02 JAN 2020 Over the last few years, the public narrative about the New Silk Road rail route has become increasingly grand. Conceptually, this route could be a kind of high-speed internet for the transport of physical goods; politically, it could boost China’s standing on the global stage. But as with …
Read More »PIRATES KIDNAP EIGHT FROM GREEK PRODUCT TANKER OFF CAMEROON
01 JAN 2020 Armed pirates have abducted eight mariners and injured another in an attack on a tanker off Cameroon, according to Greece’s shipping ministry. On Monday night, armed attackers came on board the product tanker Happy Lady at an anchorage about two nm off the Limboh Terminal in Cameroon. The pirates abducted one …
Read More »TIME TO RETHINK SAFETY IN ENCLOSED SPACES
31 DEC 2019 Crew members are often blamed for deaths in enclosed spaces. Human error; so it would seem. But, there are those in the industry who believe that others should be held accountable, that new action should be taken. In a submission readied for the IMO this year, the …
Read More »CLINICAL TRIAL PROVIDES ‘FIRST REAL HOPE’ OF A LUPUS TREATMENT IN HALF A CENTURY
29 DEC 2019 Lupus is a potentially fatal autoimmune disorder that impacts roughly 5 million people worldwide, and yet it still has no known cause or cure. Today, most treatments come with a whole bunch of adverse side effects, and given how little we know, finding new avenues for medicine has …
Read More »SINGAPORE JAILS TANKER CAPTAIN IN SHELL OIL HEIST
28 DEC 2019 The captain of a Vietnamese oil tanker has been jailed for over five years in Singapore for his role in a scheme that saw around $150 million of oil stolen from Shell’s biggest refinery over several years. Doan Xuan Than, 47, was sentenced to 66 months in …
Read More »RUSSIA’S FLOATING NUCLEAR PLANT PLUGGED IN AT PEVEK
27 DEC 2019 Russia’s controversial floating nuclear power station has begun supplying electricity to a remote port in Siberia, despite widespread environmental and safety concerns, the state nuclear corporation Rosatom said Thursday. In a statement, Rosatom reported that the Akademik Lomonosov had plugged into the “isolated Chaun-Bilibino network” in the port of …
Read More »A HAPPY SHIP IS A SAFE SHIP
26 DEC 2019 This is a concept that it is argued on all training and support actions for seafarers by companies and organizations worldwide. This concept is absolutely correct; there is no dispute about that! Since 2009, when I delivered my first training for seafarers about “Mental Health Awareness” until …
Read More »PIRATES RELEASE NAVE CONSTELLATION CREW
24 DEC 2019 Pirates have released the 19 crewmembers taken from the tanker Nave Constellation on December 3. All 18 Indian and one Turkish nationals were freed on Saturday after being kidnapped from the vessel in the Gulf of Guinea while en route from Bonny Offshore Terminal to India. The seven seafarers …
Read More »SCRUBBERS HAVE LIMITED IMPACT ON WATER QUALITY
23 DEC 2019 Ships that use scrubbers have a small impact on the water quality in ports when compared to future E.U. standards for priority substances in water, according to a new study carried out by CE Delft, with support from Deltares. The study calculates the predicted equilibrium concentrations for …
Read More »SCRUBBER QUEUE GROWS AHEAD OF IMO 2020
22 DEC 2019 Another containership fitted with an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber) is added to the global fleet every 10 hours, according to Alphaliner data. However, the race to get scrubbers retrofitted on ships ahead of IMO 2020 regulations on 1 January has resulted in a significant extension of …
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