President’s MessageNAMSGlobal is having its 47th Annual National Marine Conference East March 29 – 31, 2009, Hilton Newark Penn Station Hotel, Gateway Center/Raymond Blvd., Newark, New Jersey. This provides one of the best opportunities for member and industry attendance. Newark is close to New York City and is well serviced by several airports and public transit. Our theme for this meeting is “The Value of a Marine Surveyor”. I strongly encourage all members to contact and invite their friends in the industry, and non-NAMSGlobal members this conference. Jamie Theriault has resumed duties as RVP Eastern Canada Region. If there are any other changes to Regional Officers, please make your reports to the National office ASAP. We have vacancies in several committees and I do have 3 volunteers. I will be making appointments at the conclusion of the National Meeting. If there are any other members interested, please contact me ASAP. Also Desmond Connolly will be stepping aside at the conclusion of the National meeting. Again, if you want to contribute, now is the time to step forward! I look forward to seeing all at the upcoming conference. Thank you, Bill National Office MessageThe upcoming Board of Directors meeting agenda packet will be sent out before the end of the week. It is being sent toall members as well as to the Board of Directors. All members are encouraged to review the agenda items and contact your RVP if you have any questions or comments. Please pay your NAMS-Global dues before the March 31st deadline to avoid the 25% surcharge. Thanks, Evie Hobbs March 17-18-19, 2009 SDT International SA. will be organizing the SDT-IMCS hatch cover training course The SDT Sherlog TA will allow anyone involved in hatch cover inspections and inspection of any other openings that require to be weather tight, to perform in a more economical and professional way and this to the benefit of all parties involved. In order to ensure that the equipment is used in the proper way and that correct results are obtained, SDT International S.A. , manufacturers of the Sherlog TA, have the pleasure in advising you that the SDT-IMCS hatch cover training course will be organized at the Hilton Miami Airport, 5101 Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami, Florida, USA 33126, Tel: 1+(305) 262-1000 Fax: 1+(305) 267-0038. Consult the SDT website on www.sdt.be and click on “Sherlog Training Registration” in order to submit your registration to SDT International s.a. Additional information about the training course program can be found on the same web-site under “Sherlog Training Program” March 29 – 31, 2009 NAMSGlobal 47th Annual National Marine Conference East – Conference Theme: Value of a Marine Surveyor. HiltonNewark Penn Station, Gateway Center/Raymond Blvd. Newark, New Jersey. Reservations: (973) 622-5000. Make your room reservations early, be sure to ask for NAMS Group rate $119.00 plus taxes. The discounted room rate has been extended through March 6, 2009. March 30-31, 2009 AND APRIL 2-3, 2009 The SHIPS Watercraft Training Small Power Watercraft Damage and Claim Evaluation Seminar will be presented at the American Family (AMFAM) Extended Learning Center in Madison, WI. The class includes information and instruction on the inspection and evaluation of damage claims to private pleasure watercraft. Information regarding the class and on-line registration is available at: www.shipsinc.com. Follow the “Training” link on the left side of the home page. Contact Jerry P. Simon, AIC, AMS, CMI Simon & Hall Insurance Professional Services, Inc. [email protected] Office: (573) 348-2741 Cell: (417) 848-4777 April 2-3, 2009 The 2009 Asian Marine Insurance and Surveying Forum, Novotel Century Hong Kong Hotel. Theme: ‘The carriage and care of steel cargoes’. Early bird rates available. CPD Certificates, accepted by all Marine Surveying Professional Institutes, will be issued upon request. Those interested in attending should contact Mrs. Lulu Zuniga-Carmine at Asia Conference Ltd: [email protected] Those interested in giving a paper at the conference should contact Mike Wall at [email protected] (Speakers earn 3 IIMS CPD points.) April 27 – 28 2009 SAFEDOR FINAL CONFERENCE, LONDON, UK. Organized by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects on behalf of the SAFEDOR Project: Standing for “Design, Operation and Regulation for Safety”, SAFEDOR is an Integrated Project (IP) funded by the European Commission under the 6th RTD Framework Program, in which a total of 53 project partners – coordinated by Germanischer Lloyd – from all sectors of the maritime industry in Europe are participating. SAFEDOR is about to complete its four year R&D program. To mark this event, partners of SAFEDOR will present the latest and overall results of their work at a public conference at the Headquarters of the International Maritime Organization. The event will provide an excellent opportunity to familiarize engineers with the principles underlying risk-based ship design, regulation, operation and approval, and to discuss a variety of applications. Info at: [email protected]or go to www.rina.org.uk May 12-13, 2009 Marine Log’s Tugs & Barges Conference & Expo, Stamford, Connecticut will focus on current hot-button regulatory and technology issues: Harbor tugs: Here come the hybrids! This the annual conference and trade show that brings together key players in the tug and barge market to discuss critical industry issues and to share lessons from operational experience. http://www.marinelog.com June 29-30, 2009 AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF MARINE UNDERWRITERS (AIMU) CORRESPONDENTS CONFERENCE: ATLANTIC CITY, NEWJERSEY. Details for the two-day Correspondents Conference, a joint venture with the Marine Insurance Claims Association (MICA), to include education and information programs, have been finalized. AIMU will apply for Continuing Education credits for the event. AIMU is seeking potential presenters for the 30, 40, 60, and 75-minute education sessions.Conference Website http://www.aimu.org/GLOBAL%20CONFERENCE/credits.asp The Royal Institute of Naval Architects will be providing the following training courses during 2009: 11-14 May 2009, London 27-28 May 2009, Poole, UK 25-27 March 2009, London, UK 1-2 April 2009 17-18 April 2009, Shanghai, China 13-15 May 2009, Antwerp, Belgium 17-18 June, London, UK 1-3 September 2009 28-30 April, London, UK 13-16 May 2009, Shanghai, China For further information: Email: [email protected] USCG – Feeder Ports For Training Marine Inspectors The US Coast Guard issued an ALCOAST http://www.uscg.mil/announcements/alcoast/alcoast089.09.txt (All Coast Guard Message) designating 18 Sectors and Marine Safety Units as “Feeder Ports” to be utilized for training of new marine safety and security personnel. The designation recognizes that these units have a sufficiently diverse workload and volume to allow for training in at least four of the 17 marine inspection and port state control examination competencies, as well as sufficient experienced staff to provide mentoring. (2/11/09). Courtesy Holland & Knight, LLP Maritime Newsletter: www.hklaw.com. USCG – Feeder Ports For Training Marine InspectorsMississippi Federal District Court: Negligent Ship Pilot Personally Liable For Over $800,000 In Damages In Osprey Ship Management, Inc. v. Foster, 2008 WL 4371376 (S.D. Miss. Sep. 18, 2008), the Court found a Pascagoula (Mississippi) Bar Pilot negligent for his failure to review the plans for the entire voyage and mistakenly relying on a floating buoy to fix his position. The Court held the pilot allowed the ship to veer outside of the intended channel and strike a submerged submarine launch structure. The Court found the pilot had failed to complete the necessary paperwork beforehand which would have entitled him to limit his liability under the Port of Pascagoula Tariff. The Court found the pilot 50% negligent and personally liable for $826,051.59 in damages, half the ship’s losses, and the ship 50% contributorily negligent for its crew’s failure to monitor the pilot and intervene. Courtesy Admiralty Update, the copyrighted and trademarked e-newsletter on developments in U.S. Coast Guard regulations, state and federal court decisions of interest to commercial and recreational marine communities, written, edited, and produced by the firm of Goldsmith & Ogrodowski, LLC, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Contact: [email protected]. Tow Boat Captain Earns Honor For Lifesaving Rescue Source: The Virginian-Pilot Publication date: 2009-02-08 Feb. 8–It seemed like just another normal day off. On a windy March afternoon, Byron Farlow sat in his Chesapeakehome relaxing. But when he got the call from his boss, Farlow — who now lives in Virginia Beach — jumped into action. It’s a good thing he did. Lives were saved and Farlow — a captain with Tow Boat U.S. — has been presented with a national award because of it. Farlow’s boss, Allen Owen, called to tell him of an emergency off Cape Henry. Owen was already towing another vessel farther down the Virginia Beach coast. The seas around Cape Henry can be rough on a calm day. But winds were howling at more than 30 mph. The point was a washing machine of turmoil. It wasn’t a good place for any boat to be. “Allen got me on my cell to tell me that these people had called him and he couldn’t contact them back,” said Farlow, 47. “I rushed to the boat in Lynnhaven (Inlet) and went around the cape towards the Green Can (buoy). “There were 6- to 7-foot waves and the gusts were about 50 mph. The wind was blowing the tops off the waves and sending out this spray.” Farlow motored to the coordinates the boaters had given Owen, but no boat could be found. Making matters worse was the height of the waves. “A boat could have been 25 yards from me and I wouldn’t have been able to find it,” Farlow said. But he kept searching, even as his own vessel was getting beaten to a pulp and taking on water. “I couldn’t find them. And I couldn’t reach them on the cell phone number Allen gave me or on the (VHF) radio,” Farlow remembered. “I called Allen to see if he had heard from them and he hadn’t. I was going to keep searching, but at that point they could have drifted anywhere.” Then a container ship radioed Farlow that he had a capsized vessel in sight. “The container ship turned around and got between me and the winds, effectively blocking a lot of them,” Farlow said. “I found the boat and we got three men and a woman out of the water. It was cold and they had hypothermia.” Owen and a Maryland Pilot Association boat soon arrived to assist. The container ship continued to block the wind as the three vessels powered to Lynnhaven. The four individuals were taken to a hospital and soon were released in good condition. Last weekend, at the Tow Boat U.S. convention in Florida, Farlow was honored with the Wood Pollack Award for a “tower that goes above and beyond the call of duty in a rescue of lifesaving operation.” Owen and wife Paula were at the convention. Farlow was at home manning the operation. “We didn’t know anything about it or we would have figured out a way for him to be there,” Paula Owen said. Farlow said he would have liked to have been there. “This is a huge honor,” he said. “I was just doing my job, you know? You don’t think about your own danger when you get a call like that. “Being honored for that is really something.” Courtesy Workboat, a weekly e-newsletter. To receive FREE commercial marine news highlights delivered to you by email. http://www.workboat.com/index More than 300 ships and a record 800,000 TEUs are now in lay-up as carriers consolidate services on major routes to combat declining cargo volume and rates. On Oct. 25, 2008, there were just 70 ships totaling 150,000 TEUs without work. The Asia-Europe trade has seen the deepest cuts, with capacity tumbling 21 percent to 333,000 TEUs from 418,000 TEUs. Capacity in the eastbound trans-Pacific has fallen 9 percent to 335,000 TEUs from 376,000 TEUs, and the Europe-Med-North America route is down 4.5 percent to 116,000 TEUs. (The Journal of Commerce, 2/9/2009.) Courtesy AIMU Weekly Bulletin. Clubs Face Rise In Moorings Injury Claims Deaths and injuries caused during mooring operations are increasing and the UK P&I Club estimates it has spent more than $34m settling related insurance claims in the past 20 years. While numbers rarely exceeded 4% of all claims on the club and 2% of settlements between 1987 and 1997, they reached 14% in 2000 and 15% in 2002. While mooring injuries are only the seventh most frequent cause of personal injury claims on the club, they are the third most expensive per claim, because of the severity of the accidents. Some 14% of all accidents involved death, while 23% were leg injuries, 11% multiple injuries and 7% arm and head injuries. Most of the accidents happened during the handling of ropes and wires — with 53% due to them parting. Some 13% of claims involved tug operations where ropes or wires parted. Weather, equipment problems, vessels’ wash and ship-to-ship activity accounted for 30%. The UK Club said that its own claims figures were likely to be replicated across the industry. The club has produced a newsletter, Understanding Mooring Incidents, to highlight the problem. (Lloyd’s List, 2/13/2009.) Courtesy AIMU Weekly Bulletin. Mistakes Of Navigation By Master Allow For Limitation Of Liability The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled that the owner of a vessel involved in a collision is entitled to limit its liability when the collision is the result of a mistake of navigation by the master and the owner had fulfilled its duty to hire a competent master. In the instant case, the master had operated the tug at excessive speed, creating a wake that capsized a nearby recreational fishing vessel and resulting in the death of a passenger on the fishing vessel. Evidence showed that the master of the tug was experienced and had an unblemished record prior to this incident. The tug was found to be seaworthy. The court held that the mistakes of navigation made by the master were not within the privity and knowledge of the owner. Matheny v. Tennessee Valley Authority, No. 08-5127 (6th Cir., February 19, 2009). Courtesy Bryant’s Maritime Blog: Summaries of recent maritime developments in US, international, and foreign governments. http://bryantsmaritimeblog.blogspot.com Automatic Identification System (Ais) Expansion Proposed By Dennis L. Bryant Enhanced security relating to small vessels operating in waters of the United States has been under consideration for several years. The recent terrorist attack in Mumbai, India has placed the issue on the front burner. Terrorists hijacked a small fishing vessel near the maritime border between India and Pakistan. After killing most of the crew, they forced the master to sail for Mumbai. Upon arrival off the busy port, they beheaded the master and came ashore in small boats to attack hotels and other high-visibility targets. India had no system in place to monitor movements of fishing and other small vessels. The Automatic Identification System (AIS) was developed over a number of years through the International Maritime Organization (IMO); International Telecommunication Union (ITU); and International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) processes as a tool for improving maritime safety by allowing vessels within very high frequency (VHF) radio range [basically line of sight] to electronically identify each other and show their other vessel’s course, speed, and other relevant information on the radar screen. After the horrific terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, the value of AIS as a security tool was recognized. International requirements for its installation and use were accelerated. Domestically, a provision was added to the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (MTSA) directing that certain specific vessel types be equipped with and operate AIS under regulations prescribed by the US Coast Guard. The legislation also authorized the Coast Guard to expand the requirement to “any other vessel” for which the Coast Guard decides that an AIS “is necessary for the safe navigation of the vessel.” The term “safe navigation” is now being interpreted as including secure navigation. Shore facilities capable of receiving AIS transmissions from ships have been installed in the various US ports and waterways with vessel traffic service (VTS) capability. Efforts are underway to expand AIS coverage to virtually all US ports and waterways, as well as offshore, through the use of such things as oceanographic buoys and offshore structures. Tests are underway to determine whether satellites can be used to receive AIS signals. While the initial domestic requirement for installation and use of AIS did not go far beyond the international requirement, all indications are that this is about to change in a significant way for owners and operators of domestic vessels. On December 16, 2008, the US Coast Guard issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would, if eventually adopted, make significant changes to the AIS carriage requirement (as well as to the notice of arrival and departure requirements). First, domestic vessels could only utilize AIS equipment that has been type-approved by the Coast Guard. Second, the regulations would be restated so as to clarify the requirement that the AIS be properly installed and operated using guidelines set forth by IMO Safety of Navigation Circulars (SN/Circ.) 227, 236,244, and 245 and Resolution A.917(22). This requirement effectively makes mandatory for numerous domestic vessels a series of voluntary international standards. Failure to follow those IMO guidelines would constitute a USCG regulatory violation and might have significant consequences in the event of a marine casualty. Currently, the AIS carriage requirement for domestic vessels is largely limited to self-propelled commercial vessels of 65 feet or more in length engaged on an international voyage or operating in a designated VTS area. This will greatly change under the Coast Guard proposal. The VTS area provision will be eliminated, along with the international voyage provision. Also eliminated would be the blanket exemption for fishing vessels. Read the rest of the article at Bryant’s Maritime Blog: Summaries of recent maritime developments in US, international, and foreign governments.http://bryantsmaritimeblog.blogspot.com Useful Links Short courses in the USA at the Marine Surveyor’s Web Site at http://www.marinesurveyor.com/educate.html “All Hands and the Cook” by Capt Barry Thompson (ISBN 0-908608-72-1) is published by Bush press and costs GBP3.50 UK p&p from Capt M.D. Rushan, 17 The Croft, Bishopstone, Salisbury SP5 4DF, Email: [email protected] in New Zealand, contact [email protected] Reviewer’s Comments: Shipping and seafarers have enriched the English language in a way that few other industries or professions can match. And that enrichment is celebrated in two terrific new books that examine the lore and language the maritime world. Captain Barry Thompson’s All Hands and the Cook is an exploration both of nautical expressions and seafarer slang, which simultaneously provides a vivid insight into life at sea over the past 12 5 years or so. So as well as explaining the meaning of such terms as ‘Cunard socks’ (bare feet), ‘Shaky’ (condensed milk), and the mysteries of red oil and the ‘golden rivet’, it delves into the systems, organizations and working practices that lay behind such language. It is full of fascinating little nuggets of information about shipping and seafaring, and serves almost as an alternative history of the British merchant fleet most notably in a section covering miscellaneous terms and expressions (including’ all hands and the cook’). Some of the best terms are to be found in the sections on food which invariably preoccupies many seafarers and in turn generates a rich seam of descriptive phrases!) and in the myriad alternative titles for shipping companies Refuge For Alcoholics, Hungry Hogarths, and the Lavender Hull Mob being just a few. Of course, being based on seafaring language, there’s some )pretty coarse stuff within the) ages but readers of a delicate disposition need not look away too often. For Barry Thompson as served up a great mix of crew colloquialism customs and the social history of seagoing life in the 20th century. Capt Thompson has also organized the book with great skill, setting the tone with a preface explaining his personal commitment to the project of preserving as many of the terms, expressions and seagoing customs that he could remember fearing, with good reason, that they’re in danger of being lost as British shipping declined in the 980s and 90s. His subsequent introduction and prologue starkly illustrate the scale of that decline, but also portray the deeper background to the culture of seafaring. The following chapters are organized on a subject basis, addressing such area as engagement and employment deck and engine departments uniforms and dress, medical, navigation cargoes and cargo handling. The book contains a total of 28 various illustrations and line drawing of a ship, as well as excellently organized indices to help the reader quickly locate terms and references. “Hatch Covers – Operation, Testing and Maintenance” by Mike Wall NAMS-CMS (ISBN 13: 978 1 85609 344 6 ISBN 10: 1 85609 327 1) Cost GBP50. Published by Witherby Seamanship International, 4 Dunlop Square, Deans Estate,Livingston EH54 8SB, United Kingdom Email: [email protected] www.witherbyseamanship.com Described as ‘the authoritative textbook on hatch covers by other reputable authors. A web page which is a must for all marine surveyors involved in merchant ship surveys is:http://www.maib.gov.uk/home/index.cfm. The site gives the investigations currently under way and reports on completed investigations. NOAA Charts and Coast Pilot Publications:
World Ports Site: |