Efforts on to release supertanker

Dubai: Contact has been established between the Somali pirates and the owners of the oil supertanker that was hijacked off the Kenyan coast on Sunday.

According to the spokesperson of the Bahrain-based U.S. Fifth Fleet, which has been monitoring the movement of the 330-metre-long tanker, Sirius Star, pirates have taken the ship to their stronghold of Eyl along Somalia’s coast. The Dubai-based Vela International Marine Ltd., which operates the tanker, said crisis teams had been established to seek the release to the 25 crew members on board the ship. The crew consists of two British, two Polish, one Croatian, one Saudi and 19 Philippines nationals. In a statement on Tuesday, the company said it was “awaiting further contact from the pirates in control of the vessel.” This is the first occasion when a supertanker, with a cargo of 2 million barrels of oil valued at $100 million, has been pirated. The hijack triggered on Monday a jump in oil prices. It is also for the first time that a large vessel has been hijacked, so far away from the coast — 450 nautical miles from the Kenyan shoreline. The supertanker, three times larger than an American aircraft carrier, is owned by Saudi Arabia’s oil company, Aramco.

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IMO Launches the “Go to Sea!” Campaign

A campaign to address the global shortage of seafarers, which threatens the very future of the international shipping industry, has been launched by the International Maritime Organization.

The campaign was in association with the International Labour Organization, the “Round Table” of shipping organizations – BIMCO, ICS/ISF, Intercargo and Intertanko – and the International Transport Workers’ Federation. The campaign calls on governments, industry and IMO, supported by ILO and other international organizations, to take specific actions, within their areas of influence, to increase the recruitment of seafarers to tackle the problem. A recent report issued by maritime industry analysts Drewry Shipping Consultants assessed the current shortfall of officers in the global shipping fleet to be some 34,000, against a total requirement of 498,000. Moreover, based on Drewry’s fleet growth projections, and the assumption that officer supply will only increase at the current rate, the report predicts that, by 2012, the officer shortfall will have grown to 83,900. The shipping industry can provide the basis for a fulfilling and satisfying life-long career and the problem is one of recruitment, rather than retention in the profession, he added, noting that this required a shift in the public perception of shipping, particularly amongst the young. IMO – the International Maritime Organization – is the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution by ships.

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Mundra, Wilhelmsen and NYK sign automobile terminal MoU

Mumbai: Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone Limited (MPSEZ) has signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a dedicated automobile terminal.

The agreement, with Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) and Norway’s Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines, will substantially boost the Indian port’s current capability of 200,000 cars per annum. Captain Sandeep Mehta, ceo of operations at MPSEZ said “We are pleased to join hands with WWL and NYK to setup a world class automobile terminal facility at Mundra which will help us in imbibing the international best practices.” Mundra, which boasts container handling operations, already has contracts in place with Maruti Suzuki and Nissan for export of their cars to Europe beginning January 2009 (prior to completion of the dedicated terminal). “We believe that building this terminal in Mundra will bring efficiencies in auto logistics industry which will help in making India a global player in automotive logistics,” said Koji Shinozaki, NYK Japan deputy gm.

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