Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 25/08/2016
1. El Faro Abandonment
The captain of the doomed El Faro cargo ship sounded an alarm for his crew to abandon the vessel shortly before it sank last fall in a hurricane near the Bahamas, killing all 33 onboard. Twenty-six hours of newly recovered audio, captured by microphones on the ship’s bridge, offer chilling detail into the final hours before the 790-foot (241-meter) ship sank on Oct. 1, after sailing into Hurricane Joaquin on a routine cargo run between Florida and Puerto Rico. The NTSB released preliminary details from information it recovered from the ship’s VDR, found earlier this month on the ocean floor after a 10-month search.
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2. Stolen Tanker Found
Indonesia’s navy said Thursday (Aug 25) it had found a tanker carrying almost US$400,000 worth of diesel that was taken by its own crew last week due to a commercial dispute. The "MT Vier Harmoni" was initially feared to have been hijacked after setting sail from Malaysia, in waters that have suffered a string of pirate attacks in recent times. But Indonesian authorities quickly realised the vessel, which was transporting 900,000 litres of diesel, had been taken by its Indonesian crew back to Batam island, just south of Singapore, due to an "internal management problem".
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3. Seeing Evil in the Internet
Experts have been looking at the thorny issue of web use among crew, asking whether the internet onboard is a good thing. Citing a couple of sad stories this article asks whether the ability to instantly communicate news to seafarers thousands of miles from home was a negative factor. Ignoring the fact that seafarers will always received bad news eventually, it claims these powerful tools of communication should be part of a wider educational process, encouraging seafarers to take personal responsibility. Allowing for the time needed for sleep, this ‘non work time’ period on board amounts to a lot of hours.
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4. Flexing the BICEPS Network
The BICEPS Network, a joint initiative of five global shippers (AB InBev, AkzoNobel, DSM, FrieslandCampina and Huntsman) to leverage forces to stimulate more sustainable shipping, introduces the BICEPS Rating System. The shippers will apply the BICEPS Rating System, an online dynamic application that includes five sustainability themes, in their global procurement of ocean freight container transport. The rating system has been developed to give full transparency on the actual and relative sustainability performance of shipping lines and allows shippers to include this as a clear differentiator within their selection process.
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5. MLC and Recruitment
The Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC) dedicates a whole section to regulations pertaining to what it terms ‘recruitment and placement’ (Regulation 1.4). Yet despite the convention defining a ‘recruitment and placement service’ as “Any person, company, institution, agency or other organization, in the public or the private sector, which is engaged in recruiting seafarers on behalf of shipowners or placing seafarers with shipowners”, the form recruitment can take in this industry is so varied, many have been left questioning whether the term, in fact, applies to them at all.
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6. Repetitive Nature of Accidents
Reading the US and UK safety digests, one is struck by the repetitive nature of so many marine accidents. Michael Grey has been looking at accidents and asking whether we know enough about these causes, in order to try to do something about their incidence? I guess it is one of the reasons why we need proper investigations, and why the lessons they reveal would benefit from global collation and wider promulgation. Safer Seas Digest reveals a number of these “universal” incidents in their analyses.
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7. EU to Boost Gas Shipments
Containerships plc (Containerships), in its recent financial report for the second quarter of 2016, revealed that it has received a co-funding recommendation from the European Union (EU) for the company’s four planned liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered container vessels. "The outcome of the funding will be confirmed during autumn this year," noted Containerships. "The recommendation is a remarkable recognition of the Company’s environmental strategy and investments needed." The vessels are currently slated to be delivered during 2018, with the first of the four set to be delivered by early 2018.
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8. Knock on Effect of Scrapping
Although ship scrapping has existed for 50 years in Bangladesh, improvements have only recently been made. Public awareness raised by investigative reports such as “Working Man’s Death” by Michael Glawogger has ramped up international pressure. This might be part of the reason for the improvements, which include more workers wearing protective equipment like welding goggles and gloves, enhanced worker training and more local authorities fighting for better working conditions and healthcare. Bangladesh earns at least $24 million annually from tax and duties related to ship scrapping.
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9. Fednav Welcomes Green Ship
Fednav Limited, the largest international bulk shipowner in Canada, has welcomed to the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, the "Federal Caribou" , one of seven new oceangoing lakers equipped with a ballast water treatment system-a first for the Great Lakes. This vessel protects the Lakes by treating its ballast water two times: by conducting an exchange in the North Atlantic, and through filtration and a chlorine disinfection treatment on the ship. The Federal Caribou is part of a series of 16 Handysize vessels, representing an investment by Fednav of more than $400 million and designed specifically for the Great Lakes.
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10. Collision in Dardanelles
The general cargo ship Guler collided with bulk carrier Piri Reis in Dardanelles Strait. The both ships were proceeding in southern direction on crossing routes, but due to lack of communication and violation of ColReg collided near Erenkoy in Canakkale Province, Turkey. The ships suffered damages and underwater breaches, but remained afloat and without danger of sinking. The incident was reported to local authorities and to the vessels was ordered to anchor at Erenkoy anchorage for further repairs and special survey. Fortunately during the accident there were no injured people and no water pollution.
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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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