Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 29/05/2015
1. Maersk Ship Rescues Migrants
A 147-meter Maersk containership took aboard hundreds of migrants in distress in the Mediterranean Sea in the second such incident for the vessel in less than a year. The company said MV Maersk Regensburg was sailing from Al Khoms, Libya to Sfax, Tunisia when it called on to assist in search and rescue of migrants off Libya. The vessel diverted, and with the help of an Italian coastguard patrol boat transferred a total of 427 persons to the ship.
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2. New Boss at DNV GL
International classification society DNV GL has appointed Remi Eriksen as the company’s new Group President and Chief Operating Officer. Eriksen is succeeding Henrik O. Madsen, who is retiring August 1 after 9 years in the role. Remi Eriksen was appointed by DNV GL’s Board of Directors following an extensive search that began in October 2014. Eriksen previously served as Group Chief Operating Officer and has been with company for 22 years.
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3. Fraud Warning for Filipinos
Filipino seafarers have been warned against a "fraudulent" entity engaged in the registration of international vessels and seafarers, using an official-sounding name. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said the entity, "Samoa International Maritime Authority (SIMA)," is "fraudulent, illegal, and do not in any way represent its government." SIMA is operating through the website www.maritimesamoa.com out of Thailand and the UK.
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4. Pooling is the Answer for Owners
A prolonged period of paltry returns and overcapacity in the dry bulk freight market has resulted in the creation of new shipping pools by shipowners to help stay afloat. With rates at rock bottom and historically low earnings for shipowners, at least two shipping pools in the dry bulk segment have been launched since the beginning of the year. The first pool venture of the year — The Sapphire Pool — consists of Supramax vessels.
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5. Increase in Fiddled Bills
The Standard Club has recently seen an increase in shippers converting what are typically ‘port to port’ bills of lading into ‘door-to-door’, bills. For example, in one such bill the club has reviewed recently, on the standard CONGENBILL form, the ‘Port of Discharge’ was described as ‘Port of Kolkata, India, in transit to [a named] warehouse in Nepal’. In so doing, the shipper places on the contractual carrier the burden of performing the entire journey.
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6. Pyrotechnics Fraud and Corruption
Expired pyrotechnics are being supplied to ships and survival crafts, compromising the safety of seafarers. Indian Maritime regulator, the Directorate General (DG) of Shipping, has noted that dates of expiry on Pyrotechnics are tampered to promote such malpractices. Such illegal activities are being practiced by the life raft service stations and suppliers of pyrotechnics…the recently reported incidences have again raised serious concerns.
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7. All Change at Norwegian Hull Club
The Norwegian Hull Club announced that John Wiik will step down as CEO on January 1, 2016. Filling Wiik’s role will be Faz Peermohamed, the club announced. Peermohamed, a senior partner at London’s Ince & Co., is a career shipping man: he is an ex Ship’s Master and a maritime lawyer. He currently holds the position of Global Head of Shipping at Ince, where he has worked for some 22 years.
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8. Terrible Tales of Death Ship
A crew member confessed to the captain of the Sage Sagittarius – the so-called "death ship" – that he had penned a complaint ready to file with authorities outlining allegations of gun-dealing, bullying and refusing to pay overtime. This was apparently not enough to bother Captain Venancio Salas Jr. He told an inquest into three deaths aboard his ship he felt no reason to read the letter that risked having both he and the ship investigated by authorities.
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9. Gather in Somalia to Assess Progress
EUCAP Nestor and the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) co-hosted the second Workshop on maritime cooperation for maritime security and law enforcement agencies currently deployed along the Somali coast. International community representatives from UNSOM, FAO, UNODC, Ocean Beyond Piracy (OBP), EUNAVFOR, EUTM Somalia and the Embassies of Japan and the UK were also present.
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10. Africa Urged to Invest Holistically
In the face of growing threats to peace African countries have been called upon to invest in development in a holistic way. The panelists at the session on "Development and Security – Dealing with New Threats", at the ongoing 50th Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, agreed that some of the factors leading to security issues include underdevelopment, unemployment, exclusion in government and poverty.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
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S Jones
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