Top Ten Maritime News Stories 07/10/2015

Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 07/10/2015

1. Rejecting Pay for Rescue Concept

The Danish Shipowners Association (DSA) has rejected an idea that shipping companies should be paid to rescue refugees in the Mediterranean. “We will always do our part, but don’t think we should be part of the long-term solution and be paid for,” said Anne Steffensen, director general and ceo of DSA, at media briefing for Danish Maritime Days. She was responding to a Spanish initiative to pay shipping company to pick-up migrants. “We would much rather urge governments to spend money on Triton, not the payment of shipowners,” She noted that merchant ships did not have enough crew on board to cope with the numbers of migrants.

http://goo.gl/MbpCOF

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2. Livestock High and Dry

A livestock carrier capsized and sank while berthed at Porto Vila do Conde in Barcarena, Brazil, leaving cattle stranded on top of the overturned hull. Some 5,000 animals were onboard the Lebanon-flagged Haidar (6,419 dwt, built 1994; pictured) at the time of the sinking, which happened within two hours of the vessel capsizing, local reports say. The vessel reportedly developed a list while moored at the berth, but the crew were evacuated before the ship turned over. Haidar is owned by Lebanese company A Sleiman Co & Sons and commercially managed by Beirut-based Tamara Shipping, according to Equasis.

http://goo.gl/rxhFVQ

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3. Committed to Piracy Patrols

Denmark will remain committed to patrolling the seas in anti-piracy operations, and is pushing other larger nations to commit too. Deputy director-general Birgit Solling Olsen of the Danish Maritime Authority told a security conference at Danish Maritime Days in Copenhagen today: “If a small country can do it there is no excuse for bigger countries.” She said that while piracy off Somalia had been cut back in recent years, it had not been totally eradicated, but the growth in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea was “worrying”. Denmark’s strategy for anti-piracy operations from this year through to 2018, is to stay engaged in the Horn of Africa.

http://goo.gl/gucJ28

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4. Telling the World About Seafaring

Every day, they come and go, unheralded, required, ignored: 100,000 or so working ships traveling the seas, carrying 90% of world trade. Our goods, necessities, fripperies: all still come by ship, although most people think of the sea as something to be flown over, and though the average consumer pays seafarers no mind, until they arrive in our newspaper or TV headlines as casualties, such as the 33 men of El Faro, presumed lost near the Bahamas when Hurricane Joaquin swept by. Shipping has changed dramatically over the last century: from a chaotic industry to one where freight is cheap, margins are tight and seafaring life is difficult.

http://goo.gl/EFAEvi

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5. Piracy Responsibilities May Help Migrants

A new paper, “Distribution of Responsibilities in International Law" has been released dealing with situations where multiple states or international legal entities may share legal responsibility for a given situation. There is a chapter in the book dealing with piracy, with some unexpectedly relevant insights into inter-state responsibility for migrants and refugees. “Pirate ‘Gaolbalisation’: Dividing Responsibility Among States deals with the problem of international cooperating in piracy suppression, while all nations have in theory a duty to repress piracy, a market-type mechanism has evolved for implementing this duty.

https://goo.gl/26VoSK

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6. Nautilus Urges Government Response

The UK government must look across the North Sea to find proactive policies to combat the long decline of the British shipping industry, Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson told the Union’s general meeting. ‘The Dutch maritime policy package illustrates how things could be different if the UK government had strategies to support shipping and investment in the skills of our young people,’ he said. ‘The Dutch have a highly structured and coordinated commitment to the future of the nation’s maritime skills – with 100% support for training costs and a job guarantee – which is delivering a reversal of the decline in the skills base,’ he said.

https://goo.gl/sqYMPy

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7. Collision with Gas Carrier

A small Dutch freighter sank early Tuesday morning after colliding with a tanker in the North Sea off the Belgian coast, the Netherlands’ coast guard said. All aboard were rescued. Coast Guard spokeswoman Vanessa Strijbosch said 11 of the 12 crew of the Dutch freighter Flinterstar were rescued from frigid North Sea waters, and one was being treated for hypothermia. The 12th was still aboard. The Marshall Island-flagged tanker Al-Oraiq also suffered damage in the collision, which occurred 10 kilometers from the coast near the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, she said. The Al-Oraiq took on a little water but has been towed to Zeebrugge.

http://goo.gl/iOjwWQ

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8. Tanker Crew Face Legal Threat

The Federal High Court in Lagos has heard that 14 foreigners arrested by the Nigerian Navy on March 8 had entered Nigeria in a petroleum product-laden vessel without any proper documentation, license, or permit, local media reports. It is claimed the "foreigners", including three Russians, a Japanese, and seven Britons, were waiting for instructions from their employer to transfer the products to a vessel called "MV Norman Pacific" in Nigeria’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The accused stored 1,500 metric tonnes of automated gas oil inside the "MT Anuket Emerald" cargo tank contravening the Miscellaneous Offences Act and the Petroleum Act.

http://goo.gl/VPvSYb

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9. Fear Grow for Missing Yacht

Fears are growing for five people missing while sailing from Hong Kong to the Philippines. Search and rescue teams have failed to locate the yacht "Europa" which sent out a distress signal in the South China Sea last week at the time a storm hit the region. The British embassy in Manila has confirmed that two Britons were on board the ship. "We are liaising urgently with the local authorities concerning search and rescue operations and providing support to the families," it said. Tropical storm Mujigae blew out of the northern Philippines on Saturday and intensified at sea into a powerful typhoon before hitting the Chinese coast.

https://goo.gl/GgNyIR

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10. New Eco Ships Launched

d’Amico International Shipping S.A. has launched two eco-ships today at the shipyards of Hyundai Vinashin Shipyard Co. Ltd in Vietnam, bringing the fleet to over 50 units. The vessels Cielo di Ulsan, a handysize Ice Class of 39,000 tons and High Trader, a medium range 50,000-ton product tanker boast innovative design, elevated performance in terms of energy efficiency and consumption and already meet the international standards set to come into force in 2025, the company said. The two eco-ships, worth a total of more than 62 million dollars, are a part of the up to USD 755 million investment plan that DIS launched in 2012.

http://goo.gl/0TPy94

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