mhanson's blog

The Paris and Tokyo MOU administrations issued a joint press release announcing another campaign, this time on "Crew Familiarization for Enclosed Space Entry". The campaign runs from September 1 through November 30, 2015. Other MOU organizations are expected to follow the lead of Paris and Tokyo.

“Protecting the Untamed Seas” is the latest in a series by Ian Urbina published by the NY Times.- Commentary by my colleague Don Frost

The 2015 Seamen’s Church Institute Shore Leave Survey has just come out and the results are disheartening. In the last five years the number of ships with at least one detained seafarer has risen steadily with to its highest point in the history of the survey at 27.4% up 68.8% from 2011.

The US Coast Guard has issued Navigation and Vessel Inspection No.

A recent series of articles in the New York Times (including 2 front page above the fold!) which criticizes the organizations for lax enforcement of the "genuine link" requirement in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). It may just irritate them enough to take another look at strengthening the requirement.

The Australian government has tabled a bill in Parliament which "aims to simplify the  regulatory process for the movement of cargo and passengers around the Australian coast by removing the existing multi tiered licensing system and replacing it with a single permit available for both Australian and foreign ships."

Port state control statistics always make interesting reading and the recently released Paris MOU Annual Report for 2014 is no exception. The top 5 categories of deficiencies for 2014 were

1. Safety of navigation
2. Fire Safety
3. Life saving appliances
4. Documents
5. Ship certificates

The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) has for years fought the rise of open ship registers whether good with high standards or bad with nearly non-existent standards. This indiscriminate approach is reason for our ITF cynicism.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has issued Marine Notice 08/2015 titled Use or carriage of heavy grade oils in the Antarctic. The amendment applies to Regulation 43 of MARPOL Annex I and is intended to further protect the Antarctic area from pollution by heavy grade oils from ships.

With the uptick in incident of piracy and armed robbery in the Asian region the Australian Maritime Safety Authority issued the marine notice with recommendations, links to best practices for deterring attacks on your vessels and a useful flow diagram for how to properly report an incident and receive assistance.