Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 23/02/2016
1. ReCAAP Reveals Rising Concerns
A report from anti-piracy watchdog ReCAAP has revealed an increase in piracy and armed robbery attacks against ships in Asia. According to ReCAAP, a total of nine incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia in January. Five were reported in the Gulf of Kutch, Kandla, and one in Visakhapatnam, India and other incidents were reported at Tianjin outer anchorage, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
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2. LR Tackles Cyber Risks
Lloyd’s Register’s new guidance provides the shipping industry with a route map to understanding the implications of digital technology. As a trusted provider of safety assurance to the marine industry, LR is ready to help all stakeholders in the cyber-enabled ship market ensure that Information and communications technology (ICT) is deployed safely. This is the first edition of LR’s guidance to clients on cyber-enabled ships.
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3. Criminalising Ship Deficiencies
When do deficiencies on ships cross the threshold from being a civil wrong to a criminal offence? This question is one that the shipping industry, port state authorities and law enforcement agencies must seriously consider when it comes to the welfare of seafarers, reckons Reverend Roger Stone from seafarers’ charity Apostleship of the Sea (AoS). Stone has seen deficiencies that clearly contravene health and safety regulations and human and statutory rights.
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4. Latest Giant Cruise Landmark
In just a few months the world will have a new largest cruise ship in history: "Royal Caribbean Harmony of the Seas". RCCL’s new 227,000-ton vessel is due to set sail from Southampton, England, on May 22. The STX shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, constructed the Harmony of the Seas and is in the process of finalizing it. The Harmony of the Seas will sit higher and wider than its sister mega ships, the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas.
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5. Malta Makes Maritime Progress
The Malta flag registered record figures in 2015, which translate into a significant achievement for the Malta Ship Register. In 2015 alone, over 900 vessels with a collective gross tonnage of over 12 million were registered. By the end of 2015, a staggering total of 66.2 million gross tons were listed beneath the Maltese Merchant Shipping Act. Malta is the leading Ship Register in Europe as well as the 6th largest ship register worldwide.
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6. Illness on the Slide
It is being claimed perceptions that cruise ships can be luxury breeding grounds for acute gastroenteritis outbreaks don’t hold water. A recent CDC report showed that from 2008 to 2014, only 0.18% of more than 73 million cruise passengers and 0.15% of some 28 million crew members reported symptoms of the illness. Using laboratory data and records researchers determined that shipboard cases of acute gastroenteritis have decreased.
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7. Rust Bucket Claims
A former member of El Faro’s crew claims serious safety and mechanical problems months before the ship went down. Kurt Bruer claims the ship had major problems. He alleges the ship was constantly being inspected to keep up with all of the complaints made by crew members. Now, Bruer said he’s helping investigators piece together what happened. It is also alleged the ship’s owner, Tote Maritime Puerto Rico, told employees to keep quiet.
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8. Shipboard Fall Tragedy
A 44-year-old Filipino man plunged to his death while carrying out maintenance work on a ship near Lumut in Malaysia. Magtahas Anecito Bahian died instantly after he fell about 13 m onto the deck of the Necklace. The ship was anchored about six nautical miles from Brazilian miner’s Vale terminal at Teluk Rubiah. The 92,903 dwt ship is controlled by Greece’s Transmed Shipping.
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9. Latest IMO Amendments
Draft amendments to extend emergency training for personnel on passenger ships were agreed by the Sub-Committee on Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping (HTW), when it met for its third session last month. The Sub-Committee also agreed the draft of a new SOLAS regulation to require damage control drills to take place on all passenger ships from 2020. There was also work on fatigue factors in manning and safety.
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10. Steel Prices Add to Woes
Shipowners are claimed to be feeling the scrapyard blues as steel prices plummet. As such it may be time for owners to join Europe’s protest against Chinese steel-price dumping that mobilized thousands of people to march in Brussels last week. The crisis in global shipping has led owners to scrap 530 bulk and container ships since the start of 2015, according to marine data provider VesselsValue.com. But the financial incentive to do so is diminishing.
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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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