Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 20/06/2016
1. Mutiny Leads to Grounding
A 44,000 DWT bulk carrier is hard aground in Mauritius after a fight apparently broke out on board among crew members, with some reports going as far as describing possible mutiny. Local media reports that Liberian-flagged "MV Benita" was sailing from India to Durban, South Africa when a fight erupted in the engine room Thursday night, resulting in the ship drifting into land along the southeast coast of Mauritius. Details are still a bit sketchy, but the melee was reportedly started by the Chief Engineer, who was arrested by the National Coast Guard after locking himself in the engine room of the vessel.
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2. Fuel Switch Caused Crash
The Houston Pilots Association contends that a Ship Channel crash and chemical spill in March 2015 was most likely caused by a switch to ultra low-sulphur fuel oil that led one of two vessels that collided, the Conti Peridot, to unexpectedly lose power only seconds before the accident. The pilots’ conclusion stands in contrast to a summary released earlier this month of an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board, which described pilot decision-making as the "probable cause" of the accident.
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3. Lloyd’s List Backs Remain
Voters in the United Kingdom will head to polling stations on Thursday to decide whether their country’s future lies within the European Union, or outside of it, a decision with profound implications on trade and the UK shipping sector. What have we learned in the months of campaigning from the remain and leave lobbies? Politicians from the remain and leave campaigns have claimed Brexit uncertainty would rock British shipping, and that UK shipping stands to gain from ending its membership of the union. Lloyd’s List pinned its colours to the mast back in May, backing the UK’s continued membership of the EU.
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4. Nigerians Capture Pirate Owner
The Nigerian Navy, NN has arrested owner of "MT DEJIKUN", the ship which was used by pirates to hijack a Saudi Arabian-owned ship, "MT MAXIMUS" , four months ago , off the coast of Cote D’Ivoire. MT MAXIMUS , said to have been chartered by a South Korean company had successfully lifted 4,700 metric tonnes of AGO and was on its way when it was hijacked by nine heavily armed pirates off Cote- D’ivoire waters. The crew members were thereafter held hostage while the name on the ship was deleted and replaced with MT ELVIS-5, apparently to avoid arrest.
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5. Brokers Protest Exchange Merger
Several key dry bulk shipbrokers have formed the Competitive Ship Brokers Limited (CSBL) association to protest that their best interests are not being represented in merger discussions between the Baltic and Singapore Exchanges. The Baltic Exchange provides freight indices to the dry bulk and tanker shipping markets that operate on a panellist system on which these shipbrokers and others sit. But as part of the merger process with the Singapore Exchange, the Baltic Exchange has distributed a more restrictive agreement that would stop panellists from providing data to third parties.
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6. Rolls Royce Chasing Unmanned Future
With oil prices low and volatile Rolls Royce’s marine unit is scrabbling to find its future. They have alighted on the prospect of unmanned ships as being their USP and business driver. Oskar Levander, head of innovation at Rolls’ marine unit, believes unmanned vessels will revolutionise shipping, with the first vessel set to enter service by 2020. “Crew are one of the biggest costs in shipping, equal to fuel, and if you remove them you make the whole operation more efficient,” he says, adding that a computer can operate a ship more efficiently than a human, reducing fuel bills.
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7. Passenger Kicked Off for Ciggie Flick
The daughter of a Perth man sent home from a P&O cruise says he was removed from the ship for flicking a cigarette overboard and left to pay his own way back to WA without due regard for his health. Mark O’Keefe, 57, and his wife Debra left for Bali on a 10-day cruise with the company on June 6 from Fremantle.
His daughter Courtney O’Keefe commented that her father was spotted flicking a cigarette overboard by a P&O security officer. "He had maybe two drags because the weather was horrendous – he butted it out, and without thinking, he flicked it," daughter Courtney said. Cue for him to be removed from the cruise.
http://goo.gl/ynzU5O
http://goo.gl/ynzU5O
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8. Ship Worker Dies in Fall
A man died Saturday afternoon after a work-related accident on a ship in the Houston Ship Channel, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. U.S. Coast Guard officials said the employee was trying to connect a pipe to a crane around 4 p.m. when he lost his balance. Deputies said the worker dropped 50 feet, landing onto the ship. The ship was sitting in Buffalo Bayou near Industrial Road when the incident happened. The man was dead when emergency crews arrived, according to deputies. The Coast Guard is investigating.
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9. IUMI Embraces New Rules
The York-Antwerp Rules (YAR) is a set of rules by which General Average (GA) is adjusted. IUMI has a particular interest in their content as, on average, the GA system increases the cost of maritime casualties by between 10%-30% largely due to interest, commission and adjusters’ fees. The process of collecting GA security from all the cargo interests, assembling information about ship and cargo values and expenses then re-adjusting all GA expenses and sacrifices usually takes several years and prevents claims files being closed quickly. IUMI has been campaigning for a set of YAR for expenses to lie where they fall outside GA.
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10. UK Club Navigates Safety Debate
Over-reliance on a single form of position fixing, such as GPS, can become a danger in itself, a P&I club has warned. Use of GPS as a means of position fixing is now commonplace on vessels of all types and has made a significant contribution to the safety and accuracy of marine navigation. However, continuing reports of alleged jamming of GPS signals, as well as the potential for other sources of signal interference, is of widespread concern to governments and to the shipping industry as a whole, the UK P&I Club said. The UK P&I Club encourages navigating officers to practice traditional methods of navigation.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
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