Seafarers sound the alarm over suspicious flags
An investigation revealed that most of these vessels fish illegally or transport suspicious cargo. The investigation was conducted after it emerged that a Tanzanian oil tanker, which was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden a fortnight ago, was sailing under a Panama flag.
It was later discovered that the owners are Cambodian based and its port of registry is Phnom Penh. According to experts, the unregulated FOCs fuel illegal activities such as arms smuggling, money laundering and trafficking in goods and people.
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Piracy costs shipping firms over $100m annually, says report
The report from the World Peace Foundation noted that piracy was now “big business” with an estimated 1,500 buccaneers off the coast of Somalia involved in seven syndicates.
The business is co-ordinated by a few bosses operating mainly from Kenya, Dubai and Lebanon.
The report predicts that acts of piracy will escalate unless urgent action is taken. It proposes, for instance, providing pirates with economic incentives.
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New sewage plant regulation threatens shipowners
Stringent guidelines on black water treatment were implemented on 1 January. Outlined in the MARPOL 73/78 rules under the IMO MECP 159(55) Resolution, the guidelines restrict treated sewage contents of BOD5, TSS, COD, thermo-tolerant coliform bacteria and chlorine.
The new regulations are problematic because even shipowners with newly approved sewage plants run the risk of receiving both fines and imprisonment, as their sewage plant might be considered too small.
Although a quote for a sewage treatment plant is normally requested by specifying the number of persons onboard, a sewage plant is approved based on hydraulic load (litres per day) and organic load (kg of BOD5 per day).
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Rough seas may be ahead for shipping IPOs
It may not be the best time for a shipping company to ask investors to take the plunge. The industry has been hurt by sluggish global demand for commodities like oil, cement and iron ore and coal. Making matters worse, the IPO market has been difficult all year as concerns about the pace of the global economic recovery has dulled investors’ taste for new companies.
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Somali pirates, security personnel in 4 shootouts
In the most serious skirmish Friday, six pirates attacked a vessel before breaking off and chasing the French fishing boat Torre Giulia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force.
A French military detachment onboard a nearby ship fired warning shots at the pirates. The ship then approached the skiff and collided with it, sinking the skiff and throwing the pirates into the water. Four were rescued, but two others were missing, Harbour said.
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Unfair treatment of seafarers - Serious implications for the seafarers involved
Consequences range from long periods of detention, as well as the severe psychological impact resulting therefrom to a variety of “side-effects” of a more practical nature, which nonetheless change the life of seafarers significantly. The IMO’s 2010 “Year of the Seafarer” campaign is aimed at paying tribute to the world’s seafarers and will constitute an important contribution to the efforts of ensuring fair treatment of seafarers, as well as complement the IMO’s “Go to Sea!” campaign to attract new entrants to the shipping industry; two initiatives fully supported by BIMCO.
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Malacca threat raises cost stakes for shippers
John Dalby, chief executive of maritime security company MRM, which provides risk assesments to companies, said ships diverting could be one of the major risks in the event of an attack.
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More than 50 ships stuck in Baltic Sea ice: maritime authorities
He said that two large Viking Line ferries that regularly shuttle thousands of passengers between Sweden and Finland were among the four ferries still stuck in the ice.
According to the TT news agency, the two ferries were the Isabella and the Amorella and were in total carrying 2,630 passengers.
Source : AFP
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Bangladeshi shipbreakers return to work
The High Court, on January 21, ordered authorities to ensure scrap ships are certified as free of toxic chemicals before entering Bangladesh territory. It also ordered closure of yards that could not provide certification for ships, which are in the process of being broken. With India and Pakistan also tightening regulations for shipbreaking following a recent IMO ruling one school of thought suggests this industry will simply move continents. Ingvild Jenssen from the NGO Platform on Shipbreaking explains has told the Ecologist magazine how tougher regulations simply relocated the shipbreaking industry in the past from east Asia to south Asia and could see the industry shift to Africa soon.
‘In the 1970s ships were dismantled in Europe under far better conditions that what we are witnessing on the beaches of Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. But when Europe introduced stricter legislation to protect workers and the environment the industry moved to first Japan, Taiwan and China,’ he said. ‘There as well safety and environmental rules were progressively introduced and the industry then moved to South Asia. It has therefore been a continuous race-to-the-bottom and we fear that Africa will be the next destination if no measures are introduced to stop today’s dangerous and polluting practice of beach-breaking.’
Source : SeaTradeAsia-Online
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Wave of oil tanker deals predicted
Mr Arntzen said that banks’ reluctance to lend would force weaker owners to sell out to stronger ones. OSG has the world’s second-largest tanker fleet by ship numbers.
The process would favour listed companies that could raise capital on public markets, Mr Arntzen went on. His views contradict traditional shipping market wisdom, which values the benefits of the secrecy enjoyed by the sector’s hundreds of private owners.
