Maritime Monday 149

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 149th edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 99 here. (Published 25 February 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 the Port of Akureyri, located on Iceland’s North Shore:

The town of Akureyri, with its population of approximately 16,000 Inhabitants, is the administrative, transportation and commercial center of North Iceland. The mountains surrounding the fjord, which Akureyri is in the bottom of, is called Eyjafjordur. It is the longest fjord in Iceland, or 60 km, the fjord that all ships have to go through, on the way to Akureyri. Akureyri has provided rural communities in these high latitudes with sundry services as well as educational and industrial facilities. Akureyri has its own theater, symphony orchestra, University and one of the biggest hospitals in the country that serves as well East part of Greenland.

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Their homepage can be found here.

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This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “Somali Pirates: Captured Pirates and Lawfare“. This is what happens when you try to fight a war as a police action. The US tried this before. Might be that we still don’t know how to do it.

gCaptain has “How It’s Built – Cruise Ship Cabins” and “This Is Only A Test – Freefall Lifeboat Design and Testing“.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has “The Final “Radar Endorsement” Rule, not so Final“. So, you still want RADAR OBSERVER stated on your license?

CargoLaw has the tanker incident: “Collision At Dubai – M/T Kashmir – Feb. 2009“.

The Merchant Marine Express heads back to sea in “A new journey begins.“

Kennebec Captain is also back at sea and posts a video story on ships laid up (parked) in the UK in “Economic Barometer“.

T.S. HAMBURG / MAXIM GORKIY of 1969 has photos and documents of the ship. Sailor Girl has an update on the ship from the 9th noting:

Alex Naughton reports: “I have just been informed by a reliable source that the Maxim Gorky has passed through the Suez Canal and now is currently stationary in the Red Sea near Southern Egypt awaiting further instructions on her next moves. So yes, to clarify, the Maxim Gorky is not moving and is stationary at this time and is not making any further progress towards India at the moment.

This sounds like a replay of the FINNJET saga. It didn’t turn out too well for that ship in the end.

whyy.org has interesting news “Philly’s “S.S. United States” Ocean Liner May End Up as Scrap Metal“. The ship is currently owned by Norwegian Cruise Line.

The SS United States docked in Philadelphia has been put up for sale. A preservation group for the mothballed ocean liner fears a buyer could end up using it as scrap metal.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has another accident lesson to be learned in “The Case of The Master’s Touch“.

The Economist has “Waiting for another Titanic – The risks of a holiday with icebergs“. (Found via Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook)

AFP has “Cyprus confiscates arms from suspect ship“.

iCommandant – Web Journal of Admiral Thad Allen has “Coast Guard Working to Clear Mariner Backlog“.

The Old Salt Blog has “Oops – WWI returns to New Jersey Beaches“.

Shipgaz has “Nordic Tankers reports Steen Bryde to the police“. He was their CEO and chairman of the board.

JoC Magazine has “Long way around – Trying to reduce costs, container lines are seeking a way around tolls assessed by the Panama and Suez canals.“

A fully laden Panamax ship, the largest that can fit through the canal’s 110-foot-wide locks, typically pays a toll of about $250,000 for a transit with 2,000 FEUs. Some carriers can pass the tolls along to customers through surcharges. Others charge an all-in rate that includes the tolls. These carriers are looking for alternatives.

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The Jawa Report has “Ontario Recycling Program Has Huge Carbon Footprint“.

Most residents recycle with the belief they are helping the environment and are unaware that their municipalities are shipping materials to China and South Korea, creating a huge new carbon footprint.

pressofAtlanticCity.com has more on the problem with “Economic slump trashes recycling“.

Blown Mortgage has news of shortages in the supply chain in ““It” is Happening Already“. (Found via Lou Minatti)

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Ugly Ships: Min Duo“.

Lloyd’s List has “European yards face collapse in credit crisis“.

EUROPE’S yards and marine equipment industries face being wiped out if credit markets do not ease “soon,” the European Commission has warned.

The large capital requirements of the shipbuilding industry and the lack of affordable finance have combined to “jeopardise the economic survival” of the European Union industry, said Brussels Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen.

Tims Times has “Seeming to be” noting that how many times your ship might call a port, they keep asking the same questions like it is the first time you have ever called there…

Cruise Bruise has “Bar Harbor Maine Plans Major Traffic Disruption Procedures“. Seems that the town’s resident’s don’t appreciate their local Government’s turning the town upside down to facilitate cruise ship calls.

Russia Today News has “Information leak allowed Faina seizure“. This makes sense just like it is always the high-value containers that disappear from lots.

KyivPost has some ‘hope and change’ with “Yushchenko thanks U.S. for help in freeing Faina“.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama thanking him for his country’s active participation in the operations to release the Ukrainian cargo ship Faina and its crew from pirate captivity.

Doug Ross @ Journal has “Photo: sea levels actually lower than 1841!“.

Puget Sound Maritime has “State government may regulate ship pilots’ annual $400,000 pay“. Funny, no calls to limit the pilot’s liability in case they screw up.

Puget Sound Maritime also has “Oil Spill Advisory Council Preparedness Study“.

Professional Mariner has “Price tag for Cosco Busan disaster: more than $72 million“.

Hellenic Shipping News has “China: Grads turn to sea for careers“.

Freaque Waves asks “Do we know how freaque waves work?“.

BarentsExplorer has “EU demands traceable fish“.

The European Union demands that from the start of 2010, all fish sold on the EU market must have a certificate which can trace it back to where it was caught.

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Lighthouse News has “ATON Rescue Mission in the Middle East“.

The Persian Gulf is home to hundreds of lighthouses, most of which have been modernized. But what happened to those classic lenses and other Aids to Navigation (ATON)? Were they dumped over the side of the lighthouses, like so many US Fresnel lenses were tossed when the US Coast Guard took over?

MarineBuzz has “Collision Causes Fire in Oil Tanker Kashmir Off Jabel Ali Coast” and “India Conducts Amphibious Exercise Tropex-09 at Madhavpur Beach“.

US Naval Institute Blog has “Senator Webb On The Navy“.

Springbored’s Springboard has US Navy ship development in “Mobile Landing Platform Moves Ahead:“

Maritime Executive has “Retail Container Traffic to Fall 11.8 Percent in First Half of 2009“.

Yahoo News has “Survey shows polar seas are no biological desert“.

English Russia has a series of photos of a sinking fishing boat in “Drowning Ship in Estonia“. It is from 2006, but it is new to me and it is a great series of photos showing the death of a vessel.

Sail World has “Wreck of the Pretty Jane found on beach” in Australia.

A shipwreck missing off Victoria’s Ninety Mile Beach for 127 years has re-appeared at Loch Sport, with remnants of its frames and boiler now visible to beachgoers.

Heritage Victoria archaeologists believe the wreck is the Scottish-built, iron steamer Pretty Jane, which sunk in 1882 following a collision with the Magnolia.

The Islomaniac has “Private Island Camping“.

Not far from New York City, Lake George offers dozens of private islands you can camp on, and have all to yourself for just a few bucks a day. There are 170 islands on Lake George, and you can camp on 44 of them!

Maritime Information Centre has “Philippines becomes popular destination to lay up ships“.

The two bays in Davao can accommodate as many as 100 ships for a daily rate of $90 to $120 per vessel.

Philippine Ports Authority general manager Oscar Sevilla said one company was discussing its plan to lay up 10 vessels at the South Harbor in Manila Bay. Sevilla said Cebu was already full of parked vessels.

Christiaan Conover has a training cruise update in “Underway for St. Thomas; Re-Cap of the Past Week“.

The Pilot Boat has photos “Again, the stormy weather“.

BitterEnd has “Google Maps – Nautical Chart Mash Up“.

Sea * Fever has video “Every college student in America could benefit from this experience…“

Naval Open Source INTelligence has “First indigenous aircraft carrier to be built soon“. Will India’s own aircraft carrier make it to service before the one they bought from Russia?

Neptunus Lex has a protest against the use of Navy dolphins to protect against an attack on submarines stationed in Portland, Oregon in “Deeply Stupid“.

JammieWearingFool has “AP Duped By Atlantic Swimmer Hoax“.

YouTube has video of a triple container lift. Doesn’t look very safe, does it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLQkoXmgfYY

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Haight’s Maritime Items has:

USCG – 99% of towing vessel operators are properly licensed – The US Coast Guard issued a press release stating that its detailed examination of towing vessels in the Eighth Coast Guard District revealed that approximately 99% of the operators were properly licensed. More than 3,400 licenses were reviewed and only 43 were found to have issues. (2/9/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

ILO – Panama ratifies Maritime Labor Convention –

The International Labor Organization (ILO) issued a press release stating that Panama deposited its instrument of ratification of the Maritime Labor Convention 2006. Panama is the largest flag state, with nearly 25% of the ocean-going fleet. Other major shipping countries that have ratified the Convention include Liberia, the Marshall Islands, and the Bahamas. The Convention has now been ratified by four nations representing more than 40% of the world’s fleet. The Convention will come into force when ratified by at least 26 more nations. (2/6/09). – Dennis Bryant Holland & Knight homepage (Used with Permission)

Fairplay Daily News has:

Odessa stink ship ‘could explode’ – OFFICIALS in the Ukrainian port of Odessa have held urgent talks to end the pollution threat posed by a ship carrying 3,000 tonnes of rotting bananas, which some say could explode.

Deputy city council leader Vyacheslav Kruk told his fellow representatives: “The ecological commission has received a letter from the port authority warning that if the methane concentration goes anywhere between 5-15% there could be an explosion.”

The cargo ship Amfitrite I’s cargo of rotting bananas has gradually been polluting the atmosphere in the city for five months.

Amfitrite I arrived in Odessa on 14 September and was impounded when customs officers found 11kg of cocaine worth more than $1M in the engine room.

The local council met yesterday to debate how the consignment of long-decaying bananas can be prevented from polluting Odessa or causing even more damage, due to the methane it is emitting with increasing intensity.

But Igor Derboglav, the council’s head for ecological safety, said that monitoring by his officials had found that the build up of the gas does not yet exceed the maximum possible amount.

There are 20 crew on board Amfitrite I, including Filipino, Ukrainian and Indian nationals. The shipowner has had to provide them with respirators and special clothing to try and protect them from the toxic air they are surrounded by.

The only respite they have, according to local reports, is when the wind blows toward the sea. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Russians stranded in Liverpool – THE 14-STRONG crew of the Russian cargo vessel Stalingrad, which is berthed in Liverpool, have been stranded on their ship since 19 December over a $150,000 fuel bill.

The vessel has been impounded by the UK Admiralty Court while talks continue involving the owner, SakhalinMor Trans CC and Dan Bunkering.

The crew’s situation has become desperate because they have not be paid and for some time no food has been provided by the owners.

The Admiralty Court is providing food, water and fuel for the crew. The ITF and UK maritime union Nautilus are trying to help the crew but no immediate resolution of the dispute is expected.

The Court can sell the ship and use the money to repatriate the crew as well meet their wage bill of an estimated €85,000 ($110,000). – 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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