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.

Tanker and bulk carrier collide off Galveston

Tanker and bulk carrier collide off Galveston 

 Tank Vessel Profit after a collision with the Motor Vessel Imperial Spirit

                         The Coast Guard is responding to a collision between two deep draft ships approximately 30 miles off the coast of Galveston on 30th May 2013.

               There has been no report of injury or pollution from either vessel; however, both vessels are reporting damage but are in stable condition.

The Tank Vessel Profit after a collision with the Motor Vessel Imperial Spirit 30 miles off of the coast of Galveston May 30, 2013. The collision caused damage to both vessels, but no injury or pollution occurred during the incident. U.S Coast Guard Photo.

HOUSTON — The Coast Guard is responding to a collision between two deep draft ships approximately 30 miles off the coast of Galveston on 30th May 2013.

There has been no report of injury or pollution from either vessel; however, both vessels are reporting damage but are in stable condition.

At approximately 5:50 a.m. watchstanders at Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit Texas City received a report of a collision between the 900-foot Tank Vessel Profit loaded with approximately 19 million gallons of crude oil and the 625-foot Motor Vessel Imperial Spirit loaded with grain.

The Coast Guard launched an Air Station Houston helicopter with a pollution incident responder to conduct an initial damage assessment.

Coast Guard Cutter Skipjack was also launched with a team of incident responders, marine inspectors, and marine casualty investigators to conduct a preliminary investigation and mitigate any possible further risk to the environment or the mariners aboard the two vessels.

The cause of the incident is under investigation.Keep reading the following posts for the results of investigation.

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

Important IMO Conventions

Important IMO Conventions

         These are the various conventions that are proposed by IMO,for the safety navigation and shipping.Head Quarters located at LONDON.The links for each convention leads to the detailed study of that particular convention......

                     International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, as amended

International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto and by the Protocol of 1997( MARPOL)

International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers ( STCW ) as amended, including the 1995 and 2010 Manila Amendments

 

Other conventions relating to maritime safety and security and ship/port interface

Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (COLREG), 1972

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.

Fatal accident during mooring operation

Fatal accident during mooring operation

Official report: (Edited from Statens haverikommission (SHK) Swedish Accident Investigation Authority – Report S-95/11)

                         A general cargo ship arrived with an import cargo that was stacked high on the hatch covers, exposing a large lateral wind area. A strong offshore wind was blowing during the final approach to the berth (starboard side to) with a pilot on board, but it had been already decided that the docking could be safely completed without tug assistance.

 

Picture briefing the view of an accident.

                     
                 The forward mooring team on the forecastle consisted of the C/O, Bosun and an able seaman (AB). The vessel was fitted with a large wavebreaker right forward, which meant that the forecastle deck had very little clear area. Standing on a small bulwark platform on the starboard side, the C/O was