MARITIME NEWSMonday, March 24, 2014

International maritime news for seafarers

ICS pushes for 'simple' emission reporting systemThe International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) believes that an emission reporting system for ships should first be developed before a mandatory policy is implemented.

ICS external relations director Simon Bennett said that the chamber supports the International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) efforts in developing a global system of monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions from vessels. However, he stressed that an emission reporting system that is simple to administer should be implemented first.

Such a system should also not result in a "full-blown Market-Based Measure."

"The priority of ICS is to assure the primacy of IMO as the industry's global regulator. The successful development of a global system will require the support of all IMO Member States, including nations such as China," according to Bennett.

"In order to make progress and discourage regional regulation, we think that the MEPC should initially focus on how information about emissions should be collected before launching into detailed discussions about efficiency indexing of ships, on which there is little global consensus," he added.

Ways to further enhance and develop a global monitoring system for ship emission are set to be discussed during an IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee slated to start next week.

The ICS official therefore called on all parties to refrain from pushing for ship indexing until the IMO makes a final decision on a global system for monitoring CO2 emissions from ships.

SAFETY STUDYECDIS-ASSISTED GROUNDINGDespite lacking in training in the proper use of ECDIS, an OOW relied on the equipment and drove his ship into the shallows.

SUMMARY

During the early morning, a very large container ship grounded at full speed on a clearly-marked sandbank in a busy traffic separation scheme. The vessel was equipped with an integrated bridge system, including full ECDIS capability, and the OOW was relying heavily on this despite having not been trained in its use.

As the vessel approached the bank, the OOW altered course to give more room for a ship his vessel was overtaking. Unfortunately, this alteration put the bank right ahead, but the contour and colour settings selected on the ECDIS made this difficult to differentiate on the system's display.

Later, two flashing lights were seen, one on each bow, which the OOW thought to be fishing boats. He decided he could pass safely between them about half a mile off. He continued to steer between the lights instead of bringing his vessel back onto track.

The officer was still unaware of the bank when the vessel came to a sudden stop and several alarms sounded. Luckily, therewere no injuries and only minor damage was sustained.

Even when the ECDIS recording was replayed after the grounding, it was not easy to see the bank. The settings selected coloured all areas within the 30-metre contour in dark blue, including the bank and the buoy symbols. The echo sounder and ECDIS depth alarms had been set to minimum.

LESSONSECDIS is an effective aid to navigation when used correctly. However, it has many user-defined selections which can be set inappropriately by an untrained user. Officers who are appointed to ECDIS equipped vessels should have attended an approved, generic, ECDIS course followed by familiarisation with the equipment on board.

To avoid miss-application of settings and warning alarms the company or the master should define the settings to be used rather than leave it to the personal preference of each OOW.

When aids to navigation fail, or are used incorrectly, judicious use of the "Mark 1 eyeball" should still avert an accident.

Source: UK MAIB

MARINA chief confident of handling new dutiesThe head of the Philippines' Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) has assured that the agency is capable of handling the various tasks assigned to it following a new legislation signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III.

MARINA administrator Maximo Mejia Jr said that the agency will now handle the manning, certification and training of local seafarers.

These functions were formerly undertaken by the Professional Regulation Commission, Commission on Higher Education, Maritime Training Centre, Technical Education Skills Development Authority, and Department of Health., PNA reported.

Mejia said the agency just needs proper funding and equipment in order to perform its duties efficiently. He noted that there is a 12-month transition period before MARINA takes over the functions previously held by other agencies.

Mejia said the transition period would allow the agency ample time to formulate the budget, equipment and personnel request to the Department of Budget and Management.

Once these are approved, the MARINA chief said that they could easily undertake all the functions earlier performed by the five agencies.

Chinese icebreaker to arrive at search area TuesdayChinese icebreaker Xuelong is expected to arrive Tuesday at the area in the southern Indian Ocean where possible debris of the missing Malaysian jetliner MH370 had been spotted in satellite images.

The long-serving Antarctic research vessel is still some 1,046km away from the search area, and it will take the icebreaker another 40 hours to get there.

Xu Ting, deputy director of Xuelong's search operations, said all the crew members have been doing their best to look for any possible traces of the missing plane.

"Though we are still hundreds of miles away from the targeted waters, we are combat-ready for an all-out search mission," he added.

The helicopter-carrying Xuelong, or "Snow Dragon," left the Australian port of Fremantle for the southern Indian Ocean on Friday after it received an order to join the hunt.

Australia said Thursday they had spotted two objects in the southern Indian Ocean possibly related to the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

Following that, Chinese and French satellites also spotted suspicious objects with a possible linkage to the missing jet in nearby waters, yet the on-going search operations have so far failed to locate any, Xinhua reported.

SHIPPING

Newbuildings, secondhand vessels post strong ordersLatest data compiled by shipbroker Golden Destiny has shown high demand for newbuildings and second-hand vessels, with shipowners investing around USD14.7 billion in February.

A total of 205 vessels were ordered in the said month amounting to around USD11 billion, up 33% from the previous year. Purchases of second-hand vessels also improved in February, with 149 ships ordered for a total of USD3.71 billion.

While both newbuildings and second-hand vessels posted increases compared to the previous year, the numbers are lower compared to January figures, the shipbroker noted.

"February ended with firmness in secondhand purchasing and ordering appetite of shipping players, but with a declining trend from the record highs of the first month of the year. The Chinese Lunar New Year may have impacted negatively the investment trends with shipping players waiting to see the direction of asset prices and freight rates during March," Golden Destiny said.

DEVELOPMENTKVH launches more TracVision antenna systemsSeafarers will soon get to enjoy better satellite TV entertainment at sea with a new TracVision product from KVH Industries Inc.

KVH recently unveiled the TracVision TV-series, a powerful stabilised marine satellite television antenna systems designed to provide superior TV and high-definition TV performance for yachts and merchant vessels across the globe.

The four new antenna systems are equipped with IP-enabled belowdecks hub and a device-friendly user interface that allow easy system access from smart phones, tablets, smart TVs and computers.

The TracVision TV-series also supports DISH networks and KU-band services world-wide, meaning seafarers will be able to access hundreds of digital TV and movie channels while at sea.

"The TracVision TV-series brings satellite TV at sea to an entirely new level, providing not only the great antenna performance that TracVision is known for, but also the ease of use that today's yacht owners and ship operators expect," said KVH chief executive officer Martin Kits van Heyningen.

INCIDENTSBusy US Gulf ship lane closed due to oil spillA busy shipping lane to the port of Houston, Texas was closed Monday as clean up crews struggled to remove oil that spilled in a weekend barge crash, AFP reported,

The barge loaded with a million gallons of tar-like "bunker" oil collided with a ship Saturday, and the US Coast Guard said that some 168,000 gallons of oil had spilled in the accident.

Clean-up agencies deployed more than 69,000 feet of containment boom near the crash site "and along sensitive shorelines in the area," the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Some 24 vessels "are actively working to skim the oil," the Sunday statement read.

Workers siphoned the remaining oil from the barge's damaged compartment into a second barge, and the damaged vessel was later moved to a shipyard, Texas state officials said. The Houston Ship Channel "remains closed to traffic," the statement read. Coast Guard said let two cruise ships through the area on Sunday "to minimize inconvenience to the thousands of passengers aboard and limit economic impacts from the spill."

Navy: Militia-seized oil tanker back to TripoliA commercial oil tanker held by rebels came back to Tripoli on Sunday, the Libyan navy said. Three Libyan militias onboard and 21 foreign crew, including six Palestinians, six Indians, three Sri Lankans, two Syrians, two Sudanese and two Eritreans, were detained, PNA and Xinhua reported.

The vessel, loaded with more than 200,000 barrels of oil, broke into international waters from the rebel-controlled port Al-Sidra earlier this month, trying to sell their stocks to potential buyers. The Libyan navy said they failed to blockade the Morning Glory from escaping due to "bad weather."

The US Navy SEALs stormed the ship in the international waters near Cyprus and seized control of it last Sunday. Later theyhanded it over to the Libyan government. The incident fuelled a political crisis in Libya that led to the parliament's removal of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

PORT OF THE WEEKPort of BeiraThe port of Beira in Mozambique is situated at the mouth of the Pungue River at Longitude 34 degrees 50' E and Latitude 19 degrees 51' S.

The town of Beira was founded at the same time as Johannesburg, in the late 19th century, after having been identified as a potential port by the Portuguese explorer Paive de Andrade.

The port is directly linked to the hinterland of Zimbabwe and Zambia, by road and rail networks, and currently by road only to Malawi. Beira is 319kms from the Zimbabwe border at Machipanda and 685kms from Malawi via well-maintained road links. The Sena railway line linking Beira with Malawi and the Tete Province is currently being rebuilt.

The Beira terminal has a total of 11 berths stretching over a total length of 1994 metres, excluding berth No1, which is reserved as a fishing harbour.

A pipeline constructed in 1960 links the port with Zimbabwe. The port handles a variety of cargo from breakbulk to liquid bulk including petroleum.

Access to the port is via the dredged Mancuti Channel.

All activities at Beira are fully computerised utilising a port management system, which can be accessed by the internet to provide accurate information on the status of their cargo.

Beira is served with two 2200BHP, 35 tonne bollard pull tugs, a pilot boat and a mooring launch, available 24 hours a day.

During 2005/6 a total of 208 ocean-going ships called at Beira, in addition to 80 coastal vessels. The container terminal handled 46,775 TEUs, which consisted of 240,333 tonnes landed, 240,669 tonnes shipped and 48,456 tonnes of coastal traffic.

The multi-purpose and container terminal is one of the most modern in southern Africa and covers 645 metres of berth length with a depth alongside of 12 metres. The terminal design capacity is 100,000 TEUs per year.

The port is served by an illuminated container yard spread over 200,000sqm, accommodating 3,117 TEUs including 144 electrical reefer points and dedicated IMDG storage area, and a fully secured 3650sqm covered storage facility.

The port is equipped with two 50 tonne ship-to-shore gantry cranes, a fleet of reachstackers and one rail mounted gantry crane with a 50-tonne capacity.

There is also a dedicated refrigerated cargo berth including citrus exports, vegetables and other fresh products.

SHIPPING DATABALTIC EXCHANGE

Market snapshot: (March 21)Dry Index BDI 1599 -22Capesize Index BCI 3036 -93Panamax Index BPI 1112 -8

Supramax Index BSI 1209 +4Handysize Index BHSI 674 +3

EXCHANGE RATES

New York (Fri Cls) Fgn Currency USD in Fgn in USD CurrencyBritain (Pound) 1.6495 0.6062Canada (Dollar) 0.8921 1.1210China (Yuan) 0.1606 6.2253Euro 1.3795 0.7249India (Rupee) 0.0164 60.9200Indonesia (Rupiah) 0.000087 11470.00Japan (Yen) 0.009784 102.2100Norway (Krone) 0.1652 6.0543Philippines (Peso) 0.0221 45.2700Poland (Zloty) 0.3285 3.0400Russia (Ruble) 0.0276 36.2525Singapore (Dollar) 0.7851 1.2738Ukraine (Hryvnia) 0.0950 10.5250