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 Miami, Florida’s ANTILLEAN MARINE SHIPPING CORP.:
In 1960, the Babun brothers— Jose, Teofilo, and Abraham—fled Cuba’s communism and settled with their families in Miami leaving their successful lumber and cement businesses behind them, three years later, equipped with a single break-bulk ship the Babuns launched a liner service on the working river.
Originally coming from Cuba, Antillean’s historic heritage has been preserved in the Dynamic young leadership embodied by assured that the company balances the value of its history with the demands of a state-of –the-art shipping company.
Antillean Marine Shipping Corporation is one of the Miami River “anchor” marine cargo companies handling over one million tons yearly. Antillean Marine has been providing regular liner service to ports in the Dominican Republic, Haiti twice weekly for over thirty-seven years.
Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has the shocking story of death on the container ship CM LONDON EXPRESS in “The Case Of The One-Way Assassin“. A must read for engineers, Captains and seafarers in general. This happened to an engineer, but it could have happened to any member of the crew in any number of places onboard ship.
In the latest twist out west, the Cosco Busan operator is now accused of fabricating records to hinder the NTSB and DOJ probes of the November 2007 allision in San Francisco Bay (see the USDOJ press release elsewhere in this e-newsletter). I don’t know who else can be charged for what else, but it is getting pretty hard to follow along without a scorecard. To say that this has been the most bizarre set of circumstances I have ever witnessed in relation to any maritime accident would be a gross understatement. I’ve said it once before and I’ll reiterate for you again: I’m not going to make any suppositions or predictions in this case.
Tugster has photos of a couple Stena Bulk ships in “Bear Ships” and includes a link to an interesting PDF document with photos of a number of ice-strengthened ships with ice damage.
Going back into the archives of Freaque Waves, he posts “A list of freaque wave encounters” with ships. I found it as he recently posted “Peril in the age of internet” noting that the reference for one of the incidents was web based and no longer to be found.
Kiwi at Sea has an update from the Falkland’s in “A brief review” as they try to iron out some kinks in their new ferry service using a landing craft. He also describes a recent flight from hell but it is so nauseating that I won’t touch it with an internet link halfway around the world. So you can go to his homepage and find it yourself. I’d take a plane full of drunken seaman over what he encountered.
“They dropped anchor without permission…I went out and explained to the master, over the side of the boat, that he was a naughty boy and that he must bugger off over the horizon – which he did.”
SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “45 Dead In Congo Boat Disaster“. Another 77 passengers are missing. Seems that the aids to navigation in the river were stolen.
The Russian navy has resumed its patrols of the Arctic sea around the Svalbard archipelago, an area claimed by both Russia and Norway. There has been no activity by Russia’s military in this region since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. But now the Russian navy has stated it plans to increase military activity in the waters.
BitterEnd notes that even Vessel Assist vessels sometimes need assistance themselves in “Oh No! Salvation takes a dump“. Well it is kind of the nature of boating.
Shirlaw News Group has “Tanker explosion kills eight in Greece“. The ship is the FRIENDSHIPGAS and the explosion took place while the ship was in a shipyard. Lloyd’s List covers the fallout in “Anger as Greek LPG carrier blast kills eight“. I am a bit suspect of the maritime unions blaming the Greek Government for being lax on safety issues since at the end of the day it is the workers who choose whether or not to work safely and follow safety rules. More details also to be found at MarineBuzz
Press Register has “Mobile container terminal gets surprise customer” as the Hapag-Lloyd container ship ROME EXPRESS calls the not-yet completed container terminal in response to the Mississippi River oil spill.
Shipping provides a unique insight into what is going on in the real world. Those working in the industry usually know weeks ahead of the financial markets about the true state of global commerce. Official economic data may not start to reflect shifting trends for several months.
The agency noted the last time it did a comprehensive port study, growth was seriously underestimated. That Comprehensive Port Improvement Plan forecast the port would not exceed 5 million TEUs until 2015, while volumes actually hit 5.3 million TEUs in 2007. Similarly, the study thought the port would only be handling 674,000 vehicles by 2020, but instead, the port was already handling 930,298 vehicles last year.
BarentsObserver has “Murmansk based tall ship got port ban to Norway“. The ship is the sail training ship SEDOV, the worlds largest four-masted tall ship. The situation is worse than indicated in the title as the order has come from the Russian Foreign Ministry and the ship is also forbidden from calling UK and Irish ports. One theory is that there is a fear of the ship being arrested in one of these ports.
THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has “Russia & China Island Deal” as Russia returns an island and a bit to China. No mention of what Russia got in return. So does that mean that there were some payoffs to some Swiss banks accounts? Certainly Russia didn’t return the territory out of the goodness of their hearts.
Life at SEA has “See-Saw between Ship and Shore.” I always looked at going to sea as putting my life on hold. While it was not that long ago, none of the ships I sailed on had internet or email. I didn’t have a mobile phone and satphone calls from the ship cost $10 a minute. And you never called from the ship. Phone calls from shore were not cheap either.
The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “This Picture Could Cause A Fuss” discussing a recent photo of the USS PROVIDENCE moored at the North Pole in open water.
The Horse’s Mouth has photos of what can happen when you fail to pay your slip fees at ‘Marina Del Ray’.
The Horse’s Mouth also has the biggest fishing story ever for this week’s edition of “Fish On Fridays.” And no, it didn’t come with a bikini.
Houston Ship Channel Pilot / Photographer OneEighteen has a couple interesting photos taken while at work in “Lightning on Galveston Bay” and “Night Thunderstorm“. Sure thunderstorms are cool, but not as much when you are standing on a gasoline tanker loading cargo in Beaumont, Texas. And yes, they stop cargo ops for the storm, but it’s still not a comfortable felling out there. Oddly enough, I took comfort in the fact that my ship was old and made it that long through numerous storms without any problems.
Cruise Bruisecovers a case in San Diego, California, where the harbor police rescued a harbor cruise entertainer who jumped overboard only to shoot him to death shortly thereafter as he violently attacked one of his saviors.
blue water: news of my escape has “coming down” as he runs into another member of crew that rubs him the wrong way. That’s never good, but worse so when you’re working on a small tug.
Maritime Compass has “Cooking for 100 aboard ship?” providing a link to a copy of a ‘General mess manual and cookbook for use on board vessels of the United States Navy (1904)’.
USCG may not ignore right whales when designating routing measures – The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed a decision of the federal District Court that had sanctioned the failure by the US Coast Guard to consider the impact on the endangered North Atlantic right whales in its designation of ship routing schemes. Various environmental advocacy groups had brought suit against the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) for failure to issue an emergency rulemaking requiring ship speed reductions in waters frequented by the right whales and against the Coast Guard for failure to consider the impact on right whales in its designation of vessel routing measures under authority of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act. The District Court had granted motions for summary judgment in favor of the two agencies. The environmental advocacy groups appealed. The appellate court found that the failure of the Coast Guard to consider the impact on right whales in its designation of vessel routing measures constituted final agency action and was thus reviewable. It remanded the case to the District Court to review on the merits the allegations of the environmental advocacy groups regarding the Coast Guard’s responsibility to consider the impact on North Atlantic right whales in its designation of vessel routing measures. Defenders of Wildlife v. Gutierrez, No. 07-5278 (DC Cir., July 18, 2008). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage(Used with Permission)
AND:
DOJ – company that managed Cosco Busan indicted– The Department of Justice issued anews release stating that the company that managed the COSCO BUSAN when it allided with a bridge abutment in San Francisco Bay on November 7, 2007 has been indicted for negligently causing the resulting oil spill, falsifying documents, and killing migratory birds. An indictment is merely an accusation. Defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. (7/23/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage(Used with Permission)
Fairplay Daily News has:
Collision tug had no licensed master – NO LICENSED master was aboard the tug that was pushing the oil-laden barge cut in half on the Mississippi River at New Orleans, the US Coast Guard has learned. – Representatives of the DRD Towing tug Mel Oliver told the Coast Guard that one crewman aboard had an apprentice mate’s licence and that none of the others aboard was licensed at all.
The tug was pushing the American Commercial Line barge yesterday morning near the Crescent City Connection Bridge when the barge was struck by the Lauren Maritime-managed chemical tanker Tintomar, which was laden and headed downriver, at about 0130.
The barge spilled all of its nearly 1,400-tonne cargo of Number 6 fuel oil into the river, while the 46,733dwt Liberian-flagged tanker’s cargo of bio-diesel and styrene remained intact. According to the Coast Guard, the fuel oil is lighter than regular fuel oil and dissipates quickly, but miles of the river were closed.
About 13,700m of containment boom has been deployed on the river and another 8,840m will soon be deployed.
Neither injuries nor damage to wetlands have been reported. – 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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February 5, 2024
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