The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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BEYOND THE HORIZON CONTINUED keep their eyes open for the Mongolian-flagged chemical tanker. Authorities at the Suez Canal may spot the ship since she was originally bound for Alang for scrapping. The master of the Volga River tugboat Dunaisky-66 towing two barges, opted not to go to the assistance of the sinking river cruise ship Bulgaria when she capsized and sank in a storm last July. At least 122 people died. He was fined 190,000 rubles (about $9000) by a city court. NATURE The icebreaker USCGC Healey and the Russian ice-strengthened tanker Renda fought their way through 800 miles of tough Bering Sea ice in making an emergency delivery of 1.3 million gallons of fuel to Nome. Satellite tracking data suggests that most dolphins rescued during recent mass strandings in New England survived their ordeal. Greenpeace activists, including Xena actress Lucy Lawless, swarmed over the drill rig Noble Discovery at Port Taranaki, New Zealand, and set up light housekeeping atop the 53m drilling tower for several days. Eventually, seven activists were arrested, reportedly for burglary. The rig was about to set off for the Sea of Chukchi off Alaska where it would have drilled three exploratory wells. In the Antarctic, activists on board the Sea Shepherd managed to get a rope into the propeller of the "research" vessel Yushin Maru No. 2, slowing it to some extent. For about two hours they threw smoke-producing flares and bottles of butyric acid onto the ship. Butyric acid stinkbombs spoil any whale meat it comes in contact with and make it almost impossible to work on the deck. Her crew responded by spraying water and issuing warnings. Nobody was hurt. METAL BASHING Recycling of large vessels has increased to a point where scrappers on the Indian subcontinent are paying over $500 per ldt, and double-hulled VLCCs (very large crude carriers) are now being scrapped for the first time. ExxonMobil has sold its tanker S/R Long Beach, the last single- hulled tanker in the Alaska crude-oil trade, for scrapping. The 1987-built, 214,853dwt vessel was reflagged to Tuvalu on January 31 where her name shortened to Beach and she may now have been scrapped, probably in China. PIRATES NASTIES AND TERRITORIAL IMPERATIVES It has been long recognized that the suppression of regional piracy largely depends on the existence of a stable Somalian government. It is yet to be created but, encouragingly, regional Somali authorities are now hiring private security firms to provide FULL TIME MARINE ENGINEERS WANTED! In this role you will be responsible for the For this role you will need to have: WWW.FULLERS.CO.NZ VIP.S87 36 Professional Skipper May/June 2012 (09) 367 9112. If you wish to apply now, please submit http://careers.fullers.co.nz under counter-piracy forces. The Puntland region is creating its own maritime police force thanks to substantial financial aid from the United Arab Emirates, while the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia is forming its own anti-piracy taskforce with financing from international donors and a French sovereign wealth fund. Somalian pirates have erected a modern telecommunications tower in their stronghold town of Hobyo. That may give them better cell-phone communication plus limited access to possible- victims' Automatic Identification System signals. Danube River pirates are attacking passing tugs in Romanian waters. Armed with axes, knifes and bars, groups of pirates board from small boats and steal everything they can lay their hands on – a crew's possessions and cash, cargo, and vessel equipment including mooring lines, coils of towing lines and power cables. A British researcher concluded that 30 percent of a typical ransom goes to the Somalian pirates themselves, 10 percent to their shore-based support, 10 percent in bribes to local communities, and 50 percent to bosses, often safe in foreign countries. But local economies have been boosted, the exchange rate is better, real wages have risen and inflation is down, all due to the hard work of the pirates. Another conclusion by the researcher was that the revenue from a typical ransom was roughly equivalent to exporting 1650 head of cattle. A commercial anti-piracy centre recently established in the United Kingdom will be manned by ex-Royal Navy warfare specialists and intelligence experts. The centre can warn clients, such as shipping companies and charterers, if their vessels are standing into peril. The company claims its intelligence warnings can also save an average of two to four days of transit time and the hire of physical security guards at $90,000 to $220,000 per voyage. ODD BITS… Four new land-based recycling/rubbish sites may solve a Bay of Islands' rubbish disposal problem. The bays are wonderfully scenic international yachting destination and a rubbish barge served boaters' trash disposal and recycling needs until recently. The barge was damaged in 2010 when a bollard was torn off, presumably by a large vessel trying to moor alongside and it was later scrapped. The barge service had become unsustainable due the cost of emptying and maintaining the barge. Yachties then took to leaving bags of rubbish ashore, and mixing recycling such as bottles with household waste. Stay tuned. Archeologists are searching for 13 privately owned British transport service vessels burned and sunk in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island when that port was blockaded by the French Navy in 1778. Somewhere among the wrecks is HMB Endeavour, British explorer Captain James Cook's vessel. The Endeavour was later used as a Navy store ship and in 1775 she was sold to a private owner who offered the vessel back to the British transport service under the new name of Lord Sandwich. If ships go into Arctic waters, a trade group wants to see them equipped with the crisis management products of its members. These include a built-in system of fast oil recovery piping that would greatly simplify the removal of fuels from a stricken ship, magnetic patches to cover ice-made holes in hulls, valves that allow passage of water but not pollutants, and specialised submersible pumps. … AND HEAD SHAKERS Danish authorities noted that the small container ship Danica Hav was standing into danger at Sjællands Odde, a long peninsula on the northwestern coast of Zealand. The ship didn't answer radio calls so a rescue helicopter lowered a crewman onto the ship. He found the quite-drunk master at the wheel. A mate, roused from sleep, turned the ship aside minutes before it ran aground.