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… IN CHINA A ferry carrying 19 struck an obstacle in the turbulent Xiyang River in the Guangnan county of Yunnan province and capsized. Six went missing. A ferry carrying 21 people and 10 vehicles sank. Four days later, three bodies, a truck, a taxi, and a Honda SUV had been retrieved. In southern China in Xishuangbanna on the rain-swollen Mekong River, a ferry capsized when caught in the strong current and swept off course. The ferry was overloaded with motorcycles and other cargo plus 23 people, mostly Burmese schoolchildren. The fourteen missing included nine schoolkids. Finally, the Yangtze claimed 13 lives and some trucks when a not-overloaded ferry carrying 21 people sank in Anhui province. SHAKY ENERGY? The magic words "shale" and "fracking" have made it possible for the US to start exporting natural gas next year. Whodathunkit five years ago! Profits might be high: natural gas was recently fetching $2.87 a million BTU in the US while prices abroad were about $10 (Europe) and $17 (Japan). But don't forget the expenses of gasification and liquefaction, shipping, etc. Export of petroleum distillates from the US reached new levels (980,000 barrels a day in April) due to demand from Europe and Central and South Americas while imports into the US reached the lowest level in over two years. The carrier USS Nimiitz and other ships burned 900,000 gallons of a 50-50 blend of advanced biofuels and traditional petroleum-based fuel during this summer's RIMPAC Exercise. Operations use more than 50 million gallons of fuel each month. The US Air Force is also exploring the reliability of 107(49) Certified MEPC Flexible configuration to fit in small spaces Completely automatic operation Continuous performance reporting IMO MEPC 107(49) Approvals US Coast Guard certified ABS type approval Simple design Very low maintenance Self priming Max coalescence Min power requirements Laminar flow Salt water backflush OILY WATER SEPARATOR biofuels. It recently bought 11,000 gallons of alcohol-to-jet fuel at $59 a gallon. The US House-approved version of the $608 billion defence spending bill, cut $70 million from the Obama administration's request for domestic development of biofuels production. But a US Senate subcommittee approved funding for the US Navy's adoption of biofuels and the goal is that the American fleets will run on biofuels by 2020. The US set that "green" target date to reduce the military's environmental footprint and continue operations worldwide in spite of any fossil-fuel shortages. The US Navy Secretary later explained, "We're not doing it to be faddish, we're not doing it to be green, we're not doing it for any other reason except it takes care of a military vulnerability that we have." The Royal Australian Navy has signed an agreement that will give it access to the US Navy's biofuel technology. SUNKEN THINGS AND SALVAGE In 1944 off Nantucket Island, the U boat U-505 torpedoed the American tanker SS Pan Pennsylvania before three destroyer escorts then attacked the U-boat. It hid under the sinking tanker but the USS Joyce saw it on its sonar and its depth charges forced the sub to surface. There, the Germans manned deck guns and fought it out with the USS Gandy until it rammed the sub. When the USS Peterson hit the U-boat with more depth charges, the Germans set off scuttling charges and abandoned-ship. The U-505 has been located by a private group. What happens to butterfat salvaged off the Rena? It will be recycled into biodiesel fuel. Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is underwriting a UK Government sanctioned expedition to recover the bell of the battle cruiser HMS Hood, sunk in Denmark Strait between Greenland and Iceland during World War II. His 414ft mega-yacht Octopus is acting as the base ship. HMS Hood was sunk in the Denmark Strait, between Iceland and Greenland by plunging fire from the German battleship Bismarck on May 24, 1941. However, many believe it was an 8-inch shell from the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen that actually caused the Hood to blow up. METAL-BASHING The world's first nuclear-powered cruiser, the USS Long Beach, was recently put up for auction with an opening bid of only $150. It was the last such US vessel with teakwood decks. Russia is building a 12,000hp spill-response and salvage icebreaker with an asymmetrical hull, flat on one side, and three azimuthing drives that can drive the 'breaker in any direction. When moving sideways, the 250ft ship would clear a 250ft channel through 2ft of ice. PIRACY, NASTIES AND TERRITORIAL IMPERATIVES PH 09 448 5900 | info@sopac.co.nz www.sopac.co.nz 36 Professional Skipper November/December 2012 VIP.S90 Sentences for piracy worldwide range from four years to life imprisonment, with sentences in Africa and Europe tending to be below the world average, while those in the US and the Seychelles are far stiffer. Near the UAE port of Jebel Ali, the naval security detail on the replenishment ship USNS Rappahannock put .50 calibre rounds into a small approaching fishing boat after it ignored repeated warnings of multiple types. One fisherman was killed and three others inured. Dubai's police chief rejected the US explanation and will now deal with the case as a murder. Off Somalia, piracy was virtually nil, with no attacks against commercial vessels and only one attack on a local dhow that was thwarted by naval forces. One hostage was executed on the bulker Orna, which was