On Sept. 20, the empty 230-metre ship MV Miner was being towed by a tugboat to a Turkish scrapyard when it broke free in rough seas and ran aground on Scatarie Island, a provincial wilderness area about two kilometres from the northeast coast of Cape Breton. Initially attempts to pull the former Great Lakes freighter off the rocks failed but now new operations have been scheduled in order to remove the grounded vessel.
MIT researchers have developed a new technique for magnetically separating oil and water that could be used to clean up oil spills. They believe that, with their technique, the oil could be recovered for use, offsetting much of the cost of cleanup. The researchers will present their work at the International Conference on Magnetic Fluids in January. Shahriar Khushrushahi, a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, is lead author on the paper, joined by Markus Zahn, the Thomas and Gerd Perkins Professor of Electrical Engineering, and T. Alan Hatton, the Ralph Landau Professor of Chemical Engineering. The team has also filed two patents on its work.
A Greek shipping company must pay the US federal government $300,000 after admitting that one of its vessels discharged waste oil into the Atlantic Ocean, U.S. Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux Jr. announced Wednesday in Baton Rouge. “The oceans must be protected from shipping companies that look to cut corners by dumping waste improperly,” said Ivan Vikin, special agent-in-charge of the EPA’s criminal enforcement program in Louisiana.
The 25th shipbuilding, machinery & marine technology international trade fair hamburg ended on 7 September, after four days of action with 2,100 exhibitors and more than 50,000 trade visitors, including numerous international delegations and representatives from government and the scientific community – the most successful SMM yet.
Stricter limits on the sulphur content of shipping fuels are set to improve air quality along European coastlines and reduce the estimated 50,000 premature deaths caused each year by air pollution from ships. EU parliament today approved legislation agreed with member states, which requires new general limits to be in place by 2020.
The Philippines Supreme Court has ruled that a crewman had no cause of action for total and permanent disability as his complaint was filed before the expiry of the 120 day treatment period envisaged under the standard form POEA employment contract. The court also held that the crewman’s claim for sick wages was deemed abandoned upon the filing of his complaint (CF Sharp Crew Management, Inc., Norwegian Cruise Lines and Norwegian Sun, and/or Arturo Rocha vs. Joel Taok).
Demand for low sulfur bunkers in the U.S. has risen to as much as 50% of the total U.S. market since the August 1, 2012 introduction of the North American Emissions Control Area (ECA), according to a Platts Podcast. All ships operating within the ECA, effectively a 200 nautical mile zone off the U.S. and Canada coastlines, must use a marine fuel with a sulfur content not exceeding 1.00% by weight.
A major ship fire erupted on the MV Amsterdam Bridge over the weekend off the coast of Mumbai. The blaze has fortunately been contained and cooling operations are ongoing aboard the Colombo-bound merchant vessel. The entire 20-man crew is safe. Indian Coast Guard officials confirm that the flames are contained, but not yet fully extinguished. Thick smoke continues to rise from the vessel and fire-fighting is underway.
Last week Equasis published its annal report for 2011. Equasis is populated with data from most of the world’s merchant ships. Basic ship particulars are derived from the commercial database of IHS Fairplay. Equasis is fed by 45 data providers which can be divided into six categories: core ship and company data, PSC regimes, classification societies, P&I clubs, associations or vetting programs and other international organisations. Almost all these sources are used in this document to a greater or lesser extent.
60 metric tonnes of bunker fuel were spilled on Singapore’s Temasek Fairway. According to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the agency received a report at about 1400hrs on 9 September (Singapore time) that a Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier “Sunny Horizon”, collided with the “DL Salvia”, a Korean-registered Liquefied Petroleum Gas carrier.
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Officer of the Watch 