A NewsLink service for Dole Chile

Friday, September 5, 2014

SAFETY STUDY
LIFEBOAT WINCH HANDLE MISHAP
INJURES CREWMAN
Miscommunication results in a severe head
injury for a crewman holding a manual winding
handle, which suddenly swung.

NARRATIVE
A planned lifeboat drill was carried out on a
coastal tanker while she was alongside in port
for engine maintenance. The starboard
lifeboat, with three crew members on board,
was unlashed and lowered to the water.
After a successful test, the lifeboat was
brought to the side of the vessel, the falls
were reconnected and recovery began. The
electric winch raised the lifeboat, and stopped
when the forward limit switch was activated.
At that point, the lifeboat slammed into the
forward stops and jumped back about 30
centimetres.
The master, anxiously looking on from the
bridge, called a halt to further lifeboat
movement until he was able to go down to the
boat deck to inspect for damage. While
awaiting clearance to stow the lifeboat, two
crewmen placed the manual winding handle
into position on the winch, at poop deck level,
and readied themselves to begin winding.
Meanwhile, the crewman who had operated
the electric winch had reset the forward limit
switch and returned to the electric winch
control position on the boat deck.
He informed the bosun that they could now
continue raising the lifeboat. The bosun
operated the electric winch briefly, and the
manual winding handle, in the hands of the
two other crewmen, swung rapidly and struck
one of them on the head. The injured
crewman was airlifted to the nearest hospital.

CONCLUSION
- The primary cause of this accident was the
failure of the winch interlock microswitch,
which should have prevented the electric
winch from operating when the manual handle
was inserted. We all put our trust in safety
equipment, and assume it will be there for us
when it is needed; clearly this isn't always so.
Regular testing of safety devices will ensure
that they are working when we most need
them.
- A contributory factor in this accident was
the misunderstanding between team
members, because the master did not have
effective overall control of procedures. If you
are in charge of an operation, ensure that the
members of your team are in no doubt that
you have overall control, and that you will
make the decisions as to when equipment is
to be operated. Source: UK MAIB

Ebola stowaway warning for ships sailing

into Durban & other S African ports
All ships sailing into Durban and other South
African ports have been asked to perform
stricter searches for stowaways and smuggled
wild animals to reduce the risk of the Ebola
virus getting into the country.
Senior Transnet harbour master Naresh
Sewnath said the new measures were applicable
to all ships arriving from the high-risk countries
of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Gambia and
medium-risk countries of Kenya, Nigeria and
Ethiopia.
"As a consequence, with immediate effect, all
vessels calling at South African ports from
high-and medium-risk areas will be stringently
screened by Port Health officials at anchor, prior
to the vessel entering into port," Sewnath added.
Also, all ships from Ebola-risk areas have
been asked to provide a written report to the
harbour master before entering harbour.
"Stowaways are a challenge to all in the
industry and could play a role in the spreading
of communicable diseases," he further said.

"It is therefore important that ships' masters

exercise extreme caution and conduct proper
searches, using qualified personnel, to ensure
there are no stowaways on board their vessels,"
Sewnath concluded.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation
(WHO) on Tuesday said in a statement that the
Ebola outbreaks in West Africa is
unprecedented in many ways, including the high
proportion of doctors, nurses and other health
care workers who have been infected.
To date, more than 240 health care workers
have developed the disease in Guinea, Liberia,
Nigeria and Sierra Leone and over 120 have
died, PNA reported.
In many cases, medical staff are at risk
because no protective equipment is available,
not even gloves and face masks.
According to WHO, the African Union has
launched an urgent initiative to recruit more
health care workers from among its members.

CFIA, USDA issue joint

reminder on AGM

Kenya urges Africa to expand

ports to spur maritime trade

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)

and the US Department of Agriculture have
published a joint reminder on high population
levels of Asian Gypsy Moth (AGM) in some
countries regulated for AGM.
AGM is a serious pest that can be carried on
ships and cargo. AGM populations are prevalent
in some seaport areas in Far East Russia, Japan,
Korea and China. Vessels must arrive in North
American ports with required pre-departure
certification and free of AGM, the UK P&I Club
reported.
Beginning January 1, 2015, penalties may be
issued to any vessel arriving without a valid
AGM certification from a valid certification
body during the high risk period, as well as the
two year ports of call data for the vessel.
Monetary penalties issued by the CFIA, for
non-compliance with the AGM requirements,
remain unchanged. Monetary penalties are
typically issued when notification of arrival of a
regulated vessel is not made or when required
certification is not presented.

Kenya on Tuesday called on African

governments to urgently expand their ports so as
not to lose out on the resurgent global maritime
trade.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) chairman
Danson Mungatana told a regional maritime
conference in Nairobi that most of the African
ports are experiencing between 10-12% growth.
"Over the last decade, the global maritime
trade has been expanding. It is expected to grow
by an average 7.5% over the next six years to
around 840 million TEUs (Twenty Foot
Equivalent Units) in 2016," Mungatana told
delegates drawn from various countries in the
region at the East Africa Transport Infrastructure
Conference.
TEUs is a unit of cargo used to measure the
capacity of ships and container terminals.
Mungatana said most ports in Africa will be
unable to handle the bigger ships currently being
built, owing to lack of capacity and use of old
equipment.
"This will deny African countries, especially
those on the coastline, the benefits of increased
maritime trade," the KPA chairman said.

PAGE 2 - Friday, September 5, 2014

The waterway, the fastest shipping route

between Europe and Asia, is one of the main
sources of foreign currency of Egypt.

SHIPPING DATA

BALTIC EXCHANGE
Market snapshot: 11:30 GMT
Dry Index
BDI
1070
Capesize Index
BCI
2430
Panamax Index
BPI
808
Supramax Index
BSI
944
Handysize Index
BHSI
420

-18
-105
-4
+7
+7

EXCHANGE RATES
New York (Tue Cls)
Fgn Currency
in USD
Britain (Pound)
1.6549
Canada (Dollar)
0.9130
China (Yuan)
0.1624
Euro
1.3172
India (Rupee)
0.0165
Indonesia (Rupiah) 0.000085
Japan (Yen)
0.009606
Norway (Krone)
0.1619
Philippines (Peso)
0.0228
Poland (Zloty)
0.3141
Russia (Ruble)
0.0277
Singapore (Dollar)
0.8002
Ukraine (Hryvnia)
0.0732

USD in Fgn
Currency
0.6043
1.0953
6.1577
0.7592
60.4650
11735.00
104.1000
6.1777
43.7800
3.1800
36.1511
1.2497
13.6644

He said the growing number of large vessels

currently in use is necessitating port expansion
in the continent.
In 1996, the largest vessel size had a capacity
of 4,000 TEUs, rising to 6,000 TEUs in 2001
and 16,000 TEUs in 2011, Xinhua reported.
Mungatana said the steady increase in ship
sizes coupled with growing cargo volumes has
put pressure on cargo infrastructure and terminal
capacities the world over, in particular for
African ports which have capacity constraints
and poor transport infrastructure connectivity.
He added that many European ports were on
rebound after shedding the effects of the global
financial crisis and were therefore investing
heavily in capacity expansion.
"African ports must align themselves with
their European counterparts in order to remain
competitive."
According to the UN, Africa accounts for a
paltry two percent of international trade.

New Great Barrier Reef route

for ships
Shipping companies are required to follow the
new Great Barrier Reef route, as advised by the
Australian Federal Government and the
International Maritime Organisation, otherwise
they run the risk of voiding their insurance
policies.
The two-way shipping route though "strongly
recommended" will not be made mandatory for
ships passing through the Reef. The aim of the
ship routing measure is to encourage ships to
follow well-defined lanes in order to reduce the
risk of collisions and groundings. The route will
also help small vessels determine the location
where they can expect to encounter large
vessels.
The advisory is expected to come into force on
December 1 this year.

COMMERCE

Suez Canal revenue up 8.6%

Compared to June's USD 443.9 million, the
Suez Canal's revenue totalled USD 482.2
million in July, up by 8.6%, according to
Egypt's state information portal.

SEIZURE

Colombian Navy seizes cocaine

from Liberian-flagged bulker
The Columbian Navy has seized about 39.8
kilograms of cocaine from a Liberian-flagged
bulk carrier, the Navy said in a statement.
After searching the vessel, which was
anchored in the sector Swamp - Magdalena,
Coast Guard Station Santa Marta and CTI
personnel seized two bags with 40 packages
containing drugs located in the chain locker.
The 2010-built bulk carrier arrived in
Colombia from England and was headed
towards the port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
According to reports, this is the fifth foreign
cargo ship, caught trying to smuggle cocaine in
the port of Santa Marta.
The Colombian Navy has seized over 28
tonnes of cocaine in the Caribbean so far this
year.

Captains, crew held for illegal

fuel transfer
The captains and the crew of two ships, found
illegally transferring fuel off the Coast of
Malaysia last week, have been arrested, the
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency
(MMEA) said.
The two vessels (One Mongolia and the other
Honduras-registered) were seized when the
transfer of 50,000 litres of diesel was taking
place, MMEA added.
The Mongolia-registered vessel was found
next to the Honduras-registered ship 12 nautical
miles northwest of Muka Head last week.
The 25 crew members of the two ships were
Indonesians and Thais.
MMEA District Two enforcement chief Kapt
Kamaruszaman Abu Hassan said that the case is
currently being investigated.

Estonian customs officials seize

8tns of illegal hookah tobacco
Officials of the Estonian Tax and Border Guard
Board at the beginning of August discovered
over eight tonnes of undeclared hookah tobacco
from a container in the sea port of Muuga.
According to information presented in the
declaration, the container from Dubai should
have contained 1,557 cases of hookah coal,
spokesperson for the border guard board said. In
reality, only 197 cases contained coal and the
rest of the cases were filled with 51 different
brands of hookah tobacco, which weighed a
total of 8,178 kilograms, BNS reported.
According to gathered information, Estonia
was planned to be used as a transit state to
transport the tobacco to other countries.

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HI-TECH
WRTSIL LAUNCHES NEW TECHNICAL
SOLUTION FOR FUEL GAS HANDLING
With LNG becoming increasingly viable
and popular as a marine fuel, Wrtsil
continues to develop technical solutions
that facilitate this trend. The latest Wrtsil
developments in this field involve an
upgraded version of the Wrtsil LNGPac,
a fully integrated fuel gas handling system
and improvements to the coveted Wartsila
Gas Valve Unit (GVU).
Wrtsil introduced the LNGPac in 2010.
It comprises a complete system for LNG
fuel handling, which when introduced
included the bunkering station, the LNG
tank and Tank Connection Space with the
required process equipment, the heating
media skid and the control and monitoring
system. It is a unique system that has
proven to be a valuable enabler of LNG
fuel for marine applications with more than
20 LNGPac systems in operation or under
construction.
By upgrading the system into a more
compact and technically advanced version,
safety and reliability will be enhanced, while
the capital and operating expenditures
(CAPEX & OPEX) will be reduced, Wrtsil
said in a press release. The new system
has fewer moving parts and therefore less
maintenance is required.
Furthermore, the compact design and
advanced integration of components
makes installation at the shipyard faster
and easier. This development has been
made possible thanks to Wrtsil's unique
position and comprehensive in-house
knowledge of all key components of the
vessel's machinery, fuel gas handling
system and ship design.
The heating media skid, used to
evaporate LNG for pressurising the storage
tank and to provide the engine with the
correct gas temperature, has now been
removed as have the pumps. In looking
beyond the fuel gas system, Wrtsil has
demonstrated its ability to integrate multiple
interfaces within the LNGPac. The new
LNGPac directly utilises the engine's
cooling water, which results in fewer
interfaces and less installation work for the
shipyard. By eliminating electrical
consumers, Wrtsil enables the vessel to
become even more environmentally
friendly.