| Trump Questions Need to Protect Persian Gulf Shipping
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| Questioning the longstanding American doctrine of using sea power to protect shipping lanes worldwide, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States does not "need to be there" for merchant vessels in the Persian Gulf. "China gets 91% of its Oil from the [Strait of Hormuz], Japan 62%, & many other countries likewise. So why are we protecting the shipping lanes for other countries (many years) for zero compensation. All of these countries should be protecting their own ships on what has always been a dangerous journey," he wrote in a Twitter post on Tuesday morning. "We don't even need to be there in that the U.S. has just become (by far) the largest producer of Energy anywhere in the world!" Trump's comments follow after two attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman, one off Fujairah on May 12 and a second in the Iranian area of responsibility on June 13. The U.S. has released photographic evidence of Iranian movements after the time of the second attack and accuses Tehran of carrying out both ...
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| OOCL Chooses Navis StowMan Stowage Software for its Entire Fleet
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| Navis, a part of Cargotec Corporation, and the provider of on premise and cloud collaborative stowage planning solutions, announced that Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) has chosen the Navis stowage planning software StowMan for effectively stowing vessels in its container ship fleet. Hong-Kong-based OOCL currently operates a fleet of 100+ container vessels ranging between 21,400 and 2,900 TEU that are planned by stowage planners who are based in strategic planning regions. With the advanced multifunctional stowage operation system of StowMan, vessel planners will be able to optimize the stowage planning results for fleet utilization based on improved visibility and efficiency. StowMan is capable of utilizing the results of the stability and stress calculations, slot definitions and lashing rules as well as dangerous goods segregation and stowage rules produced by the onboard loading computer MACS3, which parts of the OOCL fleet are equipped with. Planners share the same view on stowage-relevant key ...
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| Fourteen Maritime Organizations Protest Jamming and Spoofing
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| 14 maritime organizations sent a letter to U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Karl Schultz on June 25, the IMO's annual "Day of the Seafarer." The letter urges him to raise the issue of jamming and spoofing of GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals at the IMO Council meeting next month. The letter says "GNSS signals have become an important part of all maritime operations. Interfering with them places the efficiency and safety of maritime operations at risk and can impact the safety of life." A recent report on Russian interference with navigation signals in the Black Sea and Syria, and another study that spanned from Europe to the Far East were cited evidence of the problem. The U.S. Maritime Administration has issued several advisories for GPS signal interference in the Eastern Mediterranean over the last two years. Such signal interference is seen by many to be a violation of International Telecommunications Regulations which say "All transmissions with false or misleading ...
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| Gender Equality at Sea: The Story of ETO Amreen Bano
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| On the international Day of the Seafarer, the campaign theme of which is 'I Am On Board with gender equality' driven by the 2019 World Maritime Day theme (Empowering Women in the Maritime Community), Human Rights at Sea publishes the updated story and case study of Electro Technical Officer, Amreen Bano: an Indian seafarer who is helping to lead the way to increased inclusion and acceptance of women at sea. The case study outlines the underpinning of her Muslim faith, her immediate family support, her constant drive in the face of bias and adversity, including the challenges she has faced to achieve her qualifications and Certificate of Competence as the first and youngest female ETO in India, in a previously male-dominated industry. The charity's Founder, David Hammond, and researcher Sayedeh Hajar Hejazi, met with Amreen in Mumbai in February after the first 'Human Rights at Sea' seminar in India, facilitated by Mrs. Saleha Zubair of the Women's Wing of the Maritime Union of India. At that meeting, ...
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| Ten Tugs Equipped with SCHOTTEL Rudderpropellers
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| Mark E. Kuebler, Ted C. Litton and Connelly M, the first three terminal and escort tugs of a total of 10 being constructed at Gulf Island Fabrication in the United States were recently delivered to Bay Houston Towing Co. Each of the Robert Allan-designed tugs is equipped with two SCHOTTEL Rudderpropellers type SRP 510 FP. In addition, VULKAN's Safeguard Basic driveline protection system issues early warning when intervention in the propulsion drive train is required. SCHOTTEL azimuth thrusters for best propulsion efficiency The main propulsion of the Z-Tech 30-80 tugs consists of a pair of diesel-driven Caterpillar 3516E engines, each driving a SCHOTTEL Rudderpropeller type SRP 510 with a fixed pitch propeller of 2.8 m diameter. This combination achieves a free sailing speed of 13 knots and a bollard pull of 81.5 tons. The Z-tech 30-80 is designed to significantly increase escort performance by generating more than 100 mt of steering force at 10 knots – which is particularly important for escorting large ...
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| Supreme Court: No Punitive Damages for Seafarer Injury Claims
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| On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a seafarer who sought punitive damages from his employer after a hatch blew open and injured his hand, finding that punitive damages - that is, extra money awarded to the plaintiff as an additional punishment for the defendant - are not available under an unseaworthiness claim. Under the general maritime law of unseaworthiness, a seafarer who is injured due an unseaworthy condition may state a claim against the vessel and its owner for damages due to the injury, according to leading maritime law firm Winston & Strawn. The shipowner is liable for the harm caused by an unseaworthy condition on the vessel, which means that the injured seafarer does not have to prove that the owner was negligent. The plaintiff, Christopher Batterton, was working aboard a vessel owned by the Dutra Group when a compartment was overpressurized, blowing open a watertight door open and crushing his hand against a bulkhead. He sued, seeking both compensatory and punitive damages, and ...
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| Why We Will Never See Fully Autonomous Commercial Ships
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| The world will never see fully autonomous transoceanic commercial cargo ships. In fact, autonomous vessels are likely to operate in only very limited situations. In recent years, the prospect of fully autonomous vessels has become a hot topic for commercial shipping. The same fast-paced advances in technology that have led to projects to automate vehicles in every other sector of the transportation industry have also found their way to the shipping industry. Advances in camera technology, sensors, electromechanical actuators and satellite technology appear to promise a world in which ships will soon traverse the oceans without a human on board. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Comité Maritime International (CMI) are already exploring how autonomous vessels would fit into the existing framework of international maritime law. Yet, while it is laudable to plan for the future, autonomous vessels operated by computers and remote operators quite simply pose too many vulnerabilities, and ...
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| Global Maritime Charity Hails Contribution of Women in Seafaring
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| Global maritime charity Stella Maris (Apostleship of the Sea) is marking Day of the Seafarer by paying tribute to female seafarers and cruiseship crew members. The charity is also highlighting the vital role its female trustees, port chaplains, head office staff and volunteers play. This year's International Maritime Organization's (IMO) theme for Day of the Seafarer is 'I Am on Board with gender equality'. AoS Board Member Theresa Crossley said, "The maritime sector has generally been behind the curve on gender equality, so it's great that the IMO had really picked up the baton with the 'I Am on Board with gender equality' campaign. "But someone said to me recently: "You can't be what you don't see." In other words, women need to take up roles and responsibilities that have been traditionally the preserve of men and be visible in those roles, if we are to inspire our girls and young women for the future." Theresa added that AoS is leading by example. "We already have women at all levels in the ...
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, all countries ( USA, Great Britain, India, Australia, New Zealand ) (sources)
