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UK blocks sanctions against suspected Somali pirates
12/08/2010 11:46:42
UK blocks sanctions against suspected Somali pirates Legal problems are still hindering the effort to deal with Somali pirates. SPS Victoria and pirate skiff The SPS Victoria fired warning shots to prevent the pirates fleeing. It's emerged that the British government is blocking a move at the UN to take action against two suspected pirate organisers....
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Somali Pirate Attacks Sink Premiums as Insurers Leap Aboard
05/08/2010 13:59:15
Somali Pirate Attacks Sink Premiums as Insurers Leap Aboard Kidnap and ransom premiums paid to insure against Somali piracy have slumped since the BBC Trinidad was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in August 2008 as escalating attacks spurred more companies to offer coverage. Buying $5 million of coverage now costs as little as $15,000 per voyage, half the peak rate in 2008, said William Miller, divisional director of Willis Group Holding Plc’s Kidnap and Ransom, or K&R, unit in London....
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UK Merchant Navy faces new pay threat from EU
02/08/2010 10:07:31
UK Merchant Navy faces new pay threat from EU. uk-mercant-navy-123.pngBritain's resurgent Merchant Navy, already battling legal attempts to raise the pay of foreign seamen, faces a new danger, this time from the European Union. Proposals to apply onshore employment rights to shipping companies are on the agenda for the new Belgian EU presidency....
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More time for Port of Dover sell-off consultation
23/07/2010 10:34:12
More time for Port of Dover sell-off consultation Dover The Port of Dover is the largest passenger port in northern Europe. The government has ordered a further public consultation into controversial plans to privatise the Port of Dover....
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Container lines divert ships, port says, while CN suspends rail service
23/07/2010 10:04:16
Container lines divert ships, port says, while CN suspends rail service. Employers at the Port of Montreal locked out the 850 members of the longshore union Monday morning, bringing cargo handling at terminals to a standstill....
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Container shortage hits shipping lines
20/07/2010 09:36:43
Container shortage hits shipping lines Maersk container ship The rise in trade took ship owners by surprise. The recent and unexpected surge in international sea cargoes ought to be nothing but good news for the world's shipping lines. Yet the industry has hit an unexpected snag....
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Jurisdictional Disputes Leave Foreign Crew Members In No Man’s Land
19/07/2010 18:09:43
Jurisdictional Disputes Leave Foreign Crew Members In No Man’s Land A number of articles published this weekend reveal the plight of young women sexually assaulted on foreign flagged cruise ships and cargo vessels....
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Norway launches AISSat-1 to monitor shipping in its territorial waters
13/07/2010 13:00:12
Norway has launched the innovative AISSat-1 spacecraft to monitor shipping in its territorial waters. The small satellite will track vessels over 300 gross tonnes by picking up the signals from their AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponders. AIS is a safety and navigation tool, and can be used by the authorities near the coast to keep watch on cargo, passenger and fisheries activity....
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BP installs new sealing cap on leaking Gulf oil well
13/07/2010 12:55:52
BP has successfully installed a new sealing cap on the leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well, company officials say. It is hoped the new cap will stop the leak and help capture all the oil before it can pour into the sea. But BP warned the cap system had never been deployed at such depths and said "its efficiency and ability to contain the oil and gas cannot be assured"....
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Alarm at Panama Canal fee increases
09/07/2010 12:03:15
Alarm at Panama Canal fee increases The Panama Canal Authority’s (ACP) new charging regime planned for January 1 has caused serious alarm among global shipping operators. Hong Kong flagged ‘Jakarta Express’ passes through the Panama Canal in 2009...
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The first Norwegian satellite is to be launched this summer
07/07/2010 09:50:58
The first Norwegian satellite is to be launched this summer in order to keep track of maritime activities in the High North. The AIS (Automatic Identification System) is used by ships and Vessel Traffic Services around the world as a short-range coastal traffic system....
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Hijacking of MV Golden Blessing in the Gulf of Aden
29/06/2010 12:28:37
In the early hours of 28 June, pirates took control of the MV Golden Blessing approximately 90 nautical miles off the northern Somali coast. On notification from the Master of the MV Golden Blessing that pirates were on board, the EU NAVFOR German warship Schleswig-Holstein immediately launched their helicopter and reported sighting suspected pirates on board the MV Golden Blessing....
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Netherlands court convicts Somali pirates
21/06/2010 12:26:11
Netherlands court convicts Somali pirates In the first piracy case to go to trial in Europe in the present century, a Dutch court in Rotterdam today convicted five Somalis of piracy and sentenced them to five years in prison. A statement from the Rotterdam court issued after the verdict said:...
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Australia. Austal launches Wind Express Series
15/06/2010 10:20:27
Australia. Austal launches Wind Express Series Austal has unveiled its new range of high speed transfer vessels specifically designed for the burgeoning offshore wind farm industry. The company’s Wind Express series of vessels combine fuel efficiency with advanced sea keeping characteristics to deliver a premier transportation solution for offshore wind farm operators....
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US teenage sailor Abby Sunderland rescued.
14/06/2010 09:25:11
US teenage sailor Abby Sunderland rescued. Abby Sunderland began her voyage in January A 16-year-old US girl who ran into problems trying to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world has been rescued in the Indian Ocean. Abby Sunderland was picked up by a French fishing vessel some 2,000 nautical miles off the Australian coast, maritime authorities said....
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Swansea to Ilfracombe ferry launch delayed to 2011.
10/06/2010 09:48:46
Swansea to Ilfracombe ferry launch delayed to 2011. Severn Link 'fast cat' ferry Crossings between Swansea and Devon would take about 50 minutes. The launch of a passenger ferry service connecting south Wales and Devon has been put off until 2011....
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Radioactive scrap vessel sinks.
10/06/2010 09:39:34
Radioactive scrap vessel sinks. UPDATED: The former transport vessel for spent nuclear fuel Severka reportedly sank at the naval shipyard in Aleksandrovsk on the Kola Peninsula in late May. Officials at the shipyard confirm that the vessel went down. The information about the sinking of the nuclear waste ship was first published by the regional portal blogger51.ru and is based on the words of what is said to be an employee at the shipyard No. 10 in Aleksandrovsk....
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Sixteen feared dead in Bangladesh ferry
09/06/2010 10:59:21
Sixteen feared dead in Bangladesh ferry UP to 16 people, including 13 children, drowned when a packed river ferry capsized in northeastern Bangladesh, as rescuers searched for more bodies. The accident happened on Tuesday morning in remote Sunamganj district, 140km north of the capital Dhaka, district administrator Kamrul Alam said....
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SPLICE THE MAINBRACE AND AHOY ME HEARTIES
09/06/2010 09:47:49
It is Seafarer’s Awareness Week and the fact that it is 70 years since Dunkirk gives it a poignancy. THE sea has always defined us, carried us and protected our islands. It is a part of us. It is Seafarer’s Awareness Week and the fact that it is 70 years since Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain gives it a special poignancy....
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Inmarsat grabs the MacRobert engineering prize.
08/06/2010 11:58:19
Inmarsat grabs the MacRobert engineering prize. BGAN relies on a network of satellites in geostationary orbit The UK's top engineering prize has been won by Inmarsat, for its Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) service. Inmarsat's team was awarded the prize for having successfully overcome "formidable" engineering challenges....
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Hanjin to Launch Massive Container Ship
07/06/2010 12:59:36
Hanjin to Launch Massive Container Ship Hanjin Shipping announced Sunday that it will operate a 10,000 TEU container ship on its Pacific and European routes from as early as late June. Built by Samsung Heavy Industries, the super-large container vessel is 350 m long, 45.6 m wide and 62 m high and can carry nearly 10,000 containers....
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Half Five Star’s crew abandons shipping line
07/06/2010 10:00:27
Half Five Star’s crew abandons shipping line. Thursday, 03 June 2010 22:57 Salai Han Thar San .
New Delhi (Mizzima) – About half of the total workforce at Burmese shipping’s Five Star Line have quit their posts as of Tuesday, saying they would seek better pay as crewmen for foreign lines....
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Containment cap offers hope even as oil spews on.
07/06/2010 09:52:41
Containment cap offers hope even as oil spews on. NEW ORLEANS — A device that's now sucking up significant amounts of the oil spewing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico offered a measure of optimism Sunday even as the government's point man on the spill warned problems would persist for months....
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Pirates shot dead as crew regain control of ship
03/06/2010 13:32:54
Up to nine people, including some Somali pirates, reportedly died after crew retake cargoship Rim...
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Nuclear Option on Gulf Oil Spill
03/06/2010 08:12:45
Nuclear Option on Gulf Oil Spill? No Way, U.S. The chatter began weeks ago as armchair engineers brainstormed for ways to stop the torrent of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico: What about nuking the well? Energy Secretary Steven Chu is not considering a bomb. Decades ago, the Soviet Union reportedly used nuclear blasts to successfully seal off runaway gas wells, inserting a bomb deep underground and letting its fiery heat melt the surrounding rock to shut off the flow. Why not try it here?...
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Breaking news - Somali Pirates hijack a Panama flagged ship.
02/06/2010 12:12:22
2nd June 2010 @ 1212GMT Somali pirates hijack a Panama-flagged cargo ship and its 24 crew in the Gulf of Aden, E.U. anti-piracy taskforce says. More information as it is available....
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NASA Satellites Keep Watch on Gulf Current Near Spill
02/06/2010 11:18:39
NASA Satellites Keep Watch on Gulf Current Near Spill NASA satellite altimetry data are being used in combination with data from other satellites to track changes in a huge warm ocean current in the Gulf of Mexico that could transport oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig far away from the Gulf. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Colorado...
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Declares Privatization Of 90.25% Of Black Sea Shipyard Illegal.
01/06/2010 14:15:43
Court Declares Privatization Of 90.25% Of Black Sea Shipyard Illegal. The Kyiv Business Court ruled on may 28 that the privatization of 90.25% of the shares in the Black Sea shipyard (Mykolaiv) worth UAH 116.6 million was illegal. The press service of the Prosecutor-General's Office announced this in a statement. The court upheld a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor-General's Office and invalidated the agreement under which the State Property Fund chairperson Valentyna Semeniuk-Samsonenko sold the 90.25% of the shares in the Black Sea Shipyard....
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Cochin Shipyard delivers supply vessel to Vroon Offshore.
01/06/2010 14:05:36
Cochin Shipyard delivers supply vessel to Vroon Offshore. The public sector Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) delivered a platform supply vessel to Vroon Offshore Division, a leading maritime offshore services supplier. This is the 16 {+t} {+h} platform supply vessel being built at CSL and the eighth in the Rolls Royce UT 755 LN series....
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ABA breaks into Asian market Aluminium Boats Australia (ABA)
01/06/2010 10:58:03
ABA breaks into Asian market Aluminium Boats Australia (ABA) has broken into the Asian market with an order for a passenger ferry for Chinese owners. The vessel is designed as a catamaran platform for crew transfer operations in Papua New Guinea. With capacity for 52 passengers plus two crew, the 19-metre craft will operate at a service speed of 22 knots with a full load deadweight of 6.95 tonnes....
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Boskalis to construct LNG port in Poland
31/05/2010 10:12:52
Boskalis to construct LNG port in Poland. Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has been awarded a contract for the construction of a new LNG (liquefied natural gas) port at Swinoujscie near Szcecin, Poland. The total contract value is approximately € 170 million with Boskalis’ share amounting approximately € 75 million. The contract was awarded by the Maritime Office of Poland and Boskalis will act as the lead contractor in a consortium including Hochtief Construction A.G. (Germany), Per Aarsleff A/S (Denmark) and Doraco (Poland). Work is set to commence mid 2010 and is due to be completed by the end of 2012....
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Groundbreaking $110m, DP3 “CSS” Vessel Ordered
27/05/2010 12:27:19
Groundbreaking $110m, DP3 “CSS” Vessel Ordered. Hallin Marine has commissioned a new, $110m, groundbreaking semi-submersible, subsea operations vessel to be named the CSS Derwent. “The CSS (compact semi submersible) delivers big ship capability in a low cost package,” said John Giddens, Hallin’s CEO. “It will support the oil operators’ desire to improve production and reduce costs.”...
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Despite international efforts, Somalia pirate attacks grow
27/05/2010 09:36:49
Despite international efforts, Somalia pirate attacks grow Somali pirates stand in the dock during their trial in Sanaa on May 18, 2010. A Yemeni court sentenced six Somali pirates to death and jailed six others for 10 years each for hijacking a Yemeni oil tanker and killing two cabin crew in April last year.

Pirates have stepped up their attacks off the coast of Somalia this year despite a large international naval flotilla designed to protect merchant shipping in the Horn of Africa region.
"The pirates are becoming more brazen," said Lt. Cmdr. Corey Barker, a spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain....
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Ships recreate Dunkirk journey for 70th anniversary.
27/05/2010 09:20:40
Ships recreate Dunkirk journey for 70th anniversary. The flotilla was cheered by crowds when it set off at around 0700 BST. The fleet of "Little Ships" which rescued Allied troops from Dunkirk in 1940 has set sail from the South Coast to mark the 70th anniversary of the event. More than 50 vessels are heading to France to commemorate Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of some 338,000 soldiers from Dunkirk's beaches....
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Top EU diplomat Ashton begins anti-piracy tour
20/05/2010 13:44:00
Top EU diplomat Ashton begins anti-piracy tour Catherine Ashton wants a more unified approach to tackle piracy the EU's top diplomat is to visit East Africa at the start of a tour aimed at curbing piracy off Somalia's coast. The EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, has said she wants to encourage a regional approach to the problem....
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Nato warship destroys pirate boats in Somali Basin
18/05/2010 10:13:45
Nato warship destroys pirate boats in Somali Basin HMS Chatham HMS Chatham is Nato's counter-piracy flagship A Royal Navy warship on Nato anti-piracy operations has destroyed two pirate boats in the Somali Basin, Nato has said. HMS Chatham's helicopter spotted a larger vessel towing the two attack boats in the Somali Basin, about 150 miles off Tanzania, on 14 May, it said. After monitoring the vessels overnight, a Royal Marine team launched a "well-planned operation" at dawn, it said....
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Salmond calls on Lib Dems to press for fishing policy reform
17/05/2010 09:23:53
Salmond calls on Lib Dems to press for fishing policy reform, first minister urges msp to talk to westminster chiefs ALEX Salmond has called on Scottish Liberal Democrats to urge the new coalition government in Westminster to make reforming EU fishing policy a priority. Scotland’s first minister hit the ball into the Lib Dems’ court as he was questioned on what action the Scottish Government is taking to support Scotland’s fleet and avoid early closures of fisheries....
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Somali pirates free UK-flagged tanker after ransom paid
14/05/2010 12:13:19
Somali pirates free UK-flagged tanker after ransom paid. The St James Park was seized in the Gulf of Aden Somali pirates have released a British-flagged ship with 26 crew on board after a ransom was paid, the EU anti-piracy mission (Eunavfor) says. Its statement says the ransom was dropped to the pirates holding the St James Park chemical tanker at Somalia's port of Garacaad on Thursday. The statement did not say how much money was paid. The vessel was on its way from Spain to Thailand when it was seized on 28 December in the Gulf of Aden....
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Somali pirates seize Greek ship The Eleni P
13/05/2010 16:47:14
Somali pirates seize Greek ship The Eleni P was sailing to China when it was boarded by pirates Pirates have seized a Greek-owned ship with 23 people on board in the Gulf of Aden, the ship's managers say. The Eleni P, which is managed by Eurobulk, was carrying a cargo of iron ore from the Black Sea to China. Eurobulk's Marcos Vassilikos told the BBC that pirates fired shots when they took the ship, but that the crew were not thought to have been injured....
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Cruise ship impounded in Portsmouth for hours
13/05/2010 16:31:16
The vessel was delayed at Portsmouth Harbour for four hours A cruise ship was impounded for several hours in Portsmouth amid safety fears.The Prince Albert II, operated by Silversea Cruises, was held at the Hampshire port on Monday after inspectors found it was overloaded. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it was also concerned that senior officers had not had enough rest. V.Ships, which manages the vessel, said although officers had rested, records had been incorrectly recorded. The excess load was also removed....
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Somali pirates free hijacked ship after ransom paid
12/05/2010 09:18:02
Somali pirates free hijacked ship after ransom Somali pirates have released a Bermuda-flagged ship they hijacked in the Indian Ocean two months ago. Pirates left the 11,000-tonne refrigerated cargo vessel MV Talca after a ransom was paid, the EU anti-piracy force Navfor said. the ship with a crew of 22 was seized off the coast of Oman. The mostly Sri Lankan crew is reported to be well. Somali pirates have hijacked dozens of ships this year, despite the presence of international naval forces....
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Russia jails 'pirate' over Arctic Sea ship mystery
11/05/2010 09:20:13
Russia jails 'pirate' over Arctic Sea ship mystery. The Arctic Sea disappeared in a busy European shipping lane last July A Moscow court has handed down a five-year jail term to one of the eight men detained over the mysterious seizure of the cargo ship Arctic Sea. Andrei Lunev, from the Estonian capital Tallinn, is the first to be sentenced over the incident last July. He was found guilty of piracy....
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CARNIVAL CORPORATION & PLC ADDS ADMIRAL SIR JONATHON BAND TO BOARDS OF DIRECTORS
10/05/2010 13:36:37
MIAMI (April 14, 2010) – At the annual shareholders meeting of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) held yesterday in Coral Gables, Fla., shareholders elected a new member to the company’s boards of directors - Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, recently retired First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff of the British Navy....
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British Merchant Fleet decline & the Volcano
06/05/2010 10:21:00
The Icelandic Volcano these past 2 months has really given the Maritime Community an opportunity to highlight their cause. Unfortunately, I really have not seen anyone from the Maritime Industry pushing the fact that freight is still being moved around the world with no issues what-so-ever. All the news stories highlight how “travel around Europe etc” as been paralyzed....
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Problems Encountered by Women Seafarers On Board Ships as Perceived by MAAP Midshipwomen:
04/05/2010 22:26:48
Problems Encountered by Women Seafarers On Board Ships as Perceived by MAAP Midshipwomen: Its Implications to MET Innovations ...
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Emergency services in Devon and Cornwall help seaman
04/05/2010 10:43:34
Emergency services in Devon and Cornwall help seaman A helicopter from RMB Chivenor airlifted the sick seaman to hospital Emergency services from south-west England have been involved in the rescue of a seaman on an oil tanker 250 miles off the west coast of Ireland....
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Sea cadet, 14, dies after falling from ship in Solent
04/05/2010 10:33:08
The boy was taking part in the 2010 Sea Cadet Festival in Portsmouth a 14-year-old sea cadet has died after falling overboard in the Solent. The boy, from Kent, was on the training ship TS Royalist which was anchored at Stokes Bay south of Gosport, Hampshire. He was climbing the rigging to bring in the sails when he fell 25ft (7.5m) into the sea on Sunday night. The crew retrieved him and sent a Mayday call....
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Sunderland Clipper ship is thrown lifeline
29/04/2010 10:29:22
Sunderland Clipper ship is thrown lifeline The ship has been in Scotland since 1992 A campaign to save the world's oldest passenger clipper ship from being broken up has been thrown a lifeline. A firm has been appointed to review options for the future of the City of Adelaide, built in Sunderland in 1864....
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Man rescued off Isle of Sheppey after sailing blunder
28/04/2010 16:31:40
Man rescued off Isle of Sheppey after sailing blunder. A lost sailor has had to be rescued after running out of fuel circling a small island when he thought he was sailing around the UK coast. The Sheerness lifeboat and the Thames Coastguard assisted the man who ran aground off the Elmley Marshes on the Isle of Sheppey on 19 April. With only a road map for directions, he set off on the river Medway, from Gillingham, and headed for Southampton....
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Maritime Communications
27/04/2010 15:32:24
Shore side Communications technology has improved dramatically in the last 20 years but maritime Communications has always struggled to keep up with the changes at the same pace. This is due to a number of factors, from cost of the systems to amount of work required to refit a ship with a new communications system. Work that can only been completed when a ship is available to go into an extended period alongside, ie drydock....
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Port Kembla docks: seafarer leprosy case confirmed
26/04/2010 15:52:00
Port Kembla docks: seafarer leprosy case confirmed Health authorities have confirmed a foreign seafarer whose ship docked at Port Kembla has tested positive for leprosy. A spokeswoman for South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Health yesterday declined to elaborate on the condition of the man, who was admitted to Wollongong Hospital with skin lesions on April 2 after leaving a Greek-registered vessel....
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Marine Engineer builds own boat.
26/04/2010 15:30:49
Owen, 66, first started work on the 40ft long sloop in 1982 because he could not afford to buy his own vessel. He told mum Edith it would only take five years but after suffering "a few problems" it spiralled into a mammoth project spanning nearly three decades. When he finally finished, he was left with the head-scratching task of getting the 18-tonne yacht out of the back garden....
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IMB piracy figures indicate increased threat and range of Somali pirates
22/04/2010 14:25:53
IMB piracy figures indicate increased threat and range of Somali pirates The International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) latest quarterly report on Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships recorded a total of 67 incidents of piracy worldwide in the first three months of 2010. twenty-six vessels were boarded, 18 were fired upon, there were twelve attempted attacks and eleven vessels were hijacked. A total of 194 crewmembers were taken hostage with twelve injured....
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22/04/2010 14:11:35
This is an extract from a fantastic blog I have been following by Clay Maitland....
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@gentedimare Twitter reporter Fatigue report
20/04/2010 10:25:18
@gentedimare Twitter reporter Fatigue report.
@gentedimare is a great Twitter feed, who cares for the Seafarer.
They highlighted this great report on Fatigue which I want to share with
you all here....
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