MarineBuzz.com

Indian Navy’s Admiral Sureesh Mehta PVSM, AVSM, ADC retires today, August 31. He took over as Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) on October 31, 2006 from Admiral Arun Prakash.

Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma, PVSM,AVSM,ADC has now taken over as the 20th CNS of Independent India and the 18th Indian to take command of the Indian Navy.

Some views of Admiral Sureesh Mehta are worth noting:

• on China:
  • Hindustan Times dated August 19: China Navy is larger but larger does not mean ‘better’: Admiral Mehta
  • Hindustan Times dated August 11: India no match for china, says Navy chief
• on Indian Navy: Express Buzz dated August 05 – Sea changes ahead for Navy, says Sureesh Mehta
• on purchase of Russian Aircraft Carrier Admiral Gorshkov: Thaindian News dated July 30 – Russian aircraft carrier not overpriced: Indian Navy chief
• on India’s sea route: Thaindian News dated February 18 – Navy Chief says nukes can be smuggled into India via sea route

Here are some photographs from Press Information Bureau:

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Sri Lanka Navy commissioned SLNS Sayurala (former CGS Vigraha of Indian Coast Guard) at the Sri Lanka Navy Dockyard, Trincomalee on August 28.

Here is the photograph of SLNS Sayurala (P 623) from Sri Lanka Navy website.

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Laura Dekker, 13 year old Dutch girl, is too young to sail solo around the world. Though her parents have given consent for her two year trip around the world from September 01, the Dutch Council for Child Protection has objected to her sailing adventure.

The Dutch court is also right in banning her voyage, and has placed her under state care for two months, till psychologists assess her suitability to sail solo around the world.

Here is the route map of Laura Dekker’s voyage in her ‘Guppy’ from her website.

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Decommissioned destroyer USS Arthur W. Radford (DD 968) is set to become an artificial reef to benefit marine life, fishing and recreational diving.

Some interesting features of ex-Arthur W. Radford’s artificial reef program are:

• The vessel will be reefed at the Del-Jersey-Land Inshore Site (developed jointly by Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey), off the Delaware Coast approximately 26 miles southeast of the Indian River Inlet at a depth of 120-130 feet.
• The states will be responsible for preparations, activities associated with reefing of the vessel, monitoring and managing the vessel as an artificial reef.
• Vessel details:
  • Present location: Philadelphia, PA
  • Length: 563 ft.
  • Draft: 32 ft.
  • Extreme Width: 55 ft.
  • Air Draft: 140’ 1” ft.
  • Commissioned: April 15, 1977.
  • Decommissioned: March 18, 2003.
  • Stricken from NVR: April 06, 2004.
• Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) will work out the details of the timeline for reefing.

Here are the photographs of ex-Arthur W. Radford from ‘Team Ships – Inactive Ships Program’.

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JSW Jaigarh Port of Maharashtra was inaugurated on August 22, by Shri. Narayan Rane, Hon’ble Minister for Industries & Ports, Govt. of Maharashtra. JSW Jaigarh Port is the second largest port in Maharashtra in terms of draught and ability to handle ships bigger than panamax vessels. MV Zhen Hua-4 was the first vessel to be berthed in August.

Some interesting features of JSW Jaigarh Port are:

• An all-weather, deep-water, multi-commodity, greenfield port owned by JSW Group.
• Location:
  • located in Dhamankhot bay on the western coast of India.
  • 200 km north of Goa and 360 km south of Mumbai by road.
  • 42 km from the national highway NH-17.
• To meet the coal requirement of JSW Energy (Ratnagiri) Ltd. for its 4×300 MW thermal coal based power project.
• To handle additional cargo including coal, bauxite, raw sugar, ash, cement, iron ore, fertilizers, edible oil, molasses and completely/semi knocked down kits.
• The Port is designed to maintain pollution levels to a minimum prescribed level.
• Phase I development
  • equipped with two berths of 550 metre quay length to handle 105,000 DWT vessels with a draft of 14 metres.
  • to handle bulk, general and container cargo using ships gear up to 10 Million tons per annum.
  • set up with an investment of INR 677 crore.
• Phase II development
  • cargo handling to be increased to 20 Million tons per annum.
  • would be capable of handling 180,000 DWT capacity vessels with draft of 18 metres.
  • five more berths spanning 1500 metres to handle multiple cargos will be constructed with modern container handling equipments.
• Rail, Road connectivity with the national grid and inland waterway projects are being taken up simultaneously.

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BBC News is tracking BBC Box (a standard 40-foot long shipping container) since September 2008 to understand sea trade in the global village.  Regular updates on the whereabouts of the BBC Box were available in BBC News website. For the last few months, due to failure of GPS tracking device in the BBC Box, updates are done manually.

As BBC Box is having a code number (NYKU8210506), it can be located through Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Line’s container tracking.

Click the image below, enter the BBC box code number:NYKU8210506 in the container tracking window and click ‘Track’.

You will get the result displayed immediately on the screen as shown below.

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Nepal, India’s neighbouring country is land locked and presently uses Kolkata for sea borne trade.

During the official visit of Mr. Madhav Kumar Nepal, the Prime Minister of Nepal to India from August 18-22, India has agreed to

• the utilization of Visakhapatnam sea port for movement of transit traffic to and from Nepal to facilitate foreign trade.
• favourably consider the request for an additional sea port in western coast for trade.

Also during the visit, it was agreed to improve rail connectivity between the two countries by providing two cross-border rail links with Indian assistance at the following two points along the India-Nepal border at an estimated cost of INR 680 crores:

• Jogbani-Biratnagar (18 Kms)
• Gauge conversion of Jayanagar to Bijalpura (51 kms) and extension of the same to Bardibas (17 kms)

Nepal has three ICDs (Inland Clearance Depot) at Birgunj (rail based), Biratnagar and Bhairahawa (both road based) for facilitation of Nepal’s foreign trade. Birgunj ICD is directly linked to Kolkata port by rail and the container train service is operated by the public sector Container Corporation of India. Nepal’s major export commodities are: Paste, Pulses, Oil Cake, Catechu, Jute good Sacking, Twins, Carpets (Hand knitted wollen), Readymade garments, handicrafts, ginger.

Surprisingly, the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is not aware of providing Visakhapatnam sea port to Nepal for foreign trade.

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HMS Iron Duke of Royal Navy on patrol in the Caribbean, intercepted successfully a cocaine carrying ‘Go-Fast’ boat.The quantity intercepted is approximately 150 kgs and the estimated value of the drugs is £6 million. This is in addition to the seizure of approximately three-quarters of a tonne of cocaine (value over £33 million) by the vessel last month.

Some interesting features of HMS Iron Duke (F 234) on cocaine hunting are:

• HMS Iron Duke has joined the International Task Force hunting drugs traffickers in the Caribbean region in June.
• The cocaine hunting is being carried out jointly by US Coast Guard, UK’s Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Caribbean Regional Security System.
• The seizures are mostly conducted at night with the help of onboard Lynx helicopter and sea boat.
• The frigate last year intercepted drugs worth £45 million, with Prince William embarked.

Here is a photograph from the Royal Navy.

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St. Jean de Luz beach in southern France has audio buoys to help visually impaired (blind) swimmers to swim confidently without the fear of getting lost.The beach has installed buoys with audio sensors to give swimmers their location as audio messages. The audio buoys are placed at fifty metres intervals. The swimmer wears a electronic device as a bracelet. On pressing the buttons in the bracelet, the bracelet communicates with the audio buoys around, and the swimmer receives a audio message from the buoys indicating location with respect to the beach. This audio message helps the swimmer to find out the safe direction to swim.

The system costs around 25 thousand Euros to install and the audio buoys are being developed further to give reliable performance.

View a video clip from NTDTV: Audio Buoys Help for Blind Swimmers

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Commander Dilip Donde of Indian Navy has commenced solo circumnavigation (Sagar Parikrama) in sailing yacht ‘Mhadei’ from Mumbai on August 19. He is the first Indian to go on solo circumnavigation.

Some interesting features of Sagar Parikrama and sailing yacht Mhadei are:

Sagar Parikrama

• will cover a distance of approximately 21,600 nautical miles to circumnavigate the globe from West to East through the Southern Hemisphere.
• was flagged off by the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta.
• a project conceived by Vice Admiral (retd) M P Awati.
• to make four stops in Fremantle (Australia), Christchurch (New Zealand), Port Stanley (Falkland Islands), and Cape Town (South Africa).
• duration: nine months.
• at a cost of INR 6.5 crore funded by Government of India.

Sailing yacht Mhadei:

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Chennai Sea Port Customs has exposed smuggling of 1,317 tonnes of Muriate of Potash (MOP) worth INR 50 Million to Malaysia and Vietnam from Chennai and Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) sea ports.

Why this smuggling ?

• India imports MOP at $630 per tonne (approximately INR 30,000) and sells it to farmers at INR 4,455 per tonne. Remaining INR 26,000 per tonne, is treated as farm subsidy.
• Smart Indian exporters buy this from Indian market through illegal means, and export it to earn quick money.
• Smuggling was done by declaring MOP as industrial salt.
• It has now been found that, a month back 49 containers of MOP (1,225 tonnes) were sent to Lotus Global and Trading in Malaysia.
• Export firms suspected to be involved in smuggling:
  • Three Bangalore-based companies
  • Four Chennai-based companies
  • Pondicherry-based Zandra Trading
  • Vizag-based Blue Ocean Logistics
• In addition several middlemen are suspected to be involved in this activity.

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64th Anniversary of Indonesian Independence from the Dutch was celebrated on August 17. As part of the celebrations, Sail Bunaken 2009, was held at Bitung and Manado City, North Sulawesi, Indonesia from August 12 to 20.
Sail Bunaken 2009:

• Jointly organized by the Ministry of Marine and Fishery Affairs, Provincial Administration of North Sulawesi, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Navy Force of Indonesia, supported by the the Directorate General of Immigration and other government institutions.
• Sail Bunaken 2009 events:
  • Indonesian Fleet Review of “warships” and “tall ships”.
  • Yacht Rally: from Nusa Tenggara to Bitung.
  • Bunaken Expo & Festival with an exhibition of Indonesia’s marine and tourism products, handicrafts.
  • International Big Game Fishing “KASAL CUP”.
  • Diving: breaking Guinnes Book of Record.
  • Jetski Trans Equator Touring on the west coast of Sulawesi island for about 1,600 miles.
  • Bunaken International Seafood Festival.
  • International Seminar on Building a Comprehensive Maritime Security and Possible Benefit to the Effort to Minimize Illegal Fishing in the Region.

Some interesting features of Indonesia International Fleet Review (IFR) are:

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Tata Communications announced on August 18, that they have completed the installation, testing and commissioning of the TGN (Tata Global Network) – Intra Asia (TGN-IA) Under Sea Cable System.

Some interesting features of TGN – Intra Asia (TGN-IA) Cable System are:

• TGN-IA is a linear cable system between Singapore and Japan with branch landings into Hong Kong, Vietnam and the Philippines to provide regional and global connectivity in Southeast Asia.
• A step towards achieving Tata Communications’ global connectivity.
• Supplier is Tyco Telecommunications, a business unit of Tyco Electronics and an industry pioneer in undersea communication technology.
• Length: 6700 km with an initial design capacity of 3.8 Tbps on a city centre to city centre basis.
• The system is designed and routed to avoid earthquake and hazardous areas in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Provides record breaking latency between South East and Northern Asia.

Here is the big picture from Tata Communications:

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On August 15, Panama Canal celebrated 95 years of safe shipping.

Here is part of the press release from Panama Canal Authority:

Panama City, August 14, 2009 – Tomorrow, the Panama Canal will celebrate 95 years of service as an engine of global trade and national growth. Since the steamship Ancón’s inaugural Canal passage August 15, 1914, the waterway has offered safe, reliable and efficient service to more than 983,000 transits. The Canal will reach the significant mark of one million transits next year.

“Over the past 95 years, the Canal has witnessed, and been instrumental in events that will forever shape Panama’s destiny,” said ACP Administrator/CEO Alberto Alemán Zubieta. “The Canal has been a part of the evolution of transportation as a vehicle for bringing together nations around the world. Similarly, it has contributed to various orders of human progress and scientific advancements such as engineering, dredging, hydraulics, and especially, the successful management of strategic natural resources.”

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MV Arctic Sea lost radio contact at sea on July 28 and thereafter whereabouts of the vessel was not known.After intensive search by the Russian Navy, the vessel was found and her crew were taken to a Russian warship on August 17. No pirates, no gunmen were found onboard. Further investigations are going on to find out the reasons for disappearance of the vessel for almost two weeks.

Information available on MV Arctic Sea from media reports:

• July 23: Finnish owned, Maltese flagged, 4000 ton dry cargo vessel Arctic Sea with 15 Russian crew sailed from Jakobstad, Finland with timber, and was scheduled to arrive at the Algerian port of Bejaia on August 4.
• July 24: Ten masked men claiming to be police seized the vessel off Gotland in the Baltic Sea, tied the crew up and searched the vessel. After 12 hours the vessel was released and the vessel resumed her voyage.
• July 28: Contact was lost with the ship.
• August 01: Last sighted off Portugal’s Atlantic coast, by a Portuguese patrol boat.
• August 11: Solchart Arkhangelsk Ltd, the owner of the dry cargo vessel, requested Russian assistance to trace the ship. Relatives of the missing crew also appealed to the Russian authorities to locate the vessel and save the crew.
• August 12: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev initiated measures to track the vessel by Black Sea Fleet. Russian guided missile frigate Ladny, immediately took over the mission to locate the vessel in addition to Portugal carrying out its own search.
• August 14:
  • Ship owner confirmed that whereabouts of the vessel was still not known as on-board satellite communications system was found to be switched off.
  • The vessel was spotted 840 km (521 miles) off Cape Verde and Russian frigate Ladny was heading towards Cape Verde.
• August 15:
  • The vessel’s tracking device was found to be briefly reactivated and the vessel was located to be in the Bay of Biscay. After one hour contact was lost.
  • A ransom demand for $ 1.5 million was received by the ship owners for the release of the vessel.
• Speculative reasons for the missing vessel:
  • The vessel was reported to be carrying some unknown/banned/high value cargo.
  • The vessel was second time attacked and hijacked.
  • The crew themselves have hijacked the vessel on a dispute with the ship owner.
• The insurance premium for a ship like Arctic Sea may vary from $10 and $20 million.

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