Maritime Monday 132

Welcome to this 132nd edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 82 here. (Published 29 October 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 Dens Ocean Pty. Limited / Livestock Express:

Livestock, like humans, needs TLC (Tender, Love & Care) and in particular also when ‘travelling’. Welfare for the animals is of highest priority and the LIVESTOCK EXPRESS Fleet’s officers and crew are totally dedicated to ensure that animals travelling on board their vessels will be doing so under this parameter.

LIVESTOCK EXPRESS vessels carry nothing but livestock and fodder – mostly cattle and sheep, but also horses and goats and occasionally, camels, deer, buffaloes, dogs, ostriches, llamas, alpacas.

LIVESTOCK EXPRESS has had more than 40 years experience in animal transportation and the specialised installations and equipment onboard its modern carriers, guarantee the best possible conditions for transporting livestock over long or short distances, and always in compliance with the most comprehensive and strictest rules and regulations of the exporting and importing countries.

The high standard of the LIVESTOCK EXPRESS vessels alone is not enough. Animals have to be cared for by people with the necessary experience, hence LIVESTOCK EXPRESS is continuously training officers and crew for their fleet.

If charterers wish, accommodation can be provided for veterinary surgeons and cattle attendants to accompany their valuable cargoes.

LIVESTOCK EXPRESS has pioneered many ‘first ever’ animal transports such as a cargo of about 1200 Llamas and Alpacas from Chile to New Zealand, where the vessel after a 25 days voyage anchored with the animals onboard at the country of destination and the vessel then acted as a quarantine station for a further 35 days allowing tests to be carried out on the animals, and when the final discharge occurred an additional 100 Llama/Alpaca babies walked ashore with their mothers.

Several shipments of live ostriches numbering from 800 – 1000 birds have also been undertaken very successfully by LIVESTOCK EXPRESS. – Link

SAHIWAL EXPRESS

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Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somalia: Private pirate fighters? Blackwater says it’s ready“.

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: Churchill’s Dummy Fleet“.

gCaptain has coverage of the accident at Gibraltar with “MV Fedra Damage Survey – Flickr Slideshow” and “Video – M/V Fedra Beached Near Gibraltar“.

FEDRA IMO8708713 Aground off Gibraltar – Photo © DM Parody (http://dotcom.gi/photos)

Wired looks back into history with “Oct. 13, 1884: Greenwich Resolves Subprime Longitude Crisis“.

Canada.com has “Sailor found dead, two more missing from cargo ship docked in Vancouver“. Apparently they did not take into account the temperature of the water. How do you find stowaways once they get off a ship? Well, in the winter, they are the ones walking around the terminal in shorts and a t-shirt trying to act like everything is normal.

Kennebec Captain has great photos for “Antwerp port call – Kallo Locks“. Antwerp was my favorite port call. He also has “Three tug shift Bremerhaven Port Call“. My first ship was a car carrier calling Bremerhaven. On my first call there it was very windy and the tugs sort of lost control of the ship. The pilot asked the Captain if he would rather not hit the oldest tugboat in Bremerhaven or an ex-Soviet cruise ship. The pilot was sure we were going to hit something and figured that he would let the Captain decide what type of incident he wanted to deal with. Ever the one to think of the little details, the Captain called down for me, the Deck Cadet, to pull in the pilot ladder. I was on the stern with the chief mate and we were thinking that the pilot was pretty up on his game to be so close to the other vessels moored nearby. In the end we managed to not scratch any paint, or wreck the pilot ladder.

MarineBuzz has “AIS Class B units of True Heading Put to Test on Volvo Ocean Race” and the impressive “Indo US Naval Exercise: Malabar 08 in Arabian Sea“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “A New Clue To Mystery Of Sunken Civil War Sub“. The sub was the Confederate HUNLEY.

Tugster has aerial photos from the final visit in NY with “Surfing QE2s Wake” as well as photos of the Italian sub SALVATORE TODARO calling NY: “Sub Races“.

Coast Guard Report gets a denial in response for its request for information as a media outlet in “CGreport joins CGblog in being Shut out by Coast Guard“. This is one reason why I think the entire Coast Guard social networking project is not much more than hot air and that it is unrealistic to expect much more than a better selection of news stories and photos from the Coast Guard itself. Really, why can’t the Coast Guard Commandant just order the requested information released? (They are willing to release the information, provided the blogs are willing to pay for it, OR release it for free to a ‘real’ news organization…)

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook announces the “Maritime Casualty Investigation Association“.

Deep Water Writing looks at the upcoming election and is advocating a Democratic ticket as ‘the track record of John McCain and the American Merchant Marine is not a friendly one.’ That might be true, but I can’t see an Obama Administration helping the US Merchant Marine any more than the labor unions want him to. And with that said, the Democrat Party is the only one on the scoreboard recently for killing off seafarer jobs, namely those on the DELTA QUEEN. Then there are all the potential jobs in support of expanded offshore drilling and other offshore activities such as wind farming all of which is being resisted by one party. (My bias should be obvious. Just want to be clear that I voted McCain.) Any comments anyone?

Why does Congress refuse the exemption for the Delta Queen? – Any bill in Senate and House of Representatives has to pass the appropriate committee, in this case the Transportation Committee in the House and the Commerce Committee in the Senate. The chairmen of both committees, Rep. James Oberstar and Sen. Daniel Inoyue, are strictly opposing the exemption for not very clear reasons and therefore block any bill according the Delta Queen in their committee. There are ways around this, though: a) If there are enough co-sponsors to a bill. it can go directly to the floor of the full House of Representatives. b) If we can raise enough public attention to this issue, we might “convince” the committees to overcome their actual position and let the bill through. Hey, many of these members of the committees are running for re-election this year! – FAQ at Save the DELTA QUEEN

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “…Give Coast Guard New Hospital Ships” and “International Coast Guard News in Review #3“.

io9 has “Ephemerisle Is Waterworld With a More Realistic Budget” listing previous failed seasteading attempts and the reasons why they failed.

The New York Times has an update on the FALLS OF CLYDE in “Historic Ship Stays Afloat, for Now” as the vessel is sold for $1 to a group looking to save it. tUnfortunately, they seems to have a very unclear plan and little money.

The New Strait Times has “Chemical-laden ship sinks after huge explosion“. The ship was the ING HUA FU No 9.

THE PRIVATE ISLANDS BLOG has the “#1 Island Beach in America“.

Trade and Logistics Malaysia looks at “Carriage of Goods by Sea“. Not the physical part, but how it is all put on paper.

Shirlaw News Group has “Ruby Princess launch cancelled after fatality on board“.

HAWSEPIPER: The Longest Climb has “Almost like the big boys.” as his tanker lighters fuel to a barge he was working on a year earlier. Oddly enough he reports:

Just under 1/2 of the unlicensed crew on board has asked me for the number for the HR department of the owners of the ATB we just lightered into. This I find depressing, if understandable. I am discouraging all but a couple of guys, and the only reason I’m doing this is because some of the guys here are passing through. If they don’t want to stop here, I understand. It takes a certain type to tolerate the negatives here, regardless of the many good points of this ship and company.

The Wall Street Journal has “The race is on to turn waves, tides and currents into electrical energy“.

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The US Coast Guard issues a press release with photos: “Smoldering containers removed from APL Peru“.

In this photo released by the Coast Guard, Seattle firefighters douse a smoldering cargo container from the APL Peru with hoses Saturday, Oct. 11. The vessel reported high temperatures and smoke coming from its number five cargo hold Sunday, Oct. 5. (U.S. Coast Guard/Petty Officer 2nd Class Andrew Christopherson) – Link

Lloyd’s List has “Korean shipping finance left out in the cold “.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “ANOTHER European casualty, another knee-jerk series of crew arrests” in response to the wreck of the MV FEDRA off Gibraltar.

Gothamist has dying trees as New York City turns off the Brooklyn Bridge’s waterfall display in “Arboricidal NYC Waterfalls End Killing Spree Today!” I guess it is ok to not do an environmental impact study when it comes to ‘art’ that the city itself expects to profit from.

Ace of Spades has problems with the Iranian cargo ship bomb story: “Frightening Speculation of the Day: “Cargo of Death” Iranian Ship a Massive Dirty VBIED Intended for the Coast of Israel“.

JammieWearingFool covers the (non-humanitarian) visit of the USS BARRY to the Georgian Port of Poti in “Sending A Message To Vladimir Paranoid?“

IMC Brokers has “FEDRA third major incident off Europa Point in less than a year“.

Maritime Compass points to “Top ten whale titles“.

Information Dissemination has “Navy Adjusts Another Major Program“. This one concerns sea basing.

Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum has good news in “Licensed for Life! Why I’ll miss the FCC, sort of.” All those years ago when taking GMDSS we had two guys from the FCC giving us a lecture and they explained how easy it is to renew the license because the only real requirement was to apply to get it renewed, which is when I asked, well, why does it expire? Well, now it doesn’t.

Professional Mariner has “Coast Guard detains La. tug crewmen for outstanding warrants“.

The Coast Guard Cutter Sturgeon conducted a routine safety examination of the Towing Vessel M.Z. Chibb on the Mississippi River near Boothville, Louisiana at approximately 2:30 p.m., Wednesday. The Coast Guard boarding team discovered that the M.Z. Chibb’s captain and one of its crewmembers had outstanding wants and warrants, and detained both individuals.

And doing a criminal check has what to do with safety?

Routing and Ranting – A View From The Floor has a listing of quizzes to practice so that you don’t have to look like a fool and ask “Where is it?“.

Reuters has “Financial crisis may end boom for Suez Canal“. The title is a bit deceptive as what is predicted is slower growth.

New America Media has “We Can Help Clean the Oceans“. Unfortunately, I suspect that the part of the world that needs to get this message simply doesn’t care.

Tims Times has “Wexford Quays“.

Molten Eagle has the first woman sailor to join the crew of a submarine. South Africa is the country.

Sea * Fever has “New Captain at the Helm of the New Bedford Whaling Museum“.

Bills of lading signs off his ship in “Party time” noting that years ago that would have been reason for a party with booze, onboard.

Breakbulk has “Post-Ike Galveston on road to recovery“.

“Our customers have been great. They have committed to keeping their cargo with us,” Peterlin said. The first vessel to return to Galveston was the “K” Line ro-ro vessel Triton Highway on Sept. 22. Two days later, the Hyundai Medi Valencia discharged wind turbines. Within the week, the Hoegh Alliance New York and the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Nordberg arrived. The Hyundai Treasure arrived with a second load of wind turbines in early October. And Del Monte was set to return the first week of October, after being forced to divert three vessels to Port Manatee because of damage to the company’s cold storage warehouse.

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news.com.au has video: “Skunk Cannon“. I can see this having an anti-pirate potential. Then again, how about arming ships with paintball guns and ‘pepperballs’.

EUobserver has “MEPs say EU anti-pirate mission is ‘military nonsense’“.

The EU naval mission to be deployed against pirates off the coasts of Somalia is a “military nonsense,” “morally wrong” and has “no international legal basis,” several MEPs said at a hearing in Brussels on Wednesday (15 November), as delegates from the EU council and the bloc’s military co-ordination cell defended the project.

So, an OK from the Somali Government and the UN is not good enough? I guess the UN is only useful to the EU when they say ‘no’ like with Iraq. As for fighting piracy being ‘morally wrong’, I guess their reasoning is that two wrongs don’t make a right, or do they dare suggest that the pirates are justified in their actions?

National Geographic‘s has for its 5 October Photo of the Day “Lighthouse at Twilight, Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, 2000“.

RNLI (UK) has video of their 360 degree rescue/lifeboat simulator in “RNLI: Full Mission Bridge Simulator“. This is certainly worth a look if you have never seen a small craft simulator. It is good enough that people actually lose their lunch in it. Looks cool.

Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “Why Hurricane Ike’s “Certain Death” Warning Failed“.

BitterEnd has an interesting encounter as he meets with Washington State Ferries Division Assistant Secretary David Moseley at Mr. Moseley’s request in “David Moseley Meeting follow up“. For those who have not been paying attention, BitterEnd has been pretty critical of WSF’s numerous problems. Credit goes to Mr. Moseley for not only meeting but for initiating the meeting.

Her Captain’s Voice has “Indian Navy to Somalian Waters“.

CDR Salamander has for his weekly series ‘Fullbore Friday’ “the last 48 hours of a great warship’s crew; the Heavy Cruiser IJN Chikuma in the Battle Off Samar“.

Theo Spark has an impressive aerial photo: “USS J.F.K. Docking in Malta….“

The Pilot Boat has photos “Tall Ships Regatta – 3“. Once you check them out, go to his homepage and search out the other editions of the Tall Ships Regatta at Aveiro.

Life of a Sea Wife who was also a seafarer was enjoying the basic things of working ashore with the ‘suits and ties’ only to get them taken away in “The circle of life.” From what I can tell, the writing is on the wall for whoever she is working for, and it does not look good.

BarentsObserver has “Norway, Russia agree on 2009 quotas” for fishing in the Barents Sea.

Steeljaw Scribe has photos of the Indian Navy’s Aircraft Carrier VIKRAMADITYA in the yard in the winter of 2005 in “Cold iron“.

The Horse’s Mouth has a great photo of taking a wave the wrong way in “Wipeout Wednesday.“

The Voyage: Roz Savage has “Less Than One Lifetime: How The Oceans Have Changed“.

Never Sea Land has “Yachting: no sport for the fainthearted” covering the death toll of a number of world-class races.

The Drawn Cutlass has “Shipwreck Blog: SS Portland, Massachusetts“.

A total 190 passengers sunk with the 291-foot ship, the worst maritime disaster in New England’s history to earn the tag “Titanic of New England.”

Sucka Pants has photos taken during a trip to the Hudson River’s Bannermann’s Island in “YOUR FAILURE IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE STORY“.

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

USCG – rail access into secure areas – The US Coast Guard issued a policy advisory explaining Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) requirements for railroad workers who require unescorted access to secure areas at regulated marine facilities. It recommends that railroads ensure that all members of trains servicing secure areas of marine facilities have TWICs and that the railroad coordinate access arrangements in advance with the security officer at the facility. (9/30/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

UK – report on allision with mooring structures – The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) issued the report of its investigation of a product carrier making heavy contact with mooring structures at a refinery on the River Thames on 25 February 2008.  While unmooring the vessel, the bow spring line was unexpectedly cast off.  The pilot attempted to recover control of the vessel by laying alongside the next jetty, but the master (who was assisting) thought a different maneuver was being undertaken.  Needless to say, the results were not pretty. Report No. 18/2008 (10/17/08). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Cut capacity now, box owners warned – CONTAINER shipowners to lay up tonnage and cancel orders or face the worst load factors in ten years, warns Charles de Trenck, analyst and founding partner of Transport Trackers. Speaking on the first day of the 7th Annual Marine Money Asia Week conference in Singapore today, he painted a black picture, saying that pre-1983 ships should be scrapped, reducing capacity by about 400,000teu.

Although containerships are already slow steaming, this reduces capacity by only 5% and additional measures should be taken, he said. In discussion, however, Ian Webber, CEO of Global Ship Lease, pointed out that the liner trades have historically experienced cyclical results, as long term planning makes it difficult to match supply with demand. However COSCO’s Deng Huangjun felt that the current situation was less a result of cyclical patterns but rather more attributable to the temporary effect of the credit crisis. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Crew crunch is even more worrying – SHORTAGE of officers could prove to be of greater significance to shipping than the credit crunch, Jan Morten Eskilt, chairman of OSM Group, told participants at the Marine Money conference in Singapore today. In May this year there were predictions of a shortfall of 84,000 officers globally. It is already at 34,000 – and so far there has been too much talk and not enough action, Eskilt said.

Even though the BIMCO/ISF manpower study released in 2005, and the Drewry/PAL analysis forecast shortages, they both underestimated the full extent of the problem. One reason for this is that more ships than predicted are being delivered from shipyards, and the boom in offshore shipping is also creating new demand for certificated officers. Part of the problem is that shipping has failed to take the issue seriously, he added, with few vessels providing cabins for cadets. More than 4,000 officers will be needed for ships to be delivered in 2009 and 2010, although it’s not known where they will be found. Sadly, insurer Gard predicts this will result in under-qualified officers on the bridge, and predicts an increase in maritime accidents of 20-30% attributable to inexperienced crew. – 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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