Seacurus Bulletin 09/07/2014

Seacurus Bulletin 09/07/2014

 

MARITIME LABOUR CONVENTION AND SEAFARER NEWS

 

White List

The Paris MoU published its report on 2013’s worldwide flag performance, “White, Grey and Black Lists.” The report indicates further improvements towards quality shipping. Last year Thailand and the United States of America were moved up to the White List. This year Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia and Switzerland moved from the Grey List to the White List. Georgia, Lebanon, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Libya and Albania moved from the Black List to the Grey List. Bahamas and Greece have dropped from the Top 10. The worst performing RO is INCLAMAR. There is also a new view taken of the correlation between flags and ROs working on their behalf. http://goo.gl/HtBhY9

 

———————————————————————————

 

New Board

The International Maritime Employers’ Council held its Annual General Meeting in London last week. During the meeting, members were asked to support the nominations of new members of the board of directors, which included the appointment of Captain Rajesh Tandon, Operations Director of V Group Manpower Services and MD of V. Ships India, as Chairman of IMEC to succeed Greg Triantafillou of Epsilon Hellas in Greece, who had completed his three year term in office, but will remain a Board member of IMEC. Simon Spacey of CMA/CGM was appointed as Vice Chairman and Andreas Andreou of Columbia Ship Management was appointed.

http://goo.gl/GMCa8a

 

———————————————————————————

 

Less Regulation

The Liberian Registry, has called on shipping regulators to ensure the effective implementation of existing rules to protect human life, safety and the environment, rather than creating new rules and regulations instead. Scott Bergeron, CEO of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry, said, “It is the job of ship registries and other regulators to ensure the effective, efficient and practical implementation of rules and regulations. Unfortunately, the entire industry does not operate in this way…I think the industry already has enough regulations, and creating new ones just as a political or public reaction to accidents is very short-sighted.”

http://goo.gl/042YY8

 

———————————————————————————

 

Girls on Film

An IMO film, Women at the Helm, shows how the work of IMO, and others, is promoting better acceptance of women in shipping, and highlights first-hand experiences from some of those who have already achieved leadership roles. That’s great. The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. While many people don’t need reminding about this, some still do. It is hard to change well established cultural, religious, family and political practices, especially when women don’t recognize the choices available to them.

http://goo.gl/fM3xb7

 

———————————————————————————

 

Artistry at Sea

The "CMA CGM Magellan", a 365 meters long vessel, has been transformed into a work of art by world-renowned artist, JR. With this initiative, JR photographed the eyes of extraordinary women all around the world. The picture that was assembled on the CMA CGM Magellan is the eyes of Elizabeth, a Kenyan woman living in the Kibera slums, in Nairobi. In a separate celebration of art, the German sculptor Tobias Rehberger is due to unveil his dazzled warship in London on 14 July as part of the commemorations marking 100 years since the start of the First World War.

http://goo.gl/x8o671

 

———————————————————————————

 

Blue Denmark

The number of ships sailing under the Danish flag has reached a new high, new data from the Danish Shipowners’ Association shows. The Danish merchant fleet has reached a new milestone. In the most recent fleet count on 1 July 2014 the fleet sailing under the Danish flag accounted for more than 15 million tonnes dead weight (DWT). Gross tonnage (GT) rose to approx. 13.2 million, which is also a new high. The fleet flying the Danish flag now totals 637 ships. The growth in tonnage has mainly been in liner traffic and specialised traffic, while tanker traffic appears to have stabilised at around 3 million GT.

http://goo.gl/ypBP57

 

———————————————————————————

 

Gas Power

As the deadline for 0.1% low sulphur fuel in Emission Control Areas (ECAs) in North America and North Europe beckons at the start of 2015 so the switch to LNG as a marine fuel has started.  A slew of developments related to using LNG as a fuel in both the shipping and offshore sectors have emerged, much of them centred around the North Europe and Scandinavian markets where the 0.1% sulphur restriction will apply. One of the issues that has dogged LNG’s acceptance has been that owners would not build LNG vessels without supply infrastructure, while investments were not being made in supply infrastructure unless vessels were ordered.

http://goo.gl/9OLqXN

 

———————————————————————————

 

PIRACY AND MARITIME SECURITY NEWS

 

Rocket Attack

"AIDAdiva", a cruiseship carrying German passengers on board came under rocket fire when leaving the Israeli port of Ashdod. Shrapnel from the rocket, believed to have been fired by Hamas, landed on the cruise ship. No casualties or significant damages to the cruise ship have been reported. The ship is currently on its way to the next port of Crete in Greece. A statement released by AIDAdiva said no travel alert was issued by German authorities prior to them sailing to Israel.

http://goo.gl/Aq9oyv

 

———————————————————————————

 

Piracy Frustration

China is increasingly frustrated by the spate of tanker hijackings in SE Asia, as armed bands of men have boarded and commandeered the ships, siphoned their cargos of diesel and gasoline onto barges or other tankers, and fled into the night. Complicating matters is the fact that two of the hijackings took place near the heart of Malaysia’s offshore oil and gas production, in waters where China is making an increasingly forceful claim to sovereignty. Interpol, intelligence agencies and military forces in the region are investigating the eight attacks, and trying to figure out how to stop further ones, said Noel Choong, of the IMB.

http://goo.gl/xLVTjV

 

———————————————————————————

 

Hot Spot

In looking to protect vessels sailing in SE Asian waters from piracy, Vijay Soman, director of Safety and insurance at Wallem Ship Management, has this piece of advice for product tankers transiting the region.  "The focus of attacks in Southeast Asia has been product carriers so we have advised all Wallem product carriers in the region to take defensive measures in line with BMP4 standards, which includes rigging razor wire, additional look outs and regular testing of communications equipment,” he says. Precautions are taken on a case by case basis, including avoiding remaining at anchor and instead drifting well away from land. http://goo.gl/Us6dtX

 

———————————————————————————

 

EU Approval

The much awaited European Union Maritime Security Strategy (EUMSS) was approved last month by the General Affairs Council of the European Union (EU). The document builds on the European Commission’s Joint Communication, titled ‘for an open and secure global maritime domain: elements for a European Union maritime security strategy’, and is a link between the Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP) and the European Security Strategy (ESS). This paves the way for the 28 nations of the EU to identify and undertake concrete actions and projects to enhance the EU’s maritime security.

http://goo.gl/FMjb7p

 

———————————————————————————

 

Droning On

Japan plans to use drones to boost its maritime surveillance capabilities to better respond to natural disasters and and improve security around remote islands. The Japanese government is looking to deploy two high-altitude, long-range drones to be used with an existing satellite-based monitoring system. The drones will cruise over designated areas above waters at an altitude greater than 15 kilometers — a height where they will be unaffected by weather — for up to 72 hours. The plan comes amid China’s aggressive expansion of maritime presence and follows a series of intrusions of Chinese vessels into Japanese waters.

http://goo.gl/zOClYP

 

———————————————————————————
ENDS