Engine room fire disables Carnival Splendor

When both tugs were on station and current conditions right, they were expected to slowly two the vessel — at 113,323 gt one of the world’s largest cruise ships — to Ensenada to disembark passengers.

The Carnival Splendor is presently located 150 miles south of San Diego and has 3,299 passengers and 1,167 crew members aboard. They faced a second day without key hotel systems, including air conditioning, hot food service, and telephones, following an engine room fire that broke out yesterday morning. Last night, the ship’s engineers were able to restore toilet service to all cabins and public bathrooms, as well as cold running water. The ship’s crew continues to actively work to restore other services. though Carnival said last night that “the ship’s crew is actively working to restore partial services.”

No injuries to passengers or crew have been reported.

Units from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy have been deployed to the scene.

At the request of Coast Guard District 11 in San Diego, 3rd Fleet diverted the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan from its current training maneuvers to a position south of the cruise ship to facilitate the delivery of needed supplies, That involved transfering 35 pallets of supplies by Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 30 carrier on-board delivery aircraft to Ronald Reagan. Once aboard Ronald Reagan, the supplies were to be delivered by helicopter to Carnival Splendor.

The ship became disabled after a fire was detected in the aft engine room at approximately 6.a.m, (U.S. Pacific Standard Time) yesterday.

Carnival said that the ship has been operating on auxiliary generators , with engineers unable to restore additional power to the vessel.

Though passengers were initially asked to move from their cabins to the ship’s upper open deck areas, they later regained access to their cabins and were able to move about the ship. Bottled water and cold food items are being provided.

The current voyage has been terminated and Carnival says guests will be receiving a full refund along with reimbursement for transportation costs. Additionally, they will receive a complimentary future cruise equal to the amount paid for this voyage.

“We know this has been an extremely trying situation for our guests and we sincerely thank them for their patience. Conditions on board the ship are very challenging and we sincerely apologize for the discomfort and inconvenience our guests are currently enduring. The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority and we are working to get our guests home as quickly as possible,” said Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines.

Carnival Splendor was on the first leg of a seven-day Mexican Riviera cruise that departed yesterday, Nov. 7, from Long Beach, Calif.Yesterday was a scheduled day at sea. The ship’s normal itinerary includes stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The Fincantieri-built ship first entered service in July 2008.

November 9, 2010

Fuel scammer sent to slammer

According to statements made in a plea agreement, Jamil Murni, 60, of Houston, Texas,was a fuel buyer for Royal Caribbean. In that position, he was responsible for researching suppliers and negotiating price, availability, and delivery schedules of fuel for Royal Caribbean Cruises’ fleet.

Muni was arrested in Houston in February on an indictment charging him with nine counts of wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, and one count of money laundering, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957.

According to the plea agreement, in 2003, Murni registered “Sea Fuels Trading” as a fictitious name with the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations. He then opened and maintained a bank account in the name of Sea Fuels Trading. On December 19, 2003, Murni applied to have Sea Fuels Trading become a fuel provider for Royal Caribbean. In that application, defendant Murni fraudulently concealed his ownership of the company. Royal Caribbean subsequently approved Sea Fuels Trading as a fuel vendor.

Murni used his position within Royal Caribbean to obligate the cruise company to more expensive contracts with Sea Fuels Trading. Defendant Murni then fulfilled Sea Fuels Trading’s obligations by purchasing cheaper fuel from competitors. Royal Caribbean paid defendant Murni’s company more than it would have paid to a legitimate fuel vendor.

According Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Miami Field Office, Muni operated the scam from late 2003 through late 2006.

At the sentencing on November 1, 2010 in Miami, U.S. District Court Judge Joan A. Lenard sentenced Murni to 45 months of imprisonment, to be followed by two years of supervised release. In addition, the judge ordered that the defendant pay $610,228 in restitution to Royal Caribbean.

Wave power project moves forward

The agreement covers development of OPT’s PowerBuoy technology for application in Japanese sea conditions.

OPT’s PowerBuoy wave generation system uses a “smart,” ocean-going buoy to capture and convert wave energy into low-cost, clean electricity. The rising and falling of the waves offshore causes the buoy to move freely up and down and the resultant mechanical stroking is converted via a power take-off to drive an electrical generator. The generated power is transmitted ashore via an underwater power cable.

A 10 MW OPT power station would occupy only approximately 30 acres (0.125 square kilometers) of ocean space.

Under this new contract, the two companies will work together to develop a new mooring system for OPT’s PowerBuoy, customized for wave power stations off the coast of Japan. The new system will undergo testing at MES’s wave tank facilities to verify the results of extensive computer modeling. OPT expects to receive 18 million yen (approximately $220,000) for its development efforts. Work under this agreement is expected to be performed over the next six months.

In October 2009, OPT and a consortium of MES, Idemitsu Kosan Co., and Japan Wind Development Co. signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of wave energy in Japan. OPT and members of the consortium have since worked with the Japanese government to increase recognition of wave power in Japanese energy policy.

The Japanese government has pledged to target a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2020 as part of its intentions to boost renewable energy sources to about 10 percent of primary energy supply by 2020. The Japanese government has specifically targeted wave energy as a component of this strategy.

Now OPT and MES intend to complete work on the mooring system and find a project site for an in-ocean trial of the PowerBuoy system.

OPT’s CEO, Charles F. Dunleavy, said: “We are very pleased to continue to build on our relationship with MES. This new agreement is consistent with OPT’s global strategy to form alliances with strategic partners in key markets. We believe working with MES will facilitate the realization of the great potential of wave power as a concentrated and predictable source of renewable energy for Japan.”

Ryoichi Jinkawa, Managing Director of the Business Development and Innovation Headquarters of MES, said: “We continue to be impressed with OPT’s technical strength and in-ocean experience. MES is very excited by the great business opportunity resulting from our relationship with OPT. We look forward to continuing to work with OPT in making our common vision of increasing the use of renewable energy a reality.

 

November 8, 2010

ABS fleet sails past 170 million gt mark

The latest statistics show it totaling 11,055 vessels aggregating 170.29 million gt, an increase of more than 9 million gross tons thus far this year.

That makes ABS the the third largest classification society in terms of aggregate gross tonnage. But it believes it continues to be the largest society in terms of the number of vessels and offshore units in its class.

ABS has also held its position as the most favored classification society for new construction, a standing it has held for most of the last three years. The current order book is comprises 2,384 vessels aggregating 50.95 million gt.

“The continued strength of the newbuilding market, given the current global economic uncertainty, is surprising,” says ABS Chairman and CEO Robert D. Somerville. “New orders to ABS class continue to offset the uncommonly high level of deliveries providing a consistently high demand for our engineering and survey services and giving us the youngest fleet profile in our history.” More than 67 percent of the in-service ABS-classed fleet is now ten years of age or less.

Mr. Somerville says he believes that “superior service will remain the principle differentiator between the leading class societies, with ABS setting the standard.”

The latest fleet statistics show that ABS continues to hold the leading market share for newbuildings on order in both Korea and China, the world’s top two shipbuilding nations. The society is equally successful with shipowners with its 30 percent share of all Greek controlled tonnage on order clearly demonstrating its success in this most demanding market.

The recent establishment of a fifth operating division for Greater China, responsible for administering the society’s activities in the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan is the latest demonstration of the ABS commitment to superior service according to Mr. Somerville.

November 8,2010

Yacht skipper rescued, not shot

Illustrating the dubious reliability of stories from Somali sources, various media reports yesterday quoted eyewitnesses as saying that a South African had been shot and had died instantly when he refused to leave a hijacked yacht near the town of Barawe on the southern Somali coastline . The pirates then took two people, described by the witnesses as a woman and a boy, to a jungle hiding place. Some stories quoted a spokesman for Al Shabaab, which has been linked with Al Qaeda, as saying the the man’s body had been taken to a morgue.

The story was sufficiently plausible that South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation issued a statement saying that it “would like to confirm that the deceased person in a Somali hospital who is alleged to have been killed by the Somali pirates, as the media reports purport, is not a South African citizen. We are, however, with our international partners in Somalia, investigating the identity of the other two kidnaped individuals who are thought to be South African citizens. We will communicate more information as soon as our investigations are concluded.”

Here’s what actually happened according to Eu Navfor.

A South African yachtsman, who escaped capture by pirates when he refused to cooperate with them, was safely taken on board an Eu Navfor warship yesterday.

His yacht had been located by the Eu Navfor warship FS Floreal on November 6, when it was discovered to be sailing suspiciously close to shore. Despite numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact the yacht, including a flypast by the ship’s helicopter, no answer was received and the French warship launched her boarding team to investigate further.

Upon approaching, the team came under fire from the yacht and a Mayday call was received making it clear that pirates were on board and that the crew of three were under their control.

The FS FLOREAL remained in the vicinity of the pirated vessel. The yacht eventually ran aground near the shore during the early morning of November. As a result of the grounding, the pirates attempted to remove the three crew members ashore. The South African skipper of the yacht refused to leave his vessel and the pirates left with the remaining two crew members as hostages.

Once the pirates had left the yacht, the skipper was rescued by the Eu Navfor warship FS Floreal. He is confirmed as being safe and is currently on board another Eu Navfor warship.

The whereabouts of the other crew members is currently unknown, despite a comprehensive search by an EU NAVFOR helicopter.

November 8, 2010

Harris swoops on Schlumberger Satcom business

Harris (NYSE:HRS) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Global Connectivity Services (GCS) business from Schlumberger Information Solutions, an operating unit of Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB).

The acquisition will significantly extend Harris’ capabilities as a global provider of managed satellite communications services for customers that include the offshore energy and maritime industries. Schlumberger GCS will be combined with recently acquired CapRock Communications to form Harris CapRock Communications.

Both Schlumberger GCS and Caprock are important players in the VSAT market – an increasingly popular communications option with many shipowners.

Schlumberger GCS provides global communication services for a wide range of customers primarily in the oil and gas industries, including Schlumberger. Its main operations are in the United Kingdom, Norway, Singapore and the U.S., and include 12 globally deployed teleports, a 24×7 Network Operations Center (NOC), worldwide terrestrial infrastructure, and VSAT manufacturing capabilities in the U.K. and Singapore.

The agreement to acquire Schlumberger GCS follows the Harris acquisition of CapRock Communications on July 30. CapRock has four self-owned and operated teleports and 11 regional support centers across North America, Central and South America, Europe, West Africa and Asia Pacific.

“Combining Schlumberger GCS with CapRock Communications will create an organization with unsurpassed global satellite network capabilities, broad service offerings, and a large experienced service team to provide customers with superior remote and in-the-field support,” said Howard L. Lance, chairman, president and CEO of Harris. “Harris CapRock Communications will be able to use its capabilities and expertise to offer customers the most secure, reliable and efficient solutions in the industry.”

“Schlumberger has successfully developed its Global Connectivity Services business over the past 10 years to reach an extensive global products and services offering. This acquisition by Harris will ensure continued growth and new technology deployment in a focused communications organization,” said Tony Bowman, president of Schlumberger Information Solutions. “Schlumberger will continue to take advantage of these capabilities once the transaction is concluded through a long-term contract with Harris CapRock Communications.”

November 8, 2010

Pirates extort record ransom

 

The 319,360 dwt, Marshall Islands registered, Samho Dream with a crew of five Koreans and 19 Filipinos, was released at around 11:30 p.m., Saturday night, according to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The owner, Samho Shipping, reportedly paid a ransom of more than $9 million — the largest amount thus far extorted from a shipowner by Somali pirates.

The ship had been seized approximately 600 nautical miles off the Somali coast carrying roughly $170 million worth of Iraqi crude oil.

An official from the Foreign Ministry said yesterday that “the Samho Dream is currently being escorted to a safe location by the Korean naval ship Wang-gun from the Cheonghae Unit, and is expected to land at the port of Salalah in Oman this Thursday.”

The president of Samho Shipping, Sohn Yong-ho, told Joonang Daily that the crew is in good condition, but he would not disclose the exact amount paid to the pirates, nor how much of the ransom came from insurance payouts.

The Singapore-registered chemical tanker MV Golden Blessing was also released by pirates Saturday, It had been seized on June 28 and carrying a crew of 19 Chinese was released for a reported ransom of $2.8 million.

November 8, 2010

$2.1 million penalties in Gould pollution case

Galliano, La., headquartered Offshore Vessels LLC (OSV), formerly Edison Chouest Offshore Vessels LLC, was on Thursday sentenced in U.S. District Court in New Orleans to pay a criminal fine of $1,750,000 and remit a payment of $350,000 as community service to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation. The community service funds are to be used to study polar water pollution and protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems in the Antarctic region. OSV also will serve a period of probation for three years, during which it will be required to operate under an Environmental Compliance Plan.

OSV pleaded guilty on July 22, 2010, to knowingly discharging waste oil from one of its vessels, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS).

“The criminal fine in this case will serve as a strong deterrent to all vessel companies, American and foreign, against deliberately violating the laws enacted to protect oceans,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The required payment will provide a means of studying polar water oil pollution and its impact on Antarctica’s fragile marine ecosystem.”

OSV owned and operated the R/V Laurence M. Gould (R/V Gould). The R/V Gould was a 2,966 gross ton American-flagged vessel that served as an ice-breaking research vessel for the National Science Foundation on research voyages to and from Antarctica. In its guilty plea earlier this year, OSV admitted that crew members knowingly discharged oily wastewater from the bilge tank of the R/V Gould overboard to the high seas, in violation of APPS. In doing so, they bypassed the ship’s oily-water separator, a pollution-control device. Regulations promulgated under APPS require that oily wastewater be discharged only after it has been sent through an oily water separator.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Attorney Daniel Dooher of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice and Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy Manning Taylor.

November 6, 2010

Dubai Drydocks launches jack-up

It is the second of two Service Jack units that the yard is building for Lysaker, Norway, headquartered Master Marine AS.

On completion next year, the vessel will commence a contract to install 88 wind turbines at the U.K.’s Shearingham Shoal field for Scira, a joint Statoil/Statkraft venture. The first vessel, Haven, was delivered from the Graha shipyard in June. It is now in southern Norway completing preparations for a three-year assignment as an accommodation unit at the Ekofisk field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

Designed by Global Maritime, and classified by ABS, Nora is DP2 equipped and can jack-up in 80 m water depth. It has an open deck area of 2,500 sq. m and has accommodations for up to 260 people. It will be equipped with two pedestal cranes, each of 750 t capacity.

The vessel has a hull length of 110 m and breadth of 50 m It has four 130 m long legs and the spud can area of each leg is 180 sq.m.

November 6, 2010

Navy comments on new LCS acquisition plan

It is looking to order ten ships from Austal USA and ten from the Lockheed Martin, Marinette Marine team.

The Navy says that “effective competition between industry bidders to build the littoral combat ship (LCS)” led it to discuss the ten ships each plan with key Defense Committee members and their staff, as well as industry.

It says that “consideration of this option is separate from the ongoing LCS down select process, and if congressional approval for a dual block buy is not received, the Navy will proceed to down select in accordance with the terms of the current solicitation.”

It maintains that either a down select or a dual ship block buy approach will ensure the Navy procures affordably priced ships.

“This option is good for the taxpayers because it enables us to buy more ships for the same money and allows us to lock in a lower price for all 20 ships,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. “It’s good for the Navy because it gets us more ships faster and increases our flexibility, and it’s good for industry because it maintains and even expands jobs at two shipyards.”

Unlike the current solicitation, this option would require Congressional action to authorize two block buys by mid-December 2010.

“The Navy’s LCS acquisition strategy to down select to a single design resulted in a highly effective competition and an industry response that signals a significant potential savings in the LCS program,” said Sean Stackley, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. “These competitive bids, coupled with the Navy’s desire to increase ship procurement rates to support operational requirements, create an opportunity to award each bidder a fixed-price, ten-ship block buy – a total of 20 ships from fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2015.”

The Navy says it remains committed to the LCS program and the requirement for 55 of these ships to provide combatant commanders with the capability to defeat anti-access threats in the littorals, including fast surface craft, quiet submarines and various types of mines.

Though Secretary Mabus’s proposal seems to have caught most observers by surprise, a recent Congressional Research Service report by veteran analyst Ronald O’Rourke, published October 14, had this to say:

One alternative [to the down select would be a strategy that would keep both LCS designs in production, at least for the time being. Such a strategy might involve the following:

  • the use of block-buy contracts with augmented EOQ authority, as under the Navy’s proposed acquisition strategy, to continue producing both LCS designs, so as to provide stability to shipyards and suppliers involved in producing both LCS designs;
  • the use of Profit Related to Offer (PRO) bidding between the builders of the two LCS designs, so as to generate competitive pressure between them and thereby restrain LCS production costs;18 and
  • designing a new LCS combat system that would have a high degree of commonality with one or more existing Navy surface ship combat systems and be provided as government-furnished equipment (GFE) for use on both LCS designs–an idea that was considered by the Navy at an earlier point in the program.

Supporters of an alternative like the one outlined above could argue that it would

  • provide stability to LCS shipyards and suppliers;
  • use competition to restrain LCS production costs;
  • permit the Navy to receive a full return on the investment the Navy made in creating both LCS designs;
  • reduce the life-cycle operation and support costs associated with building two LCS designs by equipping all LCSs with a common combat system;
  • allow the Navy to design an LCS combat system that is, from the outset, highly common with one or more of the Navy’s existing surface ship combat systems;
  • achieve a maximum LCS procurement rate of four ships per year starting in FY2011 (two years earlier than under the Navy’s proposal), thus permitting more LCSs to enter service with the Navy sooner;
  • build both LCS designs in substantial numbers, thereby avoiding a situation of having a small number of orphan LCS ships that could have potentially high operation and support costs;
  • preserve a potential to neck down to a single LCS design at some point in the future, while permitting the Navy in the meantime to more fully evaluate the operational characteristics of the two designs in real-world deployments; and
  • increase the potential for achieving foreign sales of LCSs (which can reduce production costs for LCSs made for the U.S. Navy) by offering potential foreign buyers two LCS designs with active production lines.

Maybe the Secretary of the Navy read Ronald O’Rourke’s report. Maybe Mr. O’Rourke is a seer.

 

Nov 5, 2010

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