The 153 m MV Timberland lost two crew members overboard 110 km north of Terschelling on Nov 25, 2012. at 4.05 p.m. Immediately a distress signal was sent, but two helicopters were struggling to stay aloft. The German Navy deployed one helicopter from Borkum which sighted two lights, but did not have enough fuel to investigate this further.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced last week that thirteen foreign flagged ships were under detention in UK ports during October 2012 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection. Latest monthly figures show that there were six new detentions of foreign flagged vessels in UK ports during October 2012 and seven vessels remained under detention from previous months. Only four vessels remained under detention at the end of October. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last twelve months was 3.4% this is slightly up from Septembers twelve month rate.
At 2258 on 19 February 2010, a German shore worker was fatally injured on board the oil/chemical tanker Bro Arthur. Bro Arthur had part-discharged at Rotterdam before arriving in Hamburg to offload her remaining crude palm oil cargo. A team of three cargo “sweepers” had been arranged under the operational direction of a supercargo (person who has wide experience in cargo operations, and normally acts on behalf of the charterer). While exiting No 2 cargo tank on completion of the “sweeping” operation, one of the “sweepers” fell to the bottom of the tank.
During an earnings call for Diana Shipping’s Q3 2012 Results, an analyst posed a question on “eco ships” and what the trade off looks for new versus used since it relates to more fuel efficient level. According to Anastasios C. Margaronis, president of Diana Shipping Inc., fuel-saving ECO ships are not likely to provide shipowners with major savings.
Over a week ago Attorney General Eric Holder announced that BP has agreed to plead guilty to felony manslaughter, environmental crimes and obstruction of Congress and pay a record $4 billion in criminal fines and penalties for its conduct leading to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster that killed 11 people and caused the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history. The 14-count information, filed in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, charges BP with 11 counts of felony manslaughter, one count of felony obstruction of Congress, and violations of the Clean Water and Migratory Bird Treaty Acts.
The cargo ship MV Warnow Jupiter, being enroute Rotterdam-Wismar, allided with the gate of the new Northern Lock of the Kiel Canal in Brundsbüttel in the night of Nov 21, 2012 short past midnight. The police breathalyzed the captain who was found to be intoxicated with 1,05 per mille.
The following information have been gathered mainly from PSC MoUs sites and may serve only as reference for the inspections being carried out each month by each MoU. The consistency of the information may differ between MoU since there are slight differences on the way each organization presents the inspection info. For more information on the inspections carried out please refer to each organization’s site.
During the 3rd annual SAFETY4SEA forum held in Athens in October 2012, Apostolos Belokas, Managing Editor of SAFETY4SEA and Principal Consultant & CEO, SQE Marine Group, gave a very interesting speech on the implications of the requirements of the new STCW. Despite the fact that the new STCW has been accepted by a diplomatic conference in Manila back in June 2010, unfortunately many industry stakeholders are not aware of the implications of the new requirements and as a result they have not addressed their safeguards properly.
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Officer of the Watch 