My keynote speech from Shipping Insight.
My theme at the Shipping Insight Conference is to define how to profitably operate a ship. The system, and how to select it, are a big part of the decision.
View ArticleSlow, slow, slow the boat
What a mess we are getting into as we seek to balance the demands of the atmosphere with that of marine safety, the charterer and even the requirements of those whose cargo may be aboard the ship
View ArticleThings to do next year
Many of us are compulsive list makers and I’m no exception as lists become more important as memory falters. So, with New Year resolutions little more than a month away, here are a few things for the...
View ArticleStick it on the bulkhead
Some years ago I spent a couple of days aboard a VLCC on passage, which provided a great deal of food for thought, along with some meat for subsequent articles.
View ArticleDeadly Craft.
It might be stretching both taste and veracity to describe them as “deathboats”, but the most recent multiple-death accident to a lifeboat demonstrates beyond peradventure that in modern times, more...
View ArticleWalport video highlights dangers of ‘human element’
An exhausted Mate, with real fatigue kicked in and at the end of his tether, bawls out the ordinary seaman who appears dimmer than he should be (although he is barely qualified to be taking the lookout...
View ArticleThe cost of compliance
I spoke to Dave Gardy this week on the impact of the new environmental regulations and the cost of compliance.
View ArticleMOL Comfort – is container weight the issue?
How on earth does a 5 year old 90,000 ton containership, built by one of Japan’s finest shipyards and operated by a tip-top liner company, come to be floating in two bits 19 miles apart? Weather?...
View ArticleCasualty investigation requires some proper forensics
How do you build up expertise in this field, which is quite specialist and far more complex than was once believed, when a gaggle of old shipmasters would sit around a table and ask searching questions...
View ArticleThe ISM code comes into its own
The many victims of maritime paperwork fatigue may, in the wake of Deepwater Horizon, soon have even more to bewail.
View ArticleThe importance of something extra
Recent debate, arising from concern about the safety of deepwater drilling, has included discussion of whether and when backup or redundant safety technology is desirable.
View ArticleIMO needs Action plan from Piracy meeting
On the first Thursday of next month, the International Maritime Organization will host a ceremony to launch the Action Plan to promote 2011’s World Maritime Day theme: “Piracy: Orchestrating the...
View ArticleThe Pavit – a 21st Century Marie Celeste?
Maritime history buffs may remember the story of the Marie Celeste, a sailing ship found abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean, which seemingly had managed to sail for months without reaching land, and whose...
View ArticleEMSA – our precious apple cart.
My late uncle Robin, a prudent man, used to warn: "Don't upset the apple cart."
View ArticleSymbols of maritime decline
Our government’s present inability to land a cargo of gasoline in a U.S.-flag vessel in icebound Nome, Alaska, symbolizes the shortage of foresight of our maritime policy makers. We are unable to...
View ArticleAnother hazardous cargo, another sinking
On Christmas day, the bulk carrier Vinalines Queen, carrying a cargo of nickel ore from Morowali, Indonesia, to China, went missing. The ship and its crew of 22 must now be considered lost.
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