A NewsLink service for Dole Chile

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

SAFETY
USCG RELEASES REVISED INLAND
NAVIGATION RULES
The revised 'Inland Navigation Rules',
published by the US Coast Guard in July 2014
include amending Rule 30 'Vessels anchored,
aground, and moored barges' to incorporate
barge lighting requirements previously located
in other regulations, including requirements for
an unobstructed white light of sufficient
intensity to be visible for at least one nautical
mile. The Coast Guard would like to take this
opportunity to remind barge operators of their
obligation to meet current barge lighting
regulations. The USCG also strongly
recommends that owners and operators of all
vessels, including recreational vessels, remain
extravigilant when operating boats during
nighttime hours, times of reduced visibility, or
when strong currents exist and when other
navigational challenges posed by barge fleets
are present.
The USCG urges owners and operators of
barge fleets to complete the following actions:
1. Review fleet lighting procedures to ensure
that barges are sufficiently lit and operated in
accordance with the Inland Navigation Rules1,
including technical requirements as prescribed
in Annex I, as well as any applicable
area-specific regulations in 33 CFR Parts 162
and 165.
2. Ensure that barge fleets remain in
compliance with permits issued by US Army
Corps of Engineers pursuant to 33 CFR Parts
320 through 332, and/or regional issuing
authorities. The changes in the rules
concerned were made after finding that in the
US Coast Guard Eighth District alone 44
recreational vessels have struck (allided)
moored barges within barge fleets, resulting in
26 fatalities and 44 injuries over the past 12
years. Source: USCG

Indian naval ships dock at

Dubai port
Three Indian Naval ships have docked in Dubai
as part of its ongoing mission to impart training
to Naval and Coast Guard trainees and foster
maritime goodwill with the Arab nations, PTI
reported. The ships belong to the Southern
Naval Command (SNC), the Training Command
of the Indian Navy where basic to advanced
training for officers and sailors, including from
friendly foreign countries, is conducted.
During the meeting, which was attended by a
number of Navy officers and the Vice Admiral's
accompanying delegation, the two sides
discussed a number of matters of common
concern, particularly in the areas of maritime
cooperation between the two friendly countries,
state-run news agency Wam reported.

Oil price drop benefits

time charter market
A drop in global oil prices has been a blessing in
disguise for shipowners operating in the time
charter market.
In its weekly report, shipbroker Charles R
Webber said falling oil costs, which was
attributed to the return of substantive Libyan
crude oil supply amid a weaker world-wide
demand, aided spot market time charter
equivalents (TCEs) by cutting down the single
largest voyage cost component.
As a result, more VLCC and Aframax TCEs
were added to major shipping routes, the
shipbroker noted. A drop in oil costs likewise
led to compensatory rate gains to bunker prices,
although the price plunge was hardly felt in
terms of world scale rates, it added.
Charles Webber, meanwhile, said that a
backslide in the bunker market prompted
chartering activity in the West Africa Suezmax

to slow down. However, such a development did

not affect shipowners' confidence on the
segment as regional availability replenishment
somewhat boosted demand gains in other
trading markers for Suezmaxes.
The shipbroker likewise forecast that demand
for Suezmaxes in West Africa is likely to rise
over the coming months on the back of an
expected surge in demand for the region's crude
from Western buyers.
The Caribbean Aframax market also witnessed
a slowdown in the past week, according to
Charles Webber, with the segment only
registering nine fixtures over the period. But
market rates remained on an upward trend
despite a slow demand environment. Such a
positive trend was also attributed to stronger
earnings from Aframaxes in alternative markets.

Australia launches NESMP

Enhanced efforts against sea

piracy pushed

A plan for managing shipping traffic along the

major waters surrounding Australia has been
released.
The Australian government unveiled the
North-East Shipping
Management
Plan
(NESMP) that would manage shipping traffic
along the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait and
Coral Sea.
According to Deputy Prime Minister Warren
Truss, the NESMP will ensure protection of the
three bodies of water by improving social
awareness of the country's shipping management
scheme.
Truss, who is also Minister for Infrastructure
and Regional Development, said that the
strategy, which was developed for over two
years and accounted the projected shipping
growth to 2032, will assist officials to prioritise
and set up programmes to improve environment
safety.
"While the Great Barrier Reef, Torres Strait
and Coral Sea are among the best-protected
waters in the world, the Australian Government
is committed to ensuring these sensitive areas
remain that way," he said.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority led
the NESMP initiative.

Asian nations have been urged to hasten their

efforts in combating maritime piracy after the
region witnessed a spike in such cases over the
past five years.
The Regional Co-operation Agreement on
Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against
Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) disclosed that sea
piracy-related incidents in Asian waters had
reached a five-year high. In the first six months
of the year, there had been 90 reported incidents
of maritime piracy in Asian waters, up from just
61 in the same period in 2013.
In June alone, there were 23 reported attacks
on ships, the ReCAAP noted. "Compared with
the same period in previous years, there has
been an upward trend in the overall number of
incidents," ReCAAP said. "For the first six
months of 2014, there has been a significant
increase in the number of incidents compared to
the same period of last year," it added.
What is more alarming, according to
ReCAAP, was a surge in cases involving the
siphoning of fuel oil from hijacked vessels,
although such incidents had dropped after the
month of August due to "collaborative efforts"
among maritime enforcement agencies and the
international shipping industry.

PAGE 2 - Tuesday, October 14, 2014

SHIPPING DATA

BALTIC EXCHANGE
Market snapshot: (October 13)
Dry Index
BDI
954
Capesize Index
BCI
1521
Panamax Index
BPI
868
Supramax Index
BSI
959
Handysize Index
BHSI
513

-9
-23
+3
-11
-3

EXCHANGE RATES
New York (Mon Cls)
Fgn Currency
in USD
Britain (Pound)
1.6061
Canada (Dollar)
0.8925
China (Yuan)
0.1633
Euro
1.2679
India (Rupee)
0.0164
Indonesia (Rupiah) 0.000082
Japan (Yen)
0.009317
Norway (Krone)
0.1539
Philippines (Peso)
0.0223
Poland (Zloty)
0.3026
Russia (Ruble)
0.0247
Singapore (Dollar)
0.7855
Ukraine (Hryvnia)
0.0772

USD in Fgn
Currency
0.6226
1.1204
6.1255
0.7887
61.0200
12265.00
107.3300
6.4967
44.7700
3.3100
40.5081
1.2731
12.9578

As such, the Singapore-based organisation

called on member-states to further boost their
surveillance operations and enhance joint patrols
particularly in the Straits of Malacca and off
Singapore's coast.

PORTS

'Nhava Sheva' upgrades to

affect Indamex port calls
Several ship calls at the Indamex Service are
expected to be affected by looming equipment
enhancements at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port (also
known as Nhava Sheva) in India, sources
connected with Indamex and the port have said.
Three new super-post-Panamax rail-mounted
quay cranes are slated to be installed at the
Jawaharlal Nehru Container Terminal (JNCT)
from October 19 to December 16 as port
officials said that the changes will affect
Indamex, which manages Hapag-Lloyd, CMA
CGM, APL, NYK Line and OOCL through a
vessel-sharing agreement that will connect India
and eastern Mediterranean with the US East
Coast.
Indamex vessels CMA CGM King Fish, CMA
CGM Florida and NYK Furona will not be
handled by JNCT on its berth, scheduled
November 2, November 23 and December 7,
respectively, sources said.
Last month, the port disclosed that JNCT is in
no position to accept 22 ship calls scheduled for
the period due to the crane replacement project.

INCIDENTS

Boat carrying illegal immigrants

capsizes in Malaysia waters
Three people drowned after a boat carrying
illegal immigrants capsized early Tuesday
morning off the waters in Bandar Penawar in
Malaysia's state of Johor Baru, according to
local media reports.
The police said that the dead included two
adult women and one man, all Indonesian
nationals, Xinhua reported.

The boat was believed to be traveling illegally

to Batam, Indonesia when the boat capsized at
around 2:56 am local time, according to The
Star, a local English-language newspaper.
It said 26 other passengers rescued from the
boat had been detained to assist in
investigations.

Ferry backs into San Francisco

pier, ten injured
The Coast Guard says ten people sustained
minor injuries when the ferry they were on
struck a piling Sunday night at a San Francisco
pier, The Associated Press reported.
The agency says the injured were taken to a
hospital for treatment of mainly cuts and bruises.
The ferry ran into the piling as it backed out of
the terminal at Pier 41 at 5:45pm PDT.
The agency says that there was no structural
damage to the vessel and just minor damage to
the piling.
But the Coast Guard said the vessel was
temporarily taken out of service as officials
began investigating.
The Coast Guard office early Monday didn't
have further details about the injured or how the
collision occurred. Ferry company spokesmen
weren't immediately available.

ENVIRONMENT

Seabed mining risk to New

Zealand's marine life: scientist
Seabed mining around New Zealand's volcanic
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) areas could
destroy unique underwater ecosystems and have
profound effects on sea life, a leading marine
biologist warned Monday.
Professor Jonathan Gardner, of Wellington's
Victoria University, said the active geological
nature made parts of the EEZ, which totalled
about 5.7 million square kilometres, of great
interest for the mining of seabed minerals,
Xinhua reported.
One such area was the Kermadec Volcanic
Arc, where breaks in the submarine crust of the
Earth's surface allowed cold seawater to enter
into the rock, where it was heated, Gardner said
in a statement.
The hot water, containing metals such as gold,
copper, silver, zinc and rare earth elements, was
forced out of the ground to form chimney-like
hydrothermal vent systems, called seafloor
massive sulphide deposits, which were potential
sites of future mining activity.
Associated
with the
deposits
were
well-developed and often unique biological
communities that would be damaged or
destroyed by mining.
"Initial assessments of global mineral wealth
from the seafloor put the value of these
resources well into the trillions of dollars.
Increasing world demand for minerals, plus
technological advances, have combined to make
deep-sea mineral extraction a possibility right
now," he said.

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MARITIME INSTITUTION
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
PORTS AND HARBORS
The International Association of Ports and
Harbors (IAPH) was established on 7th
November 1955, when some 100
delegates from 38 ports and maritime
organisations in 14 countries gathered in
Los Angeles, California to announce its
creation.
Over the next five decades, IAPH would
develop into a global alliance of ports,
representing today some 200 ports in 85
countries. The member ports together
handle well over 60% of the world's
sea-borne trade and nearly 80% of the
world container traffic.
It is a non-profit-making and
non-governmental organisation (NGO)
presently headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.
The IAPH is governed by a biennial
conference attended by its general
membership.
In between the biennial sessions, an
Executive Committee composed of six
members representing the African and
European region, four from the American
region and eight from Asia and Oceania
undertake the administration of the
institution.
The elected leadership of the IAPH is
composed of a President, three
Vice-Presidents representing
Euriope/Africa, Americas and
Asia/Oceania, respectively, an Immediate
Past President and a Conference
President.
The Association has technical
committees responsible for
communications and training; port safety,
security and environment; and one for port
operations, development and facilitation.
A secretary-general is made in charge of
the major secretariat offices in Europe and
Japan.
Some of the key concerns of the IAPH
are those relevant to
- Places of Refuge
- Overweight containers or incorrectly
declared container weights
- World Ports Climate Initiative