All Libyan ports, except for the ports of Derna and Sirte, are reported to be operational. However, the fluid military conditions in the country could change the situation at short notice, so all port calls should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The US MARAD issued an advisory on December 14 concerning vessels operating in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, warning that Yemen remains a risk for commercial vessels.
In light of the recent stowaway case involving the vessel CHAMPION PULA, the Gard P&I Club stressed the danger associated with people hiding in ships’ rudder tanks and shared preventive measures for vessels trading to ports with a high risk of stowaways, especially those designed with an open rudder trunk.
A letter of indemnity does not need to be printed and signed to be valid and binding – in some trades it is common for charterparties to contain clauses that allow letters of indemnity to be ‘invoked’ by the charterer in an email, the Gard P&I Club reminded.
Despite the important steps that shipping has taken to address the problem of containership fires, Gard estimates that so far in 2020, there have been one fire involving containerized cargo every two weeks.
Ships have reported an increasing number of cases of significant GPS interference and jamming in recent months. The geographic areas with more than one reported incident include the eastern and central Mediterranean Sea, the Persian Gulf, and multiple Chinese ports.
Gard has received numerous reports of abandoned or otherwise uncollected containers in ports in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. In this light, the Indian Supreme Court decided that ports are not entitled to levy storage/demurrage charges for abandoned cargo against shipowners and agents.
Muster lists lacking sufficient detail was one of the most notable deficiencies found by PSC regimes during their concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) on emergency systems in 2019, data by the Gard P&I Club suggests.
The COVID-19 pandemic presents major challenges to seafarers and shipowners due to the lockdown of countries, travel restrictions, and problems accessing healthcare ashore when needed. One of the critical features in addressing the pandemic has been testing for the disease. Gard answers some of the questions.
Gard Club takes a look at what makes risk assessments less meaningful. As it says, rather than ensuring that crew members performing the job are fully informed and aware of the risks to their health, safety and welfare, we may concern ourselves more about other things such as completing the paper document properly.
