A NewsLink service for Dole Chile

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

SAFETY
UNDER TUITION
A chief officer taking instruction from an
experienced master learned that sticking to
the passage plan is crucial when a slight
change puts the ship at risk.

Last big icebreaker in US set to

sail from San Francisco Bay

The last US icebreaker capable of crushing

through the thickest ice of the Antarctic and
Arctic is due to set sail from the San Francisco
NARRATIVE
Bay after latest repairs to postpone its already
past-due retirement.
The chief officer of a ferry was taking the ship
Climate change makes the 38-year-old Polar
to sea from a south coast port, under
Star Icebreaker's science and security missions
instruction from the experienced master.
He successfully manoeuvred the ship from
ever more vital, according to scientists and other
the berth and set off across the harbour. To
backers of rebuilding the country's dwindling ice
exit, the harbour required a sharp turn to port
fleet.
to pass between the breakwaters on an
Crew members of the USCG's Polar Star
easterly heading.
The standard exit plan required a heading of icebreaker were drilling on Tuesday before
215(T) across the harbour but, once clear of leaving the former naval shipyard at Mare
the jetty, the chief officer steadied the ship on Island, across the bay from San Francisco.
a heading of 196(T). This had two effects:
Shipyard workers replaced worn, 18-foot-high
firstly, the wheel over position was not in the
propellers for refitting and carried out other
planned position and would require a sharper
turn. Secondly, the ship would be nearer the
entrance when making the turn, so would
have less time to make any adjustments to the
track before passing through the breakwater.
The chief officer began to make the turn onto
the easterly heading when the correct
lamppost came abeam, and the ship started to
swing. About 30 seconds later, the chief
officer noted that the ship was approaching
the northern breakwater arm at the entrance,
and
put the helm amidships to slow the rate of
turn. This had little effect and the master took
over, increasing speed on both engines,
putting the helm to port and the bow thrust full
to starboard. This slowed the ship's approach
to the breakwater, but not sufficiently to stop
her from touching.

Labour woes delay huge apple

exports

Labour problems at key West Coast sea ports

delayed the export of apples from Washington.
According to experts, a contract dispute between
West Coast dockworkers and port operators is
also likely to hit exports during the Christmas
holiday season. The longshoremen and shippers
are negotiating a new contract as the previous
labour deal ended in July.
"With the record apple crop we are having this
year, the need to move Washington apples
outside of the US is even greater," said Rebecca
Lyons, international marketing director for the
Washington Apple Commission.
LESSONS
The dispute has already caused slowdowns at
Los Angeles and Long Beach ports and the port
- The chief officer had planned his exit, and
had briefed the rest of the bridge team of his
city of Tacoma.
plan. However, he did not follow this plan, and
Delays have also hit shipments of autos,
the master did not intervene to correct this
smartphones and numerous other products as
omission. The chief officer ended up turning
longshoremen and shippers try to hammer out a
the ship in the wrong position.
new contract involving work at 29 West Coast
- By turning in this position, the ship was
ports.
much closer to the entrance than originally
The West Coast ports handle the bulk of the
intended, and once it became apparent that
the ship was closing the north side of the
cargo shipped into the US, equal to about 40%
entrance, there was little time for the master to of the total.
take over and avoid striking the breakwater.
The Pacific Maritime Association, which
- Since this accident, the ferry company, in
represents
shippers,
has
accused
the
conjunction with the harbour authority, has
longshoremen's union of slowing work to gain
amended the passage plan to allow for a
leverage. The union, however, blames a lack of
wider approach to the entrance. Source: UK
MAIB
hiring and a shortage of equipment for the
delays. (with inputs from AP)

work on the country's sole remaining heavy

icebreaker, now eight years beyond its
scheduled decommissioning date.
By late January, the Polar Star will loom over
the western Antarctic on its key annual mission breaking through ice for the yearly resupply of
researchers at the US' McMurdo Research
Station and another US research centre at the
South Pole.
With 75,000 horsepower and a hull strong
enough to batter through six feet of ice at
running speed, the Polar Star is the only
operational US vessel capable of getting the
food, fuel and research material to the two
Antarctic research stations. (AP)

USCG detains cargo vessel for

safety violations
The USCG has detained a 600-foot motor
vessel, which will remain in Longview until
significant safety violations are corrected by the
ship's crew.
Vessel inspectors from the Coast Guard
Marine Safety Unit in Portland discovered the
discrepancies during a routine safety and
regulatory compliance inspection of the
Panama-flagged vessel. The safety violations
were related to extensive disrepair of various
piping systems in the machinery spaces.
Additionally, Coast Guard vessel inspectors
discovered that half of the vessel's fire hoses
were deteriorated and inoperable, greatly
reducing the crew's ability to fight shipboard
fires.
According to the USCG, its officials are
working with the vessel's crew, owner and
managing company to mitigate the safety
violations and make repairs to the vessel prior to
it departing port.
"The risks posed by the safety discrepancies
rendered the vessel substandard with respect to
US and international law," said Captain Pat
Ropp, Sector Columbia River officer in charge
of marine inspection and commanding officer of
Marine Safety Unit Portland.
"The deficiencies were determined to pose
significant risk to the safety of the vessel, crew
and port. They collectively indicate that the
vessel is unfit to proceed to sea," he added.

PAGE 2 - Wednesday, November 12, 2014

SHIPPING DATA

ACCIDENT

BALTIC EXCHANGE
Market snapshot: 1100 GMT
Dry Index
BDI
1370
Capesize Index
BCI
3419
Panamax Index
BPI
1150
Supramax Index
BSI
876
Handysize Index
BHSI
451

Ferry collides with quay

-48
-194
-18
-3
0

EXCHANGE RATES
New York (Tue Cls)
Fgn Currency
in USD
Britain (Pound)
1.5922
Canada (Dollar)
0.8823
China (Yuan)
0.1633
Euro
1.2478
India (Rupee)
0.0162
Indonesia (Rupiah) 0.000082
Japan (Yen)
0.008666
Norway (Krone)
0.1472
Philippines (Peso)
0.0223
Poland (Zloty)
0.2955
Russia (Ruble)
0.0215
Singapore (Dollar)
0.7751
Ukraine (Hryvnia)
0.0634

USD in Fgn
Currency
0.6281
1.1334
6.1245
0.8014
61.5550
12205.00
115.4000
6.7925
44.9300
3.3800
46.5112
1.2902
15.7760

Sekimizu addresses Australia's

Maritime conference
IMO Secretary General Koji Sekimizu has
delivered a keynote address to Australia's
Maritime 2014 conference on November 11. In
his address, the secretary general stressed IMO's
credentials as a technical organisation and,
among other topics, focussed on the need to
address passenger ferry safety and migrants
being illegally and unsafely trafficked by sea. He
said shipping was in a period of adjustment due
to tonnage oversupply.
In the meantime, IMO's Kenyan Naval
Architect Juvenal Shiundu was addressing the
African Maritime Domain Conference 2014
about "The role of the maritime sector and the
blue economy in Africa's renaissance".
The conference, which started on November 9,
is being held in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
The conference is being attended by 300
participants and has been organised by the
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in
partnership with the South African Maritime
Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the International
Ocean Institute - Southern Africa, upon a
request of the African Union to SAMSA.
IMO has a robust technical co-operation
programme that gives priority to Africa in the
allocation of resources to help its countries build
their capacity to deal with some of the major
challenges in the maritime domain. A new
approach to capacity building for maritime
development in Africa is based on Country
Maritime Profiles, which aim to identify
capacity-building needs.
IMO holds workshop on maritime Somalia:
The second technical IMO workshop on
assisting Somalia to establish a national
maritime administration is being held in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia from November 10-13. The
workshop is a part of IMO's capacity building
programme for Somalia. This workshop will
focus on reviewing and updating the 1959
Somalia Maritime Code.

A ferry, which was en route from Gdynia, on

November 11 collided with the quay of berth 4
at the Scandianvia Quay in Lubeck-Travemunde
while approaching the port.
The crew of 20 and one passenger did not
suffer any injuries. However, the wall rail and a
lifeboat were damaged.
The Coast Guard police are investigating
reason behind the collision.

Man falls into hold of cargo ship

An Estonian man fell 5m into the hold of a
cargo ship on November 11 and injured his leg.
He had stepped up on the edges of the vessel's
hold when he slipped and fell onto the empty
bottom.
The rescue department was alerted
immediately and he was taken to the
Kymenlaakso Central Hospital.

COMMERCE

China earmarks USD 40bln for

Silk Road Fund
China's President Xi Jinping has announced that
Beijing is planning to invest USD 40 billion to
establish a Silk Road Fund.
The fund is intended to revive maritime and
land trade links between Asian countries by
financing construction of infrastructural
solutions and industrial and financial
co-operation to reduce bottlenecks, Xunhua
said.
The fund, controlled by the Chinese
government, would be open to investors from
both Asia and abroad.
The Chinese president introduced the "Belt
and Road" initiatives to build a Silk Road
Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk
Road in 2013, in an attempt to revive the
historic trade routes between China and other
Asian nations.

Maersk profit boosted by higher

freight rates, volumes
Danish shipping and oil conglomerate AP
Moeller-Maersk on Tuesday reported a rise in
third quarter net profit, buoyed by higher freight
rates and container volumes, AFP reported.
Net profit rose 30% to USD 1.465 billion,
above a USD 1.36 billion consensus of analysts
polled by Dow Jones Newswires, as revenue
edged up 0.7% to USD 12.169 billion.
Maersk Line, seen as an international trade
bellwether as it controls around 15% of global
sea freight, raised its full-year profit guidance to
above USD 2 billion from the previously stated
"significantly above" last year's USD 1.5 billion.

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HI-TECH
KONGSBERG MARITIME LAUNCHES
K-SIM NAVIGATION
Kongsberg Maritime has launched its latest
generation ship's bridge simulator - K-Sim
Navigation - which is based on a new
technology platform that enables more
realistic training scenarios and enhanced
user benefits for both instructors and
students.
Designed for the future of advanced and
integrated simulation training, K-Sim
Navigation meets the requirements of the
most demanding navigation training for
merchant, offshore and naval vessels.
It features an advanced physical engine
and hydrodynamic modelling, allowing
vessels, objects and equipment to behave
and interact as in real life.
Besides, a new visual system is also
included, bringing vessels and objects in all
possible weather conditions to life.
Also, K-Sim Navigation features an
intuitive and modern educational tools,
which use a modified ECDIS chart as a
starting point with drag & drop function for
creating exercises. The instructor system
also includes automatic recording and an
advanced assessment system for training
and feedback.

WARTSILA DUAL FUEL ENGINES FOR

ICEBREAKING LNG CARRIERS
The Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine
Engineering (DSME) yard in South Korea
has ordered a total of 54 Wartsila dual fuel
engines to power 172,600cbm icebreaking
LNG carriers being built for use in arctic
conditions to serve the Yamal Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) project in Northern
Russia.
The Wrtsil machinery is capable of
operating on LNG, heavy fuel oil (HFO), or
low-viscosity marine diesel oil (MDO), but
LNG will be the main type of fuel to be
used. When operating in arctic waters, the
engines will be operating in ambient
temperatures of as much as minus 50
degrees Celsius on LNG carriers breaking
through ice more than two metres thick, in
operating modes that allow variations in
engine load within a limited period of time.