Please Note
Weekend gone …….
Regards
Snooper
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THE ZAC SUTHERLAND UPDATE
Zac's Blog
My name is Zac Sunderland and I am 17 years old. I departed 14th June 2008 from Marina del Rey, California in an attempt to become the youngest person to circumnavigate the world alone by yacht.
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Further tales from our long haired solo sailor !
Photo : Jen Edney,
Caption : Well, that be ME !!!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Addo National Park Excursion
Hello from Port Elizabeth!
I have finally had my first safari out in the Addo National Park. Good friends of my great aunt and uncle, Mike and Sandy Clarke, picked me up this morning for a drive out to the park. We spent quite a bit of time driving around looking for signs of wildlife!
We never did see the lions but we got some excellent views of the elephants. I thought a bone or two from an old kill would be a good souvenir but Mike and Sandy thought it better if I didn't get out of the car. Never know who is going to show up out there. Thanks much guys for the day trip!
I am back on board and watching the weather closely for my leg to Mossel Bay. It looks good for tomorrow afternoon and possibly for a straight shot to Cape Town. Marta left for East London so I may see her when we both get to Cape Town.
Enjoy the photos!
Cheers,
Zac
Friday, January 16, 2009
Port Elizabeth - Zac
Aaaaah...it is good to be in!
The night before I left East London I went to a BBQ at Will's son in laws' house. It was a great time but a late one. The next morning when I called to check in at home I was informed that the weather window that we had been watching for had opened up in the early hours of the morning but for only 24 hours. That would be just enough time for me to make the 150 miles to Port Elizabeth. I filled out my exit paperwork, started the engine and headed out of the harbour.
When I got out the wind was still shifting around from the south westerly and the seas were a bit confused. I pointed out for the continental shelf that is about 15 miles off shore. The wind shifted around and became steady about an hour later. I sailed steadily through the night dodging ships and regularly changing course to stay parallel with the coast and not head too far out to sea. In the morning the wind started to shift back around to the south west. I then adjusted my course to head into PE and away from the current and I was able to sail in. The coastline was green and lush and then brown with sand dunes.
I entered the harbor about 12pm and moored up at the yacht club. After checking in I met some friends of my great aunt and uncle who had lived in South Africa for many years and they arranged for me to go on a safari with them on Sunday. I also hooked up with Marta briefly. Her boat, Ania, is back in the water and she is planning on heading back to Durban and make that part of her trip again. There has been a lot of talk about what happened but I'll hold off on that because with Marta's broken English and the story passing through many mouths, I have no way of knowing the whole story. Fortunatley, Marta is well and her boat (which missed a reef by centimeters) is in good enough shape to travel.
I cleaned up the boat in the afternoon and met some of the sailors from the club and hung out there for awhile. Now I am getting some sleep. So I'll sign off for now. The weather is looking good for Monday or Tuesday departure all being well.
Cheers,
Zac
posted by Zac at 5:31 PM 25 Comments Links to this post
Port Elizabeth
Latest Position: 01/16/09 1000Z 33 57.758S 25 38.271E - Port Elizabeth
Zac arrived in Port Elizabeth around noon (African Time). All is well. He was met by friends of my aunt and uncle who lived in South Africa during the 70's. In fact, he has been met in port several times by good friends of theirs who have blessed Zac with meals and nautical advice in abundance! We are still amazed by the kindness and generosity of strangers and how supportive people have been.
Zac is getting acquainted with the folks at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club and will have a newsy blog by this evening as he is still looking for a good Internet connection!
Cheers,
Marianne et al
posted by Zac at 9:08 AM
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Visit www.zacsutherland.com
YouTube Videos http://www.youtube.com/zacsvideos
Blog http://www.zacsunderland.com/blog/
Email zacsworldadventure@yahoo.com
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Mike Perham aged 16, the youngest person to sail across the atlantic solo now has his eye's on an even more adventurous challenge.
To become the youngest person to sail around the world solo in an open 50 racing yacht.
Birdspotting - 18 01 09
Progress today hasn't been so fantastic, mainly because the wind dropped away to about ten to fourteen knots. As I result I’ve managed fairly slow boat speeds of around six to nine knots, so a pretty small day’s run. But I'm not too worried - in about two days' time the wind is going to really pick up, thanks to a fast moving tropical low travelling south east, just to the west of where I am now. I’m going to get some great winds, which will fire Totallymoney.com in an easterly direction.
Today I filled up another rubbish bag, so it was time to stash it with the others. All the rubbish is stored in plastic bags, and these are kept in a dry bag. This is mainly to keep the smell contained – so the cabin stays fresh!
I had a chance earlier to do some extra fitness work on the foredeck; an amusing experience to say the least. The rocking motion of the sea scuppered my first attempt at push ups as I was immediately thrown off-balance and I struggled to stay straight, let alone move up and down! After a few abortive attempts I managed a few sets on the coach roof.
This was followed by sit-ups; I found a taught rope I was able to slip my toes under for stability. The problem was every time I sat up Totallymoney.com tilted me in the right direction - it was just like having a friendly hand help me back up. Probably not the best exercise, but much better than not doing them at all. I also worked on some leg exercises involving me stretching out my legs in the air and writing out the alphabet.
Every day I check my position relative to the whole world on the chart and it's great to see that I’ve travelled that little bit further everyday. Totallymoney.com has been sailing happily along so perfectly, she really is a terrific craft.
Earlier today, I wandered up onto deck to do the washing up after having what I thought was possibly the mildest curry in the world. In my eyes it didn't really deserve the title ‘curry’. More like chicken and red sauce! But anyway...I was in the midst of washing up when I spotted a group of birds happily sitting in the water, watching me pass by. They were around fifteen metres away and so I was unable to identify them but I did wonder what they were doing all the way out here, hundreds of miles from any land. Then again, here I am sailing in the middle of the ocean, so they were probably wondering the same thing!
Time for another Q&A - 18 01 09
Q: The fact that you have more food in each weekly bag, does that represent the more work you will be expected to do? Did you have advice from a nutritionist who took into account your expected workload/route and varying weather conditions?
A: Yes, the food bags are packed and provisioned for the areas I’m sailing through and the time it takes for me to sail through them. As I gradually head more into the Southern Ocean my calorie intake will go right up to allow for the extra work dealing with the more difficult seas and for the much colder climate.
Q: What sort of food is in your foil packs?
A: My range of freeze-dried meals are pretty comprehensive, including curry, fish, spicy mince and potato hotpots making up just a small part of my dinner choices.
Q: While I'm sure you're burning calories just sailing the boat, do you do anything else to keep fit and in trim? I'm sure those cookies can't be healthy!
A: Everyday I do leg exercises whilst sailing to keep them up and running as it were! I don't walk very far or for very long whilst sailing so these are very important. Yes the cookies aren't fantastically healthy but they sure are tasty! Snacks like these are a morale-boosting treat.
Q: Have you crossed the path of any of the Vendee Global yacht racers yet? Do you think you will at all?
A: I have come fairly close to the two leading Vendee Globe boats but they were still too far away to establish any contact.
Q: Spending all that time up in the forepeak must bounce you around a bit! Do you have standing room or do you have to crouch the whole time?
A: There’s no standing room in the forepeak so I spend all the time on my knees crawling about the place.
A Slightly Technical Blog - 17 01 09
I've had lots of comments from people wanting to hear more about some of the more nuts-and-bolts aspect of my everyday sailing, so not being one to disappoint here's a piece about hoisting one of my furling spinnakers (these sails swing out opposite the mainsail, this one is used when running into the wind).
Today’s been nice and relaxing for a change, although I started off by hoisting up one of my furling spinnakers and spent half-an-hour on deck checking it was A-okay.
This is quite a job; to hoist and fly a spinnaker on an Open 50 takes somewhere between twenty minutes and an hour depending on the conditions. I began by jumping into the sail locker, dragging the sail to the hatch and then finally up through the hatch before laying it on deck.
Then it needs to be pulled out of the sail bag and unlashed – it’s very tightly packed to save space in the sail locker. Next, the foot of the sail is attached to the bowsprit and then run back along the furling line to the back of the boat where it’s attached to a snatch block using a piece of elastic, which keeps the line taught.
Then it’s back down into the sail locker again to grab the sheets. These are attached using the clew (rope) of the sail, which needs to be run round almost every part of Totallymoney.com.
Next the halyard (the rope used to hoist the sail) is attached to the head of the sail and up she goes to the top of the rig, all the while I’m being careful to make sure it doesn't catch on anything that could tear the sail. After this it's back to the cockpit to tighten up a little on the downhaul line for the spinnaker.
Finally, after checking everything once again it’s time to pull on the sheet and gradually let the furling line travel, enabling the sail to come out quickly but steadily. You then trim on the sheet until you are fairly happy and then you can finally furl away the Genoa you had up during the whole manoeuvre to maintain speed. A final trim on the sail and another full check and that’s it. Except for the fact that the cockpit is in a huge mess!
Of course, all that work left me pretty hungry – so it's time for a freeze dried curry! Hope this is slightly informative! I’ll post another blog later tonight or tomorrow morning to answer some more of your questions. Once again, thank you so much for all your comments and keep them coming.
Ain’t Misbehavin’ - 16 01 09
That was a testing hour last night – the auto-pilot started misbehaving just as it had gotten dark!
I was sailing along, perfectly happy and relaxed, writing the blog when suddenly I heard the high-pitched bleeping alarm that tells me 'Houston, we have a problem.' ‘Oh no!” I thought, ‘not again, please not again.’
I restarted the system a few times and got it up and running again. It seemed to have a major headache this time, as it just wasn't communicating with itself. Eventually it appeared to start working again and I spent an anxious hour sat by the helm, just hoping it wasn't going to cut out.
Fortunately, it has held up throughout the night, no problems at all. I did some tests this morning and discovered that it has reset itself and moved the 'master' of the system to the outside unit rather than the inside unit (don’t ask me how!). I also disconnected a display, which wasn’t behaving perfectly, so the system isn’t so clogged up and I'm very happy to report that since these tests it has functioned perfectly. I just hope it continues this way!
Today I've been a little more relaxed than I was last night but I'm still a little in the ‘edge of your seat’ mode, thinking about the pilot. I'm still continuing south as just to the east of me is an area of very variable wind, something I really don't want to sail into. But don’t worry, I will start to turn east eventually!
Visit : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/
Blog : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
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Monday, 19th January 2009
HMS Endurance may be a total write-off
Published Date:
14 January 2009
By Matt Jackson
Defence correspondent
The navy is considering scrapping HMS Endurance because of the damage she sustained in a flood, The News can reveal.
Defence sources believe it will be too costly to repair the Portsmouth-based Antarctic patrol vessel, nicknamed Red Plum after the distinctive colour of her hull.
And the navy has confirmed that axing the ship is one of several options being put forward.
An investigation is under way into the accident which took place in the South Atlantic, off Chile, on December 17.
Civilians had to be evacuated from the vessel when her engine compartment flooded in the Strait of Magellan, before she was later towed to Chile.
She is now berthed in the Falkland Islands.
The source told The News: 'When the engine compartment had been pumped out they realised how much damage had been done, and so it seems most likely that the navy will look to write off the ship.'
The navy refused to comment on the scale of the damage, or what the potential cost could be of repairing or replacing the ship.
But when asked if Endurance could be scrapped, a spokesman said: 'Work has been undertaken to consider all options.
'But until the assessment is complete it is simply not helpful to speculate on the way ahead or the extent of the damage.
'However, it can be said that the aim is to get the ship back into South Atlantic operations as soon as possible.'
HMS Endurance is the navy's sole ice patrol ship and carries out scientific duties for the British Antarctic Survey as well as being an important naval presence in the South Atlantic.
Although the Portsmouth-based patrol ship HMS Clyde is in the region, the navy decided last month to divert the frigate HMS Northumberland from Falklands duties to piracy patrols off Somalia.
In its place is RFA Largs Bay, which is crewed mainly by civilians.
Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock, who sits on the Commons Defence Select Committee, said the government should 'come clean' about the future of Endurance.
He added: 'If they are going to write Endurance off then they need to find a replacement as soon as possible, because we have had a British presence in the scientific community there for 40 years.
'The ship is a symbol of sovereignty that we need to maintain.'
The News says
Drama in the engine room
HMS Endurance is believed to have listed dramatically as water gushed into the engine room, sources say.
The navy has so far kept tight-lipped over the incident as its investigation continues.
But The News understands that the clearing of an outlet in the engine room may have played a major part in the accident.
The source said: 'The understanding is that one of the outlets had become blocked and they had loosened an access point to get in and fix it.
'But then when they did get to the blockage it gave way, and that's when the water started coming in.'
Sailors on Endurance had to call on their emergency flood training which is taught at a special facility at HMS Excellent on Whale Island.
The Damage Repair Instructional Unit is a simulator tucked away on the northern end of the island, where students have to patch holes with pieces of wood as the water level rises quickly.
Former First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West praised the training immediately after the accident, saying it was 'first-rate'.
The navy declined to comment on any details of the ongoing investigation.
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/HMS-Endurance-may-be-a.4871937.jp?articlepage=2
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Integrated tug and barges used to ship food aid to Africa sold
JACKSONVILLE, the barge
Two integrated tug and barges combinations (ITB) which have been working on the African coast recently delivering US food aid cargoes, have been sold.
Marcon International handled the sale of the 26,044-gt ITB’s GROTON and JACKSONVILLE to foreign buyers in November and December 2008 on behalf of the former owners, the US Shipping Partners LP, of Edison, New Jersey. The vessels have already been delivered.
Both ITBs were built in 1981 and 1982 respectively for Amerada Hess of the US Virgin Islands. Halter Marine Services, Inc of Chickasaw, Alabama, built the catamaran style (CATUG), twin screw tugs and Bethlehem Steel Shipbuilding Division of Sparrows Point, Maryland, built the double-bottom / single-side tank barges. The vessels traded the majority of their lives in US coastwise clean petroleum product service, but had recently been utilised to transport grain cargoes to Africa for humanitarian organisations.
The vessels are of a unique design where the twin-hull tug ‘docks’ on a tongue protruding from the stern of the tank barge and locks into place with hydraulically operated link-arms, rigidly connecting the unit.
Overall dimensions, with tug and barge connected, are 209 metres with a beam of 29m and a 37m height with a maximum loaded draught of 13.5m when fully loaded to a deadweight of 48,000 tons. Each barge section has 13 cargo tanks each fitted with its own Framo single stage submersible pump for liquid cargo.
Both units are classed with ABS as Oil Tank Barge +A1 for the barges and Towing Service +A1, AMS, ACC for the tugs.
The 2,438-gt tugs tugs are powered by two medium speed Enterprise DMRV 16-4 TransAmerica Delaval main engines generating a total of 18,200BHP providing a service speed of about 14.6 knots on 44 tons/day.
The engines are capable of burning IFO and MGO. Buyers will return both vessels to petroleum service, but will operate under non-US flag. The buyers were represented by Marcon International, Inc and previously purchased another tug and barge through Marcon’s auspices.
JACKSONVILLE, the catamaran-hulled tug or catug, fitted in behind the barge of the same name - pictures Marcon International
http://ports.co.za/news/article_2009_01_18_4205.html
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Nuclear cruiser "Admiral Nakhimov" being upgraded
Part of: The Russian Northern Fleet
Related news
«Сложно сказать», когда «Адмирал Нахимов» вернется в строй
Reconstruction and upgrade of Admiral Nakhimov nuclear cruiser is under way at the Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk.
Bellona, 14/02-2005
The cruiser would not be just repaired but reconstructed and upgraded according to the modern requirements, said the Russian navy commander Vladimir Kuroyedov to Interfax. The design work for reconstruction should be ready in 2006 and then the ship would undergo upgrade and reconstruction, added Kuroyedov.
According to Interfax sources, Kuroyedov probably meant the old radio-electronic equipment, which is being dismantled at the moment. The new computerised equipment should be installed instead. Besides, the Granit (Shipwwreck) missile system will be changed for a newer system. The new system is ready for installation at the Russian Oskar-II nuclear submarines, the same will be installed at the cruiser, which is expecting nuclear fuel reloading at the Sevmash plant now.
The Russian Heavy Missile Cruise Ship, Project 1144.2 Kirov Class was built by the Baltic Shipyard in Saint Petersburg. The Kirov Class provides the capability to engage large surface ships and to defend the fleet against air and submarine attack. Four cruisers were built but only Admiral Nakhimov (commissioned in 1988) and Pyotr Velikhiy (commissioned in 1995) remain active.
http://www.bellona.org/english_import_area/international/russia/navy/northern_fleet/general/37191
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Sars operation pulls in millions of rands of illicit goods
A joint operation on Friday between SA Revenue Service (Sars) and investigators from the Department of Environmental Affairs (the “Green Scorpions”) in Gauteng has uncovered a range of illicit goods and smuggling networks.
• At O.R. Tambo International Airport searches of cargo goods by Customs sniffer dogs uncovered two crates of dried abalone destined for Hong Kong. The abalone – 560kg with an estimated street value of R1.8 million – was concealed in black bags
• In China City in Bruma investigations led to the discovery of 12 dried shark fins in a butchery shop
• In Crown Mines south of Johannesburg investigators raided premises and found seven DVD burners and counterfeit DVDs with an estimated street value of more than R2 million
• At the same premises investigators also found five boxes of counterfeit Viagra. It is suspected that the tablets were smuggled into South Africa from China. The efficacy of the counterfeit Viagra has not been determined at this stage and samples will be sent to the Department of Health for analysis.
Today’s operations were in response to a directive from the World Customs Organisation for member states to intensify their focus on smuggling of endangered species.
The abalone found at the airport indicates a scant regard for the moratorium on abalone fishing which government imposed some months ago.
No suspects have been arrested at this stage. Investigations between various law enforcement agencies will continue.
Story By : -
Date :1/19/2009
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7218
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Reader comment - 'No bright spots for shipping industry'
The global credit crisis was not the sole reason for SAILS demise - it simply became the last straw that broke the camel's back. The management in control prior to Lonrho stepping in simply never had the knowledge and line management experience to pull it through, resulting in a lack of trust/confidence on the part of shippers.
graemeclemitson@yahoo.com
Story By : Reader comment
Date :1/19/2009
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7221
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NSRI in several rescue incidents involving ships off the SA coast
Last week the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) of St Francis Bay Station responded with their Spirit of St Francis II to investigate the Japanese car carrier ATLANTIC SPIRIT (47,287-gt, built 1987), which was reported adrift and without engine power about 5 nautical miles off St Francis Bay.
Bob Meikle, NSRI St Francis Bay station commander, said that on arrival on-scene it was determined that the ships engineers were attempting to repair the engine which had experienced mechanical failure and it was reported that a salvage vessel from Cape Town had already been dispatched to render assistance but the salvage vessel would only arrive on-scene at midday on Friday.
The ship’s Captain reported that since they were in no imminent danger they were not declaring an emergency but, as a precaution, and after the ship had drifted to 2 nautical miles off-shore of Huisbaai, NSRI St Francis Bay and NSRI Port Elizabeth were placed on high alert to assist if necessary while a number of salvage companies offered their assistance.
While off-shore of Huisbaai the ship’s crew lowered the anchor which held the ship from drifting ashore. Late that afternoon temporary repairs proved successful on the ship’s motors and the ship was able to continue on her way.
Another rescue mission involving the NSRI saw the Port Elizabeth Station being activated by Port Elizabeth Transnet Ports Authority.
This involved a request for urgent medical assistance from the 225m Japanese-owned, Panamanian-flagged bulk carrier RUBY CREST (28,995-gt, built 1997) which reported that the ship’s master, a 48-year old Asian male, was suffering severe chest pains.
At the time the ship was 48 nautical miles south of Cape Recife and had turned around and was heading towards Port Elizabeth.
Ian Gray, NSRI Port Elizabeth station commander said that the NSRI Port Elizabeth rescue craft Spirit of Toft was launched to respond and rendezvous with the ship. A Netcare 911 paramedic accompanied the operation aboard the rescue craft which rendezvoused with the bulk carrier 30 nautical miles south of Cape Recife where two NSRI rescue medics were transferred aboard the bulk carrier. They stabilised the patient who was then secured into a specialised Stokes Basket stretcher while a rope and rigging system was erected on the ship.
The patient was lowered onto the rescue craft, secured into the Stokes Basket stretcher, using the rope and rigging system and once on-board Spirit of Toft was given treatment for suspected angina pectoris by the onboard paramedic, while the rescue craft headed for the Port Elizabeth NSRI rescue base. Once in port the patient was transported to hospital by a Netcare 911 ambulance in a stable condition.
The ship, which is sailing from Australia, has continued on her way with the Second Mate, who is rated (qualified) as a ships master, at the helm. The ship was not due to call at any South African port.
In other incidents off the SA coast last week the Port Elizabeth NSRI station was again activated by Transnet Ports Authority to respond to a 30-year old male chokka boat (squid) fisherman suffering from a laceration to the cheek. The injury was received after an alleged stabbing incident on board the vessel Bongo which was then 15 n. miles off Port Elizabeth.
Station commander Ian Gray reports that the NSRI rescue vessel Spirit of Toft was launched and on arrival on-scene NSRI medics treated the laceration, which was not severe, and the patient was brought to the NSRI rescue base in port and transported to hospital in a stable and satisfactory condition for further treatment.
Further west the NSRI Kommetjie station was activated by the Transnet Ports Authority following eye-witness reports of two red distress flares spotted off-shore of Kommetjie. The NSRI Kommetjie rescue craft Rotary Winelands and NSRI Hout Bay’s MTU Nadine Gordimer and Albie Matthews were launched while the Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services, SA Police Services and a Police Dive Unit were placed on alert.
Ian Klopper, NSRI Kommetjie station commander, said that during an extensive search a Kreef Bakkie small boat was found washed up on shore in the capsized position but no sign of any people that may be linked to the boat could be found and there are no reports of anyone overdue or missing.
He said that an extensive sea and shore search revealed no signs of any people in difficulty and without any further information to go on NSRI Kommetjie and the Police have suspended the search while continuing to monitor the situation.
The NSRI are appealing to anyone with information relating to this incident to contact the NSRI emergency telephone number (021) 449 3500 or the SA Police Services on 10111.
In another report NSRI Yzerfontein responded to a call for assistance from the fishing trawler St Anne which reported having collided with an unidentified object while underway between Yzerfontein and Dassen Island.
Andre Nel, NSRI Yzerfontein station commander, said that the five crew aboard the fishing vessel were forced to use water extrication pumps to expel water from the vessel which had a hole in the bow caused by the collision. The fishing boat managed to enter the safety of the bay at Dassen Island where efforts continued to save the vessel. With the arrival of the NSRI craft Lady Coutts NSRI volunteers assisted the fishing boat crew to expel water from their vessel while temporary repairs were attempted.
At the request of the owners a salvage company later dispatched a team of divers to assist in the operation with none of the crew in any imminent danger and no injuries reported.
News from the shipping lines
AP Moller-Maersk says the shipping industry is unlikely to recover from the current downturn before the end of next year and as a result the company is not looking at new acquisitions.
“Right now we are not looking at acquisitions,” said Nils Andersen, chief executive of the Danish shipping giant. He was speaking at a media cocktail in Singapore.
Andersen forecast that 2009 would be a tough year with a recovery unlikely until 2011 at the earliest. If it came before the end of next year AP Moller-Maersk would be very surprised, he told journalists. The company would in the meantime continue to reduce capacity by laying up ships as necessary.
Arch rival Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is meanwhile about to take delivery of their second 14,000-TEU container ship, which will be named MSC DANIT.
The 14,000-TEU giant follows the recent handing over of MSC DANIELA, the first in a series of this size container vessels ordered from South Korea’s Daewoo and the Samsung Heavy Industries shipyards. Both ships are 365.5m long with a beam of 52.2m and stack containers 20 rows wide across the ship. Both have their superstructure built forward while the engine room and funnel remain conventionally placed one third of the way from the stern.
Like MSC Daniela, MSC Danit is expected to join MSC’s Jade service between the Mediterranean and the Far East, displacing smaller 8,000-TEU vessels in the process.
Following its successful bid of US $ 5.87 billion for TUI’s Hapag-Lloyd container line, the Hamburg group of investors is now attempting to renegotiate the price, reports a German business newspaper.
A TUI spokesman later denied the report saying TUI wasn’t involved in any renegotiations but did enjoy a good dialogue with the consortium. After selling the container line to the Hamburg consortium, which outbid Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines, TUI later bought back a 33% stake for $ 924 million.
http://ports.co.za/news/article_2009_01_18_4205.html
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U.S. Navy contracts Northrop Grumman for construction preparation of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN 79
08:30 GMT, January 16, 2009 NEWPORT NEWS, Va. | Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) received a $374 million cost type contract award for construction preparation of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN 79. The carrier, which has yet to be been named, is the second ship of the Gerald R. Ford class.
The company's Shipbuilding sector will perform the work in Newport News, Va., which includes design efforts, planning and the procurement of long lead-time material such as propulsion machinery. The 21-month contract also provides for continued research and development efforts with key suppliers. Approximately 300 people will be supporting this project by the end of its first year.
"Being awarded the contract for CVN 79 while we are in the early stages of construction on the first ship of the class is beneficial to both the Navy and our shipbuilders," said Mike Shawcross, vice president for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's Gerald R. Ford-class program. "We have an experienced team who has been working on the lead ship's construction preparation contract since 2004 and began full construction last year. We will be able to take their experience and lessons learned and efficiently apply them to the CVN 79."
The Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) class will continue the legacy of U.S. Navy aircraft carrier ship platforms. Enhancements being incorporated into the design include flight deck changes, improved weapons handling systems, and a redesigned island, all resulting in increased aircraft sortie rates. It will also include a new nuclear power plant; increased electrical power generation capacity; allowance for future technologies; and reduced workload for the sailors, translating to a smaller crew and lower operating costs for the Navy.
The full scale construction contract for CVN 79 is expected to begin in 2012.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4921/
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UK pulls out from new airport for St Helena
The British government has decided against building an airport on the remote South Atlantic island of St Helena, which lies more than 1,900km from the African continent.
According a to a report in The Times the British government has decided it is unable to finance the project at this stage, putting paid to hopes that islanders would finally have a direct air service with the rest of the world. It was hoped the new airport would have been completed by 2012.
The UK’s Secretary of State for International Development said that negotiations over a contract to build the £100 million St Helena airport had been placed on hold because the Treasury could not fund the project. “There will be a pause,” he said.
St Helena islanders are reported to have reacted with shock at the news and the island’s councillors have written to the Secretary of State for International Development telling him there will be a negative backlash if the statement means an indefinite delay.
“Our electorate of Saints is renowned for loyalty to Britain, but if this current statement is hiding an indefinite delay in an airport, then we are certain there will be a very negative backlash,” they wrote to the minister.
St Helena, home to 4,000 inhabitants, will have to continue relying on a service by sea provided by a single ship, the Royal Mail Ship ST HELENA, which operates between Cape Town and St Helena and Ascension Islands and to the more remote Tristan da Cunha. The mailship, which is a combined cargo and passenger vessel also operates a couple of sailings between the island and the UK each year.
However the island has limited landing facilities and bad weather or heavy seas can mean the island is cut off from supplies and other necessities for differing periods.
Occasional cruise ship visits help to create a highlight in the life of the island although this is normally subject to summer visits and is again affected by the sea conditions.
http://ports.co.za/news/article_2009_01_18_4205.html
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Deterring Piracy at Sea
1/16/2009 8:43:49 AM
Contrary to the romanticized portrayal of pirates that have populated folk tales and captured youngsters' imaginations, modern-day pirates pose a clear and present threat to lives, commerce and the environment as they lurk over shipping lanes attacking ships and crew without regard for nationality or cargo.
Piracy in the Gulf of Aden not only poses a threat to global commerce, but also threatens aid delivery by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to victims of the ongoing civil war in Somalia. An estimated 2.4 million Somalis depend on the WFP shipments, which contribute more than 30,000 tons of aid to the impoverished nation.
In 2007, pirates attacked 31 vessels off the coast of Somalia with ransom demands averaging $500,000. In 2008, ransom demands have varied between $1m and $8m. Pirates received an estimated $30m in ransom payments in 2008.
More than 20,000 ships annually transit the Gulf of Aden, a vital shipping route for international trade that connects the Middle East, Asia, Europe and North and South America. However, with more than 100 piracy attempts this year, attacks affect less than 1 percent of the total commercial traffic.
Amid a decrease in the rate of successful pirate attacks on merchant vessels off the coast of Somalia, a couple of spectacular attacks have grabbed media attention. Pirates armed with AK-47s and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) boarded Motor Vessel (MV) Faina off the Somali coast Sept. 25, 2008, and took the ship and her crew hostage.
The situation of MV Faina represents the growing problem and complexity of the piracy issue in today's world. The ship is owned and operated by Kaalbye Shipping Ukraine, flagged in Belize, and her crew is from Russia, Latvia and the Ukraine. At the time, they were transporting 33 T-72 tanks, ammunition, small arms and associated equipment to Mombasa, Kenya.
As the pirates transited toward the harbor city of Hobyo, Somalia, several U.S. Navy ships quickly converged on Faina to ensure the safety of the crew and also prevent pirates from off-loading the ship's cargo.
Even more dramatic was the highjacking of the Liberian-flagged oil tanker MV Sirius Star Nov. 15, 2008. The Saudi-owned, supertanker was attacked about 450 nautical miles off the coast of Kenya and forced to proceed to anchorage near Harardhere, Somalia.
"Our presence in the region is helping deter and disrupt criminal attacks off the Somali coast, but the situation with the Sirius Star clearly indicates the pirates' ability to adapt their tactics and methods of attack," said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander, Combined Maritime Forces.
According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), mariners have reported more than 100 pirate attacks, including 30 successful hijackings off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden in the past. By the end of November 2008, pirates held 14 vessels and more than 330 crew members hostage.
In February 2002, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) established the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), a coalition of more than 20 nations that operate throughout the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and parts of the Indian Ocean. The coalition's mission is to deter destabilizing activities to create a lawful maritime order by defeating terrorism, deterring piracy, reducing illegal trafficking of people and drugs as well as promoting the maritime environment as a safe place for mariners with legitimate business.
To accomplish this mission, CMF established three principle task forces divided by geographic location: Combined Task Force (CTF) 158, CTF 152 and CTF 150.
While CTF 158 and 152 operate inside the Arabian Gulf, CTF 150 is a multinational task force that operates in the Gulf of Aden, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.
Established near the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom, CTF 150 was created to counter terrorism, prevent smuggling and conduct MSO to help develop security in the maritime environment.
"CTF 150's mission is to provide a lawful maritime order and deny the use of the sea to terrorists and violent extremists," said Gortney. "We do this through our presence within the region."
Coalition ships monitor the presence of small skiffs around fishing and merchant vessels as well as provide assistance to regional mariners when requested.
"Fisherman tell us when we are out patrolling the waters near them, the pirates are usually at bay," said Fire Controlman 2nd Class Marko Fusilero, a VBSS team member aboard USS Ramage (DDG 61). "It's nice to hear we're making a difference."
USS Peleliu (LHA 5) and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit received a distress call, Aug. 8, 2008, from the Singaporean cargo ship Gem of Kilakarai in the Gulf of Aden, which reported being under attack from pirates aboard two skiffs. The pirates carried out their assault with small arms and rifle-launched grenades.
Only 10-miles away from the attack, Peleliu launched three helicopters, which successfully drove away the pirates.
A few weeks earlier USS Momsen (DDG 92) and its embarked helicopter detachment provided assistance to the crew of a German cargo ship that had been released by pirates. Momsen provided food and water after MV Lehmann Timber experienced engine trouble.
These incidents not only demonstrated the U.S. commitment to create a lawful maritime order in CTF 150, but also the capability of U.S. forces to respond on a moment's notice to any situation.
To help deter piracy and other destabilizing activities off the Coast of Somalia, ships assigned to U.S. 5th Fleet patrol the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and conduct maritime security operations (MSO).
Naval forces conduct MSO to help develop conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment, as well as complement the counter-terrorism and security efforts of regional nations. These operations seek to disrupt violent extremists' use of the maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material.
"Conducting maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf contributes to security and stability in the region," said Capt. Brian Smith, commander, Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, currently deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. "We work closely with our coalition partners to achieve the same objective - ensuring the free flow of commerce across the seas. Together we are able to respond to any threat that might interfere with achieving that objective."
Coalition forces also conduct interaction patrols (IPATS), an element of MSO that helps generate support and awareness among commercial vessels sailing in the region of U.S. efforts to ensure a safe and secure maritime environment.
"When we go out to conduct approach and assist visits, our main goal is to establish better relationships with the mariners and locals who sail in the area," said Information Systems Technician 2nd Class (SW) Luke Ortega, a Ramage visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) team member. "We let them know we're here to help."
VBSS teams conduct IPATS, which focus on putting a friendly face on the U.S. mission in the region. These visits to local mariners help to deter illegal activities on the high seas, as well as reassure them that coalition forces are operating in the region to ensure the sea lanes remain open and are safe to navigate.
Since arriving in the region in September, Ramage has been conducting IPATS alongside some 36 coalition ships at sea. These visits to merchant vessels, or dhows, help local mariners understand what coalition ships are doing in the region to ensure security and stability on the seas.
"Our boarding teams allow naval forces to engage in personable and positive communications with mariners and fishermen aboard vessels in the area," Lt.j.g. Trevor Knight, a boarding officer assigned to Ramage. "There is no replacement for face-to-face engagement, and our interactions with the local fishermen and mariners have been nothing but positive."
The personal touch of the VBSS interaction patrols has allowed the coalition to gain critical information on a broad range of threats to creating a lawful maritime order.
"We've been able to determine a normal operating rhythm in the area, and determination of the regional pattern of life helps coalition forces identify suspicious activity," said Knight. "Simple things such as emergency contact information, fresh water and assistance with engine repairs can lead to information on human trafficking, piracy and drug smuggling."
Ensign Dan Ciulla serves as one of the VBSS officers aboard USS Nitze (DDG 94) and leads the ship's team conducting the IPATs.
"Our mission out here is three-fold: We want to make our presence known, render assistance if needed and create a friendly environment with the local mariners," said Ciulla. "By sending a small team in the RHIB (rigid hull inflatable boat), we are able to appear less intimidating."
"If we go out and make just one dhow's crew feel comfortable and build their trust in the coalition and its mission, then our job has been a success," he said. "In the long run, we will build a network of support that will prove to be beneficial."
One of Nitze's boarding team members, Operations Specialist 2nd Class Anthony Machulcz, expressed similar sentiments.
"I think it's good that the local mariners see we are out here to help," he said. "We give them food, water and ways to contact us if they need to. After we complete our visit, they seem very happy we've come aboard."
USS Russell (DDG 59) Sailors also responded to a call to render assistance and save lives when they aided a small boat in distress between Bossasso, Somalia, and the Yemeni coast. The 45-foot small boat experienced serious engine problems, leaving it unable to operate at sea, and had been adrift for two days. There were approximately 70 personnel on board the vessel, some of whom were in need of immediate medical attention. Seven personnel were transferred to Russell and treated for severe dehydration and malnutrition.
"The seas are the 'global commons,'" said Smith. "Our goal here is to strengthen and build relationships, and help mariners feel safer. That's the essence of maritime security operations - coalition nations working together to keep the maritime environment safe."
In response to a significantly increasing number of attacks in the region on merchant vessels, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) took a more robust approach to deterring piracy and other destabilizing activities in the Gulf of Aden.
Gortney, in his capacity as Commander, CMF, directed the establishment of a maritime security patrol area (MSPA) in the Gulf of Aden, Aug. 22, 2008, a moveable area overlaid within the internationally designated traffic corridor.
The MSPA is in support of the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) call for international assistance to discourage attacks on commercial vessels and is designed to give the IMO time to develop an international accord that will ultimately lead to a long-term solution. Merchant mariners have been actively encouraged to travel through this traffic corridor and employ reasonable self-protection measures to deter piracy attempts.
CTF 150 warships from the United States; United Kingdom; France; Denmark; Pakistan; Canada; and maritime patrol aircraft from the United States; United Kingdom; France; Germany; and Spain, patrol this geographic area in the Gulf of Aden on a routine basis. They have been joined by ships from Malaysia, India, Russia, South Korea, NATO and the European Union.
NAVCENT is working with a number of international organizations such as the IMO and IMB to encourage mariners to transit through the MSPA.
Since the MSPA was formed, CTF 150 has helped thwart more than 30 piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden. But criminals have still successfully targeted several vessels in the region.
"The MSPA is an advisory route," said Royal Navy Commodore Tim Lowe, deputy commander, CMF. "We cannot guarantee security as it is a huge area – 205,000 square miles in the Gulf of Aden alone."
NAVCENT is encouraging mariners to take necessary precautions to improve the safety of their ship and crew.
"Mariners must remain vigilant," said CTF-150 commander, Danish Royal Navy Commodore Per Bigum Christensen. "A ship's master and her crew are the first line of defense for their own ship."
Gortney suggested that the shipping industry consider hiring security teams for their vessels especially given the vast size of the area to be patrolled.
"The coalition does not have the resources to provide 24-hour protection for the vast number of merchant vessels in the region," said Gortney. "The shipping companies must take measures to defend their vessels and their crews."
This fact has been highlighted by merchant mariners who have taken proactive measures to defend their vessels, and have thwarted attacks as a result.
Such measures have included deterring attacks simply by keeping a sharp lookout for suspicious small boats operating in the vicinity of their ships, increasing speed and maneuvering to avoid small craft and even repelling would-be boarders with water from fire hoses.
"As long as private security firms stick to the rule of law, it could be a good thing," said Lowe. "Having an armed sentry on the deck is quite a good deterrent factor."
According to an Associated Press report, some insurance companies have offered to cut premiums by 40 percent if shipping companies hire security. Insurance premiums for vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden have been raised tenfold since the recent surge in piracy.
The U.S. government, together with the international community at large, is also working to provide a mechanism for bringing the pirates to justice and for holding them accountable for their actions.
"We need to maintain this momentum, and can't get fooled into thinking that by deterring attacks the problem has gone away," said Lowe. "The answer to this problem lies ashore. The way to do this is for the international community to work with Somalia to help them overcome their problems and establish the rule of law."
Although piracy may continue to be a problem into the foreseeable future, U.S. and coalition forces are committed to working with the international community to help develop a more permanent solution to this problem.
"The U.S. is very concerned about the increasing acts of piracy at sea off the coast of Somalia," said Gortney. "The U.S. Navy will continue to work in the region to help ensure a lawful maritime order and make sure the sea lines of communication remain open."
Operations in the NAVCENT and CMF area of operations are focused on reassuring regional partners of the United States and coalition commitment to security, which promotes stability and global prosperity.
(Source: Navy News Service)
http://sname.marinelink.com/snamestory.aspx?stid=214161
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Piracy update – naval forces to act tough with Somali pirates
The US Navy has revealed plans for the newly established naval force that will act to deter piracy off the Somali coast. Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the US 5th Fleet said the US is close to agreement with an unidentified country that will take pirates into custody once captured in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden waters.
Until now one of the main drawbacks for coalition forces operating to protect merchant ships against piracy has been what to do with suspected pirates once they have been captured. A new task force, CTF-151 was formed earlier this month that has a specific mandate to seek out pirates and to offer protection to merchant shipping – other naval forces operating in the region have different agendas while the other main task force, CTF-150 is there to seek out terrorism and counter drug and arms smuggling.
According to Admiral Gortney once the agreement with the unnamed country is in place the naval force will go after pirates with aggression. “It will be a mixture of surveillance and then raid action,” he said.
Until now many of the pirates who were captured at sea were released soon afterwards.
Russia meanwhile has indicated it is increasing its presence in the Gulf of Aden with a further two ships, the YAMAL and the AZOZ which are en route to join the Russian naval fleet preparing to exercise in the northern Indian Ocean with the Indian Navy in late January. Included among the Russian ships taking part in the exercise is the nuclear-powered cruise PYOTR VELIKY which last week visited Cape Town for the first time.
YAMAL and AZOV are both large landing type ships, each capable of carrying two companies of naval infantry for extended periods in addition to armoured vehicles. They are normally part of the Black Sea fleet.
Russia currently has a multirole frigate, the NEUSTRASHIMY on deployment off the Horn of Africa.
Somali pirates have meanwhile released the Bahamas-flagged Clipper general cargo ship CEC FUTURE (4,980-gt, built 1994), which they seized on 7 November 2008. It has been confirmed that a ransom in cash was paid to release the ship and crew of thirteen with reports that it took the pirates all day to count the money.
The Russian landing vessel YAMAL – picture courtesy Flickr
http://ports.co.za/news/article_2009_01_18_4205.html
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Pics of the day – PETER THE GREAT
A few last glimpses of a special visitor to the Mother City from Mother Russia – the nuclear powered Russian cruiser PYOTR VELIKY which sailed last week after a short visit to Cape Town. The massive ship (25,000 ton displacement and 251m in length) was delayed by half a day owing to Cape Town’s infamous wind (may we refer to it that way, Capetonians?) which blew up to 40 knots across Table Bay making it more than difficult for a ship with such a large resistance to leave the dock. Pyotr Veliky is now on the way to rejoin other ships of the Russian Navy which will engage with the Indian Navy in naval exercises off the west coast of the sub-continent.
http://ports.co.za/news/article_2009_01_18_4205.html
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Minimal container growth for port of Hong Kong
Figures from the Hong Kong Marine Department published by Shipping Gazette show the port handled 24.1-million TEUs in 2008, an increase of less than one per cent from 23.9-m in 2007, but December's figures showed a 24.1% decline to 1.6-m TEUs from the same month the previous year.
Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority reported a 7.1 increase in container movement in 2008, having handled 29.9-m TEUs compared to 27.9-m in 2007. December container volume showed a year-on-year drop of 13.1% to 2.1-m TEUs.
Story By : Alan Peat
Date :1/19/2009
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7226
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2009 Toughest Test for Container Industry
1/16/2009 8:54:53 AM
Drewry Shipping Consultants, in its latest Container Forecast, concluded that 2009 will be the toughest test yet for the Container industry and further casualties are a real possibility.
During the last quarter of 2008, carriers have been doing their best to reduce capacity through suspension of a number of high profile east/west services. However, Drewry argues that the gap between supply and demand is still too big. For the short to medium term, carriers can at best only stabilize freight rates that, on the Asia to Europe trade, have recently fallen to uncommercial levels.
Drewry’s revised estimate for 2008 global container traffic growth is 152.8 million teu, representing a 7.2% year-on-year growth, down from the 8.6% they published in their previous September report, with a meagre growth of 2.8% forecast for 2009. This is certainly backed by the year-on-year throughput decline currently in evidence at the southern Chinese port of Shenzhen.
It is evident from Drewry’s fourth quarter 2008 edition of the Container Forecaster that previous long-held industry rules have changed or become skewed. This is because the downturn happened so dramatically that, supply/demand mechanics in all trades have faltered at the same time. There are no bright lights left for the industry.
The relationship between volume growth and GDP expansion has also become distorted, differentiated charter rates currently do not exist and freight rates are being determined by factors other than simply falling demand. Further, carriers and alliances are seeking vessel-sharing or service sharing agreements they would not have contemplated 12 months ago.
The undertaking of slow-steaming strategies to save fuel costs has also been turned on its head by the fall in crude prices. And the fact that east-west strings are now being operated by 10 and 11 ships with extra port calls being added just to soak up capacity. While this was mainly confined to the Asia-Europe trade, carriers are now desperately seeking any means to utilize capacity without physically laying up vessels.
Neil Dekker, the Container Forecaster editor, comments: “Shipping lines and shipowners are in a precarious position since they can do almost nothing to determine freight rates, charter rates and asset values for their ships. Even at such low prices, it is not a buyer’s market for potential charterers or ship purchasers because demand and credit lines have dried up.”
“With no likelihood of significant cancellations in 2009, the global fleet is still expected to increase by 12.7% - way ahead of demand. Even with some tonnage taken out of the market in 2010-12 through cancellations and increased annual slippage factors playing a part, this is not helping the global supply/demand balance to any significant extent. Our supply/demand index forecasts for the next four years are now very pessimistic indeed and it is expected to fall by 7% this year and by a further 3.6% in 2010.”
There are very few positives at the moment apart from the fact that bunker prices have greatly reduced and scrapping levels have increased. Carriers are continually re-assessing their capacity deployment strategies as it seems that the recent suspension of a number of east-west strings is still not bringing the supply/demand balance back into line in order to stabilize freight rate erosion.
The lay up of ships is a last course of action for the industry, but it will become more of a feature throughout 2009 as cascading of tonnage can no longer be seen as an effective capacity management tool.
“Drewry Container Forecaster” is published 4 times a year by Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd.
(www.drewry.co.uk)
http://sname.marinelink.com/snamestory.aspx?stid=214164
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U.S. and Turkish Navy to modernize MK 41 Vertical Launching System
16:21 GMT, January 15, 2009 BALTIMORE, MD | Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] recently received a $6.3 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy's Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to provide engineering support services for MK 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) work on the U.S. Navy's Ticonderoga Class guided missile cruiser modernization program and the Turkish navy's MEKO Track IIA and IIB frigates.
The latest MK 41 VLS baseline VII launch control system combines commercial off-the-shelf technologies and open architecture software elements. Originally designed by Lockheed Martin in the early 1980s, MK 41 VLS has gone through numerous system upgrades and baseline improvements to introduce new capabilities, integrate new missiles and lower the total cost of ownership.
"The MK 41 is the world's most reliable below-deck, multi-mission naval missile launching system with a launch success rate of more than 99 percent," said Dan Schultz, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Integrated Defense Technologies line of business. "The flexibility and open system architecture of the MK 41 VLS baseline VII enables Lockheed Martin to maintain and continuously upgrade its customer's systems as technology evolves.
We have already demonstrated baseline VII's portability to other computer processors and operating systems, and we are ready for the next generation tactical computing environment fielded for the Navy's DDG Modernization and CG(X) programs."
The recent contract modification was to the MK 41 VLS Design Agent Contract originally awarded in 2004. The work will be performed at Lockheed Martin's locations in Baltimore, MD and Ventura, CA.
The multi-missile, multi-mission MK 41 launcher has revolutionized the way world navies think about sea-launched weapons. No other naval missile launcher is capable of firing missiles for every threat in naval warfare, including anti-air, anti-submarine, ship self-defense, land attack and ballistic missile defense. More than 11,000 MK 41 VLS missile cells have been delivered or are on order. MK41 VLS systems are either in service or on order by 12 navies around the world for 186 ships in 19 different ship classes.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4904/
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Two dead, six missing in French military copter crash
Web posted at: 1/19/2009 9:12:6
Source ::: AFP
PARIS: A French soldier injured in a military helicopter crash off the coast of Gabon died yesterday, bringing the death toll to two as rescuers kept up the search for six missing, the general staff said.
The Cougar transport helicopter was carrying 10 soldiers, including six special forces paratroopers, when it went down in the sea shortly after take-off from the French seaplane carrier La Foudre on Saturday.
The ten were among some 600 soldiers taking part in a joint maritime security exercise called Operation N’Gari during which men were to be parachuted onto predetermined targets.
The soldier died in hospital in the Gabon capital of Libreville, said Lieutenant Colonel Francois-Marie Gougeon, spokesman for the general staff.
Another soldier suffered slight injuries and a fourth was pulled from the water safe and sound.
Rescuers were trying to find survivors yesterday off the coast of Nyonie, a town located half-way between Libreville and the port city of Port-Gentil.
Oil giant Total lent a sonar and under-water robot to a salvage team that helped them locate the wreckage, said lieutenant Maxime Pietrozycki in Libreville.
“We have located the wreckage, but we don’t know for the time being if there was someone inside,” he added. President Nicolas Sarkozy ordered that “all available means in the area be immediately deployed to find the soldiers who were on board” and dispatched Defence Minister Herve Morin to Gabon. There was no immediate information on the cause of the crash and the general staff said an enacquiry would be carried out.
The helicopter went down at 8:08pm (1908GMT) shortly after taking off from La Foudre that was cruising 50km off the Gabonese coast, Gougeon said.
The ship “set off the alert and went to the scene of the crash with its own rescuers who picked up the injured within half an hour. “The sea was calm and the wind low at the time of the crash but the night was very dark,” he said. Total sent three vessels to help in the rescue effort.
France has around 1,000 troops in Gabon, a former French colony, with one of four permanent bases in Africa.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=United+Kingdom+%26+Europe&month=January2009&file=World_News200901199126.xml
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Change in oil trade patterns to provide support to the tanker market
Monday, 19 January 2009
Oil demand is not the only variable in the equation determining the demand for tanker transportation says Gibson Consultancy & Research in its latest tanker report, indicating that the latest gloomy news about energy demand during 2009 shouldn’t be all that disheartening. Nevertheless, evidence of slowing demand globally is there, with the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasting the decline in global oil demand by 0.81 million b/d (1%) in 2009. But, as Gibson notes, “changes in trade patterns can lead to major shifts in oil tanker movements and significantly influence the overall tanker demand. A good example of this is the US, which due to its colossal crude import requirements, has a strong bearing on the freight market. More than 40% of the US crude imports come from nearby countries - Canada, Mexico and Venezuela; however, their combined share in total US imports is falling. According to the EIA, for the first ten months of 2008, imports from Mexico to the US fell by 240,000 b/d (17%), compared to the same period in 2007. The key reason for the drop in imports is the rapidly falling Mexican crude production”.
This development doesn’t necessarily mean bad news for tanker owners. As USA’s short-haul oil imports decline, oil is sourced from further afield. Gibson’s report indicates that “incremental longer-haul crude movements reduce tanker availability and to a certain extent counterbalance the effect of the weakening oil demand. What’s more, the observed shifts in the US crude trade in 2008 are expected to solidify in to the long-term trends and additional tonne miles will provide support to tanker market going further forward”.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32612&Itemid=94
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Suez Canal revenues fall to $391.8 mln in Dec
Monday, 19 January 2009
Egypt earned $391.8 million in revenue from the Suez Canal in December, down from $426.3 million in December 2007 and from $419.8 million in November, the government said on Sunday. Economists have been watching Suez Canal revenues closely to see any effects from piracy off the Somali coast and the recession in major economies, which is expected to reduce the volume of trade between Asia and Europe.
Traffic and cargo fell in the last three months of 2008 as a result of the financial crisis, and shipping rates declined to around $18,000 a day from $163,000 before the crisis, according to the Suez Canal Authority.
The Canal authority said earlier in January that it would leave unchanged its transit tolls for 2009 despite its expectations that the global financial crisis will reduce traffic.
The canal is an important source of foreign currency for Egypt, along with tourism, oil and gas exports and remittances from Egyptians living abroad.
The number of vessels using the waterway was 1,560 in December, down from 1,815 in December 2007 and from 1,770 in November, the government said on its Information Portal website.
Source: Reuters
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32608&Itemid=79
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No recession here; Alang ship yard flourishes
Monday, 19 January 2009
The global slump in the shipping industry is turning out to be boon for the ship breaking industry in Alang, where around 60 vessels have arrived for scrapping from December 1 to January 15. According to people associated with the industry, around 100 ships have landed in Alang for dismantling in the last two months and the trend will continue because of global recession. "Alang is all set to set a new record in scrapping largest number of ships in 2009 as more than 600 ships are available for dismantling in the international market due to slowdown in the global trades," said Vishnu Gupta, President of Alang Ship Breakers' Association.
He added that ship breaking industry will provide cheapest steel to the industry.
As a result, around 80 plots have become operational at Alang's ship breaking yard where three months back, the industry was finding it difficult to survive and only 30-35 plots were being used.
As per the data provided by Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) on arrival of ships, in last 45 days, 57 ships have got beached at Alang yard and 15 have more than 10,000 tonne capacity, while two ships are of more than 20,000 tonne.
Most of other vessels have tonnage capacity of more than 5,000 tonne.
Arrival of large number of ships at Alang also means increasing revenue of GMB, which charges Rs 100 per LTD (light displacement tonnage) per ship.
"Presently, we are getting various types of vessels like general cargo carrier, bulk cargo carrier, oil and gas tanks and chemical tanks," said Bhavnagar-based international ship agent Mehul Mehta.
He added that international shipping companies and ship owners are retiring the ships for dismantling because exports have gone down worldwide and there is not enough cargo to transport.
"Since there is unavailability of cargo, vessels remain idel, which nobody can afford considering vergy high costs of maintenance of vessel, crew and other costs," he said, explaining why there is increasing availability of vessels for dismantling.
According to him, vessels are sold between 250 to 300 USD per tonne while local scrap market rates are around Rs 18000 per tonne.
Arrival of increasing number of ships at Alang is also having a positive impact on the ancilliary units like oxygen refilling plants and steel re-rolling mills in and around Bhavnagar.
"Presently, 25 oxygen refilling units are operating and 15 new units are in the pipeline and would become operational very soon," said a leading ship breaker Hareshsinh Parmar.
He added that steel re-rolling mills, which were closed earlier, have started functioning again because of supply of raw material, which is steel plates.
Moreover, he added that apart from catering to the local market, steel plats and raw materials from Alang are going to Punjab, UP, Haryana and J&K where ingot-based mills use scrap material from Alang because its very cheap.
Source: PTI
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32605&Itemid=79
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Saturday, January 17, 2009
5th Fleet Focus: Order of Battle
Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)
USS Monterey (CG 61)
USS The Sullivans (DDG 68)
USS Mason (DDG 87)
USS Nitze (DDG 94)
USNS Supply (T-AOE 3)
Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group
USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7)
USS San Antonio (LPD 17)
USS Carter Hall (LSD 50)
USS Vella Gulf (CG 72)
USS Roosevelt (DDG 80)
USS Ramage (DDG 61)
USS Hartford (SSN 768)
EU NAVFOR
HS Psara (F454) - Command
FGS Karlsruhe (F212)
FS Floréal (F730)
FS Premier-Maître L'Her (F792)
HMS Northumberland (F238)
In Theater
Ocean 6
HDMS Absalon (L16)
RFS Neustrashimyy (FFG 712)
RFS Admiral Vinogradov (DDG 572)
FGS Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (F 218)
FS Jeanne d'Arc (R97)
FS Georges Leygues (D640)
FS Jean-de-Vienne (D643)
FS La Boudeuse (P683)
FS Var (A608)
FS Saphir (S602
HMS Portland (F79)
HMS Lancaster (F229)
HMAS Parramatta (FFH 154)
KD Sri Inderapura (L 1505)
KD Lekiu (F30)
KD Sri Indera Sakti (A1503)
KD Mahawangsa (A1504)
INS Mysore (D60)
INS Beas (F24)
HMS Al Riyadh (812) (RSNF)
HMS Makkah (814) (RSNF)
HMS Al Dammal (816) (RSNF)
PLAN Haikou (D171)
PLAN Wuhan (D169)
PLAN Weishanhu (A887)
USS Scout (MCM 8)
USS Gladiator (MCM 11)
USS Ardent (MCM 12)
USS Dexterous (MCM 13)
USS Typhoon (PC 5)
USS Sirocco (PC 6)
USS Chinook (PC 9)
USS Firebolt (PC 10)
USS Whirlwind (PC 11)
USCGC Baranof (WPB 1318)
USCGC Maui (WPB 1304)
USCGC Adak (WPB 1333)
USCGC Aquidneck (WPB 1309)
USCGC Wrangell (WPB 1332)
USCGC Monomoy (WPB 1326)
HMS Ramsay (M 110)
HMS Blyth (M 111)
HMS Atherstone (M38)
HMS Chiddingfold (M37)
USNS Tippecanoe (T-AO 199)
USNS Laramie (T-AO 203).
USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE 1)
RFA Wave Knight (A386)
RFA Cardigan Bay (L3009)
*Fotiy Krylov - Russian fleet Tug
*Boris Butoma - Russian Boris Chilikin class fleet oiler
*Pechenga - Russian Dubna class oiler
Posted by Galrahn at 7:56 PM
http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2009/01/5th-fleet-focus-order-of-battle_17.html
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Frontline says roughly 80 mln bbls oil stored at sea
Monday, 19 January 2009
Norway's Frontline, one of the world's biggest oil tanker owners, said oil firms were storing "about" 80 million barrels of crude oil at sea, possibly the highest in a quarter of a century. The figure is the highest storage estimate reported to date. Ship broking houses, banks that trade oil and other industry sources believe the total is considerably lower. "We think it's about 80 million barrels...but we are not 100 percent certain," the acting chief executive officer Martin Jensen told Reuters by telephone from Singapore.
Crude freight rates have been supported on top export routes by the slew of storage bookings. Tanker firms' profits are tied to the underlying cost of oil freight.
Mike Wittner of Societe Generale said the Frontline figure fitted the broader oil market picture.
"It's a big number, but its entirely plausible -- I don't see any reason not to believe him," Wittner said, adding the upshot was storage is significant and could easily grow even more.
Jensen said some 30 to 35 Very Large Crude Carriers (Very Large Crude Carriers) capable of carrying two million barrels each and 10 Suezmaxes with a capacity of a million barrels each were being used by oil firms for floating storage in the last few months.
The figures include oil tankers owned by oil majors which were being used to stockpile oil.
Jensen said most of the supertankers being used for "floating storage" were anchored in the U.S. Gulf, with others laid up in Asia and the Middle East Gulf.
"The Iranians have some and others are around Fujairah," he said.
Oil majors and independent trading firms have booked tankers in the last three months for storage to take advantage of a steep contango in the oil market.
Major ship broking houses and industry sources contacted by Reuters since oil majors and traders began storing oil late last year give more conservative estimates for storage.
Most say oil firms are storing some 60 to 70 million barrels in total, more than 3O VLCCs worth of oil equivalent.
Oil industry sources say banks and hedge funds have been looking into taking tankers for storage, and some have made serious requests for ships.
But so far there is no hard evidence that they have booked tanker space.
"The truth is no one really knows exactly how much is being stored," one said. "We have a total of 14 VLCCs chartered in from the spot market. What the oil majors are doing with their own fleets we just don't know," he said.
Source: Reuters
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32604&Itemid=79
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5th Fleet Focus: Regional Status Report
The US Navy is preparing to go hot in the 5th fleet.
This is the required reading of the day. The press conference transcript by Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Central Command, U.S. 5TH Fleet, Vice Adm. William Gortney. CENTCOM is a tough nut to crack when you are looking for information, they simply don't say much and they offer nothing, so this press conference Q&A with Vice Adm. Gortney turned into this enormous gold mine of information that really explains about a dozen different "the rest of the story" moments regarding the US Naval activity in the 5th fleet.
Starting out by noting a fact that might be new to many, the US Navy has 13,000 sailors on the ground in 5th Fleet (6000 IAs in Iraq, 2000 IAs in Afghanistan), but only 10,000 sailors at sea. In other words, the 5th fleet has more sailors on the ground helping fill the gaps for the war than at sea doing the work of the sea service. He also explains in detail the reasons why Adm Gortney established CTF-151. Here are a few quotes that I thought were worth highlighting.
In response to a question about the relationships between the various international Navies operating in the actions to curb piracy:
ADM. GORTNEY: It's coordination of effort, it's not a command and control, because there are so many different nations involved that don't belong in the Combined Maritime Forces in a clean chain of command. So we coordinate at the operational level in my headquarters at the Combined Maritime Forces with those nations that are there. The EU has liaison officers in my staff, embedded into my staff, and we coordinate at that level.
And at the tactical level or on the waterfront, CTF-151 is now responsible to manage that tactical deconfliction. And we do that by publishing our intentions and our effectiveness and our schedules. It's all unclassified. We share that through all unclassified means. With the Chinese, we're exchanging e-mails with them on the unclassified net. With the Russians it's a little different. We're transmitting that over bridge-to-bridge radio. So it's from the most basic form of radio transmission to -- for the nations that are part of CENTRIX, that are part of our coalition to a very networked operation.
Then we had an excellent question asked by an unnamed reporter, and a very revealing answer.
Q) Can you talk a little bit about the operation in more detail? And what do your forces do if they encounter suspicious boats, especially if they're not in the act of doing something? Do you have the authority to deal with those folks, in any way, in international waters? And what are your orders regarding any detainees that you might take?
A) ADM. GORTNEY: Currently I'm going to have to take you back just a few, take you back just a few days. But when the activity spiked in the middle of August, we sat down. We knew we had -- our current process wasn't working, and we had to take a new look at it.
We knew that the problem of piracy started ashore. And it's because there is not a rule of law. There isn't a governance. There isn't economic stability. There isn't a court system that will hold these criminals responsible for their actions. And so the ultimate solution is ashore proper.
So we had to focus on prevention efforts at sea. And we developed a campaign plan. We created, working with the International Maritime Organization, the Maritime Security Patrol Area, a place to channel the shipping, so that we can concentrate naval activity, to make our naval activity more effective, because we knew we would be ineffective alone. And we went off on three lines of influence.
The first one was to bring more navies into it, international navies, to bring more of the international community to help solve this international problem and to bring more navies into it.
The second one was to work with the shipping industry on best practices to, what can they do to prevent pirates from successfully getting onboard their vessel?
And the third line of influence was to work through the interagency process to find a way to solve what we call the persons under control: When we capture a pirate, where do we take him? Where do we hold him? Where -- what court system tries him and holds him? If they're found guilty, hold them accountable for their actions.
We've had great effects in the first two -- once again, 14 nations at that are down there. The shipping industry is having the greatest impact. They're doing a terrific job of sharing best practices, speed, maneuver and non-kinetic defensive measures that will prevent pirates from getting on board the vessel. And we have had great effect on that. And we've actually gotten -- in the last six weeks there's only been four successful piracy attacks.
The down side of that, though, is that the attacks continue. And if we're going to be -- whether there's -- the -- they're all -- all the rest have been unsuccessful, and if we're going to be effective, it's coming to closure on our last one, where we capture the pirates and take them to a court of law and, if they're found guilty, hold them accountable for their actions.
We're close with that. The State Department's close on finalizing an agreement with one of the nations out there. And once we get that authority, then we're going to change my orders. And my orders right now to the coalition are disrupt, deter, but do not capture. But once we get the authorities, what we -- that we need there and a place to take them, then we're going to go -- my orders will change to disrupt, deter and capture, and try and hold them accountable for their actions.
Wow, very interesting. Two major pieces of information that tell the story. First, it would appear the "strategy of do nothing to get the international community to do something" was planned after all, because apparently in August NAVCENT command developed the strategy to bring Navies into the region. As regulars on the blog know, ID tracked the action off Somalia almost daily while constantly observing the US Navy was intentionally noting the problem. In other words, all indications are NAVCENT's intentional inaction became the enabling tactic to insure a successful strategy of building international naval presence. I admit to being impressed, not only because the process worked, but that Adm. Gortney will admit that we have been working towards building international presence at a time the entire world was noting how absent we were from the process of curbing piracy ourselves.
Second part is just as important, we appear to be willing to admit that the RoE is to "not capture." Adm Gortney would never admit this in public if the process for capture wasn't already developed. Apparently, we are simply waiting for an official announcement? Clearly we know why, which I think also tells us which country?
So what is going to change? Later in the interview, Adm Gortney discusses tactics.
Q) Once you get the agreement with the country on where to prosecute these pirates, will that mean putting small boats in the water, doing more proactive things, boarding some of the pirates' vessels?
A) ADM. GORTNEY: We are going to aggressively go after the pirates that are conducting pirate activity. And it's going to be a mixture of surveillance and then rapid action once we observe them, because we have to -- you know we're going to have to adhere to rules of evidence. And so what's very clear in the UNSCR is if someone is in the act of piracy then they're pirates. And if we maintain a positive ID on them while they watch it and then we track them down and we coerce them into surrendering and then we'll arrest them and take them to that particular country that will hold them accountable for their actions if they're found guilty. So the rules of evidence is very, very important to us.
If we come across a vessel that has what we call pirate paraphernalia, which -- this is what we're seeing right now. They're very small skiffs and they have small arms, AK-47s, RPGs and ladders. And although from a distance they may be small skiffs being towed by another mother ship, they look just like any other fishing vessel out there in the region. It's the most -- kind of some of the best fishing area in the world. So they're all over the place.
But when you come upon them and you look into their skiffs and they have AK-47s, RPGs and ladders, they're not very good for pirates. I mean to -- I mean, that's not very good equipment to fish with. So then we take it; we document it; we throw the pirate paraphernalia overboard and then we let them go. And we will arrest them once we get those authority. Once we come across them like that we'll arrest them, see if we then have the rules of evidence that the country will try them.
We'll discuss tactics in detail once the policy changes.
Later in the press conference, a question is asked about the mythical pirate-terrorism nexis, and it is confirmed yet again, no such nexis exists.
Q) Can you target -- do you yet see any links to radical Islamic movements inside Somalia? Do you see clan links here? Do you see links to the Islamic Courts Union?
A) ADM. GORTNEY: Thanks for asking that question. No, we look very, very carefully for links to terrorism and -- any form of terrorism -- and we do not see that link right now. And the reason we watch for it is terrorism is fueled by money. And so anywhere that there -- people are making a lot of money, we think the terrorists will go. But right now we do not see that linkage.
Al-Shabab, which is operating in the south -- the al-Shabab and the pirates, they hate each other. The clans and al-Shabab hate each other right now. We'd want to be very careful that whatever we do, we don't drive them together.
But we do not see that link now and we -- it would be a significant game-changer if we see it develop.
In the absence of the nexis, the US Navy has been able to do nothing about piracy as a way to encourage other nations to take action. This was always a precondition to the US strategy of doing nothing. Later on, the subject of terrorism comes up again, in the form of a question regarding CTF-150. Interesting, CTF-150 has become a drug busting and anti-smuggling operation.
Q) Yes, sir. Could you give us the updated information on the older taskforce CTF-150? Has there been any late detention or capture of the suspected terrorists?
A) ADM. GORTNEY: We haven't picked up a terrorist in CTF-150 in quite a few years. Probably, I think the last one was when I was an airwing commander on Kennedy in the opening days of OEF.
We've focused our efforts now on understanding the smuggling networks that the terrorists might use, and we now are focusing on the smugglers that are moving hashish out of the Makran Coast and smuggling it down into Somalia and into Yemen for further transit into the West, into Saudi Arabia and then into the Western European nations.
And I think this last year we busted over -- got 68 tons of hashish. We haven't found the opium, and that's what we're looking for. But the real purpose there is to understand that network, because we know that network feeds the Taliban. Drugs are the fuel for terrorists, and they're poisoning our youth, and we're focusing on that to get a better understanding of that network.
Then we get two brilliant questions.
Q) What's Taskforce 151 going to look like in a year? As I understand it now, it's a coalition, but of three United States ships only. So who do you expect to join, when, and what's it going to -- what's it going to look like full force?
A) ADM. GORTNEY: Yeah. The only reason 151 is U.S. only -- and now U.K. will be signing up for it -- is because the nations have to get a mandate. Their forces have to get a mandate to serve with the CTF. So it takes a while for that process to work. And we see great -- a great deal of interest in people joining, the nations joining 151, because they now have a mandate to do the counterpiracy. It's CTF that gives them the authorities to do that.
So we see, either working within 151 or an associated, we see Saudi, UAE, the U.K., Pakistan, Australia has made interest into it, Turkey has made very positive signs into it. So there's a number of countries, a significant number of countries, to be frank, that we -- I think six months, a year from now, once they're processed and they get the authorities, will be a part of CTF-151, as well as CTF-150.
Q) Any interest from the Chinese?
A) ADM. GORTNEY: Not to join the coalition, but we are sharing information with them. I've seen that -- we've seen that in there. We're exchanging unclassified e-mails and radio transmissions. We're receiving their reports of what they have done. We look forward to being able to get reports with what they're going to do, what their planned events are going to do, because we share that with them so that we can better coordinate our activities down there.
What a huge success it would be to have Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Pakistan in CTF-151 with the mandate requirements membership requires. I do not hide that I'd love to see the US Navy somehow get China to sign up, and maybe they will sometime in the future, but there is tremendous value in having an active military coalition with 4 Islamic countries in the Middle East as well.
I did not cover all of the press briefing, not even close actually. A lot of stuff about Iran, a lot of stuff about the Northern clan in Somalia that has increased the piracy in that region, a lot of talk about fishing for those looking to read more about that, and even a "what if" briefing for the President Elect regarding the situation in the 5th Fleet maritime domain. What a content rich briefing, a must read for anyone looking to see what the US Navy is doing in the Middle East.
So what did we learn? Apparently, in less than a week the State Department will work out the remaining issues in the legal framework to fight piracy, and as a result the US Navy is going to change tactics towards piracy.
When that happens, we will soon start hearing about a little fighting.
Posted by Galrahn at 1:00 AM
http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2009/01/5th-fleet-focus-regional-status-report.html
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Middle East shipping to ride out the storm
Monday, 19 January 2009
The shipping industry worldwide faces stormy weather but the global economic crisis could turn into an opportunity for the Middle East, according to the organisers of the region's biggest maritime trade show. 'The Middle East is by no means immune from the difficulties afflicting the world but that doesn't mean the region's maritime industry will not benefit in the medium term,' said Christopher Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade, organisers of the Seatrade Middle East Maritime exhibition and conference which concluded in Dubai last month.
'In a financial crisis, new opportunities emerge and I firmly believe the Middle East shipping industry will continue to consolidate and grow in the future,' he added.
'Arab Gulf countries have accumulated large budget surpluses in recent years to continue funding their infrastructure expansions, all of which rely on global shipping. Most maritime economy experts agree that, regardless of the current financial crisis, the regional shipping industry will continue growing.
'The Arabian Gulf has long been a centre of energy-related transport but it is also now the hub of record volumes of containers and bulk cargo. Strategies may need to be adjusted to take account of a changing financial climate but the maritime industry will remain the lifeline of the regional and international business community.'
Seatrade Middle East Maritime under the patronage of HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, attracted international and regional shipping operators, financiers and suppliers to assess the impact of the global downturn.
A total of 313 companies from 33 countries exhibited at Seatrade Middle East Maritime, which is held every two years and is the largest maritime event of its kind in the region. More than 500 delegates also attended associated conferences including Money and Ships, the Seatrade Middle East Cruise Conference and Superyacht Solutions.
Principal sponsors included Det Norske Veritas, GEM, Dubai Maritime City Authority, NITC and Gulf Oil Marine Ltd. Other sponsors are: ABS, BP Marine, ClassNK, Drydocks World, Emarat Maritime, Ince Al Jallaf & Co, Lloyd's Register, Topaz Energy & Marine, Rais Hassan Saadi Group, SAIFEE Trading, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd, Sea Cloud Cruises GmbH and the Ministry of Tourism for the Sultanate of Oman.
The event was supported by Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, DP World, Dubai Shipping Agents Association, Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, the International Association of Ports and Harbours, the Nautical Institute, the Royal Institute of Naval Architects, ImarEST, the UAE Ship Owners Association and the Supply Chain & Logistics Group.
Seatrade is also the organiser of Middle East Workboats which next takes place from 5-7 October 2009 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Public Works and Chairman of the National Transport Authority. From maritime security vessels to dredgers and water taxis to tugs, more than 2,000 workboats are estimated to be in use in the Middle East.
Seatrade Middle East Maritime 2010 will take place at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from 28-30 November 2010.
Source: AME Info
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32603&Itemid=79
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Friday, January 16, 2009
US Navy Buys Three Maritime Positioning Ships
Check out the DoD contract announcements for Thursday.
WTAK-1 Inc., Mobile, Ala., is being awarded $49,650,000 to exercise an option under a previously awarded firm fixed price contract (N00033-82-C-1019) for the purchase of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Sgt Matej Kocak. WTAK-1 Inc., which held Military Sealift Command’s (MSC’s) previous long-term contract for Kocak, is executing the sale on behalf of Wilmington Trust Co., as shipowner and UPB Leasing Ventures as beneficiary. The ship has been under long-term charter to MSC since 1984. The ship will remain crewed by about 30 civilian mariners employed by Waterman Steamship Corp., Mobile, Ala. Kocak is one of 15 Maritime Prepositioning ships that strategically preposition U.S. Marine Corps cargo at sea around the world, making the cargo readily available to warfighters who are flown into a theater of operations. The ship will transfer to U.S. government ownership on Jan. 15, 2009 and will continue to operate worldwide. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Braintree V Maritime Corp., North Quincy, Mass., is being awarded $48,585,495 to exercise an option under a previously awarded firm fixed price contract (N00033-82-C-1036) for the purchase of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Sgt. William R. Button. Braintree V, which held Military Sealift Command’s (MSC’s) previous long-term charter for Button, is executing the sale on behalf of Wilmington Trust Company as shipowner and Fifth Household Finance as Beneficiary. The ship has been under long-term charter to MSC since 1986. The ship will remain crewed by about 30 U.S. merchant mariners employed by American Overseas Marine Corporation of North Quincy, Mass. Button is one of 15 Maritime Prepositioning Ships that strategically preposition U.S. Marine Corps cargo at sea around the world, making the cargo readily available to warfighters who are flown into a theater of operations. The ship will transfer to U.S. government ownership on Jan. 15, 2009, and will continue to operate worldwide. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
WTAK-3 Inc., Mobile, Ala., is being awarded $45,650,000 to exercise an option under a previously awarded firm, fixed price contract (N00033-82-C-1023) for the purchase of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Maj. Stephen W. Pless. WTAK-3 Inc., which held Military Sealift Command’s (MSC’s) previous long-term contract for Pless, is executing the sale on behalf of Wilmington Trust as shipowner and UPB Leasing Ventures as beneficiary. The ship has been under long-term charter to MSC since 1985. The ship will remain crewed by about 30 U.S. merchant mariners employed by Waterman Steamship Corp., of Mobile, Ala. WTAK-3 is an affiliate of Waterman Steamship Corp. Pless is one of 15 Maritime Prepositioning ships that strategically preposition U.S. Marine Corps cargo at sea around the world, making the cargo readily available to warfighters who are flown into a theater of operations. The ship will transfer to U.S. government ownership on Jan. 15, 2009, and will continue to operate worldwide. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
By my math, the US Navy just paid $146,820,990 for 3 RO/RO ships. MV SGT WILLIAM R. BUTTON (T-AK 3012) and SS SGT MATEJ KOCAK (T-AK 3005) are part of Maritime Prepositioning Squadron Two which provides prepositioning in the Indian Ocean, while SS MAJ Stephen W. Pless is part of Maritime Prepositioning Ship Squadron Three which provides prepositioning in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Posted by Galrahn at 12:00 AM
http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2009/01/navy-buys-three-maritime-positioning.html
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Angola's March oil exports to fall below OPEC target
Monday, 19 January 2009
Angola is set to export 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil in March, down from 1.6 million bpd in February due to shipment delays and OPEC supply curbs, trade sources said. The drop is the latest indication that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are delivering on pledges to cut output agreed in response to a $100-a-barrel collapse in oil prices since July.
March exports, excluding the loading programme for Palanca crude and reflecting delays to shipments of Plutonio, are set to be below Angola's implied OPEC production target of 1.52 million bpd that took effect on Jan. 1.
Angola on Jan. 1 took over as the president of OPEC for a one-year term.
"Angola holds the presidency and it has to be seen to comply with OPEC's cuts, but without the Plutonio and Palanca problems exports would be above their target," a trader said.
OPEC is cutting production by a total of 4.2 million bpd to prop up oil prices that have collapsed by more than $100 a barrel from a record high of $147.27 reached in the summer as the global economic downturn erodes demand.
Plutonio, one of the new oil fields in Angola, started production in September 2007, but it has suffered from disruptions and was shut for the whole of September 2008.
Although production restarted on Oct. 10, cargoes were delayed in February and will be carried over into March. There will only be three new cargoes, or around 92,000 bpd, loaded in March, half the usual amount.
ADDITION OF PALANCA
No cargoes of distillate-rich Palanca crude were on Angola's preliminary loading programme but traders said there would probably be two. That would add around 61,000 bpd to exports, taking output slightly above the OPEC target.
Most other Angolan grades were loading at steady levels from February with five cargoes of Cabinda and Girassol, eight Nemba and seven Dalia cargoes expected to be shipped.
Heavier Angolan crude oil grades like Dalia and Hungo have been in higher demand than lighter, gasoline-rich West African crude like Nigeria's Qua Iboe due to the drop in U.S. demand for fuel in the wake of the economic downturn.
"The shortened loading programme is only going to increase the demand for Angolan oil, which has done pretty well considering the slump in world demand, especially if you compare it with Nigeria," a trader said.
Angola revised its February programme down, leaving exports at around 1.6 million bpd. The original programmes, issued before OPEC's last meeting on Dec. 17, had shown February exports of 1.83 million bpd.
So far, only Saudi Arabia has flagged that its output would fall below its current implied OPEC limit.
Its oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, said on Tuesday the kingdom was pumping 8 million bpd, in line with its OPEC target from Jan. 1, and would reduce production further in February.
Source: Reuters
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32594&Itemid=79
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009
New Tools in Anti-Drug Smuggling Operations Hark Back to Early 1800s
CNN is reporting on a new method of fighting drug smuggling in the Gulf of Mexico. The story notes that "Though maritime law requires drug-trafficking crews in distress to be rescued, the crews are usually released without prosecution, because of a lack of physical evidence. But under the new law, no physical evidence is necessary. Just being on board a drug sub is proof enough." This is a similar - but not identical - approach to that taken by the Royal Navy in combating maritime slave trading in the early 19th century. By treaty between the English and Dutch in 1822 (and Britain and other nations, dyadically) ships captured slaving were subject to seizure and disposal, their crews subject to trial on slavery charges. In order to prevent ships from 'getting rid of the evidence' by dumping slaves overboard if they suspected they might be seized, a clause was added called the "equipment clause." By this clause, any ship which contained items from a list of restricted equipment (such as manacles, extra bulkheads, extra water storage, locking compartments, etc.) was to be considered a slaving ship and the crew and vessel disposed of as slavers per the treaty terms.
This new law, which states that crew members observed aboard a semi-submersible vessel in international waters can be prosecuted, was enacted to cope with the habit smugglers have developed of scuttling their vessels and awaiting rescue when approached by Coast Guard or Navy vessels. By defining service aboard these specific types of vessels as constituting criminality, a new 'equipment clause' has come into effect. We've already seen a less-formal version of this approach to maritime criminality off Somalia, where various navies have declared that the presence of shoulder arms aboard vessels will allow the crew to be treated as pirates. That policy has caused some problems, given that some vessels do carry arms for defense, but if we are to take the antislavery effort of the 1800s as an example, it can be an effective tool in fighting maritime criminal activity. In order for it to be effective, however, the policy should be formally agreed on by all active participants and published - so that enforcement can be consistent and persistent.
Image of a Mexican narco sub from Wikipedia commons
Posted by The Custodian at 2:29 PM
http://informationdissemination.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-tools-in-anti-drug-smuggling.html
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NKorea says may retain nukes, raises border tensions with Seoul
Some analysts believe Pyongyang, while willing to stop producing plutonium, will never hand over its bombs and seeks tacit acceptance as a nuclear power.
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) Jan 17, 2009
North Korea said Saturday it may keep its nuclear weapons and threatened confrontation with South Korea, staking out a tough position three days before US President-elect Barack Obama takes office.
Pyongyang's foreign ministry said it would retain its atomic weaponry as long as it feels under nuclear threat from Washington.
Hours later, its military called for an "all-out confrontational posture" against South Korea, prompting Seoul to order its armed forces on alert along the land and sea border.
"Even if the DPRK (North Korea)-US diplomatic relations become normalised, our status as a nuclear-armed state will never change as long as the US nuclear threat to us remains, even to the slightest degree," the foreign ministry said.
A ministry spokesman, quoted by official media, said it was a "miscalculation" for the US to consider normalised ties -- as envisaged under a 2007 disarmament pact -- a reward for the communist state abandoning nuclear weapons.
"What we earnestly desire is not the normalisation of DPRK-US ties but the strengthening of nuclear deterrence in every possible way," the spokesman added.
"We have made nuclear weapons not in order... to seek the normalisation of ties with the US or economic assistance but to protect us from US nuclear threats.
"We can live without the normalisation of ties with the US but we cannot survive without the nuclear deterrence."
Later in the day a spokesman for the North Korean army's General Staff, in an unusually strongly-worded statement, warned it would not allow intrusions by South Korean vessels into disputed waters in the Yellow Sea -- the scene of bloody naval clashes in 1999 and 2002.
"Now that traitor Lee Myung-Bak and his group opted for confrontation... our revolutionary armed forces are compelled to take an all-out confrontational posture to shatter them," he said in reference to South Korea's conservative president.
The spokesman said the military would "preserve" the sea border claimed by the North in the Yellow Sea, "as long as there are ceaseless intrusions into the territorial waters of our side".
The sea border was unilaterally drawn by United Nations forces after the 1950-53 war but the North refuses to accept it.
Inter-Korean relations have been frosty for months after Lee linked major economic aid to progress in the North's nuclear disarmament.
The North staged its first nuclear test in 2007 but four months later reached a now-stalled disarmament deal with the US and four regional powers.
Analysts said both the North's statements Saturday were aimed at Obama and not South Korea.
By raising military tensions with Seoul it wants to persuade him to push ahead with the deal despite other world crises he faces, they said.
"Both the statements from the General Chief of Staff and from the foreign ministry are a message to the United States," Choi Jin-Wook, of the Korea Institute for National Unification, told Yonhap news agency.
US Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton said Tuesday the Obama administration would pursue a "very aggressive effort" against North Korea's alleged atomic weapons proliferation.
She backed the six-party talks which began in 2003 and group the two Koreas, the US, China, Russia and Japan, but indicated there could also be bilateral contacts.
Obama has stated his willingness to talk to America's enemies such as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
The 2007 pact calls for the scrapping of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula in return for energy aid to the North, normalised relations between the North and the United States and Japan and a formal peace pact.
North Korea is disabling its plutonium-producing nuclear plants and has made a declaration of its nuclear activities under the latest uncompleted phase of the pact.
But the last round of six-party talks in December ended in stalemate, with the two sides unable to agree how the North's nuclear declaration should be independently verified. No date has been set for the next round.
Negotiations have not started on the final phase, which would involve the surrender of weapons and plutonium stockpiles and normalised relations.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/NKorea_says_may_retain_nukes_raises_border_tensions_with_Seoul_999.html
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Cancellations hit oil rig builders as global downturn bites
Monday, 19 January 2009
Singapore's once-roaring oil rig industry has been hit by contract cancellations due to weaker energy demand and as plummeting crude prices dampen exploration. Until the global financial crisis worsened last year, oil rig builders had been riding on soaring oil prices to reap a multi-billion-dollar bonanza. Orders piled up as drillers expanded into deeper offshore waters to search for more oil and gas to meet surging demand from dynamic economies.
But exploration and production activities have slowed as the worsening economic gloom hurt energy demand, forcing drillers to go slow on new orders and to cancel or renegotiate existing contracts.
"We are forecasting a slowdown in the new rig-building orders in 2009 followed by a recovery in 2010 as sector fundamentals reassert themselves," Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse said in a market analysis.
Keppel Corp, the world's biggest maker of offshore oil rigs, said that two contracts which had been under review had been cancelled, while a third deal had been renegotiated.
The company said it had agreed with Bermuda-based oil rigs operator Scorpion Offshore to terminate a 405 million US dollar oil rig contract on mutually acceptable terms.
Keppel and Lewek Shipping, a subsidiary of Singapore-listed Ezra Holdings, are also currently working towards an amicable, mutual termination of a contract.
However, Keppel said it had agreed with Seadrill Jack-ups Ltd to continue building two jack-up rigs worth 420 million dollars on revised terms.
Excluding the Scorpion and Lewek contracts, Keppel said it still has an order book of about 10.8 billion Singapore dollars (7.25 billion US) extending through to 2012.
Another Singapore-based rig maker, Sembcorp Marine, said that its subsidiary, PPL Shipyard, and Seadrill Jack-ups Ltd had agreed to revised terms on two jack-up rigs ordered in June 2008.
The contract value of the two oil rigs remains at 430 million US dollars, Sembcorp Marine has said.
A jack-up rig -- similar to a floating barge, with legs that can be lowered to the seabed -- is suitable for shallower waters and can take about 26-28 months to build.
Semi-submersibles are designed for exploration at water depths of up to 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) and can take 28-30 months to build.
Macquarie Research said some oil drillers are also deferring fresh orders in anticipation that prices of oil rigs will fall further due to a sharp drop in raw materials used in making the gigantic structures.
"Steel can account for as much as 25-30 percent of the total cost of a deepwater project. Therefore drillers will hold out until prices drop, which may take six to 10 months," it said.
Macquarie said oil's frenzied rise to 147 dollars a barrel attracted investments of "hot money" into the sector.
But as oil prices fell at an even faster rate, these investors bailed out quickly, resulting in projects being cancelled or deferred, it added.
Even if oil prices, currently at around 35 dollars a barrel, recover to between 70 and 90 dollars over the next three to five years, any increase in exploration and production budgets will be slow and spread out, it said.
Order cancellations and postponements have spread into the ship-building sector.
China-linked shipping firm Cosco Corp has announced a series of ship-building cancellations and deferments and has warned shareholders to expect lower profits.
Macquarie said the two cancellations and 10 deferments are equivalent to the sum total of all ship-building orders won by COSCO in 2008.
The "outlook for the shipbuilding sector continues to deteriorate with continued build in customer cancellation, further lowering earnings and cash flows visibility," Macquarie said.
"Demand for new-build vessels is unlikely to turn around in the near term, as global freight rates are sharply lower on slowing demand."
Source: AFP
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32592&Itemid=79
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Iran informs 21 oil customers of supply cuts-report
Monday, 19 January 2009
Iran has told 21 Asian and European customers it will reduce oil sales to them, its OPEC governor said in remarks published on Sunday, as part of efforts to comply with the cartel's output cuts to halt sliding prices. Iran said in late December it would lower oil output by 545,000 barrels per day from Jan. 1 in line with OPEC's decision to reduce production by a record 2.2 million bpd from January, adding to the group's earlier agreed cuts of 2 million bpd.
Earlier this month, sources with the lifters said Iran would reduce oil supplies to at least two of its Asian customers by 14 percent in January, the most visible sign yet of OPEC's No. 2 producer implementing deep output curbs.
Mohammad Ali Khatibi, Iran's representative to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said 21 customers in Europe and Asia had been informed about cuts, in comments published by Iranian newspapers on Sunday.
The report, originally carried by the Mehr News Agency, did not give any figures or name the companies affected.
"Twenty-one Asian and European companies have been told that there will be a cut in part of their oil intake level proportionate to their contracts," Khatibi said, adding Iran would also curb spot crude sales.
Some OPEC delegates and analysts have in the past voiced concerns about Iran's compliance with previous output reductions.
Iran, which says it is doing its part, has typically opted to curb spot crude sales rather than make clear, across-the-board cuts to long-term customers as most Gulf producers do.
Oil traded at around $36.5 per barrel on Friday, up 3 percent with short covering outweighing a gloomy demand outlook, but still down more than $110 since July as a global economic downturn hits energy demand.
On Saturday, Khatibi said OPEC should reduce output further in order to bring balance to the oil market, state radio reported.
Source: Reuters
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32591&Itemid=79
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HMS DARING leaves Clyde for Portsmouth
Completed warship on her way to homeport...
Daring, the first of the Royal Navy's new fleet of Type 45 Destroyers, has left the Clyde for the final time today. Following the successful completion and trialling of the ship by the BVT workforce in partnership with the Royal Navy, Daring is now ready to make her way to her home port of Portsmouth, where she will remain until she enters service at the end of the year and where she will be stationed when not on active duty.
BVT employees gathered on the quayside to wave Daring off and received cheers of thanks from the Royal Navy crew onboard. The crew were also keen to thank Glasgow for the support they have received during their time in the city, something which was expressed by the ship's Commanding Officer, Captain Paul Bennett OBE;
"On behalf of Daring's crew I want to give my heartfelt thanks to the city of Glasgow for the support we have been shown since the first sailor arrived at Scotstoun in 2006. For some, Glasgow has been their home for almost three years and it has been a great place to be stationed. The ship's company and I have been very much looking forward to the day when we would be able to take charge of Daring and begin our journey to her home port of Portsmouth and hopefully a very successful future on this magnificent ship."
BVT's Type 45 Programme Director, Angus Holt, said; "This is a fantastic day for BVT and the workforce, both here and in Portsmouth, who have played a pivotal role in creating such a tremendous ship. Daring really is the shape of things to come for the Royal Navy and it is a very proud day for everyone involved."
Christina Martin who completed her apprenticeship working on Daring said; "Daring is the ship that I learned my trade as an engineer on and while I'll miss having her on the yard it is still great to see her finally leave Glasgow and start her future with the Royal Navy. Throughout my training I was always taught that we needed to make sure that the finished product was the very best it could be. I feel we have achieved that with Daring so am very proud to have played a part in building her."
The Type 45 destroyers will be the flagships of the Royal Navy fleet once in service and will provide the backbone of the UK's naval air defences for much of the next 50 years. The fleet of ships has provided stability to the Clyde yards over recent years, developing and protecting vital skills for the UK maritime industry. Daring's departure marks the completion of her build and integration programme in Glasgow and the success which has been achieved to date by the BVT workforce. The company will continue to support Daring ships in-service throughout her lifetime.
http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item_10226.html
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£90million contracts for new carriers awarded
Bow sections being built at Appledore...
£90m worth of contracts have been announced for steelwork, modular cabins, galley equipment and other components for the Royal Navy's new aircraft carriers, HM Ships Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales.
The key contracts announced today, Friday 16 January 2009, which are expected to sustain some 190 jobs nationwide at peak production, include:
£50m for steelwork for bow sections of the two carriers, to be carried out at Babcock's Appledore Shipyard in Devon, sustaining some 150 jobs at peak production;
Galley equipment, £3.4m, Kempsafe Ltd (Southampton);
Modular cabins and wet spaces, £23m, McGill Services Ltd, sustaining about 40 jobs at peak production (Billingham, County Durham);
Furniture to be installed throughout the ships, £4.4m, McGill Services Ltd;
Windows, £1.3m, Tex Special Projects Ltd (Ipswich);
Doors and hatches, £3.9m, McGeoch Marine Ltd (Inchinnan, Renfrewshire);
Aircraft electrical supplies equipment, £4m, Ultra Electronics PMES (Rugeley, Staffs).
Early steelwork for the bow unit of Queen Elizabeth commenced in Appledore in December.
After visiting Appledore Shipyard in North Devon, MOD Defence Equipment and Support's Director of Capital Ships, Tony Graham, said:
"Walking on the prepared steel plate destined to become an internal deck on HMS Queen Elizabeth gives everyone at the shipyard a sense of expectation. We have been making progress in engineering and procurement on this programme but we can now see the reality of a ship in build.
"Later this year we will see production start in the main shipyards, where the overall scale of the carriers will become clear. Just days into 2009, there is a real sense of excitement among the partners and confidence in the momentum behind this project."
Geoff Searle, Programme Director of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, on the tour of the site, said:
"After many years of design, engineering and planning work across the whole of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, it is fantastic to be in Appledore to see physical proof of the project moving into the next phase. It is also an excellent example of how this iconic project will involve companies in many parts of the UK, creating and sustaining thousands of jobs, like those of the 14 new apprentices taken on here in Appledore, the first for six years."
Today's announcements form part of the £3bn manufacture contract, which was awarded by MOD to the Aircraft Carrier Alliance in July 2008.
The Aircraft Carrier Alliance – a single integrated team formed from BVT Surface Fleet, BAE Systems Marine, Babcock, Thales UK and MOD – will deliver the carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
Work on the ships is expected to create or sustain 10,000 jobs in the UK at its peak.
http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item_10227.html
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European Union, U.S. Commanders Share Insights on Maritime Security Operations
08:06 GMT, January 19, 2009 USS SAN ANTIONIO At sea | A European Union commander met with the commander of Combined Task Force (CTF) 151 aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio (LPD 17) Jan. 16 to exchange lessons learned, insights and perspectives on maritime security operations.
"We have to work together for the common good, ensure maritime safety and well-being in this area," said Commodore Antonios Papaioannou of Greece who is the commander of European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia. "How we can do that is by having the appropriate organizations and appropriate deconflictions."
EU NAVFOR Somalia was established in November to contribute to the protection of vessels of the World Food Programme delivering food aid to displaced persons in Somalia and to aid in the protection of vulnerable vessels off the Somali coast through the deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast.
"Maritime security is a mission shared by the international community," said Rear Adm. Terry McKnight, commander, CTF 151. "The United States Navy cannot do it alone."
CTF 151 is a multinational task force conducting counterpiracy operations to detect and deter piracy in and around the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Red Sea. It was established to create a lawful maritime order and develop security in the maritime environment. The San Antonio is serving as the CTF 151 flagship.
"We all have one goal in mind, which is to ensure the commerce of the free world and to make sure that all shipping can transit the sea lanes without interference from pirates or anything else," explained McKnight. "Working with the coalition, we'll make this a very successful operation."
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By Monique K. Hilley, Combined Task Force 151
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4949/
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Virus attacks UK Ministry of Defence
Jeremy Kirk
Massive scale malware brings emails and internet systems down
The Ministry of Defence is in the midst of an electronic fight with a computer virus that rapidly spread through its computer networks starting 6 January.
The virus infected computers throughout the military, including those used by the Air Force and Navy, and is one of the most severe attacks the organisation has ever faced, according to a Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokeswoman.
"Obviously with a computer system of our size, we are fighting off viruses daily but not of this scale," the spokeswoman said. "I don't think we've ever had an instance like this before."
The virus has affected email systems and internet access but has not jeopardised war-fighting systems, she said. In a statement, the ministry said that due to pre-existing security systems, no classified or personal data was compromised.
The MoD confirmed in parliament earlier this week that just 27 per cent of its systems meet current data security standards for holding classified information and personal data. About 31 per cent of systems meet some standards, while the rest are being evaluated.
Efforts to contain and cleanup the virus have resulted in widespread shutdown of systems, she said. A solution to prevent re-infection of the PCs is being tested.
"The reason why so many people are without their computers is because we've turned them off rather than they've been wiped or destroyed by this virus," she said.
Most Navy warship systems are now up and running, but the MoD did not have an estimate of how many systems remain down. The department declined to confirm which warships have been affected, but news reports singled out the fleet flagship HMS Ark Royal, an aircraft carrier that went into service in July 1985.
Due to security reasons, the type of virus has not been publicly released, the spokeswoman said.
Businesses and IT security professionals have been grappling lately with the Conficker worm, which targets a flaw in Windows Service Server, a component in the Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008 products.
The Conficker worm, also dubbed Downadup, has surged during the first few weeks of 2009 and has infected an estimated 3.5 million PCs so far, according to Finnish security company F-Secure. In the span of one day earlier this week, F-Secure said it saw infections rise by one million machines.
Microsoft issued an emergency patch for the problem on 23 October. Yet security firm Qualys stated today that about 30 per cent of Windows PCs in the world have not yet been patched.
Systems become infected when a hacker constructs a malicious Remote Procedure Call (RPC) to an unpatched server, which then allows arbitrary code to run on a machine.
http://www.cio.co.uk/concern/security/news/index.cfm?articleid=3460&pagtype=allchandate
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Navy seizes Egyptian boat
[19 January 2009]
HUDAIDA, Jan. 19 (Saba) – The Yemeni navy has seized an Egyptian boat that was fishing illegally in the country's territorial waters, the state-run 26sep.net has reported.
A source at the navy told the website the boat was captured in the Ras Eassa area in the Red Sea.
24 Egyptian fishermen were seized on board the boat, the source said.
This month, the navy seized four Egyptian boasts while illegally fishing in Yemen's waters, the source said.
Last year, a Yemeni court fined three Egyptian boats $ 150.000 that were held hunting fish illegally in the Yemeni waters.
However, the boats were released with fish on board to the captains.
Yemen and Egypt signed last year an agreement under which Egyptian fishing boats have to get license from Yemeni authorities to fish in the Yemeni waters.
Before the signing, an Egyptian fishing boat attacked a Yemeni coastguard patrol in the Red Sea killing a coastguard and injuring another.
In response to the attack, Yemen intensified measures over foreign fishing in its waters imposing a ban on Egyptian boats in particular.
http://www.sabanews.net/en/news174099.htm
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Nimrod Was Actually a Fine Hunter: Upgrading Britain’s Fleet (updated)
18-Jan-2009 13:01 EST
In the face of the Soviet threat to the West’s vital sea lanes, and thus its reinforcements in the event of war, long-range maritime patrol aircraft were a high priority for the western alliance. Like Lockheed’s P-3 Orion, Britain’s Nimrod aircraft are also based on a previous airliner design. Unlike the USA, Britain chose a jet-age Comet airframe. They ended up with an aircraft that boasted an unrefueled endurance of over 10 hours and longer range than the P-3, but less-favourable “low and slow” flight characteristics. The British claim, however, that “propeller-engined aircraft make a discrete resonance that can be detected by submerged submarines, whereas the jet noise of the Nimrod is virtually undetectable.” Both aircraft types would go on to see long and successful service, and both would also be produced in ELINT / SIGNIT versions: the EP-3, and the Nimrod MR1.
The USA dithered over the successor to its P-3 Orion fleet, before finally choosing the 737-based P-8A in June 2004. Meanwhile, a British program was begun in 1996 to rebuild their existing Nimrod Mk2 fleet to the MRA4 standard with new wings, new engines, and new internal technologies and mission systems. Unfortunately, that program has faced a series of budget cuts, stalls, and conditions that have reduced the program from 21 aircraft to 12. At times, it has been threatened with complete cancellation. As of July 2006, however, the British are also moving forward.
This article will serve as DID’s focus for the UK’s Nimrod fleet upgrade programs. The latest news involves an aging aircraft audit, and a planned 5-year support contract for the fleet…
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/nimrod-was-actually-a-good-hunter-upgrading-britains-fleet-updated-02442/
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RAM Missile Systems: Contracts & Events (updated)
18-Jan-2009 12:19 EST
The Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) MK-31 guided missile weapon system is co-developed and co-produced under a NATO cooperative program between the United States and German governments to provide a small, all-weather, low-cost self-defense system against aircraft and cruise missiles. The RIM-116 was later called RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile), because it spins during flight. To save costs, Designation Systems notes that the RAM was designed to use several existing components, including the rocket motor of the MIM-72 Chaparral, the warhead of the AIM-9 Sidewinder and the IR seeker of the FIM-92 Stinger. Cueing is provided by the ship’s ESM suite or radar.
RAM is currently installed, or planned for installation, on 78 U.S. Navy and 30 German Navy ships, including American LSD, LHD, LPD and CVN ship types. This number will grow as vessels of the LPD-17 San Antonio Class and Littoral Combat Ships enter the fleet, and the LCS will sport an upgraded SeaRAM system that will include its own integrated radar and IR sensors. The Korean Navy has also adopted RAM for its KDX-II and KDX-III destroyers, and its LPX Dokdo Class amphibious assault ships; other navies using or buying RAM include Egypt, Greece, and the UAE/Dubai.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/ram-missile-systems-contracts-events-updated-02093/
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Surface Forces - The Ronin Sailors
January 19, 2009: The U.S. Navy has created seven, 24 man, specialized boarding teams. These units, trained to board large ships that don't want to be boarded, come aboard via helicopters, and carry out the inspection. These teams have no work. It wasn't supposed to work out that way.
Five years ago, the U.S. Navy realized it had a problem with boarding parties. Traditionally, the Coast Guard handled boarding of ships at sea for inspection. If the navy had to do it, SEALs were usually called in. But with the war on terror, the navy was having more of its warships boarding merchant vessels to seek out weapons or terrorists. It was becoming a big job.
If necessary, any navy ship can assemble a boarding party on short notice. It was usually headed by a master-at-arms, a senior chief petty officer, or a junior officer with some "police" training. But the rest of the party were just a dozen or so sailors that could be spared from other jobs. This works if the boarded ship is what is known as compliant. That means the boarded ship, which is often a rather large one, is willing to be boarded. That means letting ladders or stairs down so the sailors can easily get aboard, and being ready to show the boarding party whatever they want. But increasingly, navy ships were running into non-compliant boardings. This means that the ships halts when ordered to, but otherwise offers little, or no, help in getting the boarding crew aboard, or helping them with their search. The boarded ship may have a crew that is angry at being stopped, and not in any mood to cooperate. Or the crew may have something to hide. In these cases, the untrained boarding party is at a big disadvantage.
Whenever it's believed there will be resistance to a boarding, the navy will call in the SEALs, but there may be cases where they cannot afford to wait. So the navy added training for boarding parties, something they had not done for over a century. This meant training sailors to deal with hostile crews. Otherwise, you either back off from hotheaded crewmen, or shoot them. Moreover, if the boarding party is on a ship carrying dangerous materials (gasoline, explosives, chemicals, or perhaps biological weapons), you don't want to use your guns too much. And if you do use guns, you want more accurate weapons, and sailors who know how to use them.
To deal with these problems, and to ease up demand for SEALs (who were needed on land to pursue terrorists), the navy formed the seven "Level III" (non-compliant ships) boarding teams in 2007. But it turned out that the demand was much less than anticipated. Few merchant vessels wanted a showdown with a U.S. warship, and were rarely hostile to boarding parties. In the meantime, many ships trained their own boarding parties to a higher standard.
Meanwhile, the Level III teams were specialized, and were not trained to perform any other tasks on a ship. So captains didn't want to carry the teams, because these guys would rarely have work, and would take up space, and potentially disrupt ship activities by their need to constantly train. Moreover, the teams belong to NECC (Navy Expeditionary Combat Command), the new naval command of riverine and amphibious sailors. So it's not easy to disband them. But it's proving impossible for the get the ships of the navy to carry and use them. These sailors have become like the masterless Samuai warriors of medieval Japan, condemned to wander forever, looking for work, and a master.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsurf/articles/20090119.aspx
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UK MoD emails intercepted by 'Russian' server
An internet virus was last night blamed for disabling the IT systems of 75% of Royal Navy ships, before it apparently diverted defence staff’s emails to a server in Russia.
News of the cyber attack only emerged thanks to an unnamed MoD official, reportedly worried that the department is failing to take IT security seriously, as implied last week .
He shared his fears with a Tory MP, who said he revealed “email traffic from some RAF stations” was sent to a Russian server, but could not cite “any evidence of active Russian involvement”.
Asked to explain the whistle blower’s account, the MoD told the Sunday Times it was investigating the virus, but said it was unaware emails had been sent to a server in Russia.
But an RAF source said the two cyber incidents were interlinked, and told the paper the “former eastern bloc” was where the surprisingly sophisticated programme originated.
Out of the 24 RAF stations it hit, some were those recently used by the MoD to scramble fighter aircraft to head off Russian bombers testing British air defences, the source said.
The virus was also blamed for damaging IT systems on three quarters of the Royal Navy fleet, yet the MoD denied secure systems were affected or that Russia was being considered as its author.
Jan 19, 2009
http://www.contractoruk.com/news/004158.html
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January 16, 2009, 20:05
From port to port: Kremlin's naval bases abroad
The Navy Headquarters announced on Friday the list of countries where Russia will have naval bases in several years time.
However, the Deputy Chief of Russia's Armed Forces Staff, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, considers that it’s too early to name concrete locations.
“The political decision on this matter has been made. Bases will settle down on Sokorta Island (Yemen), in Tartus (Syria) and Tripoli (Libya). Now it’s very difficult to say when these bases will appear in these countries, but in several years time it undoubtedly will happen. From both the economic and the technical military point of view, there is no other way to solve the problem of our Navy’s regular presence in distant sea areas for the protection of Russia’s national interests”, the representative of the Russian Navy Headquarters told ITAR-TASS.
The General Armed Forces Staff completely supported the Navy Headquarters’ offer about the necessity to develop the fleet infrastructure outside the Russian maritime belt.
However, Nogovitsyn in his interview to RIA Novosti declared that “it’s not yet time to speak about the geography of the future bases. Corresponding negotiations with foreign governments are underway”.
The General Staff has already announced their position on this matter:
“We support the position of the Navy Headquarters completely. This problem should be solved, and she will solve it together with the government”, Nogovitsyn said.
Naval bases demand huge investments and onerous infrastructure in terms of costs, size and time. Nogovitsyn said this question is out of the Navy’s competence and was therefore correctly put before the General Armed Forces Staff.
The high costs of warship bases abroad caused the withdrawal of Russian ships from the Vietnamese port Cam Ranh at the beginning of 2000.
After visits of the Russian warships to Venezuela and Cuba there were reports about the possible creation of Russian naval bases in these countries. However, the Russian authorities have denied this, having pointed out that the Venezuelan and Cuban military infrastructure can be used if necessary.
Currently, negotiations about the creation of naval bases for Russian ships in Abkhazia are in progress.
Russia is also discussing the possibility of setting up a repair base for its ships in the Syrian port of Tartus. Currently, a floating Black Sea Fleet repair station is located there.
Fact box: Cam Ranh naval base
Under the agreement between Moscow and Hanoi in 1981 the Russian fleet received on rental terms two large moorings for ships and submarines; 30 coastal warehouses with all necessary infrastructure; a runway for all types of planes.
Cam Ranh played a key role in the Russian Navy’s plans as it was the only base to provide Russian fighting ships a presence in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf area.
The base was liquidated in 2002, because from 2004 the annual rent would have been roughly $US 300 million. Before 2004 Russia used to have this naval base for free.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/36015
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HMS Endurance to be towed back to Portsmouth
Published Date:
16 January 2009
By Matt Jackson
Defence correspondent
The navy has revealed it is arranging for HMS Endurance to be towed back to Portsmouth on a barge.
The ice patrol vessel has been out of action since it suffered a major flood on December 16, and is currently in the Falkland Islands.
Hundreds of litres of icy water gushed into the ship's engine room when she was in the Strait of Magellan off Chile.
A navy spokesman said: 'The plan is to get her back to Britain, get her repaired and get her back into active service.
'It is planned that the ship will be brought back by heavy lift ship or barge to her base port of Portsmouth; the timescale is not yet known.'
Defence Select Committee member and Portsmouth South MP Mike Hancock said: 'I think it's completely unsatisfactory that no date is being given for her return.
'It could be months before she is back and in the meantime they've got to get another ship down.
'They need to answer questions about what is happening with her because it's going to cost taxpayers a lot of money.
'This has the potential to be as embarrassing as HMS Nottingham's return.'
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/HMS-Endurance-to-be-towed.4885220.jp
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Kitty Hawk's final chapter being written
By U.S. Navy
By Diane Wilkins
Marion Daily Republican
Fri Jan 16, 2009, 10:16 AM CST
Jan. 31, 2009, will mark the end of an era.
The USS Kitty Hawk was the first in its class of three super carriers and was constructed by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation at Camden, N.J. and was commissioned April 29, 1961.
The proud lady will be decommissioned Jan. 31, 2009, at 10 a.m. in Bremerton, Wash.
Many Southern Illinois residents have served aboard the Kitty Hawk over the years, one of those being Marion Daily Republican Production Manager Steve Triest. He served aboard the Hawk from 1965 until 1967. During this time he saw two tours in the waters off Vietnam.
“I would really like to see how many from Southern Illinois have served on the Kitty Hawk,” said Triest. “This would be a way for us to connect with each other.”
http://www.mariondaily.com/news/x1621250455/Kitty-Hawks-final-chapter-being-written
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Taiwan Defense chief balks at sending local naval vessels to Gulf of Aden
Central News Agency
2009-01-17 09:06 PM
Taipei, Jan. 17 (CNA) Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min said Saturday that it will be rather difficult to dispatch naval vessels to the Gulf of Aden to protect Taiwanese ships from Somalian pirates operating there.
Chen made the remarks during a gathering with the media when he was asked about a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) suggestion that security agencies are studying the possibility of dispatching local naval vessels to the waterway off Somalia's northern coast.
He noted that there are now more than 40 military ships deployed by various countries in the Gulf of Aden, and the ships have stated that they would provide support and protection for vessels passing through the waterway if needed. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also made coordinated efforts on the matter through various channels, Chen said.
"If Taiwan can receive substantial protection, the ministry has to further assess if it is necessary to send the naval frigates there," he added.
Another obstacle, he said, was that Taiwan's military support vessels that transport fuel and ammunition are currently being maintained or repaired.
Taiwan's lack of diplomatic allies could also present a problem, he suggested.
"If we send the ships, the logistics would pose a great challenge, especially because we have no diplomatic allies along the navigation route and will have problems refueling and getting fresh water," Chen said.
Chen's remarks came in the wake of recent reports indicating that a Taiwanese-owner ship, registered in Liberia, was escorted by the Chinese navy through the pirate-infested waters.
The MAC had previously said it would not request or accept assistance for Taiwanese ships from the Chinese naval fleet.
(By Lilian Wu)
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=841748&lang=eng_news
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Falmouth rescue centre hit by lightning
At about 11pm on Saturday night Falmouth Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) was evacuated after smoke was seen coming from electrical equipment, following a lightning strike.
Falmouth MRCC is now out of action until further notice and in the meantime all emergency calls will be responded to by staff at Brixham MRCC.
Coastguard Officers are operating three remote stations at The Lizard, Trevose and Land's End. These remote stations will undertake radio checks, monitor radio frequencies and respond to alerts from shipping.
Richard Parkes, duty director for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said, "I'm relieved that none of our staff were injured. All our MRCCs are paired with another for exactly a situation like this, so Brixham should be able to operate as Falmouth without the public even realising."
Motor Boats Monthly, 19 January 2009
http://www.mbmclub.com/auto/newsdesk/20090019104349mbmnews.html
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DATE:19/01/09
SOURCE:Flight International
ANALYSIS: Where next for the Airbus Military A400M?
By Niall O'Keeffe
After maintaining an optimistic front throughout last year, EADS has finally conceded that the problems facing Europe's Airbus Military A400M programme are of a scale equal to the giant transport, and called on its partner nations to negotiate a new contract to complete development and production of the type.
Lead stakeholder EADS on 9 January announced that it was seeking "a new approach" for the troubled A400M project, after its plans to fly the first production aircraft from mid-2008 failed to become reality. EADS chief executive Louis Gallois says this is intended to reflect "the military nature of the programme" and the risk involved, but any change to the current €20 billion ($26.6 billion) A400M deal will be the subject of intensive and difficult negotiations between industry, the programme's seven launch nations and Europe's OCCAR procurement agency over the coming months.
The new EADS proposal hinges on resuming production activities only after flight-testing of the A400M has reached "adequate maturity", with an expectation that deliveries will begin "around three years after first flight". It also calls for changes to undisclosed "technical characteristics" of the airlifter.
Speaking in Newport in the UK on 13 January, Gallois attributed the A400M's severe delays to a "complete underestimation of the nature of the programme" by EADS, its suppliers and customers. The aircraft had been viewed as a "flying truck", or "normal Airbus", he said, but has proved more complex than the programme's original schedule allowed. This said that in-service equipment would be delivered within just 77 months of a contract signature, made in May 2003.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?
Speaking in Toulouse on 15 January, Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said: "With the current contractual and organisational set-up we will not get there - this is a mission impossible. We want to continue the programme, but in a way that ensures success. It would be irresponsible to continue on the current track."
Enders also claimed that "our American colleagues would run away crying if they were obliged to step up into the A400M contract". But EADS's apparently late realisation of the significant risks involved in signing single-phase development and production contracts for complex military equipment is surprising, given the dire difficulties that had been encountered by its then-Airbus partner BAE Systems on the UK's Nimrod MRA4 maritime patrol aircraft project way before the transport deal was signed.
Unlike with the Airbus A380, where development work had been under way for around four years before product launch, or the A350, which deployed derivative engines and a derivative cockpit, detailed engineering work on the A400M did not start until the contract was live. Gallois says this required EADS to "start from scratch" with every item, adding that the project's complexity exceeds that of the Dassault Rafale or Eurofighter combat aircraft, and requires both military and EASA civil certification. EADS has "a big share of the responsibility for the underestimation", he says, but "it is not alone".
ANGRY RESPONSE
UK defence secretary John Hutton says the UK "cannot accept a three- or four-year delay" in the delivery of its 25 A400Ms, and attributes the delay to "problems that EADS is having in producing the aircraft, not because of any policy decision made by the UK government or any other partner nations involved. We, along with all our partner nations, will have to consider very carefully what the right response to the problem is."
In a bid to repair the damage with his customers, Gallois last week revealed a surprise "bridging solution", under which EADS has proposed supplying modified A330s and "other airplanes" to A400M customers that require interim lift. Admitting that the A330 could only fill "a limited part of the gap", he says: "It can't be the only solution: but it could be part."
The initiative would enable the UK and other customers to use A330s to transport troops and freight, freeing assets such as Boeing C-17s and Lockheed Martin C-130s for frontline duties. Preparing the civil type for such a role would require reinforcing the cockpit and avionics systems, incorporating an inert gas generating system and installing directional infrared countermeasures equipment.
A330s are already due for delivery to the UK Royal Air Force through its Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) programme, and the Ministry of Defence had already been investigating the possibility of accelerating the type's availability from a current first delivery in 2011. But while the FSTA fleet could resolve a persistent problem in sustaining an "airbridge" between the UK and Afghanistan and Iraq, now provided primarily using the RAF's aged Lockheed TriStars, it would not address the UK's looming tactical transport crisis.
Fatigue on the RAF's C-130Ks and newer C-130Js makes the A400M's availability vital, with deliveries originally scheduled between 2010 and 2015. Hutton's comments fell short of threatening to withdraw from the A400M project: a move which would have serious financial and political implications, and potentially also damage the interests of British industry, which has hundreds of employees working on the aircraft, including in the final assembly of its composite wing. But the MoD says a range of options are being considered, including "reallocating assets, extending the out-of-service date of the C-130K and leasing or procuring additional assets - for example C-17s or C-130s".
The RAF has a long-held aspiration to expand its current fleet of six C-17s, and the MoD cautions: "The A400M is a fixed-price contract, and we are under no obligation to change this or accept an increase in price."
Other partner nations could also seek to buy or lease C-130Js or C-17s as a result of the delay. Jim Grant, Lockheed's vice-president, business development, Air Mobility, says: "Lockheed Martin understands the importance of ensuring nations have both strategic and tactical air mobility capability, and we are committed to continuing to do our part to help nations fulfil their critical airlift missions."
While declining to comment on specific opportunities, the C-17's manufacturer says: "The Boeing Company, with the support of the US Air Force, is ready as always to support our international customers with additional orders."
Germany is already investigating a further life-extension to some of its C160 Transalls to plug the gap until the A400M is operational, but it is unclear what options are being considered by the programme's launch operator, France, which should have fielded its first example late this year.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
While asserting the need for "a clear, visible time schedule", Gallois is unable to commit to a date for the A400M's first flight, saying only that it will happen one month after delivery of the full-authority digital engine control software for its Europrop International TP400-D6 turboprop engines. The FADEC issue is on "the critical path", he adds.
Industry sources say the one TP400 flown for the first time on a C-130 testbed in the UK on 17 December has been given a clean bill of health following post-flight inspections, and that the aircraft should return to the sky before the end of January. Initially flown at around 30-35% of its 10,000shp (7,460kW) output, the powerplant could be taken to maximum power after between seven and 10 test flights, one source adds. Enders believes the testbed could conclude its work "in the next couple of months", enabling the first A400M to fly later this year.
EADS says it could have flown the A400M last October, had the final FADEC software been available, and blames the engine choice for many of the A400M's problems. The EPI consortium started work on the TP400 at the behest of the programme's partner nations, while the airframer had opted to acquire an off-the-shelf solution from Pratt & Whitney Canada. This compromise was one of the project's most risky, and damaging decisions.
For its part, EADS has already acted to rationalise its management structure for the A400M, which Enders says was previously "overly complex, or put more bluntly, a little bit politically polluted". It will now merge its Military Transport Aircraft division within Airbus as Airbus Military, bringing the A400M and other military derivative projects under more streamlined control, and has sought "tighter links" with its suppliers.
EADS meanwhile declines to comment on media reports which have claimed that the A400M is overweight by as much as 12t, and is falling short of its required cargo capacity by around 3t, with one source commenting only that the effort is encountering issues "common with any military development".
But its proposal to delay further production until after flight tests have reached a suitable level is driven by a wish to avoid costly retrofit activity after several aircraft have been completed. Aircraft MSN002 is still in final assembly in Seville, while the delivery of structures for the programme's third aircraft were halted several months ago, with EADS saying some modifications have already been identified.
Gallois declines to specify EADS's proposed changes to the A400M's technical characteristics, but rules out any downgrading of the aircraft. "We feel that we have some margin for discussing some specifications that are extremely demanding, costly, risky and not bringing the necessary value for customers," he says.
At EADS's lavish roll-out event for the first A400M last June, Airbus Military chief executive Carlos Suarez described the project as a "formidable challenge", but only now has the balloon gone up on quite how severe the task facing the project really is. Repairing the damage will be a strong test for OCCAR's management skills, as it must now prove its worth by brokering a swift resolution to the crisis to Europe's biggest collaborative defence programme.
By Gallois' estimate, EADS has allocated 6,000 employees to the A400M, and has so far made financial provisions of €1.75 billion to reflect programme delays. Gallois insists that the eventual outcome will be a "fantastic airplane", with logistical and tactical performance "second to none", and the potential to add new export orders to those from Malaysia and South Africa once the programme is considered secure. "I'm not pessimistic at all," he says.
Additional reporting by Max Kingsley-Jones in Toulouse and Craig Hoyle in London
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/01/19/321222/analysis-where-next-for-the-airbus-military-a400m.html
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ANALYSIS-Warships and weather hamper Somali pirates
Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:57am EST
By Andrew Cawthorne
NAIROBI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The floating corpses with their bedraggled bounties of dollar bundles were a chilling symbol to the pirates and a grim victory of sorts for shippers.
The five drowned hijackers washed up off central Somalia this month, pockets stuffed with cash, after capsizing when they took their share of a $3 million ransom for a Saudi tanker.
Despite such perils, Somali pirates who enjoyed an unprecedentedly prosperous 2008 are eager to repeat their success this year, but an array of warships from 14 nations is starting to make that more difficult.
"It is still too early to talk of a definite trend, but there has been a reduction in the frequency of hijackings and that is a good sign. We attribute it largely to the naval activity," International Maritime Bureau director Pottengal Mukundan told Reuters.
"The attacks are still happening, however, so we need the naval forces to commit for a long time."
Pirates have hijacked only two ships this year, a fall in frequency from the second half of 2008 when piracy soared.
A record 42 boats were seized off Somalia throughout last year, with a total 815 crew members taken hostage, according to figures from the IMB, a shipping watchdog.
After a string of negotiated releases in recent days, 11 ships are still held with 207 hostages, the IMB says. Most boats are at a pirate's haven and coastal village called Eyl.
Last year's upsurge in piracy -- including the high-profile seizures of the Saudi supertanker with $100 million of oil, and a still-held Ukrainian ship with 33 tanks on board -- prompted an unprecedented response from foreign navies.
FIRST FOR CHINA
Eager to safeguard some of the world's most important shipping lanes, the United States, various European nations, Russia, India and even China have sent ships to the area.
Beijing's deployment of three ships is a first for a navy that has long confined itself to its own waters.
Japan, too, is considering sending ships, though that could prove tricky given its military activities overseas are tightly restricted by a post-World War Two pacifist constitution.
Exact numbers and positions of ships are not known for security reasons. But shipping sources estimate about 20 warships, mostly congregated in the Gulf of Aden, the gateway to the Suez Canal where trade between Europe and Asia flows.
Despite the relatively low number of successful hijackings, there were still 11 attacks in the first half of January, showing the pirates are far from overawed.
"Some of our friends were drowned because of the terrible weather, but we hope the weather will be fine soon and we shall carry out our activities as usual," said one undeterred pirate, Mohamed, from Haradheere near where the Saudi ship was held.
Pirates in Somalia have readily told Reuters they are simply adapting to the new circumstances by tracking the warships closely -- with expensive GPS tracking devices bought from ransom money -- or just moving further afield.
Andrew Mwangura, of the Kenyan-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme, said one of the attacks this year had been as far away as Madagascar, way south of Somali waters.
The pirates have also strayed several times into Kenyan waters, spooking shippers at Mombasa port. But there have been a string of successes for the navies, too, including last week when a Russian warship foiled an attack on a Dutch container.
Mohamed, the pirate in Haradheere, said the apparent lull in hijackings was because the gangs were taking a breather to assess the new circumstances at sea.
"Most of us are resting while a few go to sea to survey," he said. We are neither afraid of warships nor getting reduced in number. We were six companies before, and now we are nine companies of pirates in Central region alone."
The shipping industry has certainly not yet factored in an end to Somali piracy. Insurance premiums, which shot up last year for cargo going past Somalia, are not yet coming down.
And none of the firms who announced they would prefer to absorb the extra cost and time of going round South Africa than risk running the Somali gauntlet have said they are going back.
And there is one thing pirates, shippers and all analysts are agreed on: the problem will never be fully eradicated until peace comes to Somalia, one of the world's most failed states.
Eurasia Group think-tank analyst, Philippe de Pontet, contrasted the progress offshore with the continued chaos onshore, where Islamist insurgents are battling both among themselves and against the weak Somali government.
"Growing international naval efforts ... are likely to have a dampening impact on the scale and frequency of Somali pirate attacks in the most heavily-patrolled shipping lanes of the Gulf," he said in a paper on piracy.
But "this will not eradicate the threat, which feeds off Somalia's turmoil." Far away from such analysis by de Pontet in Washington, a pirate boss in north Somalia agreed.
"Piracy will not stop unless we get government," said Yassin Dheere, fingering an AK-47 as he described the "incalculable" wealth he had obtained since becoming a pirate in 2003. (Additional reporting by Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu and Abdiqani Hassan in Garowe, Somalia)
http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSLF757316
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Nigerian military dismisses British hostages' rescue attempt claim
Lagos, Nigeria - The military Joint Task Force (JTF) has dismissed the claim by the militant group MEND that it botched an attempt to rescue two British hostages in its (MEND) custody at the weekend.
"There is nothing like that. Definitely, there is nothing like that," the spokesman of JTF in Rivers State, Lt.- Col Sagir Musa, said, adding that MEND was only using propaganda to discredit the military's successful operation.
"We only attacked their camp in Ajakaja community, Rivers State. And during the attack, nobody was killed, wounded or arrested. We just went there to flush out the militants. Obviously, MEND is pained at the pressures being put to its activities and its top commanders that it it is using propaganda to discredit the successful operation in the community.
''We weren't looking for any hostage or hostages. If we were, why would we be targeting houses the militants lived in and taking them out?'' Musa said.
The JTF said it had been using a three-pronged approach, which included marine operation, aerial survey with helicopters and land invasion, to flush out the militants from the communities.
The task force has killed at least two militant leaders and arrested some others in recent times.
In a message e-mailed to the media on Sunday, MEND had said the JTF's botched rescue attempt was based on ''faulty intelligence'', and that it had forced the group to move the hostages ''deeper into the creeks in two different states''.
The two British hostages were among the 27 oil workers who were rescued from pirates who abducted them off a vessel, MT Blue Ocean, 9 Sept. 2008 in Rivers state.
The other hostages - 22 Nigerians, 2 South Africans and 1 Ukrainian - have since been freed.
In a statement issued on 11 Jan., MEND had said the two hostages - Robin Barry Hughes and Matthew John Maguire - were alive and well, and sent their recent photographs to the media to confirm that.
Following the renewed clampdown on militants, MEND has vowed a retaliatory attack against the military and an end to the unilateral ceasefire it declared in September 2008, following a debilitating 'oil war'.
The military has scoffed at the threat, saying it was capable of defending itself against any attack.
Lagos - 19/01/2009
http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/nigerian-military-dismisses-british-hostages'-rescue-attempt-claim-2009011919873.html
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US Navy needs to increase shipyard workers
January 19, 2009 6:00 AM
The findings in a recently released report by the nonprofit Rand Corp. are clear: The Navy is spending far too much money in overtime at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in contravention of best management practices, and its resources would be better spent hiring new workers.
The report, commissioned by Navy officials to delve into spending at its four public shipyards, indicates the Navy spends more on overtime at PNS than at the other three. Monthly average and peak overtime rates at the yard were 45 percent and 65 percent, respectively, in excess of the 10 to 15 percent considered effective practice.
The Rand Corp. unearthed another fact. The shipyard work force is aging rapidly, with as many as 50 percent of its 4,000 employees eligible for retirement in the next 10 years.
All of this information points to the inevitable conclusion reached by the Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations this week: The Navy needs to plan now to hire more workers at the shipyard.
In a letter to Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter, the four senators and representatives from the two states urged the Navy "to begin an aggressive hiring program to increase the government civilian work force."
The delegations urge the Navy to bring in at least 1,000 workers in the next five years, simply to replace those who are retiring, and additional workers to mitigate the overtime practice at the yard.
As one of the few remaining public yards in the country, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is always busy. At one point in the recent past, eight Los Angeles Class submarines were at the yard for overhaul at the same time, and typically two or three are there at any given time. Moreover, next year the first of the Virginia Class submarines will be coming to the yard, a larger and far more technologically intricate machine than its older Los Angeles Class cousin.
There is reason the shipyard was called the "gold standard" by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 2005 — because work on these subs is consistently completed under budget and before deadline. But, as the Rand Corp. report highlights, the work is being done at an impractically high cost for the Navy and, by extension, taxpayers. And before long, the most skilled workers will be gone.
That is why we agree with Paul O'Connor, president of the Metal Trades Council, that it will not do simply to beef up the lower-paying apprenticeship. The new employees need to have experience commensurate with the technical nature of the work. In this, timing is kismet, as unemployment rises, leaving qualified professionals looking and ready for work. All of this points to the need for the Navy to act, and act quickly, on the request by the congressional delegation. As the Navy's fiscal 2010 budget wends its way through the House and Senate, the delegations have assured they will follow the money closely and work to ensure that funds for the yard begin to address the need for new hires.
The Navy, too, seemed to take heed of its own report. In a statement released last week, Navy officials said they were "committed to hiring those employees necessary to meet the workload demand" in the future.
It will be a long time before we in the Seacoast forget how disingenuous the Navy was during the BRAC process. But its options are few and its workload continues — only five of the 30 contracted Virginia Class submarines have been completed. The Rand Corp.'s conclusions are clear. And two committed congressional delegations will ensure they are met.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090119-OPINION-901190317
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Russian destroyer docked for repairs after Latin American tour
14:13
19/ 01/ 2009
KALININGRAD, January 19 (RIA Novosti) - Russian missile destroyer Admiral Chabanenko has docked for repairs at a naval shipyard in the country's Kaliningrad exclave after its recent Latin American tour-of-duty, a shipyard spokesman said on Monday.
During its tour-of-duty, the Northern Fleet's destroyer accompanied the Pyotr Veliky nuclear-powered missile cruiser on its way to the Atlantic and the Caribbean, participated in joint naval exercises with the Venezuelan navy, crossed the Panama Canal, and visited a number of Latin American countries, including Cuba.
"We are working on the ship's overhaul schedule. The repairs, including the overhaul of the propulsion system, must be done by the end of February," said the spokesman.
Admiral Chabanenko is an Udaloy II class missile destroyer commissioned with the Russian Navy in January 1999. It is Russia's only multipurpose destroyer and is intended to be the counterpart to U.S. Arleigh Burke class ships.
Designed primarily as an anti-submarine warfare platform, with a long cruising range and underway replenishment capabilities, Udaloy class ships provide support to surface task forces.
The Udaloy-II is modified by the replacement of the SS-N-14 Silex anti-submarine missiles by the SS-N-22 Sunburn anti-ship missiles, reflecting a change in emphasis from anti-submarine warfare to surface combat.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20090119/119685421.html
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Ship loses timber in rough seas
A Russian-registered cargo ship has lost 1,500 metric tonnes of timber in rough seas off the Sussex coast.
It happened in a major English Channel shipping lane 14 miles off Newhaven, East Sussex, at 0815 GMT.
The vessel, which is being escorted to Portsmouth by a coastguard tug, is not thought to be at "imminent risk".
A Coastguard spokesperson said the wood might start washing ashore between Brighton and Newhaven from Tuesday, depending on winds and currents.
Aerial surveillance
The 137m (450ft) vessel Sinegorsk, which has a 25-strong crew, was heading to Alexandria in Egypt from Oskarshamn in Sweden when the sawn timber was lost from the deck.
An aerial surveillance aircraft has been sent to survey the debris and to see whether the wood remains in secure bundles.
Dover Coastguard has alerted other vessels in the area about the risk of seaborne debris.
The spokesperson added: "The receiver of wreck has also been kept informed of the sawn timber and its likely impact on the shoreline."
In January last year more than 2,000 tonnes of timber washed up along the coast of Sussex after the Greek-registered Ice Prince sank about 26 miles south of Dorset.
Ice Prince festival
Fred Caygill of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the Sinegorsk lost its load as it came in to the south west lane of the Dover straits, approaching Newhaven.
He said the Marine Action Investigation Branch would be investigating how the ship came to lose the timber but added that the rough seas were likely to have been a factor.
"We can't say that definitely caused it but generally weather has an effect," he said.
He said the wood was currently "a long way off shore" but added that if it did drift towards land it could lead to a "similar" situation as the Ice Prince.
A stained glass panel to commemorate that incident is being unveiled on Worthing Pier at noon as the start of the week-long Ice Prince Arts Festival.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/england/sussex/7837365.stm
Published: 2009/01/19 12:00:52 GMT
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Regards ……….Snooper…………NNNN
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