The new EU climate emissions law is weak says Transport & Environment
For the first time, all shipping companies calling at EU ports will have to measure and publicly report carbon emissions under a law approved by an overwhelming majority of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee. Sustainable transport group Transport & Environment says that the new EU climate emissions law is weak – it only monitors fuel consumption instead of directly reducing it, and only covers CO2 and not air pollutants like SO2 or NOx – but it can still trigger fuel savings indirectly.
A fully updated edition of the definitive industry guidance on the safe operation of chemical tankers (Tanker Safety Guide) has just been published by the shipping industry’s global trade association, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
The new edition of the ICS Tanker Safety Guide (Chemicals) replaces the previous edition issued in 2002. ICS recommends that a copy is carried on board every tanker engaged in the carriage of chemical cargoes, and that copies are also held within shipping company technical departments.
Ben Ainslie Racing teams up with Red Bull Advanced Technologies. Photo: Mark Lloyd/Lloyd Images
Ben Ainslie Racing teams up with Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT), a division of the Red Bull Formula One group, as it progresses with its campaign to claim the 35th America’s Cup.
Operating as a Design House, RBAT is based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK. Founded on the group’s impressive F1 DNA, which has resulted in eight Formula One World Championships in the last five seasons, RBAT excels in advanced simulation and mathematical modelling. Ben Ainslie Racing is collaborating with RBAT to draw on this expertise and knowledge.
The RNLI has delivered a new Shannon class lifeboat to Hoylake. Image courtesy of RNLI
Hoylake RNLI volunteers are preparing for a new era of lifesaving with the eagerly anticipated arrival of their state-of-the-art Shannon class all weather lifeboat, which arrived on Monday 1 December.
The £2M new Shannon class lifeboat, named Edmund Hawthorn Micklewood, arrived by sea at the end of a five day journey from the lifeboat charity’s headquarters in Poole.
Hoylake is only the fourth RNLI lifeboat station in the UK and Ireland to receive a Shannon class vessel, which is the first modern RNLI all weather lifeboat to be propelled by water jets instead of propellers. Designed by an in-house RNLI team, it is the most agile all weather lifeboat in the charity’s fleet and has been developed with the safety and welfare of RNLI volunteer crews as a key priority.
Glenn Armstrong of Maritime Cook Islands is seeking more tonnage for the Flag.
“Cook Islands aims to be a flag of choice for quality classed tonnage and superyachts,” says Glenn Armstrong of Maritime Cook Islands. He goes on to say that “We are young, ambitious and energetic and we hope to grow significantly over the coming years.”
The Flag is based in the Cook Islands in Rarotonga and is the only Small Island Developing State with a serious open register that is actually based in their home country. The advantage of this is that Maritime Cook Islands is very close to their government and has an ability to get quick and sensible answers to difficult questions that take other Flags weeks and months.
Maritime Cook Islands is the administrator of the Cook Islands Ship Register. Under an agreement with the Ministry of Transport they have delegated to them responsibility for all Flag State responsibilities under the various IMO conventions and instruments. Given this responsibility, Maritime Cook Islands has recently employed Duncan Findlay as technical director, to assist their Deputy Registrars to provide timely, sensible, technical solutions to the problems that shipowners confront on a daily basis.
Oil & Gas UK has published two updated sets of guidelines to assist in the advance of good industry practice in FPSO operations.
Oil & Gas UK has published two updated sets of guidelines to help operators of Floating Production Storage and Offloading facilities (FPSOs), Floating Storage Units (FSUs) and offtake tankers to adopt advances in industry good practice.
Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, Oonagh Werngren, explains: “Issue 2 of the Mooring Integrity Guidelines provides guidance to enable operators of permanently moored offshore installations to improve the reliability of permanent mooring systems and enhance the management of mooring integrity. Issue 3 of the Tandem Loading Guidelines embodies advances in industry knowledge regarding the process of loading hydrocarbons from the stern of an FPSO to the bow of a shuttle tanker.
The type of skiff used by Somali pirates. Photo: UNODC
The United Nations Security Council today reaffirmed its condemnation of all acts of Somali pirates and all piracy and robbery at sea off the coast of Somalia, reiterating its calls for the international community to intensify their efforts in fighting what it said was a threat to the East African country’s stability.
Adopting a new resolution, the Council stressed the need for UN Member States to engage in a “comprehensive response to repress piracy” and tackle its underlying causes, while also calling on the global community to “take part in the fight against piracy and armed robbery” by providing a consistent military presence to the region.
The American Bureau of Shipping has granted approval in principle for the Sevan cylindrical floating LNG production unit concept
Now here’s a new concept for marine surveyors to consider and ponder. The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), the leading provider of classification services to the global offshore industry, has granted approval in principle for the Sevan cylindrical floating LNG (FLNG) production unit concept for offshore production, storage and transfer of LNG, LPG and condensate. The next generation FLNG design concept is based on the proven circular and geostationary Sevan FPSO design, which is being used in the Norwegian and Central UK North Sea and offshore Brazil and is under construction as the first application of an FPSO unit to be installed in the Barents Sea.
The Captain of the Sewol, 68 year old Lee Joon-Seok, has been handed a 36 year jail term for gross negligence by the Gwangju District Court. He was found not guilty, however, on the charge of negligent homicide. Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Mr Joon-Seok and life sentences for three other crew members. The Sewol was a South Korean ferry skippered by Mr Joon-Seok and sank last April with the loss of more than 300 people. Only 172 of the ferry’s 476 passengers and crew were rescued. Of the 304 confirmed dead, or still listed as missing, 250 were school children.
Enclosed space entry drills become mandatory from January 2015
From 1 January 2015 all persons involved in enclosed space entry, and/or assigned enclosed space rescue duties, will be required to take part in enclosed space entry and rescue drills at intervals not exceeding two months.
The amendments to SOLAS Chapter III are detailed in IMO Resolution MSC.350(92), which requires the following in relation to enclosed space entry and rescue drills:
Small tanker pirate attacks are rising in southeast Asia
While pirate attacks on the world’s seas have fallen for the third consecutive year, small tanker hijacks by armed gangs are escalating in Southeast Asia, reveals the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau (IMB) in its latest piracy report.
IMB’s 2014 third quarter global piracy report notes a total of 178 pirate attacks so far this year, down from 352 for same period in 2011. In the first nine months of 2014, pirates killed three crew, kidnapped five from their vessels and took 369 seafarers hostage. A total of 17 vessels were hijacked, 124 were boarded and 10 were fired upon. There were 27 further reports of attempted attacks.
Lifeboat Crew members from 11 countries have been involved in a European Exchange Programme designed to help reduce the numbers of people losing their lives in Europe’s waters.
With the aim of exchanging knowledge, sharing ideas and building relationships between the voluntary institutions, the project is now in its third year.
