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December 2007
• For the first time in Hawaii's maritime history, three female bridge officers were at the helm of the 800-foot container ship Horizon Navigator that arrived at Honolulu Harbor from Los Angeles on Wednesday
• A joint committee has been set up by management of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Navy to combat piracy and robbery on the country's territorial waters
• The small cruise ship Empress of the North that ran aground last spring did so under the watch of a 22-year-old navigator fresh out of a maritime academy with no formal knowledge of Alaska waters
• Russia will put its strategic nuclear submarine Yury Dolgoruky, fitted with the new Bulava missile system, in service in 2008
• Japan has launched a probe into the recent seizure of four Japanese trawlers by Russian customs officers
• As the Cosco Busan left the San Francisco Bay on Thursday, tests revealed that it had left behind traces of spilled fuel in shoreline fish-breeding habitats; the herring fishery could be in trouble
• European Union competition regulators have opened an investigation into the acquisition by South Korea's STX Shipbuilding of a controlling stake in Norway's Aker Yards
• The Murmansk Shipping Company will sign contracts to build 12 ice-class bulker ships at Chinese shipyards, as a cost- saving measure
• Russia could ban Japanese vessels from fishing near the South Kuril islands if the Southeast Asian country continues to violate fishing rules
• The Maltese-flagged tanker ISI Olive ran aground in the Suez Canal early Thursday, halting traffic in the major waterway for six hours until it was towed away
• The probe into potential sub-standard welding practices on Virginia- class submarines at Northrop Grumman's Newport News shipyard has been expanded to include aircraft carriers and other submarines
• The captain of a Japanese vessel detained last week for illegally entering Russian territorial waters will be returned to Japan due to health problems
• An expert claims that the torn hose that caused the major oil spill at the Statfjord A platform was developed to be used above, and not under, water
• Exxon Mobil filed a brief Monday in a case before the US Supreme Court seeking reduced damages in the Exxon Valdez case
• The New Zealand-built boat Earthrace that runs on biodiesel, and the fat of the captain, will attempt to break the world speed record for circumnavigating the globe in a motorboat next year
• US joins Australia in pushing Japan to stop hunting humpback whales
• The bow of a tanker that broke up and sank in the Kerch Strait on November 11 will be raised no earlier than next spring
• Cleanup costs for last month's oil spill in San Francisco Bay are on track to exceed the $61 million federal limit on insurance liability
• A humpback whale in the Bay of Fundy is swimming free after it was disentangled from fishing gear in a daring, high seas rescue
• Rescue teams looking for 19 people missing after a ship collision on Saturday were called back on Tuesday afternoon after a fruitless three-day search in the East China Sea
• The bulk carrier Grain Harvester has run aground in the central Queensland port area Gladstone Harbour, becoming the second vessel to get stuck there this month
• Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Nagasaki yard will build four of the world's largest roll-on roll-off carriers for Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA and Wallenius Lines
• Japan has increased the Russian quota for capturing hake in its 200-mile zone by 16% in 2008
• Global warming is making the oceans more acidic, and some scientists fear the change may be irreversible
• South Korea will survey the country's west coast to assess the environmental impact of the recent oil spill in a bid to establish a long-term recovery plan for the affected area
• StatoilHydro says Norway's biggest oil spill in 30 years appears to have dispersed
• The Italian owners of container ship MV Jolly Turchese on Tuesday denied reports that it had been attacked by pirates off Somalia
• The K-114 (Delta IV class) Tula submarine from Russia's Northern Fleet successfully test-launched a ballistic missile from the Barents Sea in the Arctic on Monday
• Japan and South Korea have agreed on fishing quotas in each other's exclusive economic zone next year, limiting each other's quotas, and reducing the number of boats
• New Carissa salvager wants to close public access on part of the spit for safety reasons
• South Korea's worst oil spill is threatening to enter a bay that is an important winter rest stop for migratory birds
• The deployment of booms to help collect the oil spill in the North Sea off Norway has been called off because the slick is too thin for recovery to the collection vessels
• The Ocean Breeze, a super yacht built for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, is for sale
• Thousands of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle were killed in stampedes earlier this year after the disappearance of sea ice caused them to crowd onto the shoreline in extraordinary numbers
• The Hong Kong-based owner of Cosco Busan, which spilled oil in San Francisco Bay, has paid the federal government nearly $80 million as bail of sorts while US officials seek a civil judgment
• Oil that spilled from a punctured supertanker off the South Korean coast has drifted in the form of tar to a distant island, as tens of thousands of people continued massive clean-up operations Saturday with the help of US specialists
• Three British polar explorers have postponed for a year a trip to the North Pole they were due to make in early 2008 to try to establish when Arctic summer sea ice will vanish because of global warming
• Two Somali pirates accused of hijacking a Japanese tanker have been arrested in northeastern Somalia, but up to a dozen more are still on the run
• The International Court of Justice affirmed Thursday that three Caribbean islands in a disputed archipelago belong to Colombia, and said it would rule on a disagreement between Colombia and Nicaragua over other islands in the chain and the two countries' maritime border
• Weather hampers South Korean oil spill cleanup, and crews are running out of absorbents
• Norway oil spill stirs the debate about the risks of opening up new areas of Norwegian waters for oil and gas exploration
• Carnival Corp. has ordered two 2,174- passenger cruise ships for its AIDA Cruises brand, which sails in the growing European market and caters to German speakers
• The Virginia-class submarine North Carolina launched from Northrop Grumman Newport News early Wednesday for its first set of sea trials
• Australia's new government may send a navy ship to Antarctica to track Japan's whaling fleet and gather evidence to mount a legal challenge
• Russia will launch a crackdown on illegal exports of crab and other bio-resources to Pacific Rim countries in 2008
• The survival of the world's coral reefs will be seriously threatened by 2050 if atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide and the acidity of ocean waters continue to rise at the present rate
• The Hong Kong-registered tanker Hebei Spirit involved in Korea's largest-ever oil spill did not take enough precautions to avoid the collision with a crane- carrying barge on Friday, local police said
• ExxonMobil plans to seek regulatory approval for a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal off New Jersey and New York
• US scientists now say Arctic waters could be ice-free in summers as early as 2013
• Light forms rogue waves, which may help study rogue waves of water
• A US proposal to open the Gulf of Mexico to offshore fish farming was blasted by fishing and environmental interests, worried about such things as disease, pollution and the potential toll on fishing operations
• Construction of 'Project Genesis,' destined to be the world's biggest cruise liner at 1,180 feet, has started at the Aker Yards shipyard in Turku, Finland
• Petrobras signs contract for Atlantico Sul Shipyard, in Suape, to build the hull for platform P-55
• No oil pollution has resulted from a collision between the oil carrier Samco Europe and a container ship in the Gulf of Aden December 10
• South Korea's government is accused of a slow response to the oil spill, as it declares a long stretch of the country's western coastline a disaster area
• Canada's new satellite will monitor the country's environment, and keep an eye on Canada's territorial claims in the high Arctic
• The two Koreas will hold high-level military talks this week to discuss a joint fishing zone and other projects aimed at improving ties between the countries
• TUI AG and Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. will launch a new joint venture serving the German cruise market
• US government to encourage offshore fish farming in the Gulf of Mexico
• The Duchess of Cornwall has named Cunard's new luxury liner Queen Victoria, but the champagne bottle didn't break - considered by some to be a sign of bad luck
• Russia's new fishing policy aimed at fighting illegal crab catches in Russian waters could seriously damage the economy of Japan's city of Wakkanai
• Northrop Grumman Newport News expects to deliver the US Navy's newest attack submarine North Carolina only slightly over budget, and only about a month late
• Asian utilities led by Korea Gas Corp, the world's biggest liquefied natural gas buyer, are expanding import terminals to receive the world's biggest tankers and meet soaring demand for the fuel
• The Petaluma pilot involved in the recent San Francisco Bay oil spill has been asked to surrender his federal Merchant Marine officer's license
• Colombian drug smugglers sank a submarine off the country's Pacific coast this week that had been filled with tons of cocaine destined for the US
• The US Coast Guard's first national security cutter, Bertholf, has successfully completed three days of sea trials
• Salvage crews have refloated the bulk carrier Endeavour River, which has been stuck in mud in Gladstone Harbour for more than five days
• General Dynamics Electric Boat, known for building nuclear-powered submarines for the US Navy, may start working with nuclear power companies, and, The company is redesigning Virginia-class submarines that could increase their payload and save the Navy as much as $800 million
• The latest addition to Cunard's fleet, built at the Fincantieri shipyard near Venice, will be officially named by the Duchess of Cornwall on Monday; the Queen Victoria arrived in Southampton on Thursday
• Queensland authorities are investigating the suspected discovery of the invasive marine pest Asian green mussel in a shipyard in Cairns in the state's far north
• Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction has completed the first phase of its shipyard construction project in Subic, the Philippines
• Russia will start the first major navy sortie into the Mediterranean since Soviet times, the latest move by an increasingly assertive Moscow to demonstrate its military might
• Russia and the US are set to sign a new fishing agreement for northern areas of the Bering Sea
• An anti-whaling ship has been named after the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin as it sets off to intercept Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean
• Poland's Gdansk shipyards are seen as a monument to history by some, an outdated symbol of the past by others
• Officials will meet to decide on an action plan to refloat the bulk carrier Endeavour River, which is stuck in the mud at Gladstone Harbour
• Environmental and Native Alaskan groups asked a federal appeals court to block Royal Dutch Shell PLC's plans for exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• Dedicated history buffs want to turn the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy into a museum
• Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has begun dismantling a damaged oil rig in the Bay of Campeche off Mexico as heat from near-constant fires has destabilized the structure
• Five fishermen from Tamil Nadu were allegedly beaten up and taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly entering its territorial waters
• A new law governing small vessels, and intended to avoid a repeat of the Al Dana dhow disaster, was approved by the Shura Council
• An Indian-built nuclear- powered submarine will be ready for sea trials in two years
• Russia will present its new-generation Amur-1650 class submarine at an international maritime exhibition in Malaysia
• A new college in the Republic of Congo will promote fish farming
• With Japan's whaling fleet once again on its way for its annual hunt, officials are concerned about another showdown - and the anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has vowed stop them
• The Olive Ridley turtle is facing a threat from planned development on India's east coast: the country wants to put ports on either side of their main nesting site
• India plans to buy six more submarines, in addition to the six being built under the Scorpene project
• The US government sued the pilot and owners of the container ship Cosco Busan for breaking environmental laws when the ship struck a bridge support in San Francisco Bay, spilling oil; and, California has suspended John Cota's license pending investigation - he was the pilot in charge of navigation on the container ship Cosco Busan
• Iraqis defy death threats to rebuild their navy and defend the country's waterways and oil terminals
• China's maritime rescue vessels have saved 986 fishermen stranded by Typhoon Hagibis in waters off the Nansha and Xisha islands
• Concordia Maritime's product tanker Stena Perros, a P-MAX tanker, is named at Brodosplit Shipyard in Croatia
• Coalition off Somalia's coast hopes to secure sea lanes, and find a pirate's 'mother ship'
• Japan wants to reach an accord with China over exploring lucrative gas fields in the East China Sea by the beginning of 2008
• India's Navy plans to deploy two carrier battle groups in the next 5-7 years to protect power and act as a stabilizing influence in the Indian Ocean region and beyond
November 2007
• WorkBoat magazine recognized ten 'significant' boats of the year, including an ample number of offshore support vessels, at the 2007 International Work Boat show in New Orleans
• Runoff from streets, roofs and even forests is the largest source of most of the worst pollutants plaguing Washington State's Puget Sound
• The IMO Assembly has unanimously confirmed to extend the appointment of Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos for a further term of four years
• Two ships formerly of the James River Reserve Fleet are headed to Bay Bridge Enterprises - they were to be scrapped by North American Ship Recycling but the company went out of business
• Cunard has taken delivery of the new Queen Victoria at a ceremony at the Fincantieri Marghera shipyard in Venice
• Norwegian-controlled Aker American Shipping ASA has signed a deal with its Philadelphia shipyard unit to build up to 13 tankers
• China has resumed its exports of grilled eels to Japan after a four-month suspension, due to reports saying that banned substances have been found in the products
• Mexico's state oil company Pemex says it could take months to fix an oil platform leak that's spilled thousands of barrels of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico
• Fuel cell maker UTC Power has signed a contract with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia S.A to supply a fuel cell to power a Spanish Navy submarine
• A cleanup experiment will mix carbons into contaminated mud to target PCBs from the shipyard in San Francisco's Hunters Point that seeped into the bay and settled in the sediment
• EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg warns that most fish stocks remain overfished and there must be further efforts to achieve progress towards sustainable fisheries
• Container ship Cosco Busan that rammed the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons of oil has been moved to a pier near AT&T Park for temporary repairs
• The Great Lakes face threats from global warming and the increased water demand prompted by it
• Lebanese police said Monday the Israeli Coast Guard opened fire on three Lebanese fishing boats close to the two countries' maritime border, all six crew escaped unhurt
• The USS Connecticut is the first Seawolf class nuclear- powered attack submarine to visit South Korea, it's there for maintenance and replenishing
• BAE Systems shipyard on the Clyde launches the Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond
• Malaysia may scrap its subsidized diesel plan for fishermen in favor of a scheme based on productivity
• Five Indonesian fishing boats were seized and destroyed after they were caught fishing illegally in Australian waters
• Japanese company Asian Lunch will start offering curry made from whale meat in its takeaway business lunches
• Lord Robertson, the former NATO secretary-general, has called for a £15 billion increase in UK defense spending
• Passenger from the sunken Explorer says the cruise ship was hit by two icebergs
• Aker American Shipping will be split into a shipowning company and a shipyard
• Iran hopes to resolve a decades- old dispute with neighboring Kuwait over their maritime border before the end of the year
• India's Navy wants to acquire the knowledge to build super tankers and warships, including aircraft carriers
• Malaysia is studying Italian fishery technologies to boost its own industry
• Cochin Port is all set to become India's first e-port, installing a totally integrated computer-driven operations system
• The pro-whalers in the Japanese government defend their country's whaling tradition
• China and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) have signed a memorandum on IMO technical cooperation to enhance the cooperative ties in the maritime field between the two sides
• Rescuers have retrieved five dead bodies and are continuing to search for three people missing following a fatal ship collision in south China's Guangdong Province between a ferry and a ship carrying sand
• Scientists say overfishing has not only harmed fish stocks, but also changed the species' evolutionary course
• Cruise ship MS Nordkapp owned by Norwegian Hurtigruten Group with 370 people on board briefly ran aground near Deception Island in Antarctica on Tuesday, it was quickly refloated
• Sea anemones normally anchor themselves to the sea floor, but new species found in the waters surrounding the Aleutian Islands near Alaska swim and walk across the sea floor
• The Russian transportation ministry says the operation to clear up the oil spill from the coastline of the Kerch Strait between the Black and Azov seas will be completed in four days
• The US Coast Guard is looking for the source of the oil spill that washed up on three miles of shoreline from Long Beach and Atlantic Beach; clean up continues
• A Philippine fishing boat capsized in the South China Sea, leaving 25 sailors missing; 30 were rescued
• Seven people have been rescued from a cargo ship that capsized off east China's Shandong Province early on Wednesday
• Fishermen who say their livelihoods have been devastated have filed at least two lawsuits against the owners and operators of the container ship Cosco Busan, that spilled heavy bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay
• Yet another report says fish migration helps prevent the transmission of parasites, and suggests farmed fish are more vulnerable to sea lice
• Washington state's oldest ferries will be tied up indefinitely, while they are inspected for cracks and leaks in their 80-year- old hulls
• More than 250 dolphins were beached and died late last week on Boa Vista, one of the islands of the Cape Verde archipelago
• The LNG ship SUEZ Matthew has become the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel in recent history calling on United States ports to begin using US mariners onboard
• Marine police seized 320 endangered snakes and six snapping turtles in a crackdown on illegal trafficking between the mainland and Hong Kong
• The third product tanker built by Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has been delivered, marking the first time in the yard’s history that three vessels were delivered in the same year
• Ships operating in the North Sea must demonstrate compliance with stringent new exhaust emission standards starting November 22 - North Sea SOx Emission Control Area (SECA)
• The Government of Greece will donate $1 million to support projects aimed at enhancing the safety, security and environmental protection of the shipping route through the Straits of Malacca and Singapore
• A University of Miami research ship ran aground on a coral reef last month but never reported the damage, the school now faces potentially heavy penalties and costs
• A Russian frigate will join the search for Russian cargo vessel Kamyust-1; it has been missing in the Caspian Sea since Saturday morning
• The city and survivors of the fatal October 2003 Staten Island ferry crash are battling over how to handle disturbingly graphic crime photographs taken immediately after the wreck, which took 11 lives
• Colombian marines seized one of the largest makeshift submarines ever found in a rural area in south Narino province, probably used for smuggling cocaine
• The first major congressional hearing into the 'chain of errors' in the San Francisco Bay oil spill begins Monday, the questions will likely target the Coast Guard and the operators of the ship
• China's largest rescue ship, the Nanhaijiu 101, was added to Guangzhou's service on Sunday; the country wants two more ships of this size
• Australia, New Zealand appeal to Japan to halt whaling fleet hunting protected humpbacks
• A submarine under construction at the Admiralty Shipyards in St. Petersburg caught fire on Sunday, but no one was hurt in the incident
• The vessel Kastor-1, loaded with timber, sank in the Sea of Japan; the 36 Russian crew members boarded life rafts and are safe
• See photographs and a description of Cunard's new luxury liner MV Queen Victoria
• The Coastal Renaissance, the newest vessel in B.C. Ferries' fleet, passed through the Panama Canal yesterday on its way to B.C.
• A wooden sailing ship from the 17th century has been discovered almost intact in the Baltic Sea
• Russian authorities estimate the damage from the fuel oil spill in the Black Sea could be $12 billion
• Russian environmental officials have asked a team from IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) to assess the impact to wildlife following the oil spill near the Black Sea
• The US Navy says that sea power is crucial today, and points to piracy, human trafficking, drugs and weapons of mass destruction
• Spanish engineering and consultancy company Sener will design a new Viking Line RO-PAX ferry, to be built at the Sevilla Shipyard
• Researchers get International Smart Gear prize for designing a net that catches haddock without harming cod and flounder
• The World Trade Organization ruled Friday that the European Union broke international trade laws in how it applied surcharges on imports of Norwegian salmon
• Scientists call for immediate, aggressive programs to slash greenhouse emissions and prepare for the inevitable changes from global warming
• Survivors of Somali pirate attack describe their seven- month ordeal
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that fishermen should stay away from Somali waters following the arrival of a Taiwanese vessel in Kenya on Wednesday after it was held by Somali pirates for 5 1/2 months
• A Malaysian minister has rejected US help in fighting piracy in the Malacca Straits, saying it was not necessary since attacks have decreased significantly in the area
• Malaysia hopes to set up a dedicated Admiralty Court of international standing
• North, South Korea discuss freight train service across their border, building two shipyards in the North, and providing medical assistance, among other things
• It's been more than a decade since Florida voters adopted a ban on fishing nets in coastal waters, but poachers are still breaking the law
• The oil spilled from the sunken Volgoneft-139 tanker in the Kerch Strait could reach the Azov Sea in a day
• The International Maritime Organization wants to accelerate its work program on greenhouse gas emissions from ships
• Parties to the international treaties which regulate the dumping of wastes and other matter at sea say that planned operations for large- scale fertilization of the oceans using micro- nutrients to sequester carbon dioxide are currently not justified
• The US Coast Guard has published photos and video of the Cocso Busan oil spill, and response efforts
• A Swedish hacker infiltrated a global communications network used by embassies all over the world, using tools freely available on the internet that were created by the US Navy
• The icebreaker Shirase left the pier in Tokyo for Japan's 49th Antarctic expedition, the icebreaker's 25th and last mission before its planned decommissioned following its return to Japan next spring
• One of two missing DPRK sailors was confirmed dead Wednesday after his body was found by a local fisherman in the sea near Weihai City in East China's Shandong Province
• The Taiwanese fishing vessel Ching Fong Hwa 168, that was freed by Somali pirates last week, arrived Wednesday in the Kenyan port of Mombasa for repairs
• General Dynamics NASSCO has delivered USNS Richard E. Byrd (T-AKE 4) to the US Navy; it is the third T-AKE-class ship delivered in 2007, the fourth overall
• Global warming and overfishing may yet defeat the Atlantic cod, a fish that so far has managed to survive even an ice age 21,000 years ago
• DNV is releasing a new revision of the DNV Submarine Pipeline Standard - DNV OS F101; this standard is now ISO harmonized
• US launches the African Partnership Station program, maintaining a constant naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea to provide training and humanitarian aid
• An Indian fisherman was shot at and injured by Sri Lankan naval personnel between Kachativu and Talaimannar
• California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has suspended all fishing for human consumption in the San Francisco Bay until at least December 1, in response to last week's oil spill
• The head of the Royal Navy gave warning yesterday that the fleet would lose its flexibility if the Government cut back too far on warships and manpower
• Japan's Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura will focus on the development of gas fields in the East China Sea at an upcoming meeting with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing
• Countries gathered under an international accord on maritime pollution have warned against offbeat experiments to tackle climate change by sowing the sea with chemicals to help soak up airborne carbon dioxide
• Reconciliation talks this week between the two Koreas' prime ministers will focus on establishing a new joint economic zone and other measures agreed upon at a leaders' summit last month
• The US Navy has awarded General Dynamics Corp and Northrop Grumman Corp contracts to continue work on the DDG-1000 Zumwalt class of destroyers
• More offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) will be built for the Royal Malaysian Navy after they have taken delivery of the initial six craft by 2009
• Japanese whalers have refused to say if they will target white humpback whales such as Migaloo, which annually travels along the east coast of Australia, in their research hunt this summer
• Sonoma County is the latest 'prospector' to claim a large stretch of coastal seawater to study wave energy on the West Coast of the US
• The Kab 101 platform is still leaking, after being hit by the jackup Usumacinta on October 23
• The recently formed UAE Ship Owners Association gave public support to a move to make it more attractive for shipowners to fly the United Arab Emirates flag on their vessels
• US Senate also approves a defense spending bill that would increase submarine production to two boats a year; the bill now goes before President Bush for approval
• Six workers were injured by an explosion on the US Navy cruiser USS Lake Champlain when an explosion occurred during routine maintenance
• US Navy faces battle of the bulge in shipbuilding costs
• Twenty Indonesian sailors were rescued by a Chinese fishing vessel after their ship fully loaded with wood sank off east China
• An Indonesian navy ship has intercepted a Taiwanese fishing boat and found four Taiwanese crew members missing and feared dead; the remaining crew are being questioned
• What appears to be a well-preserved anchor, possibly from one of the grand CP Steamships, has been discovered in Port McNicoll, Canada
• DNA evidence finds ingredients for salad dressing in the remains of a 2,400-year- old shipwreck that lies 230 feet deep off the coast of the Greek island of Chios
• Canada's Defence Minister denied reports that the country is considering canceling its troubled submarine fleet
• European Union efforts to crack down on illegal fishing mean that major fish processing countries such as China must strengthen certification to prove the sources of their products are legally caught
• Norwegian Cruise Line said about a sixth of the 2,500 passengers on the Pride Of Hawaii cruise ship fell ill with the Norwalk virus
• The most visible remains of an oil spill in the St. Johns River might remain for a year, since cleaning the grasses now could cause harmful erosion on the shore
• The fates of six ships from the James River Reserve Fleet are in limbo after Maryland salvage yard North American Ship Recycling Inc. that was supposed to scrap the vessels abruptly closed and its owners disappeared
• North Korea thanked the United States Thursday for helping one of its ships repel pirates, a rare expression of gratitude that was the latest sign of improving relations as the North scales back its nuclear weapons program
• Barbara West Dainton, one of the last two known survivors of the sinking of the Titanic, has died at age 96 in England
• The discovery of a dilapidated 20-foot pleasure boat on a California beach is the latest instance of a suspected human- smuggling boat turning up abandoned along the country's coastline
• US joins Britain, France and Spain in a campaign to boost security off the coasts of central and western Africa
• Japan and the US conducted their first joint safety drill at the naval base in Yokosuka, to deal with possible nuclear accidents ahead of the deployment in next August of a US Navy nuclear- powered aircraft carrier there
• US House approves a defense spending bill that would increase Virginia- class submarine production to two ships a year; the bill now goes to the Senate
• The US Dept. of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is holding an open meeting of the Maritime Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (MACOSH) on Nov. 27 - 28, 2007
• A pilot program to conserve North Sea cod stocks is being extended in Scotland due to initial success; skippers are given extra days at sea if cod forms less than 5% of their catch
• The US Minerals Management Service (MMS) conducted its 250th drill to test oil spill response as part of the Unannounced Drill Program on October 16
• Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. announces the pricing of the initial public offering of OSG America LP
• A container ship struck a tower of San Francisco's Bay Bridge on Wednesday, the bridge remained open but the collision caused something to leak from the ship
• Port workers, longshoremen, truckers and others at the Port of Oakland become the first in the region to enroll in the US Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) program
• Nine patrol boats bought from China arrived in Cambodia Wednesday to help the country combat smuggling and other seagoing crimes
• Norwegian-based Davie Yards ASA is set to offer Canada's first issue of Canadian Depository Receipts (CDRs) as part of an initial public offering and a second offering
• The Shanghai International Maritime Forum has begun, highlighting China's commitment to clean water and the marine environment
• The Environmental Protection Administration and representatives of the Samho and the TS Hong Kong, involved in a collision in 2005, have reached a settlement
• Endangered humpback and fin whales swam hundreds of miles north of their usual habitat this summer in what environmentalists say is another sign of the effects of global warming and the shifting Arctic ecosystem
• Report available: Coast Guard Deepwater Program: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress, updated by the Congressional Research Service on October 10, 2007 (PDF file)
• Dry bulk shipping company Sinotrans Shipping Ltd may launch an initial public offering
• Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will double its overseas banking staff that works on financing for ship construction, as Japan's biggest arranger of such deals tries to take advantage of surging demand for vessels
• Work is set to start on cutting up the remains of the stern of the cargo ship MSC Napoli, stranded off the east Devon coast
• DNV and COSCO Shipyard Group have signed a Strategic Cooperation Agreement to enhance competence on commercial ship repair, conversion, new building and offshore Classification
• The Kerala, India, government is planning to develop shipbuilding and repair yards at various strategic locations along the coast
• Thousands of bananas washed up on two Dutch North Sea islands on Wednesday after at least six containers fell off a cargo ship in a storm and at least one burst open
• Hawaii rules that the Hawaii Superferry can sail from Oahu to Maui and Kauai while the state conducts an environmental review of the ship; there are some conditions
• Pirates have freed a Taiwanese vessel and its crew, kidnapped almost six months ago off the coast of Somalia
• US Maritime Administration has given the state of New Jersey the authority to approve the deepwater port license application for the Safe Harbor LNG project, since it would be only 19 miles offshore
• Archeologists are racing to save the 147-year- old wooden sailing ship The City of Ottawa
• The waters around Hong Kong contain such high levels of bacteria that a proposed water scene in the new 'Batman' movie has been canceled to keep the actor from possible disease
• Scotland's fishing fleet is said to be leading Europe in terms of introducing more sustainable fishing practices
• Report China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities - Background and Issues for Congress, by the US Congressional Research Service, is available (updated October 18, 2007, PDF file)
• Dubai port operator DP World on Sunday launched an initial public offering for 17 percent of its shares in one of the biggest ever flotations in the Gulf region
• Costa Crociere, the the Italian subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, has announced an order for two new ships from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to be delivered in 2011 and 2012
• A Scottish fishing boat is heading for Morocco to catch sardines and mackerel because the quotas for Scottish waters have run out
• The environmental impact on the coastline caused by waterfront developments, port projects and water transport alternatives to beat the traffic in Dubai will be assessed during an international conference next year
• A progressive ban on older container trucks entering the Port of Los Angeles was approved by the harbor commission to help reduce pollution, Long Beach is expected to follow suit
• Unlicensed fishermen have been warned to stay away from the Solway Firth for the opening of the new cockle season
• North, South Korea may establish a 'peace and cooperation zone' in the area that is now the de-facto sea border in the West Sea
• The Port of Hampton Roads, the seventh largest container port in the US, contemplates ways to keep air pollution under control
• Austal's US staff may be hit by the Navy's decision to cancel the second LCS ship being built by the General Dynamics team
• India ranks second only to Japan in inland sector fish production
• The US Navy in Bahrain will hold several exercises in the Gulf this month to demonstrate its range of capabilities including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief assistance
• European environmentalists are calling on Japan, which is the biggest consumer of Mediterranean bluefin tuna, to support a drastic reduction in annual catches in order to preserve the long-term future of the fish
• The ninth global meeting of the Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans (RSCAP) has set out the program for the protection of the marine environment and coastal regions of member states for the next four years
• Dubai government- controlled DP World has bought a 90% stake in the Egyptian Container Handling Company (ECHCO)
• The Philippine government is expecting a ransom demand from the hijackers of the Japanese tanker Golden Nori, 23 crew members are being held hostage
• The Norwegian government pledged on Thursday to aid Lebanon in its second cleaning of a massive oil spill that occurred after an Israeli attack on a power plant during the summer 2006 war
• Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has been warned it may no longer be allowed to operate in the state of Veracruz following criticism for its poor response to recent accidents and oil spills
October 2007
• The 23 crew members of a Japanese-owned ship hijacked off Somalia are safe, a Philippine official said
• Naval architect suggests Washington state replace the hulls of its aging Steel Electric- class ferries, as it would be cheaper and quicker than getting new ships
• South Africa's environment ministry has postponed a ban on fishing dwindling abalone stocks in an attempt to lessen the impact on people who could lose their jobs
• Oil refineries in Washington state must now put booms around tankers before oil is transferred
• A fishing boat which featured in the BBC series Trawlermen has become the first to successfully take part in a pilot scheme to protect cod stocks
• Aker American Shipping will continue the process of splitting the company into two corporations: a ship- owning company and a shipyard
• Russia will file a claim to the gigantic mineral wealth of the Arctic seabed with the United Nations by the end of the year
• Development and erosion along the shores of Lake Superior could be the greatest threat to the lake
• A ship from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea capsized near East China's Shandong Province on Sunday afternoon; 21 of the 23 crew members were rescued
• CCS-DNV Technology Institute has been opened in Shanghai; the institute is a joint venture between China Classification Society and Det Norske Veritas
• The positioning of the keel for the cruise liner MSC Splendida was celebrated at the Aker Yards in St Nazaire, France
• Drydocks World, a maritime holding company belonging to the government of Dubai, has bought Singapore's Labroy Marine Limited, in a further sign of the booming Gulf emirate's plan to aggressively expand its global holdings
• US Navy implements tougher security settings for BlackBerry devices used by naval personnel; many instant messaging services were disabled
• Ambitious Chinese shipyards plan IPOs for coming years to bankroll future growth
• Residents, police and government workers are working to contain an oil spill in northern Luzon; the spill allegedly came from a foreign cargo ship
• India gets its fifth 'ship-in- campus' facility, which enables maritime engineers to get training experience in engine room conditions of a ship
• Tugs have failed to refloat the Maltese- registered cargo vessel Ocean Light on the first try; the vessel grounded on a sandbank in the Firth of Clyde on Friday
• About 20,000 Manila residents are being recruited by Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Co. Ltd. of South Korea for its shipbuilding and ship- repair projects
• A bill to keep the Hawaii Superferry in operation despite a court injunction advanced yesterday in the state Legislature, but Senate committees amended an agreed-to bill to increase environmental restrictions on the high-speed ferry
• A decision by the New England Fisheries Management Council to lift seasonal restrictions on rich scallop fishing grounds off the mid-Atlantic coast will threaten endangered sea turtles, an environmental group says
• NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) has constantly measured ocean color as an indicator of sea life productivity since the satellite reached orbit in 1997; a video has been made from the decade of data, showing the change of ocean ecosystems
• Since the start of the year, more than 12 tons of cocaine bound for Europe were seized west of Africa, including 8.2 tons at sea and 3.8 tons overland
• China is giving Cambodia nine naval patrol boats to safeguard oil installations in the Gulf of Thailand, another sign of Beijing's deepening ties with the Southeast Asian nation
• Malaysia's Prime Minister wants the nation be a global hub for marine transportation, logistics and engineering
• On Saturday, the newest vessel in the B.C. Ferries fleet, Coastal Renaissance, will set sail from the German shipyard where it was built, heading to its new home in British Columbia
• The Global Environment Outlook lists degradation of farmland, loss of forest cover, pollution, dwindling fresh water supplies and overfishing among the world's environmental ills
• President Bush is trying to encourage more recreational fishing in state waters and adding more federal rules limiting commercial fishing of the overfished species red drum and striped bass
• The South African government plans to suspend commercial harvesting of abalone in an effort to save the threatened marine delicacy
• Oil spill along Taranaki's coast has highlighted the potential risks of oil exploration in New Zealand's Great South Basin
• The US Coast Guard is increasing its Arctic orientation flights, because the service expects its responsibilities in the Arctic will increase in coming years
• A son of the legendary founder of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises is making plans to have the cruise line sailing again, although with only one of its four ships for the next six months
• Climate change is a growing threat to world peace and has led to rival territorial claims in the Arctic that could turn into a cold war, Foreign Minister Frank- Walter Steinmeier of Germany said
• British man makes a working prototype of a 'hoverwing' - a hovercraft with the ability to lift off and fly several feet off the water; it can go 60mph
• The biotechnology company Aker BioMarine is converting the trawler Atlantic Navigator into an advanced factory for harvesting and processing health-promoting ingredients from krill
• DNV is watching the rapid expansion in India's shipping, energy and general industries for new opportunities
• The US State Department signed an agreement with Mongolia, that will allow Mongolian- flagged ships to be boarded and searched if they are suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction
• Malaysia's first Scorpene submarine, the KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, was launched Tuesday, signifying yet another leap in the nation's pursuit of new technology
• The European Union must rewrite a law that made sea pollution by ships a criminal offense; the Court of Justice says the rules were not properly drafted
• The Arctic Princess, the first tanker with a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Snohvit field, left port at Melkoya near Hammerfest, northern Norway, 20 October
• Port operator DP World's decision to launch a public share sale is set to generate huge investor interest and could trigger more initial public offerings (IPOs)
• The Canadian navy is sending five ships, two helicopters, a surveillance plane and more than 1,100 sailors to a training exercise off the coast of California
• Some 3,000 technology workers from the Union of Salaried Employees in Finland began a strike Monday over wages; seven Finnish companies including shipbuilder Aker Yards Oy are involved
• New scallop fishing gear was designed to protect the ocean bottom
• The US government dealt a setback to New England fishermen, denying requests from the governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine for financial assistance to help the groundfishing fleet survive until stocks rebound
• Environmental organizations ripped the Environment Ministry for waiting until this month to launch the second phase of the clean-up of the massive oil spill caused by Israel's bombing of the Jiyyeh power plant in July of 2006
• The prestigious International Maritime Prize for 2006 has been presented to Mr. Alfred Popp from Canada; he was the former chairman of IMO's Legal Committee
• More than 22,000 individuals worldwide have been rescued in the 25 years the COSPAS-SARSAT has been operating; a ceremony marking the anniversary of the Search and Rescue satellite system is held
• Canada unveils a memorial honoring those who lost their lives while in the service of the Canadian Coast Guard
• The maritime crash that killed two men in waters off the coast of south Brooklyn was caused by a 24-foot pleasure boat colliding with a tugboat's more than 1,500-foot tow line
• About 30 people are believed missing after the Indonesian ferry Acita 03 sank off Sulawesi island last week, killing at least 31 people
• North Korea on Sunday accused South Korean warships of intrusions into its territorial waters, but a South Korean Defense Ministry official disputed and downplayed the North Korean claim
• Trustees of the Cutty Sark are facing a funding crisis, which threatens the restoration of the historic ship unless a major sponsor can be found
• The remains of the container ship Napoli, beached in January, will take six more months to remove; the stern must be cut into smaller pieces
• The parent of Hong Kong-listed China Cosco, the world's biggest bulk shipper, said it would continue to invest in ports and terminals in China and overseas
• The Ulstein Group will take a majority stake in Sea of Solutions, the deal is still under review
• A 3- to 5-year moratorium on fishing for Atlantic bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean is needed to keep the entire Atlantic population viable, according to the top US federal fisheries official
• Some scientists believe an oil rigs' submerged superstructure provides important habitat for marine life, and may even help preserve rare species
• A British parliamentary committee called for creation of a national marine science agency to take responsibility for the use and conservation of the seas in the light of global warming
• The European Commission has launched an initiative to improve the efficiency of Europe's freight transport network, seeking to encourage more use of rail and water routes which are judged less harmful to the environment
• Italy's state-owned shipbuilder, Fincantieri, has signed a $1.43 billion deal to build two cruise ships for Costa Crociere SpA, the Italian subsidiary of Carnival Corp.
• Canada's Transportation Safety Board says B.C. Ferries failed to enforce its zero- tolerance drug policy aboard the ill-fated Queen of the North, and wants the problem fixed
• Britain's BAE Systems and VT Group won permission from the European Commission on Wednesday to merge their shipbuilding operations
• Israel is the biggest polluter in the eastern Mediterranean, dumping over 140 tons of heavy metals into the sea every year with government approval, an environmental group claims
• Seven vessels from Nato and two French minesweepers are on a mission to clear the seabed of the Seine Bay off Normandy of unexploded naval mines from the last two World Wars
• Bharati Shipyard and Apeejay Shipping have entered into a joint venture for setting up a shipyard along India's eastern coast; the project will be completed in 2009
• Samsung Heavy Industries, the world's second-largest shipyard, won an order to build eight vessels worth $1.37 billion for Zim Integrated Shipping Services of Israel; they will be delivered by July 2012
• A novel way of catching fish, stunning them with an electric current, has helped Northern Territory researchers rediscover the rare species Lorentz's Grunter
• After being shut down by seaweed twice in little more than a month, officials at the James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant are checking with a marine biologist on how to deal with the problem, probably caused by invasive zebra mussels
• Crews have completed cleanup of an oil spill that fouled rocky shoreline and mangrove thickets along Puerto Rico's southwest coast, but investigators still don't know the spill's cause
• The US government is holding firm to its recommendations that pregnant and breast-feeding women limit how much fish and other seafood they eat and avoid certain types with high levels of mercury
• Scientists call for drastic cuts in EU cod fishing
• The US Coast Guard has transferred the former cutter Gentian to the Colombian Navy to facilitate combined counter-drug and security operations in the region
• A levy of $10 per month per seafarer has been agreed to through the International Bargaining Forum of unions and shipowners in London
• North Korea has violated a disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea 135 times during the past six years, the South Korean military said in a report to parliament Sunday
• A $4.5 million boat the US Navy has never used is just one of the 'earmarked' favors The Seattle Times found in the 2007 defense bill
• At least 15,000 farmed "Norwegian" fish escaped their cages to swim free in Scotland's Loch Shiel
• Although it once carried 24 Trident nuclear missiles, the submarine USS Ohio has been converted, and now carries up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles
• China and Japan failed to reach a consensus during the 10th round of talks on the dispute over the oil and gas fields in the East China Sea, but the results were deemed useful for the next round of negotiation
• Environment California is urging federal officials to enact stronger rules against overfishing
• The European Commission has adopted an Integrated Maritime Policy for the European Union
• China and Japan started the 10th round of talks on the East China Sea issues in Beijing on Thursday, among other things they will discuss joint exploration of oil and gas
• The US Maritime Administration is pushing the idea of "marine highways," which could remove hundreds of thousands of trucks from highways along the Eastern seaboard at a fraction of the cost of new highways
• South Korea will discuss developing Najin Port in North Korea with short- and medium- term investments
• Poachers who think their trail has gone cold by the time they get a fish in the freezer could be foiled by new DNA work underway at the University of Alberta
• The water crisis in northern China is so bad that sometimes waters from the Yellow River never reach the sea; some fear Beijing will run out of drinking water
• Detroit's Marine Pollution Control will demonstrate the recovery of oil on the floor of waterways in a new submarine which can dive to 3,000 feet
• Crews are working to clean up 2,300 gallons of oil that leaked into the Delaware River from a tanker at the Citgo facility in Paulsboro, New Jersey
• The International Maritime Prize for 2006 has been awarded posthumously to Mr. Igor Ponomarev (Russian Federation), who was the serving chairman of IMO's Maritime Safety Committee at the time of his sudden death in October 2006
• China's Chery Automobile has bought WuHu Shipyard, and is restructuring it
• China's Dalian Shipbuilding says a combination of technical innovation and an expanded product range has made it number 4 in the world in terms of orders at hand
• The Tudor warship Mary Rose, which was raised from the Solent 25 years ago, is in danger of being lost if it isn't conserved properly
• The Roseway Basin, southwest of Nova Scotia, has been designated an Area to be Avoided, meaning that ships should stay away to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale
• A US federal act seeks to end overfishing on the Gulf of Mexico by 2010, but the recreational fishing industry fears it will be driven out of business
• Toxic PCBs banned during the 1970s will interfere with the reproductive success of British Columbia's resident killer whales until at least 2030, a newly published study says
• Australia has signed a contract for two new large amphibious warships with shipbuilder Tenix, to be delivered in 2013 and 2015
• An Israeli woman and an Italian man survived on a life raft for eight days in the Arabian Sea after their yacht sank in a storm
• Divers have found the wreckage of American ship Torrent, which sank in Cook Inlet off the Alaska coast in 1868; it is the oldest American wreck ever found in Alaska
• ABG Shipyard, the largest private sector shipbuilding yard in India, is expected to complete work on its new shipyard at Dahej, Gujarat, by March 2008
• Australia has taken its battle against Japanese whaling in the Antarctic to the internet, with a new YouTube campaign unveiled today that targets Japanese children
• Underwater CCTV cameras have been installed in a Cambridgeshire river to monitor the numbers of migrating fish, and help determine the health of the river
• Iceland is holding talks with Japan to export meat from whales caught in its waters, hoping to reach an agreement by next spring
• Canada's new government will fund activities over the next three years to conserve and protect Canadian oceans
• In another sign of potential friction in the warming Arctic, Canada has warned that it will step up patrols of the Northwest Passage
• New Zealand was once a world leader in marine conservation, but has dropped the ball, and is now trailing Australia in efforts to protect marine habitats from fishing pressures
• Decommissioned US warship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg is on its way to Florida to become an artificial reef
• A man accused of speeding too close to two killer whales has become the first person cited under a new San Juan County law intended to protect the endangered orcas from overzealous and aggressive boaters
• Thousands of walruses have appeared on Alaska's northwestern coast in what conservationists are calling a dramatic consequence of global warming melting the Arctic sea ice
• BBC science and environment correspondent David Shukman has joined the Canadian Coast Guard research vessel, the Amundsen, as it attempts to make a crossing of the Northwest Passage
• Norway's government is standing firm on its proposed shipping tax change despite criticism from shippers, who say the plan would cost them billions and may force them to change registries
• Rescuers in East China's Zhejiang Province are attempting to rescue Hong Kong-registered cargo ship Aladdin Dream, which has 27 crew members aboard, trapped in typhoon Krosa
• The US Congress has derailed a Pentagon project that would arm some intercontinental ballistic missiles with conventional warheads to provide a non-nuclear option of striking targets thousands of miles away
• The developer behind the Titanic Quarter has apologized to shipyard Harland and Wolff after a model showed the area occupied by the shipyard as apartments; the yard has no plans to move
• Overseas Shipholding Group has signed an agreement to charter two 46,000 dwt Jones Act tankers to Petrobras America, Inc., marking the first US Flag shuttle tankers to transport oil from ultra- deepwater drilling projects in the US Gulf of Mexico
• The US National Marine Fisheries Service believes a proposed liquefied natural gas import terminal 62 miles south of Dauphin Island would harm the Gulf of Mexico
• The Hawaii Superferry may have to leave the state if it isn't allowed to resume operations soon, and at full speeds; service is on hold for environmental assessment studies
• Freight carriers expect a hectic few days delivering a backlog of export goods to the Auckland waterfront after dock workers return from their 48-hour strike
• Steelhead trout grown in hatcheries lose their ability to produce offspring in the wild, raising concerns about whether captive breeding programs can help save endangered fish
• C-Map Norway AS, the world's leading provider of digital maritime cartography, was acquired by US-based Jeppesen, and has changed its name to Jeppesen Norway AS
• North and South Korea say they'll establish a special economic zone on their western sea border, and cooperate in shipping, shipbuilding and fishing
• The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate and the Directorate of Fisheries have formed a working group which will review issues concerning the relationship between seismic data acquisition and fishing interests
• Recent whale deaths off the Southern California coast have biologists asking for cargo ship speed limits
• Pregnant women are advised to eat at least 12 ounces of fatty fish a week, despite fears of mercury content
• California Attorney General Jerry Brown will petition the Bush administration to crack down on emissions from ocean- going vessels, which make more than a total of 11,000 calls at California ports each year
• The US House has scheduled hearings this month with Homeland Secretary Chertoff to discuss delays in equipping workers at US ports with tamper- resistant biometric identification cards
• Body of diver who died at the site of a sunken German U-boat has been recovered
• A new shipbuilding and ship repair yard will be set up at Dhamra in Orissa as a joint venture between Bharati Shipyard Ltd and Apeejay Surendra Group
• Electronic fish tag travels 7,700 miles from America's west coast to New Zealand, suggesting there are ecological connections between the two locations
• Aker Philadelphia Shipyard will build 2 new Veteran Class MT-46 Jones Act product tankers; the tankers will be transfered to American Shipping Corporation
• Japan will join an international convention governing the dumping of waste at sea that is set to allow parties to confine factory- emitted carbon dioxide under the seabed
• MPF Corp. Ltd. has secured financing to build what it's calling the world's largest drillship, the MPF-01
• SembCorp Marine and WTorre have formed a joint venture company to own and operate a shipyard in Brazil
• Fisheries ministers from all over the UK will meet in Scotland for the first time this week
• Uganda has promised that Kenyan fishermen are free to do their business on Lake Victoria without any fear of arrest or harassment
• The US Coast Guard is investigating whether the boat Genmar Progress may have been the source of a large oil spill that dirtied Puerto Rico's southwest coastline in August
• The discovery of oil and natural gas reserves off the coast of Cambodia could make maritime boundary disputes resurface
• Rolls-Royce has acquired US naval architecture and engineering firm Seaworthy Systems Inc. to improve its marine support services
• Nigeria will invest in training its citizens in seamanship and maritime activities to enhance the nation's capacity and role in international shipping and world trade
• Gulf Capital and other investors have acquired the remaining shares in Gulf Marine Services LLC, the largest jack-up barge and support vessel operating company in the UAE with presence throughout the Gulf
• Canadian navy ship HMCS Toronto is conducting a search-and-rescue operation after a volcanic eruption on Jazirt Atta-Ir island, off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea
• More than 200 clandestine migrants, including 32 minors, arrived on or near Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday on board four small boats
• Sales of yachts and mega- yachts keep growing, and so are sales of helicopters and mini-subs to go with them
• Scientists warn that Japanese demand for the Atlantic bluefin tuna is bringing stocks close to collapse
• Businesses are keeping an eye on melting ice, since a more accessible Arctic could have a broad impact on oil and natural gas industries, and others
• Submariners live in an enclosed environment when at sea. Pre- order Emergency and Continuous Exposure Guidance Levels for Selected Submarine Contaminants from the National Academy of Sciences
• The implementation of the Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT) System will be a key matter for discussion when IMO's Maritime Safety Committee meets from 3 to 12 October
• The Ports of Auckland is facing a two-day strike from its waterside workers, over pay raises and productivity agreements
September 2007
• A woman has died after falling overboard from the cruise liner Oceana just before it docked at the port of Southampton
• Biologists are scrambling to see what can be done to protect the endangered blue whale in one of America's busiest shipping lanes, the Santa Barbara Channel
• Birds on their way to breed were the most seriously affected by an oil spill from the MSC Napoli in January; researchers fear that long-term damage may have been done to several seabirds
• The Environmental Protection Agency's pursuit of criminal cases against polluters has dropped off sharply during the Bush administration
• The American pseudo- jellyfish mnemiopsis, the Japanese oyster Cassostrea Gigas, and an as-yet unidentified virus are threatening Sweden's seas; climate change may play a part in their presence
• Three-quarters of the Maldives islands could be uninhabitable if nothing is done to combat climate change, and the resultant rise in sea levels
• A multinational operation on the high seas has turned up photographic evidence of 10 vessels involved in driftnet fishing, a practice banned by the United Nations
• New guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will help employers select and use the appropriate slings when handling and moving materials
• Climate engineers propose filling the oceans with giant pipes that pump up cold, nutrient- rich water, encouraging surface algae to bloom and suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
• British adventurer Jason Lewis wants to go around the world on a paddle boat, but the French coastguard say he is forbidden from venturing more than 330 yards from the shore
• A South African ship is joining an American ship in a three- day maritime security exercise off South Africa's coast
• The US Navy agreed to a schedule change that bumps up construction of the first DDG-1000 Zumwalt class destroyer at Bath Iron Works
• For the second time in a decade, California state wildlife authorities began dumping liquid poison into Lake Davis to exterminate an invading fish considered a potential threat to salmon runs and water exports
• Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA) has signed a three- year contract with the Norwegian Ministry of Defence for underwater surveillance and protection
• An able seaman on HMAS Melbourne when the aircraft carrier sliced into the destroyer HMAS Voyager in 1964 has been awarded more than $2 million in damages by the NSW Supreme Court
• The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is expected to establish an International Maritime Search and Rescue Center in Monrovia, capital of Liberia
• Malaysia's MMC Corporation will partner with Dubai World to build a maritime center in the southern Johor state; the center will include oil terminal activities, dry docks, a shipyard, cargo handling, and more
• Job losses look likely in New Zealand's fishing industry after sharp cuts in allowable catches of many fish stocks
• Scientists discover rare albino white- spotted ratfish in Washington's Puget Sound
• South Africa's National Port Authority says it can contain any oil spills in Saldanha Bay harbor, dismissing claims by environmentalists that it did not have an adequate plan or enough equipment in place
• In a rare example of Middle East cooperation, Israelis and Jordanians have joined together to create a string of artificial coral reefs in the Red Sea
• The Ruias-owned Essar Shipping & Logistics has placed an order for constructing six bulk carriers with Mumbai- based ABG Shipyard
• The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee will address the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea this week
• 2007 Yangtze Three Gorges Reservoir Joint Search and Rescue Maneuvre was held this weekend, aimed at testing and demonstrating China's emergency response capabilities along the world's busiest river in terms of cargo transportation
• Officials contemplate using shipping containers as the base of new, affordable housing in Key West, Florida
• Researchers describe the northern bottlenose whale as the most visible way scientists have of determining the relative health of the Sable Gully, the largest submarine canyon in eastern North America
• More than 100 Bangladeshi fishermen were missing after at least 15 fishing boats sank in a storm in the Bay of Bengal
• Japan will take measures to preserve the country's southernmost Okinotori Island and other uninhabited remote islands to help maintain its territorial and economic waters
• Lech Walesa has called for the Gdansk dockyards to be kept as a monument to the fall of communism
• Many fear Canadian officials will take a weak stand when they meet with members of the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization
• Researchers are scrambling to study beaked whales, which seem the most susceptible to harm caused by US Navy sonar exercises
• Once again the populations of the loggerhead sea turtle are dropping, primarily due to commercial fishing
• Department of Natural Resources warns that the Chesapeake Bay's blue crab population is dwindling
• South Africa's Saldanha Bay may be under threat of an oil spill because Oil Pollution Control SA terminated its services to the National Ports Authority after failing to reach a formal agreement
• The Earthrace power boat, fueled by biodiesel, has anchored in Edinburgh before attempting a new speed record for circumnavigating the globe
• The US Navy says it will add a site in South Carolina to a list of proposed locations for an anti-submarine warfare training range
• California will ban or severely restrict fishing in more than 200 square miles of ocean waters off the Central Coast starting Friday as part of a landmark plan to protect marine life
• Marine biologist Bill Ballantine says Hong Kong should have more and larger aquatic reserves to save the fragile marine ecosystem
• Washington state yacht company NorthStar Yachts is shifting production to China to lower its labor costs
• Shipping Corporation of India has floated four joint venture companies for its proposed foray into shipbuilding, container terminal operation, dredging and offshore services, it is in final talks with Hyundai Heavy Industries for a shipbuilding venture
• At least 200,000 dead fish have washed up on a beach near several industrial complexes in the western Indian state of Gujarat, pollution was likely the cause
• Transportation Safety Board will not launch a formal investigation into the barge accident at the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve in B.C. that left a dozen vehicles, including an oil tanker filled with 10,000 liters of diesel fuel, at the bottom of the sea
• The Port of New Orleans is hoping for new funding to improve cargo container facilities, rehabilitate some breakbulk wharfs and build new cruise facilities
• An international convention banning the use of harmful organotins in anti-fouling paints used on ships' hulls has entered into force on 17 September 2008
• A new 'Co-operative Mechanism' has been created to enable the littoral States of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore to work together with the international maritime community to enhance navigational safety, security and environmental protection
• A consortium led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. will build 16 new berths in Singapore to enable the island state to handle growing demand for container capacity
• Five crewmen of the sinking fishing boat Sea Breeze were rescued Wednesday off the southern Cape Coast
• US's two biggest icebreakers are nearing the end of their working lives as global warming opens up the Arctic to international interests
• Eighteen respected scientists and researchers say the facts are indisputable: Sea lice from fish farms are lethal to wild salmon stocks
• North Korean freighter Al Hamed, that re-flagged itself as South Korean before off-loading an unknown cargo at the Syrian port of Tartous, is at the center of efforts to investigate Israel's recent air strike on Syria
• A plan to upgrade India's ports to keep pace with economic expansion promised much, but in three years there has been little progress, and private firms are opting to build their own
• More than 100,000 farmed Atlantic salmon have escaped over the past six months on the West Coast; experts fear a genetic disaster if they breed with wild salmon
• Indian Embassy officials are seeking more details from the Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (Asry) on the death of a worker who fell off scaffolding inside an oil tanker
• Shipbuilding companies APJ Bharti Shipyard and Essar have expressed interest in setting up two shipyards in West Bengal
• Six fishing boats have been seized and 61 foreign nationals arrested in a joint operation targeting poaching in Australia's northern waters
• Boaters and commercial shippers will be prohibited from emptying ballast tanks near Isle Royale National Park in Lake Superior unless their contents have been treated to kill invasive species
• Sailors, boat users and nautical companies will help combat terrorism on the Solent, Britain's busiest waterway, in Project Kraken
• Incheon, South Korea's second-biggest port, plans a $2.2 billion expansion to handle rising trade with China
• Crew and officer shortages have reached a crisis point across the globe, and made all the more critical by a rising tide of safety and qualification rules
• Particles found in smoke plumes produced by cargo ships have been found to have a surprising cooling effect on the Earth's atmosphere
• Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson is backing a bid to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat run on 100% renewable fuel
• First steel has been cut at the Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. yard for Transocean's Discoverer Americas drillship
• Canada's Vice- Admiral Drew Robertson says the navy needs to learn how to fight terrorists and pirates
• Historic photographs of the QE2, one of the world's most famous ocean liners, have been unveiled by the University of Glasgow
• The Hawaii Superferry may be forced to shut down if a required environmental assessment halts operations for too long
• The Queen Elizabeth 2 set off on a special eight-day cruise around Britain's coastline on Sunday, marking the world-famous luxury ocean liner's 40th anniversary
• A small fire broke out aboard US Navy guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf on Saturday, injuring five civilian workers
• The Virginia Supreme Court upheld a $3.4 million jury verdict to the family of a former Newport News shipyard worker who died in 2005 of mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer
• British scientist Callum Roberts believes that 90% of fish in the waters around Britain will have disappeared within 20 years unless they are given protection
• Stringent requirements for the discharge of certain ship-generated wastes in two areas designated 'Special Areas' under the MARPOL Convention will take effect in less than a year, following the completion of adequate provision of the necessary shore-side facilities
• Aker Kvaerner has awarded DNV a contract to qualify the carbon capture technology which will be used in the Just CatchTM Bio Demo plant
• Chinese shipbuilders won more orders than their Korean rivals for the first time in the first half of the year, but they still lag behind Korea in terms of quality and competitiveness, the Financial Times reports
• Chemical tanker Bow Star controlled by Norwegian shipowning firm Odfjell has run aground off Indonesia, no injuries or pollution have been reported
• The steel cutting ceremony for the ultra deep water semi-submersible drilling rig SS Frigstad Oslo was held at Yantai Raffles Shipyard, confirming that the project is on schedule for September 2009 delivery
• Maritime border line between the Koreas will 'probably' be discussed at the inter- Korean summit in early October
• Great Lakes waters are overdue for a cleanup
• Arizona Game and Fish officials say an invasive shellfish known as quagga mussels have invaded the state's interior waterways
• The US Coast Guard is marking the 50th anniversary of an historic expedition to chart a passage through the Northwest Passage at a time of renewed interest in Arctic research and exploration
• Samsung Heavy Industries has developed a new shipbuilding system, called the 'tera-block' method, that allows the company to assemble a vessel from just two large ship blocks
• Boat sales in Norway grew by 22.7 per cent to €265 million in the first six months of 2007
• The INS Jalashwa is the first ship to be transferred from the US to India; it is also the first landing Platform Dock to be acquired by India's navy
• An Australian diver is in hospital in Turkey after an accident during an expedition to examine the World War I submarine HMAS AE2, that sank during the Gallipoli campaign
• Jay Cashman Inc., the construction company seeking to build a massive offshore wind turbine on Buzzards Bay, has proposed a 386-foot- tall wind power generator for the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy
• India's ABG Shipyard will revive the Western India Shipyard Ltd (WISL)
• Climate change is warming up Korean waters faster than in most of the rest of the world
• Scientists are trying to produce endangered fish by using more plentiful fish as surrogate parents
• Leaders of the Makah Tribe have apologized to federal officials and members of Congress for the unauthorized killing of a gray whale off the coast of Washington state
• Canada's new Arctic patrol ships will likely lack sonar capability, forcing them to use other methods to detect submarine threats in northern waters, a project official revealed
• Ergonomics for the Prevention of Musculoskeletal Disorders: Guidelines for Shipyards has been released by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); public comment period ends Nov. 13, 2007
• Britain's Ministry of Defence is still £2.6 billion over budget for its biggest contracts to buy aircraft, submarines and armored vehicles, despite cost cutting
• US Senate panel recommends a spending bill that would trim the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program, whose costs have exceeded projections
• Ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is at a record low this summer
• Seaspan Corp. has signed contracts with Hyundai Heavy Industries to build 8 new 'supersized' ships, to be chartered by COSCO Container Lines Co. Ltd. of Shanghai
• Lloyd's Register has created Hellenic Lloyd's to further enhance its support to the Greek maritime community
• Scientists have discovered a string of coral ‘hot spots' in waters off Canada's East Coast, and will use the surprising finds to press global fishing interests to steer clear of areas they say are vital marine habitats
• Ten Indian fishermen and two boats have been taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy
• US Government Accountability Office says the federal oil spill liability trust fund should be increased to cover higher cleanup costs
• Canada is considering regulations to ban liquefied natural gas supertankers from a treacherous waterway in the Bay of Fundy, risking renewed territorial tensions with the US
• The South Korean government will establish two private funds worth $2.6 billion to invest in ports around the world, as it plans to boost the country's global logistics network
• US military officials gave Russian authorities a videotape and other archival materials on the fate of the Soviet K-129 submarine, whose sinking in 1968 has remained one of the lingering mysteries of the Cold War
• Lloyd's Register Asia has opened a training center in Shanghai, which it calls the most comprehensive foreign-funded maritime training center in China
• Jaya Holdings, a Singapore-based shipyard and ship chartering company, will buy Chinese shipyard Nantong Dongjiang Shipyard Co Ltd
• Titan Quanzhou Shipyard in southern China will begin building semi- submersible rigs and other offshore marine projects by the end of 2008
• Five Washington state American Indian hunters may face prosecution from their tribe after shooting and killing a gray whale in the midst of a charged legal dispute over tribal whaling
• The belief that the Pacific gray whale has made a comeback may have been based on a miscalculation, and the whale may be more endangered than once thought
• Cunard Line's new liner Queen Victoria will be named on December 10, 2007 by Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall
• Former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman P K Iyengar has publicly confirmed the existence of an Indian nuclear submarine program for the first time
• China is now the fourth country in the world to build a 8,530-TEU container ship, the New Asia; it was independently designed and built by China
• A monument in memory of the Russian warship Varyag that sank off southern Scotland in 1920 was unveiled near the wreck site Saturday
• US Coast Guard makes sure it's ready for an oil spill in the Great Lakes
• Cost increases in the George HW Bush have eaten into the profit margin that Northrop Grumman Newport News is expected to earn on the last Nimitz- class aircraft carrier
• New study says summer sea ice off Alaska's north coast may shrink to half the area it covered in the 1980s, threatening mammals and fisheries in the area
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