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Maritime Monday 164

Fred — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:53:30 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 164th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 114 here. (Published 09 June 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Royal Caribbean’s OASIS OF THE SEAS which is slated for completion in December:

An architectural marvel at sea, Oasis of the Seas will span 16 decks, encompass 220,000 gross registered tons (GRT), carry 5,400 guests at double occupancy, and feature 2,700 staterooms. She will be the first ship to tout the cruise line’s new neighborhood concept of seven distinct themed areas, which include Central Park, Boardwalk, the Royal Promenade, the Pool and Sports Zone, Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Center, Entertainment Place and Youth Zone. The ship will sail from her home port of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Additional information is available at www.oasisoftheseas.com.

* 21 November 2008 *

* 25 November 2008 *

* 3 September 2008 *

Many more photos and video can be found on the ship’s homepage here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has the report and photos: “Possible Pirate Attack in the Red Sea“. The attack was on the previously-held STOLT STRENGTH.

gCaptain has “Shipyard Time Lapse Photography – Accommodation Megabock Move” and “USNS Vandenberg – The Sinking Of A Cold War Relic“. More impressive video, including from onboard the ship as it sinks, at SinkTheVandenberg.com.

EUobserver has “Poland sells shipyards after EU ruling“.

EUobserver has “EU states wary of action on fisheries reform“.

Before any crunch decisions are taken, the commission aims to improve the policy as far as possible under existing legislation and to deal with the issue of fish discards.

“It is a practice which must come to an end,” EU fisheries commissioner Joe Borg told the ministers on Monday.

Faced with limits on the amount of fish they can bring back to land and keen to keep only the most profitable fish, fishermen frequently tip part of their catch back overboard, despite the negligible chances of these fish recovering.

It is estimated that for every kilogramme of cod landed from the North Sea, another kilogramme is dumped back into the water.

Space War has “Surge in boardings of NKorean ships unlikely: analysts“.

Shipgaz points out what should be obvious to everyone but has been mostly ignored up to this point: “Escalation impossible when pirates already firing“.

Philip Campbell, assistant naval attaché at the US Embassy in Athens, says the risk of escalating violence is unlikely if crews are armed. “They generally start the attack by shooting at the vessel to intimidate. My personal view is that the risk of escalation with these pirates is somewhat minimal as they are already shooting at you” , Cmdr Campbell told the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association, Lloyd’s List reports.

Professional Mariner has “Mariners deserve recognition for risking their lives in wartime“.

Freaque Waves has the book on the 1909 tragedy: “The Lost ship SS Waratah“. The ship disappeared without a trace with no survivors.

From Wikipedia:

The SS Waratah, sometimes referred to as “Australia’s Titanic”, was a 500 foot steamer. In July 1909, the ship, en route from Durban to Cape Town, disappeared with 211 passengers and crew aboard. The disappearance of the ship remains one of the most baffling nautical mysteries of all time. To this day no trace of the ship has ever been found.

Chaotic Synaptic Activity has the story of Seaman 1/C Omer Dee Simms, USN for his series “Monday Maritime Matters: Memorial Day Edition“.

Sudan Tribune has “International warships bar ships from insurgent-controlled port“.

Kismayu, the third largest town in Somalia is situated 528 km southwest of Mogadishu, near the mouth of the Jubba River, where that river flows into the Indian Ocean.

“I’m confirming to you that the international warships prevented a commercial ship from docking in Kismayu,” stated the Ports and Sea Transport Minister Mohamed Ibrahim Habasade.

He further said the measure aims at stopping supplies reaching the Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents who want to overthrow the UN backed government headed by a moderate Somali Islamist.

National Geographic has “Penguins Underwater, Antarctica” for its 27 May ‘Photo of the Day’.

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Deep Sea Writing takes his ship through the “Azores“.

As we exited the small passage we found we were not the only ship with a penchant for fish and sight seeing. Passing abeam of us was an East bound merchant vessel, also a car carrier and surprisingly also American Flagged. Perhaps because our ships are in competition for the same cargoes or maybe because we’re manned by differing officers unions neither officer on watch felt compelled to call the other to get the details on one another’s vessel’s, something I always find disappointing. There are only so many of us American Merchantman floating around these days I always enjoy chatting up the airwaves with likeminded mates.

US Naval Institute Blog answers the question “Does the Coast Guard Auxiliary actually do anything?“

The ISLOMANIAC has “Lamu Island – East Africa’s best kept secret“.

Nestling against the beautiful, unspoilt Indian Ocean coast of northern Kenya, the tiny island of Lamu is one of the most beguiling places on earth. Little changed in centuries, Lamu has long been renowned for the warmth of its welcome to visitors, its remoteness and tranquility, its beautiful deserted beaches, its rich and colourful maritime trading history and its distinctive Swahili culture.

Enchanting Lamu Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the oldest living town south of the Sahara and the best-preserved coastal settlement in East Africa.

Inner City Press has “Somalia Pirates Include Pakistanis and Iranians, Russia Says an International Court Needed“.

He said that recently pirates from Pakistan and Iran have been caught and asked, why turn them over to Kenya?

Investigating the above story further, I find that MarineBuzz was on this story from the start with “Somali Piracy: Suspected Pirates are Also from Iran and Pakistan“, mentioning that at least the Iranians were being held hostage. At least, according to the Russians.

Information Dissemination has “GAO Report on Navy Shipbuilding“. I have mentioned before that the Navy should look at commercial shipping companies and how they go about building ships. After all, if they built them like the Navy does, they’d go bankrupt.

Kennebec Captain has a very good point with “Rules for Vessel in Fog. Out of Date?” Slowing down by one knot because of fog, just to note in the logbook that some sort of action was taken in recognition of the rules does nothing to increase safety. The rules should be updated to take account of current technology.

Sunday Nation (Kenya) has “Three drown and 27 rescued after ship capsizes“.

‘The capsized ship, MV Fatih, at a Zanzibar port on Saturday. Photo/ MPOKI BUKUKU’

Puget Sound Maritime has “Obama move to cut wave power funding upsets northwest advocates“.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Obama administration has proposed a 25 percent cut in the research and development budget for one of the most promising renewable energy sources in the Northwest – wave and tidal power.

At the same time the White House sought an 82 percent increase in solar power research funding, a 36 percent increase in wind power funding and a 14 percent increase in geothermal funding. But it looked to cut wave and tidal research funding from $40 million to $30 million.

The Government is going to ‘spend’ $4 this year for every $1 spent in 2008. Living this close to Washington, DC I should see money blowing in the wind this year, and yet there is not. Come to think of it, why isn’t the Government using a bit of that money to totally refurbish the NS SAVANNAH as well as look after other Maritime treasures?

Puget Sound Maritime also has “National Weather Service chief pledges support for Washington coastal radar system“.

Engadget has new technology with “Acoustic superlens could mask ships from sonar… in theory, anyway“.

East Bay Express has “Prisoners of the Cosco Busan“. (Found via Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook)

MarineBuzz has “Floating Jetty Valiant for Astute Submarines of Royal Navy” and “Sail Training Ship Young Endeavour on 2009 Australian Circumnavigation“.

Watts Up With That? has confirmed bad data with “NSIDC pulls the plug on Arctic Sea Ice Graphs“.

As we first pointed out to NSIDC back on 2/18/09 (even though it “wasn’t worth blogging about”) the sensor has been on the fritz for quite awhile, calling the whole arctic sea ice series into question. From their most recent announcement, it looks like that it is now “DOA”

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has the graph “Data of Sea Ice Extent“.

Helsingin Sanomat has “Irish Navy’s LÉ Niamh opens Helsinki’s fleet visit season“.

Towmasters: the Master of Towing Vessels Assoc. Forum has “Back From Amsterdam: The Tugnology ‘09 Summary“.

Overall, the U.S. is probably 5 – 7 years behind Europe in many areas including emissions reduction, training standards, equipment and vessel-design advances. Interior crew space noise levels in Europe are restricted to the 60 dB range on tugs, leaving most people’s hearing intact and allowing for better quality rest. Still, the average age of crews at Smit Maritime in Rotterdam is 54 years old, leaving no doubt that the personnel shortage is as pervasive overseas as it is here in North America. But it appears that we inadvertantly did do our part to advance things here in the U.S. with the Exxon Valdez Spill: it was actually responsible for much of the push worldwide to develop the technology used in today’s escort tugs, winches and indirect towing methods providing steering and braking forces not previously possible in the towing industry.

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Lloyd’s List has “V.Ships says Hebei Two could leave Korea by June 11“.

Mr Giorgi, whose company has campaigned worldwide over the criminalisation of the two seafarers, said South Korea will likely change its laws to avoid another similar incident.

“I believe the South Korean government cannot afford another Hebei Spirit. This has been a disgrace for the South Korean government and definitely they will change,” he said.

He said the public pressure from across the industry on the South Korean government had worked to ensure the overturning of the verdict. Mr Giorgi pointed to the fact the South Korean authorities decision to release Capt Chawla and Mr Chetan from jail was made just prior to a planned protest outside the country’s London embassy.

The Maritime Executive has “National Maritime Day: New Awareness, New Hopes“.

Modern Day Pirate Tales has “Rehabilitating pirates” All they need do is take the first step by turning themselves in, in exchange for amnesty.

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “Defence teams to visit Russia for final Gorshkov negotiations“.

Springbored’s Springboard has fraud with “Weld Approvals and Ethics? Who Needs ‘em?“

More than 10,000 welded joints on at least eight U.S. submarines and a new aircraft carrier might need to be reinspected after the discovery by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding that one of its inspectors had falsified inspection reports.

I guess you can be really efficient at checking welds if you don’t bother to actually look at them.

The Old Salt Blog has “Submarine USS Growler Reopens at Intrepid Museum“.

Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “USN – assistance to Yemeni dhow in distress“. (See a photo on the US NavyNews site here)

The US Navy issued a news release stating that the USS Gettysburg (CG 64) assisted a Yemeni dhow in distress in the Gulf of Aden. The dhow have incurred a major engine failure. When the engine could not be repaired, it was towed to Yemen and further assisted by the Yemeni Coast Guard. The Gettysburg is operating as part of CTF 151 on counter-piracy patrol. (5/28/09).

BitterEnd has “Fw: New York Times: Last Survivor of the Titanic Dies at 97“.

H2uh0 – Bonehead moves on the water and much more has an explanation: “Nautical Mile“. (Found via Casco Bay Boaters Blog)

Tugster has photos of the sailship ONRUST’s new “Gunnery“. Handguns might be restricted in New York. Black powder cannon, not so much. (Black powder handguns OK for New York City as well.)

CNN has video: “A very long time ago, Roy Jackson thought it would be cool to build his own sailboat. 33 years later, it’s finished.“. Looks like he did a good job. I just refinished my old rocking chair from when I was a child for my kids. It took two years, so I understand.

Offshore Magazine has “Making MODUs safer in hurricanes” and “Deepwater fueling US production increase“.

The US is set to post its first increase in domestic oil production since 1991, fuelled mostly by a handful of deepwater fields in the US Gulf of Mexico. These include recent startups at BP-operated Thunder Horse and BHP-operated Shenzi, and Chevron-operated Tahiti which is slated for first production in the second quarter of this year. Gas production from new deepwater fields also will contribute to the upward trend of supply from offshore, accounting for 15% of total domestic gas production in 2007 and 21% in 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Sea * Fever has photos: “FotoFriday: Working Waterfront Portraits by Phillip Mello“.

JammieWearingFool has the story of a man off to an uninhabited island in an attempt to quit smoking.

Lighthouse News has “South Manitou Lighthouse Beams Again“.

Wow. May 30, 2009 might go down in lighthouse history as the “Day of the Relighting.” On that date, McGulpin Point near Mackinaw City will be relit, a new lighthouse at Richards Landing, St. Josephs Island, Ont., will be dedicated and lit, and now South Manitou Island Lighthouse near Traverse City will be officially relit on that date.

Arctic Focus has “More natural gas and oil in Arctic than first thought“.

The report said that four areas in the Arctic – North Barents Basin, South Kara Sea, South Barents Basin and the Alaska Platform, contain two-thirds of the undiscovered gas. South Kara Sea, itself holds 39 percent of the undiscovered gas.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “Israeli Submarine Rescues Swimmer“.

JonesBlog has a photo tour of the “USS Toledo SSN-769“. (Found via US Naval Institute Blog)

TimesOnline has “Delicate life in the ocean hit by advent of bottom trawling” noting that the complaints about bottom trawling go back to the late 1300′s!

Anger greeted the trawls where they were used, for the local fishermen could see the damage that they caused to their favourite areas. Bans were introduced to try to stop their use, and in 1583 two fishermen were executed for using metal chains on their beam trawls (today these are standard issue).

Europe can’t save its fisheries. Maybe they should worry about that problem before complaining about what the rest of us might be doing to the planet.

HollandAmericaBlog has where cruise ship personnel go when they take a cruise in “The Deadliest Catch in Ketchikan“.

The Monitor has “Swine flu goes to sea“.

NileDutch Shipping let graffiti artists ‘vandalize’ one of their ships as part of their “NileDutch Sea Art Project“.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

Refrigerated cargo, indeed – A RUSSIAN ship captain has been charged with illegally transporting 56 passengers for four days, with a prosecutor alleging that they were essentially trapped in the refrigerated hold.

The captain was accused this week of allowing the passengers aboard although lacking both a license for such transport and sufficient lifesaving equipment, the prosecutor alleged.

Snabzhenets-1 transported the passengers from Petropavlovsk in the Russian Far East to remote Kamchatka on 23 May, the prosecutor told reporters. They were accommodated on mattresses in the 145dwt ship’s hold.

Alexander Simhovich, deputy head of the internal affairs department in Kamchatka Krai, said: “They could not get out [of the hold] because several exits were shut tight. If water had entered or the ship capsized, they would not have been able to escape.”

This is the eighth case of illegal transport in the Kamchatka region in the past year. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

500 rescued from blazing ro-pax – OVER 500 passengers and crew were today evacuated from Italian ro-pax Vincenzo Florio after a fire broke out in its car hold, according to local port officials.

The 30,000gt vessel was travelling from Naples to Palermo when the fire broke out. Its 526 passengers were rescued by lifeboats and taken to another ferry and coastguard ship.

“They knocked on the door of the cabin and told us to get on deck[…]. It was hard to breathe, the whole ship filled with smoke and they ordered the lifeboats lowered,” passenger Stephan Friscia told Sky TG 24 television.

Five passengers including a pregnant woman were taken to hospital as a precaution. While most of the Tirrenia do Navigazione-owned ro-ro’s 35 crew helped firefighters put out the blaze. The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

It is the fifth time the 1999-built ro-ro has been involved in an accident or fire. An inquiry was held in 2004 after the ro-pax’s garage deck caught fire off the coast of Palermo. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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

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

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Maritime Monday 153

Fred — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:18:45 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 153rd edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 103 here. (Published 24 March 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

Thanks to Mike for going through the pain to get last week’s edition out! I am still on vacation until Thursday, but you can expect next week’s edition to be fully back to normal. At the moment I am still operating in a vacuum of information.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from Capt. Bill Palmer of the ATB PACIFIC RELIANCE taken on 11 March of the SAXONIA EXPRESS with the vessel’s bow aground at Shingle Pt. As the good Captain puts it: a “New Container dock on the mighty Mississippi”:

* * *

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somali Pirates: Sea of Legal Issues“. Surely, all these discussions by the various governments is going to be a good starting point for the defense to claim that the courts the pirates finally do end up in lack jurisdiction.

gCaptain has the passing of the first licensed female ship captain in North America with “Passing The Bar – Molly Kool“.

gCaptain also has “Left Coast Lifter – Biggest floating crane ever to hit the West Coast arrives in San Francisco“.

Hellenic Shipping News has “U.K. Targets Port-Smuggling Risks After Mumbai Terror Attacks“. As long as illegal aliens can get into a country easily, so can terrorists.

Never Sea Land has a photo of what it can cost to not pull your boat out of the water for the winter.

The Maritime Executive has “COSCO BUSAN (almost) in the Rearview Mirror“.

Last week, John Cota, the California ship pilot who was on the bridge of the COSCO BUSAN when it hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge in November of 2007 pled guilty to negligently causing the discharge of approximately 53,000 gallons of oil into the bay, as well as “violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the death of protected migratory birds.” The latter charge has become an increasingly popular arrow in the quiver of federal prosecutors as they pursue bad guys on the water. I’m pretty sure that the original intent of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act wasn’t to provide this sort of vehicle for lawyers, but it sure has come in handy for the Department of Justice in recent years.

Voice of America has “Egyptian Owner of Sunken Ferry Sentenced to 7 Years“. The ship was the AL-SALAM BOCCACIO 98

An Egyptian appeals court has sentenced the wealthy owner of a ferry that sank in 2006, killing more than 1,000 people, to seven years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.

Wednesday’s ruling overturns last year’s acquittal of Mamdouh Ismail, which had outraged many in Egypt. Ismail, a wealthy, former member of parliament, was absent during the ruling and is believed to be in Europe.

ABC News (Australia) has “Union blames foreign crew for oil spill“. The spill is from the ship PACIFIC ADVENTURER. This is a growing story sure to feature in future editions of Maritime Monday.

StrategyPage has shipping companies adapting to the pirate threat with “Prepare To Repel Boarders“.

Space War has “Mechanical fault puts French aircraft-carrier out of action“. The carrier is the CHARLES DE GAULLE which might be suffering from a shipyard-period-related casualty.

Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum has “Coast Guard Needs To Get Their Hearing Checked…..“

The traditional, formal Merchant Marine Officer’s License as we have always known it, the actual paper certificate, is now on the fast track into the the waste bin of history as the Coast Guard, like a bull in a china shop, blunders into the implementation of their Merchant Mariner Credential final rule, which was published yesterday in the Federal Register.

Puget Sound Maritime has “Wawona dismantling progress photos, drawings” and “Salish Sea name gaining momentum“.

MarineBuzz has “Somali Piracy: JMSDF Ships Sazanami, Samidare on Anti Piracy Mission“. (JMSDF = Japanes Maritime Self-Defense Force)

MarineBuzz also has “Floating Security Barriers to Protect Coastal Assets“.

IceNews has “Only international law can resolve Arctic issues“. Given this extract, sounds like the referenced meeting didn’t go well

After sitting down for talks with Russia over the inevitable battle for the vast oil and gas reserves lying under the Arctic Sea, Denmark has concluded that only international law can ultimately resolve the issues of ownership. Five nations lie along the Arctic coastline – Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada, and the US – and all have competing claims to the area.

Japan Probe has “Obama wants tougher US stance on whaling“.

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BarentsObserver has “New shipbuilding to boost Russia offshore“.

Russian shipyards are inefficient and in need of “comprehensive modernization”, Russian PM Vladimir Putin said in a meeting last week. He now calls for the construction of brand new shipyards, which are to help Russia meet demands within shipping and on the shelf.

Am I the only one who thinks that the shipyards are not the problem?

Kings Point Waterfront has a photo “Harbor Seal Makes Rare Appearance at Kings Point“. I was there for four years and never heard of a harbor seal ever making an appearance. Not to mention growing up on the North Shore of Long Island, never seeing one either.

SafeShip.ca has “Happy Birthday ISM“. Wikipedia has a simple summary of what the ISM Code is: “The ISM Code provides an International standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention.” Click to read more.

Mr. Boat Blog has the photo “Walking under ice.” It’s in Norway.

US Naval Institute Blog has “A Wise Admiral’s Advice To China“.

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Jakarta Globe has “Pirate Arrested in Malaysian Seas Is A Police Officer“. Not only that, but he was part of an anti-drug unit.

One of seven alleged Indonesian pirates arrested after a dramatic shootout on the high seas with Malaysian Marine Commandos about three weeks ago is an Indonesian police officer.

AFP has “Spaniards lobby Madrid on shark protection: campaigners“.

According to these organisations, Spain is fourth in a world league table for shark fishing, with the European Union, “principally due to Spain,” a global hotspot for shark “capture, consumption and commercialisation.”

Trade and Logistics Malaysia has “Cabotage policy affecting Sabah & Sarawak” as people look for an explanation why domestic shipping rates have not benefited from the global drop in freight rates.

CDR Salamander covers the nautical background of the HMS GANNET, which was the source of some wood which the UK used to make a symbolic gift for the new US President in his series “Fullbore Friday“.

Tugster has photos of South Street Seaport’s “Peking 80 Years Ago“.

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Oliver Messel, Island Architect“.

Modern Day Pirate Tales has “Are Somali pirates helping al-Qaeda?“

Shipgaz has “WWL vessels in lay-up“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “Is BO The Answer To Fatigue?” (BO = Bridge Odor)

First, let’s take a look at fatigue. It’s part of the territory. Unrealistic minimum manning standards, especially in coastal waters where regulations often require lower manning levels than on deep sea routes, are partly to blame: The more likely you are to hit a rock the fewer warm bodies you need on the bridge. Working hours, especially 6/6 schedules, contribute to fatigue particularly when only two officers handle watches. One man watching keeping contributes to fatigue.

If your are alone on watch during a 6/6 schedule at night you are at risk.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb has to take care of a myriad of issues while off his ship in “Old stress, new stress.“

The Old Salt Blog has history with “Real Pirates – The Untold Story of the Whydah from Slave Ship to Pirate Ship“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Luck saves sailor James Palmer from Cyclone Hamish“. He was bobbing in the water for 25 hours.

Sea * Fever has “Preserving Maritime Heritage: The Port Society Website“.

Casco Bay Boaters has “Safety Costs May Derail Sail Boston 2009 event“.

It has been a majestic rite: tall ships from across the world dotting Boston Harbor in July, recalling the city’s maritime history in a parade of billowing white sails and crisply attired sailors.

Deep Water Writing has a report of a transit through pirate-infested waters with “From the Front“. Must be nice to have an armed team onboard.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has “Are You Here?” noting the attention required of those working on the sea pointing out that sometimes it might be better for all that you go back home if that’s where your mind keeps wandering.

Freaque Waves has “Another fisherman lost“.

Maritime Compass has a post covering the WWII female unit “Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service” with “WAVES“.

BitterEnd has a confirming sign of the coming end for LORAN-C in “Finally, No Loaran-C Lattices“.

Panbo – The Marine Electronics Weblog has maritime thermal imaging with “FLIR M-Series, “game changing”?“

Steeljaw Scribe has “Midway – 67 Years Later and Controversies Still Abound“.

Neptunus Lex has an expected upcoming cut in the US Navy’s Aircraft Carrier capabilities in “And Then There Were Ten“.

Information Dissemination puts the fleet carrier number into perspective with current events forced by China in “Impeccable Escort and Global Observations“.

Breakbulk Industry News has “NSCSA initiates call at Port of Charleston“. That would be the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia. Good thing Congress does not know that the Saudis are bringing their ships into US Ports looking at how they freaked out at the mere thought of a UAE Company owning shipping terminals in the US.

intheboatshed.net has wood boat building with “Marc Chivers and helpers build a 13ft clinker pilot punt“.

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Fairplay Daily News: Back with this section next week. I have not had access to their daily email while on vacation.

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Submissions for future editions:

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Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions. (I just noticed that a couple of these links have gone bad. This will be fixed next week as well.)

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

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Maritime Monday 151

Fred — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 07:04:27 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 151st edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 101 here. (Published 10 March 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Florida’s Port Canaveral:

Port Canaveral has an illustrious past…as an historic participant in the space program, a strategic base for our military, a rising cargo and cruise port and home to many businesses.

The Navy first asked Congress to approve construction of a deepwater port at Canaveral in 1878. However, it took half a century until approval was granted in 1929, and another two decades before the port’s potential economic value was recognized fully. Port Canaveral, the major deepwater point of entry for Central Florida, ultimately was constructed for military and commercial purposes. It was dedicated on November 4, 1953.

The first industry here was commercial fishing. Cargo vessels started arriving within a few years, laden with oil and newsprint, and tanker vessels began carrying central Florida’s orange juice from here to New York in 1958. By 1966, the cargo tonnage moving through the Port had reached one million tons per year.

* Newsprint *

* Space Shuttle Booster *

* Cargo Operations *

* Lumberships *

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “BBC Reporter Finds Piracy Patrol Frustrating and Boring“. My first thought matches one of the commenters there that maybe the reporter should be on a merchant ship risking attack.

gCaptain has “Four Super Post-Panamax Cranes Arrive in Savannah, Georgia – Photos and Video” and “Best Maritime Blogs of 2009 That You (Maybe) Aren’t Reading“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Blue-sky thinking“.

But can these ships be used for anything else? Transporting cattle has not proved a success, as the animals need a huge amount of fresh water. And it does not take much imagination to guess the other drawbacks. One line is considering converting vessels into student accommodation .

But with their massive car decks, can these great caverns by put to other uses? A theme park, maybe, or venue for rock concerts?

Information Dissemination has “Darkness Falls on Fleet Condition Information“. This will only increase speculation.

Springbored’s Springboard has a huge problem for Navy shipbuilding and Government employment in general with “How Not To Do Procurement Lessons Learned:“. Hey, it is the age of the internet. Somebody, give us names and examples.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Thick Ice Likely To Delay Mississippi River Shipping Season Again“.

The Merchant Marine Express has “Navigation Time!“

Professional Mariner has “Alaska communities try to cope with toxic derelict ships“.

Shipgaz has “Bourbon needs thousand of seafarers“. Yes, growth despite the global slowdown.

Danger Room has “Iraq Withdrawal, Logistical Nightmare?“

Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “CBP – ship absconder apprehended“. There are millions of illegal aliens in the US but this one is treated differently because he arrived by ship. I know the location of a ship absconder. She has since taken the State of Maryland for free doctor and hospital expenses by having her kid here, free of charge, right up to stealing the hospital blankets. And her husband is currently awaiting trial in Maryland for drunk-driving-related charges. (But not actually drunk driving itself. He is also an ex-mariner, and illegal alien.)

Record checks performed by CBP revealed that Fernando last entered the United States at the Tampa Bay Seaport in 2002 as a crewman aboard the Greek flagged cargo ship M.V. Konstantinos. Fernando was given a landing pass to leave the ship, however failed to report for duty and the vessel departed without him. Fernando claims that he illegally remained in the United States living in the New York City area, where he supported himself by working construction and building maintenance until his departure to Canada in 2005.

Breakbulk Industry News has “Jacksonville unloads heavy-lift from Asia“.

intheboatshed.net has “YouTube clips of ice yachting in Holland“.

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Cape Cod Times has “The Islander fetches $23,600 on Ebay“.

The former Martha’s Vineyard ferry The Islander sold on eBay Monday for $23,600.

The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation of New York put the vessel on eBay after an extensive marine survey found it needed at least $6 million in repair work. They originally purchased the ferry from the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority 18 months ago for $500,000. It was intended to handle an eight-minute run between Manhattan and Governors Island, which has been turned into a public venue for recreation and other civic purposes.

MarineLog has “Todd gets icebreaker refit contract“. That would be Todd Shipyard and the vessel is the USCGC POLAR STAR.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has “TWIC Update, Last word?” Sounds like a major screw-up to me. Pin numbers? What happened to using biometric identifiers. More details on the source of the problem (how they lost the pin numbers) found at Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum with “Trouble in TWIC-Land: This is important for all mariners!“

Freaque Waves has “A freaque wave from the Bearing Sea” and includes evidence that the wave was recorded by a monitoring buoy.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Poverty, Hypocrisy and Armada are not the Lyses for the Piracy Drama“.

So the therapy is simple. Instead of spending a lot of money to keep their war ships down there for patrolling purposes, the super powers should dispose these money as assistance for the economic development of the said state.

If the Somalis have jobs and a real state, they would not harm themselves by engaging

in hijacks in the open seas. If a Somali navy existed, it would stop the pirates there and the world armada wouldn’t be needed.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished is recovering from cancer surgery.

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi“.

IMC Brokers has video “Littoral Combat Ship Robot Capability“.

CNN has “Undersea bombs threaten marine life“.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “We Need More Icebreakers!“

ivirtua Community has the story behind the video last week of lost cargo in “Mystery container on UK beach turns out to be Beer Container“.

The Yankee Sailor has “China’s navy goes global to protect its import sea lanes“.

The Maritime Executive has “Cold, Hard Facts: New Arctic Policy is a Paper Polar Bear“.

Marine Log has posted their February Edition online.

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Lloyd’s List has “Container trades collapse ‘veering out of control’“.

The Journal of Commerce has “Scan-all unlikely by 2012“.

“My initial view is that the 2012 deadline is not going to work. We’re going to have to work on what we do beyond that,” Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee. “To do 100 percent scanning requires agreements with many countries. There are lots of issues with that. There is a difference between screening and scanning in the lexicon of the cargo world, and I believe we are close to 100-percent screening now.”

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., raised the question. Democrats voted the 100-percent scanning requirement into law in 2007. Since then, DHS and Customs officials have maintained that the deadline is not feasible, and that a risk-based approach to cargo security is a better approach.

BarentsObserver has “The Norwegian Polar Institute wants cruise-vessels to stay away from the untouched areas in the North-East Svalbard and South-East Svalbard nature reserves.“

Mr. Boat Blog has “British couple rescued after 40 days adrift at sea.“

AMVER Blog has more on one aspect of the rescue story with “Too Far Out To Be Rescued?“

Molten Eagle has “Russian admirals suspected of weapons smuggling.“

The Old Salt Blog has sea songs with “The Bonnie Ship the Diamond“.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Cape Cod Times: Claims Seals Deplete Fish Stocks is Disputed“.

Sea * Fever has “FotoFriday: New Bedford Whaling Museum“.

Whaling Museum blog – Digital Museum @ New Bedford Whaling Museum has “Hoisting Right Whale Skeletons“. (Found via Sea * Fever)

Tugster has coverage of a meet-up of NY Harbor area “Waterbloggers“.

BitterEnd has “Mule Skinners need TWIC“.

Arctic Focus has “Arctic lakes and methane“.

Arctic lakes producing methane could have been responsible for 87 percent of the methane spike in the last ice age, said UAF researcher Katey Walter, lead author of a report printed in the October 26th issue of Science.

MarineBuzz has “Coastal Security: America’s Waterway Watch is Applicable to India Also” and “Keel Laid for India’s First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier“.

US Naval Institute Blog has “March 2009 Issue of Proceedings Now On-Line“.

59° 56′ N has “Why the Merchant of Venice did not follow rules“.

That, if you ask me, is more worrisome. That a welder at a shipyard either misreads, or doesn’t read, a plan and his supervisor misses it, or simply oversees it, is one thing. That a professional inspector trained to look for faults misses it, that is something else entirely. That three inspectors miss it, that begins to look criminal.

Sailor Girl has good news as an old ship is saved in “The NEW quest of the Schooner «ARGUS»!!!“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “The Case of the Tablets of Love“.

We’ll call him Danek, not his real name but he was a real person, a Polish able seaman and one of nine crew aboard the 30 years old 81 metre general cargo ship Monika, flagged in Antigua Barbuda. Danek’s cabin is in the forward part of the accommodation which overhangs the aft bulkhead of one of Monika’s two holds by about half a metre. Next to his cabin is the ship’s hospital.

Puget Sound Maritime has “Martinac launches Seaspan Resolution“.

Puget Sound Maritime also has the “Last voyage for lumber schooner Wawona” and “Wawona photo gallery“.

The Monitor has an update on Sea Shepherd’s FARLEY MOWAT which was seized by Canada in “Ship For Sale“.

Maritime Information Centre has “Plans for new bunker terminal inside Arctic Circle“. It will be built in the Port of Murmansk.

Inside GNSS has “FY 2010 Budget Outline Proposes to End Loran“.

President Obama appears to have weighed in on the long-running Loran/eLoran — on the side of terminating the terrestrial radionavigation system and, apparently, its enhanced version that had been proposed as a backup to GPS.

In a February 26 message to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) members, Vice-Admiral V. S. Crea, USCG Vice Commandant and Chief Operating Officer, said the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) budget outlined in a document sent to Congress calls for termination of Loran-C in the coming year.

YouTube has “Shipbreakers in Gadani beach, Pakistan“.

This is amazing, everybody knows the shipbreaking yard in Alang, India but there is also one in Gaddani or Gadani beach in Pakistan. The Gadani ship-breaking yard is a centre for the breaking up of derelict ocean-going vessels for scrap. The yard is located in Gadani, Pakistan, about 50 kilometres northwest of Karachi.

In the 1980s,the Gadani yard was described as the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, with more than 30,000 direct employees. However, competition from newer facilities in India and Bangladesh resulted in a significant reduction in output, with the Gadani yard producing less than one fifth of the scrap it produced twenty years ago. A reduction in taxes on scrap metal led to a modest resurgence at the Yard, which now employs around 6,000 workers.

In this clip we see in about 7 minutes how a ship is placed on the beach and breaking apart.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Fairplay Daily News has:

Trade credit crunch eases – THE ISSUE of trade credit is being worked out, even though bank funding for shipping remains tight, according to Seaspan’s CEO Gerry Wang.

Wang explained at the Reuters Manufacturing Summit that the ‘letter of credit’ shortfall that stymied trade flow last fall has alleviated.

“Some normalisation of credit in international trade has come into play,” he told Reuters. “I think that situation is under control now.”

But hurdles remain high for shipping company bank funding. “Two weeks ago I went to meet all the ship finance banks to find out what their positions would be,” explained Wang.

He came out of these meetings with the perception that “we would have considerably less credit available than last year”.

According to Reuters, Wang believes that ship financing availability will be harmed by bank nationalisations.

Asked about potential acquisitions, Wang reportedly said Seaspan remains “very cautious”. He does not believe asset values had bottomed yet, Wang told Reuters, adding: “Capital is very precious today, so it’s much better to hunker down and stay healthy.” – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Recession dims Philly prospects – US BUILDER Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has suffered currency-induced losses and could face challenges securing new orders after the completion of the OSG product tanker series.

Today, the yard posted $600,000 in losses for 4Q08, versus net income of $5.5M in 4Q07. The result was primarily attributed to the strengthening US dollar, which had an impact on NOK cash deposits and currency contracts.

Aker Philadelphia lost $1.8M in full-year 2008, versus net income of $3.9M in 2007.

The builder has just delivered its sixth product tanker in the 12-ship series chartered by OSG, with the final tanker due for delivery in 1Q11.

“A key focus for 2009 is securing new orders to expand the backlog,” the yard said in a statement, affirming that “shuttle tankers and containerships remain important prospects”.

But Aker Philly conceded that the outlook had worsened. “The current global economic crisis has created uncertainties which may delay the decision-making process for newbuilds and has created difficulties regarding financing of newbuild projects,” the builder warned.

The yard added that it “continues to monitor and assess its vendors, financing and partners closely”. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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Maritime Monday 150

Fred — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 08:29:56 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 150th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 100 here. (Published 02 March 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of German Shipowner Ernst Jacob:

It is the policy of Ernst Jacob (GmbH & Co KG) – as ship owners and ship managers – to provide safe and environmentally friendly service of consistent quality to the satisfaction of it’s clients and principals in compliance with contractual obligations, relevant national and international regulations, and the recommendations of the ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 standards in order to create a fair profit. – More

* NELL JACOB *

* OLIVER JACOB *

* COLIN JACOB *

* FOUR SCHOONER Cargo Manifold *

* MARGARA Deck *

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Iran: Iranian Navy goes “international”“.

gCaptain has “How Do Mariners Pay For Training?“, “NTSB Board Meeting on Cosco Busan Allision” and the related post “Press Release from NTSB Board Meeting“.

Technically Incorrect explains the real cause of the seabed markings in the Atlantic that were suggested in the news this last week as the possible location of Atlantis in “Atlantis found on Google Earth? Er, no“.

In this case, what users are seeing is an artifact of the data collection process. Bathymetric (or sea-floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea-floor…The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data. The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.”

Molten Eagle looks at the odds of rescuing sub crews from submarines that sink to the bottom in “Out of Their Depth“.

BarentsObserver has “Russia prepares law on Northern Sea Route“. So when are they going to try and tax those who use the route? How long before the first ship is arrested by the Russians? This is a likely possibility given how Russia has seized ships off their Western Coast, even those clearly in International waters.

The Canberra Times has coverage of a police raid in “Sea Shepherd evidence ‘could be sent to Japan’“.

Australian Federal Police have raided anti-whaling flagship the Steve Irwin, seizing records and videos that could help Japan to prosecute the activist Sea Shepherd group.

An armed squad seized 157 of Discovery Channel’s raw videos, and navigational records from the ship in Hobart. The videos show the Sea Shepherd’s clashes with Japanese whalers and may be given to the Japanese Government. A federal agent said yesterday’s raid resulted from a formal referral from Japanese authorities and that police were undertaking preliminary inquiries into this summer’s Southern Ocean confrontation.

Yahoo News has an update with “Cyprus: Iran ship can leave without suspect cargo“. So how about showing the world what was included in the cargo?

Bloomberg has “North Korea Seizes Russian Cargo Ship Near Missile Test Range “.

The ship was en route to Vladivostok from the South Korean port of Pusan on Feb. 17 when it veered toward Cape Musudan to avoid a storm, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. North Korean sailors boarded the vessel the next day and escorted it to the port of Kimchaek.

The Old Salt Blog has “The Wreck of The SS Richard Montgomery – a WWII Time-bomb?“. The ship was carrying thousands of tons of high explosives.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has an example that our Congress has no monopoly on stupidity with “Maine Rep. Tom Watson Wants to Ride on YOUR Boat” as he submits legislation to require all boaters to wear lifejackets when on the water.

The exceptions in this law are much more dangerous than some other types of boating. For example you won’t have to wear a lifejacket when going to your mooring in a small zodiac or while in a canoe owned by a children’s summer camp?!

US Merchant Marine Veterans has “Assistance for US Merchant Marine Veterans of WW II“.

Applications being mailed to gain recognition as veterans are repeatedly rejected by the National Maritime Center because they cannot find records (trip discharges and/or logbooks) that show service for the periods required and they accept little else. Alternate methods to prove employment must be provided in order for these seamen to become veterans. This can be accomplished through administrative legislation at no cost.

Kind of our Government’s shame that this was not resolved decades ago. Even worse, the National Maritime Center can’t find the records because MARAD destroyed them in the ’70′s!.

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BBC News has “Danton wreck found in deep water“.

French battleship sunk in 1917 by a German submarine has been discovered in remarkable condition on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea.

Never Sea Land has video “Marine critters that keep us safe (?)“. So go get a summary overview of the MARK 6 Dolphin and Mark 6 Sea lion systems.

The US Navy has the slide show “Year in Pictures 2008” (Found via Neptunus Lex).

The Maritime Executive has “Obama’s New Deal: Good Deal, No Deal or the Real Deal?” noting the large amount of ‘stimulus’ money for the Maritime Industry.

The Washington Times has more ‘stimulus’ money with: “Bill allots millions to Filipino vets abroad“.

Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “Alaska – power grab in Arctic waters?” and “Alaska – Arctic pilotage proposal“.

Hellenic Shipping News has “$1.8bn Oman port on track despite turmoil“.

Shirlaw News Group has “Chilean ship loaded with gold sinks in S Atlantic“. $110 million, gone, for now.

Puget Sound Maritime has “Two baby orcas spotted near Victoria BC“.

Shipgaz has “Maritime pollution should be a criminal offence“.

The European Parliament’s transport committee wants to make maritime pollution a criminal offence. Even minor cases of pollution should be made criminal if they are repeated, committed deliberately or caused as a result of serious negligence. Penalties should apply to anyone involved in the pollution, from shipowners to classification societies.

Imagine if this kind of ‘ideology’ migrated to everyday life…

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has ““Without Rescue 21, they’d all be dead.”“

The Merchant Marine Express has “Drama while departing for Sea!“

HAWSEPIPER is the third man living on a two-man barge in “mmm…Sunday“. At sea and up river.

AMVER Blog has “Rescue At Sea; A Survivor’s Account“. (Found via Professional Mariner)

iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen has “Marine Insurers Meeting with Coast Guard Commandant“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “MAIB Tired of Fatigue – “UK must go it alone”“. 6 on / 6 off watchkeeping is an invitation to trouble. Or am I wrong?

MarineBuzz has “Calculate Sea Route Distance in Google Maps” and “Waterjet Fast Attack Crafts INS Carnicobar and INS Chetlat Commissioned at Chennai“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Death toll must be cut“.

WHILE the shipping community may have differing views on inerting tanker cargoes to prevent explosions, it is united in its concern about the increase in the number of seafarers killed when they enter enclosed spaces on ships.

Wired asks a barge question with ‘what would you do with 405 tons of oil storage?‘

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Mr. Boat Blog has a video tour of Royal Caribbean’s OASIS OF THE SEAS which is currently under construction in “Worlds Largest Cruise Ship = 11 Love Boats.“

US Naval Institute Blog has “The Coast Guard’s Role in Building Legal Capacity in Africa“.

Space Mart has “Scientists Find Black Gold Amidst Overlooked Data” noting a valid application for Google Oceans.

About half of the oil in the ocean bubbles up naturally from the seafloor, with Earth giving it up freely like it was of no value. Likewise, NASA satellites collect thousands of images and 1.5 terrabytes of data every year, but some of it gets passed over because no one thinks there is a use for it.

Scientists recently found black gold bubbling up from an otherwise undistinguished mass of ocean imagery. Chuanmin Hu, an optical oceanographer at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and colleagues from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth (UMass), found that they could detect oil seeping naturally from the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico by examining streaks amid the reflected sunlight on the ocean’s surface.

Theo Spark has more video of real life turned into model-looking animation with “Amazing: Bathtub Video…..” It’s ’tilt-shift’ video.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Saudi Frigate Provides Protection For Turkish Ship“. I think the Saudis can keep their frigate home. They can do much more good fighting those supporting terrorism in their own backyard.

Sea * Fever has “Ten shipwrecks that capture MSNBC’s imagination“.

BitterEnd has “The Rise of the Drug-Running Remote-Controlled Semi-Submarines“.

MaritimeSales had an ex-Soviet “Whiskey Class” Submarine” for sale. It went for $550,000.

IMC Brokers explains “Dynamic Positioning” and includes a good video summary on the subject as well.

Breakbulk Industry News has “Wallenius Wilhelmsen opens Chennai unit“.

Kings Point Waterfront has photos and video of an “Icebreaking Training Trip” up the Hudson River.

The Yankee Sailor has returned to blogging.

Tugster has photos on how New York City gets it’s road salt by barge.

Information Dissemination has “Update on EU Piracy Effort“.

Cruise bruise has “Three Jailed After $1.3 Million Heist Aboard Cruise Ship“. The ship was the OCEAN DREAM and they just walked off the ship with the money.

YouTube has great video posted from a ship that is tossed about in a storm and loses a good portion of their deck cargo in “perils of the sea“. The crew on the bridge don’t sound to be too concerned out it. Then again, they were limited in what they could have done at that point. Surely, the video is good stuff for the insurance companies.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

Shifting my flag – After 13 years with Holland & Knight and 10 years publishing this electronic newsletter, I am shifting my flag to the Internet. Today is my last day with the law firm and my last day as editor of this newsletter. Henceforth, you can reach me at my blog – Bryant’s Maritime Blog

[ http://bryantsmaritimeblog.blogspot.com ]. (Fred Note: Story linked above)

While the blog may superficially resemble the newsletter, there will be important differences. First, it will not show up in your e-mail’s In Box. Rather, you will have to go to it on the Internet. Therefore, you may wish to put the site on your Favorites list. Then again, maybe not – your choice. Second, while the blog will attempt to keep track of maritime developments (as did the newsletter), it will allow for a dialogue. Thus, if you wish to comment on a topic in the blog, or just wish to sound off, this will provide you with a forum. While I will retain editorial control, I will try to not stifle criticism, only irrelevancy and redundancy. Third, plans call for the blog to eventually include advertizing. Please support the blog site by clicking on some or all of the advertisements that interest you. I understand that some of my long-suffering readers may have trouble accessing the blog. Perhaps if you tell your IT Staff that the blog is both work-related and boring, they will grant access rights.

I have enjoyed the practice of law, particularly with the wonderful people at Holland & Knight. I have enjoyed editing the newsletter, and receiving your occasional constructive criticism (the blog will allow for even more of that). I have taken special pleasure in the notes received from many of you the past several days since I first announced my departure. Time prevents me from responding individually to each one. So, all the best to each and every one of you. If you wish to chat less publicly, you can reach me at: dennis.l.bryant@gmail.com. (2/20/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Cry of ‘murder’ in ship deaths – A DIPLOMATIC row grew today between Russia and China over the deaths of eight crew from a dry cargo ship – including an accusation of “murder”.

Russian rescue and salvage teams were at work today in the Sea of Japan looking for missing seafarers and the cargo ship New Star, which Russian authorities believe has sunk.

Hong Kong’s J-Rui Lucky Shipping told the English-language news portal china.org.cn that the Russian account of the incident was false.

“The story the Russia authorities fed to the press is a cover-up that turns black into white,” the company said. “Their account does not mention the fact that their warship fired on our cargo ship. What they are portraying as a rescue was in fact an act of murder.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu urged Russia to spare no effort in its rescue operations and to investigate swiftly.

Lieutenant Colonel Natalia Rondaleva of Russia’s Federal Security Service FSB said yesterday that the rice vessel had unlawfully fled the port of Nakhodka, in the Vladivostok region.

The Sierra Leone-flagged ship left on 12 February “without receiving a permit from the border guard and illegally crossed the Russian frontier”, she told reporters, speaking for the local branch of the FSB.

It was chased by Russian border vessels after the buyer of its rice found the cargo spoiled. New Star was then hit by a heavy storm in neutral waters, had engine failure and started sinking.

The ship was abandoned, and the 16 crew members boarded life rafts. Eight of them were rescued by the pursuing Russians. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission) [Fred Note: Video of the incident can bee seen at gCaptain Here]

AND:

Seafarers threaten run on banks – CROATIAN seafarers are threatening to withdraw €400M ($506M) from domestic banks if its government refuses to alter how they are taxed.

“We demand that the government counts the days seafarers spend on their way to and from ships, as well as days when they are ill and days when they are training,” Predrag Brazzoduro, head of the Croatian Seafarers’ Union, said on the union’s website.

Seafarers must now spend at least 183 days a year at sea to qualify for tax benefits. But Brazzoduro said the recession will prevent seafarers from going to sea that many days this year.

He has said the union, which represents 20,000 seafarers, will withdraw its deposits in Croatian banks if Zagreb refuses its demand. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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Maritime Monday 148

Fred — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:44:59 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 148th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 98 here. (Published 18 February 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Germany’s Senator Lines, which announced last week that it is closing down:

The Journal of Commerce has “Senator Lines to shut down“.

Senator Lines of Germany today announced it will wind down its liner services with immediate effect as the deepening slump in container shipping claimed its first high-profile casualty.

Senator, which is majority owned by Hanjin Shipping of South Korea, said it is halting operations in the face of reduced cargo volumes, overcapacity and increased competition, especially on the major east-west trade routes.

The carrier, which was established in 1987, will continue trading until it has delivered all of its cargoes.

* PUSAN SENATOR *

* CANADA SENATOR *

* GERMAN SENATOR *

* Sailing yacht “Platoon” Special Cargo *

* Firetruck to Asia Special Cargo *

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somali Pirates: Captured LPG Ship Not “Registered” for EU cover” and “Somali Pirates: MV Faina “free”“.

gCaptain has “Mariner Shortage – Your Opinions“. I blame STCW 95. In the past sailors would move ashore when shipping was bad and go back out to sea when shipping was good again/when there were shortages of seafarers. Now, with STCW 95, it gets very difficult to maintain your license and training if you are working shoreside. A shipping company has no problem with sailing staff going off to collect some training during vacation time, but good luck trying to duck out of the office for a couple weeks to do some refresher training. Or you can try to do it during your vacation time, but that won’t go over well with the rest of the family, not to mention not having enough vacation time to cover all the training requirements.

Pat Dollard has video from China: “Raw: Ferry Workers And Rescue Boat Refuse To Save Drowning Woman As Family Watches Her Die“.

Sailor Girl has “BRING BACK «ARGUS» TO PORTUGAL!!!“. Too late?

Built in 1939 in the Netherlands for Lisbon based owners Parceria Geral de Pescarias, «ARGUS» has been cruising in the Caribbeans since 1976 under the name «POLYNESIA II». Sold by Parceria in 1974 to Canadian interests (White Fleet Cruise Ships), she was resold in 1975 to Windjammer Barefoot and converted to carry 126 passengers. However, this company has gone bankrupt… and we are affraid that «ARGUS» will be «left outside alone»…

Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum has comments on having a ‘dangerously sharp’ knife around for those times when you absolutely, positively want to disconnect your ship from what’s on the other end of that mooring/tow line in “Wicked Shahp!“. One of my sailor knives had extreme serrations on it. The old bosun on one ship didn’t believe that I was able to slice through the mooring line in seconds as we got down to re-splicing it.

Ananova has “Bananas ship seizure“. The ship has been detained for five months now. The whole port is complaining about the stench.

The Ukrainian secret service – the SBU – impounded a Greek-owned cargo ship loaded with bananas as part of a drug smuggling investigation.

No drugs have been found but security chiefs have said they will not release the ship which is being held in Odessa.

Now the ship’s crew has been issued with nuclear war-style bio-hazard suits and respirators to protect them from the toxic rotting bananas.

Doug Ross @ Journal comments on a recent Energy API study in “A free-to-taxpayers $1.7 trillion stimulus package?“. Report extracts below:

…America’s vast domestic oil and natural gas resources [have] been kept off-limits by Congress for decades [and] could generate more than $1.7 trillion in government revenue, create thousands of new jobs and enhance the nation’s energy security by significantly boosting domestic production, a study released Monday shows.

AND

According to the ICF study, U.S. crude oil production would rise by 36% by 2030 if development is permitted in the studied areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, ANWR and the Rockies and domestic natural gas production would rise by 10%. This activity would create 160,000 jobs in 2030. – ( See ‘Off-limits US oil, gas worth $1.7 trillion to government: study‘ by Energy API Study

I have pointed out in last week’s edition of Maritime Monday on how the Obama Administration has stopped further offshore oil development approved in the tail end of last year’s Congress.

Lloyd’s List has “Hebei Spirit owner launches legal action against SHI“. It’s about time they did this.

Professional Mariner adds features with “Professional Mariner launches online Career Center“.

Modern Day Pirate Tales has “Muammar Gaddafi defends Somali pirates“. This is the same man who was just elected Chairman of the African Union!

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has coverage of an anti-piracy guide in “OCIMF – Put A Pirate In Your Pocket“. Click the image below to open the PDF format guide.

Example of a warning sign in Somali, which states – DANGER HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRIC BARRIER

Good idea, provided they know how to read. Probably wouldn’t hurt to use it, with or without electricity…

CDR Salamander has the US Navy’s “Guide To Command of Negro Naval Personnel“.

ShipGaz has “Insurers in record claim after Rocknes accident“. Good luck with suing the Norwegian Government.

The suit claims that the underwater rock the Jebsen bulk carrier Rocknes hit in Vatlestraumen south of Bergen on 19 January, 2004, was not marked on the charts. According to the P&I club Gard, the Norwegian Hydrographic Services (NHS) had known the rock’s exact location since 1995.

The Pilot has more on the accident with “MV ROCKNES – A DISASTER STILL SHROUDED IN MYSTERY?“.

Trade and Logistics Malaysia has “Investor offers tankers to oil speculators“.

LONDON: Shipping investor Nobu Su plans to offer his fleet of 20 supertankers to speculators who want to store oil and bet they can sell it later in the year for a profit.

Su’s Taipei-based company, TMT Co Ltd, will lease out its two-million-barrel vessels at below-market prices in return for a share of any profit his customers make on the trade in oil. His fleet, able to hold enough crude to supply Europe for two days, is available for immediate hire, he said.

Its all good until everyone tries to sell their tanker loads of oil at once, right…

Never Sea Land has Vendee Globe Around the World Solo race video with “Roxy Sailing“. Yes, that really is fast for any type of boat, especially a sailboat!

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The Jawa Report has “Somali Pirates Explained“.

THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE has “Attacking Piracy: The Long Road to Nowhere“.

MarineBuzz has “Participate in Mission Navy of National Geographic Channel India” and includes an interesting video summary of the Indian Navy..

MarineBuzz also has “Encounter of Indian Submarine with Chinese Warships off Somalia“. This pirate expedition his thrown many navies into the same pond. I wonder what kind of testing is being done of various ships, taking advantage of the situation?

Puget Sound Maritime has “Katmai life raft did not inflate properly” and “Consensus on commercial fishing moratorium in U.S. Arctic“.

Seattle PI has a photo gallery of the Washington State Ferry System’s Steel Electrics. (Found via Puget Sound Maritime: Steel-Electrics sold to Managing Green)

VietNamNet has “Vietnam’s shipbuilding on the rise“.

9 News (Colorado) has unfortunate trouble for a future Merchant Marine Academy Midship-woman in “Student faces expulsion for fake drill team guns“. Actually they were real, drill-team drill rifles, which of course are fake rifles.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Shipping Industry Runs Short of New Crew“.

Shipping Times has “Cost-conscious hauliers shun tunnel for ferry“.

Maritime Information Centre has “Scrap yards full as owners cut their losses“. You can bet that these ships were making good profits for their owners until recently, which is why they were kept sailing past their useful life. Lets see how many were wise enough to put away enough money to buy nice new replacements for these vessels. So whatever they might lose for selling their all-of-a-sudden ‘rustbucket’ into low scrap prices, they are sure to earn back and then some getting a slightly used ship for a much better deal than the original owners did.

Offshore Magazine has “Deepsea Atlantic moves to Norway“.

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Hellenic Shipping News has “Shipping: Air’s loss is the sea’s gain as firms cut costs“.

With less global consumption brought about by the recession, companies are turning to the sea to transport goods rather than air, according to shipping recruiters.

Marine Log has “$518,500 EPA penalties for export of SS Oceanic (ex SS Independence)“.

Financial Times has “Ships used as car parks for unsold vehicles“.

BreakBulk Industry News has good news for Subic Seaport in “Philippine port sees growth“.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “In Hampton Roads? Learn about the HEALY.“

The Merchant Marine Express has “Winter in full Force at home or on a ship!“.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG remembers the anniversary of “The Bouchard 125, Port Mobil Explosion“.

The Old Salt Blog has “Anne Jane Thornton – the Female Sailor“.

BitterEnd has “WSF could save millions, reports Captain Twohig“. The example is for Washington State Ferries. The question is are people willing to accepted reduced speeds? If so, then why not slower speeds for cars too? Then again, what if people are willing to pay for the faster transit even if it is only 3-4 minutes faster?

Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “Indian Ocean due huge quake ‘in next 30 years’“. Think tsunami…

Steeljaw Scribe has “Flightdeck Friday Special Edition: Kitty Hawk Decommissioning“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Wreck of HMS Victory Recovered“. The warship sunk in 1744.

The announcement, at a press conference at Canary Wharf in London, is set to open a row over the contents of the ship, which is thought to be lying in international waters. Because it is a military wreck, the ship is protected by “sovereign immunity” and belongs to the state.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished asks “What’re the worst conditions you’ve ever seen for a weapons move?“.

OCRA Marine Newsletter has “IMO’s ‘No Red Tape’ Committee Comes Of Age“.

Traditionally, large numbers of documents are required by customs, immigration, health and other public authorities pertaining to a ship, its crew and passengers, baggage, cargo and mail. Unnecessary paperwork is a problem in most industries, but the potential for red tape is probably greater in shipping than in other industries, because of its international nature and the traditional acceptance of formalities and procedures.

Sea * Fever has “Messing About In Ships podcast episode 33“.

USNI Blog has “February 2009 Proceedings is now Online“.

MediaGlobal has “ANALYSIS: Digging in Neptune’s Kingdom: The First Deep-Sea Mining Project“.

Allusions to an underwater El Dorado are common in Western literature—such as the hymn by 16th century British poet Thomas Campion. A seafloor encrusted with hidden treasures awaits discovery to only the bravest who dare venture where the sun never shines.

On the brink of this quest, Nautilus Minerals is just steps away from testing the waters. Using technology developed by the offshore oil industry, the Canadian mining company is embarking on the world’s first deep-sea mining project.

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Xavier Rosset, 300 days alone on an island“.

Information Dissemination has “Israel Impounds Aid Ship“. The ship was coming from Lebanon, where I suspect there are enough people who need aid and are ignored by these same people simply looking to make a statement.

Israel Matzav has more on the ship which is currently named MONCHEGORSK (Some stories state that the ship had changed name and flag) in “Surprise: Iranian cargo ship was carrying weapons to Gaza“. The ship is Cyprus Flag and oddly enough, has been detained in Cyprus.

Jerusalem Post has more with “Cyprus: Ship won’t be returned to Iran“. Good.

Tugster has some photos of remote lighthouses in “Bright Lights…“

The Monitor has “Icy warm welcome“.

Sea Shepherd has surprise in the Japanese decision to fight back in “The Battle for the Whales Turns Ugly in the Ross Sea“. The Japanese has brought a couple LRAD units with them. Video of the unit at work here.

Crew members aboard Japanese harpoon whaling ship, the Yushin Maru No. 3, give Sea Shepherd activists a middle finger while using an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) sonic weapon developed for the military. Photo by Adam Lau/Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

Better a finger than some LRAD in the face, right?

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Metacafe has time lapse video with “Through Panama Canal In 75 Seconds“:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

Hearing on international piracy on the high seas – On February 4, the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure conducted a hearing on International Piracy on the High Seas. Opening statements were made by Committee Chair James Oberstar (D-MN) and Subcommittee Chair Elijah Cummings. RADM William Baumgartner, JAG, USCG testified that coordinated application of naval force and legal authorities is required to suppress piracy off the coast of Somalia. RADM Ted Branch, USN testified concerning the increase in the number of naval vessels operating in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. Mr. James Caponiti, Maritime Administration, testified concerning that agency’s efforts to facilitate coordination and cooperation among the various stakeholders impacted by the piracy problem. Mr. Peter Chalk, RAND Corporation, testified that, among other things, defensive technologies should be more widely used and basic security protocols should be adhered to. Captain Phil Davies, OCIMF, testified regarding the special risks presented by tankers and implementation of best maritime practices. Dr. Peter Swift, INTERTANKO, testified that re-establishment of law and order on the high seas is largely a task for governments, not industry. Mr. Giles Noakes, BIMCO, expressed concern regarding weaknesses in the international and national legal systems that make it difficult to bring pirates to justice. (2/4/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

EPA – NPDES VGP program – reminder – This is a reminder to the regulated community that the EPA’s Vessel General Permit (VGP) program comes into effect on February 6. Following is our earlier report on this development: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a notice announcing the Vessel General Permit (VGP) program as part of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA). A federal court previously ruled that the long-standing exemption from the NPDES permitting requirement was invalid and directed that the exemption be vacated as of December 19, 2008. The VGP program has been developed in response to that ruling. The program addresses 28 separate discharges from ships including, but are not limited to, ballast water discharges, deck washdown and runoff, bilge water, gray water, seawater cooling overboard discharge, controllable pitch propeller hydraulic fluid, and hull husbandry. Covered vessels (basically commercial vessels, foreign and domestic, of 79 feet in length and greater) operating on navigable waters of the United States have to adopt best management practices for each of these waste streams. In addition, covered vessels of 300 gross tons and greater will have to submit Notices of Intent (NOIs) relating to these discharges. The EPA also released its 162-page VGP permit and a 125-page Fact Sheet and a 179-page Economic Analysis. Finally, to further complicate an already difficult situation, it released the State and Tribal Certifications related to the VGP program. The EPA also issued a news release stating that the program affects approximately 61,000 domestic vessels and 8,000 foreign vessels. Note: Subsequent to the signing of this notice, the federal court granted a motion to delay implementation of the VGP program until February 6, 2009. This is a work in progress and there are certain to be further developments. 73 Fed. Reg. 79473 (December 29, 2008). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Spanish rescue 77 from ‘death boat’ – CANARY Islands authorities said today crews have rescued 77 West African migrants off a ‘death boat’.

Spain’s maritime safety agency said the vessel was intercepted about 60 n-miles south of Gran Canaria Island. Three dead bodies were also found in the wooden boat.

Spanish authorities said the migrants left West Africa more than eight days ago. The survivors were taken today to Areguineguin on Gran Canaria.

The total number of migrants rescued in winter weather off the Canary Islands and West Africa exceeds 250 over the past six days, the agency said. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Tanker crewman stabbed to death – AN OIL tanker crewman has been stabbed to death following an argument with another man on the ship, the Philippines Coast Guard has said.

The dead man has been identified as a Filipino cook aboard the Greek tanker Stresa.

The incident occurred in the galley where the two Filipino crewmen had a heated argument that led to the stabbing while the tanker was off Itbayat, Batanes in the Philippines. The captain reported the incident to PCG. The attacker could not be found and is believed to have jumped ship.

The Stresa came from Kuwait and was heading for South Korea when the incident occurred. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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Maritime Monday 145

Fred — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 14:35:16 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 145th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 95 here. (Published 28 January 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

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

On these pages, you will find pictures of ships of all sorts, mostly merchant vessels, at sea, at berth, being discharged, being loaded, and being dry docked.

This is a site by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts. Updated every now and then.

* One of the pods used for the vessels propulsion. *

* Breant in the Kiel Canal: She was built in 1979 at the Karlskrona shipyard, and delivered to Stockholm. She is currently in charter to Stella Lines. *

* The Artemis made a cruise call in Gothenburg on July 2nd, 2008 *

* East Indiaman Götheborg, returning to home port, June 9th, 2007 *

* The Sigyn is owned by the Swedish Nuclear fuel company, and was built in Le Havre, France in 1982. These pictures are shot while the Sigyn was laid up at the home port in Oskarshamn. *

Their homepage can be found here.

Click on the photos above for related pictures in each series.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has a good alternate explanation for the reduction in pirate attacks in “Somali Pirates: Decline? Not so fast . . .“

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: On Ice“

gCaptain has “Types Of Ships – A Master List Of Vessel Types” and “10 More Anti-Piracy Weapons For Use In Somalia“.

gCaptain also has an upgrade announcement with: “gCaptain’s NEW FORUM“. The forum can be found here.

OneFreeKorea has “Hostile Policy: N. Korea Threatens ‘Confrontration’ Along Sea Boundary“.

The North has a long history of using the NLL [Fred Note: Northern Limit Line defining the territory limits at sea between the two sides] as an easy, low-risk way to intimidate the South Koreans and the Americans. It provoked naval clashes there in 1999, 2002, and 2004.

The Monitor has “New ships are fine, need new attitude“.

Yahoo News has the other half of the story in “Yemen: Fisherman killed during pirate chase“.

SAN’A, Yemen – A Russian helicopter attack on Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week killed a Yemeni fisherman and three others, security officials said Thursday.

The fishermen were in two boats nearby when the Russian helicopter fired on pirates in three speedboats trying to hijack a Dutch container ship on Tuesday, said two officials from Yemen’s Interior Ministry and coast guard.

A preliminary investigation showed the fishermen were hit by fire from the helicopter, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to news media.

Yahoo News also has “25 fishermen hurt in attacks off Sudan coast“. Is increased naval patrols in the Gulf of Aden pushing the pirates into the Red Sea? Or perhaps some Sudanese have taken up the sport seeing the success of the Somali pirates. Not for anything, but I wonder if there are also Yemeni pirates, using Somalia as a base of operations…

Freight Dawg has “Pirates: Here’s an idea- lets let them experience a live fire exercise.“.

US Naval Institute Blog has “Sonar and the Environment“. Be sure to follow the story into the comments.

I have been invited to be a guest blogger at the US Naval Institute Blog and have posted my first article last week: “Congress & Diversity at Federal Academies“.

Tampa Bay Online has “Who Are The Harbor Pilots Of Tampa Bay?” and includes a slideshow “Photo Gallery: A Day In The Life Of A Harbor Pilot“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Hundreds Feared Dead After Ship Sinks“.

Hundreds of people are missing and feared dead after boats carrying about 400 African migrants capsized near Yemen on Saturday, the UN says. At least a dozen bodies have washed ashore in Yemen, said Laila Nassif, who heads the United Nations High Commission for Refugees office in the coastal city of Aden.

It is a big Gulf out there. Even with all the naval and commercial shipping activity, it can be that nobody was around when the accident happened.

Bills of lading has a great summary on cargoship cigarette facilitation payoffs:

I believe a progressive shipping company should actually promulgate among the whole fleet, the average number of Marlboros dispensed out in the ports worldwide. This would give the master of the ship arriving at a port for the first time, a pretty fair idea about what faces him when the gangway touches the Jetty. For example over the last couple of years, I have had experiences ranging from a couple of cartons in the US to a personal record of 58 Cartons in Ukraine. Of course that is exempting the revered continent of Africa, which is governed by a different set of economic laws of its own. The last time I was in Togo, the agent offered to sell back to me my own cartons of Marlboros for 10 USD so that I could again give it back to him, a second time. The economics for this are a bit tedious and disinterested parties might want to skip the next paragraph.

To this day I remember the Suez Canal pilot who has handed Salem cigarettes. He was not only pissed off that he didn’t get Marlboros, but he just would not believe that they were American cigarettes. I have never in my life seen anything like arriving at the Suez Canal. Even the pilot boat was demanding that cigarettes be tossed down to them. The pilot kept it at dead slow as we were assaulted with about 15 Government officials taking the Captain and Second Mate’s attention. The Chief Mate was overseeing the lifting of the required lineboats. The Third Mate manned the gangway, ensuring that it was kept raised as various boats came by demanding that it be lowered to permit the boarding of various merchants/persons of opportunity. This after one of the lineboat crewmen rushed forward to the gangway and started lowering it to let on his buddies on once his lineboat was brought aboard!

MarineBuzz has “Weekend View: Somali Pirate Attack Summary Map for 2008 by UNOSAT” and “10 Ways to Stop Marine Debris“.

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Lloyd’s List has “Russian vessel loses cargo in storms off UK“. It is a timber of cargo. The ship is the SINEGORSK.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has Indian Shippers calling for market protection as they lose their financial advantage in “Cuts both ways“.

BBC News has “Thais hold more migrants amid row“.

The commander of the military units responsible for dealing with asylum-seekers has denied the accusations.

However, testimony from exhausted and dehydrated survivors who have reached the Andaman Islands or Indonesia’s Aceh province over the past week describes brutal treatment at the hands of the Thai security forces.

They say they were detained on an offshore island, then pushed onto boats without engines, and with their hands tied. They say many of the asylum-seekers died trying to swim back to land.

Privately, some Thai military and police sources have admitted to the BBC that this has been happening – they say the escalating numbers of Rohingyas reaching Thailand from Burma or Bangladesh are seen as a security risk, because of fears they may include Islamic militants.

The reason they disable their engines, they say, is to prevent them trying to come back to Thailand.

Of course by disabling their engines, they can’t go back to anywhere. Interesting that migrants get treated worse than pirates. This doesn’t say much good about the Thai Navy either. Then again, this is a good incentive for everyone to give them lots of seaway.

IceNews has “Danish navy stuck with Somali pirates“.

The Danish naval ship, HMS Absalon, is facing an unusual dilemma with the five Somali pirates it pulled out of the Gulf of Aden on 2 January. The pirates’ ship was reportedly sunk by the very cargo vessel they were trying to attack when an emergency flare landed on the pirates’ boat and sank it.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “Alert received from a user of technology: “It was nice while it lasted.”” as the Coast Guard blocks Twitter. Or possibly not according to one of the comments.

Kennebec Captain has “New Merchant Mariner Document Considered“.

HAWSEPIPER is working on his courses to be able to sit for his third mate’s exam in “fruition“.

The Merchant Marine Express has “Lesson in Nautical Terms“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has another example of an enclose space entry gone bad in “The Case Of The Rose Assassin“. Always be careful. Mistakes happen but those that happen at sea kill, often quickly.

Euobserver has “EU pledges navy patrols to prevent Gaza smuggling“.

CargoLaw has ““The Taking of M/T Biscaglia”” noting:

It has already been debated at length on the Internet, but we think these unarmed guys are heroes who acted with prudence — doing the best they could with what very little they were given to work with by Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions . But our major emotion now is prayer for the crew of M/T Biscaglia and their safe return.

intheboatshed.net has instructions and photos: “Making a moustache fender using manila“.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has “Tugboat Etiquette for the New Hire“.

It’s a regular occurrence, we take the novices aboard and get them oriented. We show them the pointy end (the bow), the port side rail, the starboard side rail, and then the not so pointy end (the fantail) all the while extolling the virtues of remaining within those boundaries, no swimming without authorization if you please. We teach them the basic chores and how we want them done, and then try to imbue them with our knowledge and experience so that they too will eventually be equipped to think and act as a full share member of the team. We are keenly aware that until they’ve got some time under their belts we’ll need to coddle, cajole, and harangue some of these hopefuls in order to keep them from killing themselves or anyone else on our watch. The entire crew is involved.

Lots of good stuff in his post, for all new hires, even those not going to work on a tug. And if you are sending someone to a tug to work, do them a favor and print this out for them.

Information Dissemination has “Navy Buys Three Maritime Positioning Ships“.

Swanage Railway Company (UK) has “RAILWAY FUNERAL VAN THAT CARRIED WINSTON CHURCHILL TO HIS FINAL RESTING PLACE IN 1965 RETURNS FROM THE U.S.A.- 24th September 2007“.

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Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “Boaters say proposals cast them adrift“.

Proposed changes to the Nanaimo Port Authority’s moorage policy could force some liveaboards to weigh anchor and leave home port in their wake.

The proposed changes include a 14-day anchoring restriction within a 30-day period, a six-month extended stay permit, and requirements for holding tanks and logs for sewage discharge, as well as insurance.

Well, they regulated all the fun out of shipping, small boaters are next! (Politicians still are avoiding assigning any responsibility to automobile drivers because this is the only time we acknowledge that ‘accidents happen’…) I just wonder which kind of accidents collectively cause the most damage?

The Maritime Executive has “State Level Politics: A Dangerous Precedent is Set – Boston Pilots rate bill killed again by a single Senator’s objections; marine safety in the Bay State now at the mercy of – and being compromised by – the commonwealth’s legislators.“

Another reason that the pilots cannot move a simple rate increase through the legislature hinges on a (failed) effort to push military veterans – regardless of their qualifications – to the head of the line when it comes to selecting new pilot candidates. The effort, wrapped in red, white and blue, still smells like rotting fish and, if passed, would significantly dumb down the curriculum for Bay State pilots at a time when national standards and oversight are being ramped up in a big way. Without a doubt, the failure of the veteran’s preference initiative and the push for unregulated docking master certification will continue to impact marine legislation in the Bay State as long as the state legislature has any control over local pilot issues.

Sounds like they are legislating the next COSCO BUSAN type incident. This also shows a complete lack of understanding and lack of respect for the merchant marine as a profession.

BitterEnd has video: “The Tale of the Redneck Houseboat” which includes an ‘indoor outhouse’!

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Marooned on the Carteret Islands“.

CNN has reported that the Carteret islanders will be the first island community in the world to undergo an organized relocation, in response to their island sinking.

Taipei Times has “Descendants of victims mark ‘Taiping’ tragedy“.

With bowed heads and teary eyes, descendants of the victims in the Taiping steamer shipwreck 60 years ago appealed to the government yesterday to pay more respect to the incident by designating a national holiday to commemorate the tragedy.

More than 1,000 people, including the father of forensic scientist Henry Lee (李昌鈺), died when the vessel — with a capacity of only 580 passengers — sunk off the coast of Shanghai, China, after colliding with a small cargo ship on a dark night in 1949. Only 36 people were rescued and the bodies of the victims were never found.

The journey was part of the massive wave of Chinese emigration to Taiwan after it became clear the Chinese Communist Party was winning the civil war against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Youngest Solo Round The World Ever! has… Stupidity.

Does the name Jesse Martin ring a bell…… if not which planet were you on in 1999 when Jesse was welcomed home from his history making voyage by a crowd of over 25ooo! My dream and ambition is to break Jesse’s record and in technical terms become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world!

Solo around the world sailings are dangerous and put seafarers who may need to rescue you at risk. Plus they are in violation of Rule 5 – Lookout. She’s 15. In addition to her blog, she has a website here. (Found via Stranded on the Largest Island)

Freaque Waves covers an amazing man overboard story with a happy ending in “Freaque wave stories“.

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “Generals in ‘scrap Trident’ call“.

The UK’s nuclear deterrent should be scrapped, according to a group of retired senior military officers.

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KING5.com has the story and video report “Woman fuming when cargo ship blocks water view” as the Matson containership KAUAI is layed-up right in the port.

The Journal of Commerce has “Maersk sees ’11 recovery, won’t acquire rivals“.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “Aussie Sub CO In Deep Kimchi“. Bubblehead also asks if anyone is a member of the “going down” club. I thought it was tough trying to talk woman into coming back to check out my cargoship. I bet it would be much easier if I was part of a sub crew, just expected it to be much harder to get access….

Sea * Fever notes how container rates have gone from one extreme to another in the space of a year in “Free Shipping Containers!“

Lighthouse News has the story and photos: “Lighthouse Washed Out To Sea“. It was the Alfred Pier Light at the end of the harbor at Port St. Mary, Isle of Man.

Christiaan Conover has “Hatteras, Here We Come!“. Interesting that you can track the ship’s journey’s with SPOT:

Hellenic Shipping News has “Buying Vessels During Crisis“.

M2M Management is pushing ahead with plans for a new investment fund which could muster firepower of $1bn to spend on bulk carriers being sold at distressed prices.

ABC News (Australia) has “Indonesia refuse repairs for Japanese whaling ship“. The ship in question is the Japanese whaling vessel YUSHIN MARU 2.

International Herald Tribune has “Anti-whaling ship docks in Australia to refuel“. The ship docked in Tasmania.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “2006 US Commercial Fishing Operations Valued at $9.1 billion“. According to the post, fishing also generated 2 million jobs in the US.

BarentsObserver has “Plans for new European Research Icebreaker“.

«Aurora Borealis» will be a unique vessel – a combination of a heavy icebreaker, a scientific drilling ship, and a multi-purpose research platform that can operate year-round in all polar waters. When completed, she will be the world’s most sophisticated research vessel.

BreakBulk Industry News has “Crowley barge carrying three cranes to Guam“.

Tugster has photos: “Weeks and Flight 1549 Re-Emerges“

Shipping Times has “Launch of car carrier at Japanese shipyard – SILVERSTONE EXPRESS first of a series of four…“

Kings Point Waterfront has “What do we name our new boat?” The current name is MONEYPENNY and the boat’s donor it keeping the name.

The Chum Slick has “Remember: Surf Leashes Make Sweet Tourniquets” and includes a graphic shark attack photo. A full recovery is expected.

You have only 33 days left to apply for The Best Job In The World. (Found via Mr. Boat Blog)

The Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef is a newly created position. There are a few minor tasks that need to be taken care of, but the most important duty is to report back to Tourism Queensland (and the world) and let us know what’s taking place on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.

Never Sea Land is preparing to race his sailboat in “My first PHRF cert” where he receives his sailboat’s handicap. Just because you are the first across the finish line does not mean that you’ve won the race.

Steeljaw Scribe has “Fixing the Nautical Pax Americana“.

Like knot tying? Knot Heads World Wide is a knot tier’s forum. (Found via Never Sea Land)

The Horse’s Mouth has parking lot activity with “Windsurfing Photo Of The Day.” Notice how the rig uses an upside-down board.

Mr. Boat Blog has the cool story and photo “Walker discovers 10ft-wide, spinning frozen arctic circle in British waters for the first time.“

YouTube poster ragged0claws has collision video: “Ship vs. Glacier“.

MV Fram loses power and collides with glacier front at Brown Bluff in Antarctic Sound, Antarctica – 28-Dec-07

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

MARAD – maritime policy in meeting US commercial and security needs – The Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued a news item stating that it is releasing a study titled “An Evaluation of Maritime Policy in Meeting the Commercial and Security Needs of the United States”. The 72-page document examines the ability of the maritime transportation system to cope with increasing trade volumes through the year 2038. The report finds that current policy is not supportive of US participation in international trade. (1/12/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Bill introduced to establish Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund – Representative Filner (D-CA) introduced the Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2009 (H.R. 23) to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish the Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund to provide benefits to certain individuals who served in the United States merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) during World War II. (1/6/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Lawsuits deluge NY court – THE SOUTHERN District Court of New York continues to be flooded by an unprecedented volume of shipping lawsuits.

According to a Fairplay review of court filings, there were 50 new marine contract claims filed in just five days, on 5-9 January, in the SDNY. One-tenth of them targeted a single defendant: Korea Line.

As counterparty relationships deteriorate, shipping claimants are seeking garnishment of electronic fund transfers at Manhattan financial institutions, to be used as security for London arbitration.

Rule B of US admiralty law allows such garnishments, whether or not the claimant is US-based. The Rule B explosion became apparent in 2H08 as markets plummeted. The surging case load is now straining the entire SDNY judicial system.

Among the cases filed so far in 2009, Korea Line has been the most popular target. Last week alone, Korea Line was sued by Vergina Shipping ($895,000), Top Smart Shipping ($1.7M), Worldlink Shipping ($10M), Worldlink Energy ($2.2M) and Scranton ($2.2M).

Other cases filed last week: Oldendorff Carriers is suing JSW Steel for $6.4M; Sansun is seeking $2M from China Shipping; and Quingdao Ocean Shipping is suing Louis Dreyfus Commodities for $3M. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Ghost ship has nine lives – A US GHOST ship has escaped the scrapyard and will become a Greek museum.

The Liberty Ship Arthur M Huddell will find a new life as a maritime museum in Greece. The Second World War veteran, renamed Hellas Liberty, arrived in Piraeus on Sunday and will be permanently moored in Faliron Harbour.

Transfer of the ship from the US Maririme Administration’s Reserve Fleet to the Greek government involved politicians, shipowners and maritime interests from the US and Greece.

Its new role marks the donation of hundreds of Liberty Ships to Greece after the war, when its maritime industry was in shambles.

Seacrest Shipping owner Spyros Polemis is said to have played the most vital role in the project. Most of MarAd’s ghosts have gone to scrapyards, while a few have become artificial reefs.

US maritime administrator Sean Connaughton said, “Once refurbished and opened to the public, the vessel will be a reminder to future generations of the close relationship between Greece and the United States.” – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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Maritime Monday 143

Fred — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:55:07 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 143rd edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 93 here. (Published 14 January 2008)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Mike Gloistein who is serving on the British RRS JAMES CLARK ROSS (Royal Research ship) as it conducts an annual Antarctic Survey:

The RRS James Clark Ross (named after Admiral Sir James Clark Ross, R.N. ) was built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders, Wallsend, UK and launched by H.M. The Queen on the 1st December 1990.

The vessel can steam at a steady two knots through level sea ice one metre thick. To assist passage through heavy pack ice a compressed air system rolls the ship from side to side freeing the passage. RRS James Clark Ross is equipped for geophysical studies, with a compressor bank to power a seismic air gun array, and large aft and starboard decks for scientific equipment deployed by aft and midships gantries. For biological studies, the vessel can deploy a wide range of sampling gear and benefits from modern underway instrumentation. The ship is designed with an extremely low noise signature to allow sensitive underwater acoustic equipment to operate effectively. – Link

* JCR alongside FIPASS, pic R Turner *

* Tom and Jim working on one of the engines. Pic R Turner *

* A colorful Aft Deck. *

* Loading waste drums from Bird Island. Pic R Turner *

* Looking out the front window at lunchtime today. (15 Dec 08) *

* Cargo work at Rothera *

* Cargo Tender loading fuel for Signy Base *

* Whale bones and whale catchers at King Edward Point. Pic J.McManmon *

* Christmas Lunch in the Crew Mess. Pic R Turner *

* Pre-dinner drinks in the Officer’s Bar. Pic R Turner *

His homepage can be found here.

Full size versions of the photos above and many more including photos of the ship’s bar, their Equator crossing Ceremony and various operations can be found at “Recent Daily Images from the 2008/9 Season” and “Daily Images Archive from the 2008/9 Season“.

You can also see the latest from the ship’s webcam at the bottom of this post.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has the “Latest ONI Worldwide Threat to Shipping Report (to Jan 2, 2009)” which gives a good example of how active things are in the Gulf of Aden. Also of interest is that a yacht had taken onboard an armed Yemen Coast Guard team which they later needed to ward off a suspected pirate attack.

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday ship history: Merchant aircraft carriers” (This was originally posted by him in July, 2006)

gCaptain has “A New Solution To A Pressing Problem – Maritime Piracy” and “A Year In Shipping – A 2008 gCaptain Roundup” which includes a look at what to expect at gCaptain in 2009. Also, in case you missed it, “Pirate Attack Photos – M/V BISCAGLIA“

Indian Express has “India saves abandoned Bangla migrants“. (Another copy of their video report uploaded here in case you can’t get it to load on their site.)

The Indian coast guard has saved more than 100 Bangladeshis who were left to die in the high seas, allegedly by the Thai Navy. The men were abandoned without food and water for close to a fortnight. The Indian coastguard found their damaged boat floating in the high seas off Andaman Islands. TIMES NOW accessed exclusive pictures of thier rescue and rehabilitation.

MarineBuzz has more with “Indian Coast Guard Rescues 102 Illegal Migrants Off Andaman and Nicobar Islands“.

The Monitor has “Fire Onboard MV Atlantic Vision“.

Space War has “Australia struggling with deep-sea rescues“.

Submariners in Australia face a slim possibility of deep-sea rescue because the government has been unable to create an adequate system, experts say.

BarentsObserver has “Sea trials of “Yury Dolgoruky” have been postponed“.

A high-ranking Navy source told news agency RIA Novosti that there still are issues with the placement of a nuclear reactor on board the “Yury Dolgoruky”. Sea trials have been postponed until 2009 so that Sevmash specialists could deal with the remaining problems.

BitterEnd has a look at the cost of some of Washington State’s Ferries that have been laid up awaiting disposal. There is a discussion in the comments about whether they should still be headed for scrapping in Mexico, especially considering the current price of scrap steel, which has reduced their value.

Cruise Bruise Blog has “The Science Behind Mystery Overboard Passengers And Crew“.

Where the cabin is located on a ship, plays a huge role in how much wind passengers will see on their balcony. While a passenger in the middle of the ship, on a lower deck may see no wind at all, a passenger with a suite at the top, at the stern or bow of the ship, could experience the force of a hurricane wind, on a rather calm day.

eKathimerini.com has “Russian carrier allowed to conduct exercises in Greece“.

RIA Novosti has “Bad times ahead for Somali pirates“.

Another important change is that China has agreed to join the multinational force against the pirates. In early January, China’s best missile destroyers, Haikou and Wuhan, and the supply vessel Weishanhu, with over 800 sailors and 70 Marines on board, will reach the Gulf of Aden. They will coordinate their operation with the warships of other countries that are already in the Gulf or headed for it.

Some 1,200 Chinese merchant vessels pass by Somalia every year, and the pirates attack approximately 20% of them.

This statistic, if accurate, would mean that your chances of getting attacked by pirates is pretty good, even more so if you are a slow-moving, low-freeboard kind of target.

Scientific American has “Slippery Ships That Float on Air – Air-carpet hulls could sail faster, save fuel and cut emissions“.

AIR CAVITY SYSTEM: DK Group’s ACS pumps air about 56 feet (17 meters) below the waterline into subsurface cavities that form buoyant pockets that help reduce drag, allowing the craft to slip more easily through the sea surface. Image courtesy of DK Group

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog looks at ship operator cuts in container carrying capacity in “The real victims“.

The Journal of Commerce has “More than 400,000 TEUs idle as box ship rates tumble“.

The list of unemployed tonnage includes six ships of between 7,500 and 10,000 TEUs, and 19 between 5,000 and 7,500 TEUs.

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Michelle Malkin has the latest vessel movement for the Free Gaza Organization in “Bon voyage, Jihad Cindy McKinney; Update: Israeli Navy turns back S.S. Moonbat“. Yes, that former Georgia Congresswoman (and Presidential Candidate) Cindy McKinney.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Gloucester: 1 Dead, 1 Missing in Fishing Boat Accident“. The fishing boat sank.

iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen has “The Challenge of Contracting Large Complex Projects — A Case Study of the Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program“.

MarEx Newsletter has “MCIA Launches New Safety Initiative in 2009“.

Maritime Casualty Investigation Association intends to keep an eye on safety, assist industries its members serve and to play a positive and active role in promoting the new IMO Casualty Code (as part of SOLAS) and providing an educational resource regarding duties and obligations under that code.

Professional Mariner has “Empty freighter strikes, damages Michigan swing bridge“. The ship is the MANISTEE. Boatnerd has details and photos of the ship here.

Inside the pilothouse. TZ

MarineBuzz has more details on the previously reported plan: “Red Sea to Give Life to Dead Sea“. How many other land areas are there that are lower than sea level that can be used to fight rising seas? (If it ever turns out that seas are rising.)

Haaretz has coverage of desperate propaganda in “Hamas announces formation of new naval coast guard unit“. Imagine the types of vessel inspections that they would carry out… (Found via An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog)

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb has “A good long look, a hard lesson” as he acquires enough seatime to sit for his officer’s license. Now he just needs to get the remaining training requirements under his belt.

Information Dissemination has “SSBN Module Under Design” as the UK plans to use US-made missile compartments for their next generation of U.S. and U.K. SSBNs.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has “No Really, This is No S**t“. (Found via Kennebec Captain)

The difference between a sea story and a fairy tale is said to be that a fairy tale always starts with “Once upon a time”, and a sea story always begins with “No really, this is no s**t”. It’s no secret that fishermen are known to exaggerate just a bit when talking about the one that got away, the tugboatman is somewhat different in that although the story sounds too impossible to be true, in many cases it’s as true as a carpenter’s square.

His post reminds me of this ‘towboat nightmare’. At least they have photographic proof to back up their sea story, which is ggod because this has to be one of the must unbelievable stories out there.

Daily Tech has “Sea Ice Ends Year at Same Level as 1979“.

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The Times of Malta has coverage of Italy’s decision to quickly send back migrants that arrive on their shores illegally in “Italy not re-inventing the wheel – Foreign Affairs Ministry“.

Italy was not re-inventing the wheel when it decided to deport all immigrants reaching its shores as from next week, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Minister in Malta said.

As a spell of good weather led to over 2,000 immigrants landing in the Italian island of Lampedusa over the past few days, the Italian government announced yesterday that, come Tuesday, it will send back illegal immigrants who arrive on its shores.

Reuters reported that 38 Egyptians will be the first group to be flown to Cairo under the new plan announced by Italy’s right-wing government, which, since coming to power in May, has made the fight against illegal immigration a top priority.

Dinghies have become more popular than boats to transport illegal immigrants… Some of the group of 139 immigrants who met with difficulties while on a large dinghy and brought to Malta by the AFM on Monday.

Sydney Morning Herald has the latest anti-pirate actions taken by the French Navy in “France ‘foils two Somali pirate attacks, holds 19′“.

A French warship foiled attempts by Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden to seize two cargo vessels and intercepted 19 people, the French president’s office said.

“Three days after a French vessel thwarted an attack on a Panamanian cargo ship” the frigate Jean de Vienne conducted a “decisive action” against “two new attacks” it said in a statement.”The 19 Somali pirates who tried to seize the two boats were intercepted,” it added, saying they carried weapons, ammunition and material for boarding ships. “They will be transferred to the Somali authorities,” it added.

OK, without getting into the issue of why these guys keep ending up free back in Somalia, why do they have to drop them off so quickly? Why not keep them locked up in a brig for a couple weeks first? This way there is a little time to interrogate them and keep them out of action. These two captures brings the French total for this year up to 27 that we know of. Their first capture of the year is posted on my blog here: “Pirate Attack Photo – French Capture Eight Pirates“

US Naval Institute Blog has a question concerning warships/the Navy running on technology that’s a decade old in “How Would You Describe?“. I guess part of the answer depends on what kind of equipment the enemy has access to.

Freaque Waves has “Freaque wave non believers.“

Shirlaw News Group has “Man is found a mile offshore after two hour search” alive. He was walking along what he thought was the shoreline until the tide came in.

National Council of Resistance of Iran has “Deployment of the Iranian regime’s IRGC in the Port of Assab in Eritrea“. (Found via Naval Open Source INTelligence)

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Texas Company Claims Steel Cargo On Ship Of Va. Beach“.

Barna’s “in rem” suit, filed Dec. 22 against the steel in Norfolk federal court, seeks to recoup the $545,000 in unpaid chartering fees the vessel has accumulated waiting. An “in rem” lawsuit is one filed against an inanimate object.

Breakbulk Industry News has “Galveston regroups from Hurricane Ike“.

Cernak vividly remembers Gary LaGrange, executive director of the Port of New Orleans, saying about 10 days after Hurricane Katrina hit that he’d realized that a hurricane plan is “only paper” and that no matter how thorough it seems or how proud of it you are, you will not understand the task until you’ve been through it.

Cernak didn’t really understand that remark at the time, he said, but he surely does now. You may believe that your plan is your “path out,” Cernak said, “but it really isn’t.” All ports plan for hurricanes, but at the end of the day no, single document will lead straight out of the mess. Every storm is different, and so is every recovery.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “SOSY09: Listening Post For Seafarers“.

We talked about 2009 as Seafarer Ownership of Safety year, SOSY09, on 31st December 2008, so let’s kick off 1st January 2009 by talking to seafarers. We want to hear from you, your crewmates and your seafarer buddies on other ships. Not just officers, but ABs, too.

THE ISLOMANIAC has “VR Panorama of Marlon Brando’s Island“. The full-screen view is very impressive.

Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “Oscillation Rules as the Pacific Cools“.

Sea * Fever has “FotoFriday: Barbara Mensch’s Photographs of Our Lost Maritime Heritage“.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “SSBN CO Relieved For Cause“. Lots of talk in the post’s comments.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Nigerian government to phase-out single hull vessels by 2010“.

TimesOnline has “The Rise of the Urban Seagull“. Think of Hitchcock’s movie ‘The Birds’.

Never Sea Land has an update on the Vendee Globe solo around the world race as half the racers have had to retire due to vessel failure in “50%“. They still have a long way to go.

The Sydney Morning Herald has the latest on Sea Shepherd’s vessel STEVE IRWIN as it heads back to Australia or New Zealand to refuel in “Close ports to terror ship: whaling body“. How about welcoming them with a couple port-state inspectors instead? Or how about a vessel arrest warrant?

YouTube has the tugboat accident video “Melbourne Tug Boat Tips Over Towing Ship and Man Overboard“. Note the open hatch and note how quickly that hatch becomes a threat to the ship.

melbourne tug boat tips over towing ship and man overboard

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

Australia – summary of UN trade sanctions – The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) issued a notice reminding the maritime community of the various international trade sanctions that have been approved by the United Nations Security Council. These sanctions relate to Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Al-Qaida, and the Taliban. Marine Notice 21/2008 (12/23/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

UK – mariner sentenced for fraudulent discharge book – The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) issued a press notice stating that a mariner was sentenced to 150 hours of community service and court costs of £2,530 after pleading guilty to use of a fraudulent discharge book in an attempt to obtain documentation from the MCA. (1/2/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Chennai boxes pile up – Container traffic to and from the port of Chennai on India’s East Coast has come to a standstill in the wake of an “indefinite” strike by truck drivers.

Around 5,000 trucks have gone off duty, protesting extensive delays in repairs to badly damaged roads that connect Chennai and Ennore.

Industry sources reported that as of 24 December, there were over 6,400 containers – 4,013 import boxes and 2,393 exports boxes – at the Chennai Container Terminal, versus its normal inventory of around 3,000 boxes.

Port sources warned that if the strike is not quickly resolved, the terminal operator could find it difficult to handle vessels, due to non-availability of terminal space. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

LNG spot rates log dismal 2008 – GLOBAL LNG spot prices reached unprecedented lows in 2008 amid a sharp decline in global demand, with US gas import volumes reportedly dropping by more than a half.

By mid-2008, LNG demand dropped abruptly as the global downturn unfolded, London’s Financial Times newspaper reported today, leaving LNG producers struggling to cope with huge running costs.

Upstream gas companies and LNG exporters in Qatar, Algeria and Trinidad & Tobago were forced to keep their infrastructure running, even at low prices, because restart costs in the sector are prohibitive, the FT added.

Spot prices for LNG are likely to remain on unprecedented lows over the coming month, analysts told the FT.

In Asia, LNG imports to India are forecast to drop sharply because of its manufacturing slowdown, particularly in the steel sector. Delhi data indicated that India’s LNG imports were up a modest 3.4% year on year, reaching 4.87M tonnes over April-October 2008. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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RRS James Clark Ross Research Ship Webcam

The webcam on RRS James Clark Ross is situated on the Bridge. It generally looks forward, but if something of particular interest is going on, it may be moved to look aft or to either side. The Radio Officers onboard usually add a small blurb containing information about where the ship is what it is doing. This is a particularly interesting webcam as (when not on long sea passages) the scenery changes regularly. Spectacular sunrises/sunsets, stunning Antarctic vistas and the occasional Southern Ocean storm can all be seen from this camera! It updates approximately once every hour during daylight hours.

Click here for a map and description of the image below.

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

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Maritime Monday 139

Fred — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:19:23 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 139th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 89 here. (Published 17 December 2007)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of the Port of Houston:

The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located just a few hours’ sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. The port is ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne tonnage and second in the U.S. in total tonnage.

The Port of Houston is made up of the Port of Houston Authority and the 150-plus private industrial companies along the Houston Ship Channel. All together, the port authority and its neighbors along the ship channel are a large and vibrant component to our regional economy.

More than 200 million tons of cargo moved through the Port of Houston in 2006. A total of 7,550 vessel calls were recorded at the Port of Houston during the year 2006. The Houston Pilots navigate each vessel through the Houston Ship Channel.

The Port of Houston has an impressive listing of firsts, from unloading the world’s first container ship to becoming the country’s first port to receive ISO 14001 compliance. (More here)

Fentress Bracewell Barbours Cut Container Terminal

Turning Basin City Dock 23

Bayport Container Terminal

Starchaser (Homepage here)

City Docks direct-to-rail

Electric Wharf Cranes (Delivery)

Bayport Grand Opening – Madison HS Band and Cranes

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak remembers with “Happy Birthday to the Naval Armed Guard“.

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: 12-7-41“. This week he remembers the merchant ship SS CYNTHIA OLSON, the first US merchant ship sunk by the Japanese during WWII and one of many American victims on that day.

gCaptain has “An Intro To Antarctica 2009 – Cruise Ship Groundings, Whaling and Anti-Whaling” and “Passenger Vessel Grounded In Antartica – UPDATE” concerning the M/V USHUAIA.

Lloyd’s List has “More owners exploring use of armed guards – Some owners are keen to use armed guards to protect their ships.“.

“How do pirates in a small boat stop a 30,000 tonne ship? It’s firearms, that’s all it is,” he said. “But as soon as you fire back, they are going to turn round and go the other way because they (are) so vulnerable.”

The Jawa Report has “Danish Warship Sinks Pirate Ship Boat” with video of the capture and sinking.

LiveLeak has very interesting video: “Huge squid attacks ROV“.

Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “MARITIME ALERT – ACR GlobalFix iPRO EPIRB RECALL NOTICE“. Whatever EPIRP your vessel has, this is a good reminder to check it, if it is not done so already on a regular basis.

Theo Spark has amazing must-see video: “Penguin jumps in dinghy to avoid killer whales….“

iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen has “Dealing with piracy…What’s your endgame?” This is a valuable view into the US Stategy concerning the pirates off Somalia since so far we have little in the way of actual action against the pirates to go on. There is additional info in the post’s comment section.

Previously, the foundational challenge of addressing the problem of piracy was the lack of an established end game, or means to hold the offenders accountable within a legal system. Somali-based piracy is flourishing because it is profitable and nearly consequence-free due to the lack of governance and a judicial system in Somalia. Although governments and industry have focused considerable attention on interdiction, an essential element of any comprehensive counter-piracy plan is the establishment of a regionally based and readily accessible “consequence delivery system” to bring interdicted pirates to justice. Mutually agreed upon procedures for this must be established before an event occurs — trying to finalize policy during an international incident is a recipe for confusion and failure. This is very similar to counterdrug operations that take place pursuant to international agreements that allow for the prosecution of those involved.

iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen also has “Maritime Community and Social Media“.

gCaptain recently had a post on Coast Guard modernization and web 2.0. It caught our attention because of the linkages he makes between Modernization and our continuing effort to understand the potential that social media provides for collaboration. As gCaptain notes the model works internally and externally.

Makes you wonder who else is reading gCaptain. How about saying hello in the comments!

Sea * Fever has some ‘nautical gift and stocking stuffer suggestions’ for Christmas. Check his homepage daily as he will post one suggestion a day up to Christmas.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Ghana port plans oil services hub after crude find“.

Wired Magazine’s Danger Room has a follow-up on the M/V BISCAGLIA pirate attack in “Sonic Blaster Firm Disputes Pirate Tale“.

“Per unconfirmed reports from other vessels in the area, it appears the unarmed security force on board the Biscaglia was not aware that pirates had boarded the ship, never deployed LRAD or any of its suite of non-lethal capabilities and jumped overboard (probably hoping for rescue) when they saw the German helicopter overhead,” he says. “It appears that the principal of APMMS is attempting damage control for his firm’s failings in this incident.”

I wonder if this explains why some stories mention that the attack lasted forty minutes and others mention that it was all over in ten. It would also explain how despite having a warship with helicopter nearby the helicopter arrived too late to do any good. This update makes me wonder, did the ship’s crew defer their anti-pirate lookout duties to the security detail? Shouldn’t the LRAD have been deployed and ready to go from the start?

Wired Magazine’s Danger Room also has “Coast Guard Cutters Rusting Away” covering severe problems with the USCG Cutter DALLAS and “U.N. Spies on Pirates from Space” as the agency maps where all the pirated vessels are being held.

The Pilot Boat has photos of the new Spanish built passenger/ro-ro ship “Martin i Soler“.

CTV (Canada) has “Halifax holds memorial for victims of 1917 explosion“. It was the French cargo ship MONT BLANC that exploded. (More on the original event here on Wikipedia)

BitterEnd has “Budget troubles threaten Keystone ferry“. Be sure to read the excellent comments that put the story into context with the bigger picture.

Cruise Bruise Blog has “Cruise Line Cover-Up On Pirate Attack Evolves Into Verbal Abuse Of Pax“.

Passengers were chastised after they contacted relatives to tell of the pirate attack on the M/V Athena. One passenger, still on the ship, and afraid of retribution has given this updated account of the incident.

What the hell. Didn’t any of the passengers take any photos/video?

The Monitor has coverage of Indian Union calls for action in boycotting South Korea to pressure the country in releasing the senior officers of the HEBEI SPIRIT which was hit while at anchor in “Solidarity needed“. This is another case of seafarers who would have been better off being caught by pirates instead of being held hostage by Official Government stupidity.

CDR Salamander has commentary on Russia’s adventures with the Venezuelan Navy in “Feel like a kid again ….” Half the interest is in reading the comments.

Breitbart has “First Russian warship uses Panama Canal since 1944“. Good for them. For the Panamanians sake, I hope they get their canal-crossing invoice paid. What happened to the wargames with Venezuela? Didn’t last long did they…

Tugster has photos of a couple vessels that attended the Mary Whalen’s 70th birthday party.

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Financial Mirror has “Cyprus President Christofias protests continuation of Turkish harassments“.

In his letter to the UNSG, dated 25 November 2008, President Christofias notes that “subsequent to my letter of 14 November 2008, at least three serious incidents took place involving the harassment of research vessels by Turkish warships in the exclusive economic zone of the Republic of Cyprus”.

The Canadian Press has “Search ongoing for crew off N.L. after cargo ship from St-Pierre-Miquelon sinks“. The ship was the French cargo ship CAP BLANC. (The French-Controlled islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon located in Canada were covered in Maritime Monday 81)

The Canadian Press has “Experts say loading first area to probe in sudden sinking of vessel off N.L.” concerning the CAP BLANC. (This story found via Professional Mariner)

The BBC has “Cruise ship stranded in Antarctic“. The ship is the M/V USHUAIA.

Ace of Spades has “Worst Story of the Week: Man Arranges to Propose to Beloved on Romantic Ocean Beach; Wave Sweeps Down and Takes Her Out to Sea, Never to be Seen Again“.

Shipping Times has “STX Europe launch huge ferry BALTIC QUEEN – New vessel for Tallink will be amongst the biggest on the Baltic…“

MarEx Newsletter has “TDC Security Alert: Maritime Aspects of Mumbai Terror Attacks“.

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WHALING

Indybay has “Sea Shepherds sail out to confront whalers” noting that:

‘Greenpeace is REFUSING to send a ship after raising million$ on the backs of the whales, and the Australian Navy(ALL of Australia’s gunboats!) reportedly will spend the next two months tied up at the docks as a budget-cutting measure.’

So this might leave Sea Shepherd down there alone with the Japanese, leaving nobody to assist if they get into trouble.

AFP has Japan’s threat not to play nice this year with “Japan to arrest anti-whaling activists: report” if they get in the way. Of course these are the types of threat that Sea Shepherd President Paul Watson like to force people into carrying out. Lets see if the Japanese carry out their threat. I hope they do if given the opportunity. (For the sake of all professional seafarers.)

The West Australian has “‘It takes a pirate’: Sea Shepherd captain“.

The Sidney Morning Herald has photos which appear to be from last year’s whale hunt of how Greenpeace interacted with the Japanese whalers in “On the front line“.

Greenpeace activists in an inflatable boat enter the narrow gap between Japanese whaling factory ship Nisshin Maru, right, and the supply ship Oriental Bluebird. Photo: The Institute of Cetacean Research

Polar Conservation Organization notes that the Japanese and Sea Shepherd won’t be all alone down there with “New Zealand to monitor whaling“. They will be doing it from the air though.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb comments on the Sea Shepherd TV series in “Whale (media)Whores“.

From top down, the Steve Irwin is run like a summer camp. Semi Pro. You know what I’m saying. Just… so disturbing that the people they call “senior officers” display a level of professionalism on the job that we don’t tolerate with our Ordinary Seamen.

The Pacific Northwest Coast Guard Blog has “Learning the hard way – A Portland couple escapes a jetty with only a few bruises“.

Arctic Focus has the whale story from up north: “Harsh words over narwhal cull in the Arctic“. The whales were trapped from the sea by ice and permission was given for the Eskimos to cull them rather than letting them drown on their own.

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The gCaptain Forums has “who else has had “the dream”?” Go and find out what kind of dreams merchant sailors have.

Trade and Logistics Malaysia has “Malaysia’s October annual exports suffer surprise drop“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Imperial Japanese Navy Slaughtered Leprosy Victims In 1943“.

Breakbulk Industry News has “Car carriers say they’ll weather the storm” mentioning that some older vessels well past their normal lifespan will probably get scrapped as the vessel shortage turns to a surplus. Might this finally spell the end for the M/V TELLUS?

Never Sea Land has “The Mermaid – a short film by Alexander Petrov“.

eBay Australia has listed for sale “Oberon Class Submarine Ex HMAS Otama & Maritime Museum“. (Found via Shipping Times) Price $4.9 million (Australian).

It’s not every day you can bid for a 2,000 tonne submarine online, but that’s what it’s come down to. The HMAS Otama, the last Oberon submarine built for the Australian Navy has been sitting, rusting in Western Port Bay for six years…

The Otama is a decommissioned Australian RAN Oberon class submarine of 2030 tons displacement surfaced.Apart from the removal of classified communications and sensor equipment, OTAMA is in the same state that the crew left it, an operational Oberon class submarine, with a full outfit of spares and equipment.

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Cargo systems has “New container type launched“.

A new intermodal container has been developed that promises improved cargo handling for long length cargo and clear cost benefits for users. The Timberbox container has a top loading design, allowing cargo to be loaded using the roof as a lifting frame.

Stuff.co.nz has “Antarctic cruise ship remains stranded“. This concerns the cruise adventure vessel M/V USHUAIA. The passengers were safely evacuated now the crew just needs to free the ship.

The Independent‘s Travel Editor reports on the M/V USHUAIA grounding from the Russian research vessel AKADEMIK SERGEI VAVILOV where he is also taking an Antarctic cruise in “The Antarctic: Where death is only five minutes away“. As I said before, getting into a lifeboat down there doesn’t exactly solve your problem.

Weird News has “‘RoboClam’ Anchor Holds Ships Steady“. The anchor was designed to bury itself.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “Amver: Now More Than Ever“.

Maritime Information Center has “Safmarine;Refrigerated container use heats up” and “Iridium launches new, powerful satellite phone“.

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “Island Paradise turns to Hell“. The island is in the Philippines.

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “Charles de Gaulle refit and upgrade: An exceptional shipyard project completed on time“.

Maritime Compass has “Old magazine articles“. The website he points to includes a section on the TITANIC.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “The dangers of scrapping“. The danger being state-mandated scrapping. Yes, bad idea.

BarentsObserver has ““Russian fish to Russian shore”” as the new year will require all fish caught in Russian waters to go through Russian ports.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “Submariner Picked To Be New MCPON“. (Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy)

Steeljaw Scribe has photos found from the newly opened Life photo archive in “Ghosts“. Surely there are many more jewels that can be found in there. (I found a photo of my great uncle standing next to Marylin Monroe here)

The Life Photo Archive includes many photos taken on the German raider ATLANTIS by a Life photographer who was a survivor of the SS ZAMZAM, one of the raider’s victims. (Photos here)

By April, Atlantis had returned to the Atlantic where, on April 17, Kapitän Rogge, understandably mistaking the Egyptian liner Zamzam for a British liner being used as a troop carrier or Q-ship, as she was in fact the former Bibby Liner Leicestershire, opened fire at 8.4 km. The second salvo hit and the wireless room was destroyed. 202 people were captured, including missionaries, ambulance drivers, Fortune Magazine editor Charles J.V. Murphy, and Life Magazine photographer David E. Scherman. The Germans allowed Scherman to take photographs, and although his film was seized when they returned to Europe aboard a German blockade runner, he did manage to smuggle four rolls back to New York. It is generally believed that his photos later helped the British identify and destroy Atlantis. Murphy’s account of the incident, as well as photos by Scherman, were in the June 23 issue of Life. – Wikipedia

People climbing down a ladder, trying to board an already overfull lifeboat, as the SS Zam Zam sinks. (Date taken: 1941, Photographer: David E. Scherman, Size: 1169 x 1280 pixels (16.2 x 17.8 inches))

Neptunus Lex has a critique of West Point’s Helicopter ‘attack’ on Naval Academy in “Initiative + / Execution -“. This was part of the run-up to the annual Army-Navy football game. Navy has been on a run kicking Army’s butt for the last couple years, including this last weekend. And our enemies think our army is tough…

The Horse’s Mouth has “Santa Of The Day.” Santa surfs!

Navagear has “Vessel Traffic Service Blind to AIS Class B!“.

Shirlaw News Group has “Passengers evacuated from burning Finnish ferry“. The ship is the SEA WIND.

The Merchant Marine Express does what many sailors do while on vacation: “Training Time!“

MarineBuzz has “Mumbai Terrorists were Trained to Become Mariners to Use Sea Route” and “10 Undesired Results of Somali Piracy“.

Deep Water Writing has “Rules, rules, and more rules“. The US Coast Guard is talking big about social media. Well this is one post the Coast Guard should read. This post is also a social media test for those in a position of power. After reading it, do you want to (a) want to figure out how to address his complaints, or (b) ignore his complaints. These problems mentioned have been blogged about for a while now by a number of bloggers. So far it seems that we are seeing too much (b) and too little (a).

Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum conducts an experiment in “CEMS and the Tugboat Quandary“. (CEMS = US Coast Guard’s Crew Endurance Management System)

Kennebec Captain has “Whale Wars and the Definition of Piracy” asking ‘Are the crew of the Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin pirates?’ There is a follow-up post with “Steve Irwin Pirate Ship – A rebuttal“. I suspect that the answer partly depends on who catches them since that will effect where they are tried.

Information Dissemination has some thoughts on comparing piracy to terrorism in “Similar, But Not…“

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “Safety Must Be More Than Talk – Marshall Islands“.

Tims Times has “leaving it all astern” as he manages to get off his ship.

The Journal Of Commerce has “Seattle probe finds fraud“.

The 76-page report, released Wednesday, cites 10 instances of fraud including shady contract manipulations, including steering contracts to favored vendors; awarding consulting contracts at small no-bid amounts and then increasing them to the maximums permitted, and breaking up large contracts into smaller ones to avoid state and port bidding requirements.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

IMO – award for exceptional bravery at sea – The IMO issued a news release stating that the 2008 award for exceptional bravery at sea has been presented to Rodolpho Fonseca da Silva Rigueira, a Brazilian seafarer, for his heroic actions in saving fellow crew members from an explosive fire on the drill ship Noble Roger Eason. (12/1/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Mobile – stowaways taken into custody – The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a news release stating that it and the US Coast Guard cooperated in the response to a report of stowaways on a barge arriving in Mobile. Four stowaways were taken into custody. It was determined that all were from the Dominican Republic and all had been previously removed from the United States. (12/2/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

US LNG crisis deepens – US LNG imports are falling more rapidly than predicted, bolstering the case against new terminal schemes and raising serious concerns about existing facilities.

Monthly US Energy Information Administration data indicated that imports for the first three quarters of 2008 totalled just 270.8Bn ft³ (7.7Bn m³), versus 691.5Bn ft³ in January-September 2007 – a plunge of 61%. In a forecast last month, the EIA estimated that full-year 2008 imports would total 350Bn ft³, down 55% from 2007, although that prediction now appears optimistic.

LNG deliveries from the primary US supplier, Trinidad, declined from 374.2Bn ft³ to 207.2Bn ft³ during the first nine months, a decrease of 45%.

Among the other suppliers, Nigerian LNG exports to the US dived 87%, Egypt’s are down 69%, while Algeria, formerly a notable supplier to the US, has sent no cargo this year.

With smaller, more distant exporters pulling back from the US market, the dominance of Trinidad has been revived.

During the first nine months of 2008, Trinidad supplied 77% of US LNG imports, up sharply from 54% during the same period last year. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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Maritime Monday 138

Fred — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:00:56 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 138th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 88 here. (Published 10 December 2007)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of J Lauritzen Shipowners (link) :

J. Lauritzen (JL) was founded in 1884 and has been a leading supplier of ocean transport solutions for almost 125 years. During this period, JL has been involved in a broad range of shipping activities consistently focusing on operations that require competence and know-how.

Today, JL’s business activities encompass: Lauritzen Bulkers (dry bulk cargoes), Lauritzen Kosan (liquefied gases), Lauritzen Tankers (oil products and chemicals).

JL’s heritage has allowed us to gain a vast store of experience and know-how in virtually all facets of merchant shipping. This know-how is reflected across the entire range of the Group’s operations, and over time the JL name has evolved into a byword for respectability and trustworthiness in international merchant shipping. Despite working in different fields, JL’s different business activities are linked to one another by a unified business philosophy and a common set of values.

JL has always focused on depth of service. By building operational expertise, our companies are in a position to offer genuinely valuable assistance to customers – a philosophy that allows our customers to concentrate on what they’re good at, while we take care of their transport needs.

Values such as commercial acumen, decency and fair dealing characterize the way JL companies operate around the world and remain firmly anchored at the core of everything we do. – Link

* Grab-fitted Log/Bulker M/V CHARLOTE BULKER *

*Grab-fitted Log/Bulker M/V NORDIC BULKER *

* LPG Carrier TENNA KOSAN *

* LPG Carrier GRETA KOSAN *

* M/T FREJA ATLANTIC *

* Lauritzen Bulker Vessel *

Here is a good five minute video about the company: ‘Oceans of Know-How’.

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somali Pirates and Western Wimpism“.

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: The Battle of Tassafaronga“

gCaptain has “The New Hawsepipe – An Interview With Leonard Lambert” who is one of the first to climb up through the hawsepipe under the current STCW 95 rules, all because he saw a huge line at the Coast Guard office and decided to come back the next day, which was the first day that the rules were in effect. A great interview.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Hostage to fortune“.

PIRACY is akin to terrorism on water. Governments should not negotiate with terrorists and they should not negotiate with pirates either. That is why the Sirius Star hijacking presents a diplomatic dilemma for the government of Saudi Arabia. The tanker and its $100m cargo of crude is ultimately owned by the Saudi Arabian government. State oil company Saudi Aramco is the beneficial owner of the very large crude carrier, operated by its shipping arm, Vela International Marine.

Kathimerini (Greece) has a surprising update on the cruiseship SEA DIAMOND sinking with “Error on map ‘sank liner’”.

The new map reportedly shows the reef to be 113 meters away from the island’s coast and not 58 meters as shown on the previous map. The map also determines that the depth of the water at the spot of the collision is 5 meters and not 18 to 22 meters as the original map had indicated.

Kennebec Captain has “The (Unarmed) Defense of the Biscaglia” wondering if it is wise to arm merchant ships against pirates. I guess the first thing to do is to de-brief the security detail involved in the failed defense of the M/V BISCAGLIA to better understand how the defense of the ship failed.

On my own blog Fred Fry International, I have some ideas “On Defending Unarmed Merchant Ships Against Pirates“.

TimesOnline has “Questions of who bears any loss of the Sirius Star’s £68m oil load“. The EXXON VALDEZ oil spill happened in 1989 and is still bouncing around the courts with even the US Supreme Court being involved as late as June of this year. This case would probably be as complicated if not more-so given the multiple jurisdictions that could be involved.

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Some interesting news items concerning the hijacked supertanker SIRIUS STAR. AFP has this Saturday “Somali pirates hope for ‘favourable’ reply for Saudi ship ransom” as the Sunday ransom deadline approached. A couple days earlier, AFP had “Somali pirates urge ‘honest’ talks to free Saudi tanker“.

“We are urging the owners of the Saudi tanker to have an honest dialogue in order to end the crisis,” he said.

“We need them (vessel’s owners) to call their captain and our members on the Sirius Star so we can speed up the negotiations.

Why don’t they call the owners? Earlier in the week, The Telegraph had “Somali pirates treating hijacked crew ‘like prisoners of war’” noting that the pirates had yet to even hear from the vessel’s owners. Which makes me wonder if they ever got in touch with them:

Speaking by telephone from the ship, “Daybad” also said no company, such as the supertanker owners Vela International, had been in contact to negotiate, only people claiming to be intermediaries who “cannot be trusted”.

“We captured the ship for ransom, of course, but we don’t have anybody reliable to talk to directly about it,” he said.

Daybad denied reports that the pirates have demanded $25 million (£16.6 million) for the hostages’ safe release, but would not say how much money was involved.

It is easy enough to find the ship’s satphone number. Might it be that some freelance brokers contacted the ship and fooled the pirates into thinking that they could negotiate on the owner’s behalf? At any rate, these stories indicate some sort of communication problem.

Finally, this morning, one day after the pirate’s stated deadline comes good news with Russia’s RIA Novosti reporting “Somali pirates ‘to free Saudi tanker within 48 hours’“.

CAIRO, December 1 (RIA Novosti) – The Saudi supertanker the Sirius Star, seized by Somali pirates on November 15, will be released within the next two days, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Kenya said on Monday.

Nabil Ashur said in an interview with the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper that his country was optimistic the supertanker and its crew would be released.

The report was confirmed by Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Khalid bin Saud bin Khalid.

“We have signals giving us hope for a positive outcome soon,” he said.

He reiterated that the authorities were not in negotiations with the pirates and did not intend to pay a ransom.

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The BBC has good news for the crew of the cargo of the M/V FAINA, the ship full of tanks and weapons: “Pirates ‘to release Ukraine ship’“. Will anyone track to see where the final destination of the cargo really is?

The BBC also has “Libyan Gaza aid ship turns back“

National Security Policy explains the LRAD device that was used with temporary success in the defense of the M/V BISCAGLIA in “Technology against Pirates“.

GMA News has “Cargo ship sinks off Corregidor; 17 rescued“. The ship was the M/V S-1 SKY.

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Balkan Insight has long-overdue good news with “Croatian Captain Acquitted in Greece“.

After spending 16 months in a Greek prison, an appeal court in the town of Patras on Thursday found the Croatian ship captain Kristo Laptalo not guilty of smuggling cocaine from Ecuador.

Laptalo was arrested in July 2007 after his cargo ship the “Coral Sea” sailed into the Greek port of Egion.

Seems that he might have been better off being captured by terrorists. As a reminder, the story mentions how he got into trouble:

The prosecution claimed and the judicial council accepted the argument that Laptalo as captain had to know everything that was going on on the ship, including the content of the cargo it was carrying.

It also claimed that it was “illogical that someone would send cocaine without any control over it”. They said that the claim by the Ecuadorian police that they had inspected the cargo before the ship sailed proved that the drugs were loaded onto the ship somewhere in the open sea.

The Press and Journal (UK) has “Trawler had lucky escape after collision with ship – Only good fortune prevented boat from capsizing, say accident investigators“. The mate on watch was busy making chart corrections…

The Inverness-based ship Scot Venture collided with the Fraserburgh trawler Golden Promise in the Moray Firth because the officer on watch was not paying attention.

The accident happened in clear conditions, in broad daylight, four miles north of Buckie.

Newsweek has “Sharks In the Water – How to finally rid the seas of Somalia’s growing pirate problem.” Somalia’s failed state is partly to blame. Does this mean that today’s pirate problem can be traced back to President Clinton’s decision to pull out of Somalia?

I miss this Friday’s Whale Wars but looking at a couple forums: gCaptain, and ‘Bloody Decks‘ for example, the show is good for two reasons: 1) the Sea Shepherd crew is dangerously incompetent and 2) watching their incompetence is highly entertaining. I look forward t getting caught up this next Friday, where they apparently get to put their engineering skills to use in tackling a main engine casualty. Hell, the ship’s crew is even getting trashed on the show’s own forums here.

Of Arms and the Law has “High-tech shipping sets up vessels for pirate attack” wondering if pirates are targeting ships by taking advantage of the ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) signaling which announce each vessels position and course details, among other things. As the post notes, and as noted before in Maritime Monday, MarineTraffic.com is a great free site to view AIS vessel tracking.

Keep in mind that just because there is no AIS coverage for an area does not mean that the system is not working there, only that there is nobody uploading the information to the internet. Ships broadcast this information 24/7.

twest820 has “thieving for open water on the edge of the cryosphere“.

Travelling the Northwest Passage by kayak is about many things. But sea ice is what dominates the journey’s feasibility. No open water, no kayaking. Where things get complicated is how much open water one needs to be able to paddle between two resupply points before running out of food or summer.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “If Today’s Pilots Think They’ve Got It Tough…” noting that in old-time Europe, a mistake could cost you your head.

BreakBulk Industry News has “Twin Marine Lifter deliveries delayed“.

Information Dissemination has “Russia and India Reach Final Stage in Gorshkov Negotiations” pointing out Russia’s limited options and the leverage that India probably has over Russia in the end in getting a much better deal for the carrier.

CBS5 has “Judge Dismisses Countersuit By Cosco Busan Owner“. They sued blaming the State for the accident, for issuing the Pilot his license. This is just one piece of a very complicated legal puzzle.

The Sydney Morning Herald has “Cruise ship fired on by pirates“. The ship is the OCEANIA NAUTICA with over 1,000 passengers and crew.

The Earth Times has “Pirates leave hijacked Yemeni ship without ransom: Owner“. The ship is the ERIN.

MarineLog has “Golden Gate District to buy two mothballed WSF ferries“.

MarineBuzz has “Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre Launched in Melbourne” and “Danish Cargo Ship Groundings from 2000 to mid 2008: Safety Study by DMA“.

The Monitor has photos of the hull-jarring launch of the Chinese-made LPG Carrier HONG YUE in “Sink or swim“. Really, how hard would it have been to make a simple slipway? The photos make me want to ask, where is the video? (And a post-launch hull survey)

The Pilot Boat lists “The Top 5 (by special request…)” ships that he has enjoyed piloting into/out of port.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Coming soon: a pay cut for Indian ship officers“.

It is nearing pay-cut time for officers operating ships as owners look at ways to trim operating expenses and stay profitable in a falling freight market. Many ship owners have internally started discussing this unpopular move, which would become public in the coming days. With freight rates plunging to the lowest levels in years because of the credit squeeze and declining global trade, owners feel this action is essential to prevent shipping companies going bust. Firms losing money from operating ships are looking to cut at least 20-25% from the salary of an individual officer hired to operate ships.

This is probably a sign that these companies will go under anyway and surely they will be the ones most avoided if possible. Also, this is an odd development for an industry that has been talking about a growing shortage of officers.

IMC Brokers has a summary of “Registering a vessel in Belgium“. Just in case you were wondering what was involved. Of course, you’ll also make sure that your crew has the proper Belgium licenses/endorsements.

IceNews has “Cod stocks at the centre of discussions between EU and Norway“. One goal is to stop the idiotic practice of throwing away by-catch fish.

BarentsObserver has “Norway launches Arctic logistics centre“.

Last week I linked to a story that claimed that the Somali pirates were receiving training from the Iranians. Now Middle East Online has “Piracy in the Red Sea: Saudi points towards Israel – Columnists fear that a plan is underway for ‘internationalization’ of security in the Red Sea.” One of the claims is that the piracy is being done partly to punish Egypt as ships respond by going around Africa, shunning the Suez Canal due to the piracy threat.

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Time Magazine has “The Sushi Wars: Can the Bluefin Tuna Be Saved?“.

If environmentalists and marine scientists are right, the world’s remaining stocks of bluefin tuna, 90% of which are in the Mediterranean, could be on the verge of extinction. Says Alain Fonteneau, a marine biologist for France’s government-run Institute for Development Research in Montpellier: “If we do nothing, in five years we will fish the last bluefin tuna.”

But not everyone is ready to heed the warning. A week-long international meeting to save the species ended in splenetic arguments Monday night, as European officials thwarted a proposal by the U.S. and environmental groups to impose a partial moratorium on bluefin fishing and to drastically reduce catch quotas.

So enjoy the tuna whenever you get the chance, because the chances of the international community saving this tuna are slim. The story mentions the next move of getting the tuna declared an endangered species by the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES. (See ‘How CITES Works‘) This is the same convention that banned the trade of elephant tusks. It sounds like a good move but wouldn’t the EU stop that as well?

Maritime Compass has “Thanksgiving at sea“. The ship profiled was the drillship JOIDES RESOLUTION.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb is unable to mail home some books and goes off on a direct-hit rant.

So, to work on a ship these days, one needs to go through a background check, medical check, and paid-for-useless-ID check. We get vetted by Uncle Sugar. Not to say that every now and again we haven’t had ex-cons and lowlifes abord, but by and large, we undergo a lot of scrutiny to get permission to do our jobs. Unlike some of the folks who are working in the refinery.

So, it bakes my balls a little when we get forbidden to go ashore at some refineries for ‘security reasons.’ Security my ass. There are guys who are wearing monitoring bracelets working in the refinery and I can’t go to the post office across the street.

He has lots more golden material in his post so go read it all. I would think that vessel crews are giving these shore staff denying them access lots of grief for this inconvenience. Is it just a flat denial or are they stationing security at the gangway? Here’s a thought, don’t lower the gangway in those ports. Let the agents and staff deal with it noting that iyou can’t lower the gangway for ‘security reasons’. Don’t try this if it is the Coast Guard who is asking…

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “Good Reads about the Indian Coast Guard” looking at their response during the recent terror attacks in Mumbai.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog also has “Icebreaker Gap“, “” and “A Coastie’s Guide to the Instruments of Power“.

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “Scrapping of aircraft carrier given go-ahead“. The ship is the French carrier Le CLEMENCEAU which was already refused entry to India for scrapping. The ship will now be scrapped in the UK. Score one for France?

Energy Daily has “Fish Technology Draws Renewable Energy From Slow Water Currents“.

iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen has “Out of Hemisphere Deployments“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Turkey Ship Harassed Oil Vessels, Says Cyprus“.

MarEx Newsletter has “Freight Operations – Seven Paths to a Working Capital Goldmine“.

Shipping News has “Suez Canal charges may be reduced – Global downturn and piracy could affect 2009 rates…“

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “Monemvasia, Greece“, characterized as “the Gibraltar of East”.

Tugster has an invitation for his readers in the NY area: “Mary Whalen’s 70th Birthday“. The party is on December 6th.

Ottawa Citizen has “Ill-fated vessel not fit for ice, says report“. This concerns the sealing vessel L’ACADIEN II which sank last winter while under tow by the Canadian Coast Guard. The report is being disputed by others claiming that it was the tow itself that resulted in the sinking. Seems to me that ice contributed to the initial casualty while the vessel was fatally damaged while under tow, resulting in four dead. (Note: This is mere speculation as I have not yet had time to read the report.) You can read the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) report here: “Marine Investigation Report, Capsizing While Under Tow, Small Fishing Vessel L’Acadien II, 18 nm Southeast of Cape North, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, 29 March 2008“

Augen Geradeaus (Note: Site in German language) has photos taken by a German P-3 Orion aircraft of Somali pirates in the process of taking over a ship. (Found via this comment on EagleSpeak) Decent Google Translation of the page can be read here noting that these are photos of the takeover of the BRIGHT RUBY.

BitterEnd has “WA State to build one “Island Home Boat”“. There is a very relevant comment on this post taken from an engineer’s viewpoint.

Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “Will the Opening of the Northwest Passage Transform Global Shipping Anytime Soon?” It seems that the ice threat only changes with the increased melting.

Neptunus Lex notes the arrival of the Russian Navy in Venezuela in “Welcome to Our Hemisphere” noting that ‘It’ll be nice to have the tyranny of distance on our side for a change’. Be sure to read the reader comments as well.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has more with “USS Georgia Responds To Russian Caribbean Deployment!“. In a show of confidence, the Russian Navy brought a tugboat with them.

Freaque Waves has three more deaths blamed on a freak wave striking the shoreline in “Tragedy at Point Mugu“.

Never Sea Land has a photo of the beached sailboat GYPSY DANE for his “I don’t like Mondays” post. Be sure to click through for more photos and the story (being presented by the owner) behind the grounding.

International Herald Tribune has “Greek officials charged in migrant smuggling case“.

Five harbor police officers are charged with belonging to a criminal gang that smuggled illegal immigrants to Italy, authorities said Thursday. The officers, who served at Greece’s third largest port of Patras, were among eight people arrested and charged with ring membership late Wednesday.

Navy Newsstand has the photo “USS Freedom (LCS 1) transits through one of many locks stations.“

081118-N-5758H-076 PORT ROBINSON, Ontario (Nov. 18, 2008) The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) transits through one of many locks stations in the Welland Canal. Freedom is the first of two littoral combat ships designed to operate in shallow water environments to counter threats in coastal regions and is in route to Norfolk, Va. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication 3rd Class Specialist Kenneth R. Hendrix/Released) – Link

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

Singapore – LRIT conformance testing – The Singapore Maritime and Port Authority issued a circular reminding owners, operators, and masters of the importance of conducting conformance testing of installed Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) equipment. Such equipment on covered vessels must be fully compliant by the first radio survey after 31 December 2008. Shipping Circular No. 30 of 2008 (11/25/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

CBP – undeclared monies seized – The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issued a news release stating that its officers seized $19,300 from an arriving passenger at Logan Airport in Boston who made a false declaration when asked if he was carrying more than $10,000 in monetary instruments. While this was not a maritime incident, masters and crewmembers are reminded that the same rules apply for entries and exits at seaports. (11/28/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Credit crisis could solve yard squeeze – SHORTAGES of qualified staff at well-established yards could be resolved when yards fail, classification sources has told Fairplay.

“Ordering and S&P activity have all but ceased,” Alan Gavin, marine director of Lloyd’s Register said yesterday. “The market is going through a period of adjustment – adjustments to ranges of value for assets as well as freight rates.”

This has already affected Turkish yards, where 3,000 jobs are reported to have been shed in two months.

Gavin said his class society noted much interest in the potential for cancellations with “reports of actual cancellations coming through daily”.

A positive knock on affect of expected job losses at smaller yards would be the release of highly adept personnel in a competitive market, he said.

“One effect of the current crisis, to the benefit of well-established yards, is likely to be the release of qualified managers and workers from failing or failed yards,” he predicted.

“This could help reduce the current manpower shortages that we have seen in the years of high expansion. This Good technical people have been in short supply world-wide during the boom – it may be easier for us all to find them now,” he concluded. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Hebei Spirit anger at IMO meeting – CONCERN over the fate of the detained officers of the Hebei Spirit has been repeated at an IMO safety meeting in London.

Capt MM Saggi was one individual who expressed great concern yesterday over the failure of the Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal (KMST) to follow the IMO Code for the Investigation of Marine Casualties and Incidents. Saggi is nautical adviser to the government of India.

Hebei Spirit, was struck by a barge in December 2007, resulting in a major oil spill affecting miles of Korean shoreline, and the captain and chief officer were arrested in South Korea.

Delegates at the IMO meeting condemned the unjustified detention of the two Indian officers of the Hebei Spirit saying it was a breach of the UNCLOS legislation and demanded their immediate repatriation. The fear of all those supporting the case for the immediate release of the Hebei Spirit officers is that the Korean Courts will accept the findings of the KMST Report, and that the officers will receive lengthy jail sentences.

A few days ago the IBF also condemned the treatment of the Hebei Spirit officers detained in South Korea and pledged that its members to do all they can to secure their release. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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Maritime Monday 137

Fred — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 14:12:49 +0000

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 137th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 87 here. (Published 3 December 2007)

You can find last week’s edition here.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Korean shipping Company STX Pan Ocean:

New Emerald

PAN AMBITION

NEW ACCORD

NEW FANTASY – Timber

OCEAN KOREA

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Pirates of Somalia: Asymmetric Warfare“.

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Chosin“.

gCaptain has “Pirates Seize Saudi Supertanker – M/V Sirius Star” and “Piracy In Somalia – FAQ Part 1“.

gCaptain also has a contest announcement: “International Shiphandling Championship 2009“. There is $50,000 in prize money up for grabs.

gCaptain is excited to announce, in partnership with TRANSAS, Professional Mariner Magazine and Northeast Maritime Institute, the First Annual International Shiphandling Championship to be held at Northeast Maritime’s Fairhaven, Massachusetts campus from June 5 -7th, 2009.

BitterEnd has “Over 200 whales trapped in Canadian ice“. Best wishes to the Captain as he has been in and out of the hospital this week. The latest at “Health Update“.

JammieWearingFool has “Saudis ‘Outraged’ Over Supertanker Hijacking“.

The Wall Street Journal has “Pirates Exploit Confusion About International Law” and “Pirates’ Delight – Other thugs will come if we don’t punish the Somali pirates.“

Associated Press has “Norwegian firm orders ships to sail around Africa“. The company is Odfjell Tankers. Other companies are looking at doing the same.

Dow Jones (Posted on Alibaba) has “FOCUS: Iran Shipping Line Weathers US Sanctions – Chairman“.

IRISL can limit the effect of the unilateral sanctions by setting up foreign subsidiaries and reflagging more of its ships, analysts say.

Shippers often reflag their vessels to streamline regulatory control and documentation procedures, reduce tax obligations to their native governments, or to facilitate entrance into foreign harbors, a procedure also pursued by Iran.

Roughly half of the Islamic republic’s 140-strong vessel fleet is flagged mainly in Malta followed by Hong Kong and Cyprus, according to Arne Hanssen, who manages investigations and research at Lloyds Marine Intelligence Unit.

The Big Feed has “Are the Iranians Behind the Somali Pirate Attacks?” trying to connect the Somali pirates to Iranian trainers, in Lebanon.

Information Dissemination has “Observing the Strategic Success of US Policy Towards Somali Piracy“.

It is important to note a few things. Not a single US flagged ship has even been approached by pirates (one might say they are intentionally avoided), and not a single US mariner has been taken hostage. After a year of what is often described as sophisticated attacks, not a single action has been taken against the US due to the threat of US response. The United States still lacks any reason to get involved against Somali piracy, and has responded appropriately by doing nothing. The rest of the world has been getting hammered by pirates, and because the United States did not solve the problem for the rest of the world, they are being forced to take action for themselves. The Russians are sending another ship, the South Koreans are sending a ship, and what can only be described as the most important step yet, Saudi Arabia is joining the NATO effort.

Ace of Spades HQ attacks the mainstream media’s bias piece towards pirates in “Somali pirates: modern day Robin Hoods… heros… redistributors of wealth“.

If one were just a bit cynical, they might cite this as an independent validation of how trickle down economics would really work in an unregulated economy.

The pirates aren’t the only ones cashing in. Many are now benefiting by providing ‘support services’.

MarineBuzz has “Somali Pirates have Lavish Life Style or Rot in Jail“.

Helsingin Sanomat (Finland) has “Estonia: A ship whose memory lingers on“.

Helsingin Sanomat also has “Sörnäinen Harbour will move to Vuosaari overnight on November 24th“.

Operations in Helsinki’s Sörnäinen Harbour will come to an abrupt end when the harbour moves to Vuosaari after next Sunday. From the beginning of next week all ship traffic to Sompasaari will be directed to the new purpose-built Vuosaari Harbour instead.

Lloyds List has “Owners set to axe 25% of car carrier fleet as auto sales slump“.

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An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “Permanent Home Needed for ex World War II Navy Tug and USCGC Comanche (WMEC 202)“. It is currently located in Olympia, Washington. They also have “Carpe Diem: Seizing Strategic Opportunity in the Arctic“.

Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “Attempts to save oldest freighter on Great Lakes fail; E.M. Ford headed to scrapyard“. (Scroll down for the story)

The E.M. Ford was built in 1898 and is the oldest freighter in the Great Lakes. It was a bulk ore carrier before it was converted to a self-unloading cement powder carrier for the LaFarge North America Cement Plant in Saginaw County’s Carrollton Township – but has been mainly empty for a few years.

Opinio Juris has “Here There Bee (More) Pirates … and Might the Obama Administration Take Them Out?“. (Found at Instapundit)

MarEx Newsletter has “Are Guns the Answer to Attacks on Vessels?“.

MarineLog has “Coast Guard to hire more civilian safety personnel“.

MarineLog also has posted the November edition of their Magazine online:

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “How not to recruit seafarers“. The issue is familiar to many seafarers. Maybe we’ll believe there is a shortage of seafarers once the vessel owners treat seafarers like they are a limited commodity. As with everything, treatment ranges through the full spectrum, so one would think that the bad ships would be the ones suffering or at least getting the less-qualified crews…

Kennebec Captain has “Whale Wars and Seamanship – Lack of Leadership“. This ship is an accident waiting to happen. Yet another week where the program covers a near disaster for the eco-terrorists. Is this the face of the world’s most dangerous chief mate? In the course of three episodes, he has nearly killed 8 of his own crew. Losing them at sea is bad enough.

“First Mate Peter Brown at the Helm”

Animal Planet’s Whale Wars website has a deleted video: “Doc Plans His Escape“. Just in case the ship gets that sinking feeling. What kind of safety briefing did the rest of the crew get? How about fire and boat drills? I have my doubts given the disastrous rib boat launch in the first episode.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has a photo and story “Russian Victor I Transported By Cargo Ship“. Thanks goes to Canada!

Molten Eagle has “ITS Pelosi’s “Commemoration of Submariners Killed”” with video of a wreath laying ceremony by the Italian submarine ITS PELOSI.

Photos & Bits has “Shipwreck in Antarctica – Part 1 – Discovering we are sinking“. He was on the M/V EXPLORER, in the cabin closest to the hole. Nothing like waking up to a foot of water in your cabin. You can find his photos of the trip prior to the accident here. (Found via his recent comment on the gCaptain post on the sinking: “The Spirit of Shacketon – Aboard the M/S Explorer“, which was written by another survivor of the cruise.)

Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum has a summary of why your deck officer license is not enough to get a job on a towboat with “Hit the Deck!“.

A mariner “lateraling” over from another sector, needs adequate time and space to learn the many skills required of towing vessel deck officers. Adequate can mean anywhere from several months (for the exceptionally gifted) to several years, depending on the individual and their background. Many will never make it, no matter how hard or long they try. I call it Tugboat Darwinism. Everyone isn’t cut out for this line of work and that’s all there is to it.

My only experience is with towing other boats and it is tricky in all sorts of potentially evil ways.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “World’s Biggest Cruise Liner Launches“. The ship is Royal Caribbean’s OASIS OF THE SEAS. More details at MarineBuzz.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb is at sea and is thinking about dinner this Thursday: “I always wonder at the Pre-thanksgiving stores delivery.” Sometimes you are just away for the holidays.

The Merchant Marine Express goes through the motions as his relief shows up and eventually ends up “Back at Home!“.

IMC Brokers has video: “Navy Tugmaster“.

Steeljaw Scribe has the name of the first operational aircraft carrier in the US Navy in “Project Valour-IT Naval Aviation Factoid: 17 November“.

Sea * Fever has “This Day In Maritime History: A Stove Boat Begets A Whale of a Tale” covering the real-life tale that became the inspiration for MOBY DICK.

Maritime Compass has “Maritime art at Christie’s“.

Paul Jean Clays (Belgian, 1819-1900) – Fishing boats in a calm

Scandinavian Shipping Gazette has “The Blue North has it all“.

Considering the small population and their economic impact, the Nordic countries hold an important position: They control 15 per cent of the world fleet, 20 per cent of the maritime insurance market, they are the second largest in offshore marine services and possess some 10 per cent of the global market for ship technology and equipment. The Nordic region is consequently the home of several leading maritime brands from Maersk Sealand and Wallenius Wilhelmsen to DNV, Gard P&I, Hempel, ABB, TTS, Rolls-Royce Marine Technology, Framo, Kongsberg, Wärtsilä NSD, to name a few.

Journal of Commerce has “Hamburg stevedore sees profit rise on flat volume“.

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BarentsObserver has “Arctic oil production not profitable“. If your Russia that is. They also have ““The world’s most modern Coast Guard”“, Norway.

The Pacific Northwest Coast Guard Blog has video “Featured Innovator – Weapons Simulator“.

The NY Times has “A Sea of Unwanted Imports“. (Found at Kennebec Captain here who notes an error in the story concerning ship identification, most likely due to carelessness on the part of the reporter, and missed by their sharp team of editors as well.)

The big changes in activity at the Long Beach port are not limited to imports. There also has been a sharp drop in the port’s largest export: recycled cardboard and paper products. (Photo: Jamie Rector for The New York Times) – Note: Check out Maritime Monday 62 for photos “Guangzhou Customs Intercepted and Captured “Imported Rubbish”“

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “Russian ships to Venezuela in show of power” noting that Russia’s long-term interest might be dropping with the price of oil…

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “Cayo Levisa, Cuba“.

intheboatshed.net has “Faithful James Caird replica to sail from Elephant to South Georgia” following in the wake of explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 voyage.

Tugster has photos of New York’s North Brother Island in “Cursed Island“.

Never Sea Land has crazy video “Spillwaaaaaaay“.

Extreme kayakers have been condemned for canoeing down a dam in west Wales.

iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen has “Admiral Allen & Vice Admiral Crea with the CG enlisted innovators“.

Break Bulk Industry News has “$60 million claim filed against OHL“. The company’s ship, the HEAVYLIFT ANCORA has been arrested in the process. At issue is the loss of the KS TITAN 1 liftboat which was being carried by the ANCORA before it lost its cargo at sea.

The Pilot Boat has photos of “A “call” to Gothenburg port.“

Shipping Times has “Hospital Ship Charity Celebrates 30 Years of Saving Lives“. The charity of course is Mercy Ships, who also happen to have the world’s largest civilian hospital ship, the AFRICAN MERCY,

The Horses Mouth has a photo: “The Sea Is Not For Sissies“.

Mr. Boat Blog has a photo: “The Heaven 80: Worlds largest inflatable.” Surely it is the world’s most expensive as well. As a bonus, the fenders are kind of built-in.

Mad Mariner has “Race Aboard Other People’s Sailboats – Even a Novice Can Be Part of the Crew on a Racing Boat — Here’s How“.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

UK – suspected pirates transferred to Kenya – The UK Ministry of Defence issued a news release stating that eight suspected pirates apprehended by a Royal Navy frigate have been handed over to the custody of the Kenyan Police. The individuals were caught after the frigate attempted to identify a fishing vessel suspected of having earlier attacked a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden. Persons on the fishing vessel fired on Navy personnel, who shot back in self-defense, killing two suspected pirates on the fishing vessel. A third individual on the fishing vessel was found injured and later died. (11/18/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

DOD – deterrence of pirates is team effort – The US Department of Defense issued a news release stating that military units and commercial ships must work together to deter piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The United States and other nations are working with the commercial shipping industry and the IMO to ensure that crews on commercial vessels employ reasonable self-protection measures, such as proactive look-outs, evasive maneuvers, and embarked security teams. Note: They fail to explain how armed security teams are to embark and disembark when many nations restrict or prohibit possession of the weapons necessary to make these teams effective. It is also unclear what is meant by the term “proactive look-out”. Is that someone who shouts ‘PIRATES’ very loudly? A major question arises with regard to what legal regime would be applied if the private security guards were to kill a suspected pirate and then be arrested ashore. Military personnel are largely protected by the law of the sea and sovereign immunity, but these principles are inapplicable to civilians. If the solution were as easy as this release makes it sound, the problem would have been solved long ago. (11/19/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Iran threatens pirates with force – IRAN COULD use force against pirates that hijack its ships, a government official confirmed today.

Deputy Transport Minister Ali Taheri told Reuters: “Iran’s view is that such issues should be confronted strongly. The Islamic Republic of Iran has the capability to confront pirates. If necessary we can use force.”

The comments come following the seizure of an Iranian-chartered bulk carrier last week. Hong Hong-flagged Delight was carrying a consignment of grain bound for the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

Doubt has been raised about whether force against pirates is sanctioned under international law.

But last week the Indian navy sank a suspected pirate mother ship after it opened fire. IRAN COULD use force against pirates that hijack its ships a government official today confirmed to Reuters. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Paris mulling piracy tax – FRANCE is considering an anti-piracy security surcharge tax on owners, the French shipowners’ association Armateurs de France has today revealed.

Armateurs de France has said it would be willing to discuss a proposal involving the payment of defence costs to protect ships off Somalia that would could include armed personnel on ships. French defence minister Hervé Morin is reportedly considering the proposal.

The security surcharge policy has emerged after Morin announced last week that the EU anti-piracy fleet would launch a new military operation in the Gulf of Aden on 8 December.

Shipping groups BIMCO and Intertanko have meanwhile urged the UN to intervene in the anti-piracy clamp down off Somalia. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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