Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 28/06/2017
1. Maersk Cyber Attack Casualty
A.P. Moller-Maersk has been hit by the Petya cyber attack, which caused outages at its computer systems across the world on Tuesday. The attack came as computer servers across Europe and in India were hit by a major ransomware attack. Global cyber-attack Petya is affecting multiple businesses," Maersk said on Twitter. The breakdown affected all business units at Maersk, including container shipping, port and tug boat operations, oil and gas production, drilling services, and oil tankers, the company said.
A.P. Moller-Maersk has been hit by the Petya cyber attack, which caused outages at its computer systems across the world on Tuesday. The attack came as computer servers across Europe and in India were hit by a major ransomware attack. Global cyber-attack Petya is affecting multiple businesses," Maersk said on Twitter. The breakdown affected all business units at Maersk, including container shipping, port and tug boat operations, oil and gas production, drilling services, and oil tankers, the company said.
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2. Elizabeth’s Outdated Software
Fears have been raised that Britain’s largest ever warship could be vulnerable to cyber attacks after it emerged it appears to be running the outdated Microsoft Windows XP. As HMS Queen Elizabeth left its dockyard for the first time to begin sea trials, it was revealed the ÂŁ3.5billion aircraft carrier is apparently using the same software that left the NHS exposed. Screens inside a control room on the ship, which is the largest vessel ever built for the Royal Navy, reportedly displayed Microsoft Windows XP – copyright 1985 to 2001. The Defence Secretary, insisted the ship’s systems were "properly protected".
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3. Qatar Woes Could Stick
A UAE government spokesperson warned that Qatar’s diplomatic and economic isolation from its Arab neighbours could become a permanent state of affairs. The Saudi-led sanctions regimes include a ban on Qatari-flagged ships in Bahraini, Saudi, Emirati and Egyptian ports. "Qatar is not responding positively to [the demands]" said a UAE spokesman. "I think the whole idea would be to ultimately, simply disengage from Qatar." He added, allied members of the Gulf Cooperation Council are considering Qatar’s formal expulsion from the group – not right away, but as a future option. He ruled out any chance of military confrontation.
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4. Tanker Hijack and Siphon
The hijack-and-siphon trick seems to be making a resurgence in Southeast Asian waters with reports of a group of armed pirates attacking a Thai product tanker and making off with 1.5m litres of diesel last Friday. According to a ReCAAP ISC report, the CP41 was boarded by pirates about 25nm off Kuantan on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia while it was en-route from Singapore to Songkhla province in southern Thailand. The report said that at about 9pm six pirates, all speaking Bahasa Indonesia, boarded the vessel and armed with guns and knives, locked the master and crew in the engine room.
The hijack-and-siphon trick seems to be making a resurgence in Southeast Asian waters with reports of a group of armed pirates attacking a Thai product tanker and making off with 1.5m litres of diesel last Friday. According to a ReCAAP ISC report, the CP41 was boarded by pirates about 25nm off Kuantan on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia while it was en-route from Singapore to Songkhla province in southern Thailand. The report said that at about 9pm six pirates, all speaking Bahasa Indonesia, boarded the vessel and armed with guns and knives, locked the master and crew in the engine room.
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5. Family Calls for VLOC Action
The families of the missing crew of the sunken Stellar Daisy have called for all converted ore carriers in South Korea to be inspected. Moreover, some are suggesting that every converted ore carrier in the world gets a check up, with one family member telling Splash today: “It would be better for all converted ore carriers in the world to be inspected for the sake of marine safety.” There are 28 converted ore carriers in South Korea, of which Polaris owns 18. Defects have been found on other Polaris ships in the wake of the Stellar Daisy sinking, including on the Stellar Unicorn, Stellar Queen and Solar Ember.
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6. Greek Owners Step Up
The Union of Greek Shipowners decided at an extraordinary general meeting to extend the voluntary contribution its members pay to the Greek state for another year through 2018. Athens anticipates this voluntary contribution will amount to around EUR40m next year. The voluntary contribution is beyond the owners’ annual tax bill, which has been the source of much controversy in recent years. Account firm Deloitte’s tax services department released a comparative study of the tax frameworks for shipowners in Greece compared to the rest of Europe.
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7. IMO on Greenhouse Gases
Nearly 300 delegates from IMO Member States, international NGOs and intergovernmental organizations have gathered at IMO Headquarters in London for the first meeting of the Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from Ships (26-30 June). The group, which is meeting in a closed session, will provide a report to next week’s session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 71). The working group report will form the basis for further deliberation in relation to the elements set out in the Roadmap for developing a comprehensive IMO strategy on reduction of GHG emissions.
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8. Shipping Executives in Dock
The US Department of Justice unveiled that three further executives have been charged in an ocean shipping investigation on price fixing, bringing the total to eleven executives and four companies. According to an indictment of the three shipping executives, which was unsealed in US District Court in Baltimore on June 27, Anders Boman, Arild Iversen, and Kai Kraass have been charged with participating in a long-running conspiracy to allocate certain customers and routes, rig bids, and fix prices for the sale of international ocean shipments of roll-on, roll-off cargo to and from the United States and elsewhere.
goo.gl/gM658L
goo.gl/gM658L
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9. Theresa Runs Aground
The 1988-built product tanker "Theresa Arctic", which ran aground off the coast of Kilifi in Kenya on June 20, could soon be refloated, according to local media. The Netherlands-based SMIT Salvage, as well as the local salvage company Alpha Logistics were reportedly hired to undertake the refloating operation. The vessel, which was loaded with 27,500 mt of vegetable oil at the time of the incident, is set to undergo lightering operations. Four tugs are currently deployed in the area to hold the ship in place. There were no reports of injuries or water pollution in the area following the grounding.
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10. ECDIS Detentions Likely
Shipowners and managers need to be aware that port state control may be hot on ECDIS and electronic navigational charts (ENCs) from September this year. You could see ships detained for not having compliant ECDIS and updated ENCs – if the industry has not actively updated onboard safety navigation systems. The International Hydrographic Organization’s new standards for ECDIS and ENCs comes into force from 1 September and the old standards will not be compliant from that date. Owners have less than three months to install ECDIS updates, replace not compliant equipment and train crew.
goo.gl/BfFTT7
goo.gl/BfFTT7
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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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