Contecon Guayaquil becomes S. America’s first carbon neutral port

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January 4, 2019

Contecon Guayaquil SA (CGSA) became the first port in South America to obtain a carbon-neutral certification. Namely, the Ecuador Ministry of Environment and environmental ratings agency, Sambito SA, recognized the port’s commitment to the environment. The certification marks CGSA’s compliance to ISO 14064-1 standards.

The port has launched initiatives to ensure sustainability, as well as technologies to reduces the operation’s impact to Ecuador’s largest and premier maritime gateway.

José Antonio Contreras, CGSA chief executive officer, highlighted:"This certification highlights, above all, a conviction and responsibility to guarantee eco-friendly and sustainable operations with less contaminating to the environment. This is our contribution for a better world."

CGSA also sponsored the preservation of 14,600 hectares of natural areas in Ecuador: 10,000 hectares of mangrove forests and 4,600 hectares of native forests. This was part of efforts to reduce carbon emissions from port equipment and to help in the conservation of the country’s large tracts of intact natural forests.

Finally, in 2010, the port received an Honorable Mention in Guayaquil’s Eco-efficiency awards. In 2015, the national government, through its Ministry of Environment, awarded CGSA the Ecuadorian Environmental Certification for being an “eco-efficient” company.

Source:safety4sea

Royal Navy Joins Migrant Interdiction Effort in English Channel

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January 4, 2019

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The Royal Navy is set to join the effort to patrol the English Channel as an increasing number of foreign migrants attempt to cross the busy seaway to reach Britain. About 540 people attempted to cross the Strait of Dover in 2018, the majority of them in the last three months of the year.

In response to this development, UK defense secretary Gavin Williamson has offered the Home Office the use of the Royal Navy patrol boat HMS Mersey, a 260-foot coastal protection vessel that is normally tasked with policing the UK's fisheries. "I can confirm that HMS Mersey will deploy to the Dover Straits to assist the UK Border Force and French authorities with their response to migrant crossings," Williamson said in a statement Thursday. "The professionalism of the Royal Navy means the crew have been able to immediately divert from routine operations to help prevent migrants from making the dangerous journey across the Channel."

Williamson initially asked the Home Office to cover Mersey's operating costs of about $25,000 per day, and the deployment was briefly delayed by negotiations over who would pay for the mission.

Mersey will fill in temporarily while two UK Border Force patrol vessels make their way home from the Mediterranean, where they were previously deployed on a migrant rescue mission. Home Secretary Sajid Javid has recalled them to the UK in response to the uptick in channel crossings.

"It is vital that we are working on all fronts to tackle this ongoing situation and I am grateful to Border Force and other agencies for the tireless work they have done in response to this activity," Javid said in a statement.

However, human rights activists and opposition politicians warned that an interdiction campaign would not necessarily improve matters for refugees. "People will continue to die and be at mercy of traffickers all the time politicians pretend to play tough for votes rather than recognise why people flee," Labour MP Stella Creasy said. "The asylum system in France is completely deadlocked and I fear deliberately so – they should be challenged on that. But none of that means Britain can absolve itself of responsibility to refugees."

Source:maritime-executive

U.S. Navy Opts for Block Buy for Two Ford-Class Carriers

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January 4, 2019

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On New Years' Eve, the Pentagon finalized plans to buy the third and fourth Ford-class aircraft carriers at one time in a money-saving "block buy" deal. The arrangement will save the Navy an estimated $2.5 billion to $4 billion dollars, and it will provide continuity for shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls, along with its workforce and its suppliers.

Congress has already appropriated the necessary funds, and it left the decision whether to acquire the two vessels at once to the Defense Department's leadership. The contracting process is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

The first vessel, USS Gerald R. Ford, is currently undergoing a post-shakedown availabilty at HII's Newport News yard after completing its sea trials. The second, the USS John F. Kennedy, is currently under construction and about half completed. The block buy would pay for the third, the future USS Enterprise, and the fourth, the as-yet-unnamed CVN-81.

Cost control is a key objective for the Ford-class program, which suffered significant budget overruns and delays on the first vessel. At $13 billion in construction costs, not including $5 billion for R&D, the USS Ford is the most expensive self-propelled ship ever built. Only the permanently moored Prelude FLNG platform, which has an estimated cost in the range of $12-14 billion, may exceed the Ford's price as the most expensive vessel of any kind.

The Navy and HII say that Ford's cost overruns and delays were due in part to first-in-class issues, like most cutting-edge warship programs. The Ford suffered a series of bearing failures and propulsion failures during testing and sea trials, which forced costly repairs, and her aircraft launch and recovery systems required extensive troubleshooting to improve reliability. In addition, her bomb-carrying weapons elevators experienced several instances of "uncommanded movements" during early testing, and the mission-critical devices will not be fully constructed and certified until next summer.

Congress has mandated a cost cap of $11.4 billion for USS Kennedy, and the Government Accountability Office has warned that this target will be difficult to achieve. HII's CEO, Michael Petters, has said that a block buy is the single largest potential source of savings for the remaining ships in the class.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia), whose constituency includes Newport News, celebrated the announcement of the block buy agreement. "Newport News builds the finest carriers in the world, and I know they are ready to handle this increase in work as we make progress toward the Navy’s goal of a 355-ship fleet,” he said in a statement.

Source:maritime-executive

Solstad Offshore announces contract extension and successful creditor talks

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January 3, 2019

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Skudeneshavn, Norway-based OSV operator Solstad Offshore announced a contract extension for anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) Far Statesman with ENI on 2 January.

The extension, for approximately five months, will see the vessel continue its work started in July 2018supporting ENI’s deepwater drilling campaign offshore Indonesia.

Far Statesman has been contracted by ENI in Indonesia since July 2018. The AHTS was built by Vard Langsten in 2013 to a UT 731 CD design and measures 87.4 m in length by 21 m in breadth with a maximum draft of 7.8 m and a dwt of 3,954. It has a total BHP of 24,371 and a bollard pull of 257 tonnes.

The contract extension comes just over two weeks after Solstad Offshore (SOFF) disclosed on 20 December it had agreed improved payment terms with creditors for six-months following discussions regarding improving the group’s liquidity and long-term plans.

The company said in an announcement “SOFF is pleased to announce that further to these discussions, certain of the SOFF-group companies and their secured financial creditors have today agreed to suspend and defer payments of principal and interest under the Companies' loan agreements until 20 June 2019.”

The announcement also noted the suspensions and deferrals do not apply to the financial debt of Solship 1 Invest AS or Solship 3 Invest AS and associated silo-subsidiaries, and the scope of the suspensions and deferrals could be widened at a later stage.

Commenting on the improved payment terms in inhouse magazine Solships, chief executive Lars Peder Solstad said “This has put us in a stronger position to negotiate a long-term solution for the company in a controlled way."

“After years with a poor market, measures had to be taken.”

Mr Solstad also noted that while 2018 saw improvements on 2017 and he anticipates 2019 will be better still, rate levels for Solstad Offshore’s services are still unsustainable and the recovery is taking longer than had been hoped for.

SeaRoc on board for Merkur

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January 3, 2019

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SeaRoc will provide its marine management software to support the operational phase of the Merkur offshore wind project.

The SeaPlanner marine management system will be used with the 396MW wind farm as part of SeaRoc’s strategic partnership with the Dutch company Marine Coordination Services.

Marine Coordination Services, which joined Merkur in November 2018, will be in charge of conducting all operational marine coordination activities during commissioning.

The project produced first power in June 2018 but full commissioning is scheduled for this year.

The software will manage safety and efficiency during the project’s commissioning.

SeaPlanner was awarded the contract to support construction of the wind farm by Principal Contractor GeoSea NV in January 2017, providing integrated personnel and vessel tracking software, access control hardware and installation and setup of the marine coordination centre, based in Eemshaven in the Netherlands.

The wind farm, which includes 66 GE Haliade 150-6MW turbines, is being developed by Merkur Offshore, a joint venture between Partners Group, InfraRed Capital Partners, DEME Concessions and Coriolis.

SeaRoc group sales manager Graham Howe said: “We’re delighted to be supporting the Marine Coordination Services team with their work to manage all operational activities at this stage of the project."

This contract goes to show the added value that our collaboration with companies such as MCS can bring to clients. With their experience and our software, we can provide the resources needed to manage a cost-efficient and safe project for the wind farm’s operation for years to come.

Source:renews

Vår Energi finds oil and gas in Goliat West

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January 3, 2019

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Vår Energi has found oil and gas at its appraisal well 7122/7-7 S on the Goliat oil field in the Barents Sea offshore Norway. Its priority goal was to delineate the Goliat field by proving additional resources in Lower Jurassic and Upper Triassic reservoir rocks and secondly to prove petroleum in reservoir rocks in the Upper Triassic (the Snadd formation).

Mainly, Vår Energi was established on December 2018, after the merge between Point Resources and Eni Norge. The company drilled the well about 2 kilometers south of the Goliat floating production, storage and offloading installation (FPSO), 90 kilometers northwest of Hammerfest.

The well found a total oil and gas column of 18 meters in the Tubåen formation. Effective reservoir rocks amount to 13 meters, of which 8 meters with gas and 5 meters with oil in sandstone with very good reservoir quality.

Also, the oil/water contact was only encountered at 1145 meters.

In the Fruholmen formation, the well encountered a total oil column of 33 meters, of which 15 meters of effective reservoir rocks in sandstone of good reservoir quality.

NPD has said that 25 meters of the Snadd formation were drilled, and the formation proved to be aquiferous and of variable reservoir quality.

The recoverable resources are estimated to be from 0.7 to 2.2 million standard cubic meters oil. Total volumes in place are estimated to approximately reach 2 to 7 Mscm. Vår Energi will consider tying the additional resources to the Goliat FPSO in the near future.

According to the operator, even before the drilling started, resource estimates for Goliat had already rose to 31.5 Mscm (198 Mbbl), from 28.0 million Mscm (176 Mbbl) at the time of the PDO. Goliat West will further increase the resource estimates on Goliat.

According to Kristin Kragseth, CEO in Vår Energi "The Goliat West discovery will add to the profitability of Goliat and provides evidence for the future potential for this part of the Barents Sea."

Moreover, Denis Palermo, VP Exploration in Vår Energi, added that the Goliat West appraisal well is a successful outcome of Vår Energi’s near-field exploration strategy.

Vår Energi operates PL 229 and the oil-producing Goliat field with an interest of 65 percent, together with Equinor Energy AS as partner.

Concluding, the well was drilled by Seadrill’s West Hercules semi-submersible drilling rig, which will now drill wildcat well 7132/2-1 in production license 857 in the Barents Sea, where Equinor Energy AS is the operator.

Source:safety4sea

Coast Guard Suspends Search for Remaining Sincerity Ace Mariner

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January 3, 2019

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The Coast Guard has suspended the active search for the remaining unaccounted for crewmember of the Sincerity Ace, Wednesday.

“Following the conclusion of morning and afternoon searches by our aircraft and commercial vessels we suspended the active search. This is always a difficult decision and takes many factors into account,” said Chief Petty Officer Dennis Vetrano, with Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu. "We extend our condolences to the families and loved ones of the crewmembers affected by this tragedy.”

Good Samaritans from four merchant vessels were able to rescue 16 of the 21 Sincerity Ace crew who abandoned ship following a fire, Monday. Four missing mariners were located but remain in the water as they were unresponsive and unable to react to life-saving equipment. Coast Guard watchstanders issued an Urgent Marine Information Broadcast Notice to Mariners requesting vessels transiting the area to keep a sharp lookout for the remaining unaccounted for the crewmember. Searches were conducted throughout the day Wednesday by a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircrew and the crews of the motor vessels Venus Spirit and Genco Augustus.

The Sincerity Ace’s managing company, Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd., is coordinating with the merchant vessels for the transport of the surviving crew from the vessels' next ports of call. The company will make attempts to recover the four unresponsive crewmembers still in the water when other contracted ships arrive on the scene in several days. Commercial tugs were dispatched to the Sincerity Ace earlier in the week. The vessel remains uncrewed and adrift. At last report, it was listing to starboard and still on fire. The cause of the fire and the disposition of the cargo remain unknown.

The Coast Guard, Navy, and good Samaritans aboard five merchant vessels conducted a total of 13 searches covering 5,544 nautical square miles (7,342 statute miles) over a span of three days.

Involved in the searches were:

Two Air Station Barbers Point HC-130 Hercules aircrews
A Navy 7th Fleet P-8 Poseidon aircrew
Crew of the Motor Vessel Green Lake
Crew of the SM Eagle
Crew of the Motor Vessel New Century 1
Crew of the Motor Vessel Venus Spirit
Crew of the Motor Vessel Genco Augustus

“We are very grateful for the assistance the crews of these vessels have given during the search and rescue efforts,” said Vetrano. “These crewmembers went out of their way to aid their fellow mariners, and because of the remoteness of the incident the outcome may have been very different had they not responded.”

JRCC Honolulu received the initial notification from JRCC Japan at 1:04 a.m., Monday, of the situation. Watchstanders in Honolulu immediately issued a SafetyNet broadcast requesting the assistance of vessels in the area and directed the launch of the Hercules aircrews from Air Station Barbers Point. The master of the Sincerity Ace reported a significant vessel fire, ongoing firefighting efforts, and an intent to abandon ship.

Coast Guard 14th District watchstanders coordinated the rescue efforts with good Samaritans on the responding merchant vessels and the Coast Guard and Navy aircrews throughout the operation.

The commercial vessels involved are part of the AMVER, or Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System, a worldwide voluntary reporting system sponsored by the United States Coast Guard. It is a computer-based global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea.
There is currently no imagery for this case.

Source:marinelink

Cyber attacks to have a major impact over the next 10 years

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January 3, 2019

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According to the Global Maritime Issues Monitor 2018 report, which the Global Maritime Forum in Hong Kong provided on October 3, ‘Cyber attacks and data theft’ is likely to have the largest impact on the 17 major global issues over the next 10 years.

Namely, a survey of major marine stakeholders in more than 50 countries concluded that ‘Cyber attacks and data theft’ could have the largest impact on the 17 major global issues over the next decade.

The rankings were estimated in terms of impact, possibility and preparedness for numerous issues potentially impacting the global marine industry.

The top three issues that are considered to have the greatest potential impact in the maritime sector are:

The global economic crisis;
Energy price fluctuations;
Cyber attacks and data theft.

However, the issues that are most likely to take place sometime withing the next decade are:

Cyber attack and data theft;
Energy price fluctuations;
Changing trading patterns.

The survey concludes by analyzing the preparedness to deal with each of these issues. It said that the top three issues that are probably lacking in preparation are:

Cyber attack and data theft;
Global economic crisis;
Geopolitical tension.

Source:safety4sea

Smart devices could pose challenges for data security

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January 3, 2019

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The Information Security Forum (ISF) has announced the top global security threats that businesses will face in 2019. Among them they are cyber crimes and smart devices challenges.

Namely, according to the ISF, key threats for the coming year include:

Increased sophistication of cyber crime and ransomware

Criminal organizations will continue developing and becoming increasingly more sophisticated. In 2019, attacks on personal smart devices, such as mobile malware and mobile ransomware, are expected to increase.

The impact of legislation

Organizations do not have enough knowledge and resource to keep up with current and pending legislation. Moreover, the law is dominated by governments and regulators in nature, and is changing to national regulation when cross border collaboration is needed. Organizations will try to keep up with changes that can impact their business models.

Smart devices challenges

Organizations are using smart devices without realizing that they provide windows for attackers because of design insecurity. What is more, an increase in the lack of transparency of the IoT is expected, where corporate data can be used in ways that customers do not intend.

It will be a problem for businesses to know what information will be leaked or secretly captured and transmitted by devices like smart phones, smart TVs. When transparency violations are revealed, organizations will held liable by regulators and customers for insufficient data protection.

Supply chain assurance

The supply chain is crucial for global business operations. However, various information is often shared with suppliers, and when that information is shared, direct control is lost.

In fact, during 2019, organizations will discover that ensuring the security of their supply chain is a lost cause. For this reason, they should focus on managing their key data and understanding where and how it has been shared, irrespective of supply chain provider.

Source:safety4sea

Cargo ship capsized, 5 crew rescued, 10 missing

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January 3, 2019

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Taiwanese rescuers were alerted at around 0830 Taiwan Time Jan 2 by a distress message – general cargo ship LONDON reported capsized some 80 nm northeast of Pengjia islet, small island NE of northernmost Taiwan tip.

SAR was launched to rescue 15 crew. According to latest evening updates, 5 crew were rescued, mainly by fishing vessels, 10 crew remain in distress awaiting rescue. Status and condition of the ship unknown. LONDON was to call Taichung port Taiwan for bunkering, and then resume voyage from Kaohsiung to Busan Korea, ETA Dec 28.

Ship LONDON (IMO: 9218698, MMSI: 511565000) – General cargo ship built in 2000 and flying the flag of Palau. AIS data and the last 5 ports are available for LONDON.