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 !!!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Update & Drawing Winner
Hello All,
Zac is getting rested and filled in on all the ins and outs of Durban and South Africa.
He was taken out for a large and delicious steak last night and has grocery shopped, lined up a rigging inspection and engine service and is preparing this morning for a news interview.
He is busy but enjoying taking it all in. I asked him about the weather and he said that it is very hot and humid.
He is wearing a shirt for the first time since leaving Mauritius!
For the blogger who asked about sunscreen, I did ask...he usually isn't out in the sun for long periods of time and so has never burnt but has a good tan for sure!
As mentioned earlier this week, we have had our drawing from the names of calendar buyers to see who won the signed poster. Ben did the honors...
After this shot he spread them all over the living room but that is another story.
The winner of an autographed poster and head shot is Mr. John Weber!
The poster will be sent out Monday morning - enjoy!
We will have another drawing on Saturday the 20th. For every calendar you purchase this week, your name will be entered into a drawing for a signed poster and head shot.
Cheers,
Marianne
posted by Zac at 9:24 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, December 12, 2008
Hello and Good Night
Latest Position: 12/13/08 29 54.430S 31 01.200E - Point Yacht Club, Durban, South Africa
After another harrowing day at sea with ships, currents lightning and no sleep Zac is safely in port.
We received one final phone call, "Hi Dad, I'm in and I'm going to bed." He arrived about 4:00am with the help of a group of faithful followers from PYC and especially Phillip Strauss whom our family met while cruising in Mexico 7 years ago.
Lots of long stories for sure!
Zac will have a busy day today meeting and greeting and getting settled. For now we will all have a good night's sleep.
Cheerfully,
Marianne
posted by Zac at 9:49 PM
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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.
Aaaaargh! - 13 12 08
Well, I hardly know how to start, but here goes. After sailing out of Gran Canaria for ten hours in a 20-30 knot wind under a beautiful moonlit night, the Autopilot conked out again! It suddenly miscalculated by 70 degrees and sent Totallymoney.com into an unexpected gybe.
So the gremlins are still there. I really felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. So much time, money and effort has been spent on this problem already I couldn’t believe I was going to have sail back and do it all over again.
Now I’m waiting for a specialist from the AP company to have another crack at it today. Hopefully there’ll be a real solution this time. Unfortunately it’s the only AP I have and it would be dangerous to sail without it, otherwise I would have just kept going!
Stay tuned and hopefully we’ll get this problem sorted once and for all later today.
100% Fit Again! - 12 12 08
Well, we’re all set! Totallymoney.com is 100% set after a couple of test sails revealed that the clutch that fed the ballast tanks wasn’t working properly.
Las Palmas is fantastic in that it there is a huge ship repair industry here, so there are so many places to repair bits of kit like this. The mechanics are top rate and turned around all our repairs within a few hours. One guy didn’t even charge us for his fantastic workmanship when we needed to get some new bearings fitted.
This has been a very frustrating time, but of course, it’s much better to sort these things out now than have them out at sea, away from any machine shops. But finally the boat is ready and I am totally raring to go! I should be setting sail very shortly, within the next few hours. I’m sorry to keep everyone waiting but do hang in there and keep the comments coming, I really appreciate them all and once I’m back on the ocean I’ll start my pen-pal relationship with you all again, promise!
http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
Visit : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/
Blog : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
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Somali president sacks prime minister
Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:44am EST
BAIDOA, Somalia, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Somalia's President Abulahi Yusuf sacked his prime minister on Sunday, saying he had failed to bring security to the chaotic country.
"I have dismissed Prime Minister Nur Abdi and will appoint a new one within three days. His government failed to extend the federal system and security to the nation," Yusuf told members of parliament at a meeting attending by media.
Hassan Hussein Nur Adde has been prime minister for one year but and has been embroiled in a spat with President Yusuf over Yusuf's rejection of some cabinet ministers.
They have also disagreed on the direction of peace talks held in Djibouti, where moderate opposition signed an agreement allowing them to join government.
A respected Somali rights group said this week that fighting in the Horn of Africa country had killed more than 16,200 civilians since the start of last year, when allied Somali-Ethiopian forces drove the Islamists out of power.
Some 1 million people have been uprooted, and 3.2 million -- more than a third of the population -- need emergency aid. The chaos has also helped fuel an explosion of piracy offshore. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh; Writing by Wangui Kanina; Editing by Matthew Jones)
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLE374226._CH_.2400
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Indian navy 'captures 23 pirates'
The Indian navy says it has arrested 23 Somali and Yemeni pirates who tried to storm a ship in the Gulf of Aden.
A navy spokesman said it had responded to a mayday call from MV Gibe, flying under the Ethiopian flag.
Several countries have warships patrolling the gulf amid growing international concern about piracy.
Meanwhile, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said better intelligence was needed for a land attack on pirate bases to be considered.
Mr Gates, speaking at a security conference in Bahrain, also called for shipping companies to do more to protect their vessels travelling through the Arabian Sean and Indian Ocean.
Arms cache
The Indian government said in a statement that the captured pirates had a cache of arms and equipment, including seven AK-47 assault rifles, three machine guns, and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.
The pirates would be handed over to the appropriate authorities, the statement added.
Last month, India's navy said it had sunk a pirate "mother vessel" off Somalia.
But it later emerged that the vessel was actually a Thai fishing trawler that had been seized by pirates off Yemen.
Better intelligence
Mr Gates told the security conference: "The need for increased maritime security and potentially new and better means of co-operation has been highlighted by the recent high-profile acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.
"As with terrorism, piracy is a problem that has serious international implications and should be of particular concern to any nation that depends on the seas for commerce."
Mr Gates said most ships could outrun the pirates and they should take more preventative measures, like pulling up their ladders when at sea and perhaps placing armed guards on board.
When asked by the BBC if the US intended to attack the pirates' land bases, Mr Gates replied that the US and its allies would first need to acquire better intelligence on who is behind the ongoing attacks on shipping.
He said he believed that just two or three Somali clans were responsible and that the individuals involved needed to be targeted accurately to avoid killing innocent civilians.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7781436.stm
Published: 2008/12/13 14:56:07 GMT
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India to deploy aircraft against pirates: report
1 hour ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) — India is to station a naval surveillance aircraft in the Gulf of Aden to boost its anti-piracy efforts in the region, a newspaper report on Sunday quoted a military officer as saying.
The plans come after an Indian warship on patrol in the region captured 23 Somali and Yemeni pirates trying to hijack an Ethiopian flag-bearing merchant vessel.
"Our plan is to base a maritime reconnaissance aircraft at Djibouti," the Times of India quoted the unnamed senior naval officer as saying.
There was no immediate official confirmation of the report.
The navy said that on Saturday its warship Mysore had dispatched helicopter-borne commandos to help the MV Gibe, which had sent a distress call as it came under fire from two pirate boats.
The commandos captured 23 pirates and recovered a large cache of arms including assault rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher along with loaded magazines, cartridges and grenades, a navy statement said.
New Delhi first deployed warships in the Gulf of Aden, one of the busiest but most pirate-infested shipping lanes in the world, in October after a merchant vessel with Indian crew was taken hostage by pirates.
Somali pirates have carried out around 100 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since the start of this year. They still hold at least 14 foreign vessels and more than 300 crew members.
Last month, India's anti-piracy tactics were questioned when the International Maritime Bureau said an Indian ship had destroyed a Thai fishing trawler instead of a pirate vessel as the navy claimed.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g6ifiCNXQulaqbJItAnB3rPfm1CQ
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December 11, 2008, 23:59
Who will stop Somali pirates?
The Russian Navy is to maintain a regular presence near Somali waters in 2009. The news comes as representatives of 40 countries hold a UN-sponsored conference to discuss more measures to crack down on piracy in the area. Meanwhile, vessels are being hijacked almost every week.
On Tuesday Yemeni coastguards were put on high alert after pirates hi-jacked two boats carrying 22 fishermen. The waters of Yemen are only a few hours away from Somalia - the heartland of modern day piracy.
More than 40 ships have been hijacked in the area this year alone.
“As far as Yemeni waters are concerned, they are all safe and ships can sail through them safely. The real danger comes from Somali waters, which are far from here. We advise ships to sail away from there,” a coastguard said.
Yemen has become a base for international warships patrolling the troubled seas.
The Russian frigate Neustrashymy has been escorting convoys since October.
“While sailing the oceans, we’ve received several SOS calls from unguarded merchant ships. We responded to the calls and defended them against piracy. We accompany all ships in the convoy regardless of their flag,” said the Neustrashymy’s captain, Oleg Gorinov.
The Neustrashimy is equiped with anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, and carries a helicopter. Such warships are a tough nut to crack for pirates. They usually use small and fast motor boats. Surprise is their main tactic.
“They start shooting into the air near the ship to terrorise the crew and then they start threatening the ship with their RPG weapons. When the crew sees this intense fire, they surrender because they don't want any damage to the ship, which might cost a lot,” head of Yemen coastguard, Ali Rasa, says.
Somali pirates have earned an estimated US$ 30 million in ransoms this year. The shipowners almost always pay and pirates increase the sums demanded.
The US is now calling on the international community to fight piracy not only at sea, but on land.
So far the Somali government has failed to stop the criminals, which means that a quiet day in harbour is a rare thing for both warships and coastguards.
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/34619
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Petraeus Urges Security Forces to Target Trade Behind Terrorism
By Camilla Hall
Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Security forces should focus more on crushing illegal trade in weapons and drugs and tackling pirates to combat global terrorism more effectively, General David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, said today.
“The revenues from some of these activities are in essence the oxygen that keeps various movements alive,” Petraeus said at a security meeting in Bahrain. “These activities must be curtailed if international efforts to combat terrorist financing and thus terrorism are to succeed.”
As part of a speech to delegates from more than 20 countries, Petraeus urged international cooperation on air and air defense systems, maritime protection, intelligence sharing, protection of infrastructure and training.
“Extremist networks remain resilient and indeed robust in some areas and we must not relax the pressure on them,” he said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aRSelnN.GBjw&refer=africa
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135 container ships stand idle
Around 135 cellular ships totalling 300 000 TEU capacity are currently believed idle, according to the latest Alphaliner count (December 8), up from around 270 000 TEU two weeks ago and 150 000 TEU one and a half moths earlier.
They represent 2.5% of the existing cellular fleet in TEU terms.
Story By : Alan Peat
Date :2008/12/12
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7078
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10.12.2008
German Cabinet Approves Plan For EU Anti-Piracy Force
More German naval troops may be headed to the Gulf of Aden
The German government says the German Navy should be allowed to participate in a European Union effort to fight pirates in the Gulf of Aden. But questions persist about the scope and effectiveness of the mission.
The proposal to back the EU's Operation Atalanta was approved on Wednesday December 10 by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet and will now face a parliamentary vote on December 19.
It would see as many as 1400 German Navy soldiers and one warship go to the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia as part of a joint EU effort to stem increasing piracy in those waters.
Previously, German warships originally deployed as part of the anti-terrorist Mission Enduring Freedom or the NATO initiative Allied Provider have been involved in deterring suspected pirates.
Operation Atalanta is the first EU-wide naval mission and comes as criminals on the high seas have made commercial and passenger traffic on one of the world's major waterways increasingly unsafe.
Cruise liners want protection
Cruise companies are demanding armed escorts
With around a dozen ships, including a massive Saudi Arabian oil tanker, still currently in the hands of pirates, German travel organizers have been demanding protection.
"We would like every cruise ship to be given an escort," the head of the German Travel Association, Hans-Gustav Koch, told the AFP news agency.
Koch said that cancelling or re-routing cruise liners was prohibitively expensive.
The government's tourism expert, Ernst Hinsken of the conservative Christian Social Union, also said that cruise ships should be accorded the same treatment as merchant vessels under Operation Atalanta.
But he also said passengers could be flown for short stretches to avoid unnecessary risks.
On Tuesday, the Hapag-Lloyd cruise company announced it was evacuating tourists from the SM Columbus for its journey through the Gulf of Aden and flying them on to resume their round-the-world cruise in safer waters.
Fogged in
The opposition says the operation is wide-open to abuse
But Operation Atalanta is coming in for critical scrutiny from Germany's opposition parties, which say the plan is enshrouded in a "nebulous fog."
The Greens are supporting the mission with reservations.
"We expect the government to ensure that NATO and EU states consolidate their forces," Deputer Parliamentary Spokesman Juergen Trittin and security expert Winfried Nachtwei said in a statement.
"The parallelism, confusion and conflicts between Allies engaged in three separate operations are a sign of impoverishment," they wrote.
Meanwhile, the Left Party is opposing Operation Atalanta outright.
"The proposal would restrict the Bundestag's oversight function," the party's security spokesman, Paul Schaefer, told DW-WORLD.
"The 1400 navy soldiers it includes, it is said, are more than the mission will require. But that means that they, together with German soldiers involved in Enduring Freedom and NATO's Allied Provider missions, could be moved back and forth at will, contrary to the principles of a parliamentary army," Schaefer continued.
There has also been popular criticism that allocating some 43 million euros ($55.7 million) in public finds in part to protect luxury cruise ships wastes public money.
"The whole approach is wrong," said Schafer. "The main problem in Somalia is not piracy, but rather the instability and lack of infrastructure in the entire country. A few warships off the coast cannot solve those issues. So the mission wastes taxpayers' money, regardless of whether the German Navy is used to defend supply ships or cruise liners."
All of those objections will be put forth when the German parliament, the Bundestag, votes on the proposal next week.
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3863634,00.html
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Navy to christen latest SSN this weekend
Staff report
Posted : Wednesday Dec 10, 2008 14:11:46 EST
The Navy plans to christen its newest Virginia-class attack submarine, the New Mexico, in a ceremony this weekend in Hampton Roads, Va.
Cindy Giambastiani, the wife of retired Adm. Ed. Giambastiani, will swing the traditional bottle of champagne Saturday to officially give the ship its name, according to a Navy announcement. The keynote address at the ceremony is to be delivered by Republican Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico.
New Mexico is the sixth Virginia-class attack submarine, and the latest built half by General Dynamics’ Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., and Northrop Grumman’s Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. But it’s just the second Navy warship to bear the name. The first New Mexico was a battleship that earned six battle stars for its service in World War II; it provided shore bombardment for the Marine Corps landings at Guam, Saipan, Okinawa and elsewhere.
The New Mexico’s prospective captain is Cmdr. Mark Prokopius.
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_ssn_christening_121008w/
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Russian warship to visit Nicaragua on Dec. 12-15
11:59 11/ 12/ 2008
MOSCOW, December 11 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Admiral Chabanenko missile destroyer and two support ships will pay a visit to Nicaragua from Friday through Monday, a Navy spokesman said on Thursday.
"After crossing the Panama Canal, the Admiral Chabanenko and two support ships will visit the port of Bluefields in Nicaragua on December 12-15," Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo said.
The Udaloy class destroyer made a round trip through the Panama Canal on December 6, becoming the first Russian or Soviet warship to enter the waterway since World War II, and is currently anchored at the Rodman Naval Station in Panama.
The destroyer also participated last week in the VenRus-2008 joint Russian-Venezuelan naval exercise in the southern Caribbean as part of a task force from the Northern Fleet, led by the nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky. (Nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky visits Toulon- Image Gallery)
Dygalo earlier said that Russia currently has three naval task groups on tours of duty in the world's oceans.
Another naval task force from the Northern Fleet, comprising the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier and the Admiral Levchenko missile destroyer, as well as two support ships, began last Friday a tour of duty in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.
Meanwhile, a task force from Russia's Pacific Fleet, comprising the Admiral Vinogradov, an Udaloy class missile destroyer, a tugboat, and two tankers, left its main base in Vladivostok on Tuesday to take part in joint naval drills with the Indian navy in the Indian Ocean.
Russia announced last year that its Navy had resumed and would build up a constant presence throughout the world's oceans.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081211/118800449.html
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Navy commander questions land attacks on pirates
By LOLITA C. BALDOR – 1 day ago
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — The commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet expressed doubt Friday about the wisdom of launching attacks against Somali pirates on land — a proposal the U.S. is circulating to the U.N. Security Council.
U.S. Vice Adm. Bill Gortney told reporters that striking pirate camps presents problems because it is difficult to identify them and the potential for killing innocent civilians "cannot be overestimated."
In a wide-ranging interview at his 5th Fleet headquarters, Gortney said such strikes are an effort to go for an easy military solution to a problem. He says the better solutions are to improve the security, stability and government in Somalia, and to clear up legal hurdles so that militaries that capture pirates can detain them and bring them to trial.
Currently, most foreign navies patrolling the Somali coast have been reluctant to detain suspects because of uncertainties over where they would face trial, since Somalia has no effective central government or legal system.
The draft U.N. Security Council resolution proposes that all nations and regional groups cooperating with Somalia's U.N.-backed government in the fight against piracy and armed robbery "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia."
Bush administration officials in Washington say that while the proposal would give the U.S. military more options in confronting the pirates, it does not mean the U.S. is planning a ground assault.
Gortney said progress is being made in the international effort to stem the recent spike in pirate attacks on commercial vessels off the Somali coast.
He said he is seeing progress in efforts to change the legal requirements so navies can detain and send captured pirates to trial. And, he said, more shipping companies are adding security personnel.
Since the end of August, Gortney said, coalition ships have disrupted potential pirate attacks 50 times, throwing guns overboard and sinking small skiffs. But in many instances they had to release the people on the ships because of the legal hurdles.
At the UN, the proposal is running afoul of some Security Council members such as South Africa and Indonesia that have often voiced sovereignty concerns about a major initiative, particularly by the council's major Western powers.
Indonesian Ambassador Marty Natalegawa told reporters Friday the U.S. plan could conflict with the U.N.'s "Law of the Sea" treaty, which sets rules and settles disputes over navigation, fishing and economic development of the open seas and establishes environmental standards.
"I still have a problem with this onshore business," he said. "We have a regime that governs the law of the seas ... and we cannot simply willy-nilly and as we please set that aside as a situation dictates."
The Law of the Sea Convention was concluded in 1982 and went into effect in 1994. As of last month it had been ratified by 157 nations — including Somalia, Indonesia and South Africa — but not the United States.
The treaty recognizes sovereign rights over a country's continental shelf out to 200 nautical miles and beyond if a country can substantiate its claims. Former President Ronald Reagan opposed U.S. participation because of a provision on deep seabed mining, while Senate Republicans contended the treaty would subject the U.S. military and economy to a hostile international bureaucracy.
Last year, though, it won backing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and President George W. Bush pushed unsuccessfully for Senate ratification. They worried that the melting of the global ice cap would trigger a rush of claims by Arctic countries, including Russia.
Natalegawa emphasized that any solution to Somalia's piracy boom must also include a peace process.
"The parties need to be sitting down somewhere, somehow and just to talk. And then we have a peace to be kept, for peacekeeping operations," he said. "But now we are having countries, as they wish, (deciding) to just pick and choose an a la carte question — which piece that they want to be discussing. That is why we are in like a Catch-22, like a vicious circle."
In other comments to reporters, Gortney also rejected the idea of establishing a naval blockade along the Somali coast, saying it would be an act of war. Officials, he said, would have to "call it something different." And even so, he said, the size of the coastline would require so many ships that "it would be very, very difficult."
He said that despite the 12-14 naval ships patrolling the area, it would take 62 to reasonably protect that coastline.
Associated Press Writer John Heilprin contributed to this report.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkvR7y2C_1UFBQv7tnE4K10EeregD951ASV80
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Published: 11/12/2008 20:23:15
Explosive arms deal documents
PAUL KIRK
JOHANNESBURG - Former President Thabo Mbeki, the man who was in overall charge of the arms deal, favoured arms merchants known for their tendency to pay bribes and then agreed to pay inflated prices for equipment that the military simply did not want.
Damning documents obtained by The Citizen last week show that Mbeki ignored his own experts who had ruled that a rival Spanish warship offered better military value than the exorbitantly expensive German product the Navy eventually bought.
The contract should therefore have been awarded to the Spanish who convincingly won the frigate contract using the procurement formula the Department of Defence had agreed upon.
Mbeki has never launched any action for defamation against the media who published claims that he pocketed a $20 million bribe from the German frigate consortium. These claims were first made in a report compiled by US- based risk-analysis company Kroll.
Kroll had obtained this information from a senior National Intelligence Agency official, who subsequently died in a car crash.
The documents may well open the way for Spanish company Bazan to launch legal action against the state. However, The Citizen has not been able to contact Bazan’s representatives.
By awarding the contract to the Germans, Mbeki ignored the Constitution, which lays down that procurement must be done in a way that is fair, transparent and cost-effective.
Terry Crawford-Browne, the SA president of Economists Allied for Arms Reduction, told The Citizen that he was studying the documents.
Crawford-Browne said: “It’s clear that throughout the deal we favoured people who were known to pay bribes. What people must realise is that prices are inflated in order to cover the costs of bribes. The taxpayer pays for corruption, not the arms merchant.”
Former chairman of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Gavin Woods, said that while serving as chair of Scopa he had seen clear evidence that the arms dealers who had won contracts as part of the controversial arms deal had inexplicably inflated their prices when supplying equipment to the SANDF.
Woods said: “The government has thus far tried its best to whitewash the arms deal, but I don’t believe they have succeeded. These latest documents simply prove serious irregularities in yet another aspect of the arms deal.”€Â
Woods resigned as chair of Scopa after the ANC used its parliamentary majority to prevent the Heath Special Investigating Unit from being part of the arms deal probe.
The unit, chaired by Judge Willem Heath, was the sole law enforcement body that had the legal powers to set aside the arms deal contracts that had already been signed.
During the acquisition process for the jet fighters and trainers for the South African Air Force, the recommendations of the SAAF were ignored and former Defence Minister Joe Modise forced the SAAF to buy BAe jet trainers rather than the cheaper Italian aircraft the SAAF actually wanted.
Modise also forced the SAAF to buy Gripen fighters despite the fact that they had no need for them. The existing Cheetah C fighters had just been taken into service and were scheduled to remain in use for at least another decade.
These aircraft have now all been effectively grounded as the SAAF, crippled by the acquisition costs of the Gripen and Hawk, cannot afford to operate their only supersonic fighter jet. Effectively, South Africa has no air force at present.
Fana Hlongwane was, at the time of the Hawk and Gripen deals, Modise’s special advisor and close personal friend. Hlongwane was the subject of a series of search-and-seizure raids earlier this month when the Scorpions raided his homes and offices seeking evidence of arms deal bribery.
Hlongwane owns a fleet of luxury cars and several mansions, all purchased after BAe won the Hawk and Gripen contracts.
The documents obtained by The Citizen show that the German warships offered slightly better military performance than the much cheaper Spanish ship, which was ruled to have “the best mobility, operability, growth potential, layout, accommodation and habitability features”.
In June 2008 an SA Navy legal services report was leaked to the media showing that the navy was not able to operate the exorbitantly expensive German frigates because of financial constraints.
Andrew Feinstein, the ANC representative on Scopa, was demoted by his party after backing Woods and demanding that the Heath Unit probe the deal.
Feinstein said: “It seemed to me that we favoured those who were prepared to pay the biggest bribes, regardless of the real value of the equipment.”
http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=85294,1,22
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Armed guards would deter Somali pirates-US Navy
Fri 12 Dec 2008, 18:31 GMT
By Andrew Gray
MANAMA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Shipping firms should use armed security guards much more to protect their vessels against pirates off Somalia, the top U.S. Navy commander charged with tackling the problem said on Friday.
Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said more cooperation between navies, a legal basis for detaining and trying pirates and stabilising Somalia would also help to crackdown on the piracy, which has surged in the region in recent months.
But Gortney expressed scepticism about going after pirates on land or targeting them with air strikes, even though a draft U.N. Security Council resolution drawn up by Washington seeks authority for such actions.
"I see people trying to look for an easy military solution to a problem that demands a non-kinetic solution," Gortney told reporters travelling with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates at his headquarters in Bahrain.
"If you're going to do kinetic strikes into the pirate camps, the positive ID and the collateral damage concerns cannot be overestimated.
"They're irregulars -- they don't wear uniforms," said Gortney, who commands the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet and oversees a coalition of navies fighting piracy off Somalia.
Gortney said the solution lay in bringing stability to the African state but that would not happen soon. Governments and shipping companies had to look for other answers.
"I'm a firm believer ... (in) armed security guards, because that's what we'd do ashore," he said. "You're working against criminal activity. That's what I'm pushing."
Gortney said some companies were using teams of security guards but others had concerns, including worries about the legality of carrying weapons when they pulled into ports. He said he believed such issues could be overcome.
Scores of attacks in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean in recent months have pushed up insurance costs, earned Somali pirates tens of millions of dollars in ransom and prompted foreign navies to rush to protect merchant shipping.
A NATO anti-piracy mission in the area is coming to an end but Gortney said he believed the alliance would return and the European Union agreed on Monday to launch naval operations off Somalia involving warships and aircraft.
Gortney said the risk to shipping from Somali pirates was still relatively small
"Statistically from January to the end of November ... just in the area north of Somalia, your chances of getting pirated were 0.14 percent," he said.
But he said even one attack was unacceptable.
"We almost romanticise pirates now as a result of, well, 'Pirates of the Caribbean' (movies) -- I can't get away from it, my miniature schnauzer's name is Captain Jack Sparrow," he said.
"But these are really criminals at sea." (Editing by Elizabeth Piper)
http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN12446831.html
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Somalia backs US plan to hunt pirates
Thu 11 Dec 2008, 12:53 GMT
By Abdi Sheikh
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's government has welcomed a call by the United States for countries to have U.N. authority to hunt down Somali pirates on land as well as pursue them off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation.
A surge in piracy this year in the busy Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean off Somalia has driven up insurance costs, brought the gangs tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, and prompted foreign navies to rush to the area to protect shipping.
Diplomats at the United Nations said the U.S. delegation there had circulated a draft resolution on piracy for the Security Council to vote on next week.
A draft text seen by Reuters says countries with permission from Somalia's government "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including in its airspace" to capture those using Somali territory for piracy.
"The government cordially welcomes the United Nations to fight pirates inland and (on) the Indian Ocean," said Hussein Mohamed Mohamud, spokesman for Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf.
"We're also willing to give them a hand in case they need our assistance," Mohamud told Reuters in the capital Mogadishu.
Somalia has seen continuous conflict since 1991 and its weak Western-backed government is still fighting Islamist insurgents. The chaos has helped fuel the explosion in piracy: there have been nearly 100 attacks in Somali waters this year, despite the presence of several foreign warships. The gunmen are holding about a dozen ships and nearly 300 crew.
Among the captured vessels are a Saudi supertanker loaded with $100 million of crude oil, the Sirius Star, and a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying some 30 Soviet-era tanks, the MV Faina.
Many of the pirates are based in Somalia's semi-autonomous northern region of Puntland. An official there said he was sceptical whether the international community would take action.
"We are not happy because the United Nations never implements what they endorse," Abdulqadir Muse Yusuf, Puntland's assistant fisheries minister, told Reuters in Bosasso.
"We urge them to fight the pirates on land and in our waters. We would also like them to empower our security forces so that we can participate in the global war on piracy too."
There are already several international naval operations off Somalia, including a NATO anti-piracy mission. The European Union agreed on Monday to launch anti-piracy naval operations in the area, involving warships and aircraft.
The U.N. special envoy to Somalia, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, told an international meeting on piracy in Kenya on Thursday that the pirates were "threatening the very freedom and safety of maritime trade routes, affecting not only Somalia and the region, but also a large percentage of world trade".
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4BA0GE.html
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US Asks for Korea's Help in Afghanistan
Sunday, December 14, 2008 11:52:19
The U.S. has officially asked Korea to help stabilize and restore a war-torn Afghanistan.
A U.S. State Department official said that in a Security Policy Initiative meeting Saturday, Seoul and Washington discussed on a wide range of possibilities, emphasizing the need to send police and military trainers to Afghanistan.
He said Washington has made no requests in particular but discussed other options including reconstruction, development and public security.
The U.S. also tapped the possibility of cooperating in dispatching a Korean naval destroyer to Somalia to protect Korean fishing and cargo ships from pirates.
http://english.kbs.co.kr/news/newsview_sub.php?menu=1&key=2008121401
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UN envoy says world has ignored piracy long enough
3 days ago
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The U.N.'s special representative for Somalia says the world has ignored piracy long enough.
Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah spoke at an international conference on piracy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Representatives from 40 countries are meeting about how to solve the rampant banditry off Somalia's lawless coast. They are expected to address the media after the close of the two-day meeting Thursday.
Somali pirates have brought in an estimated $30 million in ransom this year.
The pirates' focus has been the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen, where 20,000 merchant ships a year pass on the way in and out of the Suez Canal, the quickest route from Asia to Europe and the Americas.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j17RaekrnzP0Sp9is3amCrloJ8DAD950DNB00
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U.S. tries to reassure Karzai with visit to warship
Fri 12 Dec 2008, 19:31 GMT
MANAMA (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited a U.S. aircraft carrier this week as the U.S. military tried to reassure him about air strikes he has bitterly denounced for causing civilian casualties.
Karzai paid a visit Thursday to the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which launches bombing missions on insurgent targets in Afghanistan from the Indian Ocean, the U.S. Navy said.
In one of a string of recent strongly worded complaints about international military operations, Karzai said last month he would bring down U.S. warplanes bombing villages if he could, before they dropped bombs on Afghan villages.
Afghanistan has suffered its worst violence this year since U.S.-led and Afghan forces overthrew the Taliban Islamist government in 2001, with at least 4,000 people killed, around a third of them civilians.
Afghan officials have blamed NATO and U.S. forces for scores of civilian deaths. Western forces say they go to great lengths to avoid such casualties and have blamed the Taliban and other insurgents for hiding among innocent people.
"President Karzai was able to see first hand the professionalism demonstrated by our personnel and gain a better understanding of how we do operations," U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said in a statement released Friday.
Gortney, head of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, who accompanied Karzai on the visit, said the Afghan leader had not raised his concerns about the air strikes.
"He was there ... fact-finding and quite frankly was very grateful for our support," Gortney told reporters travelling with visiting U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates at his headquarters in Bahrain.
(Reporting by Frederik Richter and Andrew Gray; Editing by Louise Ireland)
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnTRE4BB685.html
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Japan Sends Officials To Somalia's Neighbors To Tackle Piracy
Thursday December 11st, 2008 / 10h02
TOKYO (AFP)--Japan's coast guard said Thursday it was sending officials to Somalia's neighbors to help tackle rampant piracy as rising unrest causes headaches for the shipping industry.
The three officials will head to Yemen and Oman from Friday through December 19 "to support training of coast guards there and to get information on what further support they need from us," Japan Coast Guard spokesman Takashi Matsumori said.
It is the first time the Japan Coast Guard has sent officials to the region, although it has conducted joint drills with Southeast Asian countries to fight piracy in the Malacca Strait.
Lobbyists for Japan's maritime industry have urged the country to follow the lead of European states and help patrol the troubled waters off Somalia.
But such an operation will not be easy for Japan as it has been officially pacifist since World War II. The government would need to approve legislation to allow such a mission.
"We have studied the possibility of sending a patrol boat to countries near Somalia but gave up after considering the long distance from Japan and difficulties in working with foreign military organizations," Matsumori said.
Pirates have seized dozens of ships, some owned by Japan, off Somalia this year. The ships are sometimes held for weeks and generally released after governments or owners pay large ransoms.
Some Japanese ships have taken a route around the Cape of Good Hope instead of through the Red Sea, dealing a major financial burden amid the global financial crisis.
Somalia has been without an effective central authority since 1991, when the ouster of president Mohamed Siad Barre set off a deadly power struggle that has defied more than a dozen peace initiatives.
Thursday December 11st, 2008 / 10h02 Source : Dowjones Business News
http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/japan-sends-officials-to-somalia-s-neighbors-to-tackle-577654
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Experts debate China's role in Somalia mission
By Zhang Haizhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-12 07:44
Chinese military strategists and international relations experts are debating whether China should dispatch its navy to the troubled waters off Somalia.
The debate was first kicked off by Major-General Jin Yinan of the National Defense University, when he told a radio station last week that "nobody should be shocked" if the Chinese government one day decides to send navy ships to deal with the pirates.
The general's views came after two Chinese ships - a fishing vessel and a Hong Kong-flag ship with 25 crew aboard - were seized by Somali pirates in mid Nov.
Jin gave no sign that such a naval mission was under immediate consideration, but he said China's growing influence has made it likely that the government might use its forces in security operations far from home.
"I believe the Chinese navy should send naval vessels to the Gulf of Aden to carry out anti-piracy duties," he said. "If one day, the Chinese navy sends ships to deal with pirates, nobody should be shocked."
"With China being a major world economy, it's very difficult to say that security problems across the world have nothing to do with us," Jin said.
While the military strategist is urging an active deployment, other scholars think the government should be cautious before a decision is made.
The Chinese military vessels should go there "only within the UN framework," said Pang Zhongying, a professor of international relations with Renmin University of China.
Since July, the UN has adopted three resolutions urging the international community to respond to the piracy problem off Somalia; the EU started an anti-piracy mission earlier this week in response to the UN resolution.
"Non-intervention is the principle of China's foreign policy, which has not changed," Pang said. However, China is trying to "play a more constructive and responsible role in international conflicts and other crises," he said.
"China is now trying to balance its old principle and the new reality," he added.
China has never dispatched any troops for combat missions overseas. The Chinese army personnel joining UN peacekeeping missions are engineering and medical staff, or police, apart from peacekeepers.
"Non-intervention is in the process of slow change," Pang said, adding China is trying to cooperate with international organizations such as the UN and the African Union (AU) in solving regional and international conflicts, Pang said.
Pang added that he also had some concerns over the Chinese navy's capability.
"I don't think the Chinese navy has the capacity to counter unconventional threats far in the ocean," he said, adding supplying and refueling in the Indian Ocean are key challenges.
However, some military strategists do not agree.
Professor Li Jie, a navy researcher, said the Chinese navy has proved that it is capable of such missions.
In 2002, two Chinese vessels spent four months on a global tour, the country's first.
"Also, the UN resolutions mean that such deployment is legitimate," Li said, noting that rampant piracy is a problem not only for other countries, but also for China.
"I think we should go there," he added, acknowledging that command and communication will be challenges for such multi-national missions.
"But the mission can also be good training for the Chinese navy," he said.
However, Professor Jin Canrong of Renmin University told China Daily: "I think we should not dispatch navy ships there unless we have to do so."
Sending naval vessels to the waters off Somalia may raise some concerns and provide ammunition to "China threat" demagogues, he said.
Instead, joining a prospective UN peacekeeping force is a better choice.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2008-12/12/content_7297675.htm
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US navy would go after pirates if they could be tried
1 day ago
MANAMA (AFP) — The US Navy would go after pirates off Somalia if the international community came up with a process for holding and trying them as criminals, the commander of the US Fifth Fleet said on Friday.
"We would follow the same manner we use down in the Gulf of Mexico in our counter-drug efforts. It's a matter of surveillance, focused surveillance and rapid action," said Vice Admiral Bill Gortney.
But without an internationally recognised legal process for trying pirates, navies have had little choice but to release those captured, Gortney told reporters in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
At least 17 ships are now held by Somali pirates, including an arms-laden Ukrainian cargo vessel and a Saudi-owned super-tanker carrying two million barrels of crude oil.
US and other navies have appeared helpless in the face of a wave of seizures of ships and hostages on the high seas by Somali pirates who have then ransomed them off.
It has not been for lack of authority to act, Gortney acknowledged, noting that the UN Security Council has extended a resolution allowing navies to take action against piracy off Somalia.
"I don't need any authorities for offensive actions against the pirates. I have all I ned," he said.
"If I see a piracy event, I can engage, I can pursue, as long as I maintain positive identification on the vessel that is doing the piracy, and I can engage with lethal fire," he said.
"The problem is once I take them, and they are alive, I don't have any place to take them and hold them accountable for their action."
Since the surge in piracy in August, warships have disrupted more than 50 pirate attacks and destroyed their paraphranalia, he said.
"We've thrown over a lot of AK-47s (automatic assault rifles) and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) and sunk a lot of skiffs out there," he said.
But in most instances those captured have later been released because there are no authorities in Somalia to take custody of them and put them on trial.
Gortney rejected direct attacks on pirate camps in Somalia as a solution because of the risk of killing innocent civilians or causing other collateral damage.
"I see people trying to look for an easy military solution to a problem that demands a non-kinetic solution," he said.
"If you are going to do kinetic strikes into the pirate camps the positive ID and the collateral damage cannot be overestimated. It's very difficult. They are irregulars, they don't wear uniforms," he said.
Gortney said he sees "some movement" internationally on tackling the adjudication issue internationally, and more countries are sending ships to patrol the sea lanes off Somalia.
In addition, some shipping companies have begun posting security detachments on their vessels and taken other defensive measures, which the admiral said was another key to thwarting piracy.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iRvwGU__P8-s2M-gvtEsK6yA-phQ
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Mali hosts anti-al-Qaida exercises
TIMBUKTU, Mali, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. military is training the modest forces of the West African nation of Mali to counter al-Qaida terrorists hiding in its vast deserts, observers say.
U.S. Green Berets took part in an exercise in Mali recently as part of a wide-ranging plan to conduct counterterrorism training outside the Middle East, including a five-year, $500 million partnership with Algeria, Chad, Mauritania, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Mali has only 10,000 people in its military and other security forces and needs to keep track of as many as 200 members of Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, a group that uses the northern Malian desert as a staging area and base of operations, officials say.
"Mali does not have the means to control its borders without the cooperation of the United States," Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, a former prime minister, told the Times.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/13/Mali_hosts_anti-al-Qaida_exercises/UPI-68881229202160/
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Middle East shipping 'riding out' the storm
One of the Middle East's leading maritime business leaders today expressed confidence that the region's shipping industry is riding out the global economic storm.
United Arab Emirates: 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
'I don't see any immediate impact of the global economic crisis on the region's maritime industry,' said Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of Dubai World - owners of DP World - as well as Chairman of Dubai Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, Nakheel, and Dubai Waterfront Company.
'There is still heavy demand for cargo operations - both importing and exporting - between the region and the rest of the world,' said bin Sulayem after officially opening Seatrade Middle East Maritime, which has attracted international and regional shipping operators, financiers and suppliers to assess the impact of the global downturn.
Speaking after touring the exhibition, he described Seatrade Middle East Maritime as one of the world's fastest-growing events of its kind as well as one of the global industry's largest. 'The large number of companies participating in this event reflects the importance of the maritime sector in the United Arab Emirates and the region,' he added.
Seatrade Middle East Maritime, which runs until 16 December, is 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. The Dubai event is held every two years and is ranked among the industry's top 10 largest.
A total of 313 companies from 33 countries are exhibiting at Seatrade Middle East Maritime. More than 500 delegates are also attending associated conferences including Money and Ships, the Seatrade Middle East Cruise Conference and Superyacht Solutions.
Christopher Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade, the event organisers, said:
'The Dubai World chairman (bin Sulayem) is right to emphasis that this region has an important place in world shipping.'
'The Arabian Gulf is one of the most active international maritime centres and while it has always been pivotal in global energy-related transport, more recent economic growth has driven record volumes of containers and increasing bulk cargo. Strategies may need to be adjusted for the new financial era we are entering but the maritime industry will continue to be the lifeline of the regional business community,' he added.
With vessel hijacking on the increase off the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden, a special evening session of the Money and Ships conference will take place on 15th December. The session includes speakers from the security industry, legal advisors, tanker operators and seafarer organisations. Further issues to be debated include fuel, emissions and green technology; the challenge of manning; regional port and trade development; along with shipbuilding and repair.
Seatrade Middle East Maritime 2008 is the largest maritime event of its kind in the region with a record number of exhibitors and stands. National pavilions include China, France, Germany, Holland, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
Principal sponsors of Seatrade Middle East Maritime 2008 include Det Norske Veritas, GEM, Dubai Maritime City Authority, NITC and Gulf Marine. 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 Line, Cloud Cruises and the Ministry of Tourism for the Sultanate of Oman.
The event is 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.
http://www.ameinfo.com/178597.html
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How do you tackle piracy?
By Frank Gardner
BBC security correspondent, Bahrain
On the tranquil island state of Bahrain, home to the headquarters of the US Navy's powerful 5th Fleet, defence ministers, admirals and officials from 25 countries have gathered to discuss, amongst other regional problems, the thorny issue of Somali pirates.
Over the past year, delegates were told, there had been a 300% increase in attempted and actual attacks on shipping in the region, with 17 ships and around 300 crew members currently being held for ransom off the Somalia coast.
In a keynote speech on Saturday the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, called on commercial shipping companies to do more to protect their vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden or sailing past the Horn of Africa.
Instead of stopping when challenged by pirates, he said, they should accelerate and pull up their ladders as there had been plenty of recent instances of ships outmanoeuvring the pirates.
He also suggested that another possible preventative measure could be to post armed guards onboard, but shipping sources in London were quick to dismiss this as impractical.
A leading maritime lawyer told the BBC that if insurers could prove that an armed clash with pirates constituted "unlawful use of weapons at sea" then the insurance company would be unlikely to pay up for any damage or loss of the ship and its cargo.
No shipping company, said the lawyer, would want that.
One option under discussion here in the Gulf is possible military action against pirate bases on land, since nearly everyone agreed that tackling pirates at sea is only dealing with the symptoms of the problem, not the root cause.
The US is sponsoring a draft UN Security Council resolution that would authorise - with permission from the weak Somali government - attacks on pirate land bases.
But while Mr Gates said he believed that the problem came from two or three extended Somali clans, the US did not yet have enough intelligence on which individuals were involved to go after them without causing civilian casualties.
The one thing that had been established, said US naval officers, was that there was no connection between piracy and terrorism.
Consequences
If that changed, they said, then the rules of engagement were likely to become a lot more robust.
Britain's Defence Secretary John Hutton added his own views on piracy, telling the BBC in an interview that the world was paying a price for ignoring Somalia's descent into lawlessness and that piracy was the result.
He said the nature of the threat had changed dramatically over the last 12 months and that the problem stemmed from the pirates' bases on land.
"We haven't been as involved in Somalia as we should have been. This is the consequence.
"It could get worse unless we try and resolve this problem with our regional partners and friends and allies around the world. The piracy is a manifestation of failed states.
"It could take other manifestations: terrorism, drugs, people trafficking and so on. We cannot allow these remote parts of the world to descend into this type of chaos."
International prison?
Finally, there is the question of how to prosecute those accused of piracy.
Senior naval officers from the US, France and other nations agreed here that there was an urgent need to establish an international legal framework for prosecution.
Currently navies are reluctant to arrest alleged pirates as in most cases there was nowhere to take them to stand trial.
What was needed, said some officers, was an international court, backed by the UN, with perhaps even an international prison for those convicted.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7782016.stm
Published: 2008/12/13 21:18:48 GMT
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Strong Somalia needed to defeat pirates: France
5 hours ago
MANAMA (AFP) — Piracy in the Gulf of Aden will only be defeated by a strong government in Somalia, the commander of the French naval operation in the Indian Ocean said on Sunday.
"We will not end this phenomenon unless we have a Somali government that has the means to act on its territory to fight piracy," Vice-Admiral Gerard Valin said on the sidelines of a regional security conference in the Bahraini capital.
Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed on Sunday announced he had sacked Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein and his government, in the latest development in their power struggle.
Valin also hailed the European Union naval mission in the Gulf of Aden as a major step in battling the surge in attacks and hijackings by ransom-hunting Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden, a crucial maritime trade route.
"It is really a leap forward, since this is the first time that a coalition has been formed with the mission of fighting piracy," he told AFP.
The EU mission Atalante, a coalition that groups eight EU countries, began operations off the coast of Somalia on December 8 to try to stem the growing piracy, including the hijacking of a Saudi super tanker last month.
Somali pirates have carried out around 100 attacks in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean since the start of this year. They still hold at least 14 foreign vessels and more than 300 crew members.
The EU and NATO have dispatched naval forces to the region, joining an already existing 16-country coalition and other national navies, but increasingly bold and well-equipped pirates have continued their attacks.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jWOS9-VuXvqeUsAWA0q-f6NJeqPQ
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Intelligence key to fighting pirates
A LACK of intelligence gathering is hampering efforts to combat the increasing problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia, a top US official warned yesterday.
Secretary of Defence Robert Gates said only by gathering more information about those responsible for the wave of attacks and hijackings of vessels would coalition forces be able to bring the situation under control.
"The need for increasing maritime security has been highlighted by the recent high-profile acts of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden," he told delegates attending the second day of the Manama Dialogue security conference.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Joseph Burns on the sidelines of the forum yesterday and reviewed the progress of bilateral relations at all levels.
They affirmed the importance of overcoming crises through dialogue. The Premier stressed the importance of dialogues and forums in achieving security and stability in the world.
Mr Gates, in his speech, dwelled on the global effects of terrorism. He said: "As with terrorism, piracy is a problem that has serious international implications and should be of particular concern to any country that depends on the sea for commerce.
"I have read that there are two or three families or clans in Somalia that account for a substantial amount of this piracy.
"With the level of information we have now, we are not in a position to do that kind of attack on a land-based source of piracy.
"If we can identify who those clans are then we can potentially target them under the auspices of the United Nations and do so in a way that minimises hurting innocent people."
Mr Gates said vessels could also better protect themselves by taking simple passive defensive measures such as speeding up if pirates try to board their ship and pulling up their ladders to deny them access.
"Given the vast coastal areas of Somalia and Kenya - more than a million square miles - there are limits to patrolling alone," he said.
"Members of the international community must work together to aggressively pursue and deter piracy.
"Companies and ships must be more vigilant about staying in recommended traffic corridors and should consider increasing their security personnel and non-lethal defence capabilities."
He made the comments on the second day of the conference, which is being attended by prime ministers, national security advisers, intelligence chiefs and military officials from around the world.
Delegations from 25 countries are attending the event, which concludes at the Ritz-Carlton Bahrain Hotel and Spa today.
It has been organised by the UK-based think tank the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) as a forum where delegates in regional security can meet to discuss key issues.
Mr Gates warned that US adversaries would be "sorely mistaken" to test Barack Obama's resolve in the Gulf as Iran shunned a regional security conference.
"Anyone who thought that the upcoming months might present opportunities to 'test' the new administration would be sorely mistaken," he said.
"The president-elect and his team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the US, and our friends and allies, the moment he takes office on January 20," he said.
"I bring from President-elect Obama a message of continuity and commitment to our friends and partners in the region," he said.
He signalled that he remains concerned about Iraq's long-term stability and Iran's attempts to influence the government in Baghdad.
Mr Gates said a new agreement governing the US military presence in Iraq through the end of 2011 marks "the dawn of a new era in Iraq - where a sovereign, independent and representative government has finally taken root".
Whether Iraq plays a constructive role in the region depends in part on whether Arab states act to support its government, treating it as an equal and inviting it to take part in regional economic and political forums, Gates said.
Speaking during the first plenary session, Mr Gates criticised Iran for "meddling" in Iraq and undermining peace and stability.
"It is clear that Iran has this year tested long-range missiles that could hit any country in the Middle East," he said.
"At the same time Iran has continued with its nuclear programme that is almost assuredly geared towards developing nuclear weapons.
"The last thing this region or the world needs is a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."
Mr Gates also called for more European Union involvement in Afghanistan to help train its police and security forces and offer financial assistance to build up medical, education and road infrastructure.
However, Britain's Defence Secretary John Hutton said the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan don't pose a strategic threat to the government in Kabul and international forces deployed in the country.
He said the only tactic of the Taliban and Al Qaeda is to "outlast us" in Afghanistan.
Given the "risk and danger" Afghanistan would pose if those forces were to gain control, "we better make it our business" they don't succeed, Mr Hutton said yesterday.
There's a need for more security in Afghanistan, he added, but said there were no plans yet to increase Britain's troop level from the current 8,400.
Mr Hutton was speaking on the sidelines of the conference.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=237661&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=31269
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Vulnerable vessels may get EU armed guards
David Osler - Thursday 11 December 2008
THE European Union’s EU Navfor counterpiracy taskforce will in some circumstances provide free armed guards to protect vulnerable merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden, as part of its response to the explosion in piracy close to Somalia.
Sources at the mission stressed that World Food Programme ships would have first call on resources, and that the offer - which will work to the obvious disadvantage of commercial security concerns - will not be extended to all applicants. Operators should continue to explore non-lethal self-protection methods, they argued strongly.
A representative said that cover from so-called ‘vessel protection detachments’ would only be extended where a vessel’s owner and flag state wanted this to happen.
“Vessel protection detachments have a variety of things that they can do to combat piracy. It doesn’t start with force, there are tactics and things they can advise masters to do to avoid being attacked,” he stated.
“How we go about this, what we decide is vulnerable shipping and whether or not shipowners want us to help them in that way is a matter for discussion... We are not sticking a whole load of armed guards on every vessel that goes through [the Gulf of Aden].”
Military forces will be from across EU Navfor, and will not charge for their services, he added.
Peter Hinchliffe, head of security at the Chamber of Shipping, pointed out that France has informally offered armed guards for several months, as part of its loose escorting arrangements for groups of ships.
“One of the options that was available was to ask the French, by prior agreement, to put a handful of armed guards on board. It was open to those who asked for it, on a clear order of priority. The French came first, then Europe, then others.”
A number of operators availed themselves of the option, Mr Hinchliffe confirmed, and he described what EU Navor is doing as a continuation of the French policy.
One leading private security concern welcomed the EU Navfor move. Chris Austen of Maritime & Underwater Security Consultants, an ex-Royal Navy man, commented: “I’m very happy with this. It is the job of armed forces to provide armed intervention.”
Meanwhile, there are reports that the US has circulated a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, explicitly authorising action against Somali pirates on land and in Somalian airspace, in what is being hailed as probably the last major foreign policy initiative of the outgoing administration of George W. Bush.
The resolution is likely to tabled on Tuesday next week by secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, and is said to argue that nations “may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including in its airspace, to interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to otherwise prevent those activities.”
The move comes after the Security Council earlier this month extended authorisation for naval units to enter Somali waters with advance notice and to use “all necessary means” to tackle piracy.
However, it is already being suggested that Russia and China will prevent the resolution from being carried.
http://lloydslist.com/ll/news/vulnerable-vessels-may-get-eu-armed-guards/20017599358.htm
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Armed guards on ships could raise liability issues
David Osler - Friday 12 December 2008
A Dutch special forces stands guard near the bridge of a vessel.
PUTTING European Union military guards on vulnerable vessels in the piracy-prone Gulf of Aden may raise knotty liability problems from an insurance viewpoint, shipping sources have warned.
While their presence in itself probably would not automatically invalidate cover, the question of whether the owner is acting as a ‘prudent uninsured’ in allowing them onto his ship may arise, according to one expert. Moreover, injury or death to armed forces personnel is not covered by typical war risk policies, he added.
Meanwhile, an EU Navfor naval mission official told Lloyd’s List that at present there are no plans to follow an earlier French navy lead and make shipowners availing themselves of guards sign a contract releasing the military from almost all potential liabilities.
However, specialists stressed that even if EU protection is on a non-contractual basis, shipowners still need to check out their position with their P&I clubs.
France for some time operated loose escort arrangements in the region, and until recently provided armed guards to merchant shipping, with priority given to French vessels, followed by other EU vessels, and then those from the rest of the world.
Many companies, mainly French, took the offer up, even though shipowner grouping BIMCO advised that the strict wording of the contracts meant that this should only be done as a last resort.
Partly as a result, France then drew up a rewritten contract with less stringent terms. The facility has since been withdrawn, with the French contribution now directed through EU Navfor.
EU Navfor is prioritising guards for World Food Programme ships, but has said that in principle and subject to availability, military personnel will be available to vulnerable vessels free of charge, if certain stipulations including flag state agreement are met.
One shipping security specialist said: “When the French did this, we were particularly concerned about the contracts that were being forced upon the owner or the charterer or the master, which released the French military from all liability, and indeed, demanded returns from whoever signed the document should there be any casualties to the French forces.”
He added that although EU Navfor has verbally confirmed its plans, they have not been made explicit in any of the written material circulated to shipping interests.
Another expert added: “Our advice is what it always is; companies have to make their own risk assessment, based on prevailing circumstances on their ship and then decide what is the most appropriate thing to do.
“I know that some companies used the French offer, and clearly it is much more acceptable to take on board military personnel than hire in guards, if you have absolutely no idea whether they are any good or not.”
A war risks underwriter for a mutual commented: “If armed guards are on board, there are potentially quite serious insurance implications. Certain flag states prohibit weapons being carried on board ships as well.”
Cover would not automatically be invalidated, he believed, and shipowners resorting to armed guards may well argue that in so doing, they are simply acting as prudent uninsureds.
“An underwriter could say, well, we think you are not acting as a prudent uninsured and there would be potential implications on cover... There may be impacts on any potential claims recoveries.”
War risk insurers cover crew members killed or injured in pirate incidents. However, armed guards are not considered part of the crew of a ship.
“If you have armed guards on board, the threat escalates. There’s more likely to be a claim. I do not see many insurers particularly wanting increased exposure. We wouldn’t be covering them, absent any special agreement to do so.”
http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/viewArticle.htm?articleId=20017599815&src=rss
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Stormy waters for moving freight
By James Melik
BBC World Service business reporter
The cost of hiring a ship to move freight around the world has fallen by a staggering 99% in the past six months.
In early June, renting a bulk carrier to transport coal or iron ore would have cost $235,000 a day, whereas now it is barely $2,000.
That brings the Baltic Exchange's sea-freight index, known as the Baltic dry index, to its lowest level since 1986.
Peter Norfolk, a director at the London brokers Simpson Spence and Young, explained to BBC World Service's Business Daily that hiring a ship was a complex matter, with companies hiring and then re-hiring to third and fourth parties.
"You might rent a vessel for $100,000 a day for two or three years," he says, "and then hire it out at "$120,000 a day."
Unable to hire them out at a profit, some companies are returning their ships early.
Ship owners are now having to lay up their vessels and, apart from a skeletal crew to manage essential electrical and mechanical maintenance, other crew members are being made redundant.
China's crucial role
The collapse in price had been greatest for the biggest ships - called the Cape-size carriers, because they are too big for the Suez Canal and have to go round Cape Horn between Europe and China.
Part of the reversal has been caused by the change in the steel industry, which in the first part of the year was still growing by about 6% annually but which is now experiencing negative growth.
"For the past five years we have seen a very strong demand for industrial commodities which supported the shipping industry, but all of a sudden the situation has been reversed," says Peter Norfolk.
More than 50% of all bulk cargoes are related to the steel industry, which reflects the fundamental economic growth of most nations.
Grains are also transported by bulk carriers and countries such as China rely on imports to feed its population.
It ought to be good news for the consumer as the cost of shipping goods around the world decreases, but Peter Norfolk warns that if people can't afford to ship goods then there will be an impact on trade.
"This market relies so much on the Chinese economy", he says, "so unless there is some rebound in demand there is unlikely to be much improvement.
Relative calm
Although the market for container shipping has weakened due to the collapse in demand from Europe and America for Asian goods it remains, for the time being, a comparatively healthy sector.
At the end of September, there were 4.600 container ships moving around the world whilst only 80 were at anchorage.
However, the world's second largest container manufacturer, Singamas, says it is operating at 60% of its normal level due to the slowdown in Chinese exports.
Meanwhile, companies which have invested in shipyards to build vessels are now facing question marks over their financial viability and many of them are having to reconsider their strategy.
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/mpapps/pagetools/print/news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7777507.stm?ad=1
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Blackbeard Apt to be Al Qaeda Operative with Global Objectives
Published Dec 12, 2008, by ■ Carol Forsloff
If terrorists like Al Qaeda are planning a high profile attack, it may come this time not from the skies but from the oceans of the world.
For 300 years since his death, the pirate Blackbeard has fascinated people. These days Blackbeard is apt to be more than a local worry. If terrorists like Al Qaeda are planning a high profile attack, it may come this time not from the skies but from the oceans of the world. Indeed while world attention is being given to airlines and trains and protecting citizens from biological attack, piracy, that age-old means of taking power in strategic areas, creating fear and blockading the shipment of supplies, may end up being that major attack that Ayman Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant, says could happen any time. By taking over the high seas, terrorists could create worldwide chaos that would be exacerbated by the deepening recession gripping countries everywhere.
Somali pirates have reached headline news status with their bold attacks on oil-bearing vessels and even cruise ships, including a recent one profiled as able to out-maneuver and speed away in order to avoid capture. But across the world, the boldness and desperation of the Somalis, who are largely Muslim, may be only just the proverbial tip of the iceberg that may sink the economies of the free world and then some. In fact evidence suggests that we are headed toward that iceberg and may suffer like the Titanic with not enough lifeboats for all the people seeking safety or rescue.
Piracy has been an ongoing problem throughout much of world history, ever since man learned he could float a boat, get from one place to another, and gain dominance over something or someone. Julius Caesar, it has been said, was a victim, and although Romans swiftly punished his captors and gained Caesars release, the problem of piracy continues. Now it is the Muslims, who have the longest history with piracy and virtually invented it, who are front and center all over the world and potentially planning to dominate the oceans. These modern corsairs can be ruthless, as modern history and experience with Somali pirates suggests.
On the chess board of the world, attack points for terrorists include the Strait of Hormuz leading out of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Malacca which links the Indian and Pacific Oceans,the Bab ed-Mandab passage from the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea, the Panama Canal and the Panama Pipeline that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Sumed Pipeline connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the Turkish Straits Bosporus linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal, a major area for shipping for countries throughout the world.
Recent history shows that Al Qaeda is interested in attacking shipping and their attacks on key cities around the world reveal that they think globally. Their planned inclusion of the world’s oceans in the Global War on Terror was demonstrated by the failed attack on the USS the Sullivans as well as the successful one on the USS Cole in 2000, which was a clarion call for action before the bombing of the World Trade Towers.
The Long War Journal an article entitled “Of Pirates and Terrorists”, described what Muslim pirates might do about the Panama Canal where Al Qaeda has allegedly been making plans to establish a base and begin full piracy operations. It is thought also that terrorists are considering hijacking a ship, wiring it with explosives, and aiming it at other vessels headed towards a major port in some congested sea route area such as Indonesia or even the Port of Panama.
Perhaps Barack Obama, with his noted world vision and early experience in Indonesia, is already thinking globally about piracy and the security and welfare of the United States with regard to terrorism from the seas. It appears that the world must hope that Obama and the other leaders of the free world will note the seriousness of the problem of piracy and are preparing to prevent a major attack on the high seas or simultaneous blockades of strategic ocean channels before it is too late.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/263422
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Somalia - UN Opposition To Punishing Pirates
December 12, 2008: Violence continues in Mogadishu, as pro and anti-Islamic radical clans fight for control of the city. At least one large group of pro-Islamic radical (Shebab) gunmen is wandering around central Somalia, raiding towns controlled by anti-Islamic radical clans.
Uganda and Burundi want to withdraw their peacekeeping troops from Mogadishu as soon as possible. The UN has been unable to obtain additional peacekeepers to replace the 2,000 Ethiopians that will withdraw by next month, and the 3,400 Ugandan and Burundi troops do not want to be left in the chaotic city all by themselves. Meanwhile, the Transitional National Government (TNG) has largely fallen apart. After several years of effort, and international support (especially from southern neighbor Kenya) the TNG has lost most (at least 80 percent) of the 15,000 soldiers and police that foreign aid paid to equip and train. The men have gone back to their clans and warlords, taking their uniforms and weapons with them.
Kenya has agreed to accept, and prosecute, pirates arrested off the coast of Somalia. The pirates will be tried under Kenyan law, but foreign countries will provide money to help pay for the proceedings.
December 11, 2008: The U.S. is proposing that the UN authorize members to "take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia" to deal with the pirates. Many African, and Arab, UN members oppose such a blanket permission, fearing it would lead to many Somali civilian casualties.
December 10, 2008: Somali pirates seized two Yemeni fishing ships, and 17 crew members. But seven fishermen escaped in a small boat to report the seizures off the Yemeni coast, near the port of Aden.
December 6, 2008: Islamic radical (Shebab) raided the town of 370 kilometers north of Mogadishu. There were several dozen casualties. Meanwhile, Somali pirates continue to operate far into the Indian ocean, as two speed boats tried, and failed to take a large container ship 800 kilometers off the coast of Tanzania (which is south of Somalia's southern neighbor Kenya). This is apparently the same gang that seized a Saudi oil tanker last month. The two speed boats were towed by a larger mother ship, which is patrolling the sea lanes for ships too large for the Suez canal, and that must go around South Africa. The crew of the container ship could see the mother ship, a large fishing boat, in the distance.
December 5, 2008: A Danish warship rescued seven men found drifting in the Gulf of Aden in a speedboat with a broken outboard engine. The seven were armed with AK-47s and RPGs. These were confiscated and the speedboat was sunk. The men were obviously pirates, but because they were not attacking anyone when the Danes found them, the Danes could not arrest them. The seven pirates were handed over to the Yemeni coast guard, which probably means these Somalis are out of the piracy business for good.
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/somalia/articles/20081212.aspx
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UN Army Under Attack
December 14, 2008: The UN's peacekeeping army of 112,000 troops, is falling apart. Corruption, casualties and lack of success are discouraging countries from contributing their troops. The corruption angle is interesting, as it pertains both to the corruption within the UN bureaucracy, and the corrupt atmosphere the peacekeepers operate in, and often succumb to. Casualties are expected, but the contributing countries feel a lot of their troop losses are the result of restrictive UN rules that limit what peacekeepers can do. This, in turn, is believed most responsible for a lack of success for the peacekeeping missions.
For some time, most of the peacekeeping troops have come from India and Pakistan. These two nations are not happy with the lack of volunteers from other major nations. The chief reasons for that are the same ones annoying the current peacekeepers (corruption and restrictive rules of engagement). In addition, the major military powers (with the exception of China and Russia) feel they already contribute quite a lot in the form of money to pay the peacekeepers. And the contributors are also upset at the lack of results.
The UN will spend about $7 billion on fifteen peacekeeping operations this year. This pays for a force of over 112,000 troops and support staff. It's actually a pretty cheap way of keeping some conflicts under control. The causes of the unrest may not be resolved by peacekeepers, but at least the problem is contained and doesn't bother the rest of the world too much. This is an increasingly unpopular approach to peacekeeping, except in the UN bureaucracy. Many UN members would rather send peacekeepers to where they are not wanted (by the government, usually a bad one, that is often the cause of the trouble in the first place.)
Most of the money is going to a few large peacekeeping operations. Three of the largest get over half the cash. Thus the Congo operations get 17.5 percent of the money, Darfur (western Sudan) gets 22 percent and southern Sudan gets 12 percent. Africa has the largest number of "failed states" on the planet and, as such, is most in need of outside security assistance. The Middle East is also a source of much unrest. But there the problem isn't a lack of government, just bad government. Most Middle Eastern nations are run by tyrants, who have created police states that at least keep anarchy at bay.
To further complicate matters, religion has become a touchy subject. While Islamic radicalism is more of a problem to fellow Moslems than it is to infidels (non-Moslems), most Middle Eastern governments avoid blaming Islam for these problems. Since it's increasing difficult to pin the blame on "colonialism" or "crusaders," the Middle Eastern nations encourage other UN members to just stay away from the religious angle altogether. This has made it difficult to deal with peacekeeping issues in Moslem nations, since religion usually plays a part in creating the problem. To the UN, this is just another diplomatic problem to be dealt with, not very well.
But overall, the troops and money that keep all the peacekeeping going are in danger of fading away. Frantic diplomacy is underway by the UN to try and makes things all better, but success is not assured.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htun/articles/20081214.aspx
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Rehab For Elderly Tomahawks
December 13, 2008: The U.S. Navy is refurbishing 165 older Tomahawk land attack missiles, for continued use in ships and submarines. These missiles are built to have a long shelf life, but once they get older, they have to be refurbished to insure reliability. It will cost about $206,000 for each missile (including 32 British Tomahawks). More recent models of the Tomahawk are equipped with sensors that report the status of many components, enabling missiles to be kept in shape with periodic maintenance and replacement of failing components. This would not eliminate refurbishment, but would make the process less frequent and cheaper.
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsurf/articles/20081213.aspx
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Regards
Snooper
NNNN
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
SN-12 December 2008A
Please Note
Holidays is here !!!
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 !!!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2008
A Roar in the Night
Latest Position: 12/11/08 0400Z 29 22.386S 32 16.797E (70 miles out of Durban, South Africa)
The wind finally filled in yesterday around 10 pm. I had about 12 knots on the aft starboard quarter and it has been building and shifting towards the bow ever since. Last night I was about 160 miles out of Durban and going along at about 6-7 knots. At that speed I could make the harbor just on dark. Not a big problem because I have a full moon. I went to bed around 11 and was woken around 2 am by the roar of thunder. It just goes to further prove my theory that if it is going to happen, it will happen between 2-3 in the morning. So I got up to the cockpit and took a look at the gauges. I was going 8.3 knots with 25 knots on the beam. I had hit one of the currents that runs along the coast of Africa. Now that I was in the cockpit I could see the lightning striking all around me. I counted the seconds between the flash and the thunder and got to two! Not sure what that means but it was way too close for me. I altered course so I would get as far upwind from the squall as I could. But bashing into 25 knots makes it 30 knots so I had a pretty wild ride for about an hour. At its closest point I had lightning about a mile away while going through a squall. At 3-something this morning I was able to get back on course and go back to sleep. Over the night I passed about 10 ships. They were also dodging the scattered electrical storms. I'm not sure what happens when a massive metal ship gets hit by lightning but they were making some pretty sharp turns to avoid it. Another electrical storm/squall showed up on radar around 6am but it passed about 3 miles away. I am 60 miles from Durban as I type coming in fast with a 7 knot average. If the wind stays steady I should be in while it is still light. Have to get back to it here.
Cheers,
Zac
@Steve in Yuma: It is amazing spending all this time at sea and not getting bored. There is always something to do - though it is not always exciting.
@Melanie: Not sure how long I'll be in Durban. My push to get across the Indian Ocean is over and I now have some time to relax.
@Kate: I bought the canned Mac and Cheese in Cocos Keeling and it is pretty awful!
The latest blog from Pete Thomas from the LA Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/12/zac-sunderland.html
POSTED BY ZAC AT 8:39 PM
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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.
No Update Received ………
Visit : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/
Blog : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
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Global sailors Zac Sunderland and Mike Perham, Yank versus Brit
9:23 AM, December 10, 2008
Zac Sunderland is on one side of Africa, Mike Perham is on the other. The Yank and Brit, 17 and 16, respectively, are both trying to become the youngest person to sail alone around the world.
Sunderland, who has been on his adventure since June 14, is currently attempting a tricky sail into Durban, South Africa, and is past the halfway point. But he still must round the treacherous Cape of Good Hope. The Thousand Oaks adventurer is on a grass-roots-type excursion aboard a 36-foot Islander named Intrepid.
He has been doing his own provisioning and is down to canned mac-n-cheese and canned curry.
Perham is aboard a sleek, fully provisioned 50-foot racing yacht. He left Nov. 15 and had planned on sailing nonstop and completing his journey in four months, beating Sunderland into the record book.
Many Sunderland fans perceive this to be a deliberate attempt to steal Zac's thunder. Truth is, Perham had been working toward this project for years.
But no one knows how things will turn out. Perham has been sidelined for more than a week in the Canary Islands because of problems with his autopilot, so his "nonstop" effort is over.
They are two different adventures. Sunderland (pictured above with girls he met in Mauritius) is stopping in ports and seeing the world. Perham just wants to get around it as quickly as he can.
But it has become a race of sorts and both will be winners merely by surviving the length of their odysseys. Sailing around the world alone -- with its storminess and piracy -- is a very serious, man-sized undertaking.
-- Pete Thomas
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/12/zac-sunderland.html
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Shipyards to watch orders plummet
Shipbuilding orders will fall by 60% next year and newbuild prices will drop by 30% from their peak by 2010, according to Bao Zhangjing, chief researcher at China Shipbuilding Economy Research Center (CSRC) in Beijing.
Lloyds List reports that Bao said that “owners will not order as long as they believe prices will fall further, though yards have no immediate need to cut prices, having a two to three year orderbook and are adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach”.
He predicted that newbuilding orders, which have already fallen sharply, from 14m dwt in August to less than 1m dwt in November, will drop by 60% in 2009 from the 2008 total of about 150m dwt.
There will be a further fall in 2010 to less than 50m dwt.
A modest recovery will appear in 2011 as yards start to seek to fill spare capacity from 2012, but it will be 2012 before new orders return to 100m dwt, Bao suggested.
Story By : Alan Peat
Date :12/11/2008
Related Sections : Other
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7074
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TPT to close terminals on Christmas and New Year
Transnet Port Terminals will close Durban Pier 1, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town Container Terminals on December 25, 2008 and January 1, 2009.
TPT will extend the free storage periods and export stacks by one day to compensate for each day not worked.
Story By : Joy Orlek
Date :12/11/2008
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7081
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DryShips Cancels Acquisition of Four Panamax Drybulk Carriers
Thursday, 11 December 2008
DryShips Inc., a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk cargoes, announced yesterday that it has agreed to cancel the previously declared acquisition of four Panamax dry bulk carriers, which was announced on July 3, 2008, from companies beneficially owned by George Economou, Chairman and CEO of DryShips Inc. The aggregate purchase price of US$ 400 million would have represented a significant cash outflow from the Company's cash reserves given that the Company had not obtained bank financing for the acquisition. The Audit Committee of DryShips Inc. concluded that due to the significant deterioration in the dry bulk market since the time the agreements were entered into, it would not be in the best interest of DryShips Inc. to consummate the transaction. The Company will seek to amend, wherever possible, the contracts regarding dry bulk acquisition and newbuilding commitments, potentially resulting in significant capital expenditure savings.
As part of the agreement, the selling companies will retain the deposits totaling $ 55 million for the four vessels, comprised of (i) a 75,228 dwt Panamax vessel built in 2008 (ii) a 75,204 dwt Panamax vessel built in 2007 (iii) a 75,000 dwt Panamax vessel under construction in China scheduled to be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2008 and (iv) a 75,000 dwt Panamax vessel under construction in China scheduled to be delivered during the first quarter of 2009.
Moreover, DryShips Inc. has entered into an agreement with the selling companies of the above vessels, providing DryShips Inc. with the exclusive option to purchase the abovementioned four Panamax dry bulk carriers on an en bloc basis at a fixed purchase price of US$ 160 million. The exclusive purchase option granted to DryShips Inc. by the Seller will terminate on December 31, 2009. In consideration of the cancellation of the acquisitions and the exclusive purchase option granted to the Company, DryShips Inc. has paid to each of the selling companies an additional fee in cash amounting on average to US$ 26.25 million per vessel. The agreement was negotiated and approved by a committee consisting of the independent members of the Company's Board of Directors.
In addition, the previously announced sale of the M/V Lacerta a 1994 built 71,862 dwt Panamax drybulk carrier for a price of approximately $55.5 million will not close due to the Buyer's decision to not perform its obligations under the Memorandum of Agreement. DryShips Inc. intends to pursue all legal remedies against the Buyer.
DryShips Inc., based in Greece, is an owner and operator of drybulk carriers that operate worldwide. As of the day of this release, DryShips owns a fleet of 38 drybulk carriers in the water comprising 7 Capesize, 29 Panamax, 2 Supramax and 5 newbuilding drybulk vessels with a combined deadweight tonnage of over 3.4 million tons, 2 ultra deep water semi-submersible drilling rigs and 2 ultra deep water newbuilding drillships.
Source: Dryships
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28356&Itemid=95
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Somali pirates hijack two Yemeni ships
Indo-Asian News Service
Thursday, December 11, 2008, (Sanaa)
Somali pirates hijacked two Yemeni fishing ships and took 22 fishermen hostage in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, Yemen's interior ministry said.
The pirates attacked the ships as they sailed off the Mait area near the southern port city of Aden, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
Before the pirates took control of the ships, seven fishermen escaped on a small boat to report the attacks to the Yemeni Coast Guard Authority in Aden, the statement said.
Twenty-two other fishermen, all Yemenis, were held hostage on the hijacked ships, it said.
The reported hijacking took place late on Wednesday, hours after a German cruise ship evacuated 370 passengers and crewmembers in a Yemeni port before it headed to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden on its way to Oman.
The evacuation was a precautionary move out of fear of an attack by pirates. The passengers disembarked from the MS Columbus at the Red Sea port of Houdieda to bypass the Gulf of Aden by air to Dubai, port sources said.
Last week, Somali pirates freed a Yemeni cargo ship two weeks after they hijacked it in the Arabian Sea and demanded $2 million in ransom. Yemeni officials said it was released without ransom after negotiations between the pirates and Somali tribal leaders.
On Tuesday, the European Union deployed a naval task force off the coast of Somalia to protect vessels from threats by pirates.
A German warship warded off a suspected piracy attack on another German cruise ship, MS Astor, in the Gulf of Aden last week.
More than 60 incidents of piracy have been recorded in waters off the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden in the first nine months of this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080076068
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Lloyd's Register Group reports strong performance in 2007/08
Thursday, 11 December 2008
In his report on the accounts for the year ended June 30, 2008, David Moorhouse, Chairman of Lloyd's Register, has announced that Group income rose by 19.6% to £594 million (2006/07: £497 million) with a marginal increase in surplus before tax generally in line with the budgeted target. The budgeted surplus for the year allowed for a significant increase in spending on projects and personnel in support of the Group's medium and long term business objectives.
"Following very strong growth in 2007 I am pleased to be able to report another year of strong underlying financial performance in 2008. While the recent global financial chaos had little effect on our results for the year to June 2008, it is clear that next year will pose a significant challenge to the Group. I am confident that if we take appropriate action in the short term the Group will achieve a positive outcome next year.
"Our charitable giving this year was £6.3 million, with £6.0 million going to the Lloyd's Register Education Trust and £0.3 million being awarded to various community charities.
"The acquisition in the year of ModuSpec represents the largest purchase ever made by Lloyd's Register and provides the opportunity for us to expand our oil and gas activity significantly in an area that has the potential to utilise other components of our Oil & Gas, Marine and Management Systems businesses. Other acquisitions in the year were Knowledge Based Management Limited (UK), Marine Container Consultants Limited (UK) and Martec Limited (Canada)" Mr Moorhouse said.
Richard Sadler, Chief Executive Officer said: "2007/08 has seen yet more investment in client relationship management and ensuring the alignment of our services with specific client sector needs. The Group recognises the role that our clients have in complex global supply chains and we aim to be able to support them at a local and global level, dependant on their need, by providing a wide portfolio of services in the energy and transport sectors. This vision drives our service development and acquisition strategy."
During the year, the UK Government published a further iteration of the new Public Benefit Test as part of the new charities law, which passed in to legislation in November of 2006. The forthcoming enactment of the new legislation has caused Lloyd's Register to amend yet again its governance structure in order to be compliant and to ensure effective management of its business.
"As a consequence of the restructuring we have had to say goodbye to the majority of our non-executives and I would like to thank Rodney Baker-Bates, Dr Tony Barrell, Peter Chrismas, Chris Knight, The Baroness Scott of Needham Market and Simon Sherrard, all of whom made a significant contribution to the success of the Group. Their collective and individual contributions will be greatly missed. A new board of Trustees has replaced the non-executives: John D Chandris (Senior Trustee), Christine Dandridge, Ron Henderson, Jan Kopernicki, Soren Skou and Lambros Varnavides" said Mr Moorhouse.
"I would like to add a special welcome to Alastair Marsh, our new Chief Financial Officer. Alastair, who until March of 2008 was the Group Financial Controller, brings a wealth of experience to the role and a rapport with his colleagues that makes him particularly well suited to the challenges that lie ahead."
Business highlights
Marine The Group's Marine business achieved revenues 14.7% up on the prior year. The marine market, having enjoyed a six year period of exceptional growth, has moved to a period of high volatility and significant decline in the number of new ship orders. While Lloyd's Register's new construction order book looks very positive through 2010, it is conscious of the potential for high levels of existing ship order cancellation and of the need to adopt a proactive stance in this challenging market. In the year, the Marine business again achieved great success in attracting quality tonnage to Lloyd's Register class and continued to put a very strong emphasis on the quality of the vessels in its classed fleet. Despite the number of vessels disclassed exceeding the number of transfers into class, new constructions entering the fleet have increased the total fleet size to a record 144 mgt as of June 2008.
Source: Lloyd’s Register
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28347&Itemid=79
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U.S. Asking UN to Back Pursuit of Pirates on Somali Territory
Thursday, 11 December 2008
The U.S. is asking the United Nations Security Council to authorize the pursuit of pirates operating off the coast of Somalia onto land, with permission from the nation’s provisional government, diplomats said. A draft resolution has been given to some member governments on the panel, and a vote may be sought as early as next week, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to be at UN headquarters in New York, according to Chinese, French and Indonesia envoys.
The move follows the Dec. 8 decision of the European Union to approve deployment of a naval force off Somalia, the 27-member organization’s first such mission. The force would try to suppress piracy in an area more than three times the size of France. Somali pirates have attacked about 120 boats in the region this year, seizing at least 40 vessels.
The draft will face concerns among council members such as Indonesia over concerns that pursuit of pirates onto land might violate provisions of the Law of the Sea. French Deputy Ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix said some countries might be “really very nervous” about authorizing landings and military engagements against pirates.
“We want to be sure we are not creating new international law,” Indonesian Ambassador Marty Natalegawa said.
The Security Council has adopted a series of resolutions authorizing increasingly aggressive operations against pirates. A Dec. 2 text gives naval forces the right to use “all necessary means to suppress piracy,” both in Somali and international waters, and to destroy the pirate ships.
The pirates operate along Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast, as well as in the Gulf of Aden, a transit point for the 20,000 ships a year that use the Suez Canal.
Among the ships the pirates are holding are a Ukrainian cargo ship with T-72 tanks and a Saudi tanker with 2 million barrels of oil.
Source: Bloomberg
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28337&Itemid=79
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Maersk Line warns shipping industry needs a lifebelt
Thursday, 11 December 2008
It was the one industry geared for huge volume growth. From China alone, annual double-digit percentage increases in trade had been the norm in the shipping world. But a sudden and sharp slowdown in global trade is hurting the cashflow of container shipping companies. The situation is so critical that a senior executive of Maersk Line said that the accelerating traffic decline could push a big group over the edge next year.
Maersk, the world's leading container shipping line, has slashed the rates it charges for transporting containers on its Asia-America routes and last week the Danish company said that it was laying up eight vessels amid worsening market conditions.
The eight ships, each with a capacity for 6,500 containers, will remain at anchor, probably in the Far East, until next summer. They are unlikely to represent the last capacity cut for the shipping giant, Michel Deleuran, head of network and product at Maersk, said: “We are certainly seeing a dramatic slowdown. The decline we are seeing in recent weeks is faster and deeper than what most people had expected only a few months ago. If we don't see improvements, we will be laying up more.”
The sudden drop in trade volumes on Far Eastern routes is causing havoc. Mr Deleuran told The Times that the failure of a big shipping group cannot be ruled out: “I think that would be realistic, looking at the cost figures and the uneconomic rates.”
Maersk has cut its container freight rates from Asia to the American West Coast by nearly a quarter and on Asia to Europe routes industry rates have collapsed to a fifth of what they were a year ago.
“If that does not change, one or more of the larger lines could be in financial difficulty next year. Some people could be really challenged by cashflows,” Mr Deleuran said.
The sudden drop in traffic from Asian workshops to the consumer markets in Europe and North America has surprised shippers. Further evidence of the decline emerged yesterday when Neptune Orient Lines, the Singaporean company that owns APL, the seventh-biggest container transporter, signalled that volumes had dropped by 12 per cent in November compared with the same four weeks in 2007.
Last month, Neptune Orient gave warning that it would cut its workforce by 9 per cent amid the worsening economic outlook.
China Merchant Holdings, the country's biggest port operator, said that it would curb its expansion plan because of the weakening shipping market. Fu Yuning, China Merchant's chairman, said that he expected slower throughput at the country's biggest ports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
The weak shipping market has put the brakes on companies that make containers, used for the avalanche of consumer products made in Chinese factories. On Monday, CIMC issued a warning in response to rumours that it had halted production: “Our company has warned of the risks as slowing demand is now a universal phenomenon due to the economic environment caused by the global financial tsunami.”
According to Mr Deleuran, traffic growth in the container market had been at the rate of 10 per cent a year every year, but the growth had suddenly declined and may have reached nil or decline.
According to shipping experts at Lloyd's List, the market was anticipating a capacity expansion of 50 per cent over the next three to four years.
“There have been a lot of lay-ups, 135 container ships are thought to be idle at the moment,” Janet Porter, of Lloyd's List, said.
Mr Deleuran said the question for the market was how much of the capacity under order had found charterers. “There are quite a number of ships under order. We are potentially seeing an over-tonnage situation in 2009.”
Maersk Line has a fleet of 470 vessels and in July the company placed an order with Daewoo Shipbuilding, of Korea, for 16 container ships to be delivered between 2010 and 2012.
Shifting world trade
World trade will shrink next year, the first downturn in global commerce since 1982, according to forecasts from the World Bank.
The fall in trade volumes is being driven by a sharp drop in demand in high-income countries and a slowdown in economic activity across the developing world.
The credit crunch is causing private investment, the most cyclical element in global trade, to dry up, but one new factor, cited by the World Bank in its annual forecast, Global Economic Prospects, is the effect of the credit drought on trade finance. Commercial bank trade credits are disappearing and companies are finding it hard to insure exposure to trade receipts.
The World Bank said there was evidence of shifting patterns of trade from consumer markets in the West to higher growth markets in the developing world.
For example, the proportion of India's exports going to the US fell from 17.1 per cent in 2004 to 15.3 per cent in 2007 but the proportion going to China rose from 5.5 per cent to 8.4 per cent.
Source: Times Online
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28346&Itemid=79
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BAE Systems Awarded Adelaide Class Frigate Support Contract
SYDNEY, Australia – BAE Systems has been awarded a five-year contract to provide engineering, maintenance and supply support to the Royal Australian Navy’s four guided missile frigates (FFGs).
BAE Systems will assume the Integrated Materiel Support service delivery for the Adelaide Class frigates, HMAS Darwin, HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Newcastle and HMAS Sydney from 1 January next year.
The performance-based contract is expected to generate approximately $60 million in revenue over the life of the agreement. The scope of the contract will see BAE Systems:
- Managing integrated materiel support including quality management;
- Undertaking engineering analysis, changes and support;
- Planning for all maintenance activities, preparing work instructions, responding to defects and preparing technical documentation, and
- Providing inventory analysis and planning, management of spares and other supply support.
BAE Systems Australia’s Managing Director Jim McDowell said today that the contract would also significantly enhance the company’s strategic footprint at the Garden Island naval facility in Sydney.
“This new contract will require BAE Systems to create 60 new jobs at Garden Island and North Ryde, more than doubling the size of our existing workforce there,” Mr McDowell said.
“The awarding of this contract is another example of BAE System’s capabilities in providing the best possible through-life support for the RAN.
BAE Systems is the premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With approximately 100,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems’ sales exceeded Ј15.7 billion (US $31.4 billion) in 2007.
http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148357&Itemid=32
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European yards to banks: Asia's problems not ours
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Cancellations of bulk carriers and containership orders at Korean and Chinese shipyards are having a negative effect on European shipbuilders. According to CESA (Community of European Shipbuilders' Associations), European yards are being hurt as banks withdraw from financing shipyards because of the negative news from Asia. CESA and its national member associations are calling on European institutions and national governments to urge banks not to initiate "industry policies" based on over-simplistic market assessment. European shipyards serve healthy growth markets and are largely engaged in solid and profitable projects, says CESA, which declares that policy makers should not accept shipyard jobs being jeopardized by irresponsible behavior on the part of banks.
European yards are mostly concentrating on specialized market niches, such as cruise ships, OSV's, ferries, yachts, dredges, small and medium sized cargo ships and naval and coast guard ships. These markets have been very profitable in recent years and are still solid. Shiprepair and conversion activities at European yards also offer good prospects for the years ahead.
CESA says the long-term perspectives in shipping are robust and that the current deep crisis in dry bulk and container shipping results from tremendous ordering activity in recent years on speculative basis. Worldwide, more than 50% of all ships on order are either bulk carriers or containerships and many Asian yards have planned capacity expansions to cater for these ship types. In contrast, only 22% of the orderbook at European yards is exposed to these two segments. The yards involved have already adapted their product portfolio towards other market segments and are now in the process of completing this shift.
CESA considers that the current global orderbook shrinkage is a necessary correction from a status of unrealistic and unhealthy over-ordering. It says the correction comes at a timely moment as it will avoid more excessive shipyard capacity being created in Asia.
Source: Marinelog
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Koch ups oil tanker storage in US Gulf to 10 mln bbls
Thursday, 11 December 2008
U.S. oil firm Koch Supply and Trading has booked two more Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) to store crude offshore in the U.S. Gulf, shipping analysts and brokers said on Wednesday. The latest booking ups the amount of crude earmarked for "floating storage" in the region by the trading house to 10 million barrels, the industry sources said. Oil majors and independent trading houses are storing at least 24 million barrels of crude on oil tankers around the world, to take advantage of the steep contango in oil futures prices, traders say.
Shipping analysts said Koch had so far taken the Front Champion for nine months, the Songa Chelsea for six months, the Front Commander for five months, the Mercury Glory for eight months time-charters with storing options in the last few weeks.
Reuters had previously reported Koch booking the Dubai Titan for storage beginning on December 8.
A sixth VLCC taken by the oil trader was recently failed, they said.
Royal Dutch Shell, BP, oil trader Vitol and an unnamed oil trading house have also booked VLCCs to store millions of barrels of oil in the last three to four weeks.
Speculation is rife that Iran has also marshalled up to six of its own VLCCs for off-shore storage around Kharg Island in the Gulf.
However, industry sources point out that Iran is known to regularly anchor at least two of its own tanker fleet off Kharg year round.
Shipping brokers have said the trend to store crude on oil tankers, which they described as significant, has helped lift crude freight prices on major export routes.
Source: Reuters
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28342&Itemid=79
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Decision due on UK aircraft carriers
Defence Secretary John Hutton is due to issue a written ministerial statement on the future of two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers.
Reports suggest he could delay their entry into service - scheduled for 2014 and 2016 - by two years as the Ministry of Defence tries to cut costs.
Work on the £4bn project had been due to begin next spring.
The announcement affects shipyards in Appledore, in north Devon, Portsmouth, Barrow-in-Furness, Glasgow and Rosyth.
Former defence secretary Des Browne had given the green light for the creation of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales in May.
Contracts worth about £3.2bn were signed in July and the work was expected to create or underpin a total of 10,000 jobs at the yards.
But Mr Hutton told MPs this week there would be a new announcement on defence spending.
He said: "We will be setting out some ways in which we intend to improve value for money in relation to defence procurement.
"But we have got to make sure that the armed forces have a balanced range of kit available to them."
'Financial chaos'
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the government did not view cancelling major defence projects as an option. Instead, it was considering delays as a way of controlling the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) spiralling budget.
She said: "At least one of Britain's two new aircraft carriers could be put back by a year, or even two.
"There's already a delay to the joint strike fighter that will fly from the warships, so the MoD could argue it makes sense to put off the completion of the carriers."
But Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, a member of the Commons Defence Committee, said the MoD was in financial "chaos".
"Without the carrier contracts, many of those yards are going to find it difficult to keep going," he said.
"MoD contracts have been fundamental in keeping the skills together, keeping the technology alive and moving it on... delays will undoubtedly mean a lot of that good work and a lot of money will have been wasted."
Meanwhile, hundreds of jobs in Somerset are to be secured due to a new government order for 62 Future Lynx helicopters from Agusta Westland, BBC West has learned.
Mr Hutton is expected to confirm the order for the Yeovil production site later.
An immediate contract will also be awarded to upgrade existing Lynx helicopters to prepare them for battlefield sites such as Afghanistan.
The order, worth £1bn, has been delayed for more than two years.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7776695.stm
Published: 2008/12/11 02:50:55 GMT
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China's shipbuilding industry to face tough times ahead
Thursday, 11 December 2008
After two or three years' blowout, the Chinese shipbuilding industry will face a real test in 2011 to 2012, as the situation will be worse during the financial crisis. Shipbuilders in China are still busy because most orders are due to finish by 2011. Figures from China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry show in the past three quarters of this year shipbuilders finished 16.82 million deadweight tonnages up by 40%YoY with new orders of 57.17 million DWT, down by 11% YoY and the ongoing orders of 210.84 million DWT up by 63% YoY accounting for 25.6%, 38.8% and 35.4% of global market respectively.
But ship builders still can not sleep well despite these orders. Experts familiar with the matter said gloomy demand, cancellation of orders, and difficulty in raising funds are the potential problems for the industry.
The Baltic Dry Index on November 25 dropped to 824 points, down by 92.6% compared with a former record of 11,067 points in May of this year. Recent figures show there are 180 capesize ships casting anchors due to no transportation deals and the rent was reduced to USD 5,000 per day from USD 180,000.
A senior ship broker to the Shanghai Securities News reported that the negative impact has already emerged in the second-hand ship market. "The quoted price has dropped by 50 percent in three weeks. A ship's dealt price was USD 28 million, far lower than the quoted USD 60 million.”
Brokers said biggest problem for ship owners is having no goods to transport. And the order cancellations will be worse if second-hand ship prices keep dropping.
Source: China Daily
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28341&Itemid=79
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Ship firm calls jail term for tanker crew a 'disgrace'
(2 hrs 52 mins ago)
Managers of a Hong Kong supertanker -- V.Ships -- whose crew chiefs were jailed over South Korea's worst oil spill have blasted the decision as "a disgrace and insult'' to the world shipping community.
A South Korean appeal court has jailed the Indian captain Jasprit Chawla and chief officer Syam Chetan after ruling they were negligent in minimizing the spillage.
The accident happened in December 2007. V.Ships said the court's decision "will surely go down as one of the most disgraceful examples of a miscarriage of justice in a 'supposedly' advanced nation state.
"For Captain Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan to be sentenced to prison terms ...is a disgrace and insult to the whole shipping industry.''
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=10827&icid=3&d_str=20081211
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China exporters stagger
Dec 11, 2008
The value of China's exports was 2.2 per cent lower in November than a year ago, customs data showed on Thursday, the largest such drop in Chinese exports since April 1999.
BEIJING - DEMAND for Chinese exports of everything from furs to furniture shrank precipitously last month, sending a chill through the workshop of the world.
Chinese exporters have been left staggering, as the global financial crisis in the second half of the year battered their main markets in Europe and the United States.
The value of China's exports was 2.2 per cent lower in November than a year ago, customs data showed on Thursday, the largest such drop in Chinese exports since April 1999.
And the next few months could be worse.
A plastic Christmas tree exporter worries that Santa will not come next year. A sex toy maker reports limp sales and a deflated outlook.
'Demand has been falling, and fewer and fewer people are even inquiring about prices for products. When they do, they want the cheapest ones,' said Song Fei, export manager for the Shanghai-based Good Friends company, which sells sex toys, electric mosquito swatters and fungus.
'Next year will be worse. This is just the start, it's just gotten going. Our customers tell us their orders next year will be way down.' Chinese exporters have struggled with tight credit, higher raw materials prices and fierce competition for well over a year.
For some, the downturn could be the final straw.
'Many of these places will go out of business,' said Ju Xiangming, a petite sales clerk in Beijing's Russian quarter, where wholesalers ship mink coats to Russia.
'There's been a big drop in customers. Exports to America have dried up, but the Russians are holding strong for now. The economic crisis does not seem to have affected them as much - not yet at least.' Without buyers, some Chinese have already closed their doors.
'A lot of Chinese suppliers and manufacturers were shutting down daily in September. There's hardly any left,' said Jamie O'Neill, a buyer for British firm Advantage Fibres International, which ships cashmere and other fibres to Europe and Asia.
'This is only the start of the downturn. We won't see the full ramifications until the start of next year.' Some exporters that shipped long before the Christmas season could face worse times ahead, since orders are typically placed in the spring for shipment in the late summer.
'I think we'll feel the full effect only next year....
Customer confidence will certainly be hurt,' said Li Haiyan, sales manager for plastic Christmas tree manufacturer Emission Trading, which has had customers delay payments because of credit problems.
Chinese makers of cheap goods need a high volume of shipments to offset thin profit margins, and delays in payment can dangerously destabilise their cash flow.
'On the US side, credit is hard to get, and the buyers can't guarantee terms. So we can do small orders, but not big ones,' said coat hanger manufacturer Johnny Chan. With the Chinese market crowded with competitors in similar difficulty, he was considering abandoning hangers to open a clothing shop.
And there's another casualty.
'Because the market is bad, my American clients don't come to China anymore. So I haven't had any chance to practice my English, and I've forgotten a lot of it,' Mr Chan said. -- REUTERS
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Money/Story/STIStory_313075.html
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Last updated December 10, 2008 10:34 a.m. PT
Terrorism on the unguarded sea
H.D.S. GREENWAY
What if by sea? With security tightening on the land routes into the United States from Canada and Mexico, and with new warnings that the United States could face a nuclear or biological attack within five years, could the next outrage come through America's largely unguarded ocean frontiers?
The distance from Karachi to Mumbai is about the same as from Haiti to Miami, Tampico to Houston, Halifax to Boston, and Baja, Calif., to Los Angeles, says an old shipmate from my Navy days. Wouldn't it be simple for terrorists to acquire a ship, perhaps a fishing trawler, and sail it into any number of ports virtually undetected?
"There is now no routine surveillance of the broad oceanic approaches to the homeland," he says. "Only in the close approaches to major U.S. ports does the Coast Guard maintain the type of active radar coverage essential to the control of shipping, and this surveillance is focused on the relatively large commercial ships ..."
Because he is still involved with government work he asked that I not use his name.
Much thought has been given to the possibility that mass death could arrive in a closed container aboard a container vessel, and be shipped directly from its port of entry to anywhere in the United States. Efforts are made to inspect ships in their ports of departure, with the cooperation of foreign governments, but even so only a tiny fraction get inspected.
But my friend argues that terrorists, having gone to great effort to acquire their death-dealing devices, might not be willing to consign them to commercial shipping systems.
"There is no system in place for detecting and investigating the larger number of ocean-going, noncommercial vessels plying our coastal waters that are capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction," he says.
A yacht could slip into Miami from the Caribbean virtually undetected and blow the city to smithereens. A small freighter offshore could launch smaller attack boats, as the Somali pirates do, and as was done in Mumbai, and remain undetected until too late.
The same would be true of any number of European ports, especially in the Mediterranean with close proximity to the discontent of North Africa. It wouldn't have to be nuclear to do great damage. One remembers the French ammunition ship that blew up by accident in Halifax harbor during World War I, devastating the city. Port cities everywhere are vulnerable to what would be powerful, maritime truck bombs.
Stephen Flynn, a former Coast Guard officer, now at the Council on Foreign Relations, points out that in addition to our sea ports, most of America's inland cities are located along waterways, "and the level of patrols is next to none. We are very exposed to water-borne attack."
My ex-Navy friend thinks we need a sea-traffic control system, "analogous to the one that manages all air traffic. But, politically, this is proving to be very hard. Commercial and general aviation grew up under the eye of government air traffic control systems. Seafaring has been unregulated and uncontrolled since the beginning of time," he says. There is no mandatory identification system for smaller boats entering U.S. waters.
The Coast Guard does have a "Marine Domain Awareness" program, and a volunteer auxiliary in which civilians donate their time, their boats, and sometimes planes, to patrol our coasts and harbors looking out for anything unusual. According to Flynn, this is probably the best way to thwart an attack because terrorists like to carry out surveillance and make dry practice runs. People who work our waterfronts and in coastal waters are in the best position to notice something strange.
Flynn thinks this should be greatly expanded, with Homeland Security "engaging with the maritime public, yacht clubs, fishermen, coastal home owners, dock workers, and the like, telling them what to look for." He says the British are much better at alerting communities than we are.
Drug runners now use semi-submersible submarines to avoid detection. Terrorists could follow suit with something much worse than heroin aboard. The 9/11 attacks came from the air from our own airports. The fire next time could come undetected, as my Navy friend says, from the "great anonymity of the ocean."
H.D.S. Greenway's column appears regularly in the Boston Globe.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/391504_greenwayonline11.html
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Times Are Tough …….Pentagon seeks recruits on visas
Pauline Jelinek ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon temporarily will recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political-asylum status.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has authorized the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to recruit certain legal residents whose critical medical and language skills are "vital to the national interest," officials said, using for the first time a law passed three years ago.
Although the military previously has taken recruits with green cards seeking permanent residency, Mr. Gates' action enables the services to start a one-year pilot program to find up to 1,000 foreigners who have lived in the states legally for at least two years on certain types of temporary visas.
The new recruits into the armed forces would get accelerated treatment in the process toward becoming U.S. citizens in return for serving in the wartime military in the United States or abroad.
"The services are doing a tremendous job of recruiting quality personnel to meet our various missions," sometimes with bonus pay and tuition for medical school, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy. But they haven't been able to fill their need for 24,000 doctors, dentists and nurses in the Defense Department.
The Pentagon's doctor and nurse corps remain 1,000 short of the numbers needed to treat patients, and Mr. Carr said he hoped the program would fill the gaps.
The military's most pressing need is for neurosurgeons and dermatologists to treat troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain and burn injuries caused by insurgents' wide use of roadside bombs and suicide bombs.
The force also lacks nurses with a broad range of specialties, Mr. Carr said.
It also needs people with special language and cultural skills for a war on terrorism that has taken the armed forces across the globe.
Though the military has been looking for more Arabic speakers and others to help with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new program looks to recruit speakers of some three dozen languages, including Albanian, Korean, Punjabi, Somali and Turkish.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/11/pentagon-seeks-recruits-on-visas/
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Don't take terrorists lightly, Mullen says
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) --
A lesson from the Mumbai attacks should be not underestimating terrorists' potential, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said Wednesday.
"It shouldn't be lost on anyone how a handful of well-trained terrorists using fairly unsophisticated tools in a highly sophisticated manner had at bay an entire city and nearly brought to a boil interstate tensions between two nuclear powers," Mullen said during a briefing at the Pentagon.
The attacks on India's financial and entertainment hub in which more than 170 people died wasn't against a particular group, the Navy admiral said, but "an attack on all of us who love the sacred dignity of human life."
Mullen visited Pakistan and India last week to discuss the Mumbai attacks. While in Pakistan, he said he sensed officials appreciated the seriousness of the attacks and the growing threats of terrorism inside the country's borders.
Indian authorities said they believe the attackers were Pakistanis, specifically blaming Lashkar-e-Toiba, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities at first denied the attackers were from their country, blaming what they call "non-state" actors.
Since the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani army and police raided Lashkar-e-Toiba camps, arresting at least 20 terrorists, including the alleged masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Defense Department said.
"These are great steps," Mullen said. "I certainly hope and expect there will be more such steps taken by Pakistani authorities in the near future."
United Press International
http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/27611.html
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Media briefing by SAfrica's Director-General Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba
Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:56:00 +0000
Question
Will South Africa be supporting the EU anti-piracy initiative in Somalian waters?
Answer With respect to the anti-piracy resolution, if I can put it like that, off course South Africa supports the efforts being taken on the Somalian waters. There was a UN resolution and South Africa supports that.
South Africa has also been approached at some time to be part of, through our navy, opening up a humanitarian corridor. South Africa is considering this but South Africa’s view has always been and we are therefore happy that the UN is taking this up, that we needed to ensure that the entire question of the creation of a humanitarian corridor in Somalia as well as any interventions around the question of piracy should really be done around the auspices of a very well thought out UN resolution largely because we know from past experience that there are different points of emphasis and the international community has different slants on how to deal with the question of Somalia and it has always been our view that it would be in the interests of the integrity of an intervention in Somalia if this were to be done under a very well thought out UN resolution and to the extent that this exists, yes, South Africa supports this.
I am unaware that South Africa has necessarily directly been approached on the anti-piracy side but I know that South Africa has been approached largely to assist with the creation of a humanitarian corridor and that is what South Africa is considering.
Full Media Brief at : http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/130/ARTICLE/3910/2008-12-10.html
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Top US Military Officer Concerned Economic Crisis Could Cause More Terrorism
By Al Pessin
Pentagon
10 December 2008
The top U.S. military officer says he is concerned that the global economic crisis could create instability and, potentially, more terrorism around the world, particularly in African countries and other relatively poor areas.
Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, 10 Dec 2008
Admiral Mike Mullen says the global economic downturn could create more terrorists.
"I'm very concerned about the global financial crisis and its impact globally on security," he said. "I think it will impact on security, over a period of time. As food prices continue to go up, as other costs continue to go up, as this pressure is brought globally, I think the possibilities for increased instability, as opposed to increased stability, are there. Without being precise about where that might happen, I just think the extent of this, or the length of this, is going to have an impact on increased instability in countries that are already under a great deal of pressure because their economies aren't that healthy in the first place."
Admiral Mullen says jobs are the key link between the economy and security.
"With a stable economy, jobs come," he said. "You are able to expand and create the kind of positive cycle that gets you away from the violence and other options for unemployed young men, in particular."
At a Pentagon news conference, the admiral also noted that terrorists need places to train and take refuge, and he says economic troubles can also result in more of those, as governments have fewer resources to devote to securing their territory. He says the problem puts "enormous" pressure on African countries in particular, where many governments have very large areas to defend and terrorists have been trying to gain a foothold.
"I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia, as I am in Yemen," Adm. Mullen said. "And I try to pay attention to the evolution of potential safe havens, these two in particular, and specifically to the one in Somalia. So I'm extremely concerned about that."
Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not suggest any U.S. military operations to eliminate or prevent the creation of terrorist safe havens. The Pentagon has a variety of programs designed to improve the defense capabilities of partner nations in Africa and elsewhere, and the U.S. government also has aid and development programs that may help ease the impact of job losses caused by the economic downturn. But the admiral says the effort to reduce global terrorism may get more difficult as job losses increase and all countries tighten their defense budgets, including the United States.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-10-voa63.cfm
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Lloyds establish piracy insurance
Written by Editor
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Lloyd’s of London broker Aon to cover for loss of earnings incurred by charterers, shipowners and cargo owners when a ship is being detained by pirates.
Against a background of increasing pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia involving kidnapping and shoot-outs, Lloyd’s underwriters are behind a new kind of marine insurance policy aimed at covering a gap in standard cover.
The policy, designed by Lloyd’s broker Aon - NYSE:AOC - covers the loss of earnings incurred by charterers, shipowners and cargo owners when a ship is being detained by pirates.
There were more than 50 reported attacks off the coast of Somalia in the first eight months of 2008, with 32 vessels hijacked.
Costs incurred
The average duration of vessel seizure is 60 days, which means that charterers have been incurring the cost of paying charter hire for these additional days without receiving any extra income.
Cargo owners also face the risk of cancellation of contracts due to the delay.
Hull and war clauses do cover physical loss or damage arising from piracy, while ransom is either dealt with by specific coverage or by owners attempting to recover as a ‘sue and labour’ expense.
But until now there has been a potential void in cover for the financial impact of business interruption or loss of earnings.
“We decided to do something about it across the marine industry so all parties affected by an attack could recover their loss of earnings,” Peter Townsend, Aon’s Head of Marine Hull, said.
Complementary policy
The new standalone loss of earnings policy, which complements existing hull, war, cargo and P&I insurance, is designed to cover:
• Charterers, who are paying for hiring the vessel even though the vessel is detained
• Shipowners, who in the event of contract frustration, may lose out on charter revenues
• Cargo owners, particularly of seasonal goods, who face cancelled contracts if the goods are held up
• All other interested parties to a venture with an insurable interest.
Risking the route
There are over 22,000 transits through the Gulf of Aden every year. But, as Mr Townsend points out, without piracy insurance shipowners and charterers risk incurring significant costs with no recourse.
“The only alternative shipowners and charterers have is to avoid the Gulf of Aden and transit around the Cape,” he says. “The additional cost of that 10-12 day detour with extra fuel and wages can be as much as $2m.”
Importantly, Aon’s cover is triggered from day one of the attack with nil deductible. The insurance is available worldwide, to cover other piracy hotspots, and is written on a voyage basis.
Potential to hinder trade flows
Piracy has become a serious problem off East Africa, potentially hindering international trade flows.
The European Council is so concerned it recently launched its first ever maritime military initiative, Operation Atalanta, to help improve security off the Somali coast.
More than a dozen ships are currently being held to ransom in the region, including the Saudi-owned supertanker Sirius Star, which has two British crew on board.
In November, two British security guards jumped overboard from a chemical tanker seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The men, along with another crew member, were picked up from the sea by a German naval helicopter.
http://www.dofonline.co.uk/strategic-finance/lloyds-establish-piracy-insurance-120810.html
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Threat of piracy could push up cruise insurance
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It's an insurer's nightmare: Heavily armed pirates, emboldened by their success in capturing cargo vessels, hijack a cruise ship with hundreds of well-heeledpassengers and ask for massive ransoms. It hasn't happened yet, but the failed attack this week on the luxury American cruise liner MS Nautica has shown the threat is real - raising questions about what impact piracy may have on cruise ship insurance costs. "I don't know where the rates are going to go, but they're not going to go down," Rich DeSimone, president of Travelers Ocean Marine insurance, said by telephone from New York. "One of the greatest impacts on insurance rates is increased exposure. And if you have increased exposure to something like piracy, it's going to result in higher costs."
But he and other brokers said it was unlikely that passengers' costs for buying cruises would be greatly affected as companies would be reluctant to pass on the increases. And travel insurance companies indicated they would not boost rates for tourists taking cruises. "We are still offering travel insurance to customers who are on cruises and there will be no effect on premiums as a result of the attempted act of piracy recently reported," said Sally Leeman, a spokeswoman for the British insurance company Norwich Union.
Ian Crowder, spokesman for AA travel insurance, said he expected cruise companies would avoid pirate-infested waters. "Given that the shipping company is not playing Russian roulette with its passengers ... then we don't expect the premiums to increase," Crowder said. He said that while travel insurance would not cover ransom payments, his company's policies would cover costs such as medical expenses and repatriation were someone to be injured or suffer a heart attack when taken hostage.
Both AA and Sainsbury's Travel Insurance noted that their policies would not cover people traveling to areas where Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office had advised travelers not to go. The FCO advises against all travel to Somalia itself, and advises "mariners to maintain a high level of vigilance and to exercise extreme caution when anywhere near Somali waters."
On the ship industry front, brokers, underwriters and shipowners indicated that while the costs for insuring vessels against piracy were likely to increase, it was impossible to tell at this stage by how much. "It is a developing subject," said David Glass of the Greek shipping publication Naftiliaki. "It is something the insurance industry is now grappling with."
Although cruise ships have been the target of terrorism in the past, such as the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, there haven't been incidents of hundreds of passengers being held purely for ransom. "Because there's no case law, everyone is feeling their way," said one marine insurance broker with a firm of Lloyds brokers. "It's up in the air. Nobody knows who will respond to what. It is a dangerous situation," said the broker, who asked not to be named because the situation was still unclear.
Neil Smith, senior manager for underwriting for Lloyd's Market Association, said that while insurance costs would likely change, "it's impossible for us to put a figure on it because each individual underwriter will make a decision as they're approached."
Overall, cruise ships are probably in a better position than merchant vessels in facing pirates: they are faster than cargo ships, and their tall hulls make it harder for bandits to throw hooks over the side and board.
In the Nautica attack, a small band of pirates in two small speedboats fired shots at the roughly 180-meter (600-foot) long ship as it crossed the Gulf of Aden. The ocean liner increased speed and outran the bandits.
And with destinations such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean available to pleasure-seeking tourists, cruise ships don't necessarily have to sail through dangerous waters.
But passengers tend to book months in advance, and some companies have already set itineraries through the region. Silversea Cruises spokesman Brad Ball said his company was "taking a wait and see attitude" about future cruises in the region, but that no changes were being made yet. Andre Poulton, spokesman for Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which also has ships scheduled to go through the area next year, said he was not aware of any increased insurance costs from the Nautica incident.
Cost increases are unlikely to be immediate, especially on contracts that are renewed annually, brokers and underwriters explained. And as no hijacked merchant ships have been damaged yet, insurance companies have had limited involvement.
In addition to annual policies, extra hijacking and ransom coverage can be bought for the days a ship will transit through dangerous waters. Christos Stoforopoulos, owner of Epirotiki Shipping, said piracy insurance costs for passage through the Gulf of Aden vary between $15,000 to $50,000. Costs for cruise ships could be higher.
He added that any increase in cruise ship insurance costs could be softened by the fact the ships are able to outrun pirates. "Cruise ships can evade pirates faster, so that might temper insurance costs," he said. "There might be a small markup, but I don't think it'll be significant."
http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/28398
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Injured sailor in UK / Ireland rescue drama
Published Date: 11 December 2008
A BURMESE sailor injured on a cargo ship hundreds of miles off the west coast of Ireland was last night taken to hospital after a major rescue operation involving two US air force helicopters from East Anglia, a US Hercules aircraft and a Nimrod from RAF Kinloss in Moray.
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Injured-sailor-in-rescue-drama.4782210.jp
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International Conference on Piracy Opens in Nairobi
By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
10 December 2008
The two-day conference, sponsored by the United Nations, brings together officials from more than 40 countries, as well as representatives from regional and international organizations. The first day brought together technical experts, ministerial-level meetings are scheduled for Thursday.
The conference is seeking to develop an improved approach to pursuing, arresting, and charging pirates. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime is reported to have proposed a $1.3 million program to enhance justice and law enforcement efforts in Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, and Yemen.
The meeting began just one day after the European Union outlined a new security mission off the coast of Somalia. Operation Atalanta joins existing deployments from NATO, Russia, and other countries that have sought to combat a sharp rise in piracy in the area in recent months.
Meanwhile, the German government approved a deployment of up 1,400 troops, along with a ship, for the mission. The German parliament is expected to vote on the deployment by December 19.
An official with the East African Seafarers' Association, Andrew Mwangura, said that international efforts would have little lasting impact without involving the local population in Somalia.
"If you are not going to involve the local community, it cannot achieve anything," he said.
Mwangura said a strategy to combat piracy needs to be part of a coordinated effort against other illicit activities in the region.
"If we want to stop piracy we need to fight all illegal activities in this region, because they are connected. Let us say piracy is connected to toxic dumping. Toxic dumping is connected to drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is connected to gun running. Those mafia-like businessmen are part of piracy, they do control pirate groups in Somalia. The real pirates are outside Somalia. In fact they do not go out to sea. Some of them are based in Nairobi, some are in Dubai," said Mwangura.
There have been more than 100 pirate attacks this year in the Gulf of Aden or the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia, and some 40 ships have been captured. Pirates are holding more than a dozen ships, and 300 crew members, in the hopes of receiving ransom payments that can number in the millions of dollars.
Among the ships being held are a Saudi Arabian supertanker, carrying $100 million worth of oil, and a Ukrainian ship carrying more than 30 military tanks.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-12-10-voa35.cfm
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Explosion may endanger SEAL mini-sub program
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Dec 10, 2008 12:09:37 EST
The long-stalled future of the U.S. special warfare community’s troubled mini-submarine is even cloudier after a serious explosion and fire struck the craft last month, ironically on the cusp of a new mission and a new way ahead for the program.
The Advanced SEAL Delivery Vehicle 1 (ASDS-1) was having its lithium-ion batteries charged Nov. 9 when an explosion started a battery fire that burned for about six hours. No one was aboard the 60-ton craft, which was on shore at its base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Federal firefighters sealed the ASDS to put out the fire and continued to hose it down for several hours to cool hot spots. The mini-sub remained sealed for more than two weeks before the hatch was opened.
“The Navy has not yet determined the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage,” Lt. Clay Doss, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said Dec. 5. Two investigations are underway to determine the fire’s cause and the extent of the damage, he added.
Sources familiar with the incident said that, in addition to fire damage, the craft likely would have significant water damage from having its interior flooded to fight the fire.
The incident came at a key time for the mini-sub program. The ASDS was to have deployed in November aboard the guided-missile submarine Michigan — the first SSGN deployment for the craft.
And, more than two years since U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCom) canceled further ASDS acquisitions, Pentagon officials reportedly were preparing to submit new program plans in the fiscal 2010 budget due to be sent to Congress on Feb. 2. No details of the new way ahead for the program have been revealed, although Pentagon sources said the submission would need to be reviewed in light of the pending investigations into the ASDS fire.
A primary question investigators will have is whether the craft’s new lithium-ion batteries caused or contributed to the explosion.
The ASDS’s original silver-zinc batteries provided insufficient power for the craft’s missions, and more powerful lithium-ion batteries recently were substituted. Built at Yardney Technical Products in Pawcatuck, Conn., the lithium-ion batteries are known to present hazards if not properly handled, particularly when the batteries are being recharged.
Although SOCom canceled the ASDS program in 2006, the Navy and the special warfare community remain eager to field the kind of capability embodied in the craft. Five or six people can ride inside the ASDS in a dry environment, unlike existing wet submersibles, in which riders sit astride their vehicles wearing diving gear. The wet environment is very debilitating and causes fatigue even before the SEAL reaches his destination — problems the ASDS eliminates. The 65-foot-long mini-sub is intended to be carried to operational areas aboard submerged submarines and has an operational range of more than 100 nautical miles.
The ASDS is intended to carry out a wide range of covert missions, including reconnaissance and surveillance, infiltration, sabotage and diversionary attacks, and counterterrorism and foreign internal defense missions. Navy officials routinely tout the ability to carry the craft as a key capability of existing and new nuclear attack subs and converted SSGNs.
The ASDS has had a long, checkered history. The first batch of six craft was to have been completed in the late 1990s, but technical problems led to long delays and a twelvefold cost overrun — the original $70 million contract for the first boat in 1994 ballooned to expenditures of at least $883 million by 2007, according to the Government Accountability Office. Only the first ASDS was completed and “conditionally” accepted by the Navy in August 2001, but the craft suffered from noise, vibration, power and a host of other technical and reliability problems. Although some of those problems have been solved, others have only been reduced in intensity or remain as challenges.
However, the ASDS has been used on several classified missions while improvements continue to be made.
The now-defunct Oceanic Division of Westinghouse Electric received the original design and construction contract. The division was bought by Northrop Grumman in 1996.
Sources at Northrop Grumman and rival General Dynamics Electric Boat said both companies remain eager to compete in a new ASDS program.
One submarine expert familiar with the program expected, before the fire, a new program for three boats at a cost of about $1.2 billion. Early, unofficial estimates of about $100 million to repair the damage to ASDS-1 are “very uninformed” and likely very low, the source said.
Several sources said they expected the explosion and fire would not end the use of lithium-ion batteries in the ASDS.
“Lithium-ion batteries can be quite dangerous but they’ve been safely used many times before, and these batteries have gone through many cycles,” a Pentagon official said.
“It almost certainly was a procedural issue,” the submarine expert said. “Like most things, it is very safe if you follow the procedures. But if you don’t follow the procedures, things can happen that you don’t expect.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_dn_asdsfire_120908w/
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Submarine Co. Thriving, Looking To Hire
Company Has Hundreds Of Positions To Fill, President Says
POSTED: 5:38 pm EST December 9, 2008
UPDATED: 7:51 pm EST December 9, 2008
GROTON, Conn. -- Business is good for the submarine builder Electric Boat, company President John Casey said when he addressed legislators on Tuesday.
“I hope you all will be relieved to know that I'm not here this morning to request a bailout,” he joked.
In his annual address to regional lawmakers from Connecticut and Rhode Island, Casey said flat out that business is good.
Five of 10 Virginia Class submarines have been delivered, including two this year, he said. Maintenance and modernization is profitable, he said, and his 10,000-person work force participates in the community.
“Because our programs are funded very far in advance -- sometimes five to 10 years in advance of ships being delivered -- it’s important that we understand the impact of changes in government, changes in Navy priorities, changes in the performance of the vessels we build,” Casey said.
While Connecticut predicts more job losses next year, Casey said, Electric Boat is looking to hire 200 engineers, 50 designers and 400 trade staffers.
Employees also have a new, 65-month contract with the union, he said.
"We've contained costs,” Metal Trades Council President Ken Dellacruz said. “Our quality has been there as well as our performance. That plays a big part on the men and women that work here.”
Casey said building submarines is a cyclical business. He said next year looks good, but the company could face challenges beyond that, such as maintaining synergy with the sub-base so it stays off the BRAC list of closings.
“The fact that it’s a base that's devoted to submarines, if we can think of ways that expand what that base does beyond submarines, I think that would be a constructive effort,” Casey said.
http://www.wfsb.com/money/18239307/detail.html#-
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Singapore's Navy receives submarine support and rescue ship
07:01 GMT, December 11, 2008 The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is well on course to add a submarine support and rescue ship to its fleet, with the support vessel, Swift Rescue, being launched on 29 Nov by Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd (ST Marine).
Touted to be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, Swift Rescue was conceptualised, designed and built by ST Marine, to enable it with the primary capability of submarine rescue, as well as to fulfill other secondary roles to meet the requirements of the RSN.
Besides being highly manoeuvrable with excellent sea-keeping capabilities, the ship also incorporates a helicopter deck and unique operational spaces.
Measuring 85m by 18m, it is designed to house a Submarine Rescue Vessel (SRV) and its handling systems on board. The SRV, which is still being built in Britain by James Fisher Defence, can be lowered to a depth of 500m underwater to reach a distressed submarine.
Should the need arise, Swift Rescue will utilise a Transfer-Under-Pressure system to allow the affected submariners to be transferred seamlessly from the SRV into the recompression chambers for immediate treatment.
In March 2007, the RSN awarded the contract to ST Marine to design, build and maintain the ship and the submarine rescue system.
The 20-year services contract is expected to commence next year, when the support ship and the SRV have been completed and integrated into a complete system.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4324/
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Greek Naval ship joins anti-pirate mission
Updated: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:10
SALAMINA, Greece - The Greek frigate Psara has sailed from a naval base near Athens to join European Union (EU)-led anti-pirate operations as the flotilla's flagship.
"The frigate will reach the Suez Canal on December 13 and the mission will begin," Rear-Admiral Antonis Papaioannou, who will be commodore of the EU force for four months, told a press conference on board.
Papaioannou, 51, will later hand over command to a Spanish officer, and the Netherlands will be in charge for the final period of the year-long mission, he said.
Over the year the force will comprise in total 20 warships from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, Papaioannou said.
During his term he would have five ships, three aircraft and four helicopters at his disposal.
"We are going to try to ensure the region is safe for navigation," he said, while adding that there was a very large area to cover.
The mission, dubbed Atalanta, took over from a Nato operation patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean where more than 120 attacks by Somali pirates have been reported this year alone.
Its rules of engagement allow it to use "all means including force to protect, to deter and to prosecute all acts of piracy."
At least 15 ships and more than 300 crew are currently being held by pirates for ransom, including a Saudi super-tanker laden with oil and a Ukrainian vessel loaded with tanks and weaponry.
http://www.moneybiz.co.za/africa/africa.asp?story=0f1c0ec9-e2f7-4232-aaeb-b22235a4bc6a
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US 'spies on Israel nukes'
10/12/2008 21:48 - (SA)
Jerusalem - The United States routinely spies on Israel to try to gather information on its assumed atomic arsenal and secret government deliberations, a new official history of Israel's intelligence services says.
While espionage by allies on their friends is not uncommon, it is rare that state-sponsored publications acknowledge it.
Israeli-US ties have been especially touchy in this regard since a US Navy analyst, Jonathan Pollard, was jailed for life for treason in 1987 for passing classified documents to Israel.
According to Masterpiece: An Inside Look at Sixty Years of Israeli Intelligence, American spy agencies use technologies like electronic eavesdropping, and trained staff from the US embassy in Tel Aviv, for "methodical intelligence gathering".
"The United States has been after Israel's non-conventional capabilities and what goes on at the decision-making echelons," says the book in a chapter on counter-espionage written by Barak Ben-Zur, a retired Shin Bet internal security service officer.
Asked about the assertions, the US embassy spokesperson said only: "We don't comment on intelligence matters."
Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arms. Israeli officials refuse any comment on this under a longstanding "strategic ambiguity" policy.
Declassified Pentagon documents published in a 2004 book about then US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld estimated that Israel had 80 nuclear warheads. Last May, former US President Jimmy Carter put the number of Israeli bombs at around 150.
The issue has taken on new relevance recently given Western fears that Iran's nuclear programme could have military designs - despite denials by Tehran.
Israel has vowed to prevent its arch-foe from getting the bomb, but some analysts believe Israel could instead build up an overt nuclear deterrence against Iran.
Contacted by Reuters, Ben-Zur declined to give operational details on how the United States might be spying on Israel.
But, he described such efforts as largely benign given the closeness of defence ties between Israel and the Bush administration.
"At the end of the day, the United States does not want to be surprised," he said. "Even by us."
Due out later this month, Masterpiece is published by the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Centre and includes prefaces by chiefs of Israel's military intelligence, the domestic Shin Bet and the Mossad spy service active abroad.
- Reuters
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2440408,00.html
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Passing helicopter rescues fisherman
Man taken to hospital with shock and hypothermia after boat sinks near Isle of Wight
guardian.co.uk, Thursday December 11 2008 09.59 GMT
A fisherman whose boat sank of the south coast of England was plucked to safety overnight by a passing rescue helicopter.
The man, in his 20s, was taken to hospital with shock and hypothermia after being winched to safety from the Solent – a stretch of sea between the south coast and the Isle of Wight.
He called for help at 11.44pm yesterday when his angling boat Sea Raider started sinking as he returned home to the Isle of Wight.
"He was shouting, 'May day, may day'," said Paul Marlow, the deputy watch manager at Solent Coastguard.
"We managed to calm him down to get a location and a description of the vessel and then diverted our helicopter."
The helicopter was passing over the Isle of Wight on its way to a medical evacuation in Jersey.
"[The man] was in the water and basically saw the boat disappear from under him," said Marlow.
"Within a couple of minutes the helicopter was over the top of the vessel and could see the boat going down.
"He was pretty lucky that the helicopter was in the air at the time otherwise he would have been in the water a lot longer.
"It's not so much the water temperature, which is about 7C, but the air temperature is pretty cold. Shock is a bigger killer than the water."
Two lifeboats and another fishing boat went to help.
The man was recovering in Newport hospital on the Isle of Wight. There would be an investigation into what caused the 8-metre boat to sink.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/11/fisherman-rescue-solent-helicopter
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More than 35 feared dead in Cameroon boat accident
Wed 10 Dec 2008, 13:37 GMT
YAOUNDE (Reuters) - More than 35 people travelling from Nigeria to Gabon were feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Cameroon, a survivor and the Cameroonian navy said late on Tuesday.
Deaths at sea are common off West Africa, from where thousands of people each year attempt to reach Europe, a dangerous journey made more hazardous by the frequent use of small, overcrowded and unseaworthy craft.
The sinking on Sunday happened when a storm overturned the vessel which was carrying 43 passengers and crew, six of whom had since been rescued.
"The crew completely lost control, water entered the boat and it turned over," Emmanuel Akimba, one of two Nigerians known to have survived, told Cameroonian state radio.
"As it sank, we just hung onto anything that was floating that we could until fishermen came to our rescue before handing us over to the Cameroon navy," he said.
The navy brought the survivors, the other four of whom were from Burkina Faso, to a hospital in the southwestern town of Limbe, and it was searching for more survivors.
Authorities in Limbe said they believed all the people in the boat, mostly Burkinabe and Nigerian, had been hired to work on plantations in Gabon.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4B90JA.html
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HMAS Collins submarine again wins prestigious Royal Australian Navy award
09:34 GMT, December 11, 2008 HMAS Collins has become the first submarine to win the prestigious Royal Australian Navy training award, the Platypus Cup, for a second time.
Sponsored by ASC, the Platypus Cup is awarded to the Collins Class submarine whose crew best demonstrates the rigorous training needed to ensure the safe and effective operation of the vessel.
HMAS Collins won the inaugural Platypus Cup, presented in 2006, while HMAS Rankin won the award in 2007.
Executive Officer of HMAS Collins, Matthew Hoffmann, was presented with the Platypus Cup at a ceremony at HMAS Stirling on 11 December.
ASC Managing Director Greg Tunny said the challenge of operating a Collins Class submarine is reflected in the training its crew must undergo.
“ASC provides training services through the Navy’s Submarine Training School at HMAS Stirling and we know how demanding the training is for submarine crews,” he said.
“Before they are allowed to set foot on a submarine, they must complete up to nine months of training. Once they are on board, they can obtain their basic seagoing qualification know as their ‘Dolphins’ over another six months, and then continue with ongoing training and education.
“I congratulate the crew of HMAS Collins for their dedication and commitment to training this year, and also for the significant achievement of winning the Platypus Cup twice in three years.”
The Platypus Cup is presented annually to the Collins Class submarine demonstrating the best fleet, submarine and individual training performance for the preceding 12 months.
The name ‘Platypus Cup’ reflects the history of the original submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus and, later, the old submarine base (also known as HMAS Platypus) in Sydney which was the first home of submarine training in Australia.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4342/
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Bullish Seaspan takes delivery of new boxship
With more to come, Gerry Wang sees healthy growth in long term...
Seaspan Corporation recently announced delivery of the CSCL San Jose, a 2500 TEU newbuilding.
The new containership, which was constructed by Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., expands Seaspan's current operating fleet to 35 vessels with 33 remaining newbuildings to be delivered over approximately the next three years.
The CSCL San Jose was delivered on November 28, 2008.
The CSCL San Jose is subject to a time charter with China Shipping Container Lines (Asia) Co., Ltd. for a twelve-year period at a fixed rate. CSCL Asia is a subsidiary of China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd., the world's eighth largest liner company in terms of shipping capacity.
Under the terms of the fixed-rate time charter, CSCL Asia is responsible for fuel costs and all cargo operating and related expenses.
Gerry Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, commented,
"Seaspan continues to grow its revenue stream with the delivery of the CSCL San Jose. Nearly 90% of our total revenues are generated from major state-controlled Chinese liner companies and leading Japanese operators and we continue to receive charter payments on schedule.
"In addition, we have no revenue contract renewals until 2011 at the earliest.
"Container shipping still remains the most efficient means to transport goods on the ocean highways from areas of manufacturing to areas of consumption and over the longer term we believe that demand in the industry will continue to grow at a healthy rate to support globalization. We also believe that Seaspan's business model is well-positioned to take advantage of this growing demand in the industry over the long term."
http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item_10173.html
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Analysis: Ukraine aids China carrier plan
by Andrei Chang
Hong Kong (UPI) Dec 10, 2008
The People's Republic of China has been sending military personnel to the former Soviet republic of Ukraine to learn how the country trains its aircraft carrier pilots, in preparation for the aircraft carrier battle group it eventually plans to build.
According to a source in the Ukrainian military industry, China first sent a large naval delegation, headed by the deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army navy, to visit the Ukrainian navy aviation force training centers in the southern port cities of Odessa and Sevastopol in October 2006.
The Chinese visited the Research Test and Flying Training Center at Nitka on the Crimean peninsula, and the two sides discussed the possibility of Ukraine helping to train China's navy aviation force and aircraft carrier pilots, the source said. Since then, Chinese engineers, pilots and naval technical experts have made frequent visits to Nitka.
The focus of much of China's current military cooperation with the Russian Federation and Ukraine is on producing large aircraft and an aircraft carrier. Ukraine has provided China with a prototype of its T-10K shipborne fighter. By dissecting the T-10K -- an earlier variant of the Sukhoi Su-33 fighter -- China hopes to acquire the capability to independently develop its own shipborne fighters.
The single T-10K that China purchased from Ukraine originally was based at the Nitka center, which is equipped with a range of simulators to train pilots in jump takeoffs, arresting landings and contingency responses. The training modules simulate the release of the arresting hook on takeoff and its use on landing at a speed of 155 miles per hour.
The Nitka center previously trained a generation of Soviet pilots on the Sukhoi Su-33 and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K fighters. Now the 297th Fighter Regiment of the Russian navy aviation force is undergoing training there.
As this author reported earlier for United Press International, China has imported four sets of aircraft carrier landing assistance equipment and arresting hooks. The Chinese are in the process of building their own aircraft carrier training base, which is why they have been so keenly interested in Nitka's simulators, training software, management procedures and technologies.
The training of aircraft carrier fighter pilots is a crucial step in putting together an aircraft carrier fleet. The training program is extremely harsh. According to the Ukrainian source, the most basic training for short-distance takeoffs, landings and ski-jumps would take at least six months.
Ukraine was once the main training center for the Soviet Union's aircraft carrier fighter pilots. It now intends to train navy pilots not only for China but also for India and other countries that aspire to possess aircraft carriers, a source from Nitka told United Press International.
The Indian navy is in the process of purchasing an aircraft carrier from Russia, as well as Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29UBK fighters, the first batch of which is expected to be delivered to India by the end of the year -- already a year later than scheduled. The pilots for those fighters most likely will be trained at Nitka.
China's dealings with Ukraine reconfirm that the People's Liberation Army navy is moving forward on its aircraft carrier project. The Chinese carrier apparently is based on a Russian design; otherwise China would not be interested in Ukraine's simulators. This means China's aircraft carrier very likely will adopt the Russian methods of ski-jump takeoff and landing.
China has also taken practical steps to build an aircraft carrier training base. The first step is to train shipborne fighter pilots at this base, followed by basic short-distance takeoff and landing training on the disabled Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag that China purchased in 1998.
Sources from the Ukrainian military industry have confirmed to United Press International on several occasions that the Varyag is unlikely to be restored to an operational fighter aircraft carrier, and most likely will be used only as a training platform.
Although the ship was purchased by a Hong Kong company ostensibly to be converted into a casino, Ukrainian sources told United Press International that they were aware of China's intentions from the beginning to use it for military purposes. The aircraft carrier, repainted with the colors of the PLA navy, is now in the Chinese port city of Dalian.
-- (Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Analysis_Ukraine_aids_China_carrier_plan_999.html
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Zumwalt Undersea Warfare Combat System Receives Navy Nomenclature
File image
by Staff Writers
Tewksbury MA (SPX) Dec 11, 2008
Raytheon's integrated undersea warfare combat system for the Zumwalt-class destroyer recently received its official U.S. Navy nomenclature, AN/SQQ-90.
Raytheon's SQQ-90 represents the U.S. Navy's next-generation undersea warfighting capability. The tactical sonar suite is composed of new integrated system capabilities, including the hull-mounted mid-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-60), the hull-mounted high-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-61), and the multi-function towed array sonar and handling system (AN/SQR-20).
These systems provide unique mission capabilities and are fully integrated with the MH-60R helicopter's combat system to deliver broad warfighting coverage for the Zumwalt-class destroyer.
"This is an exciting development for the Zumwalt team because it confirms the maturity and readiness of Zumwalt's integrated undersea warfare combat system," said Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' Robert Martin, vice president and deputy of Seapower Capability Systems.
"The SQQ-90 will provide the sophisticated and reliable undersea warfare capabilities that our warfighters need and depend on."
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Zumwalt_Undersea_Warfare_Combat_System_Receives_Navy_Nomenclature_999.html
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Lessons The Russian Bulava Missile submarine Program
by Martin Sieff
Washington (UPI) Dec 10, 2008
The troubled history of the Russian Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile program is a textbook example of the problems that can plague an ambitious weapons program -- and how they can be overcome.
As respected Russian military analyst Nikita Petrov wrote for RIA Novosti two months ago, "Russia's navy pins great hopes on the Bulava, which has been plagued by problems for 15 years. The missile is also the focus of intrigue, with some designers wishing it good luck and others good riddance."
In building the Bulava, Russia's top Defense Ministry experts made the same kind of mistake to which the U.S. Department of Defense has been prone. They gave a major military engineering job to a large, well-established and respected organization that had a first-class track record but little or no experience in the actual field it was now being asked to master.
As Petrov pointed out, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology -- also referred to as the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering -- had never built submarine-launched ballistic missiles before for the Russian navy.
The MITT got the job after the Makeyev Design Bureau in the city of Miass, which specialized in designing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, produced its own prototype Bark SLBM that failed in three out of three test launches. The job of designing a new long-range SLBM that could be fired from Russia's ambitious new Borey-class Project 955 submarines therefore was handed over to the MITT, which had just produced a winner in the mobile, land-based, single-warhead Topol-M. But the MITT solution proved to be a bigger headache than the previous unsuccessful project it was designed to replace.
Major weapons systems do not grow on trees. A vast amount of engineering know-how and experience, on the individual and institutional levels, is required to design and then develop such ambitious engineering projects. The MITT engineers were not used to working with salt water, and they quickly found that "virtual" solutions that worked wonderfully on computer screens and in software programs were a lot more difficult to deal with when they were turned into enormous steel missiles with solid fuel-powered engines that had to be launched below the surface of the sea through salt water. Again and again, the new Bulavas emerged from the ocean at awkward angles, wrecking the accuracy of their ballistic flight trajectory.
As Petrov noted, "Sea water is 800 times denser than air and always has been a challenge to a missile launched from a running submarine."
Weapons systems can appear "brilliantly" conceptualized and invulnerable in their computer screen simulations. But they still have to cope with the unforgiving realities the elements express through the relentless laws of chemistry and physics.
Weapons systems ultimately also have to be built by lots of human beings -- specially trained, experienced and skilled ones. And such expertise is usually never available in the numbers and reliability that is required. That was another problem the Russian industrial plants discovered when they worked on building the Bulava-M SLBM prototypes.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Lessons_The_Russian_Bulava_Missile_submarine_Program_Part_One_999.html
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US Navy Tests Seven Raytheon Standard Missile-2 Block IIIAs During Trials
"Standard Missile has been the U.S. Navy's primary surface-to-air fleet air defense weapon for more than three decades," said Kirk Johnson, U.S. Navy Standard Missile program manager.
by Staff Writers
Tucson AZ (SPX) Dec 11, 2008
The U.S. Navy fired seven Raytheon Company -built Standard Missile-2 Block IIIA anti-air warfare missiles as part of ongoing U.S. Navy shipbuilder trials and operational tests.
Four of the intercepts were conducted by the U.S. Navy's guided missile destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and USS Truxton (DDG 103). Three others were conducted by USS Antietam (CG 54) during exercises at Southern California Offshore Range Extension.
"The long-range SM-2 Block IIIA's ability to engage threats with low radar cross sections while performing high-g maneuvers makes it the most widely deployed area defense missile in the world," said Ron Shields, Raytheon Missile Systems Standard Missile program director. "Our customers trust the Raytheon design, because SM-2 variants are the most tested anti-air warfare missiles in service."
Advanced fuzing and warhead modifications were incorporated into the SM-2 Block IIIA design to counter the threat of sea skimming anti-ship cruise missiles.
"Standard Missile has been the U.S. Navy's primary surface-to-air fleet air defense weapon for more than three decades," said Kirk Johnson, U.S. Navy Standard Missile program manager. "When it comes to engaging anti-ship cruise missiles, aircraft or helicopters, the SM-2 remains our go-to weapon."
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Navy_Tests_Seven_Raytheon_Standard_Missile_2_Block_IIIAs_During_Trials_999.html
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Regards
Snooper
NNNN
Holidays is here !!!
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 !!!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2008
A Roar in the Night
Latest Position: 12/11/08 0400Z 29 22.386S 32 16.797E (70 miles out of Durban, South Africa)
The wind finally filled in yesterday around 10 pm. I had about 12 knots on the aft starboard quarter and it has been building and shifting towards the bow ever since. Last night I was about 160 miles out of Durban and going along at about 6-7 knots. At that speed I could make the harbor just on dark. Not a big problem because I have a full moon. I went to bed around 11 and was woken around 2 am by the roar of thunder. It just goes to further prove my theory that if it is going to happen, it will happen between 2-3 in the morning. So I got up to the cockpit and took a look at the gauges. I was going 8.3 knots with 25 knots on the beam. I had hit one of the currents that runs along the coast of Africa. Now that I was in the cockpit I could see the lightning striking all around me. I counted the seconds between the flash and the thunder and got to two! Not sure what that means but it was way too close for me. I altered course so I would get as far upwind from the squall as I could. But bashing into 25 knots makes it 30 knots so I had a pretty wild ride for about an hour. At its closest point I had lightning about a mile away while going through a squall. At 3-something this morning I was able to get back on course and go back to sleep. Over the night I passed about 10 ships. They were also dodging the scattered electrical storms. I'm not sure what happens when a massive metal ship gets hit by lightning but they were making some pretty sharp turns to avoid it. Another electrical storm/squall showed up on radar around 6am but it passed about 3 miles away. I am 60 miles from Durban as I type coming in fast with a 7 knot average. If the wind stays steady I should be in while it is still light. Have to get back to it here.
Cheers,
Zac
@Steve in Yuma: It is amazing spending all this time at sea and not getting bored. There is always something to do - though it is not always exciting.
@Melanie: Not sure how long I'll be in Durban. My push to get across the Indian Ocean is over and I now have some time to relax.
@Kate: I bought the canned Mac and Cheese in Cocos Keeling and it is pretty awful!
The latest blog from Pete Thomas from the LA Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/12/zac-sunderland.html
POSTED BY ZAC AT 8:39 PM
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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.
No Update Received ………
Visit : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/
Blog : http://www.totallymoney.com/sailmike/?cat=5
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Global sailors Zac Sunderland and Mike Perham, Yank versus Brit
9:23 AM, December 10, 2008
Zac Sunderland is on one side of Africa, Mike Perham is on the other. The Yank and Brit, 17 and 16, respectively, are both trying to become the youngest person to sail alone around the world.
Sunderland, who has been on his adventure since June 14, is currently attempting a tricky sail into Durban, South Africa, and is past the halfway point. But he still must round the treacherous Cape of Good Hope. The Thousand Oaks adventurer is on a grass-roots-type excursion aboard a 36-foot Islander named Intrepid.
He has been doing his own provisioning and is down to canned mac-n-cheese and canned curry.
Perham is aboard a sleek, fully provisioned 50-foot racing yacht. He left Nov. 15 and had planned on sailing nonstop and completing his journey in four months, beating Sunderland into the record book.
Many Sunderland fans perceive this to be a deliberate attempt to steal Zac's thunder. Truth is, Perham had been working toward this project for years.
But no one knows how things will turn out. Perham has been sidelined for more than a week in the Canary Islands because of problems with his autopilot, so his "nonstop" effort is over.
They are two different adventures. Sunderland (pictured above with girls he met in Mauritius) is stopping in ports and seeing the world. Perham just wants to get around it as quickly as he can.
But it has become a race of sorts and both will be winners merely by surviving the length of their odysseys. Sailing around the world alone -- with its storminess and piracy -- is a very serious, man-sized undertaking.
-- Pete Thomas
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/12/zac-sunderland.html
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Shipyards to watch orders plummet
Shipbuilding orders will fall by 60% next year and newbuild prices will drop by 30% from their peak by 2010, according to Bao Zhangjing, chief researcher at China Shipbuilding Economy Research Center (CSRC) in Beijing.
Lloyds List reports that Bao said that “owners will not order as long as they believe prices will fall further, though yards have no immediate need to cut prices, having a two to three year orderbook and are adopting a ‘wait and see’ approach”.
He predicted that newbuilding orders, which have already fallen sharply, from 14m dwt in August to less than 1m dwt in November, will drop by 60% in 2009 from the 2008 total of about 150m dwt.
There will be a further fall in 2010 to less than 50m dwt.
A modest recovery will appear in 2011 as yards start to seek to fill spare capacity from 2012, but it will be 2012 before new orders return to 100m dwt, Bao suggested.
Story By : Alan Peat
Date :12/11/2008
Related Sections : Other
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7074
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TPT to close terminals on Christmas and New Year
Transnet Port Terminals will close Durban Pier 1, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town Container Terminals on December 25, 2008 and January 1, 2009.
TPT will extend the free storage periods and export stacks by one day to compensate for each day not worked.
Story By : Joy Orlek
Date :12/11/2008
http://www.cargoinfo.co.za/newsdetails.asp?&newsid=7081
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DryShips Cancels Acquisition of Four Panamax Drybulk Carriers
Thursday, 11 December 2008
DryShips Inc., a global provider of marine transportation services for drybulk cargoes, announced yesterday that it has agreed to cancel the previously declared acquisition of four Panamax dry bulk carriers, which was announced on July 3, 2008, from companies beneficially owned by George Economou, Chairman and CEO of DryShips Inc. The aggregate purchase price of US$ 400 million would have represented a significant cash outflow from the Company's cash reserves given that the Company had not obtained bank financing for the acquisition. The Audit Committee of DryShips Inc. concluded that due to the significant deterioration in the dry bulk market since the time the agreements were entered into, it would not be in the best interest of DryShips Inc. to consummate the transaction. The Company will seek to amend, wherever possible, the contracts regarding dry bulk acquisition and newbuilding commitments, potentially resulting in significant capital expenditure savings.
As part of the agreement, the selling companies will retain the deposits totaling $ 55 million for the four vessels, comprised of (i) a 75,228 dwt Panamax vessel built in 2008 (ii) a 75,204 dwt Panamax vessel built in 2007 (iii) a 75,000 dwt Panamax vessel under construction in China scheduled to be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2008 and (iv) a 75,000 dwt Panamax vessel under construction in China scheduled to be delivered during the first quarter of 2009.
Moreover, DryShips Inc. has entered into an agreement with the selling companies of the above vessels, providing DryShips Inc. with the exclusive option to purchase the abovementioned four Panamax dry bulk carriers on an en bloc basis at a fixed purchase price of US$ 160 million. The exclusive purchase option granted to DryShips Inc. by the Seller will terminate on December 31, 2009. In consideration of the cancellation of the acquisitions and the exclusive purchase option granted to the Company, DryShips Inc. has paid to each of the selling companies an additional fee in cash amounting on average to US$ 26.25 million per vessel. The agreement was negotiated and approved by a committee consisting of the independent members of the Company's Board of Directors.
In addition, the previously announced sale of the M/V Lacerta a 1994 built 71,862 dwt Panamax drybulk carrier for a price of approximately $55.5 million will not close due to the Buyer's decision to not perform its obligations under the Memorandum of Agreement. DryShips Inc. intends to pursue all legal remedies against the Buyer.
DryShips Inc., based in Greece, is an owner and operator of drybulk carriers that operate worldwide. As of the day of this release, DryShips owns a fleet of 38 drybulk carriers in the water comprising 7 Capesize, 29 Panamax, 2 Supramax and 5 newbuilding drybulk vessels with a combined deadweight tonnage of over 3.4 million tons, 2 ultra deep water semi-submersible drilling rigs and 2 ultra deep water newbuilding drillships.
Source: Dryships
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28356&Itemid=95
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Somali pirates hijack two Yemeni ships
Indo-Asian News Service
Thursday, December 11, 2008, (Sanaa)
Somali pirates hijacked two Yemeni fishing ships and took 22 fishermen hostage in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, Yemen's interior ministry said.
The pirates attacked the ships as they sailed off the Mait area near the southern port city of Aden, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.
Before the pirates took control of the ships, seven fishermen escaped on a small boat to report the attacks to the Yemeni Coast Guard Authority in Aden, the statement said.
Twenty-two other fishermen, all Yemenis, were held hostage on the hijacked ships, it said.
The reported hijacking took place late on Wednesday, hours after a German cruise ship evacuated 370 passengers and crewmembers in a Yemeni port before it headed to the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden on its way to Oman.
The evacuation was a precautionary move out of fear of an attack by pirates. The passengers disembarked from the MS Columbus at the Red Sea port of Houdieda to bypass the Gulf of Aden by air to Dubai, port sources said.
Last week, Somali pirates freed a Yemeni cargo ship two weeks after they hijacked it in the Arabian Sea and demanded $2 million in ransom. Yemeni officials said it was released without ransom after negotiations between the pirates and Somali tribal leaders.
On Tuesday, the European Union deployed a naval task force off the coast of Somalia to protect vessels from threats by pirates.
A German warship warded off a suspected piracy attack on another German cruise ship, MS Astor, in the Gulf of Aden last week.
More than 60 incidents of piracy have been recorded in waters off the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden in the first nine months of this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080076068
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Lloyd's Register Group reports strong performance in 2007/08
Thursday, 11 December 2008
In his report on the accounts for the year ended June 30, 2008, David Moorhouse, Chairman of Lloyd's Register, has announced that Group income rose by 19.6% to £594 million (2006/07: £497 million) with a marginal increase in surplus before tax generally in line with the budgeted target. The budgeted surplus for the year allowed for a significant increase in spending on projects and personnel in support of the Group's medium and long term business objectives.
"Following very strong growth in 2007 I am pleased to be able to report another year of strong underlying financial performance in 2008. While the recent global financial chaos had little effect on our results for the year to June 2008, it is clear that next year will pose a significant challenge to the Group. I am confident that if we take appropriate action in the short term the Group will achieve a positive outcome next year.
"Our charitable giving this year was £6.3 million, with £6.0 million going to the Lloyd's Register Education Trust and £0.3 million being awarded to various community charities.
"The acquisition in the year of ModuSpec represents the largest purchase ever made by Lloyd's Register and provides the opportunity for us to expand our oil and gas activity significantly in an area that has the potential to utilise other components of our Oil & Gas, Marine and Management Systems businesses. Other acquisitions in the year were Knowledge Based Management Limited (UK), Marine Container Consultants Limited (UK) and Martec Limited (Canada)" Mr Moorhouse said.
Richard Sadler, Chief Executive Officer said: "2007/08 has seen yet more investment in client relationship management and ensuring the alignment of our services with specific client sector needs. The Group recognises the role that our clients have in complex global supply chains and we aim to be able to support them at a local and global level, dependant on their need, by providing a wide portfolio of services in the energy and transport sectors. This vision drives our service development and acquisition strategy."
During the year, the UK Government published a further iteration of the new Public Benefit Test as part of the new charities law, which passed in to legislation in November of 2006. The forthcoming enactment of the new legislation has caused Lloyd's Register to amend yet again its governance structure in order to be compliant and to ensure effective management of its business.
"As a consequence of the restructuring we have had to say goodbye to the majority of our non-executives and I would like to thank Rodney Baker-Bates, Dr Tony Barrell, Peter Chrismas, Chris Knight, The Baroness Scott of Needham Market and Simon Sherrard, all of whom made a significant contribution to the success of the Group. Their collective and individual contributions will be greatly missed. A new board of Trustees has replaced the non-executives: John D Chandris (Senior Trustee), Christine Dandridge, Ron Henderson, Jan Kopernicki, Soren Skou and Lambros Varnavides" said Mr Moorhouse.
"I would like to add a special welcome to Alastair Marsh, our new Chief Financial Officer. Alastair, who until March of 2008 was the Group Financial Controller, brings a wealth of experience to the role and a rapport with his colleagues that makes him particularly well suited to the challenges that lie ahead."
Business highlights
Marine The Group's Marine business achieved revenues 14.7% up on the prior year. The marine market, having enjoyed a six year period of exceptional growth, has moved to a period of high volatility and significant decline in the number of new ship orders. While Lloyd's Register's new construction order book looks very positive through 2010, it is conscious of the potential for high levels of existing ship order cancellation and of the need to adopt a proactive stance in this challenging market. In the year, the Marine business again achieved great success in attracting quality tonnage to Lloyd's Register class and continued to put a very strong emphasis on the quality of the vessels in its classed fleet. Despite the number of vessels disclassed exceeding the number of transfers into class, new constructions entering the fleet have increased the total fleet size to a record 144 mgt as of June 2008.
Source: Lloyd’s Register
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28347&Itemid=79
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U.S. Asking UN to Back Pursuit of Pirates on Somali Territory
Thursday, 11 December 2008
The U.S. is asking the United Nations Security Council to authorize the pursuit of pirates operating off the coast of Somalia onto land, with permission from the nation’s provisional government, diplomats said. A draft resolution has been given to some member governments on the panel, and a vote may be sought as early as next week, when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to be at UN headquarters in New York, according to Chinese, French and Indonesia envoys.
The move follows the Dec. 8 decision of the European Union to approve deployment of a naval force off Somalia, the 27-member organization’s first such mission. The force would try to suppress piracy in an area more than three times the size of France. Somali pirates have attacked about 120 boats in the region this year, seizing at least 40 vessels.
The draft will face concerns among council members such as Indonesia over concerns that pursuit of pirates onto land might violate provisions of the Law of the Sea. French Deputy Ambassador Jean-Pierre Lacroix said some countries might be “really very nervous” about authorizing landings and military engagements against pirates.
“We want to be sure we are not creating new international law,” Indonesian Ambassador Marty Natalegawa said.
The Security Council has adopted a series of resolutions authorizing increasingly aggressive operations against pirates. A Dec. 2 text gives naval forces the right to use “all necessary means to suppress piracy,” both in Somali and international waters, and to destroy the pirate ships.
The pirates operate along Somalia’s Indian Ocean coast, as well as in the Gulf of Aden, a transit point for the 20,000 ships a year that use the Suez Canal.
Among the ships the pirates are holding are a Ukrainian cargo ship with T-72 tanks and a Saudi tanker with 2 million barrels of oil.
Source: Bloomberg
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28337&Itemid=79
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Maersk Line warns shipping industry needs a lifebelt
Thursday, 11 December 2008
It was the one industry geared for huge volume growth. From China alone, annual double-digit percentage increases in trade had been the norm in the shipping world. But a sudden and sharp slowdown in global trade is hurting the cashflow of container shipping companies. The situation is so critical that a senior executive of Maersk Line said that the accelerating traffic decline could push a big group over the edge next year.
Maersk, the world's leading container shipping line, has slashed the rates it charges for transporting containers on its Asia-America routes and last week the Danish company said that it was laying up eight vessels amid worsening market conditions.
The eight ships, each with a capacity for 6,500 containers, will remain at anchor, probably in the Far East, until next summer. They are unlikely to represent the last capacity cut for the shipping giant, Michel Deleuran, head of network and product at Maersk, said: “We are certainly seeing a dramatic slowdown. The decline we are seeing in recent weeks is faster and deeper than what most people had expected only a few months ago. If we don't see improvements, we will be laying up more.”
The sudden drop in trade volumes on Far Eastern routes is causing havoc. Mr Deleuran told The Times that the failure of a big shipping group cannot be ruled out: “I think that would be realistic, looking at the cost figures and the uneconomic rates.”
Maersk has cut its container freight rates from Asia to the American West Coast by nearly a quarter and on Asia to Europe routes industry rates have collapsed to a fifth of what they were a year ago.
“If that does not change, one or more of the larger lines could be in financial difficulty next year. Some people could be really challenged by cashflows,” Mr Deleuran said.
The sudden drop in traffic from Asian workshops to the consumer markets in Europe and North America has surprised shippers. Further evidence of the decline emerged yesterday when Neptune Orient Lines, the Singaporean company that owns APL, the seventh-biggest container transporter, signalled that volumes had dropped by 12 per cent in November compared with the same four weeks in 2007.
Last month, Neptune Orient gave warning that it would cut its workforce by 9 per cent amid the worsening economic outlook.
China Merchant Holdings, the country's biggest port operator, said that it would curb its expansion plan because of the weakening shipping market. Fu Yuning, China Merchant's chairman, said that he expected slower throughput at the country's biggest ports in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
The weak shipping market has put the brakes on companies that make containers, used for the avalanche of consumer products made in Chinese factories. On Monday, CIMC issued a warning in response to rumours that it had halted production: “Our company has warned of the risks as slowing demand is now a universal phenomenon due to the economic environment caused by the global financial tsunami.”
According to Mr Deleuran, traffic growth in the container market had been at the rate of 10 per cent a year every year, but the growth had suddenly declined and may have reached nil or decline.
According to shipping experts at Lloyd's List, the market was anticipating a capacity expansion of 50 per cent over the next three to four years.
“There have been a lot of lay-ups, 135 container ships are thought to be idle at the moment,” Janet Porter, of Lloyd's List, said.
Mr Deleuran said the question for the market was how much of the capacity under order had found charterers. “There are quite a number of ships under order. We are potentially seeing an over-tonnage situation in 2009.”
Maersk Line has a fleet of 470 vessels and in July the company placed an order with Daewoo Shipbuilding, of Korea, for 16 container ships to be delivered between 2010 and 2012.
Shifting world trade
World trade will shrink next year, the first downturn in global commerce since 1982, according to forecasts from the World Bank.
The fall in trade volumes is being driven by a sharp drop in demand in high-income countries and a slowdown in economic activity across the developing world.
The credit crunch is causing private investment, the most cyclical element in global trade, to dry up, but one new factor, cited by the World Bank in its annual forecast, Global Economic Prospects, is the effect of the credit drought on trade finance. Commercial bank trade credits are disappearing and companies are finding it hard to insure exposure to trade receipts.
The World Bank said there was evidence of shifting patterns of trade from consumer markets in the West to higher growth markets in the developing world.
For example, the proportion of India's exports going to the US fell from 17.1 per cent in 2004 to 15.3 per cent in 2007 but the proportion going to China rose from 5.5 per cent to 8.4 per cent.
Source: Times Online
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28346&Itemid=79
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BAE Systems Awarded Adelaide Class Frigate Support Contract
SYDNEY, Australia – BAE Systems has been awarded a five-year contract to provide engineering, maintenance and supply support to the Royal Australian Navy’s four guided missile frigates (FFGs).
BAE Systems will assume the Integrated Materiel Support service delivery for the Adelaide Class frigates, HMAS Darwin, HMAS Melbourne, HMAS Newcastle and HMAS Sydney from 1 January next year.
The performance-based contract is expected to generate approximately $60 million in revenue over the life of the agreement. The scope of the contract will see BAE Systems:
- Managing integrated materiel support including quality management;
- Undertaking engineering analysis, changes and support;
- Planning for all maintenance activities, preparing work instructions, responding to defects and preparing technical documentation, and
- Providing inventory analysis and planning, management of spares and other supply support.
BAE Systems Australia’s Managing Director Jim McDowell said today that the contract would also significantly enhance the company’s strategic footprint at the Garden Island naval facility in Sydney.
“This new contract will require BAE Systems to create 60 new jobs at Garden Island and North Ryde, more than doubling the size of our existing workforce there,” Mr McDowell said.
“The awarding of this contract is another example of BAE System’s capabilities in providing the best possible through-life support for the RAN.
BAE Systems is the premier global defence and aerospace company delivering a full range of products and services for air, land and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, information technology solutions and customer support services. With approximately 100,000 employees worldwide, BAE Systems’ sales exceeded Ј15.7 billion (US $31.4 billion) in 2007.
http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=148357&Itemid=32
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European yards to banks: Asia's problems not ours
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Cancellations of bulk carriers and containership orders at Korean and Chinese shipyards are having a negative effect on European shipbuilders. According to CESA (Community of European Shipbuilders' Associations), European yards are being hurt as banks withdraw from financing shipyards because of the negative news from Asia. CESA and its national member associations are calling on European institutions and national governments to urge banks not to initiate "industry policies" based on over-simplistic market assessment. European shipyards serve healthy growth markets and are largely engaged in solid and profitable projects, says CESA, which declares that policy makers should not accept shipyard jobs being jeopardized by irresponsible behavior on the part of banks.
European yards are mostly concentrating on specialized market niches, such as cruise ships, OSV's, ferries, yachts, dredges, small and medium sized cargo ships and naval and coast guard ships. These markets have been very profitable in recent years and are still solid. Shiprepair and conversion activities at European yards also offer good prospects for the years ahead.
CESA says the long-term perspectives in shipping are robust and that the current deep crisis in dry bulk and container shipping results from tremendous ordering activity in recent years on speculative basis. Worldwide, more than 50% of all ships on order are either bulk carriers or containerships and many Asian yards have planned capacity expansions to cater for these ship types. In contrast, only 22% of the orderbook at European yards is exposed to these two segments. The yards involved have already adapted their product portfolio towards other market segments and are now in the process of completing this shift.
CESA considers that the current global orderbook shrinkage is a necessary correction from a status of unrealistic and unhealthy over-ordering. It says the correction comes at a timely moment as it will avoid more excessive shipyard capacity being created in Asia.
Source: Marinelog
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Koch ups oil tanker storage in US Gulf to 10 mln bbls
Thursday, 11 December 2008
U.S. oil firm Koch Supply and Trading has booked two more Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) to store crude offshore in the U.S. Gulf, shipping analysts and brokers said on Wednesday. The latest booking ups the amount of crude earmarked for "floating storage" in the region by the trading house to 10 million barrels, the industry sources said. Oil majors and independent trading houses are storing at least 24 million barrels of crude on oil tankers around the world, to take advantage of the steep contango in oil futures prices, traders say.
Shipping analysts said Koch had so far taken the Front Champion for nine months, the Songa Chelsea for six months, the Front Commander for five months, the Mercury Glory for eight months time-charters with storing options in the last few weeks.
Reuters had previously reported Koch booking the Dubai Titan for storage beginning on December 8.
A sixth VLCC taken by the oil trader was recently failed, they said.
Royal Dutch Shell, BP, oil trader Vitol and an unnamed oil trading house have also booked VLCCs to store millions of barrels of oil in the last three to four weeks.
Speculation is rife that Iran has also marshalled up to six of its own VLCCs for off-shore storage around Kharg Island in the Gulf.
However, industry sources point out that Iran is known to regularly anchor at least two of its own tanker fleet off Kharg year round.
Shipping brokers have said the trend to store crude on oil tankers, which they described as significant, has helped lift crude freight prices on major export routes.
Source: Reuters
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28342&Itemid=79
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Decision due on UK aircraft carriers
Defence Secretary John Hutton is due to issue a written ministerial statement on the future of two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers.
Reports suggest he could delay their entry into service - scheduled for 2014 and 2016 - by two years as the Ministry of Defence tries to cut costs.
Work on the £4bn project had been due to begin next spring.
The announcement affects shipyards in Appledore, in north Devon, Portsmouth, Barrow-in-Furness, Glasgow and Rosyth.
Former defence secretary Des Browne had given the green light for the creation of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales in May.
Contracts worth about £3.2bn were signed in July and the work was expected to create or underpin a total of 10,000 jobs at the yards.
But Mr Hutton told MPs this week there would be a new announcement on defence spending.
He said: "We will be setting out some ways in which we intend to improve value for money in relation to defence procurement.
"But we have got to make sure that the armed forces have a balanced range of kit available to them."
'Financial chaos'
BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said the government did not view cancelling major defence projects as an option. Instead, it was considering delays as a way of controlling the Ministry of Defence's (MoD) spiralling budget.
She said: "At least one of Britain's two new aircraft carriers could be put back by a year, or even two.
"There's already a delay to the joint strike fighter that will fly from the warships, so the MoD could argue it makes sense to put off the completion of the carriers."
But Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock, a member of the Commons Defence Committee, said the MoD was in financial "chaos".
"Without the carrier contracts, many of those yards are going to find it difficult to keep going," he said.
"MoD contracts have been fundamental in keeping the skills together, keeping the technology alive and moving it on... delays will undoubtedly mean a lot of that good work and a lot of money will have been wasted."
Meanwhile, hundreds of jobs in Somerset are to be secured due to a new government order for 62 Future Lynx helicopters from Agusta Westland, BBC West has learned.
Mr Hutton is expected to confirm the order for the Yeovil production site later.
An immediate contract will also be awarded to upgrade existing Lynx helicopters to prepare them for battlefield sites such as Afghanistan.
The order, worth £1bn, has been delayed for more than two years.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7776695.stm
Published: 2008/12/11 02:50:55 GMT
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China's shipbuilding industry to face tough times ahead
Thursday, 11 December 2008
After two or three years' blowout, the Chinese shipbuilding industry will face a real test in 2011 to 2012, as the situation will be worse during the financial crisis. Shipbuilders in China are still busy because most orders are due to finish by 2011. Figures from China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry show in the past three quarters of this year shipbuilders finished 16.82 million deadweight tonnages up by 40%YoY with new orders of 57.17 million DWT, down by 11% YoY and the ongoing orders of 210.84 million DWT up by 63% YoY accounting for 25.6%, 38.8% and 35.4% of global market respectively.
But ship builders still can not sleep well despite these orders. Experts familiar with the matter said gloomy demand, cancellation of orders, and difficulty in raising funds are the potential problems for the industry.
The Baltic Dry Index on November 25 dropped to 824 points, down by 92.6% compared with a former record of 11,067 points in May of this year. Recent figures show there are 180 capesize ships casting anchors due to no transportation deals and the rent was reduced to USD 5,000 per day from USD 180,000.
A senior ship broker to the Shanghai Securities News reported that the negative impact has already emerged in the second-hand ship market. "The quoted price has dropped by 50 percent in three weeks. A ship's dealt price was USD 28 million, far lower than the quoted USD 60 million.”
Brokers said biggest problem for ship owners is having no goods to transport. And the order cancellations will be worse if second-hand ship prices keep dropping.
Source: China Daily
http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28341&Itemid=79
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Ship firm calls jail term for tanker crew a 'disgrace'
(2 hrs 52 mins ago)
Managers of a Hong Kong supertanker -- V.Ships -- whose crew chiefs were jailed over South Korea's worst oil spill have blasted the decision as "a disgrace and insult'' to the world shipping community.
A South Korean appeal court has jailed the Indian captain Jasprit Chawla and chief officer Syam Chetan after ruling they were negligent in minimizing the spillage.
The accident happened in December 2007. V.Ships said the court's decision "will surely go down as one of the most disgraceful examples of a miscarriage of justice in a 'supposedly' advanced nation state.
"For Captain Chawla and Chief Officer Chetan to be sentenced to prison terms ...is a disgrace and insult to the whole shipping industry.''
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=10827&icid=3&d_str=20081211
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China exporters stagger
Dec 11, 2008
The value of China's exports was 2.2 per cent lower in November than a year ago, customs data showed on Thursday, the largest such drop in Chinese exports since April 1999.
BEIJING - DEMAND for Chinese exports of everything from furs to furniture shrank precipitously last month, sending a chill through the workshop of the world.
Chinese exporters have been left staggering, as the global financial crisis in the second half of the year battered their main markets in Europe and the United States.
The value of China's exports was 2.2 per cent lower in November than a year ago, customs data showed on Thursday, the largest such drop in Chinese exports since April 1999.
And the next few months could be worse.
A plastic Christmas tree exporter worries that Santa will not come next year. A sex toy maker reports limp sales and a deflated outlook.
'Demand has been falling, and fewer and fewer people are even inquiring about prices for products. When they do, they want the cheapest ones,' said Song Fei, export manager for the Shanghai-based Good Friends company, which sells sex toys, electric mosquito swatters and fungus.
'Next year will be worse. This is just the start, it's just gotten going. Our customers tell us their orders next year will be way down.' Chinese exporters have struggled with tight credit, higher raw materials prices and fierce competition for well over a year.
For some, the downturn could be the final straw.
'Many of these places will go out of business,' said Ju Xiangming, a petite sales clerk in Beijing's Russian quarter, where wholesalers ship mink coats to Russia.
'There's been a big drop in customers. Exports to America have dried up, but the Russians are holding strong for now. The economic crisis does not seem to have affected them as much - not yet at least.' Without buyers, some Chinese have already closed their doors.
'A lot of Chinese suppliers and manufacturers were shutting down daily in September. There's hardly any left,' said Jamie O'Neill, a buyer for British firm Advantage Fibres International, which ships cashmere and other fibres to Europe and Asia.
'This is only the start of the downturn. We won't see the full ramifications until the start of next year.' Some exporters that shipped long before the Christmas season could face worse times ahead, since orders are typically placed in the spring for shipment in the late summer.
'I think we'll feel the full effect only next year....
Customer confidence will certainly be hurt,' said Li Haiyan, sales manager for plastic Christmas tree manufacturer Emission Trading, which has had customers delay payments because of credit problems.
Chinese makers of cheap goods need a high volume of shipments to offset thin profit margins, and delays in payment can dangerously destabilise their cash flow.
'On the US side, credit is hard to get, and the buyers can't guarantee terms. So we can do small orders, but not big ones,' said coat hanger manufacturer Johnny Chan. With the Chinese market crowded with competitors in similar difficulty, he was considering abandoning hangers to open a clothing shop.
And there's another casualty.
'Because the market is bad, my American clients don't come to China anymore. So I haven't had any chance to practice my English, and I've forgotten a lot of it,' Mr Chan said. -- REUTERS
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Money/Story/STIStory_313075.html
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Last updated December 10, 2008 10:34 a.m. PT
Terrorism on the unguarded sea
H.D.S. GREENWAY
What if by sea? With security tightening on the land routes into the United States from Canada and Mexico, and with new warnings that the United States could face a nuclear or biological attack within five years, could the next outrage come through America's largely unguarded ocean frontiers?
The distance from Karachi to Mumbai is about the same as from Haiti to Miami, Tampico to Houston, Halifax to Boston, and Baja, Calif., to Los Angeles, says an old shipmate from my Navy days. Wouldn't it be simple for terrorists to acquire a ship, perhaps a fishing trawler, and sail it into any number of ports virtually undetected?
"There is now no routine surveillance of the broad oceanic approaches to the homeland," he says. "Only in the close approaches to major U.S. ports does the Coast Guard maintain the type of active radar coverage essential to the control of shipping, and this surveillance is focused on the relatively large commercial ships ..."
Because he is still involved with government work he asked that I not use his name.
Much thought has been given to the possibility that mass death could arrive in a closed container aboard a container vessel, and be shipped directly from its port of entry to anywhere in the United States. Efforts are made to inspect ships in their ports of departure, with the cooperation of foreign governments, but even so only a tiny fraction get inspected.
But my friend argues that terrorists, having gone to great effort to acquire their death-dealing devices, might not be willing to consign them to commercial shipping systems.
"There is no system in place for detecting and investigating the larger number of ocean-going, noncommercial vessels plying our coastal waters that are capable of carrying weapons of mass destruction," he says.
A yacht could slip into Miami from the Caribbean virtually undetected and blow the city to smithereens. A small freighter offshore could launch smaller attack boats, as the Somali pirates do, and as was done in Mumbai, and remain undetected until too late.
The same would be true of any number of European ports, especially in the Mediterranean with close proximity to the discontent of North Africa. It wouldn't have to be nuclear to do great damage. One remembers the French ammunition ship that blew up by accident in Halifax harbor during World War I, devastating the city. Port cities everywhere are vulnerable to what would be powerful, maritime truck bombs.
Stephen Flynn, a former Coast Guard officer, now at the Council on Foreign Relations, points out that in addition to our sea ports, most of America's inland cities are located along waterways, "and the level of patrols is next to none. We are very exposed to water-borne attack."
My ex-Navy friend thinks we need a sea-traffic control system, "analogous to the one that manages all air traffic. But, politically, this is proving to be very hard. Commercial and general aviation grew up under the eye of government air traffic control systems. Seafaring has been unregulated and uncontrolled since the beginning of time," he says. There is no mandatory identification system for smaller boats entering U.S. waters.
The Coast Guard does have a "Marine Domain Awareness" program, and a volunteer auxiliary in which civilians donate their time, their boats, and sometimes planes, to patrol our coasts and harbors looking out for anything unusual. According to Flynn, this is probably the best way to thwart an attack because terrorists like to carry out surveillance and make dry practice runs. People who work our waterfronts and in coastal waters are in the best position to notice something strange.
Flynn thinks this should be greatly expanded, with Homeland Security "engaging with the maritime public, yacht clubs, fishermen, coastal home owners, dock workers, and the like, telling them what to look for." He says the British are much better at alerting communities than we are.
Drug runners now use semi-submersible submarines to avoid detection. Terrorists could follow suit with something much worse than heroin aboard. The 9/11 attacks came from the air from our own airports. The fire next time could come undetected, as my Navy friend says, from the "great anonymity of the ocean."
H.D.S. Greenway's column appears regularly in the Boston Globe.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/391504_greenwayonline11.html
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Times Are Tough …….Pentagon seeks recruits on visas
Pauline Jelinek ASSOCIATED PRESS
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon temporarily will recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political-asylum status.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has authorized the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to recruit certain legal residents whose critical medical and language skills are "vital to the national interest," officials said, using for the first time a law passed three years ago.
Although the military previously has taken recruits with green cards seeking permanent residency, Mr. Gates' action enables the services to start a one-year pilot program to find up to 1,000 foreigners who have lived in the states legally for at least two years on certain types of temporary visas.
The new recruits into the armed forces would get accelerated treatment in the process toward becoming U.S. citizens in return for serving in the wartime military in the United States or abroad.
"The services are doing a tremendous job of recruiting quality personnel to meet our various missions," sometimes with bonus pay and tuition for medical school, said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy. But they haven't been able to fill their need for 24,000 doctors, dentists and nurses in the Defense Department.
The Pentagon's doctor and nurse corps remain 1,000 short of the numbers needed to treat patients, and Mr. Carr said he hoped the program would fill the gaps.
The military's most pressing need is for neurosurgeons and dermatologists to treat troops coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain and burn injuries caused by insurgents' wide use of roadside bombs and suicide bombs.
The force also lacks nurses with a broad range of specialties, Mr. Carr said.
It also needs people with special language and cultural skills for a war on terrorism that has taken the armed forces across the globe.
Though the military has been looking for more Arabic speakers and others to help with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new program looks to recruit speakers of some three dozen languages, including Albanian, Korean, Punjabi, Somali and Turkish.
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/11/pentagon-seeks-recruits-on-visas/
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Don't take terrorists lightly, Mullen says
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) --
A lesson from the Mumbai attacks should be not underestimating terrorists' potential, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said Wednesday.
"It shouldn't be lost on anyone how a handful of well-trained terrorists using fairly unsophisticated tools in a highly sophisticated manner had at bay an entire city and nearly brought to a boil interstate tensions between two nuclear powers," Mullen said during a briefing at the Pentagon.
The attacks on India's financial and entertainment hub in which more than 170 people died wasn't against a particular group, the Navy admiral said, but "an attack on all of us who love the sacred dignity of human life."
Mullen visited Pakistan and India last week to discuss the Mumbai attacks. While in Pakistan, he said he sensed officials appreciated the seriousness of the attacks and the growing threats of terrorism inside the country's borders.
Indian authorities said they believe the attackers were Pakistanis, specifically blaming Lashkar-e-Toiba, an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities at first denied the attackers were from their country, blaming what they call "non-state" actors.
Since the Mumbai attacks, Pakistani army and police raided Lashkar-e-Toiba camps, arresting at least 20 terrorists, including the alleged masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks, the Defense Department said.
"These are great steps," Mullen said. "I certainly hope and expect there will be more such steps taken by Pakistani authorities in the near future."
United Press International
http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/27611.html
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Media briefing by SAfrica's Director-General Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba
Wed, 10 Dec 2008 23:56:00 +0000
Question
Will South Africa be supporting the EU anti-piracy initiative in Somalian waters?
Answer With respect to the anti-piracy resolution, if I can put it like that, off course South Africa supports the efforts being taken on the Somalian waters. There was a UN resolution and South Africa supports that.
South Africa has also been approached at some time to be part of, through our navy, opening up a humanitarian corridor. South Africa is considering this but South Africa’s view has always been and we are therefore happy that the UN is taking this up, that we needed to ensure that the entire question of the creation of a humanitarian corridor in Somalia as well as any interventions around the question of piracy should really be done around the auspices of a very well thought out UN resolution largely because we know from past experience that there are different points of emphasis and the international community has different slants on how to deal with the question of Somalia and it has always been our view that it would be in the interests of the integrity of an intervention in Somalia if this were to be done under a very well thought out UN resolution and to the extent that this exists, yes, South Africa supports this.
I am unaware that South Africa has necessarily directly been approached on the anti-piracy side but I know that South Africa has been approached largely to assist with the creation of a humanitarian corridor and that is what South Africa is considering.
Full Media Brief at : http://www.talkzimbabwe.com/news/130/ARTICLE/3910/2008-12-10.html
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Top US Military Officer Concerned Economic Crisis Could Cause More Terrorism
By Al Pessin
Pentagon
10 December 2008
The top U.S. military officer says he is concerned that the global economic crisis could create instability and, potentially, more terrorism around the world, particularly in African countries and other relatively poor areas.
Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, 10 Dec 2008
Admiral Mike Mullen says the global economic downturn could create more terrorists.
"I'm very concerned about the global financial crisis and its impact globally on security," he said. "I think it will impact on security, over a period of time. As food prices continue to go up, as other costs continue to go up, as this pressure is brought globally, I think the possibilities for increased instability, as opposed to increased stability, are there. Without being precise about where that might happen, I just think the extent of this, or the length of this, is going to have an impact on increased instability in countries that are already under a great deal of pressure because their economies aren't that healthy in the first place."
Admiral Mullen says jobs are the key link between the economy and security.
"With a stable economy, jobs come," he said. "You are able to expand and create the kind of positive cycle that gets you away from the violence and other options for unemployed young men, in particular."
At a Pentagon news conference, the admiral also noted that terrorists need places to train and take refuge, and he says economic troubles can also result in more of those, as governments have fewer resources to devote to securing their territory. He says the problem puts "enormous" pressure on African countries in particular, where many governments have very large areas to defend and terrorists have been trying to gain a foothold.
"I am concerned about the potential for a safe haven in Somalia, as I am in Yemen," Adm. Mullen said. "And I try to pay attention to the evolution of potential safe havens, these two in particular, and specifically to the one in Somalia. So I'm extremely concerned about that."
Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, did not suggest any U.S. military operations to eliminate or prevent the creation of terrorist safe havens. The Pentagon has a variety of programs designed to improve the defense capabilities of partner nations in Africa and elsewhere, and the U.S. government also has aid and development programs that may help ease the impact of job losses caused by the economic downturn. But the admiral says the effort to reduce global terrorism may get more difficult as job losses increase and all countries tighten their defense budgets, including the United States.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-10-voa63.cfm
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Lloyds establish piracy insurance
Written by Editor
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Lloyd’s of London broker Aon to cover for loss of earnings incurred by charterers, shipowners and cargo owners when a ship is being detained by pirates.
Against a background of increasing pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia involving kidnapping and shoot-outs, Lloyd’s underwriters are behind a new kind of marine insurance policy aimed at covering a gap in standard cover.
The policy, designed by Lloyd’s broker Aon - NYSE:AOC - covers the loss of earnings incurred by charterers, shipowners and cargo owners when a ship is being detained by pirates.
There were more than 50 reported attacks off the coast of Somalia in the first eight months of 2008, with 32 vessels hijacked.
Costs incurred
The average duration of vessel seizure is 60 days, which means that charterers have been incurring the cost of paying charter hire for these additional days without receiving any extra income.
Cargo owners also face the risk of cancellation of contracts due to the delay.
Hull and war clauses do cover physical loss or damage arising from piracy, while ransom is either dealt with by specific coverage or by owners attempting to recover as a ‘sue and labour’ expense.
But until now there has been a potential void in cover for the financial impact of business interruption or loss of earnings.
“We decided to do something about it across the marine industry so all parties affected by an attack could recover their loss of earnings,” Peter Townsend, Aon’s Head of Marine Hull, said.
Complementary policy
The new standalone loss of earnings policy, which complements existing hull, war, cargo and P&I insurance, is designed to cover:
• Charterers, who are paying for hiring the vessel even though the vessel is detained
• Shipowners, who in the event of contract frustration, may lose out on charter revenues
• Cargo owners, particularly of seasonal goods, who face cancelled contracts if the goods are held up
• All other interested parties to a venture with an insurable interest.
Risking the route
There are over 22,000 transits through the Gulf of Aden every year. But, as Mr Townsend points out, without piracy insurance shipowners and charterers risk incurring significant costs with no recourse.
“The only alternative shipowners and charterers have is to avoid the Gulf of Aden and transit around the Cape,” he says. “The additional cost of that 10-12 day detour with extra fuel and wages can be as much as $2m.”
Importantly, Aon’s cover is triggered from day one of the attack with nil deductible. The insurance is available worldwide, to cover other piracy hotspots, and is written on a voyage basis.
Potential to hinder trade flows
Piracy has become a serious problem off East Africa, potentially hindering international trade flows.
The European Council is so concerned it recently launched its first ever maritime military initiative, Operation Atalanta, to help improve security off the Somali coast.
More than a dozen ships are currently being held to ransom in the region, including the Saudi-owned supertanker Sirius Star, which has two British crew on board.
In November, two British security guards jumped overboard from a chemical tanker seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The men, along with another crew member, were picked up from the sea by a German naval helicopter.
http://www.dofonline.co.uk/strategic-finance/lloyds-establish-piracy-insurance-120810.html
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Threat of piracy could push up cruise insurance
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
It's an insurer's nightmare: Heavily armed pirates, emboldened by their success in capturing cargo vessels, hijack a cruise ship with hundreds of well-heeledpassengers and ask for massive ransoms. It hasn't happened yet, but the failed attack this week on the luxury American cruise liner MS Nautica has shown the threat is real - raising questions about what impact piracy may have on cruise ship insurance costs. "I don't know where the rates are going to go, but they're not going to go down," Rich DeSimone, president of Travelers Ocean Marine insurance, said by telephone from New York. "One of the greatest impacts on insurance rates is increased exposure. And if you have increased exposure to something like piracy, it's going to result in higher costs."
But he and other brokers said it was unlikely that passengers' costs for buying cruises would be greatly affected as companies would be reluctant to pass on the increases. And travel insurance companies indicated they would not boost rates for tourists taking cruises. "We are still offering travel insurance to customers who are on cruises and there will be no effect on premiums as a result of the attempted act of piracy recently reported," said Sally Leeman, a spokeswoman for the British insurance company Norwich Union.
Ian Crowder, spokesman for AA travel insurance, said he expected cruise companies would avoid pirate-infested waters. "Given that the shipping company is not playing Russian roulette with its passengers ... then we don't expect the premiums to increase," Crowder said. He said that while travel insurance would not cover ransom payments, his company's policies would cover costs such as medical expenses and repatriation were someone to be injured or suffer a heart attack when taken hostage.
Both AA and Sainsbury's Travel Insurance noted that their policies would not cover people traveling to areas where Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office had advised travelers not to go. The FCO advises against all travel to Somalia itself, and advises "mariners to maintain a high level of vigilance and to exercise extreme caution when anywhere near Somali waters."
On the ship industry front, brokers, underwriters and shipowners indicated that while the costs for insuring vessels against piracy were likely to increase, it was impossible to tell at this stage by how much. "It is a developing subject," said David Glass of the Greek shipping publication Naftiliaki. "It is something the insurance industry is now grappling with."
Although cruise ships have been the target of terrorism in the past, such as the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro, there haven't been incidents of hundreds of passengers being held purely for ransom. "Because there's no case law, everyone is feeling their way," said one marine insurance broker with a firm of Lloyds brokers. "It's up in the air. Nobody knows who will respond to what. It is a dangerous situation," said the broker, who asked not to be named because the situation was still unclear.
Neil Smith, senior manager for underwriting for Lloyd's Market Association, said that while insurance costs would likely change, "it's impossible for us to put a figure on it because each individual underwriter will make a decision as they're approached."
Overall, cruise ships are probably in a better position than merchant vessels in facing pirates: they are faster than cargo ships, and their tall hulls make it harder for bandits to throw hooks over the side and board.
In the Nautica attack, a small band of pirates in two small speedboats fired shots at the roughly 180-meter (600-foot) long ship as it crossed the Gulf of Aden. The ocean liner increased speed and outran the bandits.
And with destinations such as the Mediterranean and Caribbean available to pleasure-seeking tourists, cruise ships don't necessarily have to sail through dangerous waters.
But passengers tend to book months in advance, and some companies have already set itineraries through the region. Silversea Cruises spokesman Brad Ball said his company was "taking a wait and see attitude" about future cruises in the region, but that no changes were being made yet. Andre Poulton, spokesman for Regent Seven Seas Cruises, which also has ships scheduled to go through the area next year, said he was not aware of any increased insurance costs from the Nautica incident.
Cost increases are unlikely to be immediate, especially on contracts that are renewed annually, brokers and underwriters explained. And as no hijacked merchant ships have been damaged yet, insurance companies have had limited involvement.
In addition to annual policies, extra hijacking and ransom coverage can be bought for the days a ship will transit through dangerous waters. Christos Stoforopoulos, owner of Epirotiki Shipping, said piracy insurance costs for passage through the Gulf of Aden vary between $15,000 to $50,000. Costs for cruise ships could be higher.
He added that any increase in cruise ship insurance costs could be softened by the fact the ships are able to outrun pirates. "Cruise ships can evade pirates faster, so that might temper insurance costs," he said. "There might be a small markup, but I don't think it'll be significant."
http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/28398
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Injured sailor in UK / Ireland rescue drama
Published Date: 11 December 2008
A BURMESE sailor injured on a cargo ship hundreds of miles off the west coast of Ireland was last night taken to hospital after a major rescue operation involving two US air force helicopters from East Anglia, a US Hercules aircraft and a Nimrod from RAF Kinloss in Moray.
http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Injured-sailor-in-rescue-drama.4782210.jp
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International Conference on Piracy Opens in Nairobi
By Derek Kilner
Nairobi
10 December 2008
The two-day conference, sponsored by the United Nations, brings together officials from more than 40 countries, as well as representatives from regional and international organizations. The first day brought together technical experts, ministerial-level meetings are scheduled for Thursday.
The conference is seeking to develop an improved approach to pursuing, arresting, and charging pirates. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime is reported to have proposed a $1.3 million program to enhance justice and law enforcement efforts in Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, and Yemen.
The meeting began just one day after the European Union outlined a new security mission off the coast of Somalia. Operation Atalanta joins existing deployments from NATO, Russia, and other countries that have sought to combat a sharp rise in piracy in the area in recent months.
Meanwhile, the German government approved a deployment of up 1,400 troops, along with a ship, for the mission. The German parliament is expected to vote on the deployment by December 19.
An official with the East African Seafarers' Association, Andrew Mwangura, said that international efforts would have little lasting impact without involving the local population in Somalia.
"If you are not going to involve the local community, it cannot achieve anything," he said.
Mwangura said a strategy to combat piracy needs to be part of a coordinated effort against other illicit activities in the region.
"If we want to stop piracy we need to fight all illegal activities in this region, because they are connected. Let us say piracy is connected to toxic dumping. Toxic dumping is connected to drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is connected to gun running. Those mafia-like businessmen are part of piracy, they do control pirate groups in Somalia. The real pirates are outside Somalia. In fact they do not go out to sea. Some of them are based in Nairobi, some are in Dubai," said Mwangura.
There have been more than 100 pirate attacks this year in the Gulf of Aden or the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia, and some 40 ships have been captured. Pirates are holding more than a dozen ships, and 300 crew members, in the hopes of receiving ransom payments that can number in the millions of dollars.
Among the ships being held are a Saudi Arabian supertanker, carrying $100 million worth of oil, and a Ukrainian ship carrying more than 30 military tanks.
http://voanews.com/english/2008-12-10-voa35.cfm
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Explosion may endanger SEAL mini-sub program
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Dec 10, 2008 12:09:37 EST
The long-stalled future of the U.S. special warfare community’s troubled mini-submarine is even cloudier after a serious explosion and fire struck the craft last month, ironically on the cusp of a new mission and a new way ahead for the program.
The Advanced SEAL Delivery Vehicle 1 (ASDS-1) was having its lithium-ion batteries charged Nov. 9 when an explosion started a battery fire that burned for about six hours. No one was aboard the 60-ton craft, which was on shore at its base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Federal firefighters sealed the ASDS to put out the fire and continued to hose it down for several hours to cool hot spots. The mini-sub remained sealed for more than two weeks before the hatch was opened.
“The Navy has not yet determined the cause of the fire or the extent of the damage,” Lt. Clay Doss, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon, said Dec. 5. Two investigations are underway to determine the fire’s cause and the extent of the damage, he added.
Sources familiar with the incident said that, in addition to fire damage, the craft likely would have significant water damage from having its interior flooded to fight the fire.
The incident came at a key time for the mini-sub program. The ASDS was to have deployed in November aboard the guided-missile submarine Michigan — the first SSGN deployment for the craft.
And, more than two years since U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCom) canceled further ASDS acquisitions, Pentagon officials reportedly were preparing to submit new program plans in the fiscal 2010 budget due to be sent to Congress on Feb. 2. No details of the new way ahead for the program have been revealed, although Pentagon sources said the submission would need to be reviewed in light of the pending investigations into the ASDS fire.
A primary question investigators will have is whether the craft’s new lithium-ion batteries caused or contributed to the explosion.
The ASDS’s original silver-zinc batteries provided insufficient power for the craft’s missions, and more powerful lithium-ion batteries recently were substituted. Built at Yardney Technical Products in Pawcatuck, Conn., the lithium-ion batteries are known to present hazards if not properly handled, particularly when the batteries are being recharged.
Although SOCom canceled the ASDS program in 2006, the Navy and the special warfare community remain eager to field the kind of capability embodied in the craft. Five or six people can ride inside the ASDS in a dry environment, unlike existing wet submersibles, in which riders sit astride their vehicles wearing diving gear. The wet environment is very debilitating and causes fatigue even before the SEAL reaches his destination — problems the ASDS eliminates. The 65-foot-long mini-sub is intended to be carried to operational areas aboard submerged submarines and has an operational range of more than 100 nautical miles.
The ASDS is intended to carry out a wide range of covert missions, including reconnaissance and surveillance, infiltration, sabotage and diversionary attacks, and counterterrorism and foreign internal defense missions. Navy officials routinely tout the ability to carry the craft as a key capability of existing and new nuclear attack subs and converted SSGNs.
The ASDS has had a long, checkered history. The first batch of six craft was to have been completed in the late 1990s, but technical problems led to long delays and a twelvefold cost overrun — the original $70 million contract for the first boat in 1994 ballooned to expenditures of at least $883 million by 2007, according to the Government Accountability Office. Only the first ASDS was completed and “conditionally” accepted by the Navy in August 2001, but the craft suffered from noise, vibration, power and a host of other technical and reliability problems. Although some of those problems have been solved, others have only been reduced in intensity or remain as challenges.
However, the ASDS has been used on several classified missions while improvements continue to be made.
The now-defunct Oceanic Division of Westinghouse Electric received the original design and construction contract. The division was bought by Northrop Grumman in 1996.
Sources at Northrop Grumman and rival General Dynamics Electric Boat said both companies remain eager to compete in a new ASDS program.
One submarine expert familiar with the program expected, before the fire, a new program for three boats at a cost of about $1.2 billion. Early, unofficial estimates of about $100 million to repair the damage to ASDS-1 are “very uninformed” and likely very low, the source said.
Several sources said they expected the explosion and fire would not end the use of lithium-ion batteries in the ASDS.
“Lithium-ion batteries can be quite dangerous but they’ve been safely used many times before, and these batteries have gone through many cycles,” a Pentagon official said.
“It almost certainly was a procedural issue,” the submarine expert said. “Like most things, it is very safe if you follow the procedures. But if you don’t follow the procedures, things can happen that you don’t expect.”
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/12/navy_dn_asdsfire_120908w/
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Submarine Co. Thriving, Looking To Hire
Company Has Hundreds Of Positions To Fill, President Says
POSTED: 5:38 pm EST December 9, 2008
UPDATED: 7:51 pm EST December 9, 2008
GROTON, Conn. -- Business is good for the submarine builder Electric Boat, company President John Casey said when he addressed legislators on Tuesday.
“I hope you all will be relieved to know that I'm not here this morning to request a bailout,” he joked.
In his annual address to regional lawmakers from Connecticut and Rhode Island, Casey said flat out that business is good.
Five of 10 Virginia Class submarines have been delivered, including two this year, he said. Maintenance and modernization is profitable, he said, and his 10,000-person work force participates in the community.
“Because our programs are funded very far in advance -- sometimes five to 10 years in advance of ships being delivered -- it’s important that we understand the impact of changes in government, changes in Navy priorities, changes in the performance of the vessels we build,” Casey said.
While Connecticut predicts more job losses next year, Casey said, Electric Boat is looking to hire 200 engineers, 50 designers and 400 trade staffers.
Employees also have a new, 65-month contract with the union, he said.
"We've contained costs,” Metal Trades Council President Ken Dellacruz said. “Our quality has been there as well as our performance. That plays a big part on the men and women that work here.”
Casey said building submarines is a cyclical business. He said next year looks good, but the company could face challenges beyond that, such as maintaining synergy with the sub-base so it stays off the BRAC list of closings.
“The fact that it’s a base that's devoted to submarines, if we can think of ways that expand what that base does beyond submarines, I think that would be a constructive effort,” Casey said.
http://www.wfsb.com/money/18239307/detail.html#-
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Singapore's Navy receives submarine support and rescue ship
07:01 GMT, December 11, 2008 The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is well on course to add a submarine support and rescue ship to its fleet, with the support vessel, Swift Rescue, being launched on 29 Nov by Singapore Technologies Marine Ltd (ST Marine).
Touted to be the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, Swift Rescue was conceptualised, designed and built by ST Marine, to enable it with the primary capability of submarine rescue, as well as to fulfill other secondary roles to meet the requirements of the RSN.
Besides being highly manoeuvrable with excellent sea-keeping capabilities, the ship also incorporates a helicopter deck and unique operational spaces.
Measuring 85m by 18m, it is designed to house a Submarine Rescue Vessel (SRV) and its handling systems on board. The SRV, which is still being built in Britain by James Fisher Defence, can be lowered to a depth of 500m underwater to reach a distressed submarine.
Should the need arise, Swift Rescue will utilise a Transfer-Under-Pressure system to allow the affected submariners to be transferred seamlessly from the SRV into the recompression chambers for immediate treatment.
In March 2007, the RSN awarded the contract to ST Marine to design, build and maintain the ship and the submarine rescue system.
The 20-year services contract is expected to commence next year, when the support ship and the SRV have been completed and integrated into a complete system.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4324/
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Greek Naval ship joins anti-pirate mission
Updated: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:10
SALAMINA, Greece - The Greek frigate Psara has sailed from a naval base near Athens to join European Union (EU)-led anti-pirate operations as the flotilla's flagship.
"The frigate will reach the Suez Canal on December 13 and the mission will begin," Rear-Admiral Antonis Papaioannou, who will be commodore of the EU force for four months, told a press conference on board.
Papaioannou, 51, will later hand over command to a Spanish officer, and the Netherlands will be in charge for the final period of the year-long mission, he said.
Over the year the force will comprise in total 20 warships from Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, Papaioannou said.
During his term he would have five ships, three aircraft and four helicopters at his disposal.
"We are going to try to ensure the region is safe for navigation," he said, while adding that there was a very large area to cover.
The mission, dubbed Atalanta, took over from a Nato operation patrolling in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean where more than 120 attacks by Somali pirates have been reported this year alone.
Its rules of engagement allow it to use "all means including force to protect, to deter and to prosecute all acts of piracy."
At least 15 ships and more than 300 crew are currently being held by pirates for ransom, including a Saudi super-tanker laden with oil and a Ukrainian vessel loaded with tanks and weaponry.
http://www.moneybiz.co.za/africa/africa.asp?story=0f1c0ec9-e2f7-4232-aaeb-b22235a4bc6a
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US 'spies on Israel nukes'
10/12/2008 21:48 - (SA)
Jerusalem - The United States routinely spies on Israel to try to gather information on its assumed atomic arsenal and secret government deliberations, a new official history of Israel's intelligence services says.
While espionage by allies on their friends is not uncommon, it is rare that state-sponsored publications acknowledge it.
Israeli-US ties have been especially touchy in this regard since a US Navy analyst, Jonathan Pollard, was jailed for life for treason in 1987 for passing classified documents to Israel.
According to Masterpiece: An Inside Look at Sixty Years of Israeli Intelligence, American spy agencies use technologies like electronic eavesdropping, and trained staff from the US embassy in Tel Aviv, for "methodical intelligence gathering".
"The United States has been after Israel's non-conventional capabilities and what goes on at the decision-making echelons," says the book in a chapter on counter-espionage written by Barak Ben-Zur, a retired Shin Bet internal security service officer.
Asked about the assertions, the US embassy spokesperson said only: "We don't comment on intelligence matters."
Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arms. Israeli officials refuse any comment on this under a longstanding "strategic ambiguity" policy.
Declassified Pentagon documents published in a 2004 book about then US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld estimated that Israel had 80 nuclear warheads. Last May, former US President Jimmy Carter put the number of Israeli bombs at around 150.
The issue has taken on new relevance recently given Western fears that Iran's nuclear programme could have military designs - despite denials by Tehran.
Israel has vowed to prevent its arch-foe from getting the bomb, but some analysts believe Israel could instead build up an overt nuclear deterrence against Iran.
Contacted by Reuters, Ben-Zur declined to give operational details on how the United States might be spying on Israel.
But, he described such efforts as largely benign given the closeness of defence ties between Israel and the Bush administration.
"At the end of the day, the United States does not want to be surprised," he said. "Even by us."
Due out later this month, Masterpiece is published by the Israel Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Centre and includes prefaces by chiefs of Israel's military intelligence, the domestic Shin Bet and the Mossad spy service active abroad.
- Reuters
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2440408,00.html
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Passing helicopter rescues fisherman
Man taken to hospital with shock and hypothermia after boat sinks near Isle of Wight
guardian.co.uk, Thursday December 11 2008 09.59 GMT
A fisherman whose boat sank of the south coast of England was plucked to safety overnight by a passing rescue helicopter.
The man, in his 20s, was taken to hospital with shock and hypothermia after being winched to safety from the Solent – a stretch of sea between the south coast and the Isle of Wight.
He called for help at 11.44pm yesterday when his angling boat Sea Raider started sinking as he returned home to the Isle of Wight.
"He was shouting, 'May day, may day'," said Paul Marlow, the deputy watch manager at Solent Coastguard.
"We managed to calm him down to get a location and a description of the vessel and then diverted our helicopter."
The helicopter was passing over the Isle of Wight on its way to a medical evacuation in Jersey.
"[The man] was in the water and basically saw the boat disappear from under him," said Marlow.
"Within a couple of minutes the helicopter was over the top of the vessel and could see the boat going down.
"He was pretty lucky that the helicopter was in the air at the time otherwise he would have been in the water a lot longer.
"It's not so much the water temperature, which is about 7C, but the air temperature is pretty cold. Shock is a bigger killer than the water."
Two lifeboats and another fishing boat went to help.
The man was recovering in Newport hospital on the Isle of Wight. There would be an investigation into what caused the 8-metre boat to sink.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/11/fisherman-rescue-solent-helicopter
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More than 35 feared dead in Cameroon boat accident
Wed 10 Dec 2008, 13:37 GMT
YAOUNDE (Reuters) - More than 35 people travelling from Nigeria to Gabon were feared dead after their boat capsized off the coast of Cameroon, a survivor and the Cameroonian navy said late on Tuesday.
Deaths at sea are common off West Africa, from where thousands of people each year attempt to reach Europe, a dangerous journey made more hazardous by the frequent use of small, overcrowded and unseaworthy craft.
The sinking on Sunday happened when a storm overturned the vessel which was carrying 43 passengers and crew, six of whom had since been rescued.
"The crew completely lost control, water entered the boat and it turned over," Emmanuel Akimba, one of two Nigerians known to have survived, told Cameroonian state radio.
"As it sank, we just hung onto anything that was floating that we could until fishermen came to our rescue before handing us over to the Cameroon navy," he said.
The navy brought the survivors, the other four of whom were from Burkina Faso, to a hospital in the southwestern town of Limbe, and it was searching for more survivors.
Authorities in Limbe said they believed all the people in the boat, mostly Burkinabe and Nigerian, had been hired to work on plantations in Gabon.
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnJOE4B90JA.html
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HMAS Collins submarine again wins prestigious Royal Australian Navy award
09:34 GMT, December 11, 2008 HMAS Collins has become the first submarine to win the prestigious Royal Australian Navy training award, the Platypus Cup, for a second time.
Sponsored by ASC, the Platypus Cup is awarded to the Collins Class submarine whose crew best demonstrates the rigorous training needed to ensure the safe and effective operation of the vessel.
HMAS Collins won the inaugural Platypus Cup, presented in 2006, while HMAS Rankin won the award in 2007.
Executive Officer of HMAS Collins, Matthew Hoffmann, was presented with the Platypus Cup at a ceremony at HMAS Stirling on 11 December.
ASC Managing Director Greg Tunny said the challenge of operating a Collins Class submarine is reflected in the training its crew must undergo.
“ASC provides training services through the Navy’s Submarine Training School at HMAS Stirling and we know how demanding the training is for submarine crews,” he said.
“Before they are allowed to set foot on a submarine, they must complete up to nine months of training. Once they are on board, they can obtain their basic seagoing qualification know as their ‘Dolphins’ over another six months, and then continue with ongoing training and education.
“I congratulate the crew of HMAS Collins for their dedication and commitment to training this year, and also for the significant achievement of winning the Platypus Cup twice in three years.”
The Platypus Cup is presented annually to the Collins Class submarine demonstrating the best fleet, submarine and individual training performance for the preceding 12 months.
The name ‘Platypus Cup’ reflects the history of the original submarine depot ship HMAS Platypus and, later, the old submarine base (also known as HMAS Platypus) in Sydney which was the first home of submarine training in Australia.
http://www.defpro.com/news/details/4342/
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Bullish Seaspan takes delivery of new boxship
With more to come, Gerry Wang sees healthy growth in long term...
Seaspan Corporation recently announced delivery of the CSCL San Jose, a 2500 TEU newbuilding.
The new containership, which was constructed by Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., expands Seaspan's current operating fleet to 35 vessels with 33 remaining newbuildings to be delivered over approximately the next three years.
The CSCL San Jose was delivered on November 28, 2008.
The CSCL San Jose is subject to a time charter with China Shipping Container Lines (Asia) Co., Ltd. for a twelve-year period at a fixed rate. CSCL Asia is a subsidiary of China Shipping Container Lines Co., Ltd., the world's eighth largest liner company in terms of shipping capacity.
Under the terms of the fixed-rate time charter, CSCL Asia is responsible for fuel costs and all cargo operating and related expenses.
Gerry Wang, Chief Executive Officer of Seaspan, commented,
"Seaspan continues to grow its revenue stream with the delivery of the CSCL San Jose. Nearly 90% of our total revenues are generated from major state-controlled Chinese liner companies and leading Japanese operators and we continue to receive charter payments on schedule.
"In addition, we have no revenue contract renewals until 2011 at the earliest.
"Container shipping still remains the most efficient means to transport goods on the ocean highways from areas of manufacturing to areas of consumption and over the longer term we believe that demand in the industry will continue to grow at a healthy rate to support globalization. We also believe that Seaspan's business model is well-positioned to take advantage of this growing demand in the industry over the long term."
http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item_10173.html
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Analysis: Ukraine aids China carrier plan
by Andrei Chang
Hong Kong (UPI) Dec 10, 2008
The People's Republic of China has been sending military personnel to the former Soviet republic of Ukraine to learn how the country trains its aircraft carrier pilots, in preparation for the aircraft carrier battle group it eventually plans to build.
According to a source in the Ukrainian military industry, China first sent a large naval delegation, headed by the deputy chief of the People's Liberation Army navy, to visit the Ukrainian navy aviation force training centers in the southern port cities of Odessa and Sevastopol in October 2006.
The Chinese visited the Research Test and Flying Training Center at Nitka on the Crimean peninsula, and the two sides discussed the possibility of Ukraine helping to train China's navy aviation force and aircraft carrier pilots, the source said. Since then, Chinese engineers, pilots and naval technical experts have made frequent visits to Nitka.
The focus of much of China's current military cooperation with the Russian Federation and Ukraine is on producing large aircraft and an aircraft carrier. Ukraine has provided China with a prototype of its T-10K shipborne fighter. By dissecting the T-10K -- an earlier variant of the Sukhoi Su-33 fighter -- China hopes to acquire the capability to independently develop its own shipborne fighters.
The single T-10K that China purchased from Ukraine originally was based at the Nitka center, which is equipped with a range of simulators to train pilots in jump takeoffs, arresting landings and contingency responses. The training modules simulate the release of the arresting hook on takeoff and its use on landing at a speed of 155 miles per hour.
The Nitka center previously trained a generation of Soviet pilots on the Sukhoi Su-33 and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K fighters. Now the 297th Fighter Regiment of the Russian navy aviation force is undergoing training there.
As this author reported earlier for United Press International, China has imported four sets of aircraft carrier landing assistance equipment and arresting hooks. The Chinese are in the process of building their own aircraft carrier training base, which is why they have been so keenly interested in Nitka's simulators, training software, management procedures and technologies.
The training of aircraft carrier fighter pilots is a crucial step in putting together an aircraft carrier fleet. The training program is extremely harsh. According to the Ukrainian source, the most basic training for short-distance takeoffs, landings and ski-jumps would take at least six months.
Ukraine was once the main training center for the Soviet Union's aircraft carrier fighter pilots. It now intends to train navy pilots not only for China but also for India and other countries that aspire to possess aircraft carriers, a source from Nitka told United Press International.
The Indian navy is in the process of purchasing an aircraft carrier from Russia, as well as Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29K and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29UBK fighters, the first batch of which is expected to be delivered to India by the end of the year -- already a year later than scheduled. The pilots for those fighters most likely will be trained at Nitka.
China's dealings with Ukraine reconfirm that the People's Liberation Army navy is moving forward on its aircraft carrier project. The Chinese carrier apparently is based on a Russian design; otherwise China would not be interested in Ukraine's simulators. This means China's aircraft carrier very likely will adopt the Russian methods of ski-jump takeoff and landing.
China has also taken practical steps to build an aircraft carrier training base. The first step is to train shipborne fighter pilots at this base, followed by basic short-distance takeoff and landing training on the disabled Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag that China purchased in 1998.
Sources from the Ukrainian military industry have confirmed to United Press International on several occasions that the Varyag is unlikely to be restored to an operational fighter aircraft carrier, and most likely will be used only as a training platform.
Although the ship was purchased by a Hong Kong company ostensibly to be converted into a casino, Ukrainian sources told United Press International that they were aware of China's intentions from the beginning to use it for military purposes. The aircraft carrier, repainted with the colors of the PLA navy, is now in the Chinese port city of Dalian.
-- (Andrei Chang is editor in chief of Kanwa Defense Review Monthly, registered in Toronto.)
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Analysis_Ukraine_aids_China_carrier_plan_999.html
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Zumwalt Undersea Warfare Combat System Receives Navy Nomenclature
File image
by Staff Writers
Tewksbury MA (SPX) Dec 11, 2008
Raytheon's integrated undersea warfare combat system for the Zumwalt-class destroyer recently received its official U.S. Navy nomenclature, AN/SQQ-90.
Raytheon's SQQ-90 represents the U.S. Navy's next-generation undersea warfighting capability. The tactical sonar suite is composed of new integrated system capabilities, including the hull-mounted mid-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-60), the hull-mounted high-frequency sonar (AN/SQS-61), and the multi-function towed array sonar and handling system (AN/SQR-20).
These systems provide unique mission capabilities and are fully integrated with the MH-60R helicopter's combat system to deliver broad warfighting coverage for the Zumwalt-class destroyer.
"This is an exciting development for the Zumwalt team because it confirms the maturity and readiness of Zumwalt's integrated undersea warfare combat system," said Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' Robert Martin, vice president and deputy of Seapower Capability Systems.
"The SQQ-90 will provide the sophisticated and reliable undersea warfare capabilities that our warfighters need and depend on."
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Zumwalt_Undersea_Warfare_Combat_System_Receives_Navy_Nomenclature_999.html
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Lessons The Russian Bulava Missile submarine Program
by Martin Sieff
Washington (UPI) Dec 10, 2008
The troubled history of the Russian Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile program is a textbook example of the problems that can plague an ambitious weapons program -- and how they can be overcome.
As respected Russian military analyst Nikita Petrov wrote for RIA Novosti two months ago, "Russia's navy pins great hopes on the Bulava, which has been plagued by problems for 15 years. The missile is also the focus of intrigue, with some designers wishing it good luck and others good riddance."
In building the Bulava, Russia's top Defense Ministry experts made the same kind of mistake to which the U.S. Department of Defense has been prone. They gave a major military engineering job to a large, well-established and respected organization that had a first-class track record but little or no experience in the actual field it was now being asked to master.
As Petrov pointed out, the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology -- also referred to as the Moscow Institute of Heat Engineering -- had never built submarine-launched ballistic missiles before for the Russian navy.
The MITT got the job after the Makeyev Design Bureau in the city of Miass, which specialized in designing submarine-launched ballistic missiles, produced its own prototype Bark SLBM that failed in three out of three test launches. The job of designing a new long-range SLBM that could be fired from Russia's ambitious new Borey-class Project 955 submarines therefore was handed over to the MITT, which had just produced a winner in the mobile, land-based, single-warhead Topol-M. But the MITT solution proved to be a bigger headache than the previous unsuccessful project it was designed to replace.
Major weapons systems do not grow on trees. A vast amount of engineering know-how and experience, on the individual and institutional levels, is required to design and then develop such ambitious engineering projects. The MITT engineers were not used to working with salt water, and they quickly found that "virtual" solutions that worked wonderfully on computer screens and in software programs were a lot more difficult to deal with when they were turned into enormous steel missiles with solid fuel-powered engines that had to be launched below the surface of the sea through salt water. Again and again, the new Bulavas emerged from the ocean at awkward angles, wrecking the accuracy of their ballistic flight trajectory.
As Petrov noted, "Sea water is 800 times denser than air and always has been a challenge to a missile launched from a running submarine."
Weapons systems can appear "brilliantly" conceptualized and invulnerable in their computer screen simulations. But they still have to cope with the unforgiving realities the elements express through the relentless laws of chemistry and physics.
Weapons systems ultimately also have to be built by lots of human beings -- specially trained, experienced and skilled ones. And such expertise is usually never available in the numbers and reliability that is required. That was another problem the Russian industrial plants discovered when they worked on building the Bulava-M SLBM prototypes.
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Lessons_The_Russian_Bulava_Missile_submarine_Program_Part_One_999.html
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US Navy Tests Seven Raytheon Standard Missile-2 Block IIIAs During Trials
"Standard Missile has been the U.S. Navy's primary surface-to-air fleet air defense weapon for more than three decades," said Kirk Johnson, U.S. Navy Standard Missile program manager.
by Staff Writers
Tucson AZ (SPX) Dec 11, 2008
The U.S. Navy fired seven Raytheon Company -built Standard Missile-2 Block IIIA anti-air warfare missiles as part of ongoing U.S. Navy shipbuilder trials and operational tests.
Four of the intercepts were conducted by the U.S. Navy's guided missile destroyers USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and USS Truxton (DDG 103). Three others were conducted by USS Antietam (CG 54) during exercises at Southern California Offshore Range Extension.
"The long-range SM-2 Block IIIA's ability to engage threats with low radar cross sections while performing high-g maneuvers makes it the most widely deployed area defense missile in the world," said Ron Shields, Raytheon Missile Systems Standard Missile program director. "Our customers trust the Raytheon design, because SM-2 variants are the most tested anti-air warfare missiles in service."
Advanced fuzing and warhead modifications were incorporated into the SM-2 Block IIIA design to counter the threat of sea skimming anti-ship cruise missiles.
"Standard Missile has been the U.S. Navy's primary surface-to-air fleet air defense weapon for more than three decades," said Kirk Johnson, U.S. Navy Standard Missile program manager. "When it comes to engaging anti-ship cruise missiles, aircraft or helicopters, the SM-2 remains our go-to weapon."
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Navy_Tests_Seven_Raytheon_Standard_Missile_2_Block_IIIAs_During_Trials_999.html
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Regards
Snooper
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