Maritime Monday 151

The following is posted by Fred Fry:

Welcome to this 151st edition of Maritime Monday.

You can find Maritime Monday 101 here. (Published 10 March 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].

—————————————-

This Week’s Photos:

This week’s photos come from the website of Florida’s Port Canaveral:

Port Canaveral has an illustrious past…as an historic participant in the space program, a strategic base for our military, a rising cargo and cruise port and home to many businesses.

The Navy first asked Congress to approve construction of a deepwater port at Canaveral in 1878. However, it took half a century until approval was granted in 1929, and another two decades before the port’s potential economic value was recognized fully. Port Canaveral, the major deepwater point of entry for Central Florida, ultimately was constructed for military and commercial purposes. It was dedicated on November 4, 1953.

The first industry here was commercial fishing. Cargo vessels started arriving within a few years, laden with oil and newsprint, and tanker vessels began carrying central Florida’s orange juice from here to New York in 1958. By 1966, the cargo tonnage moving through the Port had reached one million tons per year.

* Newsprint *

* Space Shuttle Booster *

* Cargo Operations *

* Lumberships *

Their homepage can be found here.

—————————————-

This Week’s Items:

EagleSpeak has “BBC Reporter Finds Piracy Patrol Frustrating and Boring“. My first thought matches one of the commenters there that maybe the reporter should be on a merchant ship risking attack.

gCaptain has “Four Super Post-Panamax Cranes Arrive in Savannah, Georgia – Photos and Video” and “Best Maritime Blogs of 2009 That You (Maybe) Aren’t Reading“.

Lloyd’s List Newsroom Blog has “Blue-sky thinking“.

But can these ships be used for anything else? Transporting cattle has not proved a success, as the animals need a huge amount of fresh water. And it does not take much imagination to guess the other drawbacks. One line is considering converting vessels into student accommodation .

But with their massive car decks, can these great caverns by put to other uses? A theme park, maybe, or venue for rock concerts?

Information Dissemination has “Darkness Falls on Fleet Condition Information“. This will only increase speculation.

Springbored’s Springboard has a huge problem for Navy shipbuilding and Government employment in general with “How Not To Do Procurement Lessons Learned:“. Hey, it is the age of the internet. Somebody, give us names and examples.

SAILORS, MARINERS & WARRIORS LEAGUE has “Thick Ice Likely To Delay Mississippi River Shipping Season Again“.

The Merchant Marine Express has “Navigation Time!“

Professional Mariner has “Alaska communities try to cope with toxic derelict ships“.

Shipgaz has “Bourbon needs thousand of seafarers“. Yes, growth despite the global slowdown.

Danger Room has “Iraq Withdrawal, Logistical Nightmare?“

Bryant’s Maritime Blog has “CBP – ship absconder apprehended“. There are millions of illegal aliens in the US but this one is treated differently because he arrived by ship. I know the location of a ship absconder. She has since taken the State of Maryland for free doctor and hospital expenses by having her kid here, free of charge, right up to stealing the hospital blankets. And her husband is currently awaiting trial in Maryland for drunk-driving-related charges. (But not actually drunk driving itself. He is also an ex-mariner, and illegal alien.)

Record checks performed by CBP revealed that Fernando last entered the United States at the Tampa Bay Seaport in 2002 as a crewman aboard the Greek flagged cargo ship M.V. Konstantinos. Fernando was given a landing pass to leave the ship, however failed to report for duty and the vessel departed without him. Fernando claims that he illegally remained in the United States living in the New York City area, where he supported himself by working construction and building maintenance until his departure to Canada in 2005.

Breakbulk Industry News has “Jacksonville unloads heavy-lift from Asia“.

intheboatshed.net has “YouTube clips of ice yachting in Holland“.

—————————————-

Cape Cod Times has “The Islander fetches $23,600 on Ebay“.

The former Martha’s Vineyard ferry The Islander sold on eBay Monday for $23,600.

The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation of New York put the vessel on eBay after an extensive marine survey found it needed at least $6 million in repair work. They originally purchased the ferry from the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority 18 months ago for $500,000. It was intended to handle an eight-minute run between Manhattan and Governors Island, which has been turned into a public venue for recreation and other civic purposes.

MarineLog has “Todd gets icebreaker refit contract“. That would be Todd Shipyard and the vessel is the USCGC POLAR STAR.

NY TUGMASTER’S WEBLOG has “TWIC Update, Last word?” Sounds like a major screw-up to me. Pin numbers? What happened to using biometric identifiers. More details on the source of the problem (how they lost the pin numbers) found at Master of Towing Vessels Association Forum with “Trouble in TWIC-Land: This is important for all mariners!“

Freaque Waves has “A freaque wave from the Bearing Sea” and includes evidence that the wave was recorded by a monitoring buoy.

Hellenic Shipping News has “Poverty, Hypocrisy and Armada are not the Lyses for the Piracy Drama“.

So the therapy is simple. Instead of spending a lot of money to keep their war ships down there for patrolling purposes, the super powers should dispose these money as assistance for the economic development of the said state.

If the Somalis have jobs and a real state, they would not harm themselves by engaging

in hijacks in the open seas. If a Somali navy existed, it would stop the pirates there and the world armada wouldn’t be needed.

The Stupid Shall Be Punished is recovering from cancer surgery.

THE ISLOMANIAC has “Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi“.

IMC Brokers has video “Littoral Combat Ship Robot Capability“.

CNN has “Undersea bombs threaten marine life“.

An Unofficial Coast Guard Blog has “We Need More Icebreakers!“

ivirtua Community has the story behind the video last week of lost cargo in “Mystery container on UK beach turns out to be Beer Container“.

The Yankee Sailor has “China’s navy goes global to protect its import sea lanes“.

The Maritime Executive has “Cold, Hard Facts: New Arctic Policy is a Paper Polar Bear“.

Marine Log has posted their February Edition online.

—————————————-

Lloyd’s List has “Container trades collapse ‘veering out of control’“.

The Journal of Commerce has “Scan-all unlikely by 2012“.

“My initial view is that the 2012 deadline is not going to work. We’re going to have to work on what we do beyond that,” Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee. “To do 100 percent scanning requires agreements with many countries. There are lots of issues with that. There is a difference between screening and scanning in the lexicon of the cargo world, and I believe we are close to 100-percent screening now.”

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., raised the question. Democrats voted the 100-percent scanning requirement into law in 2007. Since then, DHS and Customs officials have maintained that the deadline is not feasible, and that a risk-based approach to cargo security is a better approach.

BarentsObserver has “The Norwegian Polar Institute wants cruise-vessels to stay away from the untouched areas in the North-East Svalbard and South-East Svalbard nature reserves.“

Mr. Boat Blog has “British couple rescued after 40 days adrift at sea.“

AMVER Blog has more on one aspect of the rescue story with “Too Far Out To Be Rescued?“

Molten Eagle has “Russian admirals suspected of weapons smuggling.“

The Old Salt Blog has sea songs with “The Bonnie Ship the Diamond“.

Casco Bay Boaters Blog has “Cape Cod Times: Claims Seals Deplete Fish Stocks is Disputed“.

Sea * Fever has “FotoFriday: New Bedford Whaling Museum“.

Whaling Museum blog – Digital Museum @ New Bedford Whaling Museum has “Hoisting Right Whale Skeletons“. (Found via Sea * Fever)

Tugster has coverage of a meet-up of NY Harbor area “Waterbloggers“.

BitterEnd has “Mule Skinners need TWIC“.

Arctic Focus has “Arctic lakes and methane“.

Arctic lakes producing methane could have been responsible for 87 percent of the methane spike in the last ice age, said UAF researcher Katey Walter, lead author of a report printed in the October 26th issue of Science.

MarineBuzz has “Coastal Security: America’s Waterway Watch is Applicable to India Also” and “Keel Laid for India’s First Indigenous Aircraft Carrier“.

US Naval Institute Blog has “March 2009 Issue of Proceedings Now On-Line“.

59° 56′ N has “Why the Merchant of Venice did not follow rules“.

That, if you ask me, is more worrisome. That a welder at a shipyard either misreads, or doesn’t read, a plan and his supervisor misses it, or simply oversees it, is one thing. That a professional inspector trained to look for faults misses it, that is something else entirely. That three inspectors miss it, that begins to look criminal.

Sailor Girl has good news as an old ship is saved in “The NEW quest of the Schooner «ARGUS»!!!“.

Bob Couttie’s Maritime Accident Casebook has “The Case of the Tablets of Love“.

We’ll call him Danek, not his real name but he was a real person, a Polish able seaman and one of nine crew aboard the 30 years old 81 metre general cargo ship Monika, flagged in Antigua Barbuda. Danek’s cabin is in the forward part of the accommodation which overhangs the aft bulkhead of one of Monika’s two holds by about half a metre. Next to his cabin is the ship’s hospital.

Puget Sound Maritime has “Martinac launches Seaspan Resolution“.

Puget Sound Maritime also has the “Last voyage for lumber schooner Wawona” and “Wawona photo gallery“.

The Monitor has an update on Sea Shepherd’s FARLEY MOWAT which was seized by Canada in “Ship For Sale“.

Maritime Information Centre has “Plans for new bunker terminal inside Arctic Circle“. It will be built in the Port of Murmansk.

Inside GNSS has “FY 2010 Budget Outline Proposes to End Loran“.

President Obama appears to have weighed in on the long-running Loran/eLoran — on the side of terminating the terrestrial radionavigation system and, apparently, its enhanced version that had been proposed as a backup to GPS.

In a February 26 message to U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) members, Vice-Admiral V. S. Crea, USCG Vice Commandant and Chief Operating Officer, said the Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10) budget outlined in a document sent to Congress calls for termination of Loran-C in the coming year.

YouTube has “Shipbreakers in Gadani beach, Pakistan“.

This is amazing, everybody knows the shipbreaking yard in Alang, India but there is also one in Gaddani or Gadani beach in Pakistan. The Gadani ship-breaking yard is a centre for the breaking up of derelict ocean-going vessels for scrap. The yard is located in Gadani, Pakistan, about 50 kilometres northwest of Karachi.

In the 1980s,the Gadani yard was described as the largest ship-breaking yard in the world, with more than 30,000 direct employees. However, competition from newer facilities in India and Bangladesh resulted in a significant reduction in output, with the Gadani yard producing less than one fifth of the scrap it produced twenty years ago. A reduction in taxes on scrap metal led to a modest resurgence at the Yard, which now employs around 6,000 workers.

In this clip we see in about 7 minutes how a ship is placed on the beach and breaking apart.

—————————————-

Fairplay Daily News has:

Trade credit crunch eases – THE ISSUE of trade credit is being worked out, even though bank funding for shipping remains tight, according to Seaspan’s CEO Gerry Wang.

Wang explained at the Reuters Manufacturing Summit that the ‘letter of credit’ shortfall that stymied trade flow last fall has alleviated.

“Some normalisation of credit in international trade has come into play,” he told Reuters. “I think that situation is under control now.”

But hurdles remain high for shipping company bank funding. “Two weeks ago I went to meet all the ship finance banks to find out what their positions would be,” explained Wang.

He came out of these meetings with the perception that “we would have considerably less credit available than last year”.

According to Reuters, Wang believes that ship financing availability will be harmed by bank nationalisations.

Asked about potential acquisitions, Wang reportedly said Seaspan remains “very cautious”. He does not believe asset values had bottomed yet, Wang told Reuters, adding: “Capital is very precious today, so it’s much better to hunker down and stay healthy.” – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

AND:

Recession dims Philly prospects – US BUILDER Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has suffered currency-induced losses and could face challenges securing new orders after the completion of the OSG product tanker series.

Today, the yard posted $600,000 in losses for 4Q08, versus net income of $5.5M in 4Q07. The result was primarily attributed to the strengthening US dollar, which had an impact on NOK cash deposits and currency contracts.

Aker Philadelphia lost $1.8M in full-year 2008, versus net income of $3.9M in 2007.

The builder has just delivered its sixth product tanker in the 12-ship series chartered by OSG, with the final tanker due for delivery in 1Q11.

“A key focus for 2009 is securing new orders to expand the backlog,” the yard said in a statement, affirming that “shuttle tankers and containerships remain important prospects”.

But Aker Philly conceded that the outlook had worsened. “The current global economic crisis has created uncertainties which may delay the decision-making process for newbuilds and has created difficulties regarding financing of newbuild projects,” the builder warned.

The yard added that it “continues to monitor and assess its vendors, financing and partners closely”. – Fairplay Homepage (Used with Permission)

—————————————-

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.

—————————————-

Previous Editions: As linked below or click on the tag ‘Maritime Monday’ for all gCaptain editions.

1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 – 18 – 19 – 20 – 21 – 22 – 23 – 24 – 25 – 26 – 27 – 28 – 29 – 30 – 31 – 32 – 33 – 34 – 35 – 36 – 37 – 38 – 39 – 40 – 41 – 42 – 43 – 44 – 45 – 46 – 47 – 48 – 49 – 50 – 51 – 52 – 53 – 54 – 55 – 56 – 57 – 58 – 59 – 60 – 61 – 62 – 63 – 64 – 65 – 66 – 67 – 68 – 69 – 70 – 71 – 72 – 73 – 74 – 75 – 76 – 77 – 78 – 79 – 80 – 81 – 82 – 83 – 84 – 85 – 86 – 87 – 88 – 89 – 90 – 91 – 92 – 93 – 94 – 95 – 96 – 97 – 98 – gCaptain Editions: 99 – 100 – 101 – 102 – 103 – 104 – 105 – 106 – 107 – 108 – 109 – 110 – 111 – 112 – 113 – 114 – 115 – 116 – 117 – 118 – 119 – 120 – 121 – 122 – 123 – 123a – 124 – 125 – 126 –127 – 128 – 129 – 130 – 131 – 132 – 133 – 134 – 135 – 136 – 137 – 138 – 139 – 140 – 141 – 142 – 143 – 144 – 145 –146 – 147 – 148 – 149 – 150 – 151

—————————————-