Hurt shipping lines A new maritime law passed by the Kenyan government last year that is now being operationalised will bar shipping lines from investing in other cargo handling logistics in the country. The Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), the statutory body that regulates the industry, last week received final views from public on what shape the new regulation on commercial maritime services should take.A provision in the Merchant Shipping Act 2009 (MSA), which was introduced during the third reading of the bill in parliament has drawn a lot of controversy and efforts to operationalise the MSA has been opposed by shipping lines and their agents since the it came in force in October last year due to the prohibitive clause.According to section 15(a) of the Act, no owner of a ship or person providing the services of a shipping line shall either directly or indirectly, provide in the maritime industry services of crewing agencies, clearing and forwarding, port facility operators, shipping agents, terminal operators, container freight stations, quay side service providers, general ship contractors, haulage, ship breakers, ship chandlers, cargo consolidators, ship repairers, maritime training or such other services as the minister of transport may appoint.Those who argued in the...

Money matter The owner of the hijacked Saudi ship for which Somali pirates are demanding a ransom of $20 million has said that it was the vessels insurance company that received the ransom demand and that he himself had engaged in no direct contact with the pirates.All contact has gone through the Saudi insurance company via its head office in Jeddah, and the negotiation process is continuing for want of any other solution, said Kamal Muhammed Al-Urri, owner of the Al-Nisr Al-Saudi vessel.The priority at the moment is the safety of the crew of 13 Sri Lankans and their Greek captain. The hijackers have allowed them to speak to their families by satellite phone, and they assured them that they were in good health despite the distressing situation, Al-Urri said.The specialist in trading and investment. Al-Urri said he hoped to see international action to confront piracy on the high seas which, he said, was raising insurance premiums.Al-Nisr Al-Saudi is a relatively small fuel oil carrier and was empty of cargo when it was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in the first days of March. Officials said it was not registered with maritime authorities and was outside the designated route...

A pilot program A.P. Møller-Mærsk A/S (APMM) and ABS have agreed to extend out-of-water drydocking periods from five to seven and a half years for eligible vessels. The agreement signed this week covers an initial fleet of 14 Maersk Line containerships.It has been initiated under a pilot program approved by the Danish Maritime Authority wherein vessels may undergo two underwater examinations before the traditional out-of-water drydock inspection is required.The pilot program, also approved by the Singapore and UK maritime administrations, imposes strict requirements for eligibility and ongoing maintenance for vessels to be accepted into and retained within the program. These constraints include, among others, entry into the program is restricted to vessels which are less than five years old and the provision expires once the vessel reaches 15 years of age. It requires manufacturer guarantees that the underwater coatings used are designed to last for the extended period, the implementation of an active condition monitoring and preventative maintenance program and the application of a structured hull inspection system.We have been discussing this option with APMM and various flag States for over three years, says ABS Chief Surveyor Lenny Pendexter. Although we had agreement in principle, we had to be satisfied...

Too many eggs in one basket? There is a great deal of interest in electronic navigation at present. It is regarded as the way forward, offering efficiencies and increased safety through integrated navigation displays, electronic charts and better electronic position finding. But as always, these promises of better things in the future also bring with them some important qualifications in that e-navigation is entirely dependent upon the skills of those using it, that skills are a function of adequate training and that they do not enable navigators with no suitable training to operate like Vasco de Gama!There are also a number of other important considerations as the industry moves into the e-navigation age. Every additional element of sophistication tends to make a ship more complicated and the officers that much less flexible. There is also an alarming lack of standardisation in the equipment and its software, which makes it unlikely that any two ships will have the same outfit and that officers can move easily from one ship to another with the same facility that they did when vessels were rather less complicated. It is worth remembering the spread of ship ages that there will be in the average fleet.And...

Combat the current high levels of piracy IMO reports that Saudi Arabia has lent its support to the Code of Conduct designed to combat the current high levels of piracy in the Indian Ocean.The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed the Code of Conduct on the Suppression of Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden (Djibouti Code of Conduct), on 10 March, becoming the 13th country to do so.His Excellency Dr. Jubarah Bin Eid Alsuraisry, Minister of Transport of Saudi Arabia, signed the Code on behalf of his Government, during an official visit to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Headquarters in London.The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, following the instructions of King Abdullah, exerts every effort to build bridges of co-operation with countries all over the world, especially by taking initiatives and participating in an effective way in order to achieve stability and world security, whether through the United Nations and its specialized agencies, or through continuous co-operation with all countries in this field, Dr. Jubarah Bin Eid Alsuraisry said.IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos welcomed the signing by Saudi Arabia as a boost to the effective implementation of the Djibouti Code of Conduct...

Steps to combat hijacking of ships The Government has taken following steps to combat the incidents of piracy of ships/vessels.(i) The Directorate General of Shipping has issued various advisories to ships/vessels transiting through Gulf of Aden providing information relating to piracy in the area and also providing details of patrol convoy timing followed by the Indian Naval vessel patrolling in the region.(ii)Advisories and information obtained from various international forces present in the area are regularly forwarded to the Indian shipping fraternity.(iii)An Indian Navy warship has been deployed in the area from 23.10.2008 to escort Indian ships and other ships seeking assistance.(iv)The Indian delegation made intervention in the 101st Council meeting of the International Maritime Organization in London in November, 2008 and proposed a UN Task Force under a unified command to prevent the ever increasing piracy attacks off the Somali coast.Till date only one Indian seafarer is reported to have been killed by pirates and the flag state is Panama. The death and injury compensation is the responsibility of ship owners who obtain insurance cover through Protection and Indemnity Club.Government of India has also raised the matter at various international fora including the International Maritime Organization in order to invoke...

This is on Designating Parties-In-Interest in Marine Casualty Investigations On January 25, 2010, the U.S. Coast Guard Commandants Office issued CG-545 Policy Letter 3-10, which was intended to clarify the Coast Guards procedure regarding the designation of Parties-in-Interest in marine casualty investigations. This result was the culmination of a lengthy appeals process spearheaded by Legge Farrow attorneys. The primary issue that the Coast Guards new policy addresses is when and how parties may participate in Coast Guard investigations, and what materials they may have a right to receive and/or review. Following 9/11, the Coast Guard implemented a number of bureaucratic policies which were designed to protect information collected during marine safety investigations. Often, persons meeting the definition of a Party-in-Interest were denied that status by the Coast Guard who asserted that it was only conducting an informal investigation. Surprisingly, the COSCO BUSAN was also deemed an informal marine casualty investigation. Under this policy companies and individuals who were part of investigations were foreclosed from even reviewing evidence the Coast Guard was collecting, and were unable to be present at witness interviews to cross-examine witnesses. The Coast Guard often took the position that when it labeled an investigation informal, mariners or...

A big and exciting business opportunity Slowly but surely, science seems to be advancing toward a production of biofuel that does not take away agricultural land from the worlds food supply. When this kind of fuel is ready, so is A.P. Moller-Maersk. Five Maersk business units are already carrying out tests on a large container vessel with the ultimate aim of cutting CO2 emissions and diversifying the fuel supply. It is currently being tested how the fuel tanks and engines of Maersk Kalmar react to biodiesel, and this puts the Group at the forefront of the industry. The test is made with biodiesel based on crops grown in temperate regions, or reused oils. In the first go, the scope is a fuel blend with 5-7 % biodiesel.The partners in the Biodiesel Project are Maersk Line, Maersk Tankers, Maersk Supply Service, Maersk Drilling, Maersk Ship Management, Lloyds Register Strategic Research Group, and a consortium of Dutch subcontractors.The project is supported by the Dutch government.Action could be relevant sooner than expected. Recently, several biotech companies have reported positive leaps in the creation of enzymes, which act as catalysts when biomass, such as agricultural waste, is converted into fuel.Jacob Sterling of the Maersk...

Improve awareness of the Helpline services We are extremely glad to state that the new website: www.sailorshelpline.org has been developed to improve awareness of the Helpline services which are available for seafarers and fishers in crisis, despair and emotional distress. We provide advice and support to seafarers sailing on ships operated by fly by night operators. We also promote awareness of seafarers rights and issues. Founded in 2002, Sailors Helpline (Regd), is based in the port city of Chennai- India, is serving the maritime community of India with emergency social services. Sailors Helpline is a non-profit and non-governmental organization.The ongoing work of the Helpline is made possible by a dedicated corps of volunteers who consist of lawyers, active seafarers welfare workers and port chaplains, who are dedicated in assisting seafarers and fishers.The Helpline provides free and confidential information and referrals for Seafarers. Our close association with various seafarers assistance network nationally and internationally, facilitates us in assisting the seafarers during the hour of crisis.In India the Seafarers Helpline is the pioneer NGO working for the betterment of the families of missing seafarers and accident victims. Sailors Helpline enjoys broad-based maritime community support. Some of the best maritime/legal minds and talent...

Security lapses in the region Are the unregulated Flag Of Convenience (FOC) to blame for security lapses in the region? This is the question many maritime experts are asking. According to seamen in Mombasa, FOC vessels flying Kenyan, Tanzanian and Zanzibar flags had increased tremendously in the regions Indian Ocean territorial waters in the recent past. An investigation revealed that most of these vessels fish illegally or transport suspicious cargo.The investigation was conducted after it emerged that a Tanzanian oil tanker, which was attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden a fortnight ago, was sailing under a Panama flag. It was later discovered that the owners are Cambodian based and its port of registry is Phnom Penh.According to experts, the unregulated FOCs fuel illegal activities such as arms smuggling, money laundering and trafficking in goods and people.A seafarer who sought anonymity admitted to having worked on one such vessels in August 2008. It was a Zanzibar flagged ship whose call sign and the IMO number were questionable, but it was allowed to sail in and out of Mombasa port, to Mtwara enroute to Madagascar, he said.The irony is that Kenyas maritime experts have been pushing for the inclusion of...