Tag: Black Sea MoU

Black Sea action to target sea of shame

Tragic day for shipping in Black Sea

Stormy Weather Claims Another Freighter in Black Sea

Action by ITF over the shocking condition of shipping on the Black Sea Trade unions from Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine, working with the ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation), are releasing a report today, Monday 25th June, that they hope will help shame governments into action over the shocking condition of shipping on the Black Sea.The report Black Sea of Shame - which can be seen at www.itfglobal.org/infocentre/pubs.cfm/detail/34854 - is intended to help unions raise the issue with their national governments. Starting today, June 25th the Day of the Seafarer, they plan to sound the alarm over the dire state of affairs in the area, alleging that ancient shipping, rock bottom and unpaid wages, assaults, sinkings and corruption are widespread.ITF maritime coordinator Steve Cotton commented: "This is a true catalogue of shame. Our inspectors and our member unions are dealing with the human costs of unsafe and ageing shipping, and managements who consider crews a dispensable luxury, to be paid at whim and undeserving of basic protections, including insurance against death and injury.""This is the beginning of a long haul, that we know will take years, to reform this scandalous state of affairs. We start by going to ...

More than a $500 billion investment in a joint venture ExxonMobil (XOM) and Rosneft, the U.S. and Russian oil giants, said Wednesday that they could invest more than $500 billion in a joint venture that would explore for and produce oil in the Arctic and the Black Sea.Under the Exxon-Rosneft deal, the Texas-based company will have access to some of the world's richest sources of crude oil and other hydrocarbons in the Russian Arctic and Black Sea. In turn, Rosneft subsidiaries will take minority stakes in two Exxon projects in the U.S. and Canada and will have an option to take a stake in a project in the Gulf of MexicoIn a presentation in New York, Rosneft said recoverable hydrocarbon reserves at the three key Arctic fields are estimated at 85 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The companies are planning to drill the first exploratory wells in the Arctic's Kara Sea, north of Siberia, as early as 2014.The final investment decision is expected between 2016 and 2017, they said.Russian energy czar Igor Sechin promised the government's support for the project, which he said would help modernize the whole Russian economy. The deputy prime minister said the Arctic project is a ...

Due to the freezing weather in Europe

Black Sea fish stocks and the livelihoods need protection On 13 September, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling on Black Sea coastal states to enforce a new joint fisheries policy, in order to protect Black Sea fish stocks and the livelihoods of local fishermen.The author of the resolution, Bulgarian Socialist MEP Iliana Malinova Iotova, warned: "The development in the Black Sea is very worrying - if urgent measures are not taken we risk having a dead sea."The resolution draws attention to the effects of fishing, pollution and climate change to Black Sea maritime ecosystems and calls for a long-term sustainability and co-ordinated effort by all stakeholders. The new policy, specifically designed for the Black Sea basin, was envisaged to become an integral part of a reformed EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).Highlighting the importance of a fully regional approach, European lawmakers welcomed the European Commission's efforts to establish working groups with Russia and Turkey and emphasised the need to involve other coastal states, such as Ukraine and Georgia.MEPs recommended the creation of a new regional body that should foster and promote communication" between scientific institutes, fishermen, producers and processors within the Black Sea basin.Source: New Europe

ECUMED will provide the fastest transit time in the marke Maersk Line is pleased to announce the launch of ECUMED, the weekly liner service connecting Ecuador directly with Spain, Turkey and the Black Sea.ECUMED will provide the fastest transit time in the market along with the best in class reefer facilities and schedule reliability."Investment in the new ECUMED service has been motivated by customers demand for reliable, fast and high quality refrigerated transportation of fruits, especially bananas, from Ecuador to the Mediterranean and Black Sea," says Anders Koksbang, Vice President, Maersk Line."Compared to other services in the market this will be a direct service without transshipment, ensuring high reliability for our customers and thus a higher safety and quality of the fruit to be delivered to the end consumer in Europe/Russia," he says. Globally, Maersk Line has consistently captured top spots for schedule reliability and this will also be a trade mark for ECUMED. The service will deploy 8 x 2500 TEU vessels with the following rotation:Guayaquil - Balboa - Manzanillo - Algeciras - Izmit Korfezi - Ambarli - Novorosiysk- Odessa - Ambarli - Izmit Korfezi - Algeciras - Balboa- GuayaquilECUMED Service Highlights:Fastest and first direct service from Ecuador to ...

Maersk Line expects the growth of trade with Russia and the Black Sea Maersk Line will start a new service between Ecuador and the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea in September that will call at Novorossiysk.Maersk Line expects the growth of trade with Russia and the Black Sea to contribute 5 percent to 8 percent in average annual market growth on Asia-Europe trade over the next five years, according to its chief operating officer, Morten Englestoft.Maersk will deploy eight vessels on the service, which will likely call at Guayaquil, Balboa, Manzanillo, Algeciras, Izmit, Ambarli, Novorossiysk and Ilyichevsk.The port rotation has yet to be decided, and, like the Ecubex service between Guayaquil and the Baltic, could take in other gateways in Central America and the Caribbean, such as Puerto Limon and Puerto Moin in Costa Rica.Up to now Maersk has served the Black Sea via transshipment only, so the new loop will provide a direct weekly service for Ecuador's reefer cargo exporters.Currently, Maersk Line has a feeder service to Novorossiysk, Russias largest Black Sea port, which also calls at Port Said and Ashdod. In Novorossiysk, the service calls at the NUTEP terminal.Source: Journal of Commerce

Samples revealed layers of sand sealed with slime. The Black Sea was once a freshwater lake, Columbia University marine geologist William Ryan announced in Bulgaria.Ryan, who first advanced the theory in the 1998 book Noahs Flood, was part of an 18-member team of scientists that began exploring the ancient coastline of the Black Sea on June 27. Sailing along 80 miles of the Bulgarian coast to Turkey, the team took 27 core-drilling samples.The samples revealed layers of sand sealed with slime.According to Ryan, this confirms that the Black Sea once experienced a sudden influx of salt water, a cataclysm he described as an environmental catastrophe that dramatically changed the composition and environment of the Black Sea.The scientists who took part in the expedition believe that there was an abrupt change in the fauna of the Black Sea basin. Ryan pointed out that after the last Ice Age, meltwater from glaciers flowed into the Black Sea, the Caspian and the Aral Sea.Professor Petko Dimitrov, an underwater archaeologist from the Bulgarian Oceanology Institute who led the expedition, added that evidence suggests people lived along the old Black Sea coastline some 8,000 years ago.Growing evidence that the Black Sea basin experienced catastrophic flooding ...