The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has issued a Marine Guidance Note providing stakeholders with updated guidance on the five titles of the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006 and the regulations applying to UK ships.

NYK conducted a crisis-response drill based on the scenario of a serious accident occurring on an NYK-owned VLCC (very large crude-oil carrier).

MAST has announced that BIMCO granted recognising the company's commitment to the evolution and enforcement of standard industry practice.

ABS Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Howard Fireman said cycles are temporary, but vision is long term during his speech at the World Shipping Summit, 5-6 November, China

In a move intended to allow the European shipping industry to stay abreast of recent developments, European shipowners have widened the scope of the former ECSA Piracy Working Group, which has been renamed "ECSA Maritime Security Working Group" .

STS Planning and Preparation - Fendering - Mooring - Unmooring The West of England P&I Club has issued Loss Prevention Safety Alert on STS Transfer Operations Incidents Resulting in Contact Damage to highlight the principal causes of recent incidents, and to focus on thesafeguards that should be considered to reduce the likelihood of contact damage during STS mooring and unmooring operations.The Club has experienced an increasing number of claims involving contact damage during ship to ship (STS) transfers, mainly during manoeuvring operations. Some of the incidents were serious. Following a claims review it appears that the majority of these cases took place in conditions that may have been unsuitable for the activity undertaken.Contributory factors generally included one or more of the following:Adverse weather conditions such as high winds, heavy seas, strong currents and/or tidal streams. In one case a daughter vessel, which was moored alongside an anchored mother vessel, made contact when trying to unmoor in a Force 8 wind. A significant number of other incidents occurred in winds of Force 6 or more.Lying beam on to a long swell while lightering a vessel which was partially aground. The swell increased during the operation, causing both vessels to roll up...

Due to recent incidents involving self-heating of coal The Gard P&I Club has issued a loss prevention ciruclar to highlight the importance of checking the accuracy of shippers declarations for all types of coal cargoes.The Club has recently been involved in several incidents of self-heating of coal cargoes and would like to emphasise the importance of treating coal cargoes as liable to self-heat until it has been satisfactorily established that they are not. The Club says that the shippers cargo declaration containing the cargo properties and the associated hazards should be examined in detail1.It should be borne in mind that the information contained in the declaration may be inaccurate. Inaccurate IMSBC Code declarations have been seen in areas such as Indonesia, where large quantities of coal are shipped. More surprisingly, Gard was involved in a recent case where a coal cargo loaded at Richards Bay, South Africa was inaccurately declared as not self-heating coal nor liable to emit methane. Subsequent investigations involving cargo experts, established that the cargo did in fact possess both properties.It is therefore recommended that all coal cargoes are treated as potentially hazardous and liable to self-heat until it can be satisfactorily established that they are not....

The Japan P&I Club has issued report on how to carry safely nickel ore cargoes as there has been an increase of nickel ore shipment from Philippine as Indonesia banned this shipment in 2014 and due to rainy season now at local, it appears that some vessels have faced liquefaction problems

The West of England P&I Club has issued a series of guides to provide some general observations on commonly encountered Defence issues. The following guide focuses on hull fouling and highlights owners' obligation to maintain, owners and charterers claims that can arise, protective clauses and tips for the owners.

Borealis Maritime Ltd and Nordic Tankers announce their intention to form a jointly held company, Crystal Nordic AS, specializing in the shortsea, ice class chemical tanker trade in the Baltic and North-Western European market.