages will be required to carry ECDIS. The precise details of the ship categories and exemptions are still being resolved, but the Nav 54 delegates were unanimous in their decision that ECDIS should become mandatory. - 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 -