Maritime Monday 118

Welcome to this 118th edition of Maritime Monday.

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

You can find last week’s edition here.

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

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This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of U.S. Shipping Partners:

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

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

ITB MOBILE tug separated from the barge

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Launch of ATB GALVESTON

ITB BALTIMORE

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

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

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

Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

delawareonline has “Bananas stolen from Port of Wilmington“.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The June edition of Marine Log is online:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also available are AUSMARINE and Work Boat World.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Flickr has photos of the USS PUEBLO in North Korea.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

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

Fairplay Daily News has:

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

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

AND:

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

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

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories and photos to [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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