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DAILY COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS 2006 – 128

PSi-Daily Shipping News 6/25/2006

Number 128** COLLECTION OF MARITIME PRESS CLIPPINGS ***Monday 26-6-2006 News reports received from readers and Internet News articles taken from various news sites.

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EVENTS, INCIDENTS & OPERATIONS

The VALIANT B departed from Rotterdam after the hand over by the builders bound for Falmouth Photo : Bert Bot ©

MCA holds ten After a quiet April in which only three vessels were detained, the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) held 10 foreign-flagged vessels in May. Of the vessels detained five were flagged in countries on the Paris MOU’s black list, two were on the regime’s grey list and three appear on their white list.




Bahamas and Ukraine had two vessels each detained, while Panama, Liberia, Malta, Cambodia, Rep of Korea and St Vincent & Grenadines completed the list of offending flag states. A 38,700-dwt Jebsen-managed general cargo ship was detained in Bristol for a week with 10 deficiencies. The 38,700-dwt Windfield (built 1980) was found to have maintenance and fire boat drills that didn’t conform to ISM regulations. The Panama-flagged, Japanese-controlled 23,400-dwt general cargo vessel Sumiyoshi (built 1983) was detained in Sunderland for three days with 24 deficiencies with, among other things, major ISM non-conformities regarding emergency procedures and ship maintenance. The 214,300-cbf reefer Western Star (built 1983) was held in Bristol for five days with 32 deficiencies, amongst them inadequate fire and abandon ship drills and an inoperative emergency fire pump. The Bahamas-flagged 1,900-dwt chemical tanker West Master (built 1973) was detained for two days in Aberdeen after 28 deficiencies were found including inoperative ventilation and improperly maintained fire pumps. The Ukrainian-controlled and managed 22,900-dwt bulk carrier Sumy (built 1978) was held for nine days with a total of 31 deficiencies which included excessive corrosion in the ballast tanks and inoperative radios. The Maltese-registered 7,500-gt cruise vessel Vistamar (built 1989) was held up at Tilbury for nine days with 26 deficiencies which included unseaworthy main tenders. Of the 148 inspections carried out by the MCA in May, 35 vessels were found to have no deficiencies, 67 had up to five deficiencies, 26 vessels had between six and 10 deficiencies, that number increased to 13 for ships with up to 20 deficiencies and the number of vessels with over 20 deficiencies stood at seven. The MCA has inspected 630 vessels so far in 2006.

The ASTERIX seen from the TAKLIFT 7 Photo : Jan de Bokx ©

ONGC set to normalise Mumbai High output India's largest oil producer, Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd, will resume normal production of up to 260,000 barrels per day (bpd) at its Mumbai High field by next week, a senior official said.



"Production will start stabilising by June 30," N.K. Mitra, the company's director (offshore), told Reuters. A major fire at Mumbai High in July last year had destroyed a crude processing platform at the oilfield, cutting production by about 123,000 bpd. Shares ONGC extended gains to 3.8 per cent in a firm Mumbai market to Rs1,065 on the news. ONGC, India's most valuable company, expects to raise output by 5-7 per cent next week from 258,000 bpd now. Another ONGC official, who did not wish to be named, said all 13 well platforms that were affected by the fire, which destroyed one crude processing platform, were put back in production. "They are now connected to a new floating process platform, which was installed early this month replacing the old one," the official said, adding the restoration work cost more than Rs3.25 billion ($71 million). The company has targeted a 10 per cent increase in its total crude output for the full year to March 2007, from about 500,000 bpd in 2005-06. ONGC, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of both oil and gas produced in India, has stepped up spending on domestic exploration to Rs140 billion in the current fiscal year from Rs120 billion last year.

NZer claims she was cruise ship spiked-drinks victim

An Auckland woman says she was the victim of drink-spiking aboard the same cruise ship on which an Australian woman died naked in the cabin of four men. Kasmira Sewpershad, 22, an advertising executive from Auckland, said it was not hard to see how Dianne Brimble's death occurred. "Security on cruise ships needs to be a lot better," she said. Ms Sewpershad told Brisbane's Sunday Mail newspaper that she was left "sick and disoriented" after something was slipped into her glass during a 12-day cruise on P&O's Pacific Sky liner in December. The incident occurred during a pyjama party in the ship's Starlight Disco -- the same nightspot where Mrs Brimble was last seen socialising with a group of men before she was found dead and naked on the floor of a cabin in September 2002. An inquest has heard the Brisbane mother-of-three died from a lethal dose of a date-rape drug. Ms Sewpershad initially contacted the cruise-bruise.com website, which logs crimes aboard liners, after reading about Mrs Brimble. She is angry that when she reported her incident to ship staff, they told her there had never been a drink-spiking incident on the Pacific Sky before. "Surely medical staff should have known about this and therefore treated the matter very seriously," she said. "Instead they chose to lie. How many people are going to have to die from cases like this before anything is done about it?" Ms Sewpershad and her brother Nivin, 18, went on the cruise with their parents to mark the couple's 25th anniversary. She says she was targeted by drink spikers after leaving her glass to take part in games at the party on the third night at sea.



Suffering nausea, shakiness, disorientation and memory loss, she went to wake her parents and they called for medical help. But a nurse told them the doctor was off-duty and it would have to wait until the next day. A blood test to check for drink spiking would cost them $500. "When I recovered, I was infuriated to hear how P&O had dealt with this situation," Ms Sewpershad said. A P&O spokesman said procedures had been reviewed and improved so any passenger claiming, or suspected, of having been affected by drugs could request a test and it would be paid for by the cruise line.

American suffering abdominal pains rescued from cruise ship off B.C. coast

A 37-year-old American woman suffering from severe abdominal pains was airlifted by a Canadian military helicopter from a cruise ship near the north end of Vancouver Island on Saturday. The woman's condition was bad enough that the ship's doctor felt it necessary to call for help from the cruise ship Mercury.

The ship was en route from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska. A Cormorant helicopter was dispatched from Comox while the Coast Guard ship Tanu, which was on search and rescue patrol in the area, also proceeded to the scene to provide surface support for the Cormorant should the need arise. Two search and rescue technicians were lowered onto the ship from the Cormorant. Then the woman, her husband and the two technicians were hoisted up onto the helicopter. "She was stable but uncomfortable," flight nurse Capt. Pat Forrester said in a news release. Once at Comox, the patient was then taken by ambulance to St. Joseph's General Hospital in Comox.

CASUALTY REPORTING Oil tanker catches fire, sinking in Bay

An oil tanker at outer anchorage in Chittagong is gradually sinking in the Bay due to cracks developed at the bottom of the vessel. The incident left at least eight crews injured and two missing. The vessel was in a submerged position until filing of the report on Saturday evening at 7.0 pm. The ill-fated vessel was identified as MT Banglar Sourav having a capacity of 11,000 tonnes and owned by the Bangladesh Shipping Corporation (BSC). The crack at the bottom reportedly developed due to the eruption of fire at 12 pm inside the vessel during cleaning the deck of the vessel. The fire brigade unit of Chittagong port along with the coast guard, Bangladesh Navy extinguished the fire and rescued the crew after three hours. The critically injured four crew members were Jahirul Islam, Mohammed Hossain, Jakir Hossain and Md Farid. The injured were rushed to Chittagong Medical College and Hospital for treatment. Of the two missing, one Nurul Islam was identified while the other could not be named instantly. The vessel with 48 crew members went to the outer anchorage on June 23 to lightering oil from outer anchorage. The others who received minor burn injuries at hands and faces were given first aid and released. The national flag carrier anchored in the Charley area, some four kilometres from the port estuary. On information, two salvage ships of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) named Kandari-10 and Dishari-7 rushed there and rescued all the crew members, who jumped into the sea from the burning ship. The fire brigade unit of Chittagong port along with coast guard, Bangladesh Navy extinguished the fire and rescued the crew after three hours at 3.0pm.



However, three separate committees have been constituted to probe the incident. A four- member committee of the Marine Mercantile Department headed by its principal officer has been formed. The committee was asked to submit its report in seven days. Two other committees have been formed by the BSC and the shipping ministry in this connection.

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The Royal Dutch Marines seen during a demonstration during the Harbour days in Terneuzen Photo : Willem Kruit ©

Canadian ships sail to Hawaii for naval exercise

Naval ships from CFB Esquimalt are sailing to Hawaii to take part in a multinational exercise in July. Canadian ships are joining navies from the U.S., Australia, Chile, Japan, Peru, the Republic of Korea and the UK for RIMPAC, which is taking place for the 20th time since 1971. "It's a big deal," said Lt.-Cmdr. Hubert Genest, a spokesperson with navy public affairs at CFB Esquimalt. "RIMPAC is probably the largest exercise in the world." More than 35 ships, six submarines, 160 aircraft and about 18,000 military personnel from land, sea and air units from the eight countries are participating in the exercise that will last for roughly three weeks. About 1,000 Canadian personnel will be taking part in the operation.




Canada has been participating in the exercise since its inception. "For us it is an opportunity to put our skills into practice," he said. The Canadian navy works with other navies on a fairly frequent basis. But it's necessary to have a large number of navies working together in one big exercise, Genest said. "That's really the purpose of RIMPAC: it brings together eight nations," he said. The most challenging issue is concerned with communication between the navies, Genest said. Aside from language differences with some of the navies, he said there is also the issue of each navy taking different approaches to various types of naval operations. That said, the early stages of the exercise will consist of such activities as emergency drills determining when it's OK to fire guns from the ships, Genest pointed out. "After awhile when all these basic skills have been tested- there will be a scenario where we'll try to apply a (United Nations) resolution," he said. The exercise is divided into three blocks: humanitarian assistance, peace support operations and combat. Six CF-18 fighter aircraft will be participating in RIMPAC for the first time since 1996.

Russian Navy to employ all naval school graduates - commander

All graduates of Russia’s naval schools will be employed by the Navy, its Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Vladimir Masorin said. “Our Navy has seen better times, but you will see it in its heyday,” he said at the graduation ceremony at St. Petersburg’s Nikolai Kuznetsov Naval Engineering Institute and Naval Academy on Saturday. “You will have to master new ships, I am confident of that, and we have everything we need for that,” he added. More than 300 institute graduates were given the rank of lieutenant and about 200 officers received graduation diplomas from the academy during the ceremony.

Singapore military medical team to work on U.S. navy hospital ship

A six-member Singapore Armed Forces medical team will work on the U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy next month during its humanitarian mission to Indonesia, Channel NewsAsia reported Friday night. The team, comprising one dentist, one surgeon, two anesthetists and two medics, will join military medical staff from the United States and other countries, as well as non-governmental organization volunteers, to work onboard for one month. The USNS Mercy is in a five-month deployment to provide humanitarian medical assistance to four Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh and East Timor, which started from mid-May. A converted oil tanker, the 272.5-meter-long USNS Mercy has such facilities as a dental unit, four X-ray rooms, one operating theater and 1,000 beds, as well as two helicopters onboard to fly patients in, according to the report.

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The PIETERSGRACHT seen departing from Amsterdam with a fresh coat of paint after drydocking Photo : Joop Marechal ©



Second Fairmount contract for Malta LR-Fairplay says Malta Shipyards has won a US$14.6 million contract from Fairmount Heavy Transport of The Netherlands for conversion work on the heavy lift barge Fairmount Fjell.

The barge is expected at the yard later this year and will join its sister Fairmount Fjord, which has been at MSL since November; work on the deck has already begun. LR-Fairplay said the on Fairmount Fjell will be similar, with the fitting of propulsion equipment and on-deck accommodation facilities, but will not include lengthening of the barge.

ACCIONA TRASMEDITERRANEA AND NAVANTIA SIGN A CONTRACT FOR TWO RO-RO SHIPS

The chairman of Acciona, José Manuel Entrecanales, the chairman of Acciona Trasmediterránea, Juan Sáez Elegido, and the chairman of Navantia, Juan Pedro Gómez Jaén, signed a contract for the building of 2 ro-ro ships, with the option of purchasing a further two, which will be run by the Acciona Trasmediterránea shipping company. The signing of the contract took place in the offices of Navantia and was done in the presence of Enrique Martínez Robles, chairman of SEPI. These ro-ro ships, which will transport rolling stock, will be built by Navantia in the shipyards in 'la Bahía de Cádiz', and this will require a workload of 900,000 hours per ship.

Main characteristics: -Length - 209 m. -Beam - 26,5 m. -Depth from the deck 3 - 9,6 m. - Draught - 7 m. - Service speed- 26 knots - Cargo - 210, 31-ton platforms

The ships will be delivered in November 2008 and April 2009. This contract increases Navantia's orders portfolio, which is currently greater than 5,000 million Euros, guaranteeing that the shipyard will be working at full strength for both Navantia's personnel and additional workers. Acciona Trasmediterránea has an operational fleet of 30 ships which makes it one of the largest shipping companies in Europe. The company has recently incorporated 3 new High Speed ships and in September it will receive a newly built catamaran. The company connects the Spanish mainland with the Balearics and the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, and it also has international lines with Algeria, France, Morocco and, as of last May, the United Kingdom, thus reinforcing its international strategy which is aimed at opening new markets in the north of Europe. One of the aspects which should be noted with regards to Acciona Trasmediterránea's new, latest generation Roll-on-Roll-of ships is that they comply with the latest and most demanding safety and environmental standards and protocols (ecological tin-free paint, engines designed for low NOX emissions and low specific consumption of fuel and lubricants, exhaust gas economisers, ecological cooling agents, potabilising plants, waste water purifiers, low consumption lighting, low acoustic emissions, ecological hydraulic locks). Likewise, the new ships have been designed to offer services within the concept of Sea Highways which is one of Acciona Trasmediterránea's development axes, following the criteria of development and sustainability which govern all of Acciona's companies. These ships can make two weekly rotations in routes of between 700 and 800 nautical miles or, alternatively, one weekly rotation in routes of 1500 miles; they have the largest rolling stock cargo capacity on the market. Finally, it should be mentioned that these ships are the largest High Speed rolling stock cargo ships currently being built and that they have a high level of manoeuvrability due to their lateral screws and articulated rudders



The MAERSK PUNCHER and MAERSK MARINER seen at the Curacao Drydock Company for special survey, upon completion the vessels departed again for Trinidad.

Photo : John Smit ©

STX Group seeks to build shipyard in Vietnam South Korea's STX Group confirmed Sunday that it is in negotiations with the Vietnamese government to build a large-scale shipyard in the Southeast Asian country. According to a shipping industry magazine, Trade Winds, STX Group is in talks with officials of the local government in Khanh Hoa, a coastal province of southern Vietnam, for construction of a ship yard.

Daewoo Shipbuilding's shipyard in Romania clinches US$280 mln orders

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co., the world's No. 3 shipyard in terms of order backlog, said Sunday its wholly-owned subsidiary in Romania clinched US$280 million orders to build four Panamax container ships for two German companies. Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries S.A. will build two carriers for Gebab Holding GmbH & Co. KG and two for Conti Holding GmbH & Co. KG. The four ships will be delivered by October 2009.

70ha set aside for Perak’s first shipyard



The Malaysian government has set aside a 70ha plot of land in Lumut to build Perak’s first shipyard. Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali said the site was chosen be-cause of its close proximity to the Straits of Malacca. “Based on the feasibility report, the shipyard is expected to secure at least 10% of the RM5bil worth of contracts in ship servicing annually. “There are about 30,000 ships now plying the straits,” he told reporters after chairing the weekly state exco meeting here yesterday. Cost of building the shipyard is estimated to cost RM150mil. Perak Ship Building and Engineering Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Halim Mazmin Bhd, will undertake the project. Tajol Rosli said once operational, the shipyard would provide jobs for 1,500 people. He said the workforce could be sourced from Kolej Marin Mara in Lumut and from among Royal Malaysia Navy staff who were on optional retirement. On an unrelated matter, Tajol Rosli said he was recently at a meeting with a company that had forwarded plans to carry out water mining in Perak. Tajol Rosli said the state was awaiting the Environmental Impact Assessment report and findings from the Geoscience and Mineral Department for the project.

ROUTE, PORTS & SERVICES

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The SKANDI NEPTUNE seen arriving at OTP Walker on the Tyne Photo : Kevin Blair ©

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US lease fund buys eight US lease financier Icon has bought four Tops Tankers-chartered ships from Oceanbulk Maritime SA and four Zim containerships from KS owners. The cash and debt reported in the two deals comes to some $254m, including $113m for the products tankers and $141m for the boxships. Icon Leasing Fund 11 is acquiring the Top Tankers-chartered handymax products-tanker quartet with a new $80m non-recourse term loan maturing in June 2011 from Fortis Bank secured by a first-priority mortgage over the vessels, plus $22.7m cash and the assumption of $10m non-recourse debt secured by a second-priority morgage in favour of the charterer. The transaction announced to US securities regulators today took place on 16 June. Earlier this year Top did a 13-ship sale and charterback set of deals in which the four ships Icon is now buying – the 47,000-dwt Spotless and Doubtless (both built 1991) and the 47,000-dwt Vanguard and the 45,700-dwt Faithful (both built 1992) -- came back to Top on bareboat charters expiring in February. The buyer was at that time reported as either Fortis Bank or a Korean owner. In the Zim containership deal, which took place on Wednesday and was reported in a filing to regulators today, Icon bought all shares in two Norwegian KS or limited partnership entities to acquire full ownership of the 3,029-teu Zim America (built 1990), Zim Japan (1991), Zim Hong Kong and Zim Israel (both built 1992). In December 2004 TradeWinds reported that KS entities in which Torvald Klaveness held a 30% share had purchased four such Zim vessels. Klaveness is understood to have sold the Zim quartet on since then. Icon is picking up the four containerships for $35.9m in cash, $93.3m in assumed non-recourse debt secured by a first and second-priority mortgage in favour of HSH Nordbank AG and approximately $12m of non-recourse debt in favour of Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. The boxships sail on bareboat charters to Zim that expire in November 2010 and February 2011. Previous shipping acquisitions in lease-finance deals by Icon Capital include three Wallenius-Wilhelmsen car carriers, the 6,000-car Trinidad, Trianon and Tancred (all built 1987), acquired in connection with the 2002 collapse of Actinor, two earlier Zim boxships, the 3,300-teu Zim Canada (built 1990) and Zim Korea (built 1991), eight Seacor-Smit offshore vessels and a Great Lakes tug-barge tanker.

Carnival, International Paint Strike Deal International Paint LLC, an Akzo Nobel company, announced a long-term agreement with Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines to supply the company’s fleet with Intersleek 700 foul release coating system. The agreement comes after Intersleek 700 was successfully used in a pilot program by Carnival beginning in 2001 to test the coating’s extended life performance in preventing organisms from adhering to underwater hulls. The program was expanded over the next five years. The consistent decrease in annual bunker costs over that time period led to the agreement that now includes 10 ships.

Roberto Martinoli, Senior Vice President of Technical, Environmental and Safety Operations, performed a thorough evaluation of the pilot program, which initiated several rounds of negotiations. Martinoli, Brian Swensen and Umberto Sampiero spearheaded these negotiations for Carnival, and Robert Hall, George Smyth, Tom Mulligan and Paul Marzocca for International Paint LLC. The goal was to create a proven underwater coating program that maximizes the ship’s fuel efficiency, creating economic value for Carnival.



Intersleek 700 is a silicone-based foul release coating system, providing an environmentally friendly solution to combat marine fouling. The coating also is designed to significantly increase underwater hull coating longevity, providing added fuel savings due to exceptionally low surface tension. “We are very pleased that the industry’s largest cruise line has been using our advanced marine coatings since 1970,” said Robert Hall, Technical Service Representative for International Paint. “The fact that Carnival Cruise Lines was so enthusiastic about the benefits provided by Intersleek 700 indicates that we have a coating technology that has truly come of age.” Brian Swensen, the cruise line’s Vice President of Technical Operations said, “Carnival is always seeking new ways to improve the efficiency and appearance of our fleet to meet our guest’s high standards. We are pleased to say that using Intersleek 700 Blue finish on the Boot-top area has provided our ships with a colorfast coating that never loses it high-gloss appearance. In addition, the use of Intersleek 700 on our hulls has resulted in an increase in the underwater hull coating life retention between dockings.”

The latest addition to the URS fleet is the HOLLAND HUP ☺Photo : Leo Planken ©

Trabajadores de la Marina Mercante convocan una huelga para los buques de Trasmediterránea

El Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Marina Mercante (STMM) ha convocado una huelga para todos los buques de la naviera Acciona-Trasmediterránea que se iniciará a partir del lunes 10 de julio, informó hoy a Efe el secretario general del sindicato, Rafel Goiría González. Goiría señaló que el paro «va a ser de cuatro horas diarias a partir de la fecha de inicio, y se llevarán a cabo cuando los buques lleguen a puerto». Los buques que se encuentran implicados en este paro son los que cubren las travesías entre la Península y Baleares, Ceuta, Melilla, línea marítima entre Cádiz y las islas Canarias, y la ruta que une Bilbao con Inglaterra. El sindicalista destacó que esta huelga «que organizamos la segunda fuerza sindical de la flota de Trasmediterránea» se ha convocado con el fin de paralizar la pretensión de los armadores de reducir la plantilla de personal en unos 500 tripulantes, y contener la política de destrucción de empleo.



Para Goiría, «queremos evitar que se destruya empleo a través de la contratación de segundas marcas, usando y abusando de los tripulantes, sin derechos y a precios de países extra comunitarios». A juicio de los convocantes, cuando se privatizó Trasmediterránea y fue comprada por Acciona a la SEPI, se garantizaba un mínimo de siete años de mantenimiento del volumen de empleo fijo. Este sindicato reivindica que la huelga se realiza para que se respete el acuerdo de compra y evite una descapitalización de la empresa en beneficio de las filiales que intentan eliminar las actuales condiciones laborales.

Fewer passengers on Gozo ferries There has been a slight decline in the number of passengers using the Gozo ferries in the first quarter of this year. National Statistics Office figures show that the ferries carried a total of 618,760 passengers, which is 7,238, or 1.2 per cent, less than in the same quarter of the previous year. On the other hand, the number of cars carried increased by 3,815 to 184,172, that is 2.1 per cent. The ferries made a total of 4,310 crossings between Malta and Gozo, an increase of 72 or 1.7 per cent. The MV Malita carried 276,824 passengers, 44.7 per cent of the total.

Three new cruise ships sail to Cayman WITH the Grand Princess due return to the Cayman Islands this winter season comes news that three new cruise ships are heading for Grand Cayman, beginning May 2007. Marine and Cargo Manager at the Cayman Islands Port Authority Joseph Woods said the debut here on Monday of the Crown Princess signals an upswing in the number of cruise ship calls. The Crown Princess, owned by Princess Cruises, berthed at the George Town Harbour with 3,300 passengers and is expected to make regular visits to Grand Cayman. The ship made its inaugural voyage on 8 June in New York amid celebratory activities involving various stars. Sister ship, Grand Princess, which was a regular Wednesday fixture here, will resume its Cayman route on 3 October after being diverted by Princess Cruises to a port in Mexico.

The GRAND PRINCESS – Photo : John van Leeuwen ©

The Grand Princess has been also been booked for 2007, giving a major boost to an already busy cruise destination of 1.7 million passengers per year. Mr Woods could not give details on why the Grand Princess had a change of heart following announcements by company officials that it would not return to Cayman in the next year. The Grand Princess, carrying 3,300 passengers, had been paying weekly visits to the Island when it surprisingly pulled out in January, citing engine problems that led to its late arrival here.



Officials of Princess Cruises, the ship's owners, later complained that the George Town Port had insufficient tenders to take its passengers to the dock a charge denied by the Port Authority. Coming for the first time to the Islands are new ships from Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruises and Holland America. While Holland America is scheduled to do business here in October 2008, both Royal Caribbean and Carnival Cruises have confirmed their plans to commence operations here in May 2007. Mr Woods said it was too early to say what days the ships would be scheduled and if they would affect the 9,200 maximum daily passenger quota of the local Ministry of Tourism.

The STAR PRINCESS – Photo : Piet Sinke ©

A third Princess Cruises' ship, the Star Princess, paid weekly Thursday calls to Cayman George Town Port with 1,625 passengers but it is unclear if it would remain on the same route with the other Princesses. Meanwhile, the largest cruise terminal on the Island, the Royal Watler terminal, has been functioning at more than 50 percent of its capabilities, according to Mr Woods. He said that as of Wednesday, 14 June, the terminal has been offering guests the use of its amenities but its shops remain unavailable. The Port Authority has not yet announced the date for the official opening of the dock, which was plagued by legal issues and was the subject of an audit report that concluded mismanagement during construction.

Havila establish joint venture company in The Far East

Havila Shipping ASA and PACC Offshore Pte. Ltd has decided to join forces in the Far East offshore support vessel market with a jointly owned company under the working name of PACC Havila Pte. Ltd, owned 50/50 by the parties. It is the aim of the parties, through a longterm co-Operation, to become a leading operator in the market for offshore service vessels and related offshore activities in Asia and Australasia, a market of considerable future potential. The Joint Venture Company will have its main office in Singapore. The JV company will during 2007 and 2008 take delivery of 6 x 8000 BHP AHTS vessels from a reputable yard in the region. The parties aim to grow the company further in the offshore support vessel market in the region. HAVI today operates 23 vessels (inclusive of vessels under construction), but exclusive of any JV vessels. HAVI will, with this JV, further extend their international position in the offshore market. PACC Offshore Pte Ltd part of the PCL group which today owns and operate bulk carriers, tankers and container vessels, and has an extensive shipping operation globally. They will with this JV, enter into the offshore supply vessel



market. A jointly owned company under the working name of PACC Havila Pte. Ltd. will be established, and this company will be owned 50/50 by the parties.

French shipping line to connect Chinese port with Bandar Abbas

The first regular shipping line to be established by the leading worldwide French shipping company CMA CGM, is scheduled to move between a Chinese port and the Shahid Rajaii Port in Bandar Abbas as of July 23, 2006. Director General of Iran's Ports and Shipping Organization Mohsen Sadeqifar said here Saturday that CMA CGM is the number one shipping line in France. He added that in 2005, the French container shipping line, possessing 250 container vessels, ranked third in the world. The vessels of this shipping line are scheduled to leave Bandar Abbas for Malaysia every Monday, while carrying the exported and imported cargos.

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The RETRIEVER seen at Maaspilot station outward bound Photo : Adam Louwen ©

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The HAMTUN seen renamed in MULTRATUG 16 and re-painted in the Multraship colours off Terneuzen. Photo : Willem Kruit ©

The LUCKY STAR seen at the Singapore Cruise Terminal Photo : Capt Jelle de Vries ©

EXPECTED ARRIVALS IN ROTTERDAM The tug TORE with as tow the AMT MARINER will be at Maaspilot station today at 06:00 hrs bound for the Parkkade, also bound for the Parkkade is the NORMAND MJOLNE ETA Maaspilot station 26-6-06 15:15 hrs.



AIRCRAFT / AIRPORT NEWS Russian Ship Blasts Off for Space Station

A Russian cargo spacecraft carrying food and supplies blasted off Saturday for the international space station, mission control said.

The transporter with the Soyuz-U launch vehicle and the Progress

M-57 spacecraft left the Assembly and Testing Facility and arrived to the launch pad for the final pre-

launch processing. The Soyuz-U - Progress M-57 system was

erected on the launcher as can be seen at the photo below.

Photo’s : S.P.Korolev Rocket

and Space Corporation © The unmanned Progress M-57 ship lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 11:08 a.m. EDT, Russian mission control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.

The spacecraft, which is scheduled to dock at the orbiting space station on Monday, is transporting almost 3 tons of fuel, food and water, along with equipment.

Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams began a six-month mission on the station April 1. The American space program has depended on the Russians for cargo and astronaut delivery since the February 2003 Columbia disaster grounded the shuttle fleet. The shuttle Discovery visited the station last July but experienced problems with the external fuel tank's foam insulation.



Discovery is scheduled to launch again July 1 with a redesigned fuel tank as well as other modifications. Once at the station, Discovery will be leaving behind one of its seven astronauts, the European Space Agency's Thomas Reiter.

The shuttle crew also will deliver 5,100 pounds of cargo, including an oxygen generation system that can support a space station crew of six, and a laboratory freezer. They will haul back 4,700 pounds of cargo, including lots of trash.

MARINE WEATHER THIS SECTION IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY :

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Today’s wind (+6Bft) and wave (+3m) chart. Created with SPOS, the onboard weather information & voyage optimisation system, used on over 500 vessels today.

…. PHOTO OF THE DAY …..




The RT CLAIRE and ZP CHANDON seen waiting in the Caland Canal (Rotterdam) for the HANJIN WASHINGTON Photo : Hans Hoffmann ©

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