Currents…..

Currents……

BALLAST DELAY: the UK, Norway, Brazil, Liberia, India and the Cook Islands are urging the International Maritime Organisation to delay implementation of the Ballast Water Management convention. In a document submitted for discussion at the IMO’s maritime environment protection committee in July, the flag states suggest the implementation date of the convention should move from September 2017 to September 2019.

MIGRANT RESCUES: the proportion of at-sea migrant rescues being carried out by merchant ships in the Mediterranean has risen from 4% last year to 12% so far this year, the European Community Shipowners’ Associations body has revealed. It has warned European border and coast guard officials that merchant ships should not ‘become a permanent part of the solution to this problem’ and that more comprehensive measures are required.

EMISSION CALL: the International Chamber of Shipping is calling for the International Maritime Organisation to set more ambitious targets for reducing CO2 emissions from shipping, in line with the levels set by the Paris Agreement on climate change. Nautilus senior national secretary Allan Graveson said the owners were neglecting the problems posed by NOx, SOx and particulate matter.

SATCOM BOOST: Inmarsat is promising further improvements in shipboard connectivity following the successful launch of the fourth, high-speed broadband communications satellite in its Global Xpress (GX) constellation. It says the new satellite will add further capacity to the GX network, as well as in-orbit redundancy to improve reliability and resilience.

NORWEGIAN SURVEY: Dutch shipping firm Fugro has begun a €3.8m contract for the Norwegian Hydrographic Service to survey a 15,000 sq km area of the country’s waters. The 496gt Gibraltar-registered survey vessel Fugro Helmert will be used for the project, which is due to be completed in September, and will cover water depths between 80m and 3,500m.

STABBING PROBE: Dutch police were called in to investigate a suspected stabbing onboard a Dutchflagged containership some 82 miles off the Scottish island of Lewis. A seaman was airlifted ashore from the 4,015gt Leah to be treated for chest and arm injuries. As the ship was in international waters at the time, the incident was referred to the flag state.

BOSKALIS CUTS: the Dutch dredging firm Boskalis has announced that 230 jobs will be cut from its head office in Papendracht in a bid to save between €30m and €35m. Nautilus official Charley Ramdas said he was surprised by the scale of the redundancies, which follow moves to cut the fleet and to reduce the number of seafarer positions.

CRANE CRASH: an investigation was launched after the UK-flagged containership CMA CGM Centaurus struck a ship-to-shore crane while berthing at Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. One crane collapsed after the 131,332gt vessel hit the quay while berthing, and a second crane was shifted off its wheels.

SEAFARING APP: a new app ‘designed by seafarers for seafarers’ has been launched after three years in development. eMaritime Exchange is described as a social network for seafarers, incorporating the latest news, jobs, discussion forums and regulatory updates.

DRONE TRIALS: the European Maritime Safety Agency is conducting a trial of drones for maritime surveillance operations, including pollution monitoring, border control, and search and rescue. Preliminary results are due to be released early in June.

CARRIERS CHECKED: following the loss of the 266,000dwt bulker Stellar Daisy, the Marshall Islands ship registry is carrying out urgent inspections of 12 very large ore carriers that were converted from tankers.

CAPSIZE INQUIRY: South Korea’s government has established a new inquiry into the causes of the capsize of the ferry Sewol in April 2014, in which 304 people died. An initial investigation blamed the loss on modifications which had affected the ship’s stability, as well as an inexperienced crew. The wreck of the vessel was raised at the end of March and new evidence about the reasons for the loss will be sought by a team of experts.

DRINKING DETENTION: Danish authorities sent a team of police and doctors to a Barbados-flagged ship after VTS officers raised concerns that the crew sounded drunk when they were in radio contact. The 1,904gt general cargo ship Wilson Bergen was detained after tests showed that several seafarers, including the master, were over the limit.

COBELFRET ORDERS: the Belgian operator Cobelfret has ordered two new 8,000 lane m ro-ros from the Hyundai Mipo year as part of a fleet expansion plan. The company already has two new ferries being built at the yard, which are set for delivery in September and December this year.

TANKER ORDERS: around 30 VLCC orders have already been placed so far this year, more than doubling last year’s tally of 13 for the whole of 2016. Gibson Shipbrokers says that ‘attractive’ newbuilding prices being offered by shipyards have fuelled the increase.

SPANISH STRIKES: dock workers in Spain have warned of a series of strikes in protest at plans to overhaul port labour practices. The International Transport Workers’ Federation condemned the move and said it showed ‘a callous disregard for jobs’.

VEHICLE SERVICE: Greek vehicle carrier operator Neptune Lines has launched a new weekly service for the French firm Renault, linking Le Havre, Southampton, Rosslare and Santander, using the Maltese-flagged vessel Neptune Dynamis.

SUPPLY LOSSES: the French maritime union CFDT has voiced concern over the loss of seafarer jobs as a result of a plan to switch the 9,403gt Antarctic research/ supply vessel Marion Dufresne from the French flag to its RIF international register.

GREEK GROWTH: Greek shipowners are leading the global orderbook, by signing deals for 35 newbuildings since the start of 2017. US-based owners are in second place, followed by Singapore, Norway and the Netherlands.

REEF DAMAGE: the Spanish-flagged LNG tanker Sevilla Knutsen is undergoing repairs in the Philippines after striking an uncharted reef south of Guam, while sailing in ballast from Japan to Australia.

FATAL FIRE: a seafarer died and three others were injured after a fi re onboard a 5,100dwt Panama-flagged tanker in the United Arab Emirates port of Hamriyah.

PHILIPPINES CHARTER: MPs in the Philippines have backed a proposed ‘Magna Carta’ for the country’s seafarers, setting out rights to decent onboard living and working conditions, medical care, onboard communications, and reasonable work and rest hours. The bill also protects seafarers against gender, race, political or religious discrimination, provides legal representation to those who cannot afford it, and upholds the right to engage in collective bargaining. If approved, manning agencies will be prohibited from charging a placement fee and will need to be licensed.

NORWEGIAN ALARM: Norway’s government has agreed to modify its controversial proposals to extend the scope of the international ship register NIS, but disappointed the unions by saying it would still allow ferry company Color Line to switch some of its ships to the flag. Unions have warned that as many as 700 Norwegian jobs could be lost if Color Line is allowed to use the international register. They have urged the coalition government to stage a public inquiry into whether Norwegian labour terms and conditions should prevail in the country’s waters.

MASTER DIES: the Ukrainian master of a Togo flagged general cargo ship which has been detained in Romania since January died after suffering a heart attack last month. Local union officials said Captain Yuriy Tsaruk had been ‘unable to cope with the hardships and psychological problems’ since the 2,478gt Geo Star was detained after failing a port state control inspection. The International Transport Workers’ Federation has been working to recover around US$150,000 owed wages for the ship’s 11 crew.

PORTUGAL PROBE: the European Commission is taking action against Portugal for failing to meet its flag state obligations to maintain a quality management system, and to monitor and report on work carried out by its recognised organisations. The Commission said the case, which will be brought before the European Court of Justice, was important because of the recent growth of the Portuguese second register in Madeira, which now has 318 ships of 10.7m gt on its books.

GREEK STRIKE: Greek seafaring unions staged a four-day strike last month in protest at new austerity measures tabled by the country’s government. The Panhellenic Seamen’s Federation said the proposals to cut pensions, salaries and social benefits would lead its members to ‘destitution’.

REEFER SINKS: a Panama-flagged refrigerated cargo ship has sunk in the South Atlantic after being holed by ice. The Falkland Islands government said the 10,629gt Uruguay Reefer had been towed out to sea after drifting into a conservation zone after the crew abandoned ship.

JOBS WARNING: the head of one of Italy’s biggest ferry companies, Vicenzo Onorato, has criticised rival operators for exploiting non-EU seafarers, warning that the use of low-cost foreign crews is killing jobs in traditional Italian maritime communities.

MSC vessel blaze highlights mega-ship risks Authorities are planning to investigate the cause of a fire that broke out in the bow of a 13,800 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) ship operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company underlining the safety hazards of mega-ships.

The MSC Daniela was heading from Singapore to Port Said, at the northern end of the Suez Canal, when the fire broke out at about 1030 h local time on Tuesday, MSC said in a statement. It occurred off the coast of Sri Lanka, about five days out of Port Said, according to AIS Live, a sister division of JOC.com within IHS Markit.

The fire was extinguished at 0630 h local time on Wednesday, the carrier said. “Once the ship is considered safe, an investigation into the cause of the fire will be formally initiated,” the carrier said. The incident highlights the inherent dangers of larger ships, and the potential for accidents. Analysts say that bigger ships mean larger safety risks in part because large volume of cargo on board puts added stress on the ships. In addition, the potential loss of cargo when accidents hit such large ships magnifies the losses, analysts say.

The potential cost of a 19,000-TEU ship that is lost could top $1 billion compared with the $300 million to $400 million in claims that followed the sinking of the 8,000-TEU container ship MOL Comfort in 2013, Captain Andrew Kinsey, senior marine risk consultant at Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, said last year.

The MOL Comfort broke up on June 17, 2013 en route from Singapore to Jeddah, an accident that a Japanese government probe concluded was due to sea loads exceeding the ultimate strength of the ship’s hull girders. In July the International Maritime Organization’s Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) amendment took effect, requiring that the weight of all containers be reported to the carrier in order to prevent accidents at sea and in port caused by overloaded containers. MSC said the “extent of the damage and cargo losses” from the fire on the MSC Daniela will not be known “until the vessel has safely berthed and has undergone a thorough inspection.” After the fire broke out, MSC representatives in coordination with local and national authorities “undertook a concerted effort to extinguish the fire,” with tugboats, a specialized fire-fighting vessel, and a helicopter all helping out. Published reports said the ships were attended by the Sri Lankan and Indian navies. (Journal of Commerce, 4/5/2017) Courtesy AIMU Weekly Bulletin.

Report warns on internet access

A majority of seafarers would consider moving to a shipping company which offers better onboard connectivity, research has revealed.

Initial results of the survey of almost 2,000 seafarers and 18 shipping company representatives were presented at a high-level workshop organised by the satcom services provider Inmarsat at the Crew Connect Europe conference last month.

On the positive side, head of communications Andrew Linington told the meeting, the survey showed that 88% of members reported that their companies provide internet access for seafarers and only 4% said they could never get connected while at sea. On the downside, he noted, the study showed that there are many restrictions on connectivity and only 57% have personal email access at sea, just 34% have social media access onboard, and only 6% are able to use video calling on their ships.

The research showed that companies cited high running and installation costs (83%), crew downloading inappropriate content (83%), downloading big fi les (67%), and distraction from work (58%) as among the main reasons for not providing internet access or restricting crew connectivity.

The roundtable, which was attended by shipping company representatives from the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Germany, considered whether shipowners’ concerns are valid and whether investment in good crew communications will be repaid with enhanced recruitment and retention rates.

Drew Brandy, Inmarsat’s VP of maritime market strategy, described the report’s findings as concerning, arguing that there are no longer any fundamental financial or technical barriers to the provision of decent crew communications at sea.

Advances in satellite communications have brought the costs of basic vessel connectivity to barely 0.3% of total operating costs, he said, and the industry debate should be about changing the traditional mindset of reluctance to provide seafarers with good connectivity.

Not only will decent services ensure a good quality of life for crew, they will also deliver benefits for safety, training and vessel efficiency, he added.

Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress service incorporates a platform for user-friendly access to a range of apps supporting crew welfare and other requirements, Mr Brandy said, and Fleet Media delivers movies straight to seafarers’ devices and opens up possibilities for remote training.

The meeting also discussed the need for clear and simple agreed policies on crew communications, including the use of social media.

A full report, which is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken into crew communications, is due to be published during 2017 Seafarers Awareness Week in June.

ED: On 1 July 2016 the UN resolved that access to the internet is to be considered a basic human right.  Need I say any more?

(With thanks to the Nautilus Telegraph:  https://www.nautilusint.org)