Ballast water is a traditional way to improve the stability, propulsion and manoeuvrability of a vessel. Nevertheless, it comes with some downsides which may be ecological as well as economical. So, what can be done to improve this? The answer may lies at removing ballast water systems altogether, adopting ballast free ships.

Industry stakeholders have discussed a lot about the pros and cons of paperless navigation concluding that ECDIS does have an edge over the traditional paper chart navigation. However, the question for the navigating officers remains the same. Can they steer the vessel, following a pre scheduled passage plan, avoiding grounding?

On October 27, the container ship Maersk Launceston collided with the Hellenic Navy minesweeper Kallisto off Piraeus. The minesweeper was damaged significanlty, while two crewmembers were injured. 

The industry has mostly shed its focus on navigational safety or pollution prevention; however, the issues related to engine rooms and installations should not be disregarded considering that many accidents have been reported due to engine failures, loss of power or other engineering related causes.

Already established measures have paved the way for a more environmental-friendly shipping. A key example is the IMO NOx Tier III limits. These limits apply to engines installed on or after 1 January 2016, that are operating in Emission Control Areas and establish a strict limit on their emissions.

The fourth edition has been extensively updated and addresses: Lessons learned from incidents, most notably from failures of HMSF mooring lines; Human centred mooring designs and human factors in mooring operations; New and in-development regulations and guidance from the IMO on the safety of mooring; Alternative mooring technologies and how they can be incorporated safely into the design of mooring systems both for ships and terminals.

One of the most concerning problems that our oceans are facing nowadays – if not the most important – is plastic pollution. Plastics are the cause of increasing ocean pollution, which in turn affects marine life, and consequently humans as well. However, there are easy steps that everyone can follow, in order to eliminate this matter.

Oceans, seas and coastal areas cover the vast majority of our planet’s surface, as two-thirds of the planet is water. Oceans are a life-giving force considering the fact that our drinking water, weather, climate, food, and oxygen, are driven by the sea. For this reason, it is of vital importance to protect the seas through enhanced ocean conservation and sustainable practices.

Reviewing the guidance, there are two issues that may require more clarification for the operators: The first issue refers to the maximum breaking load that a line should have in order to be purchased. The second issue refers to the retirement of a line (or supportive equipment as tails)

A new requirement for the carriage of two-way portable radiotelephone apparatus of explosion proof or intrinsically safe type for firefighter’s communication is effective from July 1st, 2018 according to SOLAS regulation II-2/10.10.4 The purpose of these fire-fighter radios is to provide a dedicated means of communication between a team of fire fighters entering the space, and the crew member located outside the space who is assigned to control this team.