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Maritime Monday 114

Fred
Total Views: 28
June 9, 2008

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 114th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 64 here. (Published 18 June 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 [email protected].

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos are a couple that I have taken while on vacation in Finland. This first week was spent in the Port City of Helsinki. However, this Monday is when we leave the sea air to head about two hours inland to my in-laws to hang out there for the next two weeks. (You can find posts about my trip here)

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Viking Line’s XPRS headed out past the Island Fortress of Suomenlinna

It is not the distance that matters, but the depth

Icebreaker Row

Silja Line’s SUPERSEACAT THREE inbound from Tallinn, Estonia

Waiting for the Swedish Tall Ship GÖTHEBORG

My sense of humor didn’t work too well when I asked ‘Which ship were they planning to sink first?’ At one time Finland was part of Sweden, so I thought it really would have sent a message to Sweden what an independent country Finland was by sinking their historic ship right in the harbor, with the crown prince onboard.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Gulf of Aden: People Smugglers “Worse than the sharks”

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: The Game of “Battleship”” Learn how to play the game without buying it like they did in the old days.

Chaotic Synaptic Activity has ““Sammie B” Crewmen Commemorate the Mine Blast” in remembering the anniversary of when the USS SAMUEL B ROBERTS struck an Iranian mine and the crew that managed to keep the ship afloat.

gCaptain has “Shipping Companies Sized By Market Capitalization” as well as “Remembering The Edmund Fitzgerald“.

LiveMint.com has ongoing questions about the disappearance of the MV REZZAK in the Black sea earlier this year in “Family members of crew point to loopholes in interim report

Information Dissemination has “Swedish International Corvette Force (IKS) To Fight Pirates

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook presents the podcast “The Case Of The Cygnet’s Kiss” including transcript.

Hellenic Shipping News has “High cost of cargo shipping could “reverse globalisation,” report says

“At today’s oil prices,” they write, “every 10 percent increase in trip distance translated into a 4.5 percent increase in transport costs.” While shipping a standard 40-foot container from Shanghai to the east coast of the US cost US$3,000 when oil was at US$20 per barrel, it now costs US$8,000. If oil goes up to US$200, the cost would rise to US$15,000.

In terms of shifts in trade and production patterns, products for which freight costs make up only a small proportion of final sale prices stand to be less affected if shipping becomes more expensive – additional freight charges would be dwarfed by everything else. However, where freight-to-value ratios are high, transportation expenses can be very significant.

A “surprisingly high percentage” of Chinese exports to the US fall into the latter category, according to the report. These include furniture, footwear, metal manufacturing, and industrial machinery. And while export growth to the US has in general slowed, the slowdown has been most pronounced for goods that carry relatively high freight costs, it says.

Kennebec Captain also covers this issue with “High Fuel Prices may Impact Trade

AND The Wall Street Journal also covers this issue with “Sunk: Shippers Try to Balance Fuel and Emissions Worries

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “1 Killed, 9 Missing In Fire Aboard Ship At Russian Baltic Dockyard” (Latest news reports mention at least 9 dead.)

Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “EPIRB (WHERE IS THE MEAT?) UPDATE” covering a US Coast Guard report on EPIRB false alerts. The report notes that ‘96% 406 MHz EPIRB Alerts are false’. Go check out the report, especially if you are responsible for an EPIRB. It is a quick read as it is in Powerpoint format.

BitterEnd has a story about a boat that needed assistance in the middle of the night and didn’t know where they were and provides some basic points to avoid getting into a similar situation. Not for anything, but people should consider anchoring if there is no immediate danger until daylight when everything gets easier. Same goes for running out of gas, which he blogs of another recent case here.

The Merchant Marine Express signs off his ship in “Home At Last!

houmatoday has “Mathews man awarded $6 million in injury lawsuit“. The ship the accident occurred on was the DEEP STIM II.

Sea * Fever has ““A star to steer her by”

MarineBuzz has promising news in “Nanowire Membranes of MIT to Absorb and Recover Oil from Oil Spills at Sea

MarineBuzz also has “15 Reasons: Piracy Attack of a Ship is Different from Hijacking of an Aircraft

Lanikai Underway has photos of “Ships Passing Nearby” while they ‘are tied up at the Balboa Yacht Club at the Pacific entrance channel to the Panama Canal.’

MarEx Newsletter has “Last Liberty Ship May Go To Greece“. The ship is the ARTHUR M. HUDDELL.

The Yankee Sailor has news with ‘Rice Rebukes Russia Over Activities in Disputed Arctic Waters’ and ‘No U.S. plans to sell ageing warship to India: Gates’

Tugster has “Michigan Mystery

Popular Mechanics has an eLoran update in “Inside the Government’s Backup Plan for GPS Failure“. (Found on Instapundit)

The BBC has “Fishermen clash with police at EU” including video of the action/violence.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished links to video of the CO in action from the HMS SUPERB in “Now This Is A Decent Ass-Chewing!

The Destroyermen practice a “Light Line Transfer” with the French warship SURCOUF.

IMC Brokers has a photo of a tug passing under the Brooklyn Bridge for it’s ‘Photo of the Day’

Last of the Few has the joke “The Navy Invented Sex….

Mermaid Castle has “Mermaid Signs

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The Guardian (UK) has “US accused of holding terror suspects on prison ships

Guardian also has “The Greeks sail away” as Scotland gets ready to lose its only ferry link to the rest of the EU.

The Jawa Report has “Oil Exploration in Cuba’s Gulf Waters

Last week we noted Martha Steward’s attention to detail confirmed when it comes to boating. This week Finland’s IltaLehhti paper has photos of Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen’s new 72 foot multi million Euro Sunseeker Predator yacht, one of which was taken just days after delivery with the vessel hard aground on rocks. The yacht managed to escape with a couple scratches once freed, but it did cost a pull from the water to confirm that. (The story is in Finnish but click on the small photo for a picture of the yacht aground.)

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “The island house that powers itself

Maritime Compass has a job opening at Mystic Seaport “Position: President and Director

Never Sea Land covers “JUNK at SEA

Greenpeace has video as they confront the world’s largest tuna fishing boat, the ALBATUN TRES, in “Bearing witness to Pacific plunder“. They claim their protest was peaceful, but that is like saying that the protesters in my living room were peaceful as they were holding their protest inside the fishing net area. These guys are pretty touchy about comments left on their blog. No matter how tame or matter of fact I make them, they still refuse to post any critical comment. Guess it was too difficult to respond to my comments and clarify their actions.

CNN has “Lighthouse, presumed destroyed, found on opposite coast“. Imagine, losing a whole lighthouse. Makes you wonder about the end of the first Indiana Jones movie when they toss the Ark into a Government warehouse.  What else might be in there?

Cayman Net News has “He hath founded it upon the Sea” summarizing the sailing career of Captain Harris Arlen McCoy Jr.

TimesUnion has trouble over at the Port of Albany, New York.

Freight Dawg has “The Politics of Logistics” concerning the upcoming US elections. For those of you overseas so eager to see Mr. Obama take the White House, have you thought how his ‘victory’ might effect international trade?

nashua telegraph has an update on the USMMA 2006 graduate who became famous for hugging President Bush in “The Path Taken” where Gabe Whitney is hiking the entire Appalachian Trail to support the International Dyslexia Association.

Christiaan Conover has “End of the Semester, and Beginning of Finals” at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Shirlaw News Group has “12 immigrants die in Italy shipwreck“. They were attempting to illegally migrate to Italy from Africa. Seems that Italy ended up in the headline because the Italians came to the rescue of those who survived.

Mr. Boat Blog has video of “First Water-Slide Looping in Germany.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

Proclamation – National Oceans Month – President Bush issued a Proclamation designating June 2008 as National Oceans Month in recognition of the important role that oceans have played in our heritage, economy, and recreation. (6/2/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Admitted terrorist targeted ports – US AND European ports and other freight handling facilities are thought to have been targets for an admitted terrorist, who pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against targets in the two continents.

Christopher Paul, 44, a US national also known as Abdul Malek and Paul Kenyatta Laws, pleaded guilty in an Ohio courtroom and agreed to 20-year prison term. On 11 April 2007, Paul was arrested in Ohio after to a three-count indictment alleging that he conspired to provide material support and resources to terrorists, conspired to use a weapon of mass destruction and provided material support and resources to terrorists.

“Today’s guilty plea brings an end to the long, dangerous career of Christopher Paul, an Ohio native who joined al Qaeda in the early 1990s, fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia and conspired with others to target Americans both at home and abroad,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Rowan said in a statement. “His conviction demonstrates our continuing resolve to protect the American public against terrorism.” By pleading guilty, Paul admitted that from at least April 1999 through January 2000, he agreed with at least one other person to become a member of a conspiracy which intended to use a WMD, namely explosive devices, against one or more of the following: US nationals outside the country; persons or property within the US affecting interstate or foreign commerce; and/or property that was owned, leased or used by the US.

Intelligence sources in Washington tell Sea Sentinel that domestic and overseas ports were probably on Paul’s target list. – 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 [email protected] 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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