Sixty seven inspections in one week in designated ports in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippines led to notices of warnings being issued to errant companies and unpaid wage claims. This latest ITF campaign to protect conditions for seafarers working on vessels in South East Asia resulted in the discovery of several abuses between 21-25 January.
During the last week of February Shell announced it will pause its exploration drilling activity for 2013 in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas to prepare equipment and plans for a resumption of activity at a later stage.
A new UCLA research shows that shipping lanes through the Arctic Ocean won’t put the Suez and Panama canals out of business anytime soon, but global warming will make these frigid routes much more accessible than ever imagined by melting an unprecedented amount of sea ice during the late summer.
Overall confidence levels in the shipping industry recovered to their highest level for two years in the three months ended February 2013. There was improved expectation of freight rate increases over the next twelve months, particularly in the dry bulk sector, and greater likelihood of new investment in the industry.
A fire occurred in the port engine room of a semi-submersible drilling unit whilst carrying out exploration drilling in Norwegian waters. The fire was indicated by alarms in the control room and confirmed by attending personnel. The engine room was successfully isolated manually after approximately 35 minutes, and the halon system was then activated. This, however, did not completely extinguish the fire, which re-ignited. The fire was eventually extinguished some 7 hours after the initial alarm.
When boarding the ship, the PSCO immediately noticed clear grounds for a more detailed inspection of the ship’s safety standard and general condition. The PSCO found that the maintenance of especially the accommodation and the ship’s deck areas were so poor that the ship should be considered substandard.
Photo credit: Shipspotting
During early February a lifeboat has washed ashore in Australia from a ship that ran aground in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean almost two years ago. The lifeboat from the bulk carrier Oliva floated about 8,000 kilometres from Nightingale Island to a beach at the Coorong wetlands near the mouth of the Murray in South Australia. The ship’s crew of more than 20 was rescued after the maritime accident in March 2011, which caused a big oil spill.
The 473-foot tanker Harbour Feature was successfully freed at approximately 6 p.m., Monday after alliding with the Sarah Long Bridge, on the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth. The tanker became disabled and allided with the bridge at approximately 1:30 p.m., Monday. At this time, the vessel is carrying an unknown amount of tallow oil.
On 30 January 2013 a $40 million engineering structure belonging to Iran’s South Pars gas field to be used in offshore platforms sank into the Gulf as it was being installed. The equipment was built by Maritime Industrial Company (SADRA), an affiliate of the industrial wing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, over a 30-month period. The incident occurred Monday night as the 1,850-tonne jacket developed for South Pars Phase 13 sank to a depth of 80 metres (264 feet), media reports said, adding that there were no reports of any casualties.
On early morning 30 March 2013, off the island of Masirah (Oman), the Liberian fllaged cargo bulk carrier ‘Atlantic Confidence’, reported to have a fire in the engine room and requested assistance. Upon receiving the message, Admiral Antonio Natale, Commander of the NATO Task Force engaged in the fight against piracy off the Horn of Africa, promptly ordered the nearest vessel under his command, the frigate USS Nicholas to proceed at maximum speed and assist.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||
Officer of the Watch 