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 Belgium’s Van Stappen:
Business Group Van Stappen – On December 1st 1966, Jean Van Stappen took over the bunkering business of Karel Willemen, where he had acquired years of experience. He himself stood at the wheel of the Pennsylvania, a barge carrying 20.000 litres gas oil. His wife took care of the paperwork.
In those early days, the activity consisted in transportation for various gas oil companies. As the fleet expanded, Van Stappen developed into a group of three companies, each with its own speciality:
Thanks to experienced skippers, a competent administrative staff, a dynamic management and more than 35 years experience in the shipping sector, we efficiently service our customers. But the main strength of our company is the strong commitment of a dynamic family business, ready to serve customers and their ships day and night. – Link
Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly to the purchase and shipment of laptops and other technology for severely wounded service members. As of November 2008, Valour-IT has distributed over 2700 laptops to severely wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines across the country, and is now expanding its mission to include other technology that supports physical and psychological recovery. – Read More
It would be nice if the Military/Government took care of all of a wounded soldier’s needs, but they don’t and never will. This group has filled an important gap. So go read more about what they do and how they help and if you feel so inclined, consider donating a little or even a little more.
gCaptain also has an interesting job posting “Looking For Talent – Are You The Next Reality TV Star?” The maritime industry is full of all sorts of interesting characters. Now might be your chance to show the world your talents…
In the course of summer, Russia removed another 46 strontium-fuelled lighthouses from the coast of the White Sea and the Barents and Kara Seas. With Norwegian project support, Russia has now removed 180 radioactive lighthouses between Murmansk and the Novaya Zemlya and replaced them with solar cell installations.
John Bellissimo of Stony Brook, NY, who has served as a U.S. Navy Reserve officer since graduating for the USMMA in 1994, has been on duty in Iraq with the Multi-National Force as Program Manager for the Rehabilitation and Commercial Development of the Port of Umm Qasr. Bellissimo was awarded the Bronze Star in September for his “overall meritorious service in the combat zone,” according to a report in the East Setauket Village Times Herald.
Congratulations Johnny B!
The gCaptain Forumsis alive with professional criticism of Animal Planet‘s series Whale Wars. I am now caught up on the series and have to agree that they are a ship of fools just begging for a serious accident. On the bright side if you have ever wanted to be a ship’s engineer, they appear to be accepting applications, no experience needed. There are two Governments that appear to be shirking their responsibilities here. The Netherlands for registering this ship as a ‘Fishing Support Vessel’ and Australia for possibly ignoring their Port State responsibilities concerning this vessel. But don’t bring that up if they board your vessel. Also notice that Lloyds had withdrawn their classification of the vessel over a year ago at the time they conducted a survey. What did they find? Why haven’t the Japanese sued the owner in the UK?
“The suspect is one of the sailors of the crew, who for no reason set off the fire extinguishing system, as a result of which 20 people died and 21 were hospitalized,” investigator Vladimir Markin told Vesti-24 television.
Molten Eagle has “CONFIRMED” that Russian submarines carry emergency breathing gear for just such an emergency. Oddly enough, I had the closest guess for what was in the boxes on the uniform belts.
It is neccessary to point out that Nautilus Minerals is the first company to commercially explore the ocean floor for gold and copper sea-floor massive sulphide deposits and if they do manage to successfully mine our seabed, then it will be history in the making.
Shipspotting contributor Craig Saunders has a dramatic photo of a recent container crane boom collapse at the Port of Southampton, UK, falling into a cargo hold of the KYOTO EXPRESS.
If the bureaucratic distinction between an “environmental impact statement” and an “environmental assessment” sounds like a flimsy excuse for second-guessing the judgment of admirals in wartime — well, this case was never really about the welfare of Baby Humpback. Instead, green activists and liberal judges were looking to assert their dominance in matters of war and peace.
Her Captain’s Voice has “Give the money or Gorky will be ours again: Russia” as India receives a demand to pay more for the refit of the aircraft carrier ADMIRAL GORSHKOV seemingly never to be renamed the VIKRAMADITHYA in 2012 now or ever. Seems that the Indian Government might have reached its breaking point in this issue.
Deep Water Writing is “In Gmbh” hanging out at the Seaman’s mission in the port, writing a summary of what is Bremerhaven. Two ships that I sailed on called there. Sailor ‘support’ there is great.
Tims Times has a photo of the colorful Netherlands coastguard ship “Frans Naerebout”.
iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen has “Coast Guard Modernization Update“. That would be modernization of the Coast Guard itself, not fleet modernization.
NEW DELHI: In dramatic action on the high seas, an Indian warship with its armed helicopter and elite marine commandos repulsed in quick succession attempts made by different bands of gun-toting pirates to hijack a Saudi and a Mumbai-based merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia on Tuesday morning.
Nikitin noted that more than 200 of the 250 nuclear submarines constructed in the Soviet Union and later in Russia have so far been scrapped, many with financial support from abroad, such as from Norway, Japan, the United States and the UK.
As Barack Obama enters the White House in January, he’ll do so with the blessings and adulations of maritime labor. Typically an honor reserved for Democratic candidates, the endorsement of labor – across the board – comes as no surprise to anyone. But Obama made a lot of promises – as did McCain, to be fair – to a lot of people for a lot of things. One thing in particular that stands out in my mind is the Obama campaign’s promise to inject $5 billion into a trust fund to address – among other things – pollution and invasive species in the Great Lakes. And, while that kind of initiative is a welcome development in the stalled effort to combat invasive species in American waters, it also represents at the same time, everything that is wrong with the process today.
The Monitor targets a shipping investor who is complaining how others brought down the great earnings that shipping was making just a couple years back in “Lookin for a beatin‘”.
PORTLAND, Maine – The federal government says shellfish closures linked to red tide in waters off Maine Massachusetts and New Hampshire have caused a commercial fishery failure, a designation that opens the door to federal disaster assistance to the industry.
Amphibian Tanks has “USS LST-325 World War II Ship” including video. This LST was rescued from a scrap yard in Greece and restored. It currently lives in Mobile, Alabama.
Elms in the Yard spots an ad to join the Merchant Marine in “At the Train Station“.
Electronic navigation and causation– The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that failure to train a master on how to properly use electronic navigation equipment does not make the vessel owner fully liable for an allision nor does it prevent the vessel owner from limiting its liability when there is insufficient evidence to prove that such failure to train was the cause of the allision. In the instant case, defendant’s fishing vessel allided with plaintiff’s offshore rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The allision occurred at night, after the master (who was navigating the vessel) turned on the lights on the bridge to examine a defective engine part and conduct related administrative activities. The evidence showed that the lights on the offshore rig were not functioning properly. Turning on the bridge lights severely degraded the master’s ability to detect unlit objects at sea. It also degraded his ability to observe radar targets. The vessel was equipped with an electronic chart that had an obstruction warning system. The vessel owner had not provided the master with training in use of the electronic chart system and he had never read the operating manual. Evidence indicated, though, that there were so many offshore rigs in this portion of the Gulf of Mexico that the master would not have received an effective warning of the obstruction. The court ruled that the allision was partially due to a mistake of navigation by the master and that, since the vessel was not rendered unseaworthy thereby, the owner was entitled to limit its liability. Omega Protein v. Samson Contour Energy, No. 07-30725 (5th Cir., November 10, 2008). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage(Used with Permission)
Fairplay Daily News has:
Have price patience, financiers told – SALES OF distressed ships – at discounted prices – are bound to pick up sharply in reaction to the financial crisis, a London ship finance conference was told today.
“Several ships are set to come on the market through distressed sale,” said Philip Bailey, managing director of Theisen Securities. To calculate their prices, he advised deducting 1.75% of the ship’s value per year of its age.
“Ship sale prices have plummeted due to lower earnings owners can achieve for charters,” he told the conference, sponsored by the Lloyd’s List newspaper. “In addition, the risk premium owners have to cope with in the maritime industry has risen.”
Shipowners are reducing fleet sizes in reaction to the market drops, particularly in dry bulk. But Bailey underlined his less pessimistic outlook by noting: “Orderbooks for newbuildings have been adjusted by now.”
He also predicted that: “The Asian economy will recover quickly, while the US economy is typically recovers within a three-year cycle.”
With banks cutting back interest rates, shipowners see their money better placed in investments than in banks, given the current low interest rates, he declared, which is why shipbuilding is likely to regain steam, particularly in Asia.
Also, most owners “are not severely affected by the current liquidity squeeze” and will have cash saved for new orders, Bailey suggested. – 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.
By Greg Torode, Eduardo Baptista and Tim Kelly HONG KONG, May 5 (Reuters) – When China sailed one of its two active aircraft carriers, the Shandong, east of Taiwan last month as...
Odfjell Oceanwind says its innovative floating wind turbine foundation solution Deepsea Star™ has been chosen for the groundbreaking GoliatVIND wind park project in the Barents Sea. A consortium comprising Source...
By Alex Longley (Bloomberg) — Key figures in the insurance industry said rising Russian oil prices are making it harder for them to know if they can lawfully cover Russian cargoes. ...
April 28, 2023
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