While South African authorities used ‘to turn a blind eye to fishing’, the Department of Fisheries and Forestry has now appointed inspectors who attend on vessels to check whether there is any illegal fish onboard, the West Club informed citing information by the South Africa P&I Associates (Pty) Ltd.
As the West of England reports, the Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM) is a highly destructive forest pest that feeds on both deciduous and coniferous trees. The voracious appetite of AGM larvae (caterpillars) coupled with the ability of the female moth to travel significant distances, as much as 20 nautical miles, can cause widespread defoliation leaving trees weakened and susceptible to disease and other pests.
The West of England Club conducted an analysis on claims involving seafarers who have deserted their vessel, concerning the past ten years. Although these claims are not common and are not much of an expense to shipping companies, they can disrupt the operation of a vessel and take up management time to rectify. Sometimes, the deserter returns shortly, and other times they disappear for a considerable period of time.
The West of England Club announced that it kept on receiving frequent shortage claims involving bagged food cargoes, mostly rice and sugar, being discharged in West African ports. Food is attractive to pilferers as it can easily be removed from a vessel either for consumption, for gifting to others or for sale.
West of England Club highlights the importance of safely securing cargo, in order to avoid any incidents. The Club continues to receive claims in respect of cargo shifting due to inadequate securing where roll trailers have been used. This can either be inadequate securing of the load to the trailer or inadequate securing of the trailer to the vessel, or a combination of both.
The International Group has recently published some further revised FAQs on the Maritime Labour Convention (2006). These FAQs reflect the experiences that Clubs have experienced in dealing with MLC matters. The entry into force of the 2014 amendments to MLC on 18 January 2017 raised a number of questions. These FAQs aim to provide help operators comply with the amendments.
Three robbers armed with knives boarded a crude oil tanker which was anchored at Jose Terminal Anchorage, Venezuela, in the early morning hours of Thursday, 21st March, according to data provided by the IMB Piracy reporting centre.
West of England P&I Club informs about fines that the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) has imposed in light of alleged pollution from waste waters discharge. The fines are based on IMO’s sewage treatment systems under MARPOL Annex IV Regulation 11.1.2, where the treatment systems are required to discharge effluent with no visible floating solids and not cause discoloration of the surrounding water.
California’s ballast water management regulations are included in the Marine Invasive Species Act, which can be found within the California Public Resources Code and title 2 California Code of Regulations. These regulations are implemented by the California State Lands Commission, the West P&I Club says. Fines for breaching these regulations are based on a ‘per tank’ basis and can be significant.
The West of England P&I Club informed that it continues to regularly receive notifications of customs fines being imposed in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa, due to discrepancies between items listed in the customs declaration submitted by the Master, and the actual quantity of goods onboard.
