Liberia-flagged oil/chemicals tanker Alia caught fire in the North Sea off Denmark following an explosion in its engine room on October 20, while the 2003-built tanker was carrying fuel oil from Malta to Gothenburg, Sweden.

The crew of the 35,669 dwt tanker called the Danish rescue and support vessel operator Esvagt to assist in putting out the fire.

The 183-meter Alia was 64 nautical miles west of Hvide Sande at the time of the accident.

Esvagt deployed two special service/standby rescue vessels – Esvagt Gama and Esvagt Omega – to assist the disabled tanker and help cool down the vessel’s hull, so the crew could enter the engine room and tackle the flames from within.The two vessels sprayed water on the tanker’s hull for about three hours, after which the crew onboard the tanker was able to enter the engine room.The vessel is reportedly still adrift in the North Sea, and will need a tow to a nearest port.

There have been no injuries to the crew, nor any oil spills reported thus far.

The Alia is managed by the Hamburg-based TB Marine Ship Management.

World Maritime News Staff hong kong

Stock Photo

By MarEx

The M/T Jo Spirit ran aground in the South Shore Canal of the St. Lawrence Seaway near Montreal on Monday. Traffic was blocked for several hours, but the tanker has since been reflated.

It was transporting rum to Cuxhaven, Germany.

St. Lawrence Seaway officials said the incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. on October 19. The vessel reportedly experienced an engine failure which caused it to veer off course and hit the canal’s wall. dont ask dont tell The ship’s engineers have rectified the engine problems, but it needed assistance from tugboats to be freed.

At least three vessels were delayed by the tanker blocking the seaway entrance.

The Jo Spirit is a Norwegian-flagged 6,285 dwt vessel owned by JO Tankers. It sustained minimal damage in the incident. There were no injuries and no pollution.

The Federal Transportation Safety Board is investigating the grounding.

By MarEx

China has overtaken the U.S. as the world’s wealthiest country measured by the value of its built environment according to the latest Global Built Asset Wealth Index published by Arcadis, a design and consultancy firm for natural and built assets.

The index calculates the value of all the buildings and infrastructure contributing to economic productivity in 32 countries, which collectively make up 87 percent of global GDP.

For the first time, built asset wealth in the U.S. no longer leads the world. With wealth of $36.8 trillion, the U.S. now trails China at $47.6 trillion. The U.S. built asset stock is largely unchanged in the past two years, while, since 2000, China has invested $33 trillion in its built assets, a total exceeding all other economies combined. The growth is evidence of China’s unprecedented level of investment in its infrastructure – nine percent of GDP – which dwarfs global competitors like the U.S., which currently invests just two percent of GDP.

Tom Morgan, vice president, head of business advisory, North America at Arcadis explains: “A prosperous society is underpinned by a well-developed built environment that meets the needs of its people and economy. Therefore, a strategically planned, highly developed and well maintained built environment is critical to the economic and social success of a nation.

“Developed economies have experienced a long-term stagnation and decline of their built asset stock, as aging infrastructure falls into disrepair and investment fails to keep up. This decline puts even more urgency on public owners to find creative ways to attract finance, make smarter decisions regarding the maintenance of existing assets and to maximize every dollar spent – the whole asset lifecycle must be considered to meet society’s needs.”

Morgan continues: “China’s ranking this year marks a profound change in the global league table of the world’s wealthiest built asset nations. However, with so much global uncertainty from financial imbalances, unprecedented currency volatility and crashing commodity prices, even China and its fast-growth neighbors will need a renewed focus on quality over quantity.”

The Index notes that while the U.S. built asset wealth embedded in real estate has demonstrated solid long-term growth, public infrastructure has not seen the consistent funding and policy needed to build investor confidence in such long term projects. In addition, the report notes that the U.S. needs to find ways to maintain the integrity and service levels of its aging asset base for less money.

The Global Built Asset Wealth Index shows a dramatic shift of wealth to emerging economies, such as Indonesia and Thailand, with the traditional economic superpowers – the G7 – showing a net decline in the value of their built assets since the 2013 report. Structural assets depreciate at a rate of around five percent per year, meaning this level of investment is the minimum required to maintain the status quo, a figure equating to $1.4 trillion in the U.S.

In Europe, the almost decade-long economic slowdown has also had the negative effect of holding back investment.

The top ten nations in the Arcadis Global Built Asset Wealth Index are:

Per capita leaders:

The per capita leaders are all Asian economic centers, with Singapore ($191,500 per person) Hong Kong ($160,000), Japan ($143,500) and UAE ($140,500) making up the top five behind Qatar.

When China’s vast built asset wealth is split across its 1.4 billion people, its per capita ranking, at just $34,000 per person, falls to 24th in the world, behind Chile ($48,000), Mexico ($47,500) and Thailand ($44,500).

Decline seen in leading economies outside of China:

Globally, the largest depreciation of built assets was Japan, which has lost $4.6 trillion in built assets since 2000.

All European advanced nations underinvested between 2012 and 2014 resulting in an overall decline in infrastructure. However, as a proportion of total built asset stock, Germany’s decline of 21 percent is the most substantial over this period.

Other developed economies to have undergone significant net de-investment since 2000 include the Netherlands (-5 percent), the UK (-8.9 percent), France (-10.2 percent) and Russia (-18.7 percent), while the U.S. stock has remained largely constant (-0.8 percent).

NTSB investigators on El Yunque (sister ship of El Faro) while it’s docked at Jacksonville

By MarEx

The U.S. National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) has issued an update on the investigation into the sinking of El Faro stating that the vessel’s boilers had been inspected in September and were scheduled for maintenance in November.

The NTSB states it has ascertained the following factual information:

On February 13, 2015, El Faro successfully completed the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) class and statutory surveys, meeting all rules and regulations as applicable. All deficiencies identified were rectified prior to completion of the surveys. None of the deficiencies were associated with El Faro’s main propulsion systems.

The annual inspection of El Faro, required by the United States Coast Guard (USCG), was completed by qualified USCG inspectors in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on March 6, 2015.

In June 2015, a qualified ABS surveyor examined and tested the main, auxiliary and emergency systems as part of the continuous machinery survey program and found them to be satisfactory.

TOTE told investigators that El Faro was scheduled to be removed from the route between Jacksonville and San Juan and redeployed to the U.S. West Coast where it would operate between Washington State and Alaska. In August, in order to prepare for this operational change, TOTE began to make modifications to the vessel while underway under the supervision of an additional chief engineer. Work on these modifications was performed by welders and machinists over many voyages, including during the accident voyage.

On September 11, 2015, TOTE received permission from the Coast Guard to shut down one of the ship’s two boilers so it could be inspected by an independent boiler service company during a voyage between San Juan and Jacksonville. As a result of the inspection, the boiler service company recommended service to both boilers during an upcoming drydock period that had already been scheduled for November 6, 2015. The boiler was returned to service following the inspection.

Interviews of relief crew and company management indicated that onboard safety drills were consistently conducted on a weekly basis. These included lifeboat drills for all crewmembers to ensure that all on board understood their responsibilities in an emergency.

Investigators interviewed two pilots that had guided El Faro in and out of the Port of Jacksonville; both reported that the vessel handled similarly to other vessels of its size and type.

The vessel’s terminal manager reported that El Faro met stability criteria when it left Jacksonville.

The company’s procedures called for some cargo on the ship to be “double lashed” regardless of the weather expected to be encountered during the voyage. The vessel stevedores reported that prior to El Faro’s departure on the accident voyage, the cargo was secured in accordance with those procedures.

Before El Faro departed Jacksonville, Tropical Storm Joaquin was predicted to become a hurricane and a marine hurricane warning was issued by the National Hurricane Center’s Advisory #8 at 5:00 pm EDT on September 29.

At about 8:15 pm EDT on September 29, El Faro departed Jacksonville, Florida, for San Juan, Puerto Rico.

At 1:12 pm EDT on September 30, the captain emailed a company safety official that he intended to take a route south of the predicted path of the hurricane and would pass about 65 miles from its center.

In an advisory issued at 2:00 am EDT on October 1, the National Hurricane Center predicted seas of 30 feet with sustained winds of 64 knots (74 mph), increasing to 105 knots (121 mph) as the El Faro approached the wall of the eye of the hurricane.

In a recorded satellite phone call to the company’s emergency call center at 7:00 am EDT, the captain told the call center operator that he had a marine emergency. He reported that there was a hull breach, a scuttle had blown open, and that there was water in hold number 3. He also said that the ship had lost its main propulsion unit and the engineers could not get it going. 

The operator then connected the captain with the Designated Person Ashore (DPA). The DPA told investigators that the captain had communicated similar information to him that was provided to the call center operator, and also that the captain had estimated the height of the seas that El Faro was encountering to be 10 to 12 feet.

The USCG received electronic distress alerts from three separate sources on El Faro: the Ship’s Security Alert System (SSAS), the Inmarsat-C Alert, and the Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).

According to electronic alert system data sent by the vessel at 7:17 am EDT on October 1, its last reported position was about 20 miles from the edge of the eye of the hurricane.

The USCG did not have direct voice communications with El Faro, only electronic distress alerts.

The NTSB investigators that traveled to Florida have returned to continue work on the investigation from NTSB headquarters in Washington.

The NTSB contracted with the U.S. Navy to locate the ship, document the wreckage on the sea floor and recover the voyage data recorder.

The USNS Apache, a fleet ocean tug, was outfitted with specialized equipment for this mission, and departed Little Creek, Virginia, at about 4:30 pm EDT on October 19. In addition to the Navy crew, the NTSB investigator-in-Charge, Tom Roth-Roffy, is on Apache with representatives from the USCG, TOTE and ABS, all parties to the NTSB investigation.

The Apache is estimated to arrive at the last known position of El Faro on Saturday, October 24, to begin the search for the ship and to recover the voyage data recorder. Once the search operation begins, it is expected to take at least two weeks.

Stock Photo

By MarEx

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) thwarted an attempted robbery of the M/T Almi Spirit off Tanjung Pai. According to reports, six pirates boarded the Liberian-flagged vessel with machetes on October 15 and attempted to steal the 90,000 tons of marine fuel it was transporting.

Two of the pirates entered the engine room but were spotted by the Almi Spirit’s chief engineer, who sounded the alarm. The robbers and their accomplices, who were on the deck, fled the scene upon hearing the alarm.

The fuel being transported by the Almi Spirt is valued at about $23 million. MMEA says it would have been the year’s largest robbery had it been successful.

Southeast Asia has experienced a spike in piracy this year. In July, the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) said that incidents of piracy and armed robbery has risen by 18 percent in 2015 over last year in the same period.

On August 21st, Malaysia and Indonesia formed a joint rapid deployment team to respond to the rampant piracy. Malaysia’s base of operations is in Johor and Indonesia’s is on Batam Island.

Almi Spirit is a 2007-built 105,547 dwt tanker. There were 26 crewmembers aboard at the time of incident. 

El Faro

By MarEx

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released its first report on its investigation of the El Faro which sank on October 1. There were 28 Americans and five Polish crewmembers on board.The U.S. Coast Guard discovered a crewmen’s body on October 5. The search for survivors was called off on October 7. 

Read the full NTSB report below: 

On Thursday, October 1, 2015, about 07:15 a.m. eastern daylight time, the U.S. Coast Guard received distress alerts from the 737-foot-long roll-on/roll-off cargo ship El Faro. The U.S.-flagged ship, owned by Sea Star Line, LLC, and operated by TOTE Services (TOTE), was 36 nautical miles northeast of Acklins and Crooked Islands, Bahamas, and close to the eye of Hurricane Joaquin. The ship was en route from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a cargo of containers and vehicles.

Just minutes before the distress alerts, the El Faro master had called TOTE’s designated person ashore and reported that the ship was experiencing some flooding. He said the crew had controlled the ingress of water but the ship was listing 15 degrees and had lost propulsion. The Coast Guard and TOTE were unable to reestablish communication with the ship. Twenty-eight US crew members and five Polish workers were on board.

The Coast Guard deployed helicopters and search vessels to the ship’s last known position, but the search was hampered by hurricane-force conditions on scene. On Sunday, October 4, a damaged lifeboat, two damaged liferafts, and a deceased crewmember wearing an immersion suit were found. On Monday, October 5, a debris field and oil slick were found, and the Coast Guard determined that the El Faro was lost and declared the event a major marine casualty. The Coast Guard suspended the unsuccessful search for survivors at sundown on Wednesday, October 7.

On Tuesday, October 6, the National Transportation Safety Board launched a full team to Jacksonville to lead the federal investigation in cooperation with the Coast Guard, the American Bureau of Shipping (the El Faro’s classification society), and TOTE as parties. The U.S. Navy Salvage and Diving division of the Naval Seas Systems Command was contracted to locate the sunken ship, assist in the sea floor documentation of the wreckage and recover the voyage data recorder.

CEOs present at the event include: Helge Lund, BG Group; Bob Dudley, BP; Claudio Descalzi, Eni; Emilio Lozoya, Pemex; Josu Jon Imaz, Repsol; Amin Nasser, Saudi Aramco; Eldar Sætre, Statoil; and Patrick Pouyanné, Total. (OGCI member CEOs not pictured: Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries; Ben van Beurden, Royal Dutch Shell)

By MarEx

The chief executive officers of 10 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, which together provide almost a fifth of all oil and gas production and supply nearly 10 percent of the world’s energy, have declared their collective support for an effective climate change agreement to be reached at next month’s United Nations (U.N.) Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework on Climate Change (COP21).

In their milestone declaration, the CEOs of the 10 companies that currently make up the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) – BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance Industries, Repsol, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Statoil and Total – confirmed that they recognize the general ambition to limit global average temperature rise to two degrees centigrade and that the existing trend of the world’s net global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is not consistent with this ambition.

The OGCI member companies have taken significant actions to reduce their GHG footprint, with combined GHG emissions from their operations reducing by around 20 percent over the past 10 years, says the group in a statement.

In their declaration the 10 CEOs said:

“Our shared ambition is for a 2°C future. It is a challenge for the whole of society. We are committed to playing our part. Over the coming years we will collectively strengthen our actions and investments to contribute to reducing the GHG intensity of the global energy mix. Our companies will collaborate in a number of areas, with the aim of going beyond the sum of our individual efforts.”

The 10 CEOs are: Helge Lund, BG Group; Bob Dudley, BP; Claudio Descalzi, Eni; Emilio Lozoya, Pemex; Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries; Josu Jon Imaz, Repsol; Ben van Beurden, Royal Dutch Shell; Amin Nasser, Saudi Aramco; Eldar Sætre, Statoil; and Patrick Pouyanné, Total.

The OGCI also launched its collaborative report – More energy, lower emissions – highlighting practical actions taken by member companies to improve GHG emissions management and work towards improving climate change impacts in the longer term. These actions include significant investments in natural gas, carbon capture and storage, and renewable energy, as well as low-GHG research and development.

Together the declaration and report set out key areas where the OGCI companies will focus their collaboration, including:

Efficiency: optimizing efficiency of their own operations; improving the end-use efficiency of their fuels and other products and working with manufacturers and consumers to improve the efficiency of road vehicles.

Natural gas: contributing to increasing the share of gas in the global energy mix, ensuring it results in significantly lower lifecycle emissions than other fossil fuels for power generation; eliminating routine flaring and reducing methane emissions from their operations.

Long-term solutions: investing in R&D and innovation to reduce GHG emissions; participating in partnerships to progress carbon capture and storage; contributing to increasing the share of renewables in the global energy mix.

Energy access: developing projects to provide people with access to energy in partnership with local and national authorities and other stakeholders.

Partnerships and multi-stakeholder initiatives: seeking opportunities to accelerate climate change solutions by working collectively or individually in industry and other initiatives.

The OGCI is a CEO-led, voluntary, oil and gas industry initiative that aims to catalyze practical action on climate change through best practice sharing and collaboration.                                                             The OGCI was established following discussions held during the January 2014 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and was officially launched at the September 2014 U.N. Climate Summit.

Earlier Joint Action

In June this year, major oil and gas companies, BG Group, BP, Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil and Total, announced their call to governments around the world and to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to introduce carbon pricing systems and create clear, stable, ambitious policy frameworks that could eventually connect national systems. These would reduce uncertainty and encourage the most cost effective ways of reducing carbon emissions widely.

The six companies set out their position in a joint letter from their chief executives to the UNFCCC Executive Secretary and the President of the COP21. 

Flaring

In April this year, 25 oil companies, oil-producing nations and development organizations signed an agreement to end the practice of routine flaring of natural gas by 2030.

Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, Kuwait Oil Company, Russia, Norway and the Asian Development Bank were among those making the commitment at the World Bank in Washington.

But globally every year, around 140 billion cubic meters of associated natural gas is wastefully burned or flared at thousands of oil fields. This results in more than 300 million tons of CO2 being emitted to the atmosphere – equivalent to emissions from approximately 77 million cars.

Together with Statoil and Norway, the other signatories endorsed the initiative recognizing that routine gas flaring is unsustainable from a resource management and environmental perspective. They all agreed to cooperate to eliminate ongoing routine flaring as soon as possible and no later than 2030.

The OGCI declaration is available here.

The OGCI report is available here.

By MarEx

General Dynamics NASSCO has delivered the world’s first LNG powered container ship, the Isla Bella, to TOTE Maritime. The ship was delivered nearly two months ahead of schedule. 

As part of a two-ship contract signed in December 2012 with TOTE, the 764-foot long Marlin Class container ships will be the largest dry cargo ships powered by LNG, making them the cleanest cargo-carrying ships anywhere in the world, says the shipbuilder. This green ship technology will dramatically decrease emissions and increase fuel efficiency when compared to conventionally-powered ships, the equivalent of removing 15,700 automobiles from the road.

“Successfully building and delivering the world’s first LNG-powered containership here in the United States for coastwise service demonstrates that commercial shipbuilders, and owners and operators, are leading the world in the introduction of cutting-edge, green technology in support of the Jones Act,” said Kevin Graney, vice president and general manager of General Dynamics NASSCO.

The delivery of the ship also demonstrates successful collaboration between industry and regulatory bodies. TOTE, NASSCO, the American Bureau of Shipping, and the U.S. Coast Guard worked hand-in-hand from the beginning of the project to the delivery of the Isla Bella. This included collaboration during the design approval, construction and commissioning the ship to safely and effectively operate on natural gas.

The Jones Act-qualified ships will operate between Jacksonville, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In the past decade, NASSCO delivered eleven commercial ships and currently has ten commercial ships in its backlog, including the two Marlin Class containerships for TOTE. For its commercial work, NASSCO partners with South Korean shipbuilding power, DSME, for access to state-of-the-art ship design and shipbuilding technologies.

By MarEx

The U.S. Coast Guard announced on Wednesday that it will end its search for the El Faro’s 32 missing crewmembers at sunset. 

Thus far, USCG rescue teams have only recovered the body of one crewmember and scattered debris. On Tuesday, the USCG admitted that deep seas have complicated its efforts to retrieve the sunken vessel which was caught in Hurricane Joaquin’s path.

A U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) team arrived on Tuesday in Jacksonville, Florida, the port the El Faro departed from last week en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The ship disappeared in what maritime experts have called the worst cargo shipping disaster involving a U.S.-flagged vessel in more than 30 years.

Before leaving Washington, NTSB member Bella Dinh-Zarr said the investigation would be difficult given that the ship sank in an unknown location, possibly in 15,000-feet (4,750-meter) deep waters. Its last known location was off Crooked Island in the Bahamas.

“It’s a big challenge when there’s such a large area of water and at such depth,” Dinh-Zarr said. “We hope for the best and that the ship will be recovered.”

The ship was crewed by 28 U.S. citizens, as well as five Polish nationals who were members of a so-called “riding gang” commonly hired to perform repairs and maintenance.

The 790-foot (240-meter) ship was loaded with containers and also with trailers and automobiles below deck, according to Coast Guard officials.

The El Faro issued a distress call about 36 hours into its journey, saying it had lost propulsion and was taking on water as it sailed into the path of Joaquin.

Tote told reporters in Jacksonville the vessel was undergoing engine room work before it sank. But company officials have said they do not believe the work was related to a propulsion problem reported by the captain before the El Faro sank.

“The contractors were on board doing some work in the engine room space, they were not performing any work on the engines,” said Philip Greene, who heads the ship management subsidiary Tote Services.

“They were doing preparatory work in order for the ship to be converted for service in the Alaska trade,” Greene said.

He acknowledged at a news conference that engine failure sealed the fate of El Faro, however, making it impossible to steer in the face of a brutal storm.

“I think what’s regrettable in this is the fact the vessel did become disabled in the path of the storm, and that is what lead to ultimately the tragedy, Greene said.

By MarEx

By Juliette Aplin, The Futures Centre

Consumers in California have filed two separate class-action lawsuits against Mars and Nestlé for failing to acknowledge the use of forced labor in the supply chains. The consumers claim they would have not bought products from the Iams, Meow Mix and Fancy Feast ranges “had they known that the fish was allegedly harvested using forced labor.”   Both Nestlé and Mars source seafood from Thai Union Frozen Foods PLC, one of the world’s largest seafood producers, operating in Thailand and Indonesia. Thai Union was recently named in a New York Times article exposing the use of trafficking and forced labor amongst fisheries operating in the South China Sea.    It is estimated that together, Mars and Nestlé imported 28 million pounds of seafood from Thai Union Frozen Foods PLC into the US in 2014.    The two lawsuits closely follow a similar claim made against Costco for knowingly sold prawns from a supply chain using forced labor.   Further attempts to address the issue of forced labor within the seafood industry are also currently taking place in the U.S. through legislative action. Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut has proposed a bill to introduce greater transparency and accountability in corporate supply chains. If passed, this legislation would require companies to disclose anti-trafficking policies and ensure their supply chains are free from slavery and human trafficking. 

In addition, a letter from US Congress’ House of Representatives has been sent to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), urging the agency to focus not only on illegal fishing, but on preventing “trafficking and slavery in the fishing industry.

So What?

Exposure of poor labor conditions across the seafood industry has increased over the past few years with investigations from Associated Press, the New York Times and The Guardian documenting cases trafficking and dangerous (sometimes even fatal) working conditions.    On the one hand, these three class action lawsuits indicate a failing in voluntary, industry-led standards to monitor labor conditions in the supply chains supplying Amercia’s seafood. However, on the other hand, they represent a rising consumer consciousness calling for greater transparency and accountability from large corporates involved in the seafood industry.    Should sustainable seafood certification schemes become more rigorous in including the social impact and human labor conditions involved in seafood supply chains? How far will initiatives such as Greenpeace’s annual retailer scorecard or the traceability tool being developed by the Marine Stewardship Council go in helping to stop the systemic exploitation?   Will legislation and security forces be able to protect civilians from trafficking and slavery in future, particularly in the context of increased migration?   Further from the consumer’s gaze is the issue of labor involved in supplying the fish fed to animals – from livestock to pets. According to the New York Times, “the United States is the biggest consumer of Thai fish, and pet food is among the fastest growing exports from Thailand. The average pet cat in the United States eats 30 pounds of fish per year, about double that of a typical American.”

Source: Consumers call for an end to forced labour in seafood supply, The Futures Centre