mhanson's blog

Our colleague Dennis Bryant (www.brymar-consulting.com) writing in the November 2015 issue of The Maritime Reporter provides an excellent explanation of the Courts decision and potential consequences.

Piraeus, 24 November 2015

The Coast Guard is issuing a final rule to increase the limits of liability for vessels, deepwater ports,
and onshore facilities, under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, as amended (OPA 90), to reflect significant increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Our entry for the South African registry has been completely revised with the kind assistance of the staff at the South African Maritime Safety Authority.

From the South China Morning Post - The city's marine chief is to leave his embattled department some 18 months after taking the helm amid public criticism over the 2012 Lamma ferry disaster.

The US Coast Guard issued Marine Safety Information Bulletin (MSIB 07-15) to alert owners, managers and agents of vessels that were in the Port of Tianjin China when the the tragic explosions on August 12th and 15th, 2015 occurred. For the full bulletin click here

To quote the beginning of the bulletin:

We all know proper crew training is essential for the safe and efficient operation of your ships. But are they really getting and understanding the training they need. The following excerpt from a recent USCG press release re a vessel detained in Baltimore, MD indicates some crew may not be. By the way, the US District Attorney for Maryland is probably checking into this.

Our friends at Crewtoo.com just published the 2nd quarter results of a really interesting survey they are running continually with results published on a quarterly basis.

"Risk is only likely to increase in the shipping industry." Such is one of the conclusions drawn from the inaugural Shipping Risk Survey 2015 by the accounting and consulting network Moore Stephens. Survey respondents noted demand pressures closely followed by competition and availability of competent crew as the major risk factors for their organizations.

July 1, 2016 is coming and the entire container logistics channel is in a quandary as to how to deal with the situation. A long running debate within the IMO has put the responsibility for certifying the weight of the loaded container on the shipper.