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Welcome to this 130th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 80 here. (Published 15 October 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 the Dutch company SMIT:

SMIT has a proud tradition of more than 165 years of service in the maritime sector. The company has earned an excellent reputation by combining expertise and experience with high-quality materials and equipment in the nearly 50 locations around the world where SMIT is active. SMIT aims to provide its services in the main to shipping companies, producers in the oil and LNG industries, insurers and governments. SMIT maintains the highest standards in respect of Safety, Health, the protection of the Environment and Quality.

SMIT’s services are divided into four Divisions:
1. SMIT Harbour Towage: harbour towage services and related maritime services.

2. SMIT Terminals: towage services and related maritime and management services to offshore and onshore terminals.

3. SMIT Salvage: salvage, wreck removal, environmental protection and consultancy.

4. SMIT Transport & Heavy Lift: chartering, barge rental & transport, ocean, coastal and river towage, heavy lifting and marine support to a variety of civil and offshore projects.

SMIT CLYDE - Tug details (PDF Link)

’Smit Port Said’ and ’Smit Damietta’

Towage FPSO SSP PIRANEMA

TWIN STAR

SELENDANG AYU - off Western Unalaska Island

Smit’s website on the TRICOLOR Wreck Removal: TRICOLOR SALVAGE

Removal of a section of the car carrier TRICOLOR

Their homepage can be found here. There is lots more located on their website.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Think tank says, “Somali pirates threaten world trade”“.

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak’s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Mutiny on the Columbia Eagle” as two crewmen hijack the ship and take it to Cambodia in an attempt to prevent the cargo from reaching US Forces fighting in Vietnam.

gCaptain has “Coming Ashore? 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do When Interviewing” and “gCaptain News - Announcing The New Discoverer“.

Last week I commented about the TWIC Program:

I am now convinced that this program is not much more than busy work to drain the wallets of seafarers and port workers as well as to be used as a whacking stick against the same persons later on. Anyone agree? Disagree? Was this a total overreaction to port security?

Over at the gCaptain Maritime Forum ’stellarseas has asked “TWIC whats it good for?” noting that it appears that Port Security in the US  are unfamiliar with TWIC cards, often demanding other forms of identification instead. Others have commented on similar experiences.

Helsingin Sanomat has photos: “Demolition of GTS Finnjet is well under way in India“.

The Astute Bloggers has “AFRO-MUSLIM PIRACY AND AMERICA: IT AIN’T NEW“.

Flopping Aces has “Euro taskforce declares war on Somali pirates“.

The Two Malcontents has “First Test for AFRICOM: To Whom do the Tanks Belong?“. Could it be that out of all the ships currently held by the pirates, at least two of them are involved in transport of questionable/illegal cargo/weapons? Were they lucky picks or is this a sign of a much bigger problem than piracy?

Lou Minatti has photos: “Ike damage to a rig“.

Tugster has photos of the return of the Aircraft Carrier INTREPID to its newly renovated berth in Manhattan.

Sea * Fever has the show Mega movers video documenting the attempts to get the Aircraft Carrier INTREPID out of her berth in “USS Intrepid: On the Move“.

MarineBuzz has “Sealegs Amphibious Boats: Speed Boat Parks Like a Car on Land“. OK, that’s cool. Go check out the photos.

MarineBuzz also has “Ship to Shore Ultrasound Telemedicine: Successful Trials by Using Inmarsat“.

American Shipper has “Container terminals get some breathing room“.

Neptunus Lex has the report and fallout of the fire on the Aircraft Carrier GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Professional Mariner has “Fish processor loses propeller, is ordered to return to Dutch Harbor“. Lucky for all that the ship had at least two screws. Of interest is that the ship, the U.S. LIBERATOR, failed to report the casualty for a couple days.

The Merchant Marine Express is standing six-on, six-off watches in “Destination: Algiers in New Orleans,LA“. That’s still better than 8 on, 4 off!!!

Merchant Marine Express might want to wave to HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb when he gets to the Mighty Mississippi as he has been at anchor for 17 days (as of 1 October): “Stir not-so-crazy“.

OPFOR has “Or, We Could Kill All The Pirates“. (found via Consul-At-Arms)

Furthermore, what a great way to (re)instill the fighting spirit in our junior naval officers and seamen? Get ‘em away from an ennervating preoccupation with safety, paperwork and risk aversion.

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The Mail (UK) has photos “Mind the gap! The world’s biggest cruise ship squeezes out of dock and sets sail“. The ship is the CELEBRITY SOLSTICE.

MarineLog has “Austal USA launches second Hawaii Superferry” and “Gustav found one gap in marine industry hurricane preparation“.

EUobserver has “Polish senator attacks Lisbon treaty over shipyard row“.

The senator said German influence might stand behind the European Commission’s hostility to Poland’s ship-building yards in Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin, with German competitors in Rostock and Straslund in line to pick up contracts from potential Polish closures.

Israellycool has some Gaza blockade runners for sale in “Free Gaza’s Sure Fire Plan to Raise Money“.

Japan Probe has “GSDF destroyers as security for luxury cruise ships?“. Seems not to make sense to have the Japanese travel so far, and it seems to not have made sense to the decision-makers in the end.

Cape Town Daily Photo has “American aircraft carrier in Cape Town” and “It’s whale season in Cape Town“.

Coast Guard Journal (Official USCG site) has for their series ‘Arctic Journal Series - CGC Healy’ “Working with the Canadians, Eh.“

The U.S. and Canadian coast guards have a long history of cooperation. On the Great Lakes, the buoy tending and icebreaking duties are divided up based upon logical geography, rather than national boundaries. U.S. icebreakers escort Canadian ships, and Canadian icebreaker escort U.S. ships. In the Arctic, the Canadian Coast Guard conducts the icebreaking for resupply of Thule Air Force Base, Greenland. In return, the U.S. provides icebreaker support for Canadian missions in the Western Arctic. Together, we use our combined resources much more efficiently and effectively. Ship transits are significantly reduced, putting the icebreakers of both nations on-station longer.

For all this social networking the Coast Guard is working towards, how about a RSS feed for this journal…

Robin Storm - In Search of Severe Weather has for his maritime note “The New Maritime Arctic“. (scroll down to the maritime note story)

Her Captain’s Voice has “Indigenous Aircraft Carrier comes to light” as India prepares to build a carrier at home. Guess getting carriers from Russia is not the deal they originally thought it was.

Information Dissemination has Russia’s carrot in “Russia Gets Smart on Ukraine” as they offer to provide shipyard orders for new aircraft carriers.

This is a very effective way for Russia to drop a smart bomb on the Ukraine. The economic carrot is always better than the military stick.

Space War has “France To Help Brazil Build First Latin American Nuclear Sub“.

Skipper’s Scrivenings makes a final post in “…and home!“

080925-N-3570S-024 SAN DIEGO (Sept. 15, 2008) The Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) arrives at Naval Station San Diego after a four-month deployment participating in Pacific Partnership 2008. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jeremy M. Starr (Released) - Navy Newsstand

BitterEnd has “2007 Boating Accident Stats“.

CDR Salamander has “The Fleet LT speaks” commenting on what some consider ‘unflattering’ uniforms for female sailors.

Cargo Law has a photo “Gridlock - Venezuela - Loaded Containers Head For The Out-Gate Vs. Empty Chassis At The In-Gate“. What a mess. Kind of defeats some of the benefits of containerization.

Kennebec Captain has “Back in Jebel Ali - Port congestion“.

Offshore Magazine has “End of an era in the North Sea“.

For those of us who remember the announcement of Ekofisk as the first oil discovery in the North Sea, watching the ongoing removal of the Ekofisk complex holds more than a touch of nostalgia. Phillips was the first to discover oil in the North Sea with its eighth well in an eight-well program. That came at a time when many prominent geologists still believed there were absolutely no hydrocarbons to be found in the North Sea. Ekofisk was a true breaktrough.

Shirlaw News Group has “Three die in Ukrainian ship’s wreck in Georgian seaport” noting that despite the worst intentions of the Russian military to sink and steal all the ships of the Georgian Coast Guard, they still remain a functioning organization, responding to the sinking.

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Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog comments on the lack of concern for the over 200 seafarers currently held by Somali pirates in “Out of sight, out of mind“.

Lloyd’s List has “Asia-Europe box rates plummet to new lows“.

A 20 ft container could now be shipped from Hong Kong to Hamburg for as little as $350, excluding surcharges, compared with around $1,400 per teu last summer.

Lloyd’s List also has “Higher crew wages drive up operating costs“.

China Confidential has “US Coast Guard Sees Rising Threat From Semi-Subs“.

PR-Inside has “Kenya police finally detain Somalia pirates main broker“.

A little unknown self styled East Africa Seafarer’s Assistance Program founded by its head Andrew Mwangura, a former seaman has for the past decade been the only source of contact for shipping companies in the event of a hijacked ship off Somalia.

Seems that the Kenyan Government was fine with the arrangement as long as they got a cut of every ransom paid. Unfortunately, the pirates grabbed the MV FAINA with its cargo of tanks and weapons which might implicate the Kenyan Government in arms trafficking.

The Mainichi Daily News has “Mischievous monkey captured after chase aboard ship at Fukui port“. Wasn’t there a movie about a monkey off a cargo ship causing a disease Outbreak?

Dailypress.com has “‘It’s tough’ | Traveling the globe six months at a time“.

Chaotic Synaptic Activity is now up to part XI of his “19 Years Ago - Life at Sea” as he covers his ships return to the Naval Port of Charleston in the wake of Hurricane Hugo. It is tough having to take care of hurricane damage to your property knowing that in a couple weeks you are heading back out to sea.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Cargo transport moving towards containerization“. It makes sense since much cargo is transported over multiple modes of transportation and taking cargo off a ship and throwing it onto a train is much easier when it is in a container. Items traditionally not seen as container cargo are also now ending up stuffed in them as well.

The Herald (Australia) has “Alarm raised over boating beacons” as the US gets ready to kill the monitoring of 121.5 megahertz EPIRBs, which will render all of them around the world dangerous paperweights. The story mentions that there are over 150,000 of them in Australia alone, so check your EPIRB.

Pat Dollard has “WWII Sunken Sub Found By Commander’s Sons“.

Pacific Magazine has “Tax Break Extended For American Samoa Tuna Canneries” (as part of the $700 billion rescue package) and “Fisheries Committee Backs Tonga’s Call For Sanctions Against Taiwan Fishing Boat“.

Coast Guard Report has “We’re right about the NSC and the CG is in full damage control“.

AN UNOFFICIAL COAST GUARD BLOG has “Why Counterintelligence is Important to the Coast Guard“.

When Colombian authorities boarded a ship in January 2006, they found more than just narcotics. They also discovered a map with crucial information: the current locations of Colombian and United States Navy and Coast Guard patrol boats.

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “Sanda Island” in Scotland. It is for sale for about $6 million. The island comes complete with its own lighthouse and pub.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Coast Guard Repatriates 142 Haitian Migrants“.

Maritime Compass links to a podcast which goes “On patrol with the Canadian Navy“.

Greenpeace has “Blacklist launched to combat pirate fishing“. The blacklist homepage: Blacklist.Greenpeace

The Monitor Notes the UN’s Memorial to the “Wife of the Seafarer“.

Life of a Sea Wife has to deal with being the “The Stay at Home Seawife“.

Bills of lading has photos: “Surrounded by Sharks“.

BarentsObserver has “The last day of a nuclear-powered icebreaker” and “Nuclear-powered cruiser ready for new fuel“. The icebreaker is the 33 year-old ARKTIKA and the cruiser is the ADMIRAL NAKHIMOV which has been waiting to be refueled since 1999.

Never Sea Land has “Maltese Falcon arrives in SF Bay“.

Network World has a theft at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC “System administrator steals almost 20,000 pieces of computer gear“. He was stealing for ten years.

The Journal of Commerce has “Ports ready to enforce clean-trucks plan“.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Starting Wednesday, all pre-1989 trucks will be banned from the harbor and motor carriers must display concessionaire stickers on their vehicles when they call at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

TSA – TWIC update - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued an update to its status report on the implementation of the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program. The TWIC Dashboard shows that (as of 26 September) 527,820 maritime workers have enrolled for a TWIC and that 347,876 cards have been activated. Note: The US Coast Guard continues to insist that it will commence enforcement of the TWIC program on 15 October in New England. While there are indications that maritime workers in New England have a higher participation rate than the national average, there will still be a significant shortfall when enforcement commences. There are rumors that the Coast Guard intends to exercise a broad range of enforcement measures as it considers appropriate, ranging from warnings to directing the shutdown of facilities that are seriously out of compliance. Fasten your seatbelts. We are in for a bumpy ride. (9/26/08). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

THREE separate branches of the US military combined over the weekend to rescue two injured seafarers.

The crewmen were aboard the Panama-flagged bulker Occam’s Razor as it cruised 750 n-miles north of Saipan. The US Coast Guard on Guam received a radio call on Friday from the master of the 144,348dwt vessel, asking for help as two of his crew had been badly injured when cargo shifted. But the vessel was out of the Coast Guard’s rescue range, so a para-rescue US Air Force team was sent on Saturday aboard a long-range aircraft from Kadena Air Force Base in Japan.

Six of them parachuted to the deck of Occam’s Razor and tended to the crewmen.

The victims needed further care, so two US Navy helicopters were dispatched from Guam on Sunday to rendezvous with the bulker, which was making top speed to an arranged meeting point 150 n-miles from Saipan.

The crewmen were lifted to the helicopters but not before one went into heart failure, requiring 70 minutes of CPR from one of the jumpers to revive him.

The two were then transferred to the US Naval Hospital on Guam, where they are being treated today. - Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Seafarer shortage hits shore jobs - THE SEAFARER shortage has now fed its way through to a serious shortfall in staff on shore, Bob Bishop, CEO of shipmanagement at V. Ships, said today.

Speaking at the ITIC forum in London, Bishop said the concern is being exacerbated by lack of experienced ship officers.

“Fewer young people are going to sea, and those at sea make enough money to leave earlier,” he told delegates. “A decade ago officers left for sea with 15 years’ experience – but now that’s down to 7½ years.”

Other problems are unrealistic promotion expectations and a lack of rule compliance among seafarers, he warned: “We can no longer rely on the fact that seafarers have gained sufficient experience at sea.”

Among the sectors with an experience shortage is surveying, especially when supervising newbuilding projects at Asian yards, he added. - 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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The economy may not be on the upswing in my hometown of New York City but Moscow is another story. The city that’s home to the largest number of Billionaires will soon be home to the world’s most impressive private ship. Yes, at 550 feet this private Yacht is the size of a ship and significantly more impressive than the owner’s current vessel Pelorus and the current world record holder, the state owned vessel Dubai.  Gizmodo tells us;

Russian billionaire and Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich is building a $400 million mega-yacht. Yawn, you say? You have two? OK, well, this yacht has its own submarine. And armor plating with bulletproof glass. And little boats that fit inside the bigger boat. And a frickin’ missile defense system that will alert he and his crew of 70 former SAS soldiers that there be pirates in those waters. It should be noted that Abramovich’s other yachts—the 377 ft. Pelorus, 282ft Ecstasea and 160ft Sussurro—all pale in comparison to the 550 ft. Eclipse, and do not include missile detection systems. You can never be too safe, right? Read more…

Read more at Gizomodo and stay tuned to our new MegaYachts category for more details soon.

National Geographic also brings us this week’s Interesting Ship of The Week.  They tell us:

>> NAME: The Palmer is named for a U.S. seal hunter who sailed along the west coast of Antarctica in 1820 looking for seal rookeries. Many believe he was the first to discover the continent.

>> SIZE: Built in 1992, the Palmer is a 7,600-ton icebreaker capable of breaking 3 feet (1 meter) of ice at 3 knots. It is 308 feet (94 meters) long and has 12,720 horsepower.

>> CREW: The Palmer works year-round in the Antarctic. It has 22 crew members.

>> CABINS: Each cabin is outfitted with two bunks, a head (bathroom), a TV and VCR, a telephone, and a LAN jack for computers.

>> AMENITIES: A 24-hour mess hall provides meals to the around-the-clock researchers and crew. Several lounges have TVs, movies, and books, and there is a workout room.

>> COMMUNICATION: The scientists on board can send or receive e-mail twice a day. There are also telephones onboard the ship.

Image source: davidcmartin.com

Today’s Incident Photo Of The Week is the tugboat “The Carrie”. News 6 in Corpus Christi tells us:

A tugboat caught fire at about 7 a.m. Tuesday after pushing a barge from Ingleside to Rincon Channel to offload some diesel fuel and brine water.

Port of Corpus Christi Assistant Chief Tom Mylett said that when it came into the channel, the captain of “The Carrie” discovered a flash fire in the engine room.

The barge’s contents were the biggest concern.

“It was 500 gallons of diesel fuel, from what we understand, that was on the barge, that was set for delivery inside Rincon. Then, there were several other drums you have on your footage of brine water; nonflammable material,” Mylett said.

There was also an additional 500 gallons of fuel on the tugboat.

Luckily no one was injured. Click HERE for the full story and HERE for the video. (via Maritime Monday 129)

Welcome to this 129th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 79 here. (Published 8 October 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.

US MERCHANT MARINE PATCH CONTEST WINNER: ‘Thomas Jackson’, ‘Jean Poole’, and ‘DJ’ please email me with your mailing address as you have each won a patch. Thanks very much for participating.

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This Week’s Photos:

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

APL provides customers around the world with container transportation services through a network combining high-quality intermodal operations with state-of-the-art information technology.

APL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines, a global transportation and logistics company engaged in shipping and related businesses.

We help customers grow their business – whether that is venturing into new territories, exploring new business opportunities, or growing in already developed markets. With more than 150 years’ experience, APL has the knowledge and the expertise to help you negotiate the increasingly complex and ever-changing global marketplace.

Our partnership with some of the world’s best-known brands and success in fostering trade in emerging markets has helped defined global trade, setting new benchmarks in service innovation and excellence in every market we serve.

The containership APL England berthed at APL’s marine terminal, Global Gateway South, at the Port of Los Angeles.

APL containership President Adams outbound under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York.

The containership APL New York passing under Bayonne Bridge in New York Harbor.

Their homepage can be found here.

You can read about the history of the company here and a summary of the Company’s logo here.

Thanks to APL for providing the photos above!

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This Week’s Items: [Continue Reading →]

Welcome to this 128th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 78 here. (Published 01 October 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.

CONTEST: One lucky commenter to this week’s post will receive this merchant marine patch. (Designed by Disney during WWII. See history of the design here) Please keep your comments related to the stories I linked below.  There are a number of stories that  should be easy to comment about while adding value’ to the conversation. It is a little prize, so a little value is enough. Winner to be announced in next week’s post. Winner to be chosen by me.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the homepage of the Canadian Navy’s HMCS VILLE de QUEBEC:

This ship is currently off the Coast of Somalia providing escort duty for food aid ships calling Mogadishu. (See related story linked below.)

Transit Suez Canal - The beginning of our new mission. Transit through the Suez canal - Credit: Cpl Veillette

VERTREP - Helo conducting transfer of personnel on the Focsle - Credit: Cpl Veillette

Boarding team and our second escort - Our boarding team in company with the Executive Officer embarking on our second ship to be escorted, the Zang Za San Chong Nyon Ho, from North Korea - Credit: Cpl Veillette

Swimming exercise - Swimming session in the middle of the Mediterranean, water temperature 27 degrees celcius. - Credit: PO2 McGraw

Loading of cargo - Our first escorted ship (Abdul Rahman) being loaded with food to be delivered in Somalia. 5000 tons of food loaded by hand. - Credit: Combat Camera

Sunset - Beautiful sunset, somewhere Between Suez canal and Somalia - Credit: PO2 McGraw

Their photo gallery is here.

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

Has another maritime blogger run into trouble over his blog? blue water: news of my escape has been wiped clean right to the title. Or maybe he is the victim of a web vandal?.As of this Sunday he has changed the title to “HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb” and explains some recent developments. It appears that there was a problem, but not with the home office, but instead with his fellow sailors.

So, when I was able to ask why it was that some folks were looking at me in that way a toddler looks when they’re soiling a diaper, I was a little taken aback at the amount of concern that my blog has generated.

EagleSpeak has good news in “Somalia: Danes Capture 10 Suspected Pirates“. Also be sure to check his homepage as he is actively keeping track of all the Somalia pirate developments including the latest capture of two more cargo ships.

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

gCaptain has “Cosco Busan - Radar Images And NTSB Transcript“.

gCaptain also has “gCaptain Contest - Win A Spot Satellite Messenger“. You enter by leaving a comment that adds value to the conversation of any gCaptain post, including this one which would get you entered into two contests. We all know that you are a smart and knowledgeable bunch of readers, so that should be easy. Read the post for the rules and about the prizes.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Prosecuting pirates“.

There must be more the industry and governments can do than allow shipowners to simply pay the ransom.

Lloyd’s List has “US raises Ike damage tally to 49 platforms” and “Korean owners call for military action against Somali pirates “.

The Maritime & Coastguard Agency Press Office (UK) has “6 FOREIGN SHIPS UNDER DETENTION IN THE UK DURING AUGUST“.

ISRAEL WITHOUT IFS OR BUTS has “USNS Pathfinder enters Sevastopol harbor” and anchors. To search for a sunken WWII hospital ship says the Ukraine. To spy on the Russian Navy says Russia.

RIA Novosti has “U.S. plays down Russia’s planned Arctic marking“.

Deep Water Writing has “New Medical Requirments” that are going to be a big problem for many US Mariners. Certainly a must-read for active sailors.

Houston Chronicle has “Ship Channel traffic getting back up to speed“.

Shipdog has a photo “Not a bad view to wake up to everyday” with Locarno in Switzerland to the left, Italy on the opposing shore and to the right.

Kurt’s Weblog has an image mapping “Global shipping patterns“.

Lou Minatti has video taken from a workboat that rode out the storm in “Hurricane Ike on Galveston Bay“. More video from the same crewman can be found here.

EU Referendum has the EU looking at its Common Fisheries Policy “The mother of all failures“.

As it is, the fishing policy is neither science-based nor attuned to fisheries management. It is a political instrument designed to reconcile the competing demands for a resource to which all EU nations have access and for which no one bears any responsibility.

Houston Pilot and maritime photographer OneEighteen posts a photo of what is left of his house in “Hurricane Ike“. Best wishes for the rebuild or re-location.

Pinoy Maritime has “The Deadly Life of Stowaways” mentioning some dos and don’ts when encountering stowaways including to not throw them overboard into the sea. I am somewhat surprised that this still happens because it seems that word almost always gets that about the event. Probably because the captains and mates willing to do this are also little loved by the crew as it is.

BitterEnd has some must see trailer photos in “How to Load a Boat on to a Pickup“.

Tims Times has “Fatigue & The Knock on Effect“.

AFP has “Up to 20 people missing after Sao Tome shipwreck“.

Hellenic shipping News has “US calls for more inspections of IRISL cargo, line ‘deliberately misleading maritime authorities’” looking at Malta Freeport as the place to act since the shipping line calls there.

Bills of lading has the “NOAA Vessel Pisces at Pascagoula“.

MarineLog has posted its September Edition online.

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BarentsObserver.com has “USA warns against Nord Stream project“. This is the planned underwater pipeline running through the Baltic.

The U.S. ambassador to Sweden, Michael Wood, in a comment in newspaper Svenska Dagbladet warns against the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, saying that imported Russian gas is “a threat against Sweden”.

The article quickly triggered furore in the German government, a major stakeholder in the project. An official protest has now been sent by the Germans to U.S. authorities.

Wired’s Danger Room Blog has “Pics: High-Tech ‘Batman’ Ship in Florida Drug Raid“.

TimesOnline has “Somalia: Only guns can get aid past the pirates into the gates of Hell” as the Canadian frigate, HMCS VILLE de QUEBEC escorts the cargoship MV GOLINA carrying food aid into the Port of Mogadishu.

His 510-mile voyage from the Kenyan port of Mombasa was made possible only by staying close to the guns of a naval escort. As the master turns the vast hull of the Golina towards Mogadishu’s harbour, a Canadian frigate, HMCS Ville de Quebec, stands guard. Her commander, Chris Dickinson, scans the shoreline with high-powered binoculars, watching for high-speed skiffs leaving the harbour. Anything that gets within 500 yards of cargo ship or escort will be turned to driftwood by the frigate’s 57mm cannon. “The threat here for us is small boats – a suicide boat or a boat armed with RPGs or small arms,” Commander Dickinson says.

The HMCS VILLE de QUEBEC Homepage has this photo of escorting the ship:

flickr poster jpellgen has a photo “Merchant Marine Monument & Statue of Liberty“.

CNN has crazy video: “Hydroplane crashes at practice“. Disintegrates is a more accurate description. 180 miles per hour.

Ynetnews has “Haifa: Ukrainian sailors hospitalized after eating poisonous fish“. The cook made some blowfish that the crew had caught. He and a couple of the crew reportedly needed to be resuscitated and the cook may end up losing his life. Even if you didn’t know the damn fish was poisonous, it is not a fish you think of eating when you look at it. Not only that, but there is not much meat on the thing.

Navy Newsstand has photos of the recent US Coast Guard seizure of a semi-submersible craft packed with bales of cocaine.

MarineBuzz has more photos with “Self Propelled Semi Submersible (SPSS): Increasing Threat from Sea“.

The Maritime has “U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy interdict two semi-submersible vessels“.

Chaotic Synaptic Activity has “19 Years Ago - Life at Sea“, Parts I through IV.

Freaque Waves has “Freaque waves not excuse!“

The Merchant Marine Express returns to Galveston after hurricane Ike in “Anchored within a fleet of ships!“

Her Captain’s Voice has “Under-water capabilities of Indian Navy“.

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has the history of the Spratly Island chain’s “Pag-asa Island“, an island so small that the airport sticks out off both ends of the island. Also explained is why the Philippines have the claim to beat, buying the claim to the island for one peso.

Tugster goes cleaning up the shoreline of South Brother Island in New York’s East River.

MarineBuzz also does cleanup with “Weekend Cleanup: Indian Coast Guard Transforms Chennai Marina Beach to Green Marina“.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has video of “Dolphins Riding The Bow Wave” of a submarine.

Steeljaw Scribe has “Russian SLBM Developments“. Developments come slow in Russian shipyards with the ten year upgrade of the missile boat DMITRIY DONSKOY.

Inhabitant has “Oxford Unveils Next-Gen Underwater Turbines“, the THAWT device.

Modern Mechanix has the 1957 story “The ATOMIC SHIP Takes Shape” telling the pre-story of the USNS SAVANNAH.

insanely crafty takes a tour of the US Merchant Marine Academy and posts lots of pictures in “Friday WARNING HUGE POST“.

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Scandinavian Shipping Gazette has “The Ballast-Free Ship concept: An alternative solution to ballast water treatment“.

The Journal of Commerce Online has “Box ship orders collapse“. Freight Dawg notes “Good News! JoC Online is now Free!“. That is long overdue.

CDR Salamander has “The Navy’s racism laid bare“.

Coast Guard Report has stonewalling in response to their request for information to determine if there was some deceptive actions taken by removing possibly faulty communication equipment from the new US Coast Guard Cutter BERTHOLF in order to pass inspection by the Coast Guard: “Admiral Thad Allen: Transparency Blocked Again, Self Correcting Behavior - NOT“.

Information Dissemination has a detailed posted: “The Challenges of the 21st Century Conversation“.

Kennebec Captain has to deal with trying to dock at the “Islamic Port of Jeddah - Prayer times“.

Robin Storm - In Search of Severe Weather has “Ike Underscores Foolishness of Building on Barrier Islands“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “Hot work near-miss could have been a bomb“. Welding where one should not.

Sea * Fever has “National Maritime Museum (UK) Joins Flickr Commons“.

PortSide Mary Whalen (the tanker Mary Whalen’s blog - begun in Brooklyn Navy Yard 1/07, mothballed for a while and now reactivated 8/08) sees opportunity as another boat of the same type is going to be scrapped in “Can the Ked help the Whalen?“

It’s sad to see another Bushey boat go, but we’re hoping the Ked can help save the Whalen. The Ked has two davits on the boat deck (we are missing 3) and also has a Fairbanks Morse engine. We don’t know what type of engine yet; I’m hoping it’s a 37E12! Standing by!

Mail Online has another cool innovation in personal submersibles in “Pictured: The bright orange mini-submarine guaranteed to make waves“. See the company’s website here: U-Boat Worx

Computeractive has “Historic Canadian ship passenger lists go online“.

Courier Mail (Australia) has “Sunken Swedish ship the Kronan offers up historic haul“. The ship is the KRONAN and it sank in 1676.

The Pilot Boat has photos of the cement carrier CEMENTADOR in “a 40 years old lady…“

CargoSystems.Net has “Stevedore upgrades for coal” in Canada.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

UK – MSC NAPOLI salvage work suspended until 2009 - The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) issued a press notice stating that, with the onset of winter weather, salvage work on the remnants of wreck of the MSC NAPOLI has been suspended until spring 2009. (9/16/08). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

USCG – Safety Alert – counterfeit EEBDs - The US Coast Guard issued a Safety Alert stating that counterfeit Unitor model UNISCAPE 15h emergency escape breathing devices (EEBDs) are being sold to ship operators and placed onboard commercial vessels.  As explained in the Safety Alert, there are physical differences between the authentic and the counterfeit devices.  If in doubt regarding your EEBD, contact the manufacturer. (9/19/08). - Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Tax bill 17 times bigger rocks Solvang - SOLVANG, the listed Norwegian owner of LPG carriers, is having second thoughts about its decision to put its fleet in Norway’s new tonnage tax regime – after its tax bill arrived 17 times larger.

The company recorded net losses in the second quarter of 51.5M kroner ($10.2M), versus profits of 31.4M kroner in the same period last year.

Its tax bill has soared to 75.8M kroner from 4.4M kroner since the abolition of the 1996 tonnage tax regime at the end of last year.

Solvang pointed to “constant change in and backdating of the rules for entering the new tonnage tax regime” as the reason for reconsidering. SOLVANG, the listed Norwegian owner of LPG carriers, is having second thoughts about its decision to put its fleet in Norway’s new tonnage tax regime – after its tax bill arrived 17 times larger. - 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 126th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 76 here. (Published 17 September 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 the Republic of Georgia’s Poti Sea Port :

For Poti Sea Port (PSP) the year of 2008 is exceptionally remarkable, port celebrates 150 years of anniversary from its foundation. I would like to congratulate with this event to whole staff of Poti Sea Port, all companies that are directly related with their business to Poti Port and have significant contribution in port’s success and development.

The year of 2007 was especially successful in the recent history of PSP: total throughput was increased by 16% compared to previous year and made 7.7 million tons, container handling was excelled by increase rate of - 46% in comparison with previous year and made 185 000 TEU.

During the last 2 years total throughput has increased by 26% and container handling by 74%. - Link

And concerning the recent Soviet/Russian invasion:

09.04.2008 - Poti Port is back to normal after the tragic events of the past couple of weeks which resulted in loss of life and damage to some port infrastructure and equipment

Vessels are entering and leaving the port normally and all berths in the port operated by the Lease companies and by PSPC are fully operational, the railway is also back to normal and rail traffic is moving smoothly in and out of the port.

The Berth 7 Container Terminal is also back to full operation with all the shipping lines previously calling at Poti Port having resumed calls and containers are moving in and out of the terminal and the off dock storage facilities without any problem

Poti port is also ready to receive calls from any vessels carrying humanitarian aid for the citizens of Georgia that still require help and assistance in returning to a normal life

The Port of Poti is expecting to play a role as the major gateway to Georgia for the importation of materials for reconstruction of its infrastructure whilst still maintaining its role as the gateway to neighboring countries of the Caucasus for the importation of raw materials and the exportation of finished goods

Further information can be obtained from:Tel: +995 (393) 70105; +995 (393) 70139, Fax: +995 (393) 70105, E-mail: public@potiseaport.com - Link

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US-Flag cargo ship JUNEAU

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Port Map

Their homepage can be found here.

Many more photos can be found here including photos of US-Flag cargo ships ARGONAUT, CLEVELAND, LIBERTY GRACE and the Car Carrier INDEPENDENCE.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somalia Pirates: “Unidentified warship” nabs 14 pirates, sinks their boat” and “Gulf of Aden Trickery: Somali pirates using captured yacht as a “decoy?”“.

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak’s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Hickman’s Sea Sleds“.

gCaptain has “Incident Photo Of The Week - Hurricane Gustav” and “Heavy Lift Crane - Photos“. Can anyone name the ship in the New Orleans photo?

Solo Pacific Rower Roz Savage arrives in Hawaii. While I am no fan of these solo ocean attempts, it looks like congratulations are in order. This leg of the trip took 99 days and just short of 9 hours. She still has a long way to go, but I bet the rest of the trip will not include watermaker problems. Sea * Fever has more with “Waypoints – 500 and 99 days at Sea, respectively“

The Sun (New York) has “Putin Pledges ‘Answer’ to NATO Black Sea Deployment - ‘You’ll See,’ Russian Leader Warns“.

The Maritime has “US unloads aid to Georgia, Russians eye every move” and remembers the 1988 Black Sea ramming by the Soviet frigate BEZZEVETNIY of the USS YORKTOWN.

Yahoo Australia has “Expert rules out HMAS Sydney theory“. I don’t know. Some of the ‘expert’ evidence sounds lots more like a personal opinion.

Shipping Times has “Container payload scams cost billions and risk lives“.

Deliberate under declaring of shipping container weights costs shipping lines and governments billions of pounds in lost revenue every year and places ships and their crews at risk. Remarkably, container shipping is the only sector of the industry in which the weight of the cargo is not known and there is no requirement for containers to be weighed at a European port before loading a ship. This issue of container payload weights is left to packers and consignors whose word is taken entirely on trust but that trust has been grossly abused for years, leading, in some cases, to disastrous consequences. The motive, as in passenger shipping, is to save money, regardless of the consequences for safety.

I am pretty sure that most every container leaving the US is weighed as it enters the terminals. Why wouldn’t they do this in Europe? Then again, how much heavy cargo is being shipped out of Europe, other than Heineken beer?

Tims Times has “Be nice to the spanners” as a not-so-smart deck cadet plays a nasty prank on the ship’s engineers.

Deep Water Writing has some commentary on Vessel Security Officers as he attends a VSO class.

As with all overburdening regulatory requirements we face at sea I did the best I could with my security duties emphasizing the importance of being vigilant and prepared to the various crews I worked with. Operating in hostile waters, such as the Gulf of Aden, without arms, escorts, or any other tangible way of repelling boarders convinced me that even with the best security plan or lectured crew, we would stand little chance if ever faced with an armed and motivated security threat.

Of course each of those vessels taken by Somali pirates should have had onboard a vessel security plan and officer to carry it out. The Sealand Econships (Maersk Series CH / Sea-Land Atlantic Class) were supposed to be ‘pirate proof’ with no external way of getting to the bridge and only six points of entry into the ship. But back then I doubt they expected pirates to be shooting RPGs.

Kennebec Captain has “Commercial vessels and pleasure craft“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has the podcast “The Case Of the Fallen Saviour“.

BitterEnd has “That’s a wrap - Record Breaking Year” as this summer’s boating season comes to an end.

BarentsObserver has “Russian trawlers to return to world seas“.

MarEx Newsletter has “Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation & Maui County Farm Bureau Announce Partnership With Hawaii Superferry“.

MarineLog has shipyard news in “First vessels leave Austal Tasmania“.

PoliGazette has “Brazilian President Inaugurated Deepwater Oil Extraction“.

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Lloyd’s List has “China to drive tanker demand“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “An alarming prospect“.

THE prospect of a ‘significant number’ of single-hull very large crude carriers continuing to trade from the Middle East to Asia past the sign-posted phase-out date of 2010 is a flabbergasting abrogation of responsibility by owners and charterers - if it happens.

Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) has “Finnish experts visit GTS Finnjet in India“. I think it is time to admit defeat in saving this ship. Has any ship avoided scrapping in India once it has been beached? Finnjet Web also visited the ship and has their own report with many photos here. (PDF Link)

Independent Online (south Africa) has a reminder why you can’t always depend on assistance from ashore in “‘Waves so big it’s dangerous’“.

IceNews has “Norway not hunting enough whales“. The title is a little deceptive. In actuality, Norwegian fishermen have failed to catch more than half the whale catch quota permitted by the Government.

Skipper’s Scrivenings (USNS MERCY) has “It still hasn’t set in…” as the ship completes its last port call and heads for home. Almost 18,000 patients were seen while in Micronesia. Just a small number of the total number treated during the ship’s voyage.

Molten Eagle clarifies former President Jimmy Carter’s interaction/service with submarines in “Editors Deservedly Zinged in Latest Submarine Error” noting that the former President never served on a nuke submarine as appears to be commonly believed.

Kiwi at Sea continues to have bad luck and now has to go back to sea as someone emptied his bank account in “Life sucks“.

LiveLeak has dramatic video of the reception the Gaza Blockade ‘Peace Boats’ were expecting on their arrival which they actually received on their departure in “Palestinians and human rights workers fired upon by Israeli naval boats“.

The Telegraph (UK) has “Lauren Booth still ‘trapped’ in Gaza after protest“. She is the Sister-in-law of Tony Blair and one of the fools who rode the peace boats to Gaza and elected to ’stay and help the locals’. The previous stories I linked to mentioned that almost all of the activists got seasick on the trip over and I suspect that nine of them were not going to experience that again, mistakenly thinking the Israelis would let them go home.

the elder of ziyon has word of a third ‘peace boat’ Gaza blockade trip in ““Free Gaza” rescue mission“. This may be a way out for the activists now trapped in Gaza, provided that Israel lets the ship(s) in again.

Robin Storm - In Search of Severe Weather has “Hurricanes Gustav and Hanna disrupt cruise plans in the Caribbean“.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Dry Bulk Drowns“.

The rising dollar and declining commodity prices have caused investors to jump ship despite the strong outlook for dry bulk shipping stocks. It does not help that worries about a global economic slowdown, especially in China and Europe, and lower steel prices in China have cut into demand for shipping in the near term.

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Ocra Marine Newsletter has “Major Container Port To Open In Vietnam” as DP World prepares to build the Saigon Central Container Port.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “Verdict on the MORRO BAY is in” as the US Coast Guard decides not to relieve the ship’s commanding officer in response to a collision with the Block Island Ferry.