CEO

Well here’s another collection of slightly off-piste marine-related stories that might have passed you by during March.

Philippines charges 15 crew members for smuggling P400 million worth of sugar

Now here’s a strange tale indeed. Smuggling the ‘white stuff’ usually has a very different connotation, but in this instance, it refers to nothing more harmful than sugar! Apparently, on Friday 17th February, the Philippines Agricultural Department charged 15 crew members of a cargo ship for smuggling sugar. The sugar cargo with a value of P400 million led authorities to charge the captain of MV Sunward and the rest of the crew with smuggling.

The incident happened in Batangas. The arrested persons’ identities are said to be 7 Chinese, 6 Indonesian Continue reading “What caught my eye: March 2023”

So here we go again with an eclectic mix and round-up of the news stories and events that grabbed my attention and caught my eye during February 2023.

Robots to collect litter from surface and deeper regions of the Mediterranean

Once again, I take my hat off to the ingenuity of people. Here is yet another fine example of innovation at work that deserves to succeed. After the success of the first autonomous robotic system designed to search for, identify, and collect seafloor litter, a consortium of European researchers will develop a team of robots to collect litter from the surface and deeper regions of the Mediterranean. Continue reading “What caught my eye: February 2023”

For the past 18 months or so, I have published a regular column in the monthly IIMS news bulletin entitled ‘what caught my eye’, but have now decided to share this content here through my blog additionally.  Some of the maritime stories I have souced have been important ones, some fascinating and some just downright daft. But I hope you will enjoy what I have chosen for you this month (and in future months to come too). Continue reading “What caught my eye: January 2023”

Since I recently published my most recent Coronavirus advice to marine surveyors who travel internationally for work, the situation surrounding the pandemic has worsened dramatically in just a few days. The world we knew has ended abruptly. Put simply, marine surveyors are certain not to be travelling cross-border for work given the alacrity with which most countries are racing to close their borders because of Coronavirus.

Coronavirus presents a challenge to the marine surveying profession like never before and one which none of us has witnessed in our lifetimes – and there is no easy or obvious solution either.

Continue reading “Coronavirus makes an urgent rethink for the marine surveying profession mandatory”