Piracy:Will we ever find a solution? We have inveighed against the tendency in our industry, to keep repeating: Something must be done about piracy, without getting specific about what that something is. A number of proposals, some of them sensible, and some of them unworkable, have been put forward. In the midst of all of the fulminations, a few mysteries are being cleared up. One of these mysteries is why the United States, as the only major power with a navy of proven efficiency, has done so little (I realize this will offend my British friends, but its now official: the Royal Navy hasnt been as small as it is now since the Middle Ages). There have for some time been rumours that the U.S. was pulling its punches with regard to the Somali pirates. Intriguing new evidence has surfaced in a recent article by two experienced New York Times reporters, Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, detailing what appears to be happening behind the scenes. The reality seems to be that the United States now considers Al Qaeda in Somalia, and its affiliate across the Gulf of Aden, to be a greater threat than the operatives in Pakistan who have...

Cargo liquefaction danger hasn't gone away On Christmas day, the bulk carrier Vinalines Queen, carrying a cargo of nickel ore from Morowali, Indonesia, to China, went missing. The ship and its crew of 22 must now be considered lost. Although it is certainly too soon to ascribe a known cause of sinking, it is probably fair to say, as an American judge did many years ago: "Sometimes circumstantial evidence can be very convincing, just as when you find a trout floating in the milk". There continues to be a crying need for greater information, understanding and enforcement of regulations - as well as testing - of cargoes that may liquefy. Nickel ore is one such. Intercargo, the International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners, has commendably been a leader in fighting for international action to protect the lives of seafarers, at risk when bulk cargo vessels, like the Supramax Vinalines Queen, suddenly disappear. Over the years, many such losses involved vessels carrying direct reduced iron (DRI), a cargo prone to heating when wet, sometimes resulting in a disastrous explosion. It took many years for international authorities to recognize the culpability of unscrupulous shippers and consignees - one of our industry's little...

Lifoboat safety - safe ships IMO's Maritime Safety Committee has concluded its 90th session, its delegates having worked their way through the usual fearsome agenda. Not surprisingly, the discussions involving the reactions to the Costa Concordia incident have been those which have attracted most attention. In this matter the organisation is somewhat handicapped by the ongoing proceedings and inquiry taking place in Italy, with these themselves being delayed somewhat by the criminal proceedings against the vessel's master making matters rather more complex. There are however a number of sensible interim measures which have been recommended in an MSC circular. For a start the seemingly endless arguments about whether lifejackets should be kept in cabins or located near the embarkation might have moved on a little with a recommendation that additional lifejackets should be readily accessible in public spaces, muster/assembly stations or in the lifeboats. This may not have been an issue at the time of the Titanic's loss, but pretty well all last century arguments have raged as to the sanity of requiring passengers to be required to rush below to their cabins to retrieve their lifejackets before proceeding to their muster stations. Should the ship be sinking fast, or...

The Magnetic North The United States has granted Royal Dutch Shell conditional approval of its plan to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea, off the North Slope of Alaska, next summer. Shell has spent nearly $4 billion over more than 5 years, to obtain the right to drill in waters north of Alaska. Aside from environmental issues, the challenges to the maritime industry are very large ones. The Arctic itself is an oceanic area around and north of land masses that circle the pole. In May of this year, the extent of Arctic ice was the third-smallest since collection of data began in 1979. Alaska itself has a coastline that is longer than that of the combined "lower" 48 states. Nevertheless, the United States has very limited resources to cope with search and rescue responsibilities; Last May, an Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement was signed by 8 nations - Iceland, Finland, the United States, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Canada and Denmark, in which it was agreed to cooperate on rescues above the Arctic Circle. At its meeting in Greenland, the Arctic Council refrained from any attempt to resolve the issue of territorial claims. Russia has made claim to a...

Each casualty is a 'learning experience' April is said to be the cruelest month. It is memorable for disasters, from the Titanic to Texas City, Deepwater Horizon and so on. Of course, there are eleven other months in the calendar, each with its rueful anniversaries. Most accidents are eventually forgotten: the public's memory may still embrace the Titanic, and the upcoming centennial of its loss will be widely observed; but who now recalls an even greater sea disaster, the sinking of the Empress of Ireland in 1914? Each casualty is a "learning experience." No doubt this will be true of Costa Concordia as well. Beside the specific issues of each accident, a few of the general lessons learned down through the years are worth considering. A first lesson, to be brutally frank, is that loss of life is less generally accepted, if that is the right word, than it was a century ago. The public generally demands that its floating pleasure palaces will be safe, and afloat. Accidents are not only unacceptable;they are unexpected to a far greater degree than in bygone times. And as for oil spills, as we say in New York, fuhgeddaboutit. The second lesson is that...

What do oil spills, piracy and the Greek crisis have in common? There are at least three received truths, as one of my college professors sarcastically called them, that, in the world of shipping, may be open to challenge. One is that last years Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion had nothing to do with the rest of the shipping industry, being only about wells and rigs and not ships. Another truth that is repeated constantly is that weve got to do something about piracy, particularly the Somali variety, and that if our industry musters the will, whatever that is, the world will listen. And the third is that Greeces (and Europes) current economic and political passion play has, and will have, no relevance to the Greek-owned shipping sector. In my more than 40 years in shipping, Ive learned that like most businesses, ours is dominated by relatively few voices, functioning within an echo chamber of mutually supportive expressions of internal consensus. These voices do not always take account of uncomfortable events outside: a failure that brings unpleasant surprises from time to time. There are a number of reasons why the three truths, that I have referred to, arent actually...

In US, there is a need for a strong and focused government maritime policy Shipping, it is often said, is a house of many mansions. It is characterized by different qualities, and varies according to the nationality of the ships themselves, and their owners. Here in the United States, however, one thing cuts across all of the niche markets and special interests: we need leadership. Nowhere is this more apparent then in the somewhat veiled circumstances of the firing (because that is what it was) of Admiral Philip H. Greene Jr. as Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy, also known as King's Point, located on Long Island Sound, within sight of the New York State Maritime Academy, across the water in the Bronx. This has been followed by an order from the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD), closing down GMATS, a self-funded graduate training program based at the Academy. Now MARAD is taking away the Academy's training ship, the KING'S POINTER, transferring it to Galveston, Texas, where it may be refurbished, and could be made available to the Texas Maritime Academy (Texas A&M) for its own training needs. Admiral Greene's removal is the third such incident in fairly...

A need for responsible approach to maritime education Our government's present inability to land a cargo of gasoline in a U.S.-flag vessel in icebound Nome, Alaska, symbolizes the shortage of foresight of our maritime policy makers. We are unable to provide a U.S.-flag ice-strengthened tanker to lift cargo between points in the United States (within Alaska), and will apparently have to secure the services of a Russian vessel instead. At the same time, the termination of the Global Maritime and Transportation School (GMATS), which has been at the forefront of professional training since its founding in 1994, seems to be another illustration of an "asleep at the switch" attitude toward our urgent maritime requirements. The two episodes have more in common than might at first appear. Up to now, GMATS, located at King's Point, has provided more than 140 maritime education and training programs, including four categories: nautical science and military training, marine engineering, transportation logistics and management. In 2010, more than 4,000 students were enrolled in GMATS programs. All of this now comes to an end, although the various state-sponsored maritime academies will no doubt attempt to take up the slack. Many of the courses offered have particular significance...

Passengership safety remains an important issue As we approach the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this coming April, passengership safety remains an important issue. Between 1990 and 2000, the cruise market increased by 60% and ship size grew to vessels capable of carrying well over 3,600 passengers. Naval architects have devoted attention to methods of achieving rapid and safe evacuation, particularly access to lifeboats located at various parts of the passengership's superstructure. Chutes or slides are now available for passengers to enter lifeboats already in the water, either directly into the lifeboat, or by means of a transfer platform. These systems are designed to be effective in unfavourable weather conditions, or when the ship has heeled over. It is, or should be, understood that passengers on board a cruiseship may not be nimble, and perhaps may be partly handicapped. This affects the design and stowage of the lifeboats. The loss of Titanic in April 1912 began a revolution in passengership safety that has continued to the present time. Although an international conference was held in 1914, it was not until 1932 that an international convention for the safety of life at sea was agreed upon by major...

Changing the Rules of Engagement Piracy is expanding to West Africa; nine attacks were reported in February, double the number in the month before. Piracy is also well-entrenched in Southeast Asia, which recorded 31.5% of all incidents worldwide over the past twelve months to the end of January. This blogspot has said - repeatedly- that a rethink, and to some extent a new approach, will be needed if pirate attacks are to be contained, not to say reduced. The "business model" now employed by pirate gangs is relatively low-risk and is sufficiently remunerative to, at least, its leaders, that it is likely to spread into new areas, such as parts of coastal South America. Whatever it is that we are now doing - "best practices", the presence of armed and unarmed security teams embarked aboard ship, and various talking shops: Working Groups 1 and 3 of the Contact Group for Piracy Off the Coast of Somalia and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime's Counter-Piracy Programme, to name a few, the frequency and geographical area of this brutal affliction hasn't been significantly affected. The type of thuggery now occurring with growing frequency off the Nigerian coast, some of it 110...