Top Ten Maritime News Stories 04/08/2015

Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 04/08/2015

1. Iran Makes Crude Response

Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh Sunday said the country’s oil output will increase by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) as soon as sanctions against the country are lifted, rising to a 1 million bpd increase within a few months, Reuters reports. "We are already doing marketing, and within a day after the lifting of sanctions we will raise (production) by 500,000 barrels per day," said Zanganeh. "Within the next few months, we will return to the level of 3.8-3.9 million barrels." Zanganeh added that output would then increase to 4.7 million bpd after that, as soon as it was feasible, according to a separate report.

http://goo.gl/9TkseM

———————————————————————————

2. New Role and Head for MPHRP

Tom Holmer, former head of the International Transport Workers’ Federation’s Seafarers’ Trust, has been chosen to lead the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP). Holmer will take up his new role at MPHRP once it becomes part of the International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN).

Holmer, who is an Associate at social enterprise consultancy Public World Ltd, will take up his new role as MPHRP’s programme manager next week. He succeeds former programme director Roy Paul. In future, MPHRP’s humanitarian assistance will widen its scope.

http://goo.gl/HQZBF0

———————————————————————————

3. Billionaire Battles Tanker Creditors

Out in the Atlantic an oil tanker is at the center of an escalating legal war. This battle pits the crude producer founded by Eike Batista, Brazil’s most notorious ex billionaire, against bondholders who loaned another of his companies $500 million. The clash is the latest chapter in the saga of Brazil’s once-richest man, an investor-darling-turned pariah who sold shares in six companies in a span of six years and lost more than $30 billion even faster when his commodities and energy empire collapsed. It’s also a cautionary tale for Brazilian creditors, whose claims can get tied up in the nation’s maze-like legal system.

http://goo.gl/0CUv1b

———————————————————————————

4. Tackling Skewed Piracy Reporting

According to a study by the Lowy Institute, realistic assessments of piracy threats require analysis of the reported attacks in terms of their seriousness, the types and sizes of vessels attacked, and whether ships were proceeding slowly or stopped at anchor or in port at the time of the attack. Any ship at all may be attacked while stopped or proceeding slowly if appropriate precautions are not taken and vigilance exercised. Too many analysts rely on numbers alone, and lack the qualitative knowledge to really shape a proper and effective analysis, one which can scope the scale of the problem and the threat posed.

http://goo.gl/5c4cJj

———————————————————————————

5. Box Giants Embrace Iran

The world’s third-largest container shipping group, France’s CMA CGM, said on Monday it would resume operations to Iran following the deal between Tehran and world powers over the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear programme. “Following the recent positive developments involving Iran and the P5+1 Group – comprising the U.S., China, France, the UK, Germany and Russia – and with the conclusion of the joint comprehensive plan of action, CMA CGM Group has decided to resume service to Iran starting (at the) beginning August 2015,” it said in an email.

http://goo.gl/SFfS0N

———————————————————————————

6. Huge Port Fee Hike

Dubai-based port operator DP World has managed to negotiate a new 50-year tenure deal at the Port of Melbourne at a fraction of the previously proposed 750% rent hike. The new lease arrangements for DP World Australia’s West Swanson Terminal include incremental rent increases over the course of the fifty year tenure commencing with CPI increments in 2015 and 2016 to nominally AUD 45 in 2023, with agreed escalations to 2028. Nick Easy, CEO at Port of Melbourne Corporation, said: ”The new lease will grant fifty-year tenure to DP World Australia to 2065 under a lease".

http://goo.gl/clHpYL

———————————————————————————

7. Losses Widen for Shipping Company

Losses widened for Precious Shipping in the second quarter with a $12.03m net loss, but boss Khalid Hashim is hopeful on current market rally being sustained. The loss of $12.03m for the second quarter of 2015 compared a $1.62m loss in the same period of 2014. The company said average earnings per day per ship for its supramaxes fell to $6,515 in the second quarter, compared to $10,882 in the corresponding quarter in 2014. The fall for its handysize vessels was slightly less with average earnings per day per vessel $5,575 in Q2 2015, compared to $8,054 a year earlier.

http://goo.gl/D160u6

———————————————————————————

8. Tanker Catches Alight

Oil tanker Ye Chi (45,740dwt, built 2009), operated by China Shipping Group’s oil shipping arm China Shipping Tanker, caught fire yesterday afternoon off Dayangshan Island, Shanghai. Five crew members were injured and one died after been sent to hospital, while the remaining 20 crew were rescued unharmed.

The tanker was carrying diesel from Shanghai to Singapore. The fire occurred in the accommodation area of the ship. Shanghai Maritime Rescue Center sent four ships and one helicopter in the rescue operations with the fire put out late last evening. Currently authorities are investigating the incident.

http://goo.gl/3SUx8H

———————————————————————————

9. Fire Onboard Subsea Vessel

A fire broke out onboard the ROV Subsea Viking 7 while it was moored in Scotland at the Hatson Pier on Orkney Island. It was reported that short circuit in the diesel generator caused the fire which spread aboard the vessel. A Scottish coast guard tugboat extinguished the fire quickly and no one was injured. The 1999-built Subsea Viking is a construction/flexlay vessel owned by Eidesvik Shipping and was on charter to Subsea 7. A ferry due to call at the pier last night diverted to a neighboring facility.

http://goo.gl/FBfUIa

———————————————————————————

10. Nude Cruising all the Rage

Specialist cruises are becoming very popular of late – and some cruise passengers it seems like to…well they like to undress for dinner, as it were. There are rules for being a nudist. It’s not enough to drop your trousers and waggle yourself in the sunshine, nudist cruises are as much a state of mind as a state of undress. Other than the yoga class, everywhere you looked, bits hung low and pendulous, swaying side to side as the boat rocked in the open ocean; billows of bulbous flesh spilling off torsos, flowing earthward like the goop inside a lava lamp. The entire human body presented in all its natural nature was unavoidably on display.

http://goo.gl/JyU98M

———————————————————————————

Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com