Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 20/10/2017
1. ECDIS Safety Concerns
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has started a safety study, in collaboration with the Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board, looking at the way electronic chart and display information systems (ECDIS) are currently being used onboard ships. The study comes in the wake of MAIB’s just published report into the December 2016 grounding of the Muros bulk carrier off the coast of eastern England, in which it was found that ECDIS use onboard was not as envisaged by regulators or equipment manufacturers, an issue MAIB has noted on a number of other shipping incidents in recent years.
The UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has started a safety study, in collaboration with the Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board, looking at the way electronic chart and display information systems (ECDIS) are currently being used onboard ships. The study comes in the wake of MAIB’s just published report into the December 2016 grounding of the Muros bulk carrier off the coast of eastern England, in which it was found that ECDIS use onboard was not as envisaged by regulators or equipment manufacturers, an issue MAIB has noted on a number of other shipping incidents in recent years.
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2. Duterte Abu Sayyaf Blast
Not for the first time, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has spoken about his keenness to get very aggressive with pirates in the region. Speaking at an ASEAN-related event yesterday the Philippine president urged the country’s neighbours to take “drastic action” to fight the piracy scourge in Southeast Asia.
Not for the first time, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has spoken about his keenness to get very aggressive with pirates in the region. Speaking at an ASEAN-related event yesterday the Philippine president urged the country’s neighbours to take “drastic action” to fight the piracy scourge in Southeast Asia.
“The Malacca used to be historically a supply route and a shipping lane that was very good for everybody. Of late, terrorism has entered the picture and we see a lot of hijackings and killing of people, and capturing hostages for ransom,” Duterte said, referring to the Islamic militant group Abu Sayyaf.
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3. No find No Fee Deal
Malaysia is negotiating a deal with U.S.-based survey company Ocean Infinity to take up the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. The Boeing 777 aircraft was lost on March 8, 2014 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers. The search continued for 1,046 days until January 17, 2017 when it was suspended in accordance with a decision made by the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China. Proposals to restart the search have reportedly been put forward by Ocean Infinity, Fugro and an unidentified Malaysian company.
Malaysia is negotiating a deal with U.S.-based survey company Ocean Infinity to take up the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. The Boeing 777 aircraft was lost on March 8, 2014 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers. The search continued for 1,046 days until January 17, 2017 when it was suspended in accordance with a decision made by the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China. Proposals to restart the search have reportedly been put forward by Ocean Infinity, Fugro and an unidentified Malaysian company.
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4. Liner Consolidation Continues
Consolidation within the liner sector is set to continue in the coming few years, according to a survey carried on this site. Nearly three quarters of the more than 250 people to have taken our latest quarterly survey, MarPoll, believe there will be no liners with fleets of less than 1.5m teu operating on the main east-west trades by the start of the next decade. Currently just five companies C Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Cosco and Hapag-Lloyd C have fleets above the 1.5m teu threshold.
Consolidation within the liner sector is set to continue in the coming few years, according to a survey carried on this site. Nearly three quarters of the more than 250 people to have taken our latest quarterly survey, MarPoll, believe there will be no liners with fleets of less than 1.5m teu operating on the main east-west trades by the start of the next decade. Currently just five companies C Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM, Cosco and Hapag-Lloyd C have fleets above the 1.5m teu threshold.
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5. Captain Guilty of Failures
This week, in a court in Armagh, Northern Ireland, Capt. Aleksandr Iakovtsov pled guilty to charges of failing to safely navigate his ship and causing serious damage to his vessel. Capt. Iakovtsov’s ship, the Dutch-flagged freighter Ruyter, was en route to Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland on October 10 when she went aground on Rathlin Island, near the northern entrance to the Irish Sea. Her crew reported the grounding to the UK Coastguard’s Belfast station, and they managed to refloat the Ruyter themselves shortly thereafter. Capt. Iakovtsov was able to pay the fine, and he was released the same day.
This week, in a court in Armagh, Northern Ireland, Capt. Aleksandr Iakovtsov pled guilty to charges of failing to safely navigate his ship and causing serious damage to his vessel. Capt. Iakovtsov’s ship, the Dutch-flagged freighter Ruyter, was en route to Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland on October 10 when she went aground on Rathlin Island, near the northern entrance to the Irish Sea. Her crew reported the grounding to the UK Coastguard’s Belfast station, and they managed to refloat the Ruyter themselves shortly thereafter. Capt. Iakovtsov was able to pay the fine, and he was released the same day.
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6. Asian Bunker Problems
The presence of organic chlorides has been identified in four cases of fuels bunkered in South East Asia. The organic chlorides were present at levels of 23 ppm to 56 ppm. The specific chemicals found were 112 Trichloroethylene, Tetrachloroethylene, 12 Dichloroethylene, Chlorobenzene and Chloroform. Organic chlorides are used as cleaning agents by the dry-cleaning industry and other chemical cleaning such as air cooler cleaning. “Organic chlorides have been known to cause serious problems to marine machinery even at very low levels, as low as 5ppm,” stated Dr. Vis, CEO of fuel management company Viswa Group.
The presence of organic chlorides has been identified in four cases of fuels bunkered in South East Asia. The organic chlorides were present at levels of 23 ppm to 56 ppm. The specific chemicals found were 112 Trichloroethylene, Tetrachloroethylene, 12 Dichloroethylene, Chlorobenzene and Chloroform. Organic chlorides are used as cleaning agents by the dry-cleaning industry and other chemical cleaning such as air cooler cleaning. “Organic chlorides have been known to cause serious problems to marine machinery even at very low levels, as low as 5ppm,” stated Dr. Vis, CEO of fuel management company Viswa Group.
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7. High Cost of Cash
Shipping companies are paying out unnecessary high costs by continuing to pay seafarers with cash, says leading financial services provider ShipMoney. EVP Greg O’Connell says that on an average fleet of 50 ships, shipping operators face spending nearly $500,000 in delivering cash to vessels. Annually more than $6billion in hard currency is delivered to the global merchant fleet. With the cost of delivering cash to vessels ranging from 3% to 10% of the value being transported, shipping companies are losing significant amounts of money by paying crew via hard cash or wire transfers, ShipMoney says.
goo.gl/QQfF15
Shipping companies are paying out unnecessary high costs by continuing to pay seafarers with cash, says leading financial services provider ShipMoney. EVP Greg O’Connell says that on an average fleet of 50 ships, shipping operators face spending nearly $500,000 in delivering cash to vessels. Annually more than $6billion in hard currency is delivered to the global merchant fleet. With the cost of delivering cash to vessels ranging from 3% to 10% of the value being transported, shipping companies are losing significant amounts of money by paying crew via hard cash or wire transfers, ShipMoney says.
goo.gl/QQfF15
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8. Baltic on the Rise
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose for a 12th straight session on Thursday, driven by firm demand for capesize vessels. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, rose 16 points, or 1.02 percent, to end at 1,582 points. The capesize index was up for a fifth straight session and rose 52 points, or 1.66 percent, to close at 3,186 points, its highest in nearly three years. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $368 at $22,420.
goo.gl/EStE3s
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose for a 12th straight session on Thursday, driven by firm demand for capesize vessels. The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, rose 16 points, or 1.02 percent, to end at 1,582 points. The capesize index was up for a fifth straight session and rose 52 points, or 1.66 percent, to close at 3,186 points, its highest in nearly three years. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $368 at $22,420.
goo.gl/EStE3s
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9. Ship Breaking Woes
There were a total of 227 ships broken in the third quarter of 2017. Of these, 124 ships ended up on beaches in South Asia for dirty and dangerous breaking, said NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Between July and September, one worker lost his life at a shipbreaking yard in Alang, India. Another worker was reported seriously injured in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Due to the annual monsoon season, activities remained slow at the South Asian shipbreaking yards over the summer months. However, when the breaking took up again in September, one worker, Ashok Yadav, was reported killed whilst at work in Alang, India.
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10. Brand New Ship Sinks
The 2017-built fishing vessel Seikongen has ended its sailing career too soon as the vessel sank off the port of Chonchi, Chile on October 18. Seikongen’s master reported that the ship was taking on water in the morning hours while it was south of the Yal Canal, according to data provided by the Chilean Navy.
The navy said it sent four vessels in an effort to prevent water pollution in the area, adding that anti-pollution equipment was also deployed at the site. At the time of the incident, there were 11 crew members aboard the 70-meter-long fishing vessel, all of whom were evacuated from the ship.
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