Good day Mariners

A second frigate for the Indian Navy has been launched at the Baltic shipyard “Yantar” in the west of Russia. According to Russian and Indian tradition, the launching was marked by the smashing of a coconut and a bottle of champagne against the vessel’s bow and was attended by Deputy Chief of the Indian Naval Staff Vice-Admiral Dilip Kumar Devan. Mr.Devan welcomed the frigate’s launch as a good instance of bilateral defense cooperation.

Under the 1.5-billion-dollar contract, signed in 2006, the Indian Navy is to be supplied with three frigates in 2011-2012. The shipyard’s official has said work to fulfill the order proceeds according to schedule.

The cyclonic storm ‘Laila’ in the Bay of Bengal gained in strength overnight and spun closer to the eastern coast of the country

Satellite picture on Wednesday showed the outer bands of the cyclone circling from north to south tangential to the Kerala coast

The heaviest recorded rainfall in the State during the 24 hours ending at 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday was 5 cm at Kunnamkulam in Thrissur district. Many other stations recorded rainfall ranging from 1 cm to 3 cm on the gauge. The prospects are for continued rainfall, because the cyclone is traced to roll up the ridge of the eastern flank of the peninsula drawing moisture from southeast Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the entire Bay of Bengal.

Can shipping comapnies recover by slowing down their vessels?

After a brutal 2009 in the shipping industry, companies are taking things a little slower in 2010 – and saving their bottom lines from drowning.
Shipping companies, such as Danish carrier Maersk, are taking the slow boat to China, reducing their speeds and cutting their expenses. By halving its top speed, Maersk has cut its fuel consumption by almost 30% on certain routes, sacrificing time spent in transport for a more fuel-efficient trip.
The added benefit of the slowdown is the lowering of carbon emissions. As noted in The New York Times, transport emissions have soared in the past 30 years with the advent of long-haul shipping. Container shipping alone saw its emissions grow eightfold since 1985. According to the Times, more than 220 vessels are now practicing “slow steaming.”
Two countries are not fans of this new trend in shipping: They’re China and India.

“Bangladesh back on top for ship recycling”

Bangladesh beat India in early February’s contracts for ship recycling.

“Bangladesh picked up the pace this week with two high profile purchases,” said US-based shipbreaking analyst, GMS Weekly. The publication said that this suggested a return of a certain buoyancy in the market not seen since early January.

Arch rival India did not fare as well as Bangladesh in early February, with the publication saying that overall levels remained down and that local recyclers were disappointed to lose one vintage container ship to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh secured prices of US$360 per long ton leightweight for general cargo vessels in early February and US$400 for tankers. India only managed US$350 and US$380 respectively.

Chinese markets were closed due to the advent of the Chinese New Year season.

Courtesy : Baird Maritime

The India International Aqua Show, 2010, Kochi, is an Ornamental Fish & Accessories Exhibition and Trade Fair Organised by the Department of Fisheries, Government of Kerala in association with the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. It is a unique opportunity for exhibiting and marketing ornamental fish and accessories.

The event, scheduled to take place at Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium,Cochin,Kerala State, India, and is expected to attract exhibitors, breeders, traders and visitors within India and outside the country.

“SMM India 2009 unfolds vital views on Maritime Policy and Economic Crisis.”
SMM India 2009, the three-day expo and maritime conference from 12-14 November which had commenced at Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, concluded its Day1 sessions effectively.

The event with the theme, “Maritime India- Path Ahead” was initiated today morning with an inaugural address, followed by two enlightening sessions on Maritime Policy and The Economic and Financial Crisis – Its Impact on Shipping Finance Markets respectively.

“Boat capsizes in Mahanadi river.”
Boat capsized in Mahanadi River taking a toll of 5 lives. The devotees were traveling to Lord Dhabaleswar temple when the incident occurred near Mancheswar Ghat of Athgarh.

A crew of 25 was on the way to Lord Dhabaleswar temple to celebrate Kartik Purnima yesterday when the mishap had occurred. The report stated that an argument between the passengers and the boatman over fare had lead to capsize.

Though search operations had continued for the missing five persons till yesterday evening , it went in vain.

“Boat sinks in Indian Ocean.”
A death toll of more than twenty was reported with the boat capsize of a suspected asylum seeker in Indian Ocean.

The boat carrying around 40 people onboard had started to capsize between Indonesia and Australia when a merchant vessel had located the distress signal.

Merchant vessels that responded to a distress call managed to pluck 17 survivors from the Indian Ocean late Sunday and were searching for others, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor said.

“ It is too early to say whether those on board were asylum seekers trying to reach Australia, though aspects of the emergency — such as an unseaworthy boat carrying so many people in waters sometimes used by human traffickers — signaled that may be the case” added O’Connor

A large flow of boats carrying asylum seekers were lately found in Australia. Some 35 boats with around 1,770 asylum seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and Sri Lanka were lately reported.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority received distress signals on Sunday from the boat, and the authority asked any vessels in the area to respond, authority spokeswoman Rhianne Robson said.

Both Taiwanese fishing trawler and the merchant ship LNG Pioneer reached on spot on Sunday saving the victimized while an Australian military plane and Australia’s Royal Flying Doctor Service was on its way.

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the chief of Australia’s defense forces, said the boat that sent the distress signal was intact when the rescue vessels first arrived.

“Somehow or other during the process of the interaction between the ship and the trawler and also the stricken vessel, there’s been a capsize and people have ended up in the water,” Houston told reporters.

Indian seafarers are protesting against plans by state-owned Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to outsource vessels and crew management, writes Anderimar Shipping News.
More than 200 workers, represented by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)-affiliated National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI), demonstrated outside the offices of the publicly-run Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) on 18 August. According to the SCI seafarers – many of whom have worked for the company for more than 20 years – fear the proposals will lead to widespread unemployment among the seafarers.
NUSI general secretary Abdulgani Serang, said: “The seafarers perform their duties under volatile conditions in the high seas. But it seems that SCI does not care about them. If the SCI insists on continuing with its decision to outsource work, seafarers and NUSI will stand up and agitate on a larger scale in the interests of the seafarers and their families”.
Last week, ITF says, a high court in Mumbai rejected the SCI’s attempt to prevent NUSI from mobilising against the plans; the court ruled that it was the right of the trade union to take action in opposition to the proposals.

Malaysian rescuers recovered the charred remains of nine Chinese sailors who went missing after an oil tanker caught fire after colliding with another vessel, a marine official said Sunday.

The bodies of two crew members trapped in the Liberian-registered Formasaproduct Brick were found Friday and another seven on Saturday, First Adm. Tan Kok Kwee of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said.
The tanker was carrying more than 50,000 tons of naphtha from the United Arab Emirates to South Korea when a Britain-registered bulk carrier rammed into its rear late Tuesday in the Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Firefighters took more than 30 hours to put out the blaze.
Rescue efforts were hindered by rough sea conditions and salvage work to stabilize the ship, officials said.
Tan said there was no spillage and marine authorities would assess the damage before releasing the vessel.
Accidents in the Malacca Strait, which separates peninsular Malaysia from Indonesia’s Sumatra island, are rare even though some 70,000 vessels use the waterway annually. Traffic was not affected by the collision and fire.