In Construction and Mining, machine performance is integral to a project’s success and cost efficiency. Undercarriage can make up more than 50% of the maintenance costs of a machine. Any component failures could lead to serious delays or costly replacements.
Integrated with Cygnus 4+ Ultrasonic Thickness Gauge, TrackTreads developed an Undercarriage Tool to monitor a machine’s undercarriage quickly and effectively. Thickness Measurements are taken on each undercarriage component using Cygnus Ultrasonic Thickness Gauge – a truly simple to use and accurate thickness gauging device. Connected to a mobile application via Continue reading “Application Spotlight – Undercarriage Inspection”
The world’s first autonomous and electric container ship is one step closer to launch, with Norwegian agricultural company Yara signing a deal with Vard worth approximately NOK 250 million ($30 million) to build the vessel.
Vard will deliver the 120-TEU Yara Birkeland for launch in early 2020 from its Brevik yard in Norway, and the autonomous electric container ship will gradually move from manned operation to fully autonomous operation by 2022. The hull will be delivered from Vard Braila in Romania.
Swiss company SolarImpact Yacht AG has announced plans to debut its new project. What is believed to be the world’s first solar powered superyacht, which has been in the research phase for five years, is now ready to be unveiled to the world.
The 23.7-metre (78-foot) vessel, designed by Marlena Ratajska, draws power from a solar-based energy supply and uses optimised SWATH (Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull) construction. The concept merges top-end luxury features and comforts with cutting-edge design and sustainability, and can reportedly boast an unlimited cruising range.
Vessels’ repair needs do not always match with planned maintenance schedules. With specialist underwater teams, no vessel is far from fast, high-quality repair and refurbishment that enable operators to avoid the potential loss of income related to dry-docking.
As the first global operator in the underwater services market, the technology group Wärtsilä is uniquely positioned to offer marine service and maintenance, regardless of the vessel’s location. Maintenance and repair services performed by specialist divers add to Wärtsilä’s comprehensive service offering such as dry docking, and allow for operators to minimise or eliminate vessel downtime.
“Reduced fuel consumption, efficiency improvements, and higher utilisation rates are always on the top of operators’ agenda. With our in-house specialist teams of certified diver technicians and propulsion experts, we are equipped to offer our customers underwater services Continue reading “Wärtsilä’s divers make the need for unscheduled dry-docking avoidable”
Maud, the ship that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen tried to reach the North Pole with, returned to Norway on Monday after nearly a century.
The vessel arrived in Bergen, where she spent two days back in July 1918 on her way to the high Arctic.
Maud was raised from the seabed in Cambridge Bay, Canada, over the summer of 2016 by the Maud Returns Home project.
Named for Queen Maud of Norway, she was built for Amundsen’s second expedition to the Arctic and launched in June 1916. In the summer of 1918, Amundsen departed Norway. His ambition was to sail into the high north and deliberately get stuck in the ice so the ship could function as a floating scientific research station as she drifted across the North Pole. Maud spent several years in the Arctic ice without reaching the North Pole. Continue reading “Maud makes a welcome return to her homeland in Norway after 100 years”
All cargo, whether carried on or under deck, should be stowed and secured in accordance with the vessel’s Cargo Securing Manual as approved under Regulation 5.6 of Chapter VI of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has published a marine notice, reminding vessel owners, operators, masters and surveyors of the importance of stowing cargo in accordance with the approved Cargo Securing Manual arrangements and regulations.
All cargo, whether carried on or under deck, should be stowed and secured in accordance with the vessel’s Cargo Securing Manual as approved under Regulation 5.6 of Chapter VI of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention. This includes the way in which cargo is secured and the weight distribution of cargo within the stow.
A sea anchor is a vital component to a rescue boat, reducing the likelihood of it drifting away or spinning around, and keeps it steady in the wind.
As more people are heading out to sea over summer, safety both onboard and overboard is under the spotlight. For this reason, an ISO has been updated for the effectiveness of sea anchors for rescue boats known as ‘ISO 17339:2018, Ships and marine technology – Life saving and fire protection – Sea anchors for survival craft and rescue boats.’
A sea anchor is a vital component to a rescue boat, reducing the likelihood of it drifting away or spinning around, and keeps it steady in the wind. The updated ISO for the performance and safety of sea anchors brings them in line with the IMO’s International Life-Saving Appliance Code.
The International Life-Saving Appliance Code prescribes the carriage and use of sea anchors for survival craft and rescue boats, yet the revised recommendation on testing of lifesaving appliances does not provide requirements of performance and testing procedure for the sea anchors. This document addresses those areas, which the IMO recommendation does not address, in order to enable consistent implementation by maritime Administrations.
The COI reports operational limitations which may have been exceeded while the voyage took place.
The US Coast Guard released the Certificate of Inspection (COI) for the ‘Stretch Duck 07’, the amphibious tour boat that sunk in Table Rock Lake, Missouri on July 2018 with the loss of 17 lives.
The COI reports operational limitations which may have been exceeded while the voyage took place. The limitation included limits on permissible weather and surface conditions.
It also indicates that the boat’s stability letter was issued on March 2009, and its last “drydock” was carried out in January 2017. Its operations were to occur in Table Rock Lake and nearby Lake Taneycomo, and it was not permitted to operate on the water “when winds exceed thirty-five (35) miles per hour, and/or the wave height exceeds two (2) feet”.
Maritime NZ describes a fire in the cargo hold of a container ship caused by the heat from a 500 watt light bulb as the ship was berthed in port on New Zealand’s East Coast in late 2017.
Maritime NZ has published its Lookout report. In it they present a range of of maritime casualties, offering some clear lessons that have been learnt. In this incident, Maritime NZ describes a fire in the cargo hold of a container ship caused by the heat from a 500 watt light bulb as the ship was berthed in port on New Zealand’s East Coast in late 2017.
The cargo hold fire incident
The floodlight was unintentionally left on after the hold was filled with timber packs. Some of the timber was destroyed in the fire and other packs charred, but the ship suffered only cosmetic damage. No-one was injured.
The cut timber had been loaded during the day and the 148 metre vessel was due to sail at the change of tide, when the cargo hold fire alarm sounded just before midnight.
In the aftermath of the report published into the fatal Platino accident in which two crew members of the yacht Platino died back in June 2016, Maritime NZ has announced regulatory changes. These apply to safety requirements for recreational vessels leaving New Zealand ports and for other recreational vessels operating in New Zealand waters.
The incident
Platino is a 19.78 metre-long sailing yacht built in 1997-98 and extensively refitted in 2015. It was certified to Category 1 standard by Yachting NZ on 11 May 2016 and sailed from Auckland bound for Fiji on 11 June 2016 with five crew on board. Continue reading “Following fatal Platino accident new regulations are introduced”
Capt Yves Vandenborn, AFNI, Director of Loss Prevention at the Standard P&I Club, based in Singapore, writing in The Standard Club P&I’s bulletin addresses the International Safety Management Code on the occasion of its twentieth birthday. Twenty years and five amendments later after the Code came into effect in 1998, Mr Vandenborn examines its course so far and what, in his opinion, needs to be done in order to become more effective.
Background
The International Safety Management Code was born out of a series of serious shipping accidents in the 1980s, the worst of which was the roll-on roll-off ferry Herald of Free Enterprise which capsized at Zeebrugge in March 1987, killing 193 of its 539 passengers and crew. The cause of these accidents was a combination of human error on board and management failings on shore. The Herald of Free Enterprise public enquiry report concluded that ‘From top to bottom the body corporate was infected with the disease of sloppiness’.
What followed was a much needed change in maritime safety administration. In October 1989, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted new Guidelines on Management for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention giving operators a ‘framework for the proper development, implementation and assessment of safety and pollution prevention management in accordance with good practice’. Following industry feedback, the guidelines became the ISM code in November 1993 and were incorporated in a new chapter IX of the IMO’s 1974 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) in May 1994, and became mandatory for companies operating certain types of ships from 1 July 1998. Continue reading “What next as the International Safety Management Code turns 20?”
UK maritime insurer London P&I Club is taking out an insurance policy against the business risks of Brexit by opening a subsidiary in Cyprus. The European market accounts for nearly two-thirds of London P&I’s business, and a Cypriot entity would still be able to operate under EU rules with EU clients in the event that a “hard Brexit” impedes cross-channel transactions.
London P&I Club, which has been serving the UK’s maritime sector since the dawn of the steamship era, told Reuters that it is now obtaining the necessary licenses from Cypriot authorities and setting up its new operations in the island state. they are one of the first to openly declare their post Brexit strategy.
