Tag: West of England Club

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.

As the West of England P&I Club informs, in a recent case, the Amity, charterers successfully set aside an arbitration award on the basis that owners had not effectively served their notice of arbitration upon charterers since the person to whom owners had sent their arbitration notice did not have actual or implied authority to accept service of proceedings on behalf of charterers. 

US OFAC has notified Congress of their intention to remove Rusal and associated companies from the US SDN list by 18 January 2019, following significant changes made to the company's structure. OFAC decision means that ships will be able to trade freely with Rusal. However, the current partial shutdown of the US Government may be impacting implementation of the changes.

The West of England Club informed that it has experienced two claims where, in separate incidents, a container vessel and a tanker inexplicably lost control whilst departing port under pilotage. Namely, one vessel made contact with an oil jetty causing notable damage to the face of the berth, while the other left ran aground on top of a submarine pipeline.

Mobile phones enable seafarers to keep in contact with family and friends while off duty, while they also help them to call the office easily when within range of a signal. However, several navigational incidents took place because bridge team members became distracted while using mobile phones.

P&I Clubs informed that, from time to time, operators have been offered contractual terms with counterparties that require the shipowner to provide a continuing warranty of seaworthiness for the entire duration of the voyage. The Clubs suggests operators to be careful before entering into such contract terms. 

The West of England P&I Club warns operators of the dangers of carrying nickel ore. Carrying nickel ore can be dangerous, because of the risk of liquefaction of the cargo on passage when the moisture content is higher than the cargo’s Flow Moisture Point.

West of England P&I Club outlined the potential impacts for shipowners and insurers that will arise from the US’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreement signed by China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union (EU) and Iran.