The U.S. Coast Guard and local agencies are searching for two people in the water near Bootheville, Louisiana after the support boat they were on capsized during a training exercise, which involved oil spill response vessel Louisiana Responder. USCG Sector New Orleans reported that watchstanders received a report at approximately 10:40 on Wednesday January 16th…
Rotterdam Port reports fewer accidents in 2018
The Port of Rotterdam has reported that 29,475 sea-going vessels arrived at the port in 2018, 200 fewer than in 2017. The number of accidents fell from 129 to 118 on approximately 1m shipping movements. Among these, were 14 accidents involved pleasure craft. Harbour Master René de Vries said that this was “quite a lot…
Yemen – update from Gard on port situation
There have been no major changes to the status of Yemeni ports, or to the port entry clearance conditions, since the Hodeidah ceasefire “Stockholm” agreement entered into force on December 18th 2018, which was signed on December 13th, reports Gard. The parties agreed to withdraw their troops from the city and for the port to…
Inter-club agreement: the right to counter security
Steamship Mutual Americas Syndicate Manager Joanne Sharma has observed in a recent article that London Arbitration Award 18/18 highlighted the need for care to be taken over the precise wording of clauses used in charterparties to incorporate the Inter-Club New York Produce Exchange Agreement 1996, as amended September 2011. The vessel was chartered from the…
Notice of arbitration – sender beware
Skuld has published a review of two recent cases, Sino v Dana and The Amity, which concerned the service of notices of arbitration. Lawyer Andrew Meadows, assistant vice-president, claims, noted that the outcomes of the two cases were very different. In the first case the court found that service by email on a person in…
Old CSL Virginia sold for demolition
Cyprus-flagged container ship CSL Virginia (IMO 9289568), which sustained a significant gash last year when it collided with Tunisian passenger/cargo RoRo Ulysse (IMO 9142459) last October 7th north-west of Corsica, has been sold for demolition in Bangladesh. The ship, renamed Virgin Star, was sold on December 21st 2018 for $488 per LDT, putting the overall…
Increase in piracy last year, West Africa the new hotspot
Piracy increased in 2018, with the most significant rise in attacks being against ships and crews around West Africa, according to a report from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) recorded 201 incidents of maritime piracy and armed robbery in 2018, up from 180 worldwide in 2017. Reports of attacks in…
Nigeria importers, exporters to be issued electronic marine certificates
Importers and exporters at the various ports in Nigeria are to be issued with digitized marine certificates against the previous practice of physical certificates. The National Insurance Commission, NAICOM, and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, have given their approval for the digitization of marine certificates. Chairman of Nigerian Insurers Association Tope Smart said that…
“Market Developments” a new top-five marine risk: AGCS Risk Barometer
In Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty’s just released “Risk Barometer for 2019”, it has listed in the appendix the top five risks for marine and shipping. Of 100 responders who selected up to three “top risks” each, 34% mentioned natural catastrophes, while 32% were concerned at “cyber incidents”, which included cybercrime, IT failure/outage, data breaches,…
Marine accident round-up : 17th January 2019
Cargo ship Rix Emerald (IMO 9116802) ran aground off Landskrona, Sweden, during the morning of January 15th. She was in ballast at the time. No oil leakage was observed. No one from the crew of eight was injured. A sobriety test carried out on board proved negative. The reason for the grounding was as yet…