Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 13/02/2017
1. Boxes Knocked Off
APM Terminals suffered an embarrassing incident at its New Jersey terminal yesterday. A crane operator at its terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey managed to knock three boxes full of cars and kitchen supplies from the Maersk Kensington into the sea. The ship had recently docked from Norfolk, Virginia. âThe containers were non-hazardous and were floating at the time of arrival,â the local port authority said in a statement.
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2. Battle Over Seafarer Tickets
Ukraine has informed the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that documents issued to seafarers on the temporary occupied territory of Crimea and Sevastopol are invalid. The press service of Ukrainian Sea Port Authority gave the information, referring to the document submitted by Ukraine to the IMO Sub-Committee on Human Element, Training and Watchkeeping (HTW).
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3. Increase in Offshore Crime
Dryadâs 2016 figures highlighted a significant increase in offshore maritime crime in the Gulf of Guinea compared to 2015. The figure of 49 attacks at sea for 2016 is a huge increase on the 2015 total of 20 attacks. The number of crew kidnapped (51) is also significantly greater than the 31 abducted for ransom the previous year. The Somali pirate threat in the Indian Ocean remains broadly contained.
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4. German Banks Suffering
Steadily declining rates in the shipping industry are creating heavy shipping loan losses for Germanyâs banks. Commerzbank has warned that its losses on shipping loans, which last year nearly doubled to âŹ559m (US$595m) could grow further this year to âŹ600m, while Deutsche has reported that its own expected losses from shipping loans nearly tripled to âŹ346m from a year earlier.
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5. Winter Takes Hold
Severe winter weather has slowed rail deliveries of crops to shippers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, sending freight rates soaring and prompting Asian buyers to seek fill-in loads as they wait for the backlog at ports to clear.
Blizzards, avalanches and heavy rain in recent weeks have hit transport of corn, soy and wheat to ports where they head for the lucrative Asian market, adding to the struggles that have plagued U.S. exporters since harvest.
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6. High Environmental Cost
The owners of the cruise ship "Clipper Adventurer" will have to pay nearly $500,000 in environmental costs to the Canadian government after a Federal Court judge ruled them responsible for the vesselâs grounding on a rock shelf off Nunavut. The judge also dismissed a $13.5-million claim from the vesselâs Bahamas-based owners, Adventurer Owner, which alleged that the Canadian government should have given them more information about the shoal.
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7. Invisible Chinese Seafarers
In recent years, China has emerged as a world leader in shipbuilding, shipowning and seafarer-supply. Why is it then that Chinese seafarers remain an invisible group as far as many of the nationâs legal protections are concerned?
Dr Pengfei Zhang, academic, lawyer and former master mariner completed his PhD thesis on the barriers Chinese seafarers face in achieving the same level of remuneration and rights as inscribed in some international standards.
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8. More Boxes Lost
When errant crane drivers aren’t to blame it seems mother nature us. The boxship "Merete Maersk" lost 43 containers in the Mediterranean Sea off Algeria. The vessel was enroute from Tanjung Pelepas to Algeciras, but passed through heavy storm with strong winds, which caused shift of about 130 containers on main deck. The strong winds and heavy seas broke the secure belts, and 43 container fell overboard into the sea, while another 85 were damaged.
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9. Warning of Anchorage Attacks
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has warned this ship of the risk of robberies in Chittagong waters. The "Nautical Aliya", which is undertaking the âFood Flotilla for Myanmarâ humanitarian mission, has thus asked the missionâs volunteers on board to be vigilant when the ship is in the portâs limits. According to IMBâs Maritime Security Hotline, there are robbers targeting ships at anchor or preparing to anchor at Chittagong port.
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10. Cruise Ship Batters Bulker
The cruise ship "Seabourn Encore" broke free from its moorings in high winds at Timaru in New Zealand on Sunday, hitting the cement carrier Milburn Carrier II. According to local media, the cement carrierâs hull and Seabourn Encoreâs stern were damaged. No one was injured in the incident. The cruise ship became stuck between two wharves, and pilot and tug boats held her in position while the wind subsided.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd â providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
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