Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 29/07/2016
1. Amendments to MLC
International Labor Organization (ILO) member States have confirmed the amendments to the Maritime Labor Convention ensuring better protection to seafarers and their families in case of abandonment, death, and long-term disability. The 2014 Amendments establish new binding international law to better protect seafarers against abandonment and provide for compensation for death or long-term disability – they come into force in January 2017.
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2. Seafarers Plucked from Sea
The U.S. Coast Guard along with good samaritan vessels responded Tuesday to 46 crewmembers aboard a commercial fishing vessel who were forced to abandon ship in the Bering Sea near Kiska Island, approximately 690 miles west of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. All 46 crewmembers were transferred to the merchants ships Spar Canis and Vienna Express to be transported to Adak, Alaska.
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3. US Navy in Piracy Allegation
A $596 million lawsuit claims that the U.S. Navy has engaged in software piracy. The suit against the U.S. Government, filed by Bitmanagement Software, alleges that the Navy copied and installed the company’s virtual reality software on hundreds of thousands of computers for which it does not have a license. In 2011 and 2012 Bitmanagement agreed to license its BS Contact Geo software to the Navy on "a limited and experimental" basis.
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4. Cunard Pushing Boundaries
Cunard offered the first scheduled passenger service across the Atlantic and pioneered the use of navigational lights on ships; the use of electric lights; the introduction of suites, children’s playrooms and libraries. The Queen Mary 2 debuted with the largest library at sea, the only planetarium on a cruise ship and the largest dance floor. Now the vessel has been "remastered" with the most significant refurbishment in its 12-year history.
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5. Security Companies in Spotlight
According to a damning assessment of private maritime security companies, there are still too many “Laptop companies” and “Pirate maritime security companies” in the industry – almost 1 out of 3. Worringly even these companies have an ISO 28007 from an accredited Certification body and may even be very well known. Some of these companies acts as brokers pretending to be PMSC’s and others are PMSC’s that rent/lease/sublease firearms and swap guards.
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6. New View on African Issues
Africa Risk Compliance (ARC), a new management company operating in West Africa offering full operational support services as well as security solutions to shipping companies in the region, has launched this week. The new company has been driven by change in the region – aside from the tanker market, due to the oil and gas production in the area, there has been an increase in container shipping in and around West Africa.
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7. Offshore Firm Goes to the Wall
Singapore offshore services firm Swiber Holdings has made an application to wind up the company and place it into provisional liquidation. The move comes on the back of the company receiving several letters of demand to the value of $25.9m and Swiber founder and non-executive chairman Raymond Kim Goh resigning from his position as Vallianz Holdings’ chairman and executive director due to “heath reasons”.
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8. Speedboat Hits MSC Box Ship
A boater is presumed missing on the St. Lawrence River after a pleasure craft struck the moored container ship "MSC Diego". An observer at the scene told police that he may have seen an individual on the boat. No one has been reported missing and a search with helicopters, surface craft and divers has not found any sign of the boat’s occupants. Police are looking into a variety of causes for the incident, including the possibility of suicide.
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9. Supply Sector Consolidates
The latest battle further consolidate Norway’s offshore supply vessel scene has seen the latest round of action. The head of Aker has taken on a major shareholding in Solstad Offshore, and has since forced REM Offshore to merge with Solstad to create a 62-strong fleet. Aker, as a major bondholder, had blocked REM’s restructuring plans earlier thus paving the way for a merger announcement whereby REM will be subsumed into Solstad.
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10. Rig Ship Vacations
Bored with palm-fringed beaches and turquoise seas? Then the gigantic oil platforms of the North Sea beckon. The first ever “rig-spotting” cruise just ended off the coast of Norway, and those onboard the four-day trip said it was jaw dropping. The group of 120 tourists, all Norwegians except for a German and a Swedish couple, paid between 6,000 crowns and 30,000 crowns ($700-$3,500) for four days on board the high tech offshore vessel "Edda Fides".
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
Best regards,
S Jones
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