Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 17/03/2016
1. Accidents by Ship Type
The Swedish Club has identified the most common accidents onboard via ship type. The P&I club has studied thousands of incidents in the last ten years, across a range of vessel segments and claims types. Seafarers on containerships need to watch their step, as almost 60% of all slips and falls occur on container vessels – almost certainly due to the amount of debrisand the number of people involved in cargo operations, the club noted. Meanwhile, those working on bulk carriers must take care to avoid cargo damage, with bulk carriers recording the highest average cargo claims cost and also the most frequent claims over the last ten years.
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2. New Idled Fleet High
Idled global container capacity has reached a record high of 1.57m teu, according to the latest data from Alphaliner. And one-third of the laid-up tonnage consists of unemployed containerships of 7,500-19,000 teu. The 352 laid-up ships, as of 11 March, account for 7.8% of the global container vessel fleet – a number expected to grow with 1.25m teu of capacity scheduled for delivery this year. After deductions for vessel scrapping, Alphaliner calculates that the newbuildings will add a full-year fleet growth of 4.3%. This compares with estimated demand growth of just 1.8%.
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3. Toppled Ship Started Unstable
A cargo ship which became stranded in the Solent for 19 days after developing a severe list was "unstable" when it left port, a report says. The "Hoegh Osaka" ran aground in January 2015 on its way from Southampton to Bremerhaven carrying high-end cars. A "significant difference" between the actual and estimated cargo weight left it unstable and contributed to the accident, marine investigators found. Owner Hoegh Autolines said no one person could be blamed for the error. "There were a number of circumstances here. We cannot put responsibility on one individual or group," it said in a statement.
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4. Canals Could be Set to Suffer
The Panama and Suez canals could be affected by the ongoing crisis in the container shipping industry. The twin factors of cellular overcapacity and rock-bottom bunker costs have led carriers to divert multiple sailings away from the world’s two principal trade arteries and reroute vessels around the southern African cape. The six-month report for the second half of 2015 showed that since the end of October 2015, 115 vessels deployed on Asia-USEC and Asia-North Europe services have made the back-haul trip to Asia by sailing round the Cape of Good Hope rather than through the canals despite using them on the headhaul legs.
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5. Another Bunker Spill Reported
Oil tanker ICS Allegiance has been linked to an estimated 30 litre bunker spill in the Port of Melbourne in Australia, Lloyd’s List Australia reports. The incident is said to have occurred while the vessel was supplying Maersk Lines’ container ship ANL Elinga, Slight sheening resulting from the incident is said to have been reported in the waters off Swanson Dock. The 600 DWT vessel is said to be owned by Intercontinental Fleet Nassau Limited, GT and managed by Inco Ships Pty. Ltd. On Tuesday, a bunker spill in the Port of L.A. which was linked to Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) vessel Istra Ace, was thought to have been caused by faulty piping.
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6. German Companies Face US Fines
The 6,300 dwt Antigua & Barbuda flagged "M/V BBC Magellan" won’t be seen in the U.S. for the next five years. Yesterday the two German companies that own and operate the ship — Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG and Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG MS "Extum" — pleaded guilty to failure to maintain an accurate oil record book, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and tampering with witnesses by persuading them to provide false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard about a bypass hose on the vessel that was being used to discharge oil into the sea. The companies were sentenced to pay $1.25 million in fines.
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7. Shipping Bosses Destroying Box Trade
Only the bosses of the great liner shipping companies of today could have been stupid enough to respond to falling freight rates by building strings of much bigger ships. Yes, we know that the cost per slot is less on a bigger ship. We also know that responding to an excess of something – in this case slot capacity on the major trades – by making a lot more of it is not a way to get the price back up. So why are the grown men in charge of liner shipping – men entrusted with billions of dollars’ worth of investments and on whom thousands depend for their livelihoods – so terminally stupid?
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8. Emma Gets Her Make-Up Done
The Emma Maersk, one of the largest containerships in the world, is featured in today’s spotted. The giant boxship has recently departed from France-based Damen Shiprepair Brest following drydock services, a special survey and maintenance work. Only yards with extra large drydocks such as this one can accommodate ships such as the enormous Emma Maersk, which is seen below dwarfing the nearby vessels. The vessel completed its second special survey plus assorted maintenance works at the shipyard, including the removal and subsequent refit of the propeller, which is among the heaviest in the world.
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9. Fatigue Led to Grounding
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has determined that fatigue contributed to helm orders being incorrectly applied causing the tanker Nanny to make bottom contact in Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut in October 2014. No pollution or injuries were reported, but there was damage to the vessel’s ballast tanks, including a crack that allowed water ingress. Nanny was outbound in darkness in the confined waters of Chesterfield Inlet. To initiate a large course alteration, the master ordered the helmsman to apply port rudder. The helmsman acknowledged the order by repeating it, but turned to starboard instead.
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10. New Name for Ship
The public are being asked to name the UK’s new polar research ship. The £200m, 15,000-tonne, 128m-long vessel is being built at Cammell Laird on Merseyside, and is due to become operational in 2019. Anyone can propose a suitable name on a special website which will accept ideas up until 16 April. The new ship will replace the existing polar fleet – the RRS James Clark Ross and RRS Ernest Shackleton – and work in both the Arctic and the Antarctic. Names that have featured on previous UK research vessels will not be used again. But beyond that restriction, the possibilities are wide.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
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