18 trapped after Indian submarine explodes and sinks in Mumbai

A Russian-built submarine of the Indian navy has exploded in Mumbai harbour, with 18 sailors believed to be trapped inside.

Several other crew members were reported to have escaped by jumping off the submarine when it blew up on Tuesday night, sparking a huge fire. Several injured navy personnel were being treated in a naval hospital.

DNV Helps Industry in Germany to Introduce LNG as Ship Fuel

DNV Helps Industry in Germany to Introduce LNG as Ship Fuel

DNV plays an active role in introducing LNG as ship fuel in Germany by supporting the dedication to reduce harmful emissions from ship operations. Making technology-based decisions is complex for each individual company, as is finding the right way into the future. We fully support the overall political will and dedication to reduce harmful emissions from ship operations,said Jrg Langkabel, DNV Country Manager, on the occasion of the visit of the German Minister of Transport, Peter  Ramsauer, to Caterpillars factory in Rostock. DNV is helping the industry in Germany to introduce LNG as an economic and safe alternative fuel for ships. The new environmentally friendly dual-fuel Caterpillar M 46 engine is fully capable of running on LNG and meets all the Tier III requirements in gas mode.

Manning the world’s largest ship

Manning the world’s largest ship - with 2 captains and 2 Chief Engineers

               The first Triple-E has commenced its maiden voyage in Busan, South Korea. At the helm, the crew of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller whose members have been selected among Maersk Line’s finest.

                  A selection of highly qualified crew members, specifically chosen because of their background and experience, will man the largest ship in the world. The ship can accommodate 34, and in principle run with as few as 13, but in regular service approximately 22 persons will make out the crew.

                

                         

                      Understanding of roles and responsibilities on the vessel is of utmost importance to ensure smooth sailing and safety.

                  On the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, the Captains are Jes Meinertz and Niels Vestergaard Pedersen, and the Chief Engineers are Per Schilling Nielsen and Niels Peter Svarer.

              All of them were present at the naming ceremony in Korea on 14 June. ”You are among the finest in your fields, and you should be honoured by being selected to take this vessel into service,” said Maersk Line CEO in his speech on that occasion. ”May you always have fair winds and following seas.”

Pirates hijack Turkish tanker with 20 Indians on board off coast of Gabon.....

Pirates hijack Turkish tanker with 20 Indians on board off coast of Gabon

 An hijack took place after 7 months.....

 

          Pirates captured a tanker bearing the Maltese flag, but 

owned by a Turkish company off the coast of Port-Gentil, 

Gabon, media reports said on Tuesday.

             The ship - MV Cotton - reportedly had 20 crew 

members, all of them Indian.

           Reports quoted a Turkish foreign ministry official 

confirming that the incident took place on Sunday.

           As per reports, the Turkish ambassador in Gabon has 

contacted the west African country's foreign minister in 

connection with the hijack.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pirates-hijack-turkish-tanker-mv-cotton-with-indians-on-board-off-coast-of-gabon/1/291628.html

The further information will be updated soon in other posts..........

Hyundai Heavy Develops Mini Welding Robot for Shipbuilding

Hyundai Heavy Develops Mini Welding Robot for Shipbuilding 

                      Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI), the world’s biggest shipbuilder and a leading industrial robot manufacturer, today announced the Company has developed mini welding robots for building ships. 

                  

                     The compact design of the welding machine, measuring 50 cm by 30 cm by 15cm when retracted its welding arm, can operate in confined areas inaccessible to human welders. 

                     The robot’s six joints enable the machine to carry out almost all types of welding work at a similar speed usually done by a welder. 

Moreover, a magnet on its body means the machine can be attached to steel walls or ceilings. Weighing just 15 kg, an operator can control three machines at the same time increasing productivity threefold. 

With the installation of software for steel cutting, blasting and painting, the robot can perform these other shipbuilding roles. Hyundai Heavy also plans to improve the robots to be usable for building onshore/offshore facilities and construction equipment. The mobile welding robots are scheduled to be used in building ships in Hyundai Heavy from the second half of this year. 

Hyundai Heavy, South Korea’s largest industrial robot manufacturer, also manufactures 20 models of car assembly robots, 10 models of LCD handling robots, and is in the process of developing various types of surgical robots in association with Asan Medical Center. 

Nigerian survives two days at sea, in underwater air pocket

Jed Chamberlain, from DCN Global diving company, describes how Harrison Okene (pictured) was rescued

A Nigerian man has survived for two-and-a-half days trapped 30m (98ft) deep in freezing seawater.

Harrison Okene, 29, was on board the tug boat Jascon-4 when it capsized in heavy swells.

It sank to the seabed, upside down, but Mr Harrison was trapped in an air pocket and able to breathe.

                      Mr Harrison survived in an air pocket, 30m underwater in pitch darkness

Of the other 12 people on board, 10 bodies have already been found and Mr Harrison is assumed to be the only survivor.

Mr Harrison told Reuters journalist Joe Brock that he could hear fish eating the dead bodies of his fellow crew members.

Intense thirst

The Jascon-4 capsized on 26 May, about 32km (20 miles) off the coast of Nigeria, while it was stabilising an oil tanker at a Chevron platform.

Mr Harrison was working there as a cook, according to the ship's owners, West African Ventures.

Mr Harrison told Reuters he was in the toilet when he realised that the boat was beginning to turn over, and as the vessel sank, he managed to find his way to an area with an air pocket.

"I was there in the water in total darkness just thinking it's the end. I kept thinking the water was going to fill up the room but it did not," he said.

"I was so hungry but mostly so, so thirsty. The salt water took the skin off my tongue."

"I could perceive the dead bodies of my crew were nearby. I could smell them. The fish came in and began eating the bodies. I could hear the sound."

LNG Bunker Barge for large volumes

LNG Bunker Barge for large volumes 

Design study developed by NLI Solutions, Rolls-Royce
and Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions. 


          Offshore oil and gas engineering specialist NLI Solutions (NLI) has developed a concept for a LNG Bunker Barge based on the NLI LNG tank design. The concept has been further developed in a design study together with the Marine division of Rolls-Royce and Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions (WTS). 

              LNG as is the cleanest commercial available fuel for ships today. The movement towards LNG is rapidly increasing, but a limiting factor is practical availability of LNG bunker facilities. LNG Bunker Barges are often called the "missing link" for LNG to happen. Today only one such exists, capable of 187m3 of LNG, whilst oceangoing ships need to bunker several thousand cbm. Building a small carrier for bunker purposes is expensive so our suggestion is a high-tech low cost barge, the HighTechBarge (HTB). 

            The HTB will for safety reasons be very maneuverable with pod-drives, as is used in offshore support vessels, have state-of-the-art electronics for danger detection and early evasive maneuvering. 

The NLI LNG tank is an atmospheric, prismatic steel tank, type "B", in this study capable of containing 4000m3 of LNG. It will be covered with a new insulation system with very low levels of boil off gas (BOG). 

                The electricity production for both propulsion and all barge and LNG/gas systems is of course from an environment friendly clean burning gas engine. The HTB has a large pressure tank on the aft deck for BOG handling and gas delivery to engine. Since re-condensation equipment is very expensive, takes a lot of space, and has very low efficiency for small installations like this, the HTB will use BOG for its own purposes. 

ABB's Amazing Container Crane Remote Control

ABB's Amazing Container Crane Remote Control

            There will be no more manual operated cranes.....To know more read and wath the video at the end of post.........

           As ships grow bigger & cranes taller, a key technology in the handling of shipborne containers is the remote handling of STS cranes.

                         For a crane operator sitting in a small crane cabin, far above ground and a long way from the containers, the ability to operate the crane with speed, precision and consistency is almost impossible. It is also physically demanding, frequently causing motion sickness and stress to the back and neck, which often leads to absenteeism.

                In July this year, the first of 20 vessels in the new Maersk Triple-E class will enter service, each with a capacity to carry about 18,000 TEUs. Four hundred meters long and 50 meters wide, the Triple-E is a giant in every respect. It will require 5-7 of the tallest ship-to-shore(STS) cranes on the planet to load and unload these vessels at full capacity, each one capable of lifting a container 52 meters in the air and 20 meters below the quayside – a total lifting height of 72 meters.

                    ABB is the first company in the world to develop a solution that enables the crane operators to leave the stressful confines of the cabin and operate the crane remotely from a specially designed control room that can be situated anywhere in the terminal. 

                          The key to this breakthrough are the smart automation features in ABB’s crane systems. These features run the loading and unloading process automatically, under the supervision of crane operators located in a remote control room. This minimizes loading and unloading cycle times by bringing consistency - in speed, efficiency and precision - to crane operations. And, it provides the operators with the best and most ergonomic working environment possible.

                 ABB piloted the world’s first remotely controlled STS crane in Panama in December 2010. Shortly after in 2012, ABB received three orders from the largest container terminals in Europe and the Middle East – from two terminals at the Maasvlakte 2 extension at the Port of Rotterdam, and from the new Jebel Ali T3 container terminal in Dubai.

                     All the STS cranes at both Maasvlakte 2 and Jebel Ali T3 terminals will be equipped with ABB remotely operated crane systems, a total of 41 cranes that will start production in 2014. This represents 20 percent of the STS market in 2012 – a remarkable achievement in such a short time and strong confirmation of customer acceptance of the new ABB technology.

A 51/2 minute movie showing ABB's shore-to-ship crane automation is available here.

KOLAVERI SONG For Sailors.........

KOLAVERI SONG For Sailors.........

WHY THIS KOLAVERI D ☻(SEAMEN
VERSION) FOR SAILORS

yo boys i am singing song
sea song
scrape song
... ... why this Rolling-Piching Rolling-
piching Rolling-piching di
why this Rolling-Piching Rolling-piching
Rolling-piching di
signal correct
... why this Rolling-Piching Rolling-piching
Rolling-piching di
Course maintain please
why this Rolling-Piching di
Overheadu sky,sky moonu
Moonu bearing rightu
Calmu seayy,seayyill boat
Boat-u chinesse boat-u
why this Rolling-Piching Rolling-piching
Rolling-piching di

Ship hits control tower at Genoa,Italy deaths tolls 7 and 2 injured.......

 Ship hits control tower at  Genoa,Italy deaths tolls 7 and 2 injured.......

              
                 Aerial footage shows the extent of the damage caused by the ship ramming into the tower.

Seven people have died and two are missing after a container ship crashed into a control tower in the Italian port of Genoa, officials say.

                      The Jolly Nero smashed into the 50m (164ft) concrete and glass tower late on Tuesday, causing it to collapse.

Rescue workers have been searching in the rubble for survivors while divers are scouring the surrounding water.

               The ship's captain is being investigated by prosecutors with a view to possible manslaughter charges.Officials, though, have said that some sort of mechanical failure was most likely to blame for what happened.

         The vessel has been impounded and its "black box" seized by investigators, according to Italy's Ansa news agency.

'Utterly shocked'The accident occurred at about 23:00 on Tuesday (21:00 GMT), when a shift change was taking place in the control tower and about 13 people were thought to be inside.Several of the bodies were recovered from an area near the tower's submerged elevator.

Keel Laid for World's First FLNG Project

Keel Laid for World's First FLNG (Floating Liquefied Natural Gas)Project

Shell has laid the keel for 'Prelude FLNG', the world’s first Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project.

                            Once complete, the 600,000 tonnes facility will be almost half a kilometre in length (488 metres or 1,601 feet), which is longer than four soccer fields, and will displace six times as much water as the largest aircraft carrie

                            When complete, Prelude is expected to be the largest offshore floating facility ever built. The hull will now be assembled in the dry dock, before the turret and the topsides are fitted at Samsung Heavy Industries’ Geoje shipyard in South Korea.

No more flares on life boats ---Laser device maker hopes its products will replace flares

No more flares on life boats ---Laser device maker hopes its products will replace flares

“Slowly move the laser back and forth across your target.”

            At 16 miles, the beam is some 6,000 feet wide,the laser has a 72-hour burning life on two AA batteries. The company recommends using lithium batteries for longer storage life (five years) and for use in cold temperatures,the company says.

A traditional pyrotechnic flare and a laser device made by Greatland Laser, which hopes to interest the Navy in its products for use in its lifeboats and rafts.
Courtesy- Greatland Laser


                  In product tests in the Baltic Sea, conducted by the Swedish firm Protagia for Greatland Laser, the beams were visible at a distance of 31.5 miles to a helicopter crew flying at 140 knots between 1,500 and 1,750 feet. The pilots reported not being bothered by the flashing beams. (Daytime range is up to three miles.)
                            Recall the grisly final scene in the movieDead Calm involving a flare gun. Picture the bright flares firing briefly over the doomed Titanic.

COCAINE (drug) smuggling carriage caught hiding inside Banana.......

COCAINE (drug)  smuggling carriage caught  hiding inside Banana.......

                                                       Investigators have broken up an international

 drug-trafficking ring that smuggled bricks of cocaine among 

crates of bananas being shipped from Ecuador to St. 

Petersburg. 

                       Nine Russians, two Latvians and the suspected Ukrainian ringleader have been arrested in connection with the four-year investigation by the Interior Ministry, the Federal Customs Service and the Federal Security Service, officials said Thursday. Investigators confiscated 130 kilograms of cocaine in total: 70 kilograms, with a street value of $85 million, from a banana-laden ship headed for St. Petersburg’s harbor in 2012, and the rest from a series of operations against the ring since 2010, Sergei Borodulin, deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s investigative department, said at a news conference. 

                 “We had identified the members by the end of 2012, but nevertheless we wanted to catch them red-handed in order to conduct the confiscation with style,” senior Interior Ministry official Sergei Tikhonenko said, smiling radiantly at several dozen reporters. The lucky break came in December 2012, when investigators learned that a ship arriving from Ecuador would pause in the dead of night before reaching St. Petersburg so the drugs could be unloaded onto the iced-over Gulf of Finland. Associates would walk over from the shore to pick up the drugs. “The rest was a matter of technique, professional skills and our professional pride,” Tikhonenko said. Investigators boarded the ship several hours before the cocaine was to be unloaded and found the drugs in the captain’s cabin packed in plastic bags shaped like bricks.

                             

                    Then investigators unloaded dummy bricks of cocaine onto the ice for the associates to pick up. It took the associates nine hours to walk, waist-deep in snow, the several kilometers from the ship to the shore — where investigators were waiting to detain them. The associates led the investigators to a rented cottage in the Leningrad region that served as their hideout, where two Latvian nationals were detained. The suspected leader of the gang, Ukrainian national Valentin Voinovsky, was extradited to Russia from Belarus, while eight Russian suspects were arrested in Russia.

                    A ninth was arrested in the Netherlands and is awaiting extradition to Russia, Borodulin said. The two Latvians are in custody. If convicted of drug-trafficking and related charges, the suspects face a maximum of 20 years in prison. The investigative department that is formally handling the case will pass it to the Prosecutor General’s Office in the next few days, Borodulin said.

NEW TAMIL MOVIE based On COSTA CORCORDIA Disaster, Movie Shooting To Start Soon Near The Wreck! In Italy!

NEW TAMIL MOVIE based On COSTA CORCORDIA Disaster, Movie Shooting To Start Soon Near The Wreck! In Italy!

            The film is part of a new wave of Tamil cinema known as Kollywood, which combines elements of Hollywood films with Kodambakkam, a style originating from a Chennai neighborhood in southeast India.

           An Indian film loosely based on last year's Costa Concordia shipwreck is to start shooting this year in the same region of Italy where the disaster happened, the Toscana Film Commission said on Friday.

             Shooting of the Tamil-language film was due to start next month but will have to be delayed because local sensitivities on the island of Giglio where the wreck still lies mean it will have to be filmed on a different island.

             The luxury liner crashed into the tiny island in January last year with 4,229 people from dozens of countries on board in a tragedy that claimed 32 lives and triggered international concern over cruise ship safety.

            "The community on the island is understandably very sensitive. We are trying to find another island in the archipelago where they can shoot," said Raffaella Conti from the commission, which helps producers shoot films in Tuscany.

               The film will be made by Sri Mishri Production and is part of a new wave of Tamil cinema known as "Kollywood" -- a combination of Hollywood and Kodambakkam, a neighbourhood  in Chennai in Tamil Nadu in southeast India.

         The basic plotline for the film is that "a group of tourists find themselves on a desert island as a result of a shipwreck," Conti said.

            Tuscany is bidding to become a new destination for blockbuster film productions from the world's new economic powerhouses.

           Bollywood stars have been strutting the mediaeval streets of famous Tuscan cities like Florence, Lucca and Siena in recent months including for the Tamil-language hit Rajapattai starring Vikram.

                 A popular Brazilian soap opera "Passion" has led to a spike in tourism from Brazil and Chinese state broadcaster CCTV's "The China Story" has told the tale of the phenomenon of Chinese immigration in the Tuscan fashion industry.

              "We are turning to the BRIC countries as one of our directions," said Conti, using a popular term for global economic powerhouses Brazil, Russia, India and China.

                    The Toscana Film Commission in Florence, a public-private partnership, helps filmmakers deal with local red tape and find locations and staff. Its members have attended film festivals in Busan in South Korea and in Hong Kong.

Two shipping companies to pay $10M in 'magic hose' case

Two shipping companies to pay $10M in 'magic hose' case - violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships

                                      1.M/T Cape Taft

                    2.M/T King Emerald

                  The following is the text of a press release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice:(WASHINGTON) -- 

Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus today pleaded guilty to felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited U.S. ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Jersey and Delaware, and the U.S. Coast Guard. 

                                       

            U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman and U.S. Coast Guard Deputy Commander of the Delaware Bay Sector Capt. Todd Wiemers announced the plea agreement – which includes a $10.4 million penalty, $2.6 million of which will be used address environmental damage caused by Hurricane Sandy – at a press conference in Newark, N.J.

According to a multi-district plea agreement arising out of charges brought in the District of New Jersey and District of Delaware, Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH (CSM-D), a German corporation, and Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. (CSM-CY), a Cypriot company, have agreed to pay a $10.4 million penalty and be placed on probation for four years.  During probation, the companies will be subject to the terms of an environmental compliance program that requires outside audits by an independent company and oversight by a court appointed monitor.  The shipping firms admitted that four of their ships (three oil tankers and one container ship) had intentionally bypassed required pollution prevention equipment and falsified the oil record book, a required log regularly inspected by the U.S. Coast Guard.  

Russian Captain fined in US for violating BAC limit

                         On a routine examination of the vessel flying the flag of Malta by the Coast Guard Port State Control examiners from Marine Safety Unit Portland, they found the Russian captain of the freighter Valeriy Sharikyn, 62, found him under the influence of alcohol, four times the legal limit. His violation was confirmed by the breathalyzer test. The incident took place on April 8, 2013.
                            

      
            The captain pleaded guilty to operating the commercial vessel under the influence of alcohol, class A Misdemeanor while in the Port of Portland. He has been sentenced in Oregon to pay a $1,000 fine for operating his ship with BAC four times more than the legal limit.

            According to the court documents, Sharikyn was a licensed Vessel Master on the Adfines East. The vessel is a 602-foot commercial vessel and it weighs over 24,000 gross tons.
The US Attorney General Amanda Marshall called the captain’s act as ‘reckless’ and ‘potentially deadly’ and also thanked the Coast Guard for their prompt action. Captain Bruce Jones, Sector Columbia River Commander, said: “The Columbia River is a vital transportation mode, source of economic prosperity for the entire Pacific Northwest and an environmental treasure which the Coast Guard is committed to protecting”.

            He also commended the young “but very competent and dedicated Petty Officers for their diligence and thoroughness in the examination of Adfines East which led to today’s arrest”.


    Keep reading to keep updated with the recent issues within the maritime industry.........

How much bigger can container ships get?

                           The world's cargo ships are getting big, really big. No surprise, perhaps, given the volume of goods produced in Asia and consumed in Europe and the US. But are these giant symbols of the world's trade imbalance growing beyond all reason?

What is blue, a quarter of a mile long, and taller than London's Olympic stadium?

The answer - this year's new class of container ship, the Triple E. When it goes into service this June, it will be the largest vessel ploughing the sea.

Each will contain as much steel as eight Eiffel Towers and have a capacity equivalent to 18,000 20-foot containers (TEU).

If those containers were placed in Times Square in New York, they would rise above billboards, streetlights and some buildings.

Or, to put it another way, they would fill more than 30 trains, each a mile long and stacked two containers high. Inside those containers, you could fit 36,000 cars or 863 million tins of baked beans.

This image from Maersk shows what 18,000 shipping containers look like in the wrong place

                   The Triple E will not be the largest ship ever built. That accolade goes to an "ultra-large crude carrier" (ULCC) built in the 1970s, but all supertankers more than 400m (440 yards) long were scrapped years ago, some after less than a decade of service. Only a couple of shorter ULCCs are still in use. But giant container ships are still being built in large numbers - and they are still growing.

It's 25 years since the biggest became too wide for the Panama Canal. These first "post-Panamax" ships, carrying 4,300 TEU, had roughly quarter of the capacity of the current record holder - the 16,020 TEU Marco Polo, launched in November by CMA CGM.

In the shipping industry there is already talk of a class of ship that would run aground in the Suez canal, but would just pass through another bottleneck of international trade - the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Indonesia. The "Malaccamax" would carry 30,000 containers.

The current crop of ultra-large container vessels can navigate the Suez - just - but they are only able to dock at a handful of the world's ports. No American harbour is equipped to handle them.

The sole purpose of the soon-to-be-launched Triple E ships will be to run what's called a pendulum service for Maersk - the largest shipping company in the world - between Asia and Europe.

They arrive in Europe full, and when they leave a significant proportion of containers carry nothing but air. (At any given moment about 20% of all containers on the world's seas are empty.)