Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 17/11/2016
1. V Ships Buying Spree
V.Group has announced the acquisition of Indian ship manager Selandia as part of its strategy to grow its offering to clients in Asia. Selandia Ship Management, which focuses on the tanker sector, will continue to operate as an independent ship management brand within the V.Group portfolio. V.Group says it now has the largest ship management "fulfillment capability" from India and the widest access to Indian seafarers.
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2. Survey Ship Hunted by Greenpeace
Greenpeace has accused an oil exploration ship off the east coast of New Zealand of turning off its location technology to avoid protests. The "Amazon Warrior" is surveying the Pegasus Basin on the East Coast for Statoil and Chevron after being granted exploration permits. Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner Kate Simcock alleges that apart from a brief transmission on Monday the ship seems to have purposefully turned off its AIS.
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3. Courts Rescue Stranded Seafarer
The Indian high court has come to the rescue of a sailor trapped without food on board a vessel abandoned by its captain and owner at Vizhinjam after it ran out of fuel. Foreigners regional registration office (FRRO) at Thiruvananthapuram was directed by the court to take steps to bring the seafarer ashore after considering a petition filed by him stating that his life was under threat as food articles on board the vessel have been exhausted.
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4. Tanker Pirate Attack
The chemical tanker Southern Falcon was attacked by pirates in Celebes Sea on 160 nautical miles east off Tarakan island, Indonesia. The vessel was bound to Gresik under ballast and was approached by small speed boat with heavy armed men, who tried to board the vessel. Fortunately the crew thwarted the attack and resumed voyage to East Java. All the crew are safe and without injuries. The high free board helped them and thwarted the pirates.
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5. Panamax Woes Continue
There is no light at the end of the Panamax shipping sector tunnel. Another 100 ships need to be added to the 50 already sold for scrap since the expanded Panama Canal locks opened, if there is to be any hope of rebalancing supply and demand. This is the bleak outlook for the Panamax sector, as since the opening of the new locks on June 26, 120 classic Panamax ships have been pulled out of the Asia-US all-water trade.
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6. Rolls-Royce Slashing Business
Rolls-Royce Holdings is preparing to further slim down its marine side of the business, its ceo said yesterday. Warren East said at an investor briefing that more marine engine and ship design units will be shuttered and production will shift to emerging economies as the company battles the low oil price environment and the weak shipping markets. Redundancies are likely to be most keenly felt in Scandinavia.
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7. Swissco Battling Law Suits
Swissco Holdings, which entered interim judicial management earlier this week, has seen claims against it mount. Fellow Singapore offshore operator Ezion Holdings has sought just over $500,000 in corporate guarantees it says it is owed relating to various rig joint ventures Ezion is in with Swissco rig subsidiary Scott and English Energy (S&E). Ezion has threatened to take Swissco to court unless if pays up within three weeks.
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8. Duty for Sustainable Future
InterManager has urged the maritime industry not to neglect its duty in ensuring a sustainable future. Speaking at CrewConnect Global, InterManager’s President Bjørn Jebsen and Secretary-General Capt Kuba Szymanski spoke of the necessity of working closely with key decision makers to maintain a resilient industry. Mr Jebsen warned of the increased requirement for "skilled and competent seafarers".
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9. Urban Pirates Feed Crew
Eighteen men stranded on a ship in Baltimore for nearly two months have come to the attention of local volunteers. A group called the "Urban Pirates" have been supporting them after reports the crew were seen fishing for food in the harbour. “That’s when I kind of wanted to help out because they may not know, but we know what the fish is like in there,” said Kyle Dembowski, general manager with the Urban Pirates.
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10. Welding Explosion Kills Crew
A worker was blown 60 metres to his death on the Indonesian island of Batam. A welding accident resulted in a huge explosion on an old product tanker, "Nona tang II", formerly called Istana 5, moored at a port on the island that overlooks Singapore. Three other men were injured in the ensuing inferno. The Indonesian Coast Guard deployed firefighting vessels to the scene and the 45-year-old ship was eventually doused.
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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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