The winners of Motor Boat and Yachting 2020 Motor Boat Awards were announced at boot Düsseldorf in January 2020. With 11 categories, and plenty of nominations for each, the judges’ winners were announced at a sparkling dinner.
The winners are:
Sportsboats and RIBs
The Brig Eagle 8 shows how RIBs “have been transformed from tough workhorses Continue reading “Winners of the 2020 MotorBoat Awards announced”
At the start of 2020, the latest version of the IMDG Code, Amendment 39-18, came into force. The UK P&I Club has collaborated with TT Club to produce and publish ‘Book it right and pack it tight’ guide – a collaboration 108 page set of guidelines. It offers an insight for all involved and responsible for preparing unitized consignments for carriage at sea.
The ‘Book it right and pack it tight’ guide is designed to support shippers, forwarders, shipping line booking personnel and those who pack dangerous goods into cargo transport units, helping them understand the technical aspects of the Continue reading “‘Book it right and pack it tight’ guide produced by UK P&I Club and TT Club”
CINS, together with the International Group of P&I Clubs, has published guidelines for the carriage of seed cake (s.c.) in containers. The practices set out in this document are intended to improve knowledge and the safety during the carriage of such cargo and to ensure that it is properly declared, packaged and carried.
In these Guidelines, seed cake includes any type of pulp, meals, cake, pellets, expellers or other cargo where oil has been removed from oil-bearing seeds, cereals or commodities with similar properties.
Continue reading “Seed cake guidelines published for safe carriage in containers”
At 0633 on Tuesday 18 December 2018, the roll-on/roll-of (ro-ro) passenger ferry European Causeway rolled heavily in very rough seas and very high winds during its voyage from Larne, Northern Ireland to Cairnryan, Scotland. Insufficient cargo lashings have been found to be a key factor in the incident.
The violent motion caused several freight vehicles to shift and nine to topple over. This resulted in damage to 22 vehicles, some damaged severely. At least six freight vehicle drivers had remained in their cabs on the vehicle decks
during the crossing and four were found in cabs of vehicles that had toppled over. One driver was trapped and had to be freed by the emergency services when the ship arrived in Cairnryan. Continue reading “Cargo lashings insufficient says MAIB report on European Causeway incident”
For pleasure yachts of less than 13.7 meters in length there are no statutory requirements for safety equipment other than those required under SOLAS V. Safety equipment is an important part of preparing a boat. It is advisable that all pleasure craft skippers check that their vessel is properly equipped.
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) recommends it is essential that you properly equip your boat prior to going on the water and that you ensure that the craft is Continue reading “Pleasure craft safety equipment recommendations”
Last year, countless lives were saved because someone knew to call 999 in an emergency at the coast and ask for the Coastguard. But shockingly, research carried out by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) shows in some parts of the UK more than half still don’t know who to call when the worst happens at the coast or at sea close to the shoreline.
To help get the message home, the Coastguard has recreated and shared the kind of thank you messages it receives from those people who are alive today because Continue reading “Coastguard: Research in the UK reveals many don’t know to dial 999 for coastal emergencies”
On the back of a spate of incidents in which has been the source on fires onboard container vessels, the digital freight forwarder iContainers highlighted that the shipping industry needs to pay attention to increasing misdeclared cargo.
Over the past two years there has been a noticeable, sharp increase in the number of container fires directly resulting from shippers’ dangerous misdeclared cargo.
Klaus Lysdal, vice president of operations at iContainers, has identified this is a vital Continue reading “Misdeclared cargo needs urgent action says Digital freight forwarder iContainers”
At 0127 on 20 January 2018, the UK flagged container ship CMA CGM G. Washington unexpectedly rolled 20° to starboard, paused for several seconds then rolled 20° to port. The ship was experiencing heavy seas in the North Pacific Ocean while on passage from Xiamen, China to Los Angeles, USA. As the sun rose later that morning, it was discovered that container bays 18, 54 and 58 had collapsed; 137 containers were lost overboard and a further 85 were damaged.
The MAIB investigation concluded that the collapse of all three bays probably occurred during the 20° rolls. The amplitude of the rolls exceeded the container ship’s estimated roll limits and was almost certainly the consequence of parametric Continue reading “Container ship Washington loss of 137 containers: MAIB investigation report published”
In August 2019, Leclanché (battery system provider) announced the world’s largest electric ferry had completed its first commercial voyage when Ellen connected the ports of Søby and Fynshav in Denmark.
Six months on, Halfdan Abrahamsen, an information officer from Ærø EnergyLab, tells the BBC: “Ferry shipping in general is very dirty business.” Ships usually use marine diesel or heavy fuel oil, “which is just about the bottom of the food chain when it comes to product from refineries”. But he says, the only oil onboard Ellen is for the gearbox and in the kitchen for making French fries.
Powered entirely by batteries, Ellen is something of a Tesla among ferries. Fully charged, the 60m vessel can sail 22 nautical miles with up to 200 passengers and 30 cars onboard. That’s a roughly 40km (25-mile) round-trip, and seven times further than other electric ferries. Continue reading “What news of the world’s largest electric ferry six months on from its first commercial voyage?”
According to the Shiptech 2020 report, over $1bn was invested in technology companies working in the maritime sector in 2019.
The Shiptech 2020 report, published by technology research and innovation consultancy Thetius, found that 2019 was a record year for venture capital investment in the maritime sector. However, the headline figure is distorted by the massive $1bn investment in Flexport, led by Softbank’s Vision Fund. If Flexport’s contribution is removed from the figures, venture funding in the industry actually declined by 24%, from $190m in 2018 to $144m in 2019. Overall, 8% fewer deals were made through the year compared with 2018, though the average size of deals has increased by 18% Continue reading “Shiptech 2020 report reveals the scale of venture funding invested in maritime last year”
OLAS Guardian is a new wireless engine kill switch released by Exposure Lights. It acts as a virtual ‘kill cord’ by stopping an engine within two seconds of a person going overboard. For RIB and powerboat drivers OLAS Guardian means their boat will stop in an instant should the skipper, or a crew member, get separated from the boat.
OLAS Guardian works by wirelessly logging up to 15 crew members to an engine’s kill switch via small, wearable transmitters, the OLAS wrist Tags or OLAS Float-On light.
If the transmitter is submerged overboard, or is separated by distance, it instantly breaks the connection, cuts the engine and triggers an Continue reading “Wireless engine kill switch OLAS Guardian App released by Exposure Lights”
Leading classification society ClassNK has announced that it has released amendments to its Rules and Guidance for the Survey and Construction of Steel Ships. ClassNK is constantly revising its Rules and Guidance in order to reflect the latest results from relevant research and development projects, feedback from damage investigations, requests from the industry as well as changes made to relevant international conventions, IACS unified requirements (UR), national regulations and so on.
More specifically, some of the requirements amended this time are as follows:
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