News

New design of coastal feeder ship wins Japan award

Posted on by News Hound

Feeder ship with innovative new designA coastal feeder vessel featuring a novel, aerodynamic bow form has been voted ‘Best Small Cargo Ship’ at the Japanese Ship of the Year event hosted by the Japan Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers (JASNAOE).

Deployed since delivery in December on the Japanese feeder network operated by Imoto Lines, the 548 teu Natori won the award on account of its energy-saving and safety features. The vessel is highly unusual in appearance, by virtue of a hemispherical-like prow, with integral, rounded forward bridge and superstructure, rendering a highly unusual appearance.

Continue reading “New design of coastal feeder ship wins Japan award”

Simple liquefaction ‘can-test’ could help prevent the risk

Posted on by News Hound
UK P&I is promoting the liquefaction 'can test' as a means to detect this phenomenon before leaving port
UK P&I is promoting the liquefaction ‘can test’ as a means to detect this phenomenon before leaving port

UK P&I is promoting the liquefaction ‘can-test’ as a means to help avoid loss of life arising from cargo liquefaction. Over the past decade, at least 100 seafarers have lost their lives due to incidents which have been attributed to bulk cargoes liquefying at sea.

Senior Claims Director Alan Speed looks at the dangers of cargo liquefaction and the steps operators can take to mitigate the risk. “The issue of liquefaction remains high on the UK Club’s Loss Prevention agenda. Solid bulk cargoes such as unprocessed mineral ores and refined mineral concentrates have certain characteristics that, although they may appear to be in a dry, granular state upon loading, contain enough moisture to become fluid under the compaction and vibration that occurs during a voyage. The resulting cargo shift can be sufficient to capsize a vessel and sadly cost lives.

Continue reading “Simple liquefaction ‘can-test’ could help prevent the risk”

AMSA notifies changes in its certification and accreditation services from 2017

Posted on by News Hound

AMSA has issued new edition of its publication ‘ Working Boats’ including information regarding changes in its certification and accreditation services.

Currently, even though AMSA is responsible for regulating domestic commercial vessels (DCVs) across Australia, the way you get your services — such as certificates and vessel IDs, undertaking surveys and the fees associated with these services — is not the same around the country. Those services are currently delivered by each state and territory, which sets its own procedures and fees for these services.

Continue reading “AMSA notifies changes in its certification and accreditation services from 2017”

Surveyors beware of how to avoid claims for ‘cooking’ soya beans

Posted on by News Hound

Soya beansThe latest issue of North P&I Club’s loss prevention newsletter has advised operators to be extra vigilant during loading and transport of soya beans to ensure they do not get blamed for cargoes that start “cooking” at sea.

North’s loss prevention director Tony Baker says, “We have experienced a number of high value claims in China associated with damage to soya beans exported from South America. These claims tend to recur on an annual basis associated with the harvest cycle of soya beans. Similar claims can also occur with other grain cargoes.”

Continue reading “Surveyors beware of how to avoid claims for ‘cooking’ soya beans”

Wärtsilä’s hybrid battery technology to be used on new Wightlink flagship ferry

Posted on by News Hound
Impression of the new Wightlink flagship ferry
Impression of the new Wightlink flagship ferry

A ship under construction at Cemre shipyard for UK operator Wightlink will be the first ferry to employ Wärtsilä’s technology that uses batteries to manage engine load fluctuations.

The use of batteries in conjunction with four six-cylinder Wärtsilä 20 generating sets – controlled by a 690v main switchboard, an integrated automation system and a power management system also supplied by the Finnish company – is expected to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions while lowering noise levels.

Continue reading “Wärtsilä’s hybrid battery technology to be used on new Wightlink flagship ferry”

MCA issues MGN 432: Safety during transferring persons

Posted on by News Hound

Men boarding a ship from a tug boatThe UK MCA has issued Marine Guidance Note 432 in order to provide advice for all vessels engaged in transfers of persons at anchor or underway. It gives guidance on taking the necessary precautions, the use of trained persons and carriage of requisite equipment to aid a safe transfer and rapid recovery of a casualty from the water.

Pilots and Pilotage Authorities regularly undertake transfer of persons between vessels at sea, and it is recommended that this guidance should be read in conjunction with SOLAS Ch V, Regulation 23. However this guidance is predominantly aimed at those who are not experienced in such

Continue reading “MCA issues MGN 432: Safety during transferring persons”

Well done to the IIMS Muddy Rudders for raising money for Cancer Research

Posted on by News Hound

[wppa type=”cover” album=”15″][/wppa]

The Pretty Muddy event took place on Saturday 9 July in Portsmouth and the IIMS team of Muddy Rudders had great fun in their quest to raise funds for Cancer Research. The girls (Sam Legg, Sam Owen, Vicky Lawrence, Tania Bernice and Elle Hardham) had to manage a range of different obstacles as well as enduring a lot of water and mud too!

As the above photos show, the IIMS Muddy Rudders rose superbly to the challenge and we are very proud of them. And if you needed proof, there it is to show they really did get very muddy indeed. All photos are courtesy of Ray Bernice.

The team are so very grateful to all those IIMS members who have generously donated money already. If you have yet to do so, but would like to help boost the team’s total you can do so by clicking through to the Muddy Rudders Just Giving Page to make your donation online – it is simple.

IIMS announces the finalists for its Silver Jubilee Awards for Excellence in Marine Surveying

Posted on by News Hound

To celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the International Institute of Marine Surveying (IIMS), nine awards categories were created to represent excellence in marine surveying in various disciplines called the Silver Jubilee Awards.

The deadline for nominations was 30 June. Following a meeting of the judging panel on 12 July, the nominations have been whittled down to a list of finalists.

The IIMS Silver Jubilee Award winners will be announced and their awards presented at the special 25th Anniversary Conference on 31 August at Regent’s University by Sir Alan Massey, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency. Continue reading “IIMS announces the finalists for its Silver Jubilee Awards for Excellence in Marine Surveying”

Lloyds Register defines levels autonomous ship design and operation

Posted on by News Hound
Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce
Image courtesy of Rolls-Royce

With autonomous ships likely to enter service soon, LR has set out the ‘how’ of marine autonomous operations in a new ShipRight procedure guidance. The guidance describes autonomy levels (AL) ranging from ‘AL 1’ through to ‘AL 6’ denoting a fully autonomous ship design with no access required during a mission.

The ‘AL’ system of levels provides clarity to designers, shipbuilders, equipment manufacturers, ship owners and operators, enabling accurate specification of the desired level of autonomy in design and operations and paves the way to a clearer understanding of the investment opportunity/risk equation. Continue reading “Lloyds Register defines levels autonomous ship design and operation”

Report on the sinking of the scallop dredger JMT published by the MAIB

Posted on by News Hound
The report on the sinking of the scallop dredger JMT has been published
The report on the sinking of the scallop dredger JMT has been published

The MAIB has issued its report into the capsizing and sinking of the scallop dredger JMT in 2015. The report will be of particular interest to surveyors given that the incident raises issues around the effect modifications made potentially had on the stability of the craft.

During the afternoon of 9 July 2015, routine contact was lost with the skipper and crewman on board the 11.4m scallop dredger JMT that was fishing off Plymouth, UK. A search and rescue operation was initiated the following morning when the vessel did not return alongside as expected.

Continue reading “Report on the sinking of the scallop dredger JMT published by the MAIB”

Blohm+Voss to open refit facility for megayachts in the Mediterranean

Posted on by News Hound

Blohm + Voss LogoBlohm+Voss has announced that it has won the tender for the set-up of a new maintenance and refit facility for megayachts in La Ciotat, in the South of France. The company will partner with La Ciotat Shipyards (managed by SEMIDEP-Ciotat), the local company in charge of the site development which is providing a large dry-dock and neighboring workshop premises embedded within the existing shipyard. Blohm+Voss will utilize this new facility in the heart of the Mediterranean to maintain and service megayachts over 80 meters in length. Operation is planned to start in November 2016.

Blohm+Voss Chief Executive Officer, Fred van Beers commented: “Setting up a maintenance facility for megayachts in La Ciotat is an important step in our current growth strategy. With our new office in Monaco and this central location in the Mediterranean we are moving our core business closer to our customers; we are now offering more flexibility and tailored life-cycle.services. The dock in La Ciotat is 200 meters long and 60 meters wide. Our customers now have the choice of utilizing our extensive shipyard facilities in Hamburg or our new base in La Ciotat for large yacht maintenance, refits or conversions. Whatever our customers require: we will provide our renowned, exceptionally high Blohm+Voss quality standards and on-time services at both sites.”

Continue reading “Blohm+Voss to open refit facility for megayachts in the Mediterranean”

Beware signage dropping from a crane boom warns IMCA

Posted on by News Hound

Warning of Signage droppingIn one of its regular safety bulletins, the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has issued new information on an incident involving parts falling from a crane – in this instance a steel sign. IMCA says that this is not the first time this has happened and individuals may wish to review this in light of other similar reported signage dropping incidents.

A piece of metal fell from a crane boom. The incident occurred on a vessel whilst alongside during the testing of the luffing motors’ braking system on the main crane. During this testing the crane boom made an uncontrolled descent into its crutch, resulting in a 60 kg steel sign falling 15m down to the deck. Investigation revealed that the sign was fixed by 4 x stitch welds, of which three were completely rusted away.

Continue reading “Beware signage dropping from a crane boom warns IMCA”

Instagram Posts from the IIMS @iimsmarine

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

Show details
Performance & Marketing Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages. This also helps us optimise our marketing campaigns. User data sent to Google Analytics may be used for ad personalization and measurement of our ad campaigns. Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.

Show details
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance