Maritime News from gCaptain.com

Fit out the phattest sea-ride…

Make your suggestions to the best, wildest fantasy ship, and see your ideas come to life

By Ryan Skinner for 59° 56′ N

Somewhere, at some time, someone probably said: "Yeah, this ship’s OK, but it’d be better if it had…." And anyone who’s ever seen MTV’s Pimp My Ride knows that all your dreams can be realized, as long as you have some cash, a welding torch and some know-how.

Now, anyone can propose any thing for the wildest ship imaginable! Pimp a ship! Whatever’s your thing – swimming pools, 3-D cinemas, mud wrestling, laser weaponry, whatever! – just propose it in a comment below or take part in the discussions at LinkedIn groups.

It can be a cruise ship, a tanker, an offshore ship, any commercial vessel, and any wild thing you’d like to put on board. Use your imagination! The results will be put into a series of illustrations by a colleague of mine, a designer who can make any thought into gorgeous visuals. And anyone who takes part will get co-credit for the design.

Send your suggestions »

This post is brought to us by Peter Mello of Sea-fever.org (via NOAA), in two seperate installments.  The first post a map of Ocean Energy Distribution Map from Chile Earthquake Tsunami (shown above).  Peter writes:

8.2-foot tsunami wave expected to strike Hilo, Hawaii 11:05 a.m. local time (4:05 p.m. ET) according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Tsunami advisory extended to Oregon, Washington, parts of Alaska, coastal British Colombia by West Coast Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

Here is the map of the Chilean earthquake and aftershocks from the USGS.

Peter then follows up with the following;

This post of NOAA’s Wave Energy Distribution Map (computer modeled) was a very popular Sea-Fever post over the weekend.

If you think that graphic was impressive, the below animation will definitely rock your boat.

This YOUblog featured article was submitted by one of gCaptain’s top contributors, Ordinaryseaman, otherwise known as Anthony, who was recently accepted to PMI’s Workboat Mate Program.

–

Howdy everyone!

For those who don’t know, PMI and their sister school MITAGS offer an excellent program for entry level and experienced mariners to obtain a mate’s license aboard tugs, research vessels, OSV’s, and small cruise ships. The 2 year program alternates classroom training and working aboard vessels in a format that lets you get your mate’s license in much less time – and for much less money – than the typical “hawsepipe” system of working your way up the ladder. More information can be found at www.workboatacademy.com

This is the first post in a series detailing my experiences as a cadet at Pacific Maritime Institute in Seattle Washington. My hope is to give those considering becoming a cadet some insight into what it’s like to be a cadet. I will try to post as often as my tight schedule of school, studying, and working a night job allows. Feel free to PM or email me with any questions you may have – Anthony

–

Today was my my first day as a cadet in the “workboat academy” cadet program at Pacific Maritime Institute in Seattle, Washington. Just last Friday I was sitting at my computer back home in Colorado. I got a message from gCaptain.com forum member “danzante“- whose alter ego is Jill Russell, PMI’s operations manager. She asked If I wanted to be in the program. I responded-absolutely!  Then she asked if I could be in Seattle, ready to go first thing Monday morning!  PMI – and Jill and Marjah in particular – bent over backwards to help me get in on short notice – thanks!

I’ve worked on ships since 2006- starting as a dishwasher and moving up to deckhand. All the while I’d been looking for a way to get the training I need to become a mate, then captain, without going to a 4 year academy.

In life opportunities are often available for only a minute. I didn’t have have money for tuition, a ticket to Seattle, or a place to stay. What I did have was a STRONG desire to succeed- whatever the price.

I had enough money for my ticket, and a few night at the hostel- which I bought immediately. After making a few calls and selling a few of my things- I had my first quarter’s tuition and living expenses. (Raised an additional $1500 today as well) I found a free bunk near PMI by trading work for lodging at a hostel- as did another of our cadets. I packed my bags and set off for Seattle..

My first morning I awoke at 6 am and walked past Pike’s Place Market, past the bristling ferry depot, and South along Seattle’s waterfront to PMI’s facility adjacent the US Coast Guard.

After meeting with Jill and Marjah, two of PMI’s high trained experienced staff) I met the rest of the PMI Workboat Academy-class of March 2010. There are 6 others- 5 male and 1 female. Most have have some maritime experience, but not all. Ages range from early 20’s to 40’s. The only common denominator is a passion for a career in the maritime industry.

We all seemed a little nervous as we waited for class to begin. The rest of the class had just completed their basic safety training (BST) and spoke highly of the instruction in first aid, cpr, firefighting, water survival, etc. I arrived after the program started so will have to take the class at a later date. We talked until class began.

First up- introductions- the staff and students took turns introducing themselves. I was impressed that the faculty outnumbered students, that all of the staff seemed happy to be there, and by the collective experience of everyone there. We could tell we were in good hands.

Next we toured the facility. Highlights included:

*Spacious classrooms
*A fully stocked break room
*Several amazing simulators. We were each given an opportunity to steer a dual z drive tug outside Vancouver B.C. Very impressive- it felt like we were actually rocking in the waves!
* In house IT and simulation departments. We were especially impressed by the way the talented simulation developer was creating a life-like simulation of the Houston Ship Canal. When he is done will be able to experience lifelike scenery, currents, and weather for Houston- all from PMI’s Seattle simulator..
* A medical lab- complete with skeleton
* and more..

Next we got first hand advice from the graduating class- what to bring for the sea phases of our program, how to be a good ship mate, what not to do on the boat, etc. The most important advice is pertinent anywhere- work hard, do good job, do more than the minimum, and do it with a smile.

Lastly- we went over the training and assessment manuals for the program. PMI’s strength is that it combines classroom, simulator, and vessel experience into a program that squeezes years of training into a 24 month schedule. A large part of that is because , unlike traditional training, you also perform training ands assessments while aboard your boat or ship.

That’s all for today- tomorrow is ratings Forming Part of a Navigational watch (RFPNW)

Until Next Time-Anthony

–

Good luck Anthony!

Jacksonville Business Journal – by Mark Szakonyi Staff reporter

Crowley Liner Services Inc. has received a contract worth up to $22 million from the U.S. military to provide emergency port services in Haiti.

The Jacksonville-based shipping company will repair Port-au-Prince’s piers and beaches, provide warehousing, cargo consolidation, and transport cargo, according to the U.S. Transportation Command contract. The contract runs until April 15.

Crowley has been able to bring in containers into Port-au-Prince despite the city’s piers still being under repair. The company used a process called lightering, where smaller vessels with roll-on/roll-off capabilities unload cargo from a large container ship and bring it ashore without using a traditional dock.

Crowley has also shipped containers to the Dominican Republic, from where they were trucked into Haiti. Under the contract, Crowley will also build a temporary pier at Port-au-Prince and use a crane to unload cargo onto the shore.

• Keep reading

Welcome to This Week’s Edition of Maritime Monday

You can find last week’s edition here »

One. Ugly. Ship. Yes, that’s a ship. It’s a specialized ship made to carry automobiles. I can’t say I’m overwhelmed by their grace and fine lines.  OneEighteen’s Flickr photostream »

Peggy’s Cove Lighthouse, Nova Scotia. Rob Huntley’s Nova Scotia Set on Flickr »

Cool Ulstein ship. View from new office at Umoe IKT. Hoff-Z’s Flickr photostream »

A view of the telegraph by night

Once on nights, always on nights. There is a tendency to end up on a run of nights for no other good reason than that’s just the way it goes, and no matter how much rest you get during the day, nothing beats a proper nights sleep. The engines are about to rumble to life, it’s 4.30 in the AM and I have a few minutes before the Rotterdam pilot boards for departure.

• keep reading on Tim’s Times »

Anti-Piracy Tactics Used by Bulk Ships

Somali pirates are likely to increasingly target ships taking coal and other commodities over the Indian Ocean because smaller bulk vessels are an easier target than large oil tankers and trade to Asia is booming.

South African coal shippers have installed a sonic device with a 3 kilometre range on a trial basis which has successfully halted attacks on tankers and naval ships off the African coast. The LRAD device, made by American Technology Corporation and costs $175,0000, can warn off pirates not responding to radio calls and disorient them preventing boarding but causes no permanent harm, shippers said.

• full story »
• American Technology Corporation Website »
• How LRAD Works — Howstuffworks.com »
• Reuters - Somali pirates set to gain from Asia coal boom »
• US Naval Forces Cent Comm: Shipping Industry’s ‘Best Practices’ Deter Piracy »

Architecture: Shipping Container Home-Building

Plans, designs and drawings are neat – but in action photographs is where we see the real wonder of shipping container home construction. Building becomes as easy as stacking giant modular metal LEGOs – prefabricated, pre-cut cargo containers already sized, scaled and structured to be transported.

Strangely enough, DIY used shipping container house plans have become so popular that there is a growing shortage in areas in terms of the used containers themselves – but for those able to find and buy them locally the actual building process is much cheaper and easier than most kinds of construction.

• keep reading on Dornob »

Book Review : Circling the World without  Wings Still has its Ups & Downs

Seth Stevenson has a book coming out this spring about his six-month journey around the world – all by land and sea.

In “Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World’’ (Riverhead Trade), Stevenson, 35, a Brookline, Mass. native and regular contributor to Slate magazine, describes the joys and frustrations of staying close to the ground, whether by rickshaw, cargo freighter, or on foot. In a recent e-mail interview with Globe reporter David Abel, he discussed the highs and lows of his trip.

• keep reading on The Boston Globe »

Budget Crisis Stirs College Campuses to Decry Budget Cuts

With one student strapped into a medical stretcher to symbolically show how the state budget crisis is hurting higher education, Vallejo’s California Maritime Academy students, faculty and workers lent their voices to a nationwide protest Thursday.

Marches, strikes, teach-ins and walkouts were planned in the March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education, organized to draw attention to the impact of state budget cuts on colleges and universities.

• keep reading on The Times-Herald  »

China Warming Up to be an Arctic Player

China doesn’t own a single centimetre of Arctic coastline, nor does it belong to the Arctic Council that addresses Arctic issues. A groundbreaking study released Monday says China will seek a say in setting rules and regulations governing activities in the Arctic, to protect its national interests.

The new study, “China Prepares for an Ice-Free Arctic,” by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, says China stands to make significant gains from a seasonally ice-free Arctic: shorter, cheaper and more secure shipping routes; possible access to undiscovered oil and gas; and the prospect of collaborating with Arctic countries to extract resources from the ocean floor.

• keep reading on the Toronto Star »
• China Plans For Ice-Free Arctic Shipping – Would Shorten Trip to European Ports by 4000 Miles »
• LA Times – China preparing for ice-free Arctic as global thaw uncovers new opportunities »

Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 11)

Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star to be Reactivated

SEATTLE — Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, Commandant, will announce the reactivation of the Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star on Wednesday March 10.  The Polar Star is a Coast Guard Heavy Icebreaker. Commissioned in 1976, the ship was built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington along with her sister ship, Polar Sea.

The Polar Star has been in “Caretaker” status since June 30, 2006.  Caretaker status requires that the crew be reduced to 34 and that the ship be kept ready for reactivation and return to the ice.

At the reactivation press conference, Admiral Allen will discuss Arctic ice operations, Coast Guard polar operations and the future of the Polar Class icebreakers.  » CG News

• USCGC Polar Star – History »
• Coast Guard gets $30M to overhaul icebreaker »

Danes Sink Pirate Mothership

A NATO destroyer has sunk a pirate mothership in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast after allowing the crew to leave, the alliance said Monday.

Shona Lowe, an anti-piracy spokeswoman, said the HDMS Absalon – the Danish flagship of the three-vessel NATO flotilla in the region – disrupted a pirate operation by “scuttling” one of the large boats used by Somali gangs to transport attack teams to piracy hunting areas far off the coast.

• The complete Seattle Times post by Slobodan Lekic is here »

Deep Water Writing Gets Some Simulation  Stimulation

As per usual it’s been a busy first six weeks of vacation. I had the chance to spend five consecutive days in a 360-degree full mission bridge simulator. The course, designed for masters, is solely focused on ship handling and was both challenging and humbling. I was a little disappointed that my performance was far from flawless but having the chance to dock, undock, and maneuver multiple ship models in one of the worlds most sophisticated (And expensive) maritime simulators was incredible.

No matter how sophisticated the simulator it would have done little good for us without the instruction, feedback and criticism of a mariner who spent his career handling the worlds largest crude oil tankers afloat. After handling a 150,000 DWT VLCC in Long Beach harbor docking an 11,000 foot Maersk Container Ship in the port of Miami didn’t seem so difficult. Especially with the help of two very large tractor tugs and a 3000 horse power bow thruster.

• keep reading on Deep Water Writing »

Earthquake Research Vessel Reaches Haiti Coast

Scientists aboard the U.S. research vessel Endeavor and collaborators ashore have just arrived on the coast of Haiti to start a 20-day survey of that will assess the history and potential continued threat of earthquakes there.

Chief scientist Cecilia McHugh of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory will be filing daily updates by email.

• Excerpts from her initial update upon arrival can be seen here »
• Read the full story of the project, involving the Earth Institute and other major institutions »

ECDIS Update March 2010

The International Hydrographic Organization issued a Circular Letter on Feb. 24th 2010, warning that -in some cases- isolated shoals may not be displayed on ECDIS. The problem has been noticed due to some producers of Electronic Navigation Charts (ENCs) misinterpreting some of the encoding rules for isolated shoal depths.

The result is that ECDIS may not display some isolated shoal depths when operating in “base or standard display” mode and route planning and monitoring alarms for these shoal depths may not always be activated, pending operator settings. The IHO is taking steps with its members to achieve corrective action on the ENCs which are affected.

• keep reading on The Art of Dredging »

End of the Line for America’s Flagship?

The SS United States is the fastest, sleekest ocean liner ever built, a giant gem of midcentury design and engineering, and in the brief time it spent on the high seas before the great liners were finally supplanted by jet flight, it truly became what its admirers now call it: “America’s flagship.” In its glory days it seemed hard to believe it would ever end like this: Moored permanently in a berth on the Philadelphia side of the Delaware River, cold and empty.

The current owners, Genting Hong Kong, have begun to seriously solicit bids from scrappers. The SS United States Conservancy has mounted a last-ditch effort to raise public awareness about the dire straits in which this beautiful ship now finds itself. Take a look at the trailer for “SS United States: Lady In Waiting,” a documentary produced by SSUSC board member Mark Perry.     via Boing Boing

French Navy Captures Suspected Pirates Off Somalia

PARIS, France — France’s Defense Ministry says a French frigate has seized 35 pirates in three days off of Somalia,  claiming “the biggest seizure” so far in the vital shipping lane.

The Nivôse (F 732) first captured 11 people from a “mother boat” and two accompanying skiffs about 180 nautical miles east of Mogadishu by tracking them after they tried to attack a French oceanographic vessel. Hours later, the frigate “neutralized” three other suspected pirate boats about 90 nautical miles to the south. The ministry statement late Friday said the suspects were being held on board the Nivose.

• LA Times  – France captures 22 suspected pirates off Somalia »
• France claims biggest haul of pirates off Somalia »
• See Also: Pirates Release Thai Ship After Payment / CNN Intl »

Visitors clamber aboard a small RIB to begin their voyage to the ships. Photo Gallery »

From Cargo Giant to TV Studio: A Ship on a Mission

Scotland: Behind-the-scenes look at Maersk vessel’s new role

SO it’s a hundred years into the future, right, and the world’s been taken over by these evil cybernetic robots… Except that there’s this one good guy left, called Caleb, whose job it is to try and overthrow the empire run by these nasty big lumps of metal. But he can’t do it himself, and so he goes back a hundred years into history – well, into his history at least – to find some brave young recruits to help him do the job.

Following it all so far? Well, if not, don’t worry too much. Because all will (hopefully) become clear some time next month, when the opening episode of the brand new CBBC adventure game show, Mission: 2110, hits the TV screens for the very first time.

And the relevance of this to Bute is what, exactly? Well, you might already know this bit – and if you don’t, there’s a good chance the pictures accompanying this story will give you a clue – but just in case the penny has yet to drop, Mission: 2110 is being filmed on the massive Maersk container vessels currently sitting in cold lay-up in Loch Striven.

We already knew about the filming plan when we visited the Maersk ‘raft’ for the first time back at the end of November. But now we are to have the chance to return to the vessels – and to take a behind-the-scenes peek at how one of the world’s most technologically-advanced cargo ships has been turned into one huge TV studio.

• keep reading on The Buteman »

The Future of the Breakbulk Fleet

Like container ship lines, breakbulk operators are adding capacity rapidly. Dynamar’s report, “Breakbulk: Operators, Fleets, Markets,” said vessels ordered by the 25 largest breakbulk operators are equivalent to 34 percent of their existing fleet. Including smaller operators, the order book is 25 percent of the existing fleet.

Perhaps the most notable change in the new ships is their increased heavy-lift capacity — a response to demand for shipments of large components for construction, expansion or refurbishment of power plants, refineries and other projects.

• keep reading on Breakbulk Industry News »

Jessica DuLong’s “River Chronicles” Wins 2010 ASJA Outstanding Book Award in  Memoir/Autobiography

When journalist Jessica DuLong ditched her dot-com job for the diesels of an antique fireboat, she found a taste of home she hadn’t realized she was missing. Running the engines of retired NYC fireboat John J. Harvey made her wonder what America is losing in our shift away from hands-on work, raising questions that crystallized after the boat got called back into service at Ground Zero, where DuLong and the rest of the boat’s civilian crew pumped water to fight blazes

Vivid and immediate, My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the Hudson is a journey with an extraordinary guide—a mechanic’s daughter and Stanford graduate who bridges blue-collar and white-collar worlds, turning a phrase as deftly as she does a wrench. As she searches for the meaning of work in America, DuLong shares her own experiences of learning to navigate a traditionally male world, masterfully interweaving unforgettable present-day characters with four centuries of Hudson River history.

• NY Times Arts Beat Article »
• My River Chronicles: Rediscovering America on the Hudson by Jessica DuLong »

Galveston: Falling Crane Boom from Museum Vessel Sinks Towboat

A towboat sank at a pier in the Port of Galveston after being struck by a crane boom that fell from a museum-piece semisubmersible drilling rig. Jerry Picton went down in 40 feet of water alongside the Offshore Energy Center’s Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum at about 1545 Aug. 19. The towing vessel and crane were involved in a maintenance project on the rig.

“A crane boom from the Ocean Star failed while moving a skid pan to the towing vessel, apparently causing the boom to fall onto the towing vessel, sinking the towboat,” said Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Renee C. Aiello. The crane was a permanent part of the Ocean Star Museum. The museum is a retired semisubmersible drilling rig located on Galveston Island that is a major tourist attraction for the Galveston area.

• keep reading on Professional Mariner »

Photo by Leslie Richter – Rockskipper Photography Blog

Got Wind? Power Up That Ferry!

A San Francisco Bay Area start-up has big plans to use the bay’s wind to help power a technologically advanced ferry to carry up to 400 passengers in the traffic-plagued metropolis of 7.4 million people.

“The San Francisco Bay is blessed with consistent, powerful winds, and the Bay Area has a reputation for embracing new technology and being at the forefront of change,” said Jay Gardner, co-founder of Wind+Wing Technologies, based in Napa, Calif.

He plans to build ferries with tall, solid sails, using the bay’s strong winds to help haul commuters across the waves. The sails are made of carbon composite materials and would resemble aircraft wings more than the standard rigging of sailing vessels. Gardner said he has signed up boating engineers Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering of Huntington Beach (Orange County) to work on the vessel’s design.  Building the “wind-assisted” ferry could cost between $3 million and $9 million, he said.

• keep reading »
• KTVU News video »

The Great White Fleet 

In the twilight of Roosevelt’s administration, the president dispatched sixteen US Navy ships of the Atlantic Fleet (4 battleships & their escorts), on a worldwide voyage of circumnavigation from 16 December 1907 to 22 February 1909.

With their hulls painted white except for the gilded scrollwork with a red, white, and blue banner on their bows, these ships would later come to be known as the Great White Fleet.

The scope of such an operation was un-precedented in US history, as ships had to sail from all points of the compass to rendezvous points and proceed according to a carefully orchestrated, well-conceived plan. It would involve almost the entire operational capability of the US Navy. The voyage itself would eventually set a number of world records, including the sheer number of ships simul-taneously circumnavigating the earth.

• Great White Fleet Website »
• US Navy Historical Center Site »
• wikipedia - Great White Fleet »

Haiti in the Aftermath – Recycling a City?

Greg Moro, operations manager for Independence Recycling of Florida (IRF) has been working on a plan to move two mobile crushing and screening plants to Port Au Prince to recycle earthquake debris for use in new construction.

The first part of their program is demolition and clean-up, providing saltwater desalinization and wind and solar energy. We fit into the early phase of this program and don’t know how long we would be there. They want us to demolish buildings and recycle them into whatever useable products we can make, for example aggregates to be used in new concrete for future development.”

Moving mobile crushers to Haiti and providing all the support logistics to keep them operational will be a large undertaking. Each mobile crusher requires between 9 and 11 heavy-haul loads to move from one location to another. A crusher will have to be moved from a Florida location to a port, loaded on a roll-on-roll-off vessel, off loaded in Port Au Prince and trucked to a work site. Typically, it takes about a day and half to set up a plant, but in Haiti it will undoubtedly take longer.

• keep reading on American Recycler »
• U.S. Troops Withdrawing en Masse from Haiti – After peaking at 20,000, mission is said to be ‘largely accomplished’ »

If Not Part of the DoD, Why is the Coast Guard Called a Military Service?

Simply put: ease and simplicity.

It’s actually a great question and one I’ve been waiting to answer in light of some historical references. The month of March, as it pertains to Coast Guard history, is a busy one. However, I’d venture to say that one of the most pertinent pieces of our history, with regard to said question, happened today in 1799…

• keep reading on USNI blog »

In Like a Lion: nytugmaster posts a video of Heavy Seas in the North Atlantic

Click here to view the embedded video.

March 01, 2010 – The ATB Nicole L. Reinauer en route to New York from Portland, Maine -  via Electronic Captain »

Liverpool Tall Ship Plans Take Shape

Jim Graves’ ambition to base a tall ship in Liverpool is a step closer with the setting up of MAST – the Merseyside Adventure Sailing Trust charity.

Jim already has his eyes on the lovely brig Prince William which is laid-up for sale in Albert Dock, Hull, by its owner Tall Ship Youth Trust. Jim’s plan is to lease the brig on a quarterly basis from TSYT and homeport the ship in Canning Dock, whose owner British Waterways is supportive – a terrific, high-profile city berth, in full view of the Strand.

“During the Tall Ships Race 2008 I was involved in putting 200 young people on and off tall ships. We were so oversubscribed for places on the Stavros S Niarchos (which is Prince William’s sister ship) we used the Lord Nelson as well.

“Youngsters are crying out for this sort of adventure.”

• keep reading on The Liverpool Echo »
• wikipedia - Prince William »

Maersk Pulls Out of Taiwanese Port Kaohsiung

Maersk Line is pulling out of Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung, according to maritime news service Tradewinds. It has rented two docks in Kaohsiung harbour but will let the contract expire in May. Reports said it was re-focusing operations across the Taiwan Strait in the Chinese port of Xiamen, where APM Terminals, a business unit of Maersk Line’s parent company A.P. Moller-Maersk, is building a four-berth box terminal.

Maersk Asia has clarified that the move is not linked to investments in any other port. Maersk decision was a new blow to the Kaohsiung, which has seen its share of the regional container market shrink in recent years. Between 2006 and 2009, container numbers fell from 10.3 million TEUs a year to 8.5 million TEUs.

• 6.4-magnitude Earthquake Hits Kaohsiung »
• Video: Powerful 6.4 earthquake rocks Taiwan, no tsunami alert issued »

Malaria Arrives Early in Haiti

MIAMI — The first feared cases of malaria have come to Haiti, weeks before the start of its next rainy season in May.

Eleven cases confirmed among emergency personnel and Haitian residents have officials worried for the more than 500,000 Haitians made homeless by the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck on Jan. 12.

“Displaced persons living outdoors or in temporary shelters and thousands of emergency responders in Haiti are at substantial risk for malaria,” said a report Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   via Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Maine Relief Ship Sea Hunter Arrives in Haiti

The Sea Hunter arrived this morning off the Haitian port of Les Cayes, its primary destination on a humanitarian mission that began 30 days ago in Portland Harbor.

“I’m still apprehensive,” said ship owner Greg Brooks as the Sea Hunter approached the city’s harbor. “Until everything happens, I’m going to be skeptical about all of this.”

If all goes as planned, the Sea Hunter will spend the next few days offloading almost 200 tons of food, clothing, medicine and other relief supplies onto small vessels here.

• keep reading on the Portland Press Herald »

Mega-Lego News: Yachts of Luxury – I’m most familiar with Daniel Z from his epic castle creations, but I like that he’s branching out with this series of boats. More »

NTSB Puts SMS Requirement on “Most Wanted” List

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has placed a safety management system (SMS) requirement for domestic vessels on its list of ten most wanted transportation safety improvements, echoing a recommendation first made by the Safety Board in 2002.

The NTSB released its annual list of top-priority safety improvements on February 18, calling on the U.S. Coast Guard to require domestic vessel operators to develop, implement and maintain a systematic and documented SMS to improve their safety practices and minimize risk.

The 2010 “most wanted” list also reiterates the NTSB’s 1999 recommendation that the Coast Guard should set work hour limits for mariners based on fatigue research, circadian
rhythms, and sleep and rest requirements. The NTSB labeled the response of the Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration to this multi-modal recommendation “unacceptable.”

• full story on American Waterway Operators Feb 26 Newsletter (pdf) »
• American Waterways Operators »

In a mismatched tango, a tug prepares to escort the Methane Princess down the
Savannah River and out to sea. Photo by Ed Keating for Popular Mechanics.

On Board the World’s Most Powerful Tugboat

As ships get bigger, towing companies build more powerful and agile tugboats to guide the shipping behemoths in and out of port. Ride along on the 6500-hp Edward J Moran, tasked with escorting a liquefied natural gas tanker that some call a giant floating bomb.

The Methane Princess is inbound, and she’s not to be trifled with. She’s 909 feet long and 142 feet wide, draws 33 feet and is loaded with liquefied natural gas. The 94,000-ton vessel is perceived as a giant floating bomb, and at slow speeds, within the confines of crowded shipping channels and ports, there’s simply not enough water passing over her rudder to maintain steerage.

She might as well be adrift. Which is why, on this muggy, overcast September afternoon, the tractor tugboat Edward J. Moran is churning down the Savannah River, headed 8 miles into the Atlantic off the Georgia coast to meet the Princess and escort her to the Elba Island LNG terminal, 5 miles east of Savannah.

• keep reading on Popular Mechanics »

Passenger Missing from Ferryboat Dies in SF Bay

The 28-year-old woman apparently boarded the 8:10 a.m. ferry at Jack London Square in Oakland and sailed aboard the boat to San Francisco. Crew members aboard the ferryboat Peralta noticed that the woman did not get off with other passengers when the boat landed in San Francisco at 8:40 a.m.

Instead, she stayed aboard for the run back to Oakland. She was one of only two passengers, according to Ernest Sanchez, manager of the Oakland-Alameda Ferry. When the boat landed in Oakland, only one passenger got off. The crew searched the boat for the woman, found no one aboard, and notified the Coast Guard of a possible person overboard.

• keep reading on SF Chronicle »

Penn State Invited to Maritime Law Program

Penn State was one of 10 universities invited to participate in a new program that aims to educate maritime law enforcement personnel.

Approved by the American Council on Education, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Maritime Law Enforcement College Partnership Program will allow Coast Guard law enforcement professionals to receive college credit for their training.

• more »
• Penn State sets sail on new U.S. Coast Guard education initiative »

Perv Had Pics of Sex with Squid; British Tabloid Reports

Andrew Dymond, 46, was netted when cops apparently found a haul of grossly offensive porn on his home computer.

Dymond is charged with possessing an image of someone “performing an act of intercourse with a dead animal, namely an octopus/squid, which was grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character”.

• keep reading on The Sun »

Profiting From Iran, and the U.S.

The New York Times identified 74 corporations that have done business both in Iran and with the United States government over the last decade, using corporate records filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, company Web sites, news accounts confirmed by interviews with company officials, and Congressional reports.

Wärtsilä OYJ – Finland: $95.4 million Federal Contracts: $95,387,248

Wartsila Corporation, a Finnish manufacturer of ship engines, has built power plants in Iran and in 2002 supplied engines for Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL) container ships. IRISL is a state-owned shipping company which was later blacklisted by the United States for facilitating the transfer of military cargo to Iran. Wartsila also has received federal contracts to provide, among others, engine parts to the Coast Guard.

• keep reading on The NY Times »

Researchers in Chile Hit Hard by Quake

Scientists at research universities in several Chilean cities are reeling from last week’s earthquake, which overturned microscopes, set fire to laboratories, washed years of research out to sea, and took the life of a young marine biologist. Aftershocks are still rattling the country.

A tsunami that followed the quake also wreaked havoc, killing a researcher involved in an ecology expedition to Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile’s coast. A team of five sent to the island scrambled uphill from their house near shore to avoid the wall of water. Paula Ayerdi, a 28-year-old research assistant in marine biology who had tagged along on the trip with her fiance, became separated. Her body was found along the shore the next day, says Palma.

The wave also damaged a marine research station operated by the University of Concepción in Dichato, a fishing town about 50 kilometers from the city, and left its research vessel stranded several blocks from shore.

• keep reading on ScienceInsider »
• Chile Tsunami: Devestating Aftermath footage »

Chile quake occurred in zone of ‘increased stress’ »

The WHOI research vessel Atlantis was operating off the coast of northern Chile when the magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck on Saturday. WHOI confirmed that R/V Atlantis and all on board are safe. There were no ill effects to R/V Atlantis or those on board from the quake or the subsequent tsunami.

R/V Atlantis has a scheduled port stop beginning on March 3, 2010, in Arica, Chile, which is on the northern coast of Chile. The WHOI Marine Operations Department is assessing the situation with their port agents to determine how or if that port stop will be affected.

Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Hampering EPA

Thousands of the nation’s largest water polluters are outside the Clean Water Act’s reach because the Supreme Court has left uncertain which waterways are protected by that law, according to interviews with regulators. As a result, some businesses are declaring that the law no longer applies to them. And pollution rates are rising.

“We are, in essence, shutting down our Clean Water programs in some states,” said Douglas F. Mundrick, an E.P.A. lawyer in Atlanta. “This is a huge step backward. When companies figure out the cops can’t operate, they start remembering how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek.”

• keep reading on the NY Times »
• Previous Articles in the Series »

Marshal Shaposhnikov in port, Naval Base Guam; PatchAdams’ Flickr photostream »

Russia Deploys Anti-Piracy Fleet

shiptechnology.com - The Russian Forces Pacific Navy has deployed a warship detachment to participate in the UNO international campaign to fight piracy in the waters off the Horn of Africa. The ship group includes an Udaloy Class missile destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov with two on-board Ka-32 Class helicopters, the liquid carrier Pechenega and an ocean-going rescue tug.

RF Pacific Navy information and public relations service head Captain Roman Martov said the Russian detachment was going to keep combat watch in the Indian Ocean and convoy merchant ships from different countries.

During the deployment, the helicopters aboard the vessel will carry out the air reconnaissance every day and report to the group commander on the sea rovers’ position and course. This is the fourth RF Pacific Navy ship group to take part in the anti-pirate campaign in the Gulf of Aden.

• See Also: A Look Inside the Russian Navy – After Action Report »

The Russian Navy Blog recently translated and posted a Russian after-action report. The most interesting aspect of this report is that it spells out the differences between the way the French and Russians operate their vessels at sea with particular emphasis on quality (or lack) of life issues. These differences might be well known to many of you, but it is nice to see what the Russians themselves think.

Scrap Vessel, A Film by Jason Byrne

Scrap Vessel, made at CalArts in 2009, documents the last voyage of the Hari Funafuti (ex Bulk Promotor, ex Hupohai), from China to its breaking in Bangladesh.

The filmmakers boarded in Singapore and joined the crew in exploring the ship and the mementos of its past that former crewmembers left behind, before filming its dismantling on the beach. The journey didn’t end there — they followed the pieces to the Ali Rolling Mill, where the scraps were melted down, bringing the story of the Hari Funafuti’s life as a vessel to an end.

• keep reading on Maritime Compass »

Seattle: Bill Would Curtail Travel Money for Ferry Workers

Lawmakers want to end a practice of paying some state ferry workers for their travel to and from terminals.Washington State Ferries paid nearly $6.4 million in reimbursements to 700 of its 1,700 workers last year.

One deckhand received $72,950 in travel reimbursements last year. That’s $13,000 more than his yearly salary. Twenty-five other employees collected more than $30,000 apiece. On Friday, the Washington House passed a bill that would give the governor a stronger hand in negotiating worker benefits. The aim is to move ferry worker benefits closer to what other state employee union contract provide.

• more on Seattle Post Intelligencer »
• See also: Attacking Ferry Workers is Prohibited »

Ships Stranded for Hours in Baltic Sea Ice Eventually Freed

Dozens of ships that had been trapped for hours in heavy pack ice in the Baltic Sea, off the east coast of Sweden, have now been freed. A passenger ferry with nearly 1,000 people on board returned safely to the Stockholm harbour early on Friday after having broken free, officials said.

Dozens of other ships and boats had also been stuck as gale-force winds built up large ice masses along the Swedish coastline. Ice breakers helped release the ferry Amorella at the edge of an archipelago north of Stockholm. Rescue helicopters and military hovercraft had been placed on standby to evacuate passengers if needed. No one was injured.

• keep reading on The Telegraph »

Shipwrecked: Vancouver Island

“Tastes just like chicken”

VICTORIA — A shipwrecked American sailor was plucked off the rugged shores of the west coast of Vancouver Island Wednesday, ending a five-day wilderness ordeal eating nothing but lichen.

• keep reading on Bitter End »

Singapore Alerts Ships to “Imminent Piracy Threat”

SINGAPORE – Tankers and large cargo ships using the Malacca Strait should tighten on-board security after a warning by the Singapore navy.

According to brief news reports, the navy has released little information other than to say that an unnamed group is believed to be planning attacks in the near future. The warning was issued by the navy’s Information Fusion Center, set up last April to coordinate data from several multinational organizations monitoring piracy.

The 600 mile long Malacca Strait, shared by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, is particularly prone to attacks because of the high volume of shipping. Around one-third of the world’s crude oil transported on the high seas passes through the area. However, most of the attacks are by pirate groups intent on grabbing money and high-value goods rather than making a political statement.

• keep reading on UPI »
• Voice of America: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore Step up Patrols Following Terror Warning »
• Reuters India: Indonesia president warns of threat from Aceh group »
• Resilience Science Archives: Malacca Strait Pirates »

Soo Locks 2010 Shipping Season Will Open Early This Year

At 7 a.m. March 21, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will open the Poe Lock, part of the Soo Locks, in Sault Ste. Marie. This event signals the beginning of the commercial shipping season, allowing Great Lakes freighters to pass around the falls in the St. Marys River 24 hours a day, seven days a week until next Jan. 15.

The locks are opening early after the Corps received several requests from the shipping community and their customers to open early due to “an improved business climate” and to replenish critically low iron ore and coal inventories.

• keep reading on the TimesHerald »

Strange Geographies: The Fjords of New Zealand

For most people, the word “fjord” conjures up thoughts of Scandinavia and the majestic, frozen North. But New Zealand, unbeknownst to many, can boast some of the world’s best fjords — hemmed by towering cliffs, fantastically deep and stretching like long, crooked fingers from the Tasman Sea into some of New Zealand’s most lush and remote scenery.

• keep reading on Mental Floss »

Fjords are formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Many such valleys were formed during the recent ice age. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth’s crust as the ice load and eroded sediment is removed (also called isostasy or glacial rebound). In some cases this rebound is faster than sea level rise.

Most fjords are deeper than the adjacent sea; Sognefjord, Norway, reaches as much as 1,300 m (4,265 ft) below sea level. Fjords generally have a sill or rise at their mouth caused by the previous glacier’s terminal moraine, in many cases causing extreme currents and large saltwater rapids (see skookumchuck). Saltstraumen in Norway is often described as the worlds strongest tidal current. These characteristics distinguish fjords from rias (e.g. the Bay of Kotor), which are drowned valleys flooded by the rising sea.

• MORE »

Taipei: How Nuclear Equipment Reached Iran

Early last year, a Chinese company placed an order with a Taiwanese agent for 108 nuclear-related pressure gauges. But something happened along the way. Paperwork was backdated. Plans were rerouted, orders reconfigured, shipping redirected. The gauges ended up in a very different place: Iran.

The story behind the gauges shows how Iran is finding its way around international sanctions meant to prevent it from getting equipment that can be used to make a nuclear bomb. At least half a dozen times in recent years, the Persian Gulf nation has tried to use third countries as transshipment points for obtaining controlled, nuclear-related equipment.

• keep reading on Daily Caller »

Tattoo-Removing Lasers Also Remove Grime  From Classic Works of Art

It sounded like a good idea at the time: You’d had one too many at the pub, one thing led to another, and you ended with someone’s name tattooed on your back. When you rushed out as soon as possible for laser removal of the unfortunate ink, the practitioners were actually using the same techniques that some art restorers employ to remove dirt and grime from masterpieces.

According to a new study in the journal of the American Chemical Society, Accounts of Chemical Research, laser ablation is getting better and more widespread in the art world.

Art restoration has always been tricky, as conservationists try to remove buildup without damaging original material; it can be tough to separate the original layers from the gunk with a scalpel. Laser ablation, in which dirt and other materials crusting the surface are heated with the laser and vaporized, may avoid some of the problems associated with chemical treatments or other traditional restoration techniques.

• keep reading on 80 Beats »

Texas A&M Interested in Acquiring Naval Station Ingleside from Port of Corpus Christi

The port also has an offer from a Houston firm that proposes a shipbuilding operation. The company says it needs to move into the property by April 1 to meet requirements associated with a military contract, said U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi.

Apex Group of Companies wants a 99-year lease and proposes a maritime fire and security training role for A&M and research and development for military branches, according to a memo circulating among local government officials.

Apex has a DoD contract to build Swift Boats, a class of Navy vessels used since the Vietnam era. The company is in line to get bigger contracts that would be associated with additional space and infrastructure that Apex is trying to acquire at Ingleside.

• keep reading on Corpus Christi Caller »

Illustration by Bowsprite: A New York Harbor Sketchbook

Thunder Up the Hudson

0300h – Lightning and thunder roared right by my ear, deafening claps of powerful electric eruption that then boomed with full might up North River, echoing, unstoppable, seemingly without end.

Times like this make me think of those days, of people high up in the rigging, perched precariously on wet footropes,  furling in heavy wet canvas on a pitching ship with other shipmates roused from sleep to climb the masts in driving rain. That would not happen today. But today, mariners are still out there, in heavy storms like this.

• keep reading »
• See also: Ships in the Night »

It is not easy to spot a ship in the dark. It is an inverse search–you look for lights on land that disappear, that get eaten by a big black shadow that moves. Once you’ve got the shadow, you look for those red & green dots that cease being traffic lights and become running lights…

• Ships in the Night – II

Sinking of the Lusitania – reverse painting on glass; anon. 1915. more »

Titanic vs. Lusitania: How People Behave in a Disaster

It’s hard to remember your manners when you think you’re about to die.

The human species may have developed an elaborate social and behavioral code, but we drop it fast when we’re scared enough — as any stampeding mob reveals.

That primal push-pull is at work during wars, natural disasters and any other time our hides are on the line. It was perhaps never more poignantly played out than during the two greatest maritime disasters in history: the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania.

A team of behavioral economists from Switzerland and Australia have published a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that takes an imaginative new look at who survived and who perished aboard the two ships, and what the demographics of death say about how well social norms hold up in a crisis.

• keep reading on TIME »
• DISCOVER MAG: Disaster Psychology: Protect the Women—If There’s Time »

Vacations That You’ll Never Forget Part Deux: Passengers Killed as Giant Waves Slam into Mediterranean Cruise Ship

The 26ft (8m) high rogue waves hit the Genoa-bound, Cypriot-owned Louis Majesty off the north-east coast of Spain.

“A wave broke the glass in the area of the saloon and water was taken on board,” said a spokesman for Spain’s coast guard.  The victims have been identified as a German and an Italian man. The ship was carrying 1,350 passengers and 580 crew. Six others were injured in the incident.

The ship is expected to resume its voyage to its final destination, Genoa, once the victims have been taken off the ship and the injured have received treatment. (BBC)

• more on the Daily Mail »
• gCaptain - Louis Majesty’s Incident Video – AIS Data Plotted »

White House Announces Road Map for Coastal Restoration in Louisiana & Mississippi

Thursday, a White House working group of Cabinet-level officials pledged to give coastal restoration the same priority as navigation and flood protection in future federal decision-making.

During the next 18 months, the group also pledged to speed the existing restoration process by identifying ways to improve the science used to design and build projects and increasing the use of sediment dredged from the Mississippi and other rivers to rebuild wetlands, among other new measures.

• keep reading on NOLA.com »

Words are Important: Stability, Lessons Learned, & Why We Need Better Stability Letters

Words matter. More specifically, the exact choice of words matter. English is a very complicated language, but one extremely rich in vocabulary, the benefit of which is that inter-personal communications (orders, requests, opinions, thoughts, recommendations or instructions) can be made very clear and precise if so desired.

There’s usually no need for “kind of” or “sort of” when dealing with technical matters as long as you have a reasonable grasp of basic grammar and sufficient vocabulary at your command.

My vessel’s stability letter says very explicitly that I’m allowed “no more than one centerline tanks or P/S tank pair of potable water, fuel oil storage, lube oil, and ballast water may be partially filled at any one time.” It also says that “trim should be minimized.” Wonderful! Now I’d like some stability guru to explain exactly how this vessel can simultaneously be effectively operated  while also complying with such a letter.

• keep reading on Towmasters »

Sunrise – Tugboat Cheyenne in Claremont Terminal, NY Harbor. Pelican Passage »

Red Hook Grain Terminal – empty now but built in 1922. Dozens of conjoined silos once held grain shipped through the Erie Canal and down the Hudson to feed the New York brewing and distilling industries.  See Tugster for information about a watercolor by Naima Rauam being raffled off as a fund raiser for the Working Harbor Committee.

Night photo of two Military cargo ships docked in Tacoma, WA. View Full Size »

Tall Ships and Turku at Night – This was a very nice and clear night at the time of the Tall Ship’s Races in Turku, Finland this summer. View Full Size »

VOC Prins Willem by night – In an old dock on an old shipyard lies a replica of a ship from the Dutch golden age. From klaash63’s Flickr photostream »

Container ship; Le Havre sunset – Rolye’s Flickr site – see full size – Le Havre (Set) »

Ships at Night Photo Galleries on Flickr:

Ships at Night – Ships at Night 2 – Ships at Night 3 – Ships at Night 4

Illustration by Marcellus Hall to accompany an upcoming exhibit on H. A. and Margaret Rey, the creators of Curious George. To be used on an interactive digital display to
tell the story of the Rey’s escape from the Nazis during WWII. More »

See you next Monday!

___________________

Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories, photos, suggestions, kudos or complaints to MM@gcaptain.com. No recipes, please.

___________________

Previous Editions: click on Maritime Monday to view the archives

MAC has a particular distaste for psuedoscience. If someone makes claims that they refuse to back up with solid, peer-reviewed evidence he shows them the door. Typically, a claim will be made that is not testable or verifiable, sometime the woo-woo vendor will demand that MAC gives him a considerable amount of money before evidence will be given that something actually works. Now lets discuss The Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands.

We’ve seen the PR release, but it doesn’t say much and is, frankly, a disappointment. The Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands boasts that “For the first time ever some of the reasons why containers are lost overboard have been investigated by the pioneering Lashing@Sea project, that has just completed after three years of intensive research.”

I can hear the squeak as you move to the edge of your seat, awaiting for The Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands to impart this vital information. Unsqueak and sit back. You’re not going to get it.

If you ask what are some of the reasons it refers to, you’ll have a hard time finding out. Whatever the report apparently says, mere mortals are not entitled, in view of the researchers, to know. It is rather like someone saying: “I have the cure for the common cold, but you are not allowed to say what it is.

If the claim: “For the first time ever some of the reasons why containers are lost overboard have been investigated by the pioneering Lashing@Sea project” is true then why are these reasons not being published and made public? Secrecy and opacity has been the bane of maritime safety for decades. Which lifeboats kill most seafarers? It is a commercial secret that you must not ask. Your life is at risk because your life is less important than the lifeboat manufacturer’s.

Now the The Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands makes a claim that it declines to allow you to verify. That means that you, as a seafarer, as a ship’s officer, aboard a containership, have no way of taking those lessons to make your ship safer.

Says the praise release: “A monitoring campaign of five ships in operation, model tests of secured cargo and an extensive survey asking crew for their input was conducted in the container, ro-ro and heavylift sectors. A consortium of 24 participants representing flag states, classification societies, shipowners and lashing equipment manufacturers, as well as crew from nearly 160 vessels, took part in the project that was sponsored by the Dutch government. “The Dutch government, together with the British and Swedish maritime administrations, are set to make several recommendations to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) in a bid to improve safety levels and operational efficiency. The industry-wide project was led by the Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands (MARIN).

“Participants included: Maersk Ship Management, CMA CGM, Danaos ship management, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, Norfolk line, NYK / Monohakobi Technology Institute, Royal Wagenborg, Spliethoff / BigLift Shipping, United European Car Carriers (UECC), ABS, Bureau Veritas, Det Norske Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, Lloyds Register, Directoraat Generaal Luchtvaart en Maritieme Zaken (DGLM), the Dutch Shipping Inspectorate, Swedish Transport Agency, Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), German Lashing, MacGregor, SEC, Amarcon, MariTerm, SIRI Marine and MARIN.”

It says all that, but keeps the report itself secret. Why?

Hmmm.

When the Maritime Research Institute of the Netherlands acts as a scientific body should do, which is to put its findings in the public domain and make them available for peer review then maybe its praise release can be taken seriously. That is how real science works.

Secrecy for commercial reasons is inimical to the safety of the lives of seafarers. Seafarers have a right to know what hazards they face regardless of any commercial inconvenience it may cause. We know that such secrecy in the lifeboat industry has cost seafarers lives.

By Nina Larson (AFP)

STOCKHOLM — Around 50 ships, including large ferries carrying thousands, were stuck in the ice in the Baltic Sea, with many unable to move until Friday, Swedish maritime authorities said.

Several vessels, including at least one passenger ferry carrying more than 1,000 people, had collided with each other as they drifted amid huge blocks of moving ice.

But the Viking Line ferry company insisted “there was at no time any danger to the passengers.”

Around 50 commercial vessels and as many as six large passenger ferries had been stuck in the ice Thursday, Johny Lindvall of the Swedish Maritime Administration’s ice breaker unit told AFP around 1930 GMT.

Two of the ferries, including the large Isabella passenger ferry carrying 1,322 passengers and crew, had been freed, he said.

Four other ships, including the Amorella, another passenger ferry carrying 1,313 people, were still stuck.

• Keep Reading

Image source: AFP

It was not so much Transport Canada’s decision to investigate the capsize and sinking of the Barbados-flagged  sailing vessel Concordia that raised questioning eyebrows as the apparent implication that TSB did not trust the Barbadian maritime authority to do the job properly. The issues surrounding the investigation of what happened to the 58 metre tallship Concordia and the subsequent search and rescue operations, SAR, may go somewhat deeper.

Concordia, built in Poland and completed in 1992, apparently capsized swiftly and without warning on 17 February off the coast of Brazil. Its 64 passengers and crew were rescued 40 hours later by a merchant ship and subsequently transferred to Brazilian Navy rescue helicopters.

Concordia was registered as a sail-training yacht and operated as a “floating classroom” by Class Afloat, for which it was built. It is Canadian-owned and operated out of the port of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.

What caused the capsize is yet to be determined. Some accounts suggest that she was knocked down by a microburst, a brief strong downblast of air that has been blamed for aircraft crashes and ship losses. Descriptions of what happened to Concordia are very similar to accounts of the losses of the Albatross, also a floating classroom, in 1961 and Pride of Baltimore in May 1986.

Another potential culprit may be keel failure. There has been rising concern regarding keel failures from yachts for some years.  In 2006 the yacht Moquini  was lost with all hands during the Mauritius to Durban Yacht Race apparently due to keel failure. In April 2006 ten Dubois 68 vessels participating in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race were diverted to Subic Bay Freeport for seven weeks after problems appeared with keel bolts loosening. The discovery was largely accidental and examination showed the problem existed throughout the fleet.

For the moment, however, the cause of the Concordia sinking remains unknown.

Barbados, Concordia’s flag state is a white-list registry. It has announced an investigation which will also cover the Brazilian SAR response. Brazil’s navy has been criticised for an allegedly tardy response, which the navy disputes.

Currently little is known of the Barbados expertise in maritime accident investigation. Of 15 casualties involving vessels in the Barbados registry lodged with the IMO since 1996 only one records a report being lodged with the IMO and none can be found online. This is not unusual among open registries, an unfortunate number of which consider accident investigation reports to be confidential between the flag-state and the shipowner rather than a matter of improving safety. Such investigation, one may suspect, are unlikely to find much wrong with the shipowner’s management.

In 2006 Barbados announced the implementation of safety-based, open investigations. However, it has, as yet, failed to demonstrate a commitment to transparency.

Such a lack of transparency will not sit well with Canada since the vessel was Canadian-owned and 48 Canadians were aboard at the time.

Brazil, as the coastal state, may also launch an investigation by the Comissão de Investigação e Prevenção dos Acidentes da Navegação, CIPANAVE. This is, however, under the authority of the Brazilian Navy, which would raise concerns about its independence in an investigation which must necessarily examine the SAR effectiveness of the Brazilian Navy.

In fact, recently, Brazil has made greater efforts to actively engage the maritime safety and investigation community and greater transparency. It may be that Brazil’s investigation capabilities are independent and that its military superiors support that independence.

Rightly or wrongly any investigation carried out by Brazil will necessarily be assumed to be tainted by self-interest on the part of the navy. Ceasar’s wife must not be beyond reproach, she must be seen to be beyond reproach.

Inevitably, there is a political aspect. Given the circumstances a Canadian government minister will be required to face the country’s parliament and a vibrant opposition, and the Canadian public and a free and questioning press, to field questions surrounding the investigation.

It is, to say the least, difficult to conceive such a minister being able to persuade parliament, the public and the media that such an investigation may safety be left in the hands of a registry run out of a London office under contract with the Barbados government, whose purpose is to raise funds for that government, with no publicly verifiable competence or integrity in maritime accident investigation.

Those who wish to read the entrails of this nautical goat will read closely the official statement by the TSB. An investigation of this sort has defined objectives: How did the incident happen, why did it happen and what can be done to reduce the chances of it happening again.  It is not unusual for two or more agencies with significant interest to work together on an incident which covers different jurisdictions.

Says TSB: “Since the accident, the TSB has gathered information, in accordance with its own procedures, in order to assess the occurrence. Having gathered enough information to complete its assessment, the TSB decided to conduct a parallel investigation into this accident independently of the Barbadian investigation. The TSB made the decision to investigate because the scope and methodology used to uncover causes and contributing factors will likely be different than that of the Barbados authority.”

There is much in that statement, none of it encouraging for the credibility of the Barbados registry.

(Gatineau, Quebec, March 3, 2010) – The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has decided to conduct a safety investigation (M10F0003) into the capsizing and sinking of the sailing vessel (SV) Concordia, which occurred on February 17, 2010, off the coast of Brazil.

Barbados, the flag state of the SV Concordia, has opened an investigation.

Since the accident, the TSB has gathered information, in accordance with its own procedures, in order to assess the occurrence. Having gathered enough information to complete its assessment, the TSB decided to conduct a parallel investigation into this accident independently of the Barbadian investigation. The TSB made the decision to investigate because the scope and methodology used to uncover causes and contributing factors will likely be different than that of the Barbados authority. Meanwhile, in accordance with the provisions of international conventions, the TSB remains committed to providing assistance to the Barbados authority as it proceeds with its investigation.

On February 17, 2010, at approximately 14:22 local time, the SV Concordia capsized and sank off the coast of Brazil; the 64 passengers and crew were rescued 40 hours later by a merchant ship and subsequently transferred to Brazilian Navy rescue helicopters.

IMO 15 incidents since 1996

Only one report appears to have been logged with the IMO

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/medias-media/communiques/marine/2010/comm_m10f0003.asp

Shown above, AIS provider VT Explorer plots the cruise ship Louis Majesty’s path as it encountered rough sea’s on March 3rd, 2010 (click image for high resolution).  VT Explorer tells us:

An abnormally high waves (6-8 m) hit the cruise ship “Louis Majesty” (former “Norwegian Majesty”) carrying 2000 people in the Mediterranean sea on March 3rd, 2010. The waves have smashed glass windshields killed two and wounded fourteen passengers according to the official news reports. The killed passengers were identified as a German and an Italian man.

“Louis Majesty” was sailing from Barcelona to Genoa.According to our archive records the accident has happened on March 3rd, 14:20 UTC around the following location.

Latitude: 41°55′ N  Longitude: 3°47′ E

As you can see from video of the incident below, weather was the likely cause of the high waves.  Buoy data off the French coast reported winds reaching 45 mph.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to forum member “kp12″ for pointing us to this in the forum.

Links

• Louis Majesty Vessel Specs

Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment (DE), 53rd session: 22 – 26 February 2010

Replacing unsafe lifeboat release mechanisms – guidelines agreed by Sub-Committee

Draft guidelines to ensure release mechanisms for lifeboats are replaced with those complying with new, stricter safety standards have been agreed by IMO’s Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment (DE), 53rd session, in order to reduce the number of accidents involving lifeboats, particularly those which have occurred during drills or inspection.

The draft Guidelines for evaluation and replacement of lifeboat on-load release mechanisms will be submitted to the Maritime Safety Committee in May (MSC 87) for approval, alongside the anticipated adoption of amendments to the International Life-Saving Appliances (LSA) Code and the Recommendation on testing of LSA, which require safer design of on-load release mechanisms, as well as a related draft amendment to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), chapter III Life-saving appliances, which will require lifeboat on-load release mechanisms not complying with the new LSA Code requirements to be replaced no later than the next scheduled dry-docking of the ship following entry into force of the SOLAS amendments.

The Sub-Committee recommended that Administrations and shipowners be strongly urged to use the guidelines to evaluate existing lifeboat on-load release mechanisms at the earliest available opportunity, in advance of the entry into force of the new SOLAS and LSA Code amendments.

The Sub-Committee also agreed draft amendments to the Revised recommendation on testing of life-saving appliances concerning test procedures for lifeboat hooks, for adoption by MSC 87.

This new package of amendments and guidelines addressing lifeboat release mechanisms follows intensive work within the DE Sub-Committee and by the MSC, over a number of years, to address the significant number of serious injuries and fatalities which had been occurring during lifeboat drills and inspections.

Measures which have already been adopted/approved, to address the prevention of accidents involving lifeboats, include:

• May 2004: MSC 78 adopts amendments to  SOLAS chapter III Regulation 19 (Emergency training and drills) and Regulation 20 (Operational readiness, maintenance and inspections), concerning the conditions in which lifeboat emergency training and drills should be conducted, which introduce changes to the operational tests to be conducted during weekly and monthly inspections, so as not to require the assigned crew to be on board in all cases (the amendments entered into force on 1 July 2006);

• May 2006:  MSC 81 approves guidelines to implement the 2004 SOLAS amendments: Guidelines for periodic servicing and maintenance of lifeboats, launching appliances and on-load release gear and Guidelines on safety during abandon ship drills using lifeboats (MSC.1/Circ.1206; while MSC.1/Circ.1206/Rev.1, issued in 2009, updated the guidelines);

• December 2006: MSC 82 amends SOLAS regulation III/19.3.3.4 concerning provisions for the launch of free-fall lifeboats during abandon-ship drills, to allow, during such drills, for the lifeboat to either be free-fall launched with only the required operating crew on board, or lowered into the water by means of the secondary means of launching without the operating crew on board, and then manoeuvred in the water by the operating crew. Also, the LSA Code is amended to require safer design of on-load release mechanisms (hooks) of lifeboats (the amendments to SOLAS and the LSA Code entered into force on 1 July 2008);

• May 2008: MSC 84 approves Interim recommendation on conditions for authorization of service providers for lifeboats, launching appliances and on-load release gear (MSC.1/Circ.1277); and

• June 2009: MSC 86 approves Guidelines for the fitting and use of fall preventer devices (MSC.1/Circ.1327).

http://www.imo.org/

In 2009, Sogreah, a firm of consulting engineers working in the fields of water, energy and the environment, launched the Otello, a 1:25 scale model of one of the world’s largest container carriers. This event was part of the celebrations to mark the extension of its shiphandling training center, Port Revel.

On March 29, to open the 2010 season, Sogreah will launch the latest addition to its fleet, the Q-Max, a faithful reproduction of a 1,132 ft LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) carrier with a capacity of 266,000 m3. Thanks to this latest model, sailors can now train on a ship that represents the new giants now sailing the seas.

The Port Revel development program was launched in October 2007 and represents an investment of over one million Euros, consolidating the centre’s worldwide leadership in training pilots in shiphandling operations. By extending the lake to cover a total of five hectares, of which 70% is shallow water, doubling the number of quays and installing additional current-generating equipment, Port Revel can now offer an extremely varied range of situations and host 10-12 trainees each week as opposed to eight previously.

Since Port Revel first opened more than 40 years ago, numerous American, Canadian and European pilots have appreciated its facilities. About 200 are expected in the coming months, for conventional courses or tailor-made training designed by the centre’s highly motivated and experienced instructors to suit their specific needs.

The model of the Q-Max has been built to 1:25 scale, the same as that used for all models at Port Revel. The scale model reproduces the smallest details of the real ship in terms of handling and behaviour at sea.

As maritime safety becomes an increasing concern, Port Revel is even more relevant than ever in training ships’ captains and pilots to handle emergency situations. The European and North American maritime pilots who make up 80% of the Centre’s students are well aware of this and we hope we will soon have the pleasure of welcoming new European captains and pilots. To meet these needs, the Port Revel Centre proposes a range of different shiphandling training courses using scale model ships with on-board pilots:
• Basic pilot & master courses
• Refresher course
• Escort tug course
• Emergency shiphandling course
• Offshore course
• LNG carrier/car carrier/container vessel course
• ULCC course
• Pod course

(www.portrevel.com)

By Robert Wright, Transport Correspondent, Financial Times

Near the waterline inside the Maersk Beaumont lies the main reason why this new container ship is set to spend at least the rest of this year unused on a Scottish sea loch.

Twelve cylinders, whose linings alone weigh eight tonnes each, sit ready to accelerate the ship to speeds of nearly 30 knots (55kph). They make the Beaumont and her six sister ships, built to rush Chinese goods to the US east coast, the world’s fastest modern container vessels. But fuel consumption is nearly as high as on the world’s largest container ships, which carry three times as much cargo.

• Keep Reading

Incidents involving unfair treatment of seafarers continue to happen worldwide, and BIMCO is maintaining its focus on this area to try and improve the situation both for seafarers and the shipping industry in general. A series of three consecutive articles mark the International Maritime Organization’s “Year of the Seafarer” by focusing on general trends, implications for seafarers, and the international legislative perspective and future outlook

The year 2010 has been designated as the “Year of the Seafarer” by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to give the organisation and the international maritime community at large the opportunity to pay tribute to the world’s seafarers for their unique contribution to society and in recognition of the risks they shoulder in the execution of their duties in an often hostile environment. BIMCO attributes much importance to the human element of shipping and considers that IMO’s decision will further support global measures aimed at safeguarding seafarers and recognize their work. The fact, however, that a number of maritime incidents in recent years continue to show examples of unfair treatment of seafarers – and perhaps even more significantly that these incidents appear to demonstrate a drifting towards a stricter liability regime – underlines the importance of maintaining this issue high on the agenda.

• Keep Reading

 

This just in from Bitter End:

The Seattle Times is reporting:

A NATO destroyer has sunk a pirate mothership in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast after allowing the crew to leave, the alliance said Monday.

Shona Lowe, an anti-piracy spokeswoman, said the HDMS Absalon – the Danish flagship of the three-vessel NATO flotilla in the region – disrupted a pirate operation by scuttling one of the large boats used by Somali gangs to transport attack teams to piracy hunting areas far off the coast.

The complete Seattle Times post by Slobodan Lekic is here »

You can find last week’s edition here »

Steamboats at Colman Dock, Seattle, WA, circa 1912 – The Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet was a large number of private transportation companies running small passenger and freight boats around on Puget Sound, nearby waterways, and rivers. This large group of steamers and sternwheelers stopped at every waterfront dock. The historical peak of activity occurred between the first and second World Wars. Click image to see full size. 

Steamer Virginia V, last of Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet – now one of the historic fleet of NW Seaport, South Lake Union Park, Seattle, Washington, USA. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The boat has city landmark status.  Steamer Virginia V’s website »

Cade Candies – boat being built at Dakota Creek Shipyard in Anacortes for the Otto Candies company of Des Allemands, LA. – from flickr 

• See Bitter End’s Collection of pics and posts on other Otto Candies builds »

The Lightship Columbia (WLV-604) is a US National Historic Landmark in Astoria, Oregon. There are 17 Lightships that remain today, a number of which are Endangered »

 Then: Puget Sound Navy Yard – Battleship Nebraska (1902-1923) in dry dock. see larger »

And Now: Puget Sound Naval Shipyard – Shipyard workers use instruments to precisely align the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) as the ship enters Dry Dock 6. The hull must line up precisely with the blocks that will support the ship as water is pumped out. See full size »

Al Qaeda Urges Somali Groups to Choke Red Sea Entrance

27 Feb 2010 / Manu’s Scripts – Earlier this month, the Yemeni branch of the Al Qaeda has called on the Somali group Al Shabaab and others to wage a jihad and choke off the Red Sea to commercial shipping. Although the group wants to do this to cut off U.S. shipments to Israel, the commercial impact of the possibility of a disturbance, to put it mildly, in the narrow strip of water that feeds the Suez Canal is bound to be huge…

• more »
• Also: Libyan Dictator Cites Seaports in Switzerland "Jihad" Call on PlanetData

Another Incat Crowther Vessel for Offshore Unlimited

26 Feb 2010 / Offshore Shipping Online - Incat Crowther has announced that it is designing a second utility catamaran for Offshore Unlimited.

This vessel follows the success of Unlimited, a 24m utility catamaran designed by Incat Crowther for the same operator. The new vessel will be a 29m high speed catamaran work boat capable of carrying 50 tonnes of deadweight. The aft deck, with a cargo capacity of 24 tonnes, is configurable for multiple uses.

• more »

Bangladesh Ship Breakers Protest New Standards

23 Feb 2010 / Seafarer Blog – Bangladesh’s ship breaking yards ground to a halt Monday as some 30,000 workers protested a government decree aimed at improving environmental standards in the industry, police said. Under a government order issued in late January said, ships heading for breaking yards must now be certified as toxic chemical-free before they are imported and scrapped.

“Ship breakers are demanding the order be reversed and 30,000 ship breaking workers are protesting with a massive rally in the centre of Chittagong,” said local police chief Monirul Islam, referring to Bangladesh’s second-largest city.

The order comes after a boom year for ship breakers, with the number of yards growing to around 100 from just 40 in early 2009 and turnover hitting a record 700 million dollars.

• more »
• 27 Feb 2010 – Editorial: Streamline Ship Breaking Industry; The persistent call for legal framework must be heeded »

Bills of Lading Waxes Romantic Over Pimps and Firewires

Firewires (38mm in dia and about 120 m in length) are the crappiest piece of gear that is found on modern oil tankers. And we have our share of crappy gears. Everything about the fire wire from stowing, to deploying to adjusting it is a pain. All we ever got out of the fire wire was trips, bruises and a filthy mouth.

In 2007, OCIMF asked LR to carry out a risk assessment for fire wires in the industry and the results surprised even me. Apparently, fire wires have been deployed on tankers since 1967. And in that time they have not been used even once. Not once. On the other hand, fire wires have caused about seventeen hundred minor or major injuries in that period.

• Good riddance to bad wires »
• Vincent the patchy-white-skinned Pimp »

Black Pig Provides the Deep Background:

 It’s All Kicking Off Again – An Englishman’s (biased) view of the Falkland Islands

So the Argentines’ want the Falkland Islands “back”. I use inverted commas because of course it’s well documented that they have rarely, if ever, actually lived there.

• keep reading »

Black Sea Base Delivers Successful Salvage

25 Feb 2010 / Maritime Journal - Multraship Salvage and SVITZER Salvage have refloated the Russian flag cargo ship Irtysh 1 after it had ran aground on the rocky coastline off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast near Bourgas.

The 2,913 dwt, 1996 built vessel ran aground near Cape Foros on 8 February after strong winds and waves reportedly broke its anchor and drove it towards the coast. At the time of the incident, the vessel, which operates between Greece and Romania, was sailing in ballast, with 35 tons of bunkers on board.

• more »

Books: Tales of the Seven Seas; The Escapades of Captain Dynamite Johnny O’Brien

Based on the actual journals of O’Brian, the stories are about tough times and hard men in distant places—and the history.

via Maritime Compass – Captain Dynamite Johnny O’Brien sailed the seven seas for over 60 years, starting in the late 1860s in India and ending in the early 1930s on the U.S. West Coast. He sailed every type of ship imaginable, but this book is more than the story of this incredible, charismatic sea captain. It is a tale about what sailing over the oceans was really like from the 19th to the 20th centuries, when danger & adventure coexisted on a daily basis.

The story sweeps from his compassion in the Chinese trade in coolie labor for constructing the railroads to the rich living of kings and princesses in the Hawaiian Islands. It covers the Klondike Gold Rush, when sailors and their vessels sailed into the Artic Circle and the brutal gales of the Bering Sea. The reader sees the opening of the Pacific and Pacific Northwest through the eyes of Captain O’Brien.

• more »

Image, "Buster Keaton with Captain ‘Dynamite Johnny’ O’Brien aboard the SS Buford, 1924," Courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, see their Digital Collections site for more information.

Burma to Privatize Ports

28 Feb 2010 / Hellenic Shipping News - The state-run Myanmar [Burma] Port Authority (MPA) plans to privatize ports in Rangoon and offer port-building and other port-related projects in the former capital city to private companies, according to government sources.

Win Khant, a Ministry of Transport official in the new administrative capital, Naypyidaw, told The Irrawaddy that the MPA plans to sell its existing ports to the private sector and invite investors to build new ports under a build, operate and transfer (BOT) system.

• more »

Clay Maitland Adds Fuel to the Fire of Environmental Debate

That law of unintended consequences continues to vex us, as the environmentalist said when a wind turbine blade came through his roof.

Marine fuel, once a relatively uncomplicated matter presided over by Chief Engineers in the quiet of their control rooms, is now a science in which industrial chemists and environmental regulators rule the roost. We have International Maritime Organisation requirements (which ought to be good enough for an international industry) thoroughly confused by directives emanating from Brussels, and made almost incomprehensible by Californians. It’s not ideal.

• more »

SEATTLE — The Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea, one of the world’s most powerful non-nuclear icebreakers, home-ported in Seattle, departs the week of Feb. 22 for a two-month deployment in support of the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study (BEST). (photo source)

Coast Guard Cutter Polar Sea Departs for Bering Sea Cruise

24 Feb 2010 / KBKW News – The BEST cruise is part of a six year study of the Bering Sea ecosystem supported by the National Science Foundation and the North Pacific Research Board.

The central focus of the scientific cruise is to examine the impacts of changing ice conditions on food web structure in the Bering Sea. A team of twenty-five scientists will study processes and collect data relating to food webs in the northern Bering Sea.

"We will be working at the ecological boundary where the Bering Sea shifts from a fish dominated system to one where more true arctic animals such as walruses, bearded seals and Spectacled Eiders use sea ice as a platform to take advantage of abundant foods on the sea floor," said Lee Cooper, chief scientist of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences.

• USCGC POLAR SEA (WAGB 11) website  »
• Coast Guard Icebreakers: A Historic Photo Gallery »

CG Rescues Crew from Sinking Barge

Three-person crew pulled from a sinking barge on Monday night

23 Feb 2010 / Three Sheets Northwest -  The Coast Guard received a report of a dredge hung up on its anchor and taking on water shortly before 9 p.m., and sent two rescue boats to assist. By 9:30, the Coast Guard had taken all three people onboard the barge, Bar Fly, onto a 25-foot rescue boat. The rescued crew was taken to the Coast Guard’s station on Quillayute River and there were no injuries reported.

• more »
• Report on Dredging Today »

Coquille, Oregon, waterfront ca.1908-1914 – Coquille waterfront ca. 1908-1914 with the boats Wolverine, Favorite, and Wilhelmina at dock. The Wolverine was built in Coos Bay in 1908.  More: Steamboats of the Oregon Coast »

The Columbia River remains a major maritime highway in the Pacific Northwest for agricultural commodities, forest products and mineral bulks, allowing deepsea ships to sail 105 miles inland and barges another 360 miles, as far as the state of Idaho, for cargoes.

The 465 mile navigation system offered by the Columbia and Snake rivers, along with a small portion of the Willamette river at Portland, is made possible by a series of hydro-electric dams featuring navigation locks, four on the Columbia and four on the Snake. Among these is the lock at John Day Dam, which has a lift of 110 feet, the highest in North America.

Deepwater shipping makes use of a 40-foot-deep channel, currently being dredged to 43 feet, to travel as far eastward as Vancouver, Washington, while a shallower 14-foot-deep channel accommodates barge traffic all the way to Lewiston. Ocean-going vessels make some 2,000 port calls on the river each year, trans-porting an average $16 billion worth of freight, while ships and barges together move about 17 million tons of cargo annually.

from Pacific Maritime Magazine

Steamboat graveyard – When steamboat service ended on the Coquille, at least three steamers, Myrtle, Telegraph, and Dora were all beached on the river near Bandon. Astoundingly, the Mary D. Hume, (above) built in 1881, is still largely intact, lying on the shore at Gold Beach, Oregon. The wreck itself is on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo by James Coffee; click here to see full size »

Corps’ Debris Picker-Upper Getting $500K Facelift

Puget Sound Business Journal – M/V Puget is getting its engines replaced and having additional work completed at Lake Union Drydock Co. in Seattle. The ship picks up about 14 tons a day of navigational hazards such as woody debris in the water, the Corps said. During the Puget’s repairs, a contracted ship, Seahorse, will respond to debris in the water.

The Corps said the Puget’s drydock work will be paid for by federal stimulus funds and involves replacing its diesel engines with cleaner and more fuel-efficient units.

• more »

Costa Deliziosa Inaugurated in Dubai 

23 Feb 2010 / Business Intelligence/Middle East – Today sees the staging in Dubai of the inauguration ceremony for the Costa Deliziosa, the new diamond of the Costa Cruises fleet and the first cruise ship ever to be named in an Arab city:  a unique and quite extraordinary event which sets a new record and combines traditional Arabian enchantment, reminiscent of “A Thousand and One Nights”, with the unmistakable Italian style of Costa Cruises, the largest Italian travel group and Europe’s n.1 cruise line.

Together with her sister ship Costa Luminosa, the Costa Deliziosa represents the most exclusive and innovative member of the fleet; weighing in at 92,600 gross tonnage and with  total Guest capacity of 2,826, the new ship is an emblem of Italian-made excellence. 

• more »

Cruising with the Norovirus: 435 Reported Being Ill

Celebrity postpones cruise out of Charleston after major outbreak of illness

27 Feb 2010 / NPR - For those of us stuck in the wintry Northeast, a Caribbean cruise seems pretty appealing. But we have to admit the idea was a whole lot more enticing before we heard about a nasty viral outbreak that struck hundreds of passengers this week.

Early Friday morning, the cruise ship Celebrity Mercury returned to Charleston, South Carolina, with a little under a fifth of its passengers sick with gastroenteritis, euphemistically known as the stomach flu. Vomiting, cramping and diarrhea. It wasn’t a pretty picture…

• more  »

Dredge Ruptures Pipeline in Gulf of Mexico

26 Feb 2010 / Coast Guard News – MORGAN CITY, La. — The Coast Guard is investigating the circumstances surrounding a pipeline rupture near buoys five and six of the Atchafalaya Channel that occurred Wednesday morning.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Morgan City, La., received a report at 7:45 a.m., Wednesday, from Coast Guard Sector New Orleans reporting that the dredge G. D. Morgan, owned by Weeks Marine, Inc., had struck a gas pipeline, resulting in a fire and minor injuries.

Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Morgan City, La., responded with a team of investigators, inspectors and pollution personnel. The pipeline was identified as being owned by Contango Oil & Gas Company and was shut-in before 8 a.m., immediately following the rupture.

• more »
• exciting video »

Dry-Shippers Sink as Quarterly Reports Show Revenue Declines

23 Feb 2010 / Wall Street Journal – Shares have been battered during the recession as the steep drop in demand has created a glut of ships crowding the seas. While the Baltic Dry Index, which charts demand, rose slightly Tuesday — its sixth straight day of gains according to Capital Link Shipping — the stocks were hit by the gloomy reports coming from OceanFreight Inc. (OCNF), Navios Maritime Holdings Inc. (NM) and Diana Shipping Inc. (DSX).

One of the biggest percentage drops on the day was seen in OceanFreight, a smaller Athens, Greece, shipper, which slumped 9.4% to 74 cents, nearing its all-time low of 70 cents, which it hit earlier this month. OceanFreight reported a 23% slump in its fourth-quarter time charter equivalent, a key metric that measures profit of each vessel’s voyage. Despite 99.5% fleet utilization, a decline in the number of days its ships were at sea helped push revenue down 25% and push the loss much wider.

• more »

Egypt: 3 Crew Members Die in Cruise Liner Accident

"We sadly have to confirm the deaths of 3 crew members," the company said in a statement. "The ship is now safely docked in port."

26 Feb 2010 / MSNBC – AL-ARISH: Luxury cruise liner Costa Europa, carrying nearly 1,500 passengers slammed into the pier as it docked Friday at an Egyptian Red Sea resort in fierce winds, leaving three crew members dead, officials said.

The ship’s owner, Costa Crociera, said the vessel sprung a leak on the right side after banging into the dock at about 4:45 a.m.

• more »

Eleven Ocean Photographers You Should Know

Deep Sea News – I was very excited when Pelfusion posted 35 Underwater Photographs That Stand Out. Unfortunately most of the photographs feature models underwater in flowing dresses or pseudo-charismatic large cats.  Far less than half of the photographs contain the actual denizens of the sea. What’s up with that?

So without further delay, DSN introduces our ten favorite underwater photographers and favorite photographs from each one.

• go see »

Everything Old is New Again

From time to time sailing ships get mentioned as one technology that will serve in post petroleum scenarios but some readers may not know that there are already hundreds in service worldwide, maintaining a tradition of moving goods and people across water that goes back 400 centuries. By contrast, our recent epoch of fossil fueled ships stands out as a brief and brilliant blip in a continuum of what may turn out to be humankind’s most enduring form of transport.

Seen mostly as majestic relics of a bygone era today’s tall ships are nevertheless essential transitional platforms for change as we begin the move toward sustainable transportation over water. Since most Americans still happen to live near major water transportation routes it is likely that we will continue to use boats of some sort to move goods and people around. Building and sailing ships to meet our future needs will most likely involve examining our long unbroken maritime traditions which are alive and well around the world in today’s modern tall ships.

• more »
• HMCS Oriole’s website »
• Sea Fever: White Squall is not as good as the tall ship Concordia story but entertaining nonetheless »
• Professional Mariner: Report: ‘Microburst’ doomed sailing ship Concordia off Brazil

IMO Begins Hydrographic Survey of Malacca Straits

Planet Data – The International Maritime Organization (IMO) announced on Monday that "a key hydrographic survey within the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore" has begun. The purpose of this action, which is part of the Marine Electronic Highway (MEH) Demonstration Project, is to produce an updated electronic navigation chart of the vital waterway.

From IMO: "The demonstration project will link shore-based marine information and communication infrastructure with the corresponding navigational and communication facilities aboard transiting ships, while also being capable of incorporating marine environmental management systems."

Increasing Opposition to Coast Guard Budget Cuts

24 Feb 2010 / Homeland Security Today – As Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano entered two intense days of hearings on the Obama administration’s fiscal 2011 budget proposal for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), objections to the White House cuts at the US Coast Guard (USCG) continue to grow.

Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), chair and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, hold the first hearing on the budget Wednesday morning. The senators became the latest lawmakers to object to underfunding the US Coast Guard with a joint statement Monday.

• more »

Ireland: New Deepwater Port May be Moved North to Avoid Tombs

Port developers anxious to avoid “very significant” Neolithic complex

23 Feb 2010 / Irish Times – A proposed deepwater container port at Bremore in north Co Dublin may be moved farther north to Gormanston, Co Meath, to avoid encroaching on a neolithic complex of passage tombs.

A spokesman for Treasury Holdings, which is planning to develop the new facility in partnership with Drogheda Port, confirmed yesterday that one of the options now being considered was to “shift it off Bremore headland” for archaeological reasons.

He said it had become clear at an early stage that the neolithic complex at Bremore was “very significant”, and the developers would be anxious to avoid it by examining alternative locations, such as Gormanston.

• more »

Illustration by Bowsprite

Jake Harris, Son of “Deadliest Catch” Star Phil Harris, Jailed in Seattle After DUI Arrest

21 Feb 2010 / NYDailyNews – Over a week after his father died following a stroke, ‘Deadliest Catch’ star Jake Harris is dealing with a new set of problems. Harris is currently in a Seattle jail on drunk driving charges after crashing his car late Thursday, People.com reports.

The 24-year-old was charged with drunk driving, a hit and run – he reportedly rear-ended another vehicle before the crash – and driving with a suspended license.

Thom Beers, the executive producer of the popular reality show recently revealed that when Phil Harris came out of his medically induced coma, the late captain asked the production to continue with the filming as the story would need a great finish. With the amount of interest that the upcoming season is generating, it is sure to be a huge hit among all Phil Harris fans.

• more »

The Kalakala Ferry in her Heyday

The MV Kalakala was the ferry that operated on Puget Sound from 1935 until her retirement in 1967

Kalakala was notable for her unique streamlined superstructure, art deco styling, and luxurious amenities. The vessel was a popular attraction for locals and tourists, and was voted second only to the Space Needle in popularity among visitors to Seattle during the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. The ship was known as the world’s first streamlined vessel.

Kalalaka was well known for a heavy shaking vibration that ran throughout the vessel when in operation. This was probably due to poor alignment of the engines in the original construction of the vessel.

Although the company wished the vessel to be known as the Silver Swan, the vessel soon attracted other, less complementary nicknames, including the Silver Slug, Silver Beetle, Galloping Ghost of the Pacific Coast, and, among Seattle’s Scandanavian community, Kackerlacka, which means "cockroach".

 Inside the Kalakala April 2001 - A Tribute to a Queen on TacomaScene.com

The vessel was sold in 2004 to a private investor, who moved her to an anchorage in Neah Bay provided by the Makah Tribe. Soon after arriving at Neah Bay the Kalakala was evicted by the Makah, who also brought a lawsuit against the owners. The vessel has since been relocated to Tacoma, Washington.

In February 2008, Kalakala owner Steve Rodrigues announced his intention to acquire additional vintage ferry vessels and to restore them and the Kalakala as either ferries powered by wind and solar technologies or as museums. The Kalakala is currently scheduled for work on its hull and superstructure in dry dock in 2010.

The Kalakala today

• About the Kalakala, a ship of a thousand years »
• MV Kalakala – on wikipedia
• KalakalaMania »
• Puget Sound Maritime’s Sink the Kalakala

Keystone-Port Townsend Ferry Naming Hits Rough Waters

The Chetzemoka, the first of two new ferries being built for the Keystone-Port Townsend ferry route, is being built at Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle

24 Feb 2010 / Whidbey Examiner - Local efforts to name a new  ferry after a 19th century tribal leader appeared to have been derailed after Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen proposed legislation that would have made it unlikely the vessel could be named in honor of a person.

Senate Bill 6700, which proposed that the Washington Transportation Commission should avoid using the names of individuals when naming state-owned ferries, failed to pass out of committee earlier this month.

• more »

Lukoil Discovers Hydrocarbons Offshore Ghana

27 Feb 2010 / JoyOnline – A consortium, LUKOIL Overseas, (56.66%), US Vanco (28.34%) and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, GNPC (15%), has discovered a significant hydrocarbon accumulation in the Dzata structure of the Cape Three Points Deep Water Block in the Gulf of Guinea offshore the Republic of Ghana, Lukoil said in a press release.

The total area of the block is about 5,200 square kilometers, while the water depth within the block ranges from 200 meters to 3,000 meters. The Dzata-1 structure lies at a depth of almost 2 kilometers.

• more »
• Business Week: Lukoil, Vanco Make ‘Significant’ Oil, Gas Discovery in Ghana »

Manila: New Law Lets Coast Guard Stop Ships from Sailing

22 Feb 2010 / Global Nation – President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed a new law giving the Philippine Coast Guard increased law enforcement powers, including the authority to detain and prevent from sailing substandard passenger and cargo vessels plying the country’s waters.

Known as the “Philippine Coast Guard Act of 2009” or Republic Act 9993, the new law aims to further enhance maritime safety and prevent sea tragedies.

• more »
• Also: New life-jackets requirement seen to hike cost of shipowners »

Moody’s: Stable Outlook for Global Shipping Industry, Recovery Hampered by Oversupply

25 Feb 2010 / The fundamental credit outlook for the global  shipping industry is stable, reflecting the fact that conditions are unlikely to deteriorate further in the sector, says Moody’s Investors Service in a new Industry Outlook. However, the rating agency cautions that some segments, especially containers, will continue to under-perform throughout 2010.

"While the stable outlook is based on the belief that the main industry drivers are not likely to deteriorate further, we do not anticipate a full recovery of the main players to start until the end of 2011," says Marco Vetulli, a Moody’s Vice President-Senior Credit Officer and author of the report.

"Furthermore, we believe the landscape of the industry may be quite different on the other side of the recovery."

• more »

MV Coho: Engine telegraph on the Bridge Wing. Photo by Shawn J. Dake c.2009

M.V. Coho: 50 Years of Reliable Service

Maritime Matters - For an ocean-going vessel to reach the age of  fifty is quite an accomplishment. To span a career of over five decades under the same name, ownership and on the original service it was designed for is almost unheard of, yet  that is exactly what the M.V. COHO has managed to do. It is a ship perfectly suited to the daily ferry service it provides between Port Angeles, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia. In over 50 years, it has never missed a sailing and is as reliable today as it was at the time of it’s maiden voyage in 1959.

In addition to beautiful scenery, the waters of Puget Sound are famous for a magnificent silver salmon. In 1959, Black Ball Transport, Inc. began building an auto and passenger ferry named after this prized fish, the COHO. The ship is 341.6 feet long, with a width of 72.2 feet. The original propulsion plant consisted of two Cooper-Bessemer diesel engines with a total output of 4,160 BHP, driving the eight foot diameter twin screws, for a cruising speed of 15 knots.

"Today, the Black Ball Ferry Line continues its tradition and is proud to be a reliable leader in our tourism and transportation industry. In our 50 years of service, we have transported over 21 million passengers and 6 million vehicles. We plan to continue the tradition and deliver prompt, reliable service to our passengers."   Photo by Shawn J. Dake c.2009

The exterior is sleek and pleasing to the eye, looking much more like a miniature passenger liner than a typical ferry. A raked tripod mast just forward of the single squat funnel enhanced her low profile. Plenty of glass windows for viewing the passing scenery offset the austerity of metal bulkheads and stainless steel rails. Built at a cost of $3 million, the M.V. COHO was the most expensive, privately-funded ferry ever built in North America up to that time. The flag of the United States flies over the stern and the ship is registered in Seattle.

• specs and loads more pics: Full article on Maritime Matters »
• ship’s website: www.cohoferry.com »

Navy Ship Charles Drew Christened in  San Diego

27 Feb 2010 / LA Times – Sylvia Drew Ivie has seen schools and a medical college named after her late father, Charles Drew, a black surgeon whose pioneering work in the science of blood preservation was key to the development of large-scale blood banks.

The Navy’s christening and launching of the 689-foot-long Charles Drew cargo ship from a San Diego shipyard early Saturday may have been the most unusual "edifice" named after him.

The ship was christened by Drew’s eldest daughter, Bebe Drew Price, who broke a bottle of champagne against the bow under rainy skies before more than 1,300 people. The Charles Drew is so large that there are generally only two days a month when the tide is high enough for the Navy to safely slide the ship into San Diego Bay.

• more »

On Second Thought, Let’s Not Go to Georgetown, it is a Silty Place

South Carolina Port Turning Away Work for Want of Dredge

24 Feb 2010 / SCSunNews – The director at the port of Georgetown said the dredging situation there is now bad enough that the port turns away cargo and diverts it to Charleston.

Such actions could continue to prove costly for the local area unless federal lawmakers allocate about $8 million to remove the silt at the bottom of the port’s waterway and restore its depth to 27 feet, according to a recent study.

Every 500,000 tons of cargo that passes annually through the port of Georgetown brings in about 42 new jobs for the area, $1.3 million in new local household income and $4.4 million in local economic output, according to a study by a research economist from Coastal Carolina University.

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Oregon Lawmakers Defend NOAA Base in Newport

19 Feb 2010 / The Oregonian – In an escalating war of words over a plan to station NOAA research ships in Newport, Oregon lawmakers Friday accused their colleagues from Washington state of “political interference” in an attempt to reverse the surprise decision to base the fleet in Oregon.

The Washington delegation’s letter comes on the heels of the NOAA’s announcement last month that it will review its decision to select Newport as the next home port for its Pacific fleet, as recommended by the GAO. NOAA agreed to do that after the GAO upheld a protest by the Port of Bellingham, which argued that the Port of Newport is in a flood plain.

Bellingham also hoped to wrest the base from Seattle, but lost to Newport. The NOAA ships are currently based in Seattle and would move to Newport when construction of the new facilities is complete.

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Pentagon Announces End of Ban on Women on Subs

23 Feb 2010 / Navy Times – The Pentagon on Monday notified Congress that women will be able to join submarine crews within 30 legislative working days, making good on the wishes of top Navy commanders announced last fall.

As required by law, Defense Secretary Robert Gates sent a letter to legislative leaders announcing the Navy’s plan to lift its ban on female submariners, giving the House and Senate time to absorb the decision and, if members want, to take action. Congress can pass a law forbidding integration, requiring the Navy to wait or perform a study. If it does nothing, as expected, the ban will expire around the end of April.

• more »
• respond to the gCaptain poll »

Philippine Bureau of Customs Seizes 12 Mis-declared Cargo Containers

Items ranging from high-end electronics to tiles & frozen chicken

26 Feb 2010 / Philippine Daily Inquirer – The shipments from Singapore were intercepted as they were being taken out of the Port of Manila and Manila International Container Port (MICP), Customs Commissioner Napoleon L. Morales told reporters Thursday.

The biggest among the haul was a 40-foot container filled with plasma and LCD television sets, cameras, Sony Portable PlayStations (PSPs), Sony PlayStation3 cordless controllers, computer processors, JVC DVD receivers with monitors and other high-end electronic gadgets.

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Innovative material replaces aging wood pilings in pilot program.

Port of Seattle Uses New Plastic Pilings

17 Feb 2010 / Puget Sound Maritime – Part of a pilot program, the new low-maintenance pilings are made of recycled materials that are impervious to marine borers, and resistant to corrosion.

American Construction Company of Tacoma is driving these innovative plastic and fiberglass fender piles into the ship canal, replacing the aging creosote treated wood piles currently there. Once driven as much as 20 feet into the ground, the pilings will be connected to the dock. These piles will act as a buffer between a ship or barge and the wooden docks, protecting and lengthening the useful life of the dock.

• more »
• See also: Navy puts first of new tug series to work »

Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca Become the  Salish Sea

In March 2008, the Chemainus First Nation proposed renaming the strait the Salish Sea.  Changing  the name officially required a formal application to the Geographical Names Board of Canada. A parallel American movement promoting the name had a different definition, combining of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound as well as the Strait of Georgia and related waters under the single name Salish Sea.

In October 2009, the Washington state Board of Geographic Names approved the the Salish Sea toponym, not to replace the names of the Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound, and Strait of Juan de Fuca, but instead as a collective term for all three. The United States Board on Geographic Names approved the name change on November 12, 2009.

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Russia: New Arctic Supertanker Starts Commercial Operation

28 Feb 2010 / Itar Tass - The Mikhail Ulyanov Arctic supertanker built at the Admiralty Shipyards to Sovcomflot’s order has been supplied to the Russian commercial fleet.

The tanker goes on its first voyage on Sunday. It will carry several tens of thousands of petroleum products from the Primorsk seaport in the Leningrad region to West European terminals. It has the deadweight of 70,000 tonnes, the length of 257 meters and the width of 34 meters, Admiralty Shipyards General Director Vladimir Alexandrov told Itar-Tass.

The construction of similar high-tech tankers will continue, in particular, for developers of circumpolar shelf deposits. The Admiralty Shipyards has orders for the next two or three years within the framework of the Russian shipbuilding program for the period until 2020.

• more »
• more about the Mikhail Ulyanov on ShipTechnology.com »

SEATTLE: Todd was founded in 1916 by a boilermaker from Brooklyn, William H. Todd. The company has had its ups and downs but remains vibrant — employing around 800 workers on Harbor Island, at Everett and in Bremerton.  Seattle Times Slideshow »

Seattle’s Todd Pacific Shipyards Stays Afloat in a Sinking Industry

Its burly piers jutting into the chill waters off Seattle’s Harbor Island, the 28-acre Todd Pacific Shipyards offers plenty for locals to be proud of. With nearly a hundred years of history on the waterfront, it’s part of our maritime culture. And while shipyards around the country are closing as the shipbuilding and repair industry dwindles, Todd is an anomaly. It continues to thrive.

• more »
• Todd Pacific Shipyards website »

Some Serious Earthmoving Equipment: Backhoe Dredger "Postnik Yakovlev"

The Art of Dredging – This vessel is a self-propelled backhoe dredger, from a series of three identical vessels for Jan De Nul, the two other named Vitruvius and Mimar Sinan. This vessel consists of a pontoon with twin azimuth propulsion thrusters, each 500 kW.

While in excavating mode, the pontoon is positioned by three spuds, hoisted with steel wires and winches. The crane is a  "Backacter type 1100" hydraulic crane, and comes with a range of buckets up to 40 m3 volume. The choice of buckets and chisels or pickpoints depends on soil conditions…

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South Africa Seizes N Korean Ship

26 Feb 2010 / Press TV – The South African government has notified the UN of the seizure of a North Korean cargo ship carrying tank parts to the Republic of Congo.

The export of military equipment to Congo is in violation of UN Resolution 1906, adopted unanimously on December 23, 2009. It seeks to "support the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) operations against illegal foreign and Congolese armed groups provided they comply with international humanitarian law…"

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Columbia River, Oregon – Steamers Dalles City and another sternwheeler (possibly the Harvest Queen) in the Cascade Locks

Steamboat Races on the Columbia River

Although steamboat racing was technically illegal, operators of steamboats often tried to "do their best" when a rival steamboat was on the river. Spencer, as a prestige boat was frequently raced against other top vessels of the day, including Bailey Gatzert and T.J. Potter. Races against the Bailey Gatzert happened almost every day when the two vessels ran against each other on the Portland-Dalles route.

On 12 July 1904, Spencer was racing the Dalles City  about 15 miles upstream from Hood River. The winds were high, and blowing east against the steamers as they moved downstream, and the waves were choppy. The Spencer’s main steam pipe broke, which forced the pilot to steer for the river bank to beach the vessel. Spencer hit rocks 25 feet from shore, and sank. Fortunately there were no casualties among those aboard, and the Spencer was later refloated and repaired.

On 31 May 1905, a collision during one of these races between Dalles City and the Spencer generated substantial litigation. Dalles City was struck by the Charles R. Spencer while the Spencer was trying to overtake. As a result, Dalles City suffered serious and disabling mechanical damage.

In November 1905, the Spencer, Dalles City, and Telephone all cast off lines at once in Portland, and headed downriver for Astoria. As each vessel raced down the Willamette at high speed, they threw up a wake which rocked and damaged large ships moored alongside piers, which resulted in the captains of the steamboats each being fined $50, a considerable sum for the time. (source)

• Steamboats of the Columbia River »
• Columbia River Images »

Suing Ronald Reagan: My First Maritime Case

21 Feb 2010 / Washington Free Press – “Sue the government for shutting down the old Marine Hospital,” my new boss ordered. He was referring to the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital on Seattle’s Beacon Hill, now the headquarters for Amazon.com.  We were in my office at his law firm, on the top floor of the Seattle Trade Center, overlooking Elliott Bay.

“OK,” I eagerly replied.  “What legal theory should we use for a cause of action against the government?”  I was a brand-new lawyer, having taken the bar exam a week earlier. 

“I don’t know—think of something.  Seamen have used the Marine Hospitals for 200 years.  Reagan can’t just shut them down.”  My boss left my desk and went into his own office.  He closed his door, leaving me to stare out the window and wonder how to start this project.  It was August 1982.

• keep reading »

Tugboat Arthur Foss is the only known wood-hulled 19th century tugboat still afloat  and in operating condition in the U.S. Built as the Wallowa, she began her career towing lumber and grain-laden square-rigged ships across the treacherous Columbia River bar.  From 1904 to 1929 she towed log rafts around Puget Sound and the Washington coast.

She remained in continuous service with the Foss Company until 1970, except for duty in the U.S. Navy during World War II. While with the Navy, she was the last vessel to escape from Wake Island in January 1942  

She was transferred to Northwest Seaport in 1970, and restored to operating condition 1981. There is much more at the Historic South Lake Union Ships collection at the Peregrine Sea Gallery. Historic Ships at South Lake Union »

see more photos by Tim Robison; The Peregrine Sea blog »

USS Nicholas Conducts Africa Partnership Station Live At-Sea Drill

U.S. Naval Forces Europe, 6th Fleet Public Affairs

26 Feb 2010 / Dvids – PORT LOUIS, Mauritius – Africa Partnership Station East platform USS Nicholas recently trained with the Mauritius Group and Intervention Police Force on basic visit, board, search and seizure methods, which culminated in a live at-sea exercise held Feb. 25.

In-port training, which lasted for a period of three days, gave students education and practice on proper boarding and searching techniques, along with instruction on how to investigate suspicious personnel and handle weapons. Additional courses taught firefighting and damage control, search and rescue procedures, and force protection measures.

The training was a vital part of the APS East mission to bolster maritime safety and security, by providing Mauritian maritime professionals with the enhanced skills to help counter against illegal trafficking and piracy and to protect precious resources – part of an ongoing endeavor to keep international waters safe.

• more »
• APS East Completes Training in Mauritius:

"From the very first day we came aboard the ship, we were given many scenarios which we had to run through and perfect," said Pvt. Andy Eddy, one of the trainees. "The VBSS course was great because it was filled with important tactical knowledge and taught us how to properly search, question and maneuver an intruder."

Vancouver Olympics Security - USCG MH-65C Dolphin helicopter on the flight deck of Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship (HMCS) Algonquin, while at sea in the approaches to Vancouver Harbour during Operation Podium. Operation Podium is the Canadian Forces contribution to the overall security of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in support of the RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit. Pacific Northwest USCG 2010 Vancouver Olympics security (Set) on flicker »

• See also: Canada & U.S. May Extend Security Measures Past Games on gCaptain

WorkBoat.com: Everyone Wants to Go  to Heaven…

19 Feb 2010 / by Bruce Buls – At this month’s Seattle Propeller Club luncheon, Matt Mullett, president of boat builder All American Marine in Bellingham, Wash., gave a presentation about an exciting new boat his company is building for Kitsap [County] Transit. If the new aluminum/composite passenger ferry is successful – as all parties expect it to be – it should establish a new standard for low-wake fast ferries.

Because the new ferry will transit the notorious Rich Passage, home of many disgruntled waterfront property owners, it’s the low-wake signature that is driving the design and construction of this boat.

In fact, the $5.3 million boat is mostly being paid for by federal grants for wake-wash research…

• more »
• Bellingham company to build high-speed ferry for Kitsap Transit »

 Pier 3: Galbraith Dock, Seattle WA circa 1912 – Vashonian in center, Norwood at right

 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Washington state –  USS Ohio (SSGN 726) is in dry dock undergoing a conversion from a Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN) to a Guided Missile Submarine (SSGN) designation. source 

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Submissions for future editions:

Please submit articles for inclusion in next week’s edition using the following submit form at Blog Carnival. You are also welcome to email stories, photos, suggestions, kudos or complaints to MM@gcaptain.com. No recipes, please.

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Previous Editions: click on Maritime Monday to view the archives.

Permanent joint maritime policing legislation proposed

By Robert Matas

Vancouver, BC — From Friday’s Globe and Mail

Canadian and U.S. authorities are talking about extending cross-border security measures that were implemented for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and were to end with the closing of the Winter Games.

The RCMP and the U.S. Coast Guard have jointly patrolled the waters off Vancouver since the beginning of the month, boarding nearly 200 vessels and interviewing about 500 people in their efforts to maintain security, RCMP Sergeant Duncan Pound of the border integrity program said in an interview.

Almost every small craft in the vicinity of the maritime border has been contacted to confirm the legitimacy of its voyage. Although some arrests on outstanding criminal warrants have been made and some vessels have been sent back to port for not being safe, none of the incidents involved a threat to Olympic security.

keep reading »

Last week’s news of the sinking school ship Concordia, which sailed from Nova Scotia to destinations around the world, rocked many who read of the 64 students, staff and crew plucked from the ocean.

The ship was lost, but luckily, all souls were saved.

It’s important to remember in a situation like this that the choice to take on an adventure of this sort lies directly with those who step onto the ship. With the decision to try out something new, they accept the risk that the worst can happen.

To some, it may appear that the worst did happen in this case. The ship was lost, sunk after trouble in rough seas. But the best news is the level of professionalism that must have followed through each step of the operation, from the moment the ship got into trouble, until the moment the group watched it sink beneath the ocean’s surface while waiting for rescue in a lifeboat. It’s a sad event, but it could have been worse.

For the past several years, such organizations have been under public scrutiny. From television shows to Hollywood movies sensationalizing life aboard a ship, people have wondered what really happens on a tall ship.

• keep reading »
• CBC – "Sailing days are over," says wreck survivor »

By Susan Schept – Navy Times Staff writer
Thursday Feb 25, 2010 20:04:27 EST

Lawmakers from both parties had choice words for the Obama administration’s fiscal 2011 budget request for the Coast Guard at a House subcommittee hearing Thursday.

Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., called the budget “reckless and unconscionable.”

“To say that I am troubled by what was proposed doesn’t come close to covering it,” he said. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, said that no one on the panel supported the budget.

“I think you will have unanimous support from this committee to restore these cuts,” Cummings said. “We will proceed very methodically, but very effectively and very efficiently.”

The Coast Guard has requested $10.08 billion, down 3.3 percent from the $10.42 billion appropriated for fiscal 2010. The budget reflects a 2.6 percent cut in active-duty end strength, or 1,112 active-duty billets.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard Charles “Skip” Bowen testified at the subcommittee hearing. The hearing also covered the budgets for the Maritime Administration and the Federal Maritime Commission.

• Keep Reading >>
• Coast Guard Commandant and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard testify on U.S. Coast Guard FY 2011 budget
• To download both written testimonies, click here and here for a video of the hearing.

By Siobhan Hughes
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–The Obama administration failed to meet a deadline for submitting a court-ordered analysis of the environmental effects of offering new leases to drill in Alaskan coastal waters, the oil industry said Thursday.

A federal appeals court last year had invalidated the Interior Department’s current five-year plan for offering oil and gas leases, saying that the government hadn’t conducted an adequate review of the environmental impact in the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas off the Alaskan coast. The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service has been conducting such a review and is supposed to respond to the court.

“We are disappointed MMS has again missed a deadline to provide the court with the analysis it ordered last April,” Jack Gerard, the chief executive of the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement. “This will delay investment decisions, delay the production of much-needed oil and natural gas and delay the creation of much-needed jobs.”

An Interior Department spokeswoman wasn’t immediately available for comment.

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; Siobhan.Hughes@dowjones.com

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

EUTAWVILLE, S.C. – “Just get ‘em before the sharks get ‘em.”

That’s what Hutch Holseberg, 45, of Eutawville says was replaying over and over in his mind as he and four other men from South Carolina rescued nine Haitians Saturday about 30 miles offshore of Eleuthera, Bahamas.

Holseberg, along with his father, Fred Holseberg, 80, of Eutawville, and three friends from Goose Creek – Capt. Jimmy McCormick, Richard Haddock and John Hodson – made up the five-man fishing party that was hoping to catch a few tuna about 10 miles offshore of Eleuthera. It was Saturday, Feb. 20. The water was calm; the weather was nice.

But something was amiss. Hutch Holseberg said one of their crewmen noticed smoke and fire in the distance.

“I knew it had to be offshore,” he said.

As the crew headed toward the scene, Fred Holseberg, with the aid of binoculars, determined the smoke was coming from a ship 10 miles away.

“I didn’t know if it was a cruise ship or what is was off burning,” the elder Holseberg said.

The crew radioed for help to alert nearby vessels or emergency rescuers to respond to the site and, in the meantime, they continued toward the burning ship, Fred said.

“We were first on the scene,” he said.

The 96-foot cargo ship was fully engulfed in flames, and the ship’s contents were a total loss, he said.

Hutch said debris was floating around the burning ship and he saw and heard propane gas cylinders exploding aboard the vessel.

Also onboard were a couple of vehicles, he said. The ship was headed from Nassau, Bahamas to Haiti, he said.

The South Carolina fishermen noticed seven men in a dinghy, but the dinghy had a hole in it and was sinking, Hutch said. Another of the cargo ship’s crew was wearing a life jacket to stay afloat and another was attempting to stay buoyant using a suitcase, he said.

• Keep Reading