S H I P P I N G / S E C U R I T Y

Maritime industry to get web and phone access
13-Jun-2007

GLOBAL - A new satellite service is designed to promote ship operations efficiency, expand on-board business to more closely reflect the home office, and boost crew morale.

Around-the-clock broadband service is under development for the maritime industry, according to an announcement Tuesday by Telenor Satellite Services, which plans to provide seamless global roaming starting in the fourth quarter.

The service, called OceanRoam, will enable data and voice communications using ships' assigned IP addresses and telephone numbers and will connect to ships regardless of their location.

OceanRoam incorporates technology developed by Comtech EF Data and includes a bandwidth and capacity management system. Comtech's products configure, control, and monitor the satellite network. Telenor said the service is built on dynamically managed Single Channel Per Carrier (dSCPC) and automatic application switching technologies. The service cuts operating expenses significantly.

www.itnews.com.au

GPA designs bigger CNG ships
July 17, 2007

Guido Perla & Associates, Inc. (GPA) Seattle, Washington is providing the design for two additional versions of the Coselle Compressed Natural Gas CNG carrier to Sea NG Corp. located in Calgary, Canada.

The additional versions are based on a similar design which was approved for construction by ABS in September 2006. They will primarily be engaged on international voyages.

"CNG carriers are a cost effective, reliable and safe alternative to the traditional ways of transporting natural gas via subsea pipelines or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carriers," says Dan Koch, GPA's Vice President of Engineering. "When circumstances allow it, pipelines provide the best option for transporting gas over short distances, while Liquefied Natural Gas carriers offer various advantages for large quantities of natural gas to be transported over long distances. With the innovative concept of the Coselle CNG Carriers, which utilize Coselles, a new technology consisting of large coils of pipes wound into a cylindrical storage container to contain compressed natural gas, gas producers are being offered an economically optimal solution for the transportation of moderate volumes of natural gas over medium distances. Thus, the Coselle CNG carrier is the first method supporting this segment of the marine gas transportation market that is not economically served by pipelines or LNG ships."

The original 118-meter CNG carrier, for which GPA completed the design in 2006, will have a capacity of 50 mmsCF (million standard cubic feet) in 16 Coselles.

The Coselles are arranged in four equally sized stacks, each four high, in a fully enclosed and inerted cargo house on the main deck. A major advantage of the Coselle system is that it requires minimal onshore facilities due to the ability to load and discharge gas at simple portside facilities not requiring liquefication and regasification equipment, which greatly reduce environmental, land-use and financial concerns.

The vessel, which under ABS will be classified as Maltese Cross +A1 Compressed Natural Gas Carrier, E, +AMS, +ACCU, +APS, UWILD and can accommodate 11 crew members, will be equipped with two azimuthing Z-Drive propulsion systems and one bow tunnel thruster.

The two additional versions will differ from the original 118-meter CNG carrier mainly in size, and natural gas capacity.

One of the two designs measures 204 meters in length, accommodates 20 crew members, and will be equipped with 84 Coselles, providing a combined natural gas capacity of 250 mmsCF.

The other GPA CNG version will measure 141 meters in length, accommodate 11 crewmembers, and have the capacity to carry 75 mmsCF in 25 Coselles, which will be arranged in five stacks of five Coselles each.

"The CNG carriers will provide the market with a safe, reliable and cost effective method to transport natural gas by sea and also deliver natural gas to underserved markets," Dan Koch concludes.

MARINELOG.com 

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Midsummer optimism for ship operators
11-Jun-2007

Freight rates remain stubbornly high as this year passes its mid-point and shippers continue to be frustrated by a seemingly unrelenting upward trend, with experts citing China's appetite for raw materials as the cause of an imbalance for which the world consumer will eventually pay.

The demand for feeder vessels has remained particularly strong with a significant number of small, 'new players' being attracted to the industry, particularly in Asia and the Middle East.

That trend is reflected in the number of ship inspections and valuations that marine consultants are being contracted to carry out.

Furthermore, in the tanker market, the combination of demand and reduction of tonnage due to the ongoing single-hull phase-out has kept rates high, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future, until the present building boom is over.

Operators providing offshore support in the oil sector are also enjoying unprecedented revenues, fuelled by high oil prices and their effect on exploration. This can be seen in the demand for support vessels, with any previously mothballed tonnage having been long-since re-commissioned.

Source: www.gulfnews.com 

Importing trouble: Agriculture inspectors look high, low to keep pesky pests out of U.S.
By SUSAN SALISBURY Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 22, 2007

MIAMI — So far this year, inspectors at the Port of Miami have found and intercepted almost 20 types of foreign insect pests that have never been seen before in the United States.

Looked at one way, it's an entomologist's dream.

Looked at another, it's Creepy-Crawly Central: Miami's port leads the nation in the number of harmful exotic pests it discovers each year.

Nearby at the Miami International Airport on a recent morning, Ellen Ingber is examining a fingerling potato that has been seized from a passenger arriving from Peru.

Ingber, an officer with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, slices open the potato and finds a plump, wriggling white larva. It's alive and well. She places it under a microscope.

"We want to find these pests," Ingber says. "We recently found Mediterranean fruit flies from Spain."

That's life on the front lines of the battle to keep America safe from hazardous imports - from food to furniture, and even people. Zachary Mann, a customs special agent based in Miami, says his agency's mission is to protect Americans from "thugs, drugs and bugs."

And South Florida is one of the most important battlegrounds in that fight. Fully 69 percent of all perishable imports - fruits, vegetables, seafood and flowers - coming into the country by plane come into Miami's airport.

In 2006, that amounted to close to 419,000 tons of stuff.

The customs officers also are responsible for checking things that come in by sea.

"We target 100 percent of all cargo entering the United States for various threats and violations of laws, regulations and rules," Mann said. "This includes food-related violations, pest, disease, drugs, guns, human health and safety, plant and animal health or anything else that may cross the border and negatively impact our domestic industries."

At the same time, the agency doesn't want to thwart legitimate international trade and travel. There's pressure to expedite shipments so the goods can be delivered and sold, and that means most containers are in and out of the seaport in a day.

"No other law enforcement agency in the U.S.A. has such a difficult balancing act," Mann said.

On that recent hot, sticky morning at the Port of Miami, a dozen or so customs agricultural specialists have the unenviable task of crawling into even more stifling 20-foot and 40-foot metal cargo containers.

This batch of more than 20 containers, part of the morning's work of 168 container inspections, is packed with the kind of travertine and marble tiles Americans covet for their homes. Today's shipments includes tiles from Turkey, Italy, Spain, France and other countries.

The inspectors are looking for hitchhiking insects, seeds, or anything else that could cause a problem if it gets released.

"You open up a container and you will know from experience whether you need to look further," said Kevin Torres, one of the specialists.

"This load is from Turkey. This is a true bug," Torres said, holding it up while using the term for a large class of insects that includes creatures that suck the juice out of plants.

The finds are deposited in plastic containers and sent to U.S. Department of Agriculture entomologists in Miami. Torres carries a thick black binder that holds several dozen pages filled with pictures of bugs.

"We find the same ones over and over every day," he said. "Some pests carry diseases, such as snails. We also check for bird residue. Feathers can carry avian flu."

Back at the airport's passenger terminal, Ingber and fellow agent Maria Otero have a dining-table sized collection of 40 or so items of produce and meats they have seized from incoming international passengers in the past two hours. Many, if not most, of those carrying the contraband are professional couriers who are paid to smuggle the desired food into the country, the officers said.

Passengers are not allowed to bring in any fresh fruits and vegetables that could harbor pests or diseases. Meats are allowed in only if they are from U.S. Department of Agriculture-approved facilities.

On this particular day, the forbidden food includes oranges from Brazil, apples from Israel, sugar cane from Jamaica, mangoes from Haiti and more. All if it will be destroyed.

"They think they can smuggle it in," Otero said. The fine for a first offense is $300.

Some of the confiscated items are still tagged with the names of their intended recipients. Other items were probably destined for the black market, the officers said.

At the seaport, the agricultural specialists' haul includes snails, seeds, beetles and true bugs, but there's nothing particularly startling. Not like some days, Torres said.

"We have found cats and even people in containers," he said.

The specialists check to see that the wood used to build the crates holding the tiles within the containers has been treated for pests in order to keep out the pinewood nematode, the Asian longhorned beetle and other pests that could devastate U.S. agricultural industries such as timber.

They also look for an International Plant Protection Convention stamp. Containers without it are not permitted.

"Some have tried to cheat. The stamp has to be branded on the wood," Torres said, nodding approval as he spots the brand mark on one of the containers.

The agency targets incoming shipments by first looking at a list of what is in a container.

Shippers must supply a manifest 24 hours prior to the ship's arrival. Containers with a high possibility of holding pests are set aside for inspection.

In addition to visual inspection, other detection tools are used, from drug-sniffing beagles to giant truck-size X-ray machines known as radiation portal monitors.

"It gives a visual, and we can determine if a container needs a closer look," Torres said.

Last year, the Port of Miami interdicted more than 2,500 insects, some of which were "first finds," or pests new to the U.S.

Torres said first finds are increasing. Imports have shot up in recent years, and as the demand for raw materials to make tiles and the wood for crates to hold them goes farther into the jungle and countryside, increasingly strange critters are ending up in shipments.

"The deeper you go, the more pests are coming out that have never been discovered," he said.

Importers such as Homestead-based Brooks Tropicals, which also grows fruit in Florida and Belize, appreciate the hardworking customs teams, but say more manpower is needed to catch more of the pests and diseases.

Craig Wheeling, Brooks' chief executive officer, said his company's lime production in Miami-Dade County was destroyed in the eradication program that followed the 1995 discovery in the county of citrus canker, a bacterium that sickens fruit trees and blemishes their fruit.

State agricultural officials have long theorized the canker could have been on a citrus seedling or cutting brought in from abroad, and transported by an individual. The disease is now endemic throughout Florida.

"We were the nation's largest lime grower," Wheeling said. "Our lime groves were destroyed in 2002-03. It was a difficult time for us."

His company, with almost 2,000 employees in the U.S. and overseas, imports 25 products from 15 countries and ships throughout the U.S. and Canada.

"I am all for spending extra money to try and catch as many of these pests as possible. Once they get established in Florida, it is extremely difficult to get rid of them," Wheeling said. "Because of the large amount of trade that comes through Florida from foreign countries, there are an awful lot of pests that pop up."

But Wheeling said the country's inspection services don't have enough manpower to catch everything.

"It has been my experience that the folks in charge of protecting the food chain and the food coming into the U.S. are hardworking, good people," he said. "If they had a little more help, it would probably be useful."

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New maritime crime hotline

THE ICC International Maritime Bureau has launched a dedicated hotline for “seafarers, port workers, shipping agents, shipyard personnel, brokers, stevedores and all concerned parties” to report “any information that they may have/seen/heard/known etc” relating to maritime crime and security.

The hotline will be based at the IMB's Piracy Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as this already maintains a 24 hour watch receiving piracy reports from around the world. Reports will be passed on to relevant authorities for further action.

A spokesman said that all information received will be treated in strict confidence. The IMB would like to know its sources would not disclose them.

He added that the IMB was unsure what sort and quality of information it would get but he saw parallels with the start of the piracy reporting service which is now established as the main contact point for vessels reporting attacks.

An IMB statement addressing seafarers and other sin the industry says: “Maritime crime and security concerns us all and with your help, we can try to minimise the risks and help save lives and properties.”

The maritime security hotline can be contacted 24 hours a day,every day at: Email: imbsecurity@icc-ccs.org Telex: MA 34199 IMBPCI

The IMB was established in 1981 to act as a focal point in the fight against all types of maritime fraud, malpractice and piracy. The United Nations (UN) International Maritime Organization (IMO) in its resolution A 504 (XII) (9) adopted on 20 November 1981, has among other things urged all governments, interests and organizations to exchange information and provide appropriate co-operation with the IMB. The IMB also has an observer status with the International criminal police organization (icpo – interpol)

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Nearly 2,000 Chinese officials confess wrongdoings
August 02, 2007

Nearly 2,000 officials have confessed their wrongdoings since China's disciplinary watchdog urged officials to own up to their misconduct on May 30, China's disciplinary watchdog confirmed on Thursday.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China issued a set of regulations targeting official corruption that took effect on May 30, urging officials who have traded power for money to confess their crimes before the end of June in return for leniency.

During the one-month period, 1,790 persons voluntarily reported their misconduct, involving 77.89 million yuan (10.2 million U.S. dollars), Gan Yisheng, CCDI spokesman, said at a press conference.

"Some of the officials have corrected their mistakes and some are still under investigation since we need check whether they have confessed all their wrongdoings," Gan said.

He did not provide details on the penalties that will be imposed on the officials who came forward of their own accord.

Gan said the regulations were useful since they laid the basis for the government to investigate cases involving violation of party discipline and they also provided an opportunity for those who had made mistakes to make corrections.

CCDI regulations have clearly stated government will show leniency to those who confess their wrongdoings by themselves within 30 days, he said.

Those who do not confess will be severely punished, he stressed, saying they have already got some clues for officials suspected of committing wrongdoings and will carry out further investigations.

Source: Xinhua

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Hong Kong to Scan U.S.-Bound Goods for Radiation as Part of Secure Freight Initiative
Friday, July 27, 2007

Hong Kong - The United States and Hong Kong today arranged to cooperate on the Secure Freight Initiative, a joint effort of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Departments of Energy (National Nuclear Security Administration) and State aimed at keeping radioactive weapons out of U.S.-bound cargo.

Hong Kong is a key location for this scanning to take place. Among worldwide seaports processing containers with goods destined for the U.S., Hong Kong is first in terms of the volume of shipments and containers imported. In fiscal year 2006, for example, the country processed more than 1.3 million shipments bound for the U.S., constituting 11.48 percent of all shipments here.

Hong Kong will be participating in the Secure Freight Initiative in a limited capacity on an initial basis. However, even this limited participation goes beyond the mandate of the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act (SAFE Port Act) of 2006. That law required that the U.S. evaluate, at three initial ports, the possibility of scanning 100 percent of U.S.-bound cargo for radiation.

In fact, the port of Hong Kong is part of the second group of international ports evaluating integrated cargo radiation detection and non-intrusive imaging capabilities in Phase 1 of the Secure Freight Initiative, also known as the International Container Security project. Operational testing of Secure Freight Initiative equipment began at Port Qasim, Pakistan on March 31, 2007, and on April 2, 2007 at Puerto Cortés, Honduras. Testing at the port of Southampton in the United Kingdom is expected to begin later this year.

The second group of ports, which will provide radiation detection and imaging capabilities on a limited capacity basis beyond that required by the SAFE Port Act, include: Singapore’s Brani terminal; the Gamman terminal at Busan, Korea; and Oman’s Port Salalah. These facilities, along with Hong Kong, were chosen to help determine the impact of radiation scanning at large volume ports, as well as at ports where a large number of transshipments are processed. Phase 1 results will provide guidance on future port expansion.

At Hong Kong, as in other ports, data from Secure Freight Initiative scanning and imaging equipment will be provided in near-real time to CBP officials on-site and at the National Targeting Center in the United States for analysis and automatic integration with U.S. systems.

Slightly more than four and a half years ago, in December 2002, the port of Hong Kong was designated a Container Security Initiative port. CSI officers use manifest examinations and other information to determine whether X-ray and radiation detection equipment should be used to examine U.S.-bound cargo. The Secure Freight Initiative expands the use of scanning and imaging equipment to examine more U.S.-bound containers, not just those determined to be high-risk. 

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China to make export/import tax adjustments to balance trade – official

China's Ministry of Commerce will adjust export and import taxes further as it seeks to achieve balanced trade, a ministry spokesman said.

Asked if there will be further adjustments of export tax rebates, spokesman Yao Shenhong said: 'We will further improve import and export tax measures in the future to try to balance our trade.'

Yao did not give details of any tax changes but China has been slowly dismantling the export tax rebate regime in recent years in a bid to bring down a trade surplus which is already up 85 pct so far this year on 2006 at 85.72 bln usd.

Yao would not give an estimate for China's full-year trade surplus saying that it would depend on the impact of macroeconomic policies in the second half.

Asked about US Congressional moves to introduce legislation seeking to punish China for alleged unfair trading practices, Yao said: 'Politicizing economic problems won't help to solve Sino-US trade problems.'

He added that recent attempts to introduce countervailing duties on some Chinese imports are 'hard to accept' for China.

Source: www.forbes.com

Forwarders in Japan cut fees for Asia-bound freight
11-Jun-2007 shipping-exchange

Freight forwarders in Japan are charging about five percent less in fees for shipping goods to other Asian countries than they did a year ago, the first drop in two years, as the supply of cargo space has increased while exports are on the decline.

The supply of cargo space has grown now that airlines offer more flights to such destinations as China. But exports have been decreasing, as shipments of auto parts and components for flat-panel televisions are no longer growing as fast as they did a year earlier.

The volume of exports handled by air forwarders fell a third straight month in April, according to the Japan Air-Cargo Forwarders Association.

Consequently, fees for large-lot shipments from Tokyo to Singapore are now hovering at around US$1.4-$2.64 per kg.

But customers are ending up paying more overall because forwarders have raised fuel surcharges. Information from major forwarders shows that they have passed increases in airlines' fuel surcharges on to 90-95 percent of customers through negotiations.

Source: www.cargonewsasia.com

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