Posted on: Friday, September 25th, 2015 By: Szymanski
Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 25/09/2015
1. Drugs Ship May be Blown Up
Kenyan security forces are preparing to blow up a Norwegian cargo ship after ‘white powder’ and undeclared weapons were discovered on board.Due to a law demanding the destruction of all vessels found to be carrying drugs in the country’s waters, president Uhuru Kenyatta could now order it to be blown up. Twenty crew members of the vessel will be charged with illegal arms trafficking. FBI reports indicate the drugs were stuffed into the ship in Mumbai.
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2. US Extends its Reach
United States courts continue to uphold prosecutions of non-U.S.-flag vessels for pollution incidents beyond U.S. waters when the pollution is covered up with false records presented to U.S. officials. In a decision issued on September 15, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama followed precedents from a number of courts that hold that the U.S. has criminal jurisdiction over violations of the Act for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships.
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3. Slow Steaming Matters Not Size
A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suggests fuel savings among mega-boxships come more from slow-steaming not larger vessel size, Reuters reports. According to the OECD report, "between 55 and 63 percent (at least) of the savings per TEU when upgrading the vessel size from an early 15,000 TEU design to a modern 19,000 TEU design are actually attributable to the layout for lower operation speeds."
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4. BBC Sees Piracy Evidence
The BBC has released a video saying there are warnings about a new outbreak of piracy off Somalia’s coast, despite an international naval taskforce and British backed efforts to build stability onshore in the Horn of Africa. The BBC’s Africa correspondent Andrew Harding was one of the first foreign journalists to visit the pirate stronghold of Eyl. There have been reports of pirates heading back to sea, so this does hint at some potential trouble ahead.
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5. IMO Sec Gen on Seafarers
“Without a quality labour force, motivated, trained and skilled to the appropriate international standards, shipping cannot thrive,” IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu said, in his annual World Maritime Day message. “Not only that, all the many advances that have been made, in terms of safety and environmental impact, are at risk if personnel within the industry are unable to implement them properly,” Mr. Sekimizu said.
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6. Moored Ship Collision
The cement carrier "Have Jung" has collided with a moored reefer "Chilean Reefer" in Busan Port, South Korea. The cement carrier Hae Jung was proceeding to the berth, but due to strong wind and human mistake drifted and hit the berthed reefer, causing large hull breach and oil leak. During the accident one crew member was seriously injured and transported to the local hospital. The cement carrier Hae Jung had no sufficient damages and was towed to berth.
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7. Eyes in the Skies
The ongoing migrant crisis in the Mediterranean shows how indispensable satellite technology has become to those involved in saving lives at sea. But it’s not just about search and rescue; space hardware plays a crucial role in all aspects of maritime security, including anti-terrorism, anti-piracy and anti-drugs operation, as well as environmental and fisheries protection and a host of miscellaneous missions.
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8. PR and CO2 Working Together
Ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in December (COP21), PR efforts are working overtime. The lnternational Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has published "Delivering CO2 Emission Reductions: Shipping is Part of the Solution". According to ICS, the global industry is already delivering carbon neutral growth having reduced total CO2 emissions by more than 10 percent since 2007, despite an increase in maritime trade.
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9. Cyprus Slapped on the Wrists
The European Commission on Thursday requested Cyprus take immediate action to transpose rules on EU Member State port control into local legislation. An identical request was made to Romania within the European Commission’s monthly package of infringement decisions. The Commission requested Cyprus and Romania communicate the national measures taken to ensure the full implementation of Directive 2013/38/EU on port State control.
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10. Aussies Flex Legal Muscle
Australia has upheld the arrest of a SPV Sam Hawk Inc-owned vessel over unpaid bunkers, potentially creating a precedent of allowing parties who have a maritime lien under foreign law to arrest ships in Australia. Chartered to Egyptian Bulk Carriers at the time, the Sam Hawk was reportedly arrested in November 2014 by Canada-based Reiter Petroleum Inc, who argued that the contract made the ship subject to either a Canadian or U.S. maritime lien.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
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This post was sourced from InterManager: View original article here.
