EVENTS, INCIDENTS & OPERATIONS

DAILY SHIPPING NEWSLETTER

DAILY SHIPPING NEWSLETTER : Tuesday 17-07-2001 LOOK FOR THE LATEST NEWS ABOUT THE KURSK SALVAGE OPERATION AT :

http://www.kursksalvage.com

EVENTS, INCIDENTS & OPERATIONS Dive ship arrives to help raise Russian submarine MOSCOW -- A Norwegian dive support ship arrived at the site of the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine today, and divers prepared to start an operation to raise the wrecked vessel, news reports said. The Kursk sank after an explosion blew its bow apart during a training exercise off northwestern Russia last August, killing all 118 crewmen. Russia plans to raise the submarine in a salvage operation starting this month and lasting through mid-September. The submarine, which has nuclear reactors and unexploded torpedoes aboard, lies on the sea floor under 356 feet of water. Divers will examine the hull in the first phase of the operation, the Interfax news agency reported. Afterward, the divers will start clearing away silt beneath the hulking craft. The Norwegian ship, the DSND Mayo, was met at the sea border between Russia and Norway by a Russian navy missile ship, the Aisberg, and escorted to the Barents Sea wreck site, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. The salvage operation will include drilling holes in the submarine's hull, attaching lifting wires and cutting away the vessel's damaged bow so it can be raised separately. Salvagers then plan to lift he 14,000-ton wreck with cables from a giant barge on the surface and then tow the Kursk to the Arctic port of Murmansk. Russian officials say the submarine's two nuclear reactors are safe and won't jeopardize the salvage operation. They hope raising the Kursk will enable them to learn more about the cause of the explosions and recover the remains of more of the crewmen. Only 12 were recovered during a salvage operation last fall.

PSi-Daily Shipping News

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DAILY SHIPPING NEWSLETTER Officials said the disaster was triggered by a practice torpedo, but that they remain unsure whether it had been caused by a malfunction -- the theory favored by most outside experts -- or a collision.

Noren bezorgd over berging van Koersk ROTTERDAM, 14 JULI. In Noorwegen bestaan grote zorgen over de manier waarop het Nederlandse consortium Mammoet-Smit de berging van de gezonken Russische onderzeeboot Koersk gaat doen. Diverse Noorse organisaties dringen aan op openheid over de risico's rond het optakelen van de onderzeeboot, die is uitgerust met twee kernreactors en torpedo's. De Noorse Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA) vreest dat het project nu al met zoveel geld en prestige omgeven is dat de bergers in verleiding zullen komen onverantwoorde risico's te nemen. ,,Terwijl er geen reden is voor haast omdat de reactors niet beschadigd lijken'', zegt P. Strand. ,,Het risico bestaat dat de bergers tijdens het hijsen de onderzeeboot weer kwijtraken.'' Strand hoopt op ,,meer begrip van Russische en Nederlandse zijde'' voor de zorgen in Noorwegen, dat grenst aan de Barentszzee waar de Koersk is vergaan. De Noorse milieuorganisatie Bellona heeft deze week een vragenlijst gestuurd naar het Russische ingenieursbureau Roebin, dat de formele opdrachtgever is van de berging. Roebin heeft in een gisteren verzonde brief de zorgen maar zeer gedeeltelijk weggenomen. Mammoet-Smit, dat niet wil ingaan op vragen over de risico's van de berging, wil de Koersk half september lichten. Daarvoor zullen duikers eerst de kop van de onderzeeboot afsnijden, omdat zich daarin nog voor naar schatting 7 ton TNT aan torpedo's bevindt die kunnen ontploffen. De NPRA heeft ook zorgen over de metingen van eventuele vrijkomende radio-activiteit. De Russen hebben besloten die metingen in eigen hand te houden, terwijl aan de Noren aanvankelijk beloofd was dit internationaal te gaan doen.

Iraq Accuses US Navy of Detaining Ship with Sugar Iraq on Sunday accused US naval forces in the Gulf of detaining a ship carrying sugar, a move it said aimed to deprive Iraq of the benefits of UN oil-for-food program. "The U.S. move makes light of the international laws and norms while the U.S. pretends to be the advocate and guardian of such laws," an official of the Trade Ministry said, quoted by the official INA news agency. The Iraqi official urged the international community to step in to stop the "hostile acts against the Iraqi people who managed to foil the U.S. scheme of the so-called "smart sanctions". Reports said the U.S. naval forces in the Persian Gulf detained the ship M.V. Man which carried 13,125 tons of sugar on June 2.

CASUALTY REPORTING LPG ship safe after collision off Japan ONE crew member of a North Korean cargo ship is missing after it capsized and sank following a collision with a Japanese liquified petroleum gas tanker, Reuters reports. Japanese coast guard officials said there were no reports of gas leaks from the gas tanker, Koshumaru No 11, right.


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DAILY SHIPPING NEWSLETTER All seven members of the LPG tanker were rescued, as were 16 of the 17 crew of the Korean vessel, Myonggwang-3. The two ships collided early on Saturday off Shimotsucho in the western Japanese prefecture of Wakayama. Japanese authorities plans an investigation of the causes of the collision.

Burning Chinese Passenger Ship in Yangtze River Huge fire occurred aboard a Chinese passenger ship, Sunday, in the Yangtze River in Zhongxian County of Chongqing Municipality in southwest China. All 262 persons on the ship were rescued and transferred to safety, and the six injured during the accident were sent to local hospitals to receive emergency treatment. At 11:20 a.m. the fire broke out while the ship was berthing at the southern bank of the river, China's longest. So far, the boat is still on fire, with the three-story cabin completely destroyed. Work is being done around-the-clock to put out the blaze and the reason for the fire is still under investigation.

Fire hits Maersk ammo ship A FIRE in the engine room of a Maersk container vessel under direct charter to the US Military Sealift Command has killed one person and left six missing. The ex-Sealand Oregon container vessel was handed over to the US military on June 14 on a 59-month charter, after it was converted for the carriage of ammunition containers, Maersk Line president Brad Sauer told Fairplay. An investigation is underway to find the cause of the fire that began on July 14 when the ship, renamed the SSG Edward A Carter Jr, was docked at the army’s military ocean terminal in Sunny Point, North Carolina. The US Coast Guard has now reopened the area to shipping traffic after earlier establishing a 3.5km safety zone while the fire was extinguished

ROUTE, PORTS & SERVICES Öresund ferries hit by fixed link OPENING of the Öresund Bridge linking Sweden and Denmark has resulted in a 31 per cent fall in the number of passengers and cars on ferry routes across the Öresund, according to a recent impact study. The study, carried out by Halmstad-based ShipPax Information, also shows that for the bridge’s first full year of operation, from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2001, freight units on ferry routes dropped by 18 per cent. Route closures are partially the reason for the negative effect, the report says. The opening of the bridge also had an effect on ferry routes in Kattegat further north, where the passenger decrease was 14 per cent and car movements were down 18.5 per cent, although trailers movements were little changed. Direct ferry services between Germany and Sweden also registered falls of five and nine per cent respectively for passengers and cars, but a four per cent increase for lorries. The use of the bridge and ferry services combined reflected a 32 per cent rise, to 29M, in passengers and a 54 per cent rise in car traffic, to over 5M.


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Vopak verkoopt terminals in de VS en Australië

Rotterdam _ Koninklijke Vopak in Rotterdam verkoopt vijf terminals: vier voor droge lading in de Verenigde Staten en een voor het opslaan van petroleum in Australië. De transacties leveren het havenbedrijf een winst op van vijf miljoen euro (elf miljoen gulden). De vier Amerikaanse terminals zijn verkocht aan Kinder Morgan Energy Partners in Houston in de Amerikaanse staat Texas. In Australië heeft Vopak haar terminal Hastings verkocht aan Trafigura Fuels Australia, een dochteronderneming van het Nederlandse bedrijf Trafigura Beheer. De tankopslag in het Australische Hastings is bestemd voor het opslaan van schone producten uit petroleum, die bestemd zijn voor de lokale transportbedrijven, benzinestations en supermarken. Beide verkopen liggen in de lijn van Vopaks strategie om de bedrijfsbelangen terug te brengen, die niet tot de kernactiviteiten behoren. Als marktleider biedt Vopak over de hele wereld logistieke en distributiediensten aan de chemische en olie-industrie en aan de eindgebruikers van chemicaliën.

NAVY NEWS Marine versleept zware zeemijn uit Westerschelde VLISSINGEN (ANP) - De marine heeft zondag een zware zeemijn uit de Tweede Wereldoorlog uit de Westerschelde naar open zee gesleept.Het projectiel is zondag tegen 16.00 uur in de monding van de Westerschelde tot ontploffing gebracht. De explosie zorgde voor een waterzuil van veertig meter hoog. Duikers van de Marine bevestigden zondagochtend een hefballon met staaldraad aan de zeemijn. Ook hebben ze een kleine lading springstof aan de mijn gebonden, waarmee het projectiel op afstand tot ontploffing kon worden gebracht. De zeemijn is met behulp van de hefballon van de zeebodem gelicht. Het duikvaartuig Cerberus van de Marine heeft de mijn daarna onder water naar de Vlakte van Raan versleept. Twee vaartuigen van het Korps Landelijke Politiediensten (KLPD) escorteerden het bijzondere transport. De zogeheten invloedsmijn van Duitse makelij, met een lading van 700 kilo springstof, was vanwege de ouderdom niet meer actief, maar kon wel gevaar opleveren voor de visserij. Ook voor schepen die voor anker gaan zou de mijn een risico zijn. De Belgische garnalenvissersboot Beatrix viste de zeemijn donderdag op. Vanwege het gewicht is het projectiel, gemarkeerd met een boei, achtergelaten op de Westerschelde nabij Terneuzen. Het is de tweede zeemijn die deze maand in en nabij de Westerschelde is aangetroffen. Vorige week is bij Oostende (België) een zelfde type zeemijn onschadelijk gemaakt.

Navy destroyers expand for crew's comforts CREWS serving in the new Type 45 destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy last week will sleep and relax in an environment more akin to a cruise liner than the traditional warship. Everyone from officers to junior ratings will benefit from accommodation that is so spacious that the ships’ overall size has been dictated not by the number of weapon systems but by the measurements of the sleeping and recreational quarters. Ratings who currently sleep in 30-berth quarters with a recreation area crammed in between the bunks will go to sea in six-berth modular, “caravan-style” accommodation with extras requested by the sailors


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DAILY SHIPPING NEWSLETTER themselves, including more wardrobe space, full-length mirrors and plugs for hair dryers. Most officers, except the most junior, will have spacious single-berth cabins, with fold-down writing desks and laptop facilities. The biggest change in the design, however, is the element of “gender flexibility” built into the accommodation concept to allow for more women to serve on board. At present warships have separate accommodation and showers for women, usually about 10 per cent of the crew. With the new design based on smaller accommodation modules, male and female quarters can be interchanged as required. One of those involved in the design of the Type 45 accommodation at BAE Systems, prime contractor for the new destroyer, said: “If you wanted to send a Type 45 to sea with 85 per cent women on board, you could do it.” To guarantee such flexibility, the designers are providing accommodation for 235 people, even though the ship’s complement will be 170. “This will also mean that extra personnel can be taken on board for training if required,” the BAE Systems source said. It was decided from the beginning that instead of creating a warship to carry weapons, with the crew accommodation slotted into the available space, priority should be given to a more pleasant and comfortable environment for the men and women on board. Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh, the First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, is known to have encouraged a design that would be an incentive to personnel to stay in the Service. One of the most novel aspects of the Type 45 design was the decision to ask personnel, male and female, what they would like to make their lives more comfortable. Along with the mirrors and hairdryer plugs, they requested properly designed recreational areas, coffee-making facilities all over the ship and an expanded gymnasium. Six of the destroyers have been ordered at a cost of £4.5 billion. The first, HMS Daring, will come into service in 2007.

….AT LAST BUT NOT LEAST ….. The unmanned Helios aircraft flies over the Pacific Ocean, July 14, 2001, after taking off from Barking Sands, Kauai Island, Hawaii. The craft, piloted remotely, took off from the Pacific Missile Range Facility at 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. next morning July 15, 2001. It flew to an altitude of 76,060 feet. PHOTO TAKEN JULY 14. REUTERS


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HAVE A LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING SITE FOR SHIPPING INFO AND PICTURES OF SHIPS AROUND HOEK VAN HOLLAND AT : http://home.soneraplaza.nl/qn/prive/j.vander.klooster/index.html


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EVENTS, INCIDENTS & OPERATIONS

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