Taking lives of over 1,000 people, the sinking of the RoRo ferry Al-Salam Boccaccio 98 remains a good example of study as poor emergency procedures resulted to deaths of over 1,000 people and spurred widespread criticism of the crew, as well as the owner company.
Petty Officer Michael Kelly, a rescue swimmer with the United States Coast Guard, received the 2019 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea during this year’s IMO Awards ceremony, on 25 November, after rescuing four survivors from a life raft from a sinking fishing vessel in heavy weather.
IMO and the World Meteorological Organization conducted their first joint Symposium on Extreme Maritime Weather, focusing on the challenging weather conditions and how they affect the shipping industry, where WMO discussed the best practices and enhanced services for safety and risk reduction, emergency response, sustainable shipping practices and greater collection and sharing of ship observations.
Weather charts, also known as surface pressure or synoptic charts, provide useful information on weather and sea conditions. Safe Skipper’s Simon Jollands recommends to mariners to always study weather charts and estimate how the weather is likely to evolve in the area they plan to sail in.
The removal of the Northguider trawler that grounded in early 2019, in a in the Hinlopen Strait, has been postponed for next year as announced by the Norwegian Coastal Administration, as the salvage company found out that the grounded vessel suffered more damage than what they initially expected.
NOAA focuses on the phenomenon of hurricanes and explains what they are, how they are formed and how they occur, given their effects can lead to serious and fatal disruptions. When wind speeds within such a storm reach 74 mph, it’s classified as a hurricane.
HM Coastguard provides tips and information on how people can deal with ‘wind and waves’ and be safe, given that the previous weekend the UK was expecting ‘high tides and extra large waves’.
Grimaldi Group’s ro-ro ferry was sailing towards Porto Torres, when it experienced rough weather conditions, resulting to one seafarers being killed and three more being injured onboard the ro/ro Euroferry Malta vessel.
Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil company, SOCAR, has evacuated 500 offshore workers in the Caspian Sea, because of the awaited severe weather conditions. Yet, BP continued its operations at its Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli offshore project, despite the weather conditions.
Effective 8 a.m. Monday, the US Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) set port condition Yankee for the Port of Jacksonville and Fernandina and all other terminals and facilities due to the expectation of sustained gale force winds of generated by Hurricane Dorian that is expected to land in the area by Wednesday.
