Maritime Monday 145

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 145th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 95 here. (Published 28 January 2008)

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 AllThatFloats:

On these pages, you will find pictures of ships of all sorts, mostly merchant vessels, at sea, at berth, being discharged, being loaded, and being dry docked.

This is a site by enthusiasts, for enthusiasts. Updated every now and then.

* One of the pods used for the vessels propulsion. *

* Breant in the Kiel Canal: She was built in 1979 at the Karlskrona shipyard, and delivered to Stockholm. She is currently in charter to Stella Lines. *

* The Artemis made a cruise call in Gothenburg on July 2nd, 2008 *

* East Indiaman Götheborg, returning to home port, June 9th, 2007 *

* The Sigyn is owned by the Swedish Nuclear fuel company, and was built in Le Havre, France in 1982. These pictures are shot while the Sigyn was laid up at the home port in Oskarshamn. *

Their homepage can be found here.

Click on the photos above for related pictures in each series.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has a good alternate explanation for the reduction in pirate attacks in “Somali Pirates: Decline? Not so fast . . .“

Also be sure to check out EagleSpeak‘s weekly series “Sunday Ship History: On Ice“

gCaptain has “Types Of Ships – A Master List Of Vessel Types” and “10 More Anti-Piracy Weapons For Use In Somalia“.

gCaptain also has an upgrade announcement with: “gCaptain’s NEW FORUM“. The forum can be found here.

OneFreeKorea has “Hostile Policy: N. Korea Threatens ‘Confrontration’ Along Sea Boundary“.

The North has a long history of using the NLL [Fred Note: Northern Limit Line defining the territory limits at sea between the two sides] as an easy, low-risk way to intimidate the South Koreans and the Americans. It provoked naval clashes there in 1999, 2002, and 2004.

The Monitor has “New ships are fine, need new attitude“.

Yahoo News has the other half of the story in “Yemen: Fisherman killed during pirate chase“.

SAN’A, Yemen – A Russian helicopter attack on Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden earlier this week killed a Yemeni fisherman and three others, security officials said Thursday.

The fishermen were in two boats nearby when the Russian helicopter fired on pirates in three speedboats trying to hijack a Dutch container ship on Tuesday, said two officials from Yemen’s Interior Ministry and coast guard.

A preliminary investigation showed the fishermen were hit by fire from the helicopter, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to news media.

Yahoo News also has “25 fishermen hurt in attacks off Sudan coast“. Is increased naval patrols in the Gulf of Aden pushing the pirates into the Red Sea? Or perhaps some Sudanese have taken up the sport seeing the success of the Somali pirates. Not for anything, but I wonder if there are also Yemeni pirates, using Somalia as a base of operations…

Freight Dawg has “Pirates: Here’s an idea- lets let them experience a live fire exercise.“.

US Naval Institute Blog has “Sonar and the Environment“. Be sure to follow the story into the comments.

I have been invited to be a guest blogger at the US Naval Institute Blog and have posted my first article last week: “Congress & Diversity at Federal Academies“.

Tampa Bay Online has “Who Are The Harbor Pilots Of Tampa Bay?” and includes a slideshow “Photo Gallery: A Day In The Life Of A Harbor Pilot“.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Hundreds Feared Dead After Ship Sinks“.

Hundreds of people are missing and feared dead after boats carrying about 400 African migrants capsized near Yemen on Saturday, the UN says. At least a dozen bodies have washed ashore in Yemen, said Laila Nassif, who heads the United Nations High Commission for Refugees office in the coastal city of Aden.

It is a big Gulf out there. Even with all the naval and commercial shipping activity, it can be that nobody was around when the accident happened.

Bills of lading has a great summary on cargoship cigarette facilitation payoffs:

I believe a progressive shipping company should actually promulgate among the whole fleet, the average number of Marlboros dispensed out in the ports worldwide. This would give the master of the ship arriving at a port for the first time, a pretty fair idea about what faces him when the gangway touches the Jetty. For example over the last couple of years, I have had experiences ranging from a couple of cartons in the US to a personal record of 58 Cartons in Ukraine. Of course that is exempting the revered continent of Africa, which is governed by a different set of economic laws of its own. The last time I was in Togo, the agent offered to sell back to me my own cartons of Marlboros for 10 USD so that I could again give it back to him, a second time. The economics for this are a bit tedious and disinterested parties might want to skip the next paragraph.

To this day I remember the Suez Canal pilot who has handed Salem cigarettes. He was not only pissed off that he didn’t get Marlboros, but he just would not believe that they were American cigarettes. I have never in my life seen anything like arriving at the Suez Canal. Even the pilot boat was demanding that cigarettes be tossed down to them. The pilot kept it at dead slow as we were assaulted with about 15 Government officials taking the Captain and Second Mate’s attention. The Chief Mate was overseeing the lifting of the required lineboats. The Third Mate manned the gangway, ensuring that it was kept raised as various boats came by demanding that it be lowered to permit the boarding of various merchants/persons of opportunity. This after one of the lineboat crewmen rushed forward to the gangway and started lowering it to let on his buddies on once his lineboat was brought aboard!

MarineBuzz has “Weekend View: Somali Pirate Attack Summary Map for 2008 by UNOSAT” and “10 Ways to Stop Marine Debris“.

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Lloyd’s List has “Russian vessel loses cargo in storms off UK“. It is a timber of cargo. The ship is the SINEGORSK.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has Indian Shippers calling for market protection as they lose their financial advantage in “Cuts both ways“.

BBC News has “Thais hold more migrants amid row“.

The commander of the military units responsible for dealing with asylum-seekers has denied the accusations.

However, testimony from exhausted and dehydrated survivors who have reached the Andaman Islands or Indonesia’s Aceh province over the past week describes brutal treatment at the hands of the Thai security forces.

They say they were detained on an offshore island, then pushed onto boats without engines, and with their hands tied. They say many of the asylum-seekers died trying to swim back to land.

Privately, some Thai military and police sources have admitted to the BBC that this has been happening – they say the escalating numbers of Rohingyas reaching Thailand from Burma or Bangladesh are seen as a security risk, because of fears they may include Islamic militants.

The reason they disable their engines, they say, is to prevent them trying to come back to Thailand.

Of course by disabling their engines, they can’t go back to anywhere. Interesting that migrants get treated worse than pirates. This doesn’t say much good about the Thai Navy either. Then again, this is a good incentive for everyone to give them lots of seaway.

IceNews has “Danish navy stuck with Somali pirates“.

The Danish naval ship, HMS Absalon, is facing an unusual dilemma with the five Somali pirates it pulled out of the Gulf of Aden on 2 January. The pirates’ ship was reportedly sunk by the very cargo vessel they were trying to attack when an emergency flare landed on the pirates’ boat and sank it.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “Alert received from a user of technology: “It was nice while it lasted.”” as the Coast Guard blocks Twitter. Or possibly not according to one of the comments.

Kennebec Captain has “New Merchant Mariner Document Considered“.

HAWSEPIPER is working on his courses to be able to sit for his third mate’s exam in “fruition“.

The Merchant Marine Express has “Lesson in Nautical Terms“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has another example of an enclose space entry gone bad in “The Case Of The Rose Assassin“. Always be careful. Mistakes happen but those that happen at sea kill, often quickly.

Euobserver has “EU pledges navy patrols to prevent Gaza smuggling“.

CargoLaw has ““The Taking of M/T Biscaglia”” noting:

It has already been debated at length on the Internet, but we think these unarmed guys are heroes who acted with prudence — doing the best they could with what very little they were given to work with by Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions . But our major emotion now is prayer for the crew of M/T Biscaglia and their safe return.

intheboatshed.net has instructions and photos: “Making a moustache fender using manila“.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has “Tugboat Etiquette for the New Hire“.

It’s a regular occurrence, we take the novices aboard and get them oriented. We show them the pointy end (the bow), the port side rail, the starboard side rail, and then the not so pointy end (the fantail) all the while extolling the virtues of remaining within those boundaries, no swimming without authorization if you please. We teach them the basic chores and how we want them done, and then try to imbue them with our knowledge and experience so that they too will eventually be equipped to think and act as a full share member of the team. We are keenly aware that until they’ve got some time under their belts we’ll need to coddle, cajole, and harangue some of these hopefuls in order to keep them from killing themselves or anyone else on our watch. The entire crew is involved.

Lots of good stuff in his post, for all new hires, even those not going to work on a tug. And if you are sending someone to a tug to work, do them a favor and print this out for them.

Information Dissemination has “Navy Buys Three Maritime Positioning Ships“.

Swanage Railway Company (UK) has “RAILWAY FUNERAL VAN THAT CARRIED WINSTON CHURCHILL TO HIS FINAL RESTING PLACE IN 1965 RETURNS FROM THE U.S.A.- 24th September 2007“.

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Robin Storm – In Search of Severe Weather has “Boaters say proposals cast them adrift“.

Proposed changes to the Nanaimo Port Authority’s moorage policy could force some liveaboards to weigh anchor and leave home port in their wake.

The proposed changes include a 14-day anchoring restriction within a 30-day period, a six-month extended stay permit, and requirements for holding tanks and logs for sewage discharge, as well as insurance.

Well, they regulated all the fun out of shipping, small boaters are next! (Politicians still are avoiding assigning any responsibility to automobile drivers because this is the only time we acknowledge that ‘accidents happen’…) I just wonder which kind of accidents collectively cause the most damage?

The Maritime Executive has “State Level Politics: A Dangerous Precedent is Set – Boston Pilots rate bill killed again by a single Senator’s objections; marine safety in the Bay State now at the mercy of – and being compromised by – the commonwealth’s legislators.“

Another reason that the pilots cannot move a simple rate increase through the legislature hinges on a (failed) effort to push military veterans – regardless of their qualifications – to the head of the line when it comes to selecting new pilot candidates. The effort, wrapped in red, white and blue, still smells like rotting fish and, if passed, would significantly dumb down the curriculum for Bay State pilots at a time when national standards and oversight are being ramped up in a big way. Without a doubt, the failure of the veteran’s preference initiative and the push for unregulated docking master certification will continue to impact marine legislation in the Bay State as long as the state legislature has any control over local pilot issues.

Sounds like they are legislating the next COSCO BUSAN type incident. This also shows a complete lack of understanding and lack of respect for the merchant marine as a profession.

BitterEnd has video: “The Tale of the Redneck Houseboat” which includes an ‘indoor outhouse’!

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Marooned on the Carteret Islands“.

CNN has reported that the Carteret islanders will be the first island community in the world to undergo an organized relocation, in response to their island sinking.

Taipei Times has “Descendants of victims mark ‘Taiping’ tragedy“.

With bowed heads and teary eyes, descendants of the victims in the Taiping steamer shipwreck 60 years ago appealed to the government yesterday to pay more respect to the incident by designating a national holiday to commemorate the tragedy.

More than 1,000 people, including the father of forensic scientist Henry Lee (李昌鈺), died when the vessel — with a capacity of only 580 passengers — sunk off the coast of Shanghai, China, after colliding with a small cargo ship on a dark night in 1949. Only 36 people were rescued and the bodies of the victims were never found.

The journey was part of the massive wave of Chinese emigration to Taiwan after it became clear the Chinese Communist Party was winning the civil war against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Youngest Solo Round The World Ever! has… Stupidity.

Does the name Jesse Martin ring a bell…… if not which planet were you on in 1999 when Jesse was welcomed home from his history making voyage by a crowd of over 25ooo! My dream and ambition is to break Jesse’s record and in technical terms become the youngest person to sail solo, nonstop and unassisted around the world!

Solo around the world sailings are dangerous and put seafarers who may need to rescue you at risk. Plus they are in violation of Rule 5 – Lookout. She’s 15. In addition to her blog, she has a website here. (Found via Stranded on the Largest Island)

Freaque Waves covers an amazing man overboard story with a happy ending in “Freaque wave stories“.

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “Generals in ‘scrap Trident’ call“.

The UK’s nuclear deterrent should be scrapped, according to a group of retired senior military officers.

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KING5.com has the story and video report “Woman fuming when cargo ship blocks water view” as the Matson containership KAUAI is layed-up right in the port.

The Journal of Commerce has “Maersk sees ’11 recovery, won’t acquire rivals“.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished has “Aussie Sub CO In Deep Kimchi“. Bubblehead also asks if anyone is a member of the “going down” club. I thought it was tough trying to talk woman into coming back to check out my cargoship. I bet it would be much easier if I was part of a sub crew, just expected it to be much harder to get access….

Sea * Fever notes how container rates have gone from one extreme to another in the space of a year in “Free Shipping Containers!“

Lighthouse News has the story and photos: “Lighthouse Washed Out To Sea“. It was the Alfred Pier Light at the end of the harbor at Port St. Mary, Isle of Man.

Christiaan Conover has “Hatteras, Here We Come!“. Interesting that you can track the ship’s journey’s with SPOT:

Hellenic Shipping News has “Buying Vessels During Crisis“.

M2M Management is pushing ahead with plans for a new investment fund which could muster firepower of $1bn to spend on bulk carriers being sold at distressed prices.

ABC News (Australia) has “Indonesia refuse repairs for Japanese whaling ship“. The ship in question is the Japanese whaling vessel YUSHIN MARU 2.

International Herald Tribune has “Anti-whaling ship docks in Australia to refuel“. The ship docked in Tasmania.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “2006 US Commercial Fishing Operations Valued at $9.1 billion“. According to the post, fishing also generated 2 million jobs in the US.

BarentsObserver has “Plans for new European Research Icebreaker“.

«Aurora Borealis» will be a unique vessel – a combination of a heavy icebreaker, a scientific drilling ship, and a multi-purpose research platform that can operate year-round in all polar waters. When completed, she will be the world’s most sophisticated research vessel.

BreakBulk Industry News has “Crowley barge carrying three cranes to Guam“.

Tugster has photos: “Weeks and Flight 1549 Re-Emerges“

Shipping Times has “Launch of car carrier at Japanese shipyard – SILVERSTONE EXPRESS first of a series of four…“

Kings Point Waterfront has “What do we name our new boat?” The current name is MONEYPENNY and the boat’s donor it keeping the name.

The Chum Slick has “Remember: Surf Leashes Make Sweet Tourniquets” and includes a graphic shark attack photo. A full recovery is expected.

You have only 33 days left to apply for The Best Job In The World. (Found via Mr. Boat Blog)

The Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef is a newly created position. There are a few minor tasks that need to be taken care of, but the most important duty is to report back to Tourism Queensland (and the world) and let us know what’s taking place on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.

Never Sea Land is preparing to race his sailboat in “My first PHRF cert” where he receives his sailboat’s handicap. Just because you are the first across the finish line does not mean that you’ve won the race.

Steeljaw Scribe has “Fixing the Nautical Pax Americana“.

Like knot tying? Knot Heads World Wide is a knot tier’s forum. (Found via Never Sea Land)

The Horse’s Mouth has parking lot activity with “Windsurfing Photo Of The Day.” Notice how the rig uses an upside-down board.

Mr. Boat Blog has the cool story and photo “Walker discovers 10ft-wide, spinning frozen arctic circle in British waters for the first time.“

YouTube poster ragged0claws has collision video: “Ship vs. Glacier“.

MV Fram loses power and collides with glacier front at Brown Bluff in Antarctic Sound, Antarctica – 28-Dec-07

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

MARAD – maritime policy in meeting US commercial and security needs – The Maritime Administration (MARAD) issued a news item stating that it is releasing a study titled “An Evaluation of Maritime Policy in Meeting the Commercial and Security Needs of the United States”. The 72-page document examines the ability of the maritime transportation system to cope with increasing trade volumes through the year 2038. The report finds that current policy is not supportive of US participation in international trade. (1/12/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Bill introduced to establish Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund – Representative Filner (D-CA) introduced the Belated Thank You to the Merchant Mariners of World War II Act of 2009 (H.R. 23) to amend title 38, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish the Merchant Mariner Equity Compensation Fund to provide benefits to certain individuals who served in the United States merchant marine (including the Army Transport Service and the Naval Transport Service) during World War II. (1/6/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Lawsuits deluge NY court – THE SOUTHERN District Court of New York continues to be flooded by an unprecedented volume of shipping lawsuits.

According to a Fairplay review of court filings, there were 50 new marine contract claims filed in just five days, on 5-9 January, in the SDNY. One-tenth of them targeted a single defendant: Korea Line.

As counterparty relationships deteriorate, shipping claimants are seeking garnishment of electronic fund transfers at Manhattan financial institutions, to be used as security for London arbitration.

Rule B of US admiralty law allows such garnishments, whether or not the claimant is US-based. The Rule B explosion became apparent in 2H08 as markets plummeted. The surging case load is now straining the entire SDNY judicial system.

Among the cases filed so far in 2009, Korea Line has been the most popular target. Last week alone, Korea Line was sued by Vergina Shipping ($895,000), Top Smart Shipping ($1.7M), Worldlink Shipping ($10M), Worldlink Energy ($2.2M) and Scranton ($2.2M).

Other cases filed last week: Oldendorff Carriers is suing JSW Steel for $6.4M; Sansun is seeking $2M from China Shipping; and Quingdao Ocean Shipping is suing Louis Dreyfus Commodities for $3M. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Ghost ship has nine lives – A US GHOST ship has escaped the scrapyard and will become a Greek museum.

The Liberty Ship Arthur M Huddell will find a new life as a maritime museum in Greece. The Second World War veteran, renamed Hellas Liberty, arrived in Piraeus on Sunday and will be permanently moored in Faliron Harbour.

Transfer of the ship from the US Maririme Administration’s Reserve Fleet to the Greek government involved politicians, shipowners and maritime interests from the US and Greece.

Its new role marks the donation of hundreds of Liberty Ships to Greece after the war, when its maritime industry was in shambles.

Seacrest Shipping owner Spyros Polemis is said to have played the most vital role in the project. Most of MarAd’s ghosts have gone to scrapyards, while a few have become artificial reefs.

US maritime administrator Sean Connaughton said, “Once refurbished and opened to the public, the vessel will be a reminder to future generations of the close relationship between Greece and the United States.” – 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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