Tag: safe navigation

59th Session from 2 to 6 September 2013 The IMO's Sub-Committee on Safety of Navigation (NAV) held its 59th, and final, session from 2 to 6 September 2013 under the Chairmanship of Mr JM Sollosi (USA) and his Vice-Chairman Mr K Billiar (Ukraine). Under the revised sub-committee structure, NAV will amalgamate with 'Communications' and 'Search and Rescue' (formerly COMSAR) to form a new sub-committee (NCSR) which will hold its first meeting from 30 June through 4 July 2014.Following a welcoming address by the Secretary General of IMO in which he described his recent Arctic trip on a Russian Ice-breaker, he concluded that a Northern Sea Route is now indeed a reality hence demonstrating the need for a Polar Code. He further stated that ECDIS should be top of the NAVs priority list and seek to close gaps in coverage.Working and Drafting Groups were formed and chaired as follows:WG1 Routeing of Ships, Ship Reporting and Related Matters, Mr K Billiar (Ukraine)WG2 (Technical) Navigational Aids and Related Matters, Mr K Fisher (UK)DG1 Development of Policy and New Symbols for AIS Aids to Navigation, Mr J Arroyo (USA)DG2 Revision of the Information contained in the existing Annexes to the Recommendation on the use ...

Britannia P&I Club issues Bulletin including Posters regarding Collision Regulation (COLREGs) Posters

Port of Oakland Installs First Maritime Visibility Sensor to Enhance Navigational Safety

Progress in Singapore with navigational safety

There are about 70,000 transits by ships each year The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents 80% of the world merchant fleet, has welcomed the outcome of an important meeting between governments to advance navigational safety in the strategically vital Malacca and Singapore Straits, where there are about 70,000 transits by ships each year.During a meeting last week in Singapore, of the 'Co-operative Mechanism on Safety of Navigation and Environmental Protection in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore' (which involves the littoral states of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia), ICS expressed concern about the continuing lack of new large scale navigational charts.ICS Marine Director, John Murray explained: "We all want to deliver safety and environmental benefits in the Straits which is a primary objective of the Marine Electronic Highway project. But these benefits simply cannot not be realised unless navigational charts are based on modern and appropriate hydrographic surveys."Encouragingly, says ICS, this deficiency was acknowledged at the meeting by the littoral states. India, moreover, one of the many observer nations present, offered the use of a survey vessel to conduct appropriate hydrographic surveys in the area. Training of personnel from Malaysia and Indonesia in hydrography has also been offered. ICS ...

The Asian Shipowners' Forum (ASF) Safe Navigation & Environment Committee (SNEC) The Asian Shipowners' Forum (ASF) Safe Navigation & Environment Committee (SNEC) has urged the UN and governments to take decisive actions against the growing piracy problem.A SNEC meeting held in Singapore last Friday called on the UN to establish an anti-piracy military task force consisting of armed military guards that can be deployed in small detachments onboard merchant ships.So far this year, Somali pirates attached 163 ships, hijacked 21 and took 361 seafarers hostage."The safety and welfare of our seafarers and their families must remain of utmost importance. Discounting the economic cost of anywhere between $3.5bn to $8bn a year, we cannot ignore the lasting physical and psychological trauma suffered by our seafarers at the hands of these merciless outlaws," said Patrick Phoon, chairman of SNEC."We emphasise that governments must have the political will to firmly address this pressing problem," said Phoon, who is also deputy managing director at Evergreen Shipping.The committee urged individual flag states to offer clear and concise guidelines on the use of privately contracted armed security providers which have been duly vetted and accredited by the relevant flag states.Source: Seatrade Asia