Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 20/07/2016
1. New MLC Port State Campaign
The concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) for 2016 in the Paris MoU will focus on the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC), 2006. The CIC is scheduled to take place from September to November this year. Do you comply with all MLC requirements? The CIC focuses on specific areas to verify compliance with international regulations â either where high levels of deficiencies have been encountered by Port State Control Offers or where new convention requirements have recently entered into force. The aim is to gather information and raise the level of compliance. The campaigns are combined with regular inspections.
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2. Progress on Asian Armed Escorts
It appears there is finally some progress, and efforts are being made to solve the piracy problem in the southern Philippines, with Indonesia saying it will finalize this week the concrete form of a joint security cooperation effort to ensure the safety of Indonesian export barges crossing regional waters with the Philippines, local reports said. Indonesia’s Defense Minister said Manila had given approval to Indonesian Military (TNI) vessels guarding Indonesian barges until they reached Philippine waters, from where a Philippines Armed Forces vessel would escort them to their destination and back into Indonesian waters.
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3. Attacks Fall, Concerns Rise
The number of piracy and armed robbery incidents in Asia during January-June 2016 has decreased by 64% compared to the same period in 2015, but the incidents involving abduction of crew members remains a concern, ReCAAP ISC said in its half yearly report. A total of four incidents of abduction of crew has been reported off Eastern Sabah and Southern Philippines since March 2016. Ships masters and crew are strongly urged to exercise extra caution while operating in the area of concern and the littoral States should step up surveillance and patrols, ReCAAP said.
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4. Whistleblower Wins Appeal
A U.S. seaman has won an appeal and been awarded over $1 million in damages after he was removed from the job after whistleblowing whilst he was master of the container ship "Horizon Trader". The former Horizon Lines master, John Loftus, reported safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard and ABS in 2013 and was subsequently discharged from masterâs duties. Loftus had been a master for 20 years and had served on Horizon Trader since 2007. The court found that Loftusâ right to be free of retaliation for whistleblowing was violated, and that Horizon Lines could not provide clear evidence that he would have been demoted.
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5. Criminals and 3D Printing
Criminal gangs are making use of cheaper and more accessible 3D printing technology to present a growing threat to shipping across the world. G4S has issued a series of alerts to the shipping industry offering advice how to combat the growing threat, especially from cargo thieves. In as little as 10 minutes, criminals are able to create counterfeit security devices, such as cargo seals, security locks and keys. After breaking into shipping containers and stealing the contents, the thieves replace the seals with 3D printed replicas to cover their tracks â making it difficult to pinpoint the exact time or location of the theft.
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6. Clay on Human Error
Clay Maitland, has been speaking on what he feels is the biggest problem we face and what all past accidents have revealed, is âhuman errorâ and the training of the officers of the ships involved. Each one of the latest casualties involved an error by navigation, an error by the bridge team or the captain. In cases such as the El Faro and Sewol, how do we lose all those lives? We still find that judgements and training are the most important things. Sometimes very well trained officers make remarkable mistakes and we see a large number of the accidents and therefore the increasing issue of regulatory burden.
http://goo.gl/QZpCuv
http://goo.gl/QZpCuv
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7. New Noses Help Efficiency
Vessel efficiency is something weâre all very aware of and new designs and innovations are helping container ships too. Any fuel efficiency improvement for such vessels is going to result in major savings in fuel consumption, and Japanese shipbuilder Kyokuyo Shipyard has done just that simply by redesigning the front of a ship to be much more aerodynamic. While the hull is engineered to glide through the water, the superstructure hasnât had the same attention until now. Kyokuyo’s new Semi-Spherical Shaped bow (SSS bow) reduces wind resistance by as much as 50%.
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8. New Deal on Carbon Reduction
Maersk Line and Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment and services company Huawei Technologies have signed a five-year carbon reduction pact. This agreement is the first of its kind for Maersk Line in Asia, and it integrates both companiesâ sustainability commitments to reduce Huaweiâs CO2 emissions per container transported with Maersk Line by 18% from 2016 to 2020. âFor Maersk Line jointly signing a carbon pact is a milestone in our relationship with Huawei,â Head of Maersk Line Greater China, Silvia Ding, said.
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9. Gib Ship Causes Concerns
The Gibraltar Port Authority expressed concern recently as the Panamanian-registered vessel "BULK TRIDENT" manoeuvred close to the coastline at Camp Bay before heading out into the Bay of Gibraltar. In the process, several dozen metres of marker buoys and ropes were dragged away from the beach areas. The incident did not involve bunker suppliers as the vessel had completed bunkers earlier in the afternoon and was proceeding out to sea. The VTS team were aware of the unusual manoeuvre as it occurred and instructed the vessel to proceed west away from the coastline.
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10. Pokémon Management Approach
While kids (and some strange adults) chase Pokémon safety experts are beginning to see parallels in the way in which they need to hunt down problems in the system. They are about chasing and catching people who somehow have managed to get in, managed to maintain or even climbed in a system without adding any value to the process or task itself. One expert has suggested a quarterly game of Leader GO! would help a lot of companies to catch faster the ones which need to GO and the ones which need to be paid more in order to STAY. So what about the leaders and consultants? Which are caught and which must go?
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd â providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
Best regards,
S Jones
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