Tag: China

Anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia China's fast-modernizing navy is stepping up training for anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia in a sign of its growing long-term commitment to overseas missions.The first two-week course for 84 leading officers began this week at the Naval Command College in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, the website of the military newspaper Liberation Army Daily said Friday. The officers will run drills and discuss military theory and experiences from China's previous anti-piracy missions, it said.China first launched the anti-piracy patrols in December 2008, joining an international flotilla aiming to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden. More than a dozen separate missions have followed, each consisting of two of the navy's most sophisticated missile frigates accompanied by a support ship.The patrols marked a major break with the navy's traditional role of protecting China's coastal region, as well as Beijing's oft-stated opposition to foreign military interventions or overseas bases.Along with boosting the navy's blue water capabilities in operations and resupply, the patrols appear to have whetted Beijing's appetite for even more ambitious missions.In recent years, the navy has dispatched ships as far away as the Caribbean, and last year sent vessels to ...

China is accelerating the launch of new, increasingly capable warships As looming budget cuts force the Pentagon to plan for a smaller U.S. navy, China is accelerating the launch of new, increasingly capable warships as part of a sustained drive to become a major maritime power.Shanghai's Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Company late last month launched the fourth of China's new 071 amphibious landing ships according to reports carried by Chinese military web sites and the state-controlled media.While most attention has been drawn to the ongoing sea trials of China's first aircraft carrier, military analysts say the expanding fleet of 20,000 tone landing ships, the biggest domestically designed and built vessels in the Chinese navy, delivers a far more immediate boost to Beijing's global influence."Having a significant fleet of large amphibious assault vessels clearly suggests a desire for power projection," says Christian Le Miere, a maritime security researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London."If you want the surgical insertion of forces, for a range of reasons, then you need amphibious response ships."Source: Reuters

Bail of $3.3 million A Chinese maritime court on Saturday ordered the detention of a South Korean cargo ship over a chemical leak that polluted the Yangtze River, contaminating drinking water in parts of Jiangsu province, the official Xinhua news agency reported.The country's second water pollution scare in a month sparked a run on bottled water.The court ordered the cargo ship, Gloria, to be detained at the city of Nantong and set a bail of 20.6 million yuan ($3.3 million), Bu Xiaofang, a spokesman of the Zhenjiang municipal government, was quoted as saying late on Saturday.Officials in Zhenjiang in Jiangsu province said phenol, an acid compound used to make nylon and detergents, was found in its water source last week. The pollution caused tap water in some parts of the city to emit a pungent smell, sending panicked residents to stockpile bottled water from supermarkets.A cancer-causing cadmium discharge from a mining company polluted a long stretch of two rivers in southern China last month, prompting officials to warn some 3.7 million people of Liuzhou in the Guangxi region to avoid drinking water from the river, state media reported.Pollution as well as food safety have come under the spotlight in China, ...

A ferry carrying 778 people has been stranded since Wednesday afternoon A ferry carrying 778 people has been stranded since Wednesday afternoon in a strait between Guangdong Province and the southernmost island province of Hainan.The ship, registered in the city of Zhanjiang of Guangdong province, has been stranded since 2:15 p.m.Rescue operation is underway.Source: Shanghai Daily

A cargo ship spilled acid into China's longest river last week A cargo ship spilled acid into China's longest river last week, contaminating tap supplies and sparking a run on bottled water in eastern China, the government and state media said.It is the nation's second water pollution scare in a month, after factories in the southern region of Guangxi contaminated water supplies for millions with toxic cadmium and other waste in January.The ship, reportedly South Korean, was docked in Zhenjiang city on the Yangtze river last Thursday when it leaked phenol -- an acid used in detergents -- into the water because of a faulty valve, local authorities reported.Residents started complaining their tap water had a strange smell on Friday, and soon rumours that a capsized ship was polluting the river sparked a run on bottled water in at least two cities in Jiangsu province, the Shanghai Daily said.The water quality has now returned to normal, the government of Zhenjiang, in Jiangsu, said in a statement late Tuesday.Source: AFP

Maximum capacity specified is 450,000dwt The China Shipowners' Association (CSA) has issued a clarification on the recent China Ministry of Transport announcement on 31 January limiting mega ore and oil carriers coming into China's ports stating that the size restrictions issued by the MOT will not restrict current tanker trade as the maximum capacity specified is 450,000dwt.The CSA issued a statement on its website on 2 February. The following is an unofficial translation of the key elements of the statement by the CSA:January 29, 2012 the Office of the Ministry of Transportation issued a "notice" on the adjustment of design specifications for ship berthing and management...It is understood that the current construction standards are for bulk cargo ship berth up to 350,000dwt and of crude oil cargo ship berths up to 450,000dwt. Bulk carriers greater than 350,000dwt and oil tankers greater than 450,000dwt exceed the current standard as per the Office of the Ministry of Transport notice issued January 29...or future construction standards, amendments will require detailed scientific proof, in accordance with the regulatory process. The original text can be found at the CSA website: http://www.csoa.cn/redianjj/201202/t20120202_1190136.htmlSource: CSA

Sea ice covering Liaodong Bay off China's eastern coast China's sea forecast center halted an alarm on Friday for sea ice covering Liaodong Bay off China's eastern coast for days.Friday's monitoring by the North China Sea Marine Forecasting Center of the State Oceanic Administration showed that the maximum outer edge of floating ice over the Liaodong Bay in Bohai Sea had shrunk to 57 nautical miles from 74 nautical miles a day earlier.In the meantime, the area of floating ice over other waters in the sea also decreased, with the maximum outer edge in Bohai Bay shrinking to 10 nautical miles and that in Laizhou Bay no more than 10 nautical miles.Bohai Sea, semienclosed by the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas, is one of the country's busiest sea routes.Thursday's monitoring by the center showed that 27,433 square kms or about one third of the Bohai Sea was covered with ice.The center forecasts that the sea ice, mostly 10-20 cm thick and 35 cm at the thickest, will continue to decrease over the next three days.Source: Xihnua

At present, no Chinese port has regulatory approval to receive ships more than 300,000 tonnes China's ban on large ships is limited to Vale's giant iron ore vessels, shipping sources said on Thursday, clearing up confusion in the maritime community as to whether new government regulations could cover other smaller ships.The China Shipowners Association provided more details on the rules announced this week to bar dry bulk vessels and oil tankers that exceeded approved port capacities, a move by Beijing to protect the domestic shipping industry.At present, no Chinese port has regulatory approval to receive ships more than 300,000 tonnes, sparking concerns that dozens of vessels already trading with China could be banned.The industry group, however, said the rules covered only dry bulk ships that were more than 350,000 tonnes. There are only a few vessels of that size, and all are being used to transport iron ore for Vale, the world's largest exporter of the steel-making ingredient, an industry official said."Everyone knows that China can change its mind very fast. It's a game of chess between China and Vale," said Hans Navik, a shipping analyst for Norwegian research group Nena.Oil tankers of more than 450,000 deadweight tonnes were also ...

Anti-Piracy Operations to counter piracy in the Gulf of Aden India, China and Japan have started implementing a new mechanism to coordinate the movement of their warships in the Gulf of Aden to provide protection to cargo vessels from sea brigands. The three countries operate independently in the Gulf of Aden to provide protection to cargo ships from pirates and are not part of the two groupings deployed there-- the European EUNAVFOR and the US-led Task Force 151."Earlier what was happening was that the convoys of all these three countries would be spaced by few hours and there would be long hours in a day when no convoy was available for escorting the vessels," Indian Navy's Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Foreign Cooperation and Naval Intelligence) Rear Admiral Monty Khanna told reporters here.The officer was holding a briefing on the 'Milan' naval exercise, which started in Port Blair Wednesday. He said now the three countries have "evolved a mechanism under which it will be ensured that there is enough gap between the Indian, Chinese and the Japanese convoy and they are well-displaced" to be able to escort a greater number of ships in a day. Khanna was replying to a ...

China is shielding its loss-making shipping industry China is shielding its loss-making shipping industry by blocking from its ports giant vessels such as those mining giant Vale SA is building to cut the cost of sending iron ore to its largest market, analysts said on Wednesday.China, the world's top iron ore importer, on Tuesday said its ports could not accept vessels with a deadweight over 300,000 tonnes, which encompasses the Valemaxes, 400,000-deadweight-tonne freighters that are large enough to hold three soccer fields end-to-end on their decks.One of these Valemaxes, the Berge Everest, docked at China's Dalian port in December for the first time, and unloaded its iron ore cargo.But analysts said China was now clearly trying to protect its own shipping industry, which has been hard hit by the economic downturn and at a time when benchmark shipping rates have fallen nearly 70 percent since October, slashing revenue for shipowners a worldwide.China may also be playing hardball to try and get as better deal out of its main supplier Vale, the analysts said. Vale is the world's largest iron ore miner, accounting for more than a quarter of all seaborne trade in iron ore, the main ingredient in steel. China ...