I like Ships too

ice-breaker3.jpg

The Yamal?
 


There are only two East Coast ports capable of receiving the post-Panamax ships which will be able to transit the Panama Canal when the current widening of the canal is completed in 2015.




baltimore-port_wide-0f54335e8d82cd4a75468db888b61c61ecd84054-s40.jpg


 



Glub, glub, glub.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=9&oldmmsi=366891960&olddate=5/5/2013 12:30:00 AM

A tugboat owned by McAllister Towing sank Saturday night at a pier in Locust Point in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Baltimore Sun reports that the Kaleen McAllister sank at Pier 3 in Locust Point just before 10 p.m. after striking a submerged object earlier in the evening, causing the tug to take on water...

more...

http://gcaptain.com/mcallister-tug-sinks-i-baltimore/

showphoto.aspx

Kaleen McAllister

showphoto.aspx


 
Last edited:


Today is the 98th anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania.




Bundesarchiv_DVM_10_Bild-23-61-17%2C_Untergang_der_%22Lusitania%22.jpg




 
showphoto.aspx

Jolly Nero


Italy Cargo Ship Slams Into Genoa Port, Kills 7
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?centerx=30&centery=25&zoom=2&level1=140

staticmap


ROME (AP) — Rescue workers in diving gear found seven bodies Wednesday in the wreckage after a cargo ship slammed into the dock at Genoa, toppling the busy Italian port's control tower into the harbor.

Four people were hospitalized and two others remained unaccounted for, Luca Cari, spokesman for the fire rescue teams at the scene, told The Associated Press.

The crash occurred around 11 p.m. Tuesday during a shift change in the control tower, as the Jolly Nero cargo ship was leaving port accompanied by tugboats.

By Wednesday morning, all that was left of the tower was its mangled exterior staircase, tilted on its side. The tower itself — which was located on the edge of a dock jutting out into the harbor — was either in the water or in a heap of rubble and steel on the dock.

Cari confirmed the seven dead, saying rescue crews recovered several of the bodies from an area near the tower's submerged elevator. There were fears that those still missing might be trapped inside the elevator, Cari said.

There were no reports of missing ship crew.

"This event is unbelievable because we had the best weather navigation conditions," said Luigi Merlo, president of the Genoa port authority. He declined to speculate on a cause, saying the ship had plenty of room to maneuver in the harbor and shouldn't have ended up so close to the dock.

One theory prosecutors were considering was that a possible mechanical failure aboard the ship left the captain unable to steer it properly, Italian news reports said, citing prosecutor Michele de Lecce.

Mauro described the ship, the Jolly Nero of the Ignazio Messina & C. SpA Italian shipping line, as somewhat unique in its height, so that the full weight of the ship slammed "violently" into the tower itself, not just the dock.

"The ship directly impacted the control tower," he told Sky TG24.

The Genoa-based Messina Line has a fleet of 14 cargo ships, with the Italian-flagged Jolly Nero listed at 239 meters (784 feet) long and 30 meters (98 feet) wide, according to its website.

The five bodies recovered included three coast guard officials in the tower at the time of the crash, a port captain and a tugboat operator, said Cmdr. Filippo Marini, a coast guard spokesman. The bodies of the other two dead were being recovered, he said.

In a statement, Messina said it was fully cooperating with authorities to determine the cause of the "tragic" accident, which it said occurred during a normal maneuver to leave the port. It said Messina Line ships do the maneuver with regularity and are always accompanied by tugboats.

"There aren't words to express the dismay and profound condolences for the victims of this tragedy and their families," Messina said in a statement.

Andrea Furgani, an ambulance doctor and one of the first rescuers, said crews brought four injured to hospitals in Genoa.

"The conditions were critical. They mainly suffered wounds caused by compression, broken bones and wounds on the chest," he told the AP.

The disaster shook a nation that just a year ago witnessed another shipping tragedy when the Costa Concordia cruise ship slammed into a reef off Tuscany on Jan. 13, 2012, killing 32 people.

Parliament held a minute of silence Wednesday for the victims in Genoa, the mayor of Genoa proclaimed a period of mourning and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano sent his condolences to the victims' families on behalf of the nation.

Genoa's port, located on Italy's western Ligurian coast, is Italy's busiest in terms of cargo handling, according to the port authority website. It is also a major port of call for cruise ships sailing the Mediterranean.
 



This is a very, very big goddamn ship:​


i2Iv05UwOvzc.jpg

Largest Container Ships Help Hyundai Heavy Crack China
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...s-help-hyundai-heavy-crack-china-freight.html
By Kyunghee Park and Jasmine Wang
May 9, 2013



Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. failed for eight years to win ship orders from China. That ended when it pledged to build the world’s biggest container carrier.

China Shipping Container Lines Co. this week said it chose Hyundai Heavy to construct five vessels that can each carry 18,400 20-foot boxes. The world’s biggest yard, which has already won orders for five 14,000-box vessels this year, beat Chinese builders for the $683 million contract.

Rising demand for bigger and more fuel-efficient ships from lines including A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S will help South Korean yards boost profits amid an overall slump in orders caused by a vessel glut. The nation’s shipbuilders have dominated the construction of mega ships that are longer than Eiffel Tower as they built almost all such vessels in operation.

“Making these ships isn’t easy,” said Park Moo Hyun, an analyst at E*Trade Securities Korea. “South Korean yards are the only ones that have proved these big ships can be built on time. Chinese shipyards are still way behind and that gap is only going to get wider.”

Since 2010, yards in South Korea delivered all except one of the 143 vessels that can carry more than 10,000 boxes, according to Clarkson Plc, the world’s biggest shipbroker.

Hyundai Heavy dropped 1 percent to 201,500 won as of 10:21 a.m. in Seoul trading. The stock has fallen 17 percent this year, compared with a 1.7 percent decline in the benchmark Kospi index.

14,000 Boxes
A South Korean yard previously won a Chinese order for container ships in August 2007, Park said. Samsung Heavy Industries Co., the world’s second-largest shipbuilder, got the contract, also from China Shipping, to build eight vessels with a capacity to haul 14,000 boxes each. The ships were delivered by the first half of last year.

Hyundai Heavy’s previous order from China was in January 2005 for four container ships that can each carry 10,000 boxes, the Ulsan, South Korea-based company said. The vessels were all delivered by 2008.

China Shipping placed the order with Hyundai Heavy after a tender in which Chinese yards also participated, the carrier said in an e-mail. As much as 70 percent of the price would be paid when the ships are delivered. The company favors Chinese builders when conditions and offers match, it said.

“Korean yards do have the capability to build better, giant ships,” said Sarah Wang, a Shanghai-based analyst at Masterlink Securities Corp. “China Shipping may have placed the order because of the technology.”

New Engine
The new ships will use an engine that can automatically control fuel consumption to suit speed and sea conditions. The technology will help improve fuel efficiency, reduce noise and cut emissions. Delivery will start in the second half of 2014.

“It’s true we never built ships that can carry 18,000 boxes, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have the technology,” said Wang Jinlian, secretary general of the China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry. “We just don’t have the experience, but everything has a beginning.”

Chinese yards had an orderbook of 218 million deadweight tons in 2008, overtaking South Korea as the world’s biggest shipbuilding nation, according to Clarkson. At the end of March, their backlog dropped to 106.5 million tons, compared with South Korea’s 62.3 million tons, according to the shipbroker’s data.

Spot Rates
Chinese shipping lines should be encouraged to place orders with local yards, Wang said. Some shipping lines are in talks with Chinese builders for vessels that can carry 16,000 containers, he said without elaboration.

After China Shipping announced the latest purchase, the China Shipowners’ Association said new orders will exacerbate the overcapacity in the industry and spur a further deterioration in the market. Spot rates for cargo hauled to Europe from Asia have fallen 35 percent this year to $796 per box last week, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange.

“If the massive order continues, even five years will not be enough for the market to see the light,” Zhang Shouguo, executive vice president of the association, said in a May 7 statement on the group’s website. “Fuel-efficient vessels are the future, but banks, financial institutions, shipowners and cargo owners should take an extremely cautious attitude toward shipping investment.”

Hurting Margins
Ship prices have plunged because of the overcapacity and industrywide losses, hurting margins at shipbuilders. Prices for a vessel that can carry as many as 13,500 boxes have fallen to $106 million in April, the lowest since Clarkson started compiling the figure in June 2008.

Global orders for all type of ships dropped 38 percent to 51.1 million deadweight tons last year, the lowest since 2001, according to Clarkson. Shipping lines have sold older vessels and non-core assets as they posted losses for a second year in 2012, according to Alphaliner.

Companies are also sailing slower, with the average speed of container ships dropping 16 percent in the past three years to 10.04 knots, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Reducing the speed of container ships by 10 percent can pare fuel consumption by as much as 30 percent, according to ship assessor Det Norske Veritas.

While overcapacity is a concern, it won’t stop shipowners from ordering more advanced vessels that will help pare fuel costs and reduce emissions, according to Um Kyung A, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co. in Seoul.

“Cutting costs is very crucial for shipping lines,” Um said. “During these difficult times, who can make money and who can’t will pretty much depend on who can cut costs more effectively.”


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...s-help-hyundai-heavy-crack-china-freight.html
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...-dies-in-america-s-cup-training-accident.html



13_011732_artemisracing_ac72-6079074390267ad53657f53ab6ff05a88e23cf41-s3.jpg


Artemis Sailor’s Death Sparks Review of America’s Cup Safety
By Aaron Kuriloff
May 10, 2013


Organizers of the America’s Cup will work with the U.S. Coast Guard to investigate the accident that killed two-time Olympic sailing medalist Andrew Simpson yesterday during the Swedish team Artemis Racing’s practice on San Francisco Bay.

Chief Executive Officer Stephen Barclay said the America’s Cup Event Authority will work with the Coast Guard on an inquiry to determine if changes need to be made to the 34th edition of the 161-year-old regatta. Artemis’s boat nose-dived and crashed while attempting a difficult maneuver.

“Only after the review’s done will we know what truly happened and then we’ll decide if any action needs to be taken,” Barclay said in a telephone interview.

The crash was the second involving the new 72-foot catamarans being used in the Cup, which are some of fastest sailboats ever built, powered by 131-foot carbon wing sails and capable of skimming above the water on hydrofoils at speeds exceeding 40 knots. Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA, the defending champions, destroyed a wing during a training accident in October.

Ellison, chief executive of Redwood City, California-based Oracle Corp., won the right to host this year’s America’s Cup after defeating a catamaran sailed by Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi syndicate in a two-boat, best-of-three series off Valencia, Spain, using a 90-foot trimaran with a 223-foot wing sail. His organizers then remade the Cup for television audiences, using the high-speed, twin-hulled boats to replace slower, safer monohulls.

Artemis Investigation
Artemis, the first of three teams to challenge for the Cup, will also investigate the accident, according to a statement from Torbjorn Tornqvist, the team’s chairman. Artemis represents the Royal Swedish Yacht Club.

Tornqvist, co-founder of the Geneva-based oil trading company Gunvor Group Ltd., said in an e-mailed statement that Simpson was a key player and “binding force” on the team.

‘Right now the primary focus of Artemis Racing is on the well-being of our team members and their families, and the America’s Cup competition will remain second to that,’’ Tornqvist said. “Artemis Racing will conduct a thorough analysis and review of this accident and will be looking at how the risks inherent to such competitive sailing can be limited in the future for the safety of the team and all competitors in the sailing community.”

Capsized Regularly
The catamarans use two widely spaced hulls to replace the lead ballast used to balance conventional sailboats. Their light weight and reduced friction makes them substantially faster than boats used in previous editions of the Cup, though they can nosedive and flip. Sailors wear crash helmets and carry oxygen bottles and other safety gear.

Boats capsized regularly at test events held around the world in 45-foot catamarans. John Rousmaniere, America’s Cup historian, said the new boats are testing the limits of technology, even more than the 45-footers.

“These are the Indy cars of sailing, where handling at high speeds is so tricky,” he said in a telephone interview. “They ventured into new territory here on fairly short notice when they went to the 72s.”

Gold Medal
Artemis was practicing with the Oracle team in flat water and gusty conditions of 15 to 20 knots when the sailors attempted to turn away from the wind [the writer clearly isn't conversant with sailing terminology; it sounds like the boat pitchpoled in the midst of a gybe ], “one of the more difficult maneuvers in sailing any fast boat,” Ian Murray, regatta director, said in a press conference. During the turn, the boat nosedived and broke up.

Simpson, 36, died after he was trapped beneath a section of the capsized yacht, out of sight from other vessels and divers searching for him, Murray said.

“Capsizing has been a part of these boats,” Murray said. “All of the crew had been trained under water. All carried oxygen and had been trained for the worst.”

Mindy Talmadge, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Fire Department, said in a telephone interview that the Oracle -- which practices with Artemis -- notified authorities about 1 p.m. yesterday that a boat had capsized “and one person had been underwater for about 10 minutes.”

Talmadge said CPR was performed on Simpson on a rescue boat and at the St. Francis Yacht Club, where the sailor was pronounced dead.

Simpson won a gold medal racing in the Star class at the 2008 Olympics as crew for Iain Percy, now Artemis’s sailing team director. The pair earned a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics. A veteran of two previous Cup campaigns, Simpson joined Artemis in February to provide weather and tactical support.

“It’s a shocking experience to go through and we have a lot to deal with in the next few days in terms of assuring everyone’s well-being,” Paul Cayard, the team’s chief executive, said during a press conference. “The boat’s under control but that’s not the first of our concerns. We’re focused on the people.”



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-...-dies-in-america-s-cup-training-accident.html
 


HMS Ark Royal, on the way to the ship breakers:

ap10120302090_wide-c167509ffcb580e1212d3491976aba68d2261e79-s40.jpg

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...rney-Turkish-scrapyard.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

HMS Ark Royal led UK naval forces during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and saw active service in Bosnia. The Invincible-class aircraft carrier was built by Swan Hunters in 1981 on the River Tyne and was named by Queen Elizabeth.

Nearly 30 years later, the government then axed the famous warship in the 2010 Strategic Defense and Security Review. It is the most expensive warship built in the United Kingdom, costing a staggering £320million.

There had been hopes HMS Ark Royal could be preserved as a museum ship, but the Ministry of Defense said she was in too poor a condition.

Other proposals to reuse the ship included turning her into a commercial heliport, nightclub, school, or a casino.



 
The X-Bow design is the latest and greatest.


2-island-constructor.jpg

All cars look alike because of fuel efficiency demands. Soon all ships will look the same as well


Although its better looking than the bulbous bow design

2007730101054_600450%201350teu.jpg
 

Anybody interested in a cruise?
(actually I give some credit to Royal Caribbean; by most
accounts, the crew and the company handled the incident quite well)


15393341_h22530809_wide-ef42c6d8b99f830ba3cee54dbab82798e221de95-s40.jpg






 


Bananas are the biggest cargo moved by refrigerated containers, also known as reefers. Then
comes frozen chicken, citrus, fish and dairy products.



ijaIJ_FodqHY.jpg




 


123_1940_l.jpg



LUKOIL has celebrated the fifth anniversary of its first bulk oil shipment through the Varandey oil terminal located
near the Barents Sea coast in the Nenets Autonomous District.


During this five-year period, 26.37 million tons of oil were shipped by 381 ice-class tankers through the fixed offshore
ice-resistant oil terminal (FOIROT) which is part of the larger terminal.


The FOIROT is located at a 22-km distance from the coastline. It is connected to an onshore tank battery with a
capacity of 325 thousand cubic meters via two subsurface oil pipelines.


Oil from LUKOIL’s fields located in the Nenets Autonomous District is transported to the Varandey terminal by pipelines.
The plan is to use the Varandey oil terminal to transport oil from the Trebs and Titov fields, developed by the
Bashneft-Polyus joint venture (LUKOIL– 25.1%, Bashneft – 74.9%)...


...The Varandey terminal has been registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s most northerly
continuously operating oil terminal.



 
Back
Top