Maritime Monday 105

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 105th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 55 here. (Published 16 April 2007)

You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find links to all the previous editions at the bottom of this post. To stay informed all week long, be sure to check out gCaptain’s Discoverer site and vote for your favorite stories as well as add ones that you find.

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Israel’s ZIM Integrated Shipping Services:

From historic beginnings in 1945 as a carrier of immigrants from war-torn Europe to the nascent state of Israel, ZIM has become one of the world’s largest shipping companies with operations throughout the world.

ZIM VIRGINIA in the Panama Canal

ZIM MEDITERRANEAN in the Panama Canal

ZIM CANADA Near Istanbul, Turkey

ZIM CALIFORNIA

ZIM QUINGDAO

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

Lloyd’s List has “Pirates seize CMA CGM sailing cruiseship“.

EagleSpeak has “Somali Pirates: France considers rescue mission for pirated yacht“

Also check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Mines from the Sky” and his latest entry “Sunday Ship History: Really BIG Submarine Ideas“

Chaotic Synaptic Activity has for his weekly series Monday Maritime Matters the story of USS FRANKLIN Engineering Officer LTJG Donald Gary who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in saving the lives of several hundred of his crewmates.

gCaptain has “30 Days of San Francisco Ship Traffic – Charted“. Be sure to click through the links in the comments to the Hi-Def San Francisco website for some great time-lapse imagery of San Francisco harbor.

gCaptain also has “TWIC Experience 2.0 (much better)“.

The Destroyermen have US Navy “Hull Numbers 101” as well as photos of a barbecue at sea.

America’s Port Blog asks “Sea Lions: Friend or foe?“. The show America’s Port premiered Sunday night. Be sure to check out the next episode this Monday night.

Hawaii Reporter has good news in “Hawaii Superferry Sails Beginning Monday, April 7“.

The Wenatchee World Online has “Big crane ducks under Columbia bridge“.

The Times (South Africa) has “South Africa the number one port of call for stowaways“.

Sunday Tasmanian has the rescue of the containership MSC LUGANO after it went dead in the water during a severe storm.

The Voice of America has an audio program (with transcript) “The Story of Finding Longitude: It Was All a Question of Timing“.

When people began sailing out of sight of land, sailors did not know how to tell where they were on the open sea. Land travelers can look at a mountain, or a river, or an object that shows them where they are in relation to where they came from. On the ocean, however, there is no sign to tell a sailor where he is.

cdr salamander has for his weekly series Fullbore Friday a story by one of the former crewmembers of his favorite minesweeper, the HMS SALAMANDER.

BBC News has “North Korea makes warship claim“.

Marketplace.Org has an illustrated audio report on being a dhow Captain taking goods from Dubai to Iran. (The play button is just under the photo bar.) The reporter and the captain and crew of the Dhow end up getting arrested. Listen to find out how she managed to accomplish that.

Robin Storm has “Lake freighters get going despite ice” which includes a summary on Investigating Weather Systems in the Montessori Classroom.

MarineBuzz has “Admiralty Vector Chart Service to provide Global Seamless Digital Navigation” and “ASOC Seeks Support of IMO to Save Antarctica“. (ASOC = The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition)

MarEx Newsletter has “Nightmare for Canadian Coast Guard: Seal Hunts and Rescues“

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE covers the sinking of a second seal boat, the ANNIE MARIE, in “Seven Quebec Sealers Rescued After Ship Sinks“

Shirlaw News Group “Ship freed by high water level, 4 tugs“. The ship was the MSC SABRINA, which had been aground for almost a month up in Canada. (How come MSC seems to constantly have ships in trouble?)

Maritime Accident Casebook has what appears to be an end to any real investigation in the COSCO BUSAN incident in “Cosco Busan Pilot Claims The 5th“. Who can blame him considering that some buffoons thought it a good idea to charge the man with a crime. In the short term they probably did him a favor since now he has no requirement to answer anyone’s questions. The post also mentions:

Cota’s lawyers claim that the Coast Guard VTS service could have avoided the accident but did not clearly communicate their concern to Cota and that VTS personnel discussed and took bets on whether the Cosco Busan would hit the bridge, based on “waterfront rumours”.

Even if not true, the rumor is probably enough to ‘earn’ those members of VTS staff a couple of the 100 still-open JOHN DOE spots in the lawsuit. Keep in mind that politicians were pushing to give VTS more control over the movements of ships.

Kiwi at Sea has the worst credit card luck of any seafarer I have ever heard about. At least of those who were actually issued cards. Of interest in response to my question about taking a draw “Oddly the last few companies I have worked have had policies whereby no cash advances are available – which is a huge backward step for seafarers.“ Who else is sailing on a ship that does not have regular draws for the crew? Is this something new?

Tugster has a follow-up to alternative propulsion in “Where’s the Props 2“

Sea * Fever “The Tabor Boy Project Rounds the 100 Member Mark” which includes the coolest underwater photo I have seen in a while. Of course, go read about the program.

Deep-Sea News has “The Submersible Synopses: The Turtle” and covers the simulation “Pilot Your Own Multi-million Dollar Submersible Right Now“.

Financial Post Business Magazine has “Disaster, response” profiling the G.A.P. Adventures crisis management team as it dealt with the sinking of the cruiseship M/V EXPLORER in the Antarctic. It is an interesting read on what happens from the shore-side staff’s point of view. Also of interest is the point at which the insurance company steped in. (Found via Robin Storm.)

Molten Eagle has “In Plain Sight” covering an estimated crew reduction of 70% in transitioning the submarine tender USS EMORY S. LAND from a Navy-crewed vessel to one crewed by Military Sealift Command.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “No rest in anti-pollution drive“.

The Monitor looks at recent problems in “Clubbing the Canadian Coast Guard” including coverage of a collision between the CCGS DES GROSEILLIERS and the Sea Shepherd vessel FARLEY MOWAT.

The London Free Press covers Sea Shepherd’s encounter with angry ax-wielding fishermen while their vessel the FARLEY MOWAT was docked at the French Islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon, which to add to the oddity of the story are located just off Canada. (Want to visit the EU? You only need go up to Canada. Read about the very interesting islands at Wikipeia.)

ST-PIERRE — A militant environmental group opposed to the East Coast seal hunt was forced to flee the French islands of St-Pierre-Miquelon yesterday after angry fishermen cut the mooring lines of the group’s flagship vessel.

Information Dissemination covers “Navy and Marines Form First Sea Base off Liberia” and “Observing The Omission of Seabasing In the Navy’s Maritime Strategy“.

Vagabondish has “Namibia’s Skeleton Coast: ‘The Land God Made in Anger’“.

West Seattle Blog… has a photo of the Peruvian Navy cargo ship ip BAP MOLLENDO docked in Seattle.

Addled Mind and Idle Hands blogs about the journey back home after departing a ship halfway around the world in “The Long Way Home“. Hmm, it only took me two and a half days to get home from Sydney, Australia to NY after getting off my last ship in Singapore and running off to Australia for a couple days vacation first. The trip home included going back through Singapore because the ship’s agent was only willing to delay my flight home from the ship as if I had gone straight home from the ship. This was provided that I arranged my ticket to Australia through them. Note, this guy writes like you think a sailor would, especially one who encounters a number of problems getting home.

goskagit covers the U.S. Border Patrol exercising it’s right to operate within 100 miles of the US border in “Questions at the ferry docks” where passengers departing domestic ferries have been questioned and searched resulting in the arrests of illegal aliens. US bus line Greyhound has had a (lawsuit-inspired) policy against knowingly selling tickets to illegal aliens for years already, lest they be charged with immigrant smuggling. I suspect a similar theory is in play here. (Found via BitterEnd.)

BitterEnd has “Todd Bid Officially Rejected” concerning Washington State Ferries decision to reject the only shipyard bid they received for a tender to build a 50-car ferry.

Neptunus Lex has information on the upcoming “Navy Memorial Hosts 17th Annual “Blessing of the Fleets”“.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Nigeria: The Sudden Transformation of Ports“.

The Canadian Press has controversy over an American salvage company seeking the right to recover treasure looted from America and carried by the Royal Navy’s HMS FANTOME in “U.S. company gets second chance to recover treasure from wrecked British vessel“. The UK claims that the sunken warship has never been abandoned by them.

Japan Probe has the chilling “A Secret Documentary of the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter has Been Shot“. And you thought that sealing was bad. You can see a teaser at the Oceanic Preservation Society‘s website here

Mr. Boat Blog has video of “Demented 200+mph 4000hp turbine boat.“

English Russia has photos of recovering a fisherman’s car from under the ice.

Steeljaw Scribe has “The Maritime Strategy, Deterrence & Escalation Dominance“.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

UK – report re parting of mooring line – The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) issued the report of its joint investigation with the Marine Casualty Investigation Board of Ireland of the parting of a mooring line on board a ro-ro passenger ferry in the Port of Dublin on 7 August 2007 resulting in one fatality. While unmooring, the winch handling the stern mooring line was accidentally set for heaving in rather than paying out slack. The mooring line came under excessive strain and snapped, fatally injuring the second officer, who was in charge of the after mooring deck during the evolution. Investigation revealed that the mooring line had deteriorated over time and the ship’s inspection program failed to detect the loss of strength in the line. The technical information provided by the winch manufacturer included only the nominal strength of the winch, not its maximum strength. Report No. 7/2008 (3/31/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Mexico seeks port bidders – MEXICO will soon seek bidders to build the long-proposed Punta Colonet box port and hopes to have the facility operational within five years. And one terminal operator tells Fairplay he wants to be the successful bidder in the project. Luis Tellez, Mexico’s Communications and Transport Minister, told the Latin American Investment Summit yesterday that a tender for the $6bn project will be offered by mid-year. And Douglas Tilden, CEO of PortsAmerica Group, tells Fairplay that the AIG Highstar-owned company wants to develop the port and said his parent company has the money to fund it. Tellez points to the proposed Baja Peninsula port as Mexico’s opportunity to share in the projected cargo growth at ports like Los Angeles and Long Beach. “It’s a port for the US,” Tilden tells Fairplay. “There are other ports in Mexico to meet that country’s needs, but Punta Colonet is well positioned to link to the US by rail.” Tilden says he has had extensive talks with Tellez and finds him to be a decisive and insightful leader. The PortsAmerica boss also notes that the permitting and construction will be faster in Mexico than the US West Coast where Environmental Impact Studies seem endless.** – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

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Submissions for future editions:

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

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

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