UK News

Maritime UK has established a Taskforce to increase the number of women within the UK maritime sector

Posted on by News Hound
Maritime UK has established a Taskforce increase the number of women within the UK maritime sector
Maritime UK has established a Taskforce increase the number of women within the UK maritime sector

The Taskforce brings together leaders from across the maritime sector to identify practical steps to increase the number of women in maritime, and crucially within senior roles across its shipping, ports, marine and business services industries.

Achieving a balanced workforce at all levels in the maritime sector will undoubtedly improve culture, behaviour, outcomes, profitability and productivity.

During London International Shipping Week, then Maritime Minister Rt Hon John Hayes MP called for industry to address gender imbalance in the sector. Government are represented on the Taskforce.

The Taskforce will make a series of recommendations and utilise Continue reading “Maritime UK has established a Taskforce to increase the number of women within the UK maritime sector”

Request to transfer UK rivers to the CRT gets mixed response

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Request to transfer UK rivers to the CRT gets mixed response
Request to transfer UK rivers to the CRT gets mixed response

The Canal & River Trust (CRT) has put in a formal request to the Government to transfer the Thames, Nene, Great Ouse, Medway and other Environment Agency (EA) rivers to CRT which has met with a mixed response from user groups.

The idea has been discussed numerous times in the past, and was to have taken place when CRT was formed from the former British Waterways in 2012. But the plan was scuppered by the twin problems of the lack of any EA property ‘dowry’ (unlike the considerable commercial portfolio which came from BW and provides some £50m a year in rentals), and the complexity on some rivers of disentangling navigation from other responsibilities (such as flooding) which would stay with the EA. A subsequent proposal Continue reading “Request to transfer UK rivers to the CRT gets mixed response”

Rolls-Royce opens autonomous ship research and development centre in Finland

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Photo: From left: Director General of Business Finland, Pekka Soini; Director General of ‎the Ministry of Employment and Economy, Ilona Lundström; Minister Anne Berner; President Rolls-Royce Marine, Mikael Mäkinen; UK’s Ambassador to Finland, Tom Dodd; Mayor of Turku, Minna Arve (Photo: Pekka Leino)
Photo: From left: Director General of Business Finland, Pekka Soini; Director General of ‎the Ministry of Employment and Economy, Ilona Lundström; Minister Anne Berner; President Rolls-Royce Marine, Mikael Mäkinen; UK’s Ambassador to Finland, Tom Dodd; Mayor of Turku, Minna Arve (Photo: Pekka Leino)

Rolls-Royce has opened a state-of-the-art research facility in Turku, Finland, to develop the technologies Rolls-Royce and its partners require to shape the future of an increasingly more autonomous global shipping industry.

The new Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships includes a Remote and Autonomous Experience Space aimed at showcasing the autonomous ship technologies Rolls-Royce has already introduced as well as those in the development stage.

Commenting on how the Rolls-Royce R&D centre further strengthens Finland’s commitment to developing autonomous transport, Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications Anne Berner, said: “There is great global interest in autonomous vehicles and vessels as a future means of transport. The opening of the Rolls-Royce Research & Development Centre for Autonomous Ships here in Turku, a maritime city with a history of technological innovation, will help achieve our goal of digitalising the country’s transport sector.”

The new R&D Centre enables Rolls-Royce and its partners to carry out projects focused on Continue reading “Rolls-Royce opens autonomous ship research and development centre in Finland”

Lifecord – a kill cord you will never forget – launched by Landau

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Lifecord - a kill cord you will never forget - launched by Landau
Lifecord – a kill cord you will never forget – launched by Landau

Lifecord is a newly designed kill cord providing the certainty and reliability of a tethered connection between a boat’s engine ignition kill switch and pilot, ensuring the vessel’s engine stops should the pilot be inadvertently thrown from the helm. However, unlike the typical passive kill cords commonly seen, Lifecord is a ‘smart’ kill cord incorporating detection technology designed to trigger an audible and visual warning alarm should Lifecord be connected to the boat’s kill switch but not the pilot, similar to the seat belt warning in your car.

Lifecord’s uniquely designed Key and Clasp connector is comfortable to wear and can be operated easily even while wearing gloves. It also offers a secondary method of pilot connection using Continue reading “Lifecord – a kill cord you will never forget – launched by Landau”

Bilge system back-flow causes significant cargo damage

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Bilge system back-flow causes significant cargo damage
Bilge system back-flow causes significant cargo damage

Writing in the latest publication by UK P&I Club, Captain David Nichol cites a case history describing a cargo damage case involving a bulk carrier caused by insufficient maintenance of the bilge system valves and the crew’s wrong estimation of the ingress alarm system.

The incident
Prior to loading a full cargo of bulk minerals the cargo holds were cleaned and tested successfully for watertight integrity. In addition, the efficient operation of the cargo hold bilge pumping system and water ingress alarms was also verified. A few days after departure from the loading port, the water ingress alarm for no.2 cargo hold was activated. However, when the hold bilges were sounded by the crew, they appeared to be dry and it was therefore assumed that the ingress alarm system was defective. Daily hold bilge soundings continued to give no cause for concern. At the discharge port, wet cargo was revealed at Continue reading “Bilge system back-flow causes significant cargo damage”

Princess Yachts and BAR Technologies collaborate on revolutionary carbon yacht

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Princess Yachts and BAR Technologies collaborate on revolutionary carbon yacht
Princess Yachts and BAR Technologies collaborate on revolutionary carbon yacht

Plymouth, UK yard, Princess Yachts, has announced that it is working Portsmouth based BAR Technologies on a joint carbon fibre project which has been billed as an entirely new class of yacht.

The project is shrouded in secrecy to prevent any details being released before its official unveiling. Currently the only known fact is that its length is mid-30 foot (approximately 10.6 metres). BAR Technologies covered the new-build in a camouflage hull wrap as it was recently transported out of its yard in Portsmouth.

BAR Technologies was established to Continue reading “Princess Yachts and BAR Technologies collaborate on revolutionary carbon yacht”

Rolls-Royce has announced a strategic review of its marine business

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Image courtesy Rolls-Royce
Image courtesy Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has announced it is considering the sale of its loss-making commercial marine business, on the context of embarking on simplifying its complex business simplification of business. This may result in a reduction from five operating businesses to three core units based around Civil Aerospace, Defence and Power Systems.

As part of this exercise, the company plans to consolidate Naval Marine and Nuclear Submarines operations within the existing Defence business, and Civil Nuclear operations within the Power Systems business, to facilitate a more fundamental restructuring of support and management functions in particular.

“Building on our actions over the past two years, this further simplification of our business means Continue reading “Rolls-Royce has announced a strategic review of its marine business”

British Ports Association has published a video to highlight their importance to the UK economy

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British Ports Association has published a video to highlight their importance to the UK economy
British Ports Association has published a video to highlight their importance to the UK economy

The British Ports Association has launched a video highlighting the importance of ports to the UK’s economy. The film uses new economic impact study data produced for Maritime UK – an umbrella group promoting the industry – to highlight the value of the UK ports industry. The figures show that collectively the industry employs 101,000 people, handles almost 500 million tons of freight and contributes £7.5 billion ($7.9 billion) to the economy.

The Chief Executive of The British Ports Association, Richard Ballantyne, said: Continue reading “British Ports Association has published a video to highlight their importance to the UK economy”

Where will the next generation of marine surveyors come from?

Posted on by CEO

A belated Happy New Year. As we ponder what 2018 might hold for us and, let’s face it, projections for the marine surveyors world appear to be very mixed, depending on who you listen to, I have been shocked and saddened by the awful start to January with one disaster after another.

In the first instance, I am referring of course to the tragic accident and substantial loss of life and potential environmental meltdown caused by the collision between the Iranian owned tanker MV Sanchi and the Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship CF Crystal, leading to the subsequent sinking of the former. That such a shocking event can still occur in 2018 seems hard to understand. It is not known yet if the cause will ever be discovered. What can we learn from this awful incident? And yet this incident has meant that numerous other accidents Continue reading “Where will the next generation of marine surveyors come from?”

Ad Hoc Marine Designs unveils 41m SWATH Crew Transfer Vessel

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New SWATH CTV by Ad Hoc Marine. Photo credit: Ad Hoc Marine
New SWATH CTV by Ad Hoc Marine. Photo credit: Ad Hoc Marine

Ad Hoc Marine Designs has introduced a new 41m Walk to Work (W2W) SWATH Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV), capable of being at sea for up to two weeks with 24 technicians onboard, accommodated in their own individual cabins.

The vessel designer said that the new SWATH CTV, which can also carry any combination of 4 ISO containers, gives operators a better alternative to ordering larger vessels, especially when servicing offshore wind farms built far offshore.

The new vessel is based on the company’s Typhoon Class SWATH design that meets significant Continue reading “Ad Hoc Marine Designs unveils 41m SWATH Crew Transfer Vessel”

British Marine research suggests boating sector growth for the sixth consecutive year

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British Marine research suggests boating sector growth for the sixth consecutive year
British Marine research suggests boating sector growth for the sixth consecutive year

The UK’s leisure marine industry has achieved its sixth consecutive year of growth, according to research conducted by British Marine.

Industry revenues increased by 3.4% in 2017 – rising to £3.12bn – their highest level since the financial crisis of 2007/08. The sector directly contributed over £1.3bn to the UK economy between March 2016 – April 2017, while supporting over 33,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the UK’s manufacturing and service industries.

And while UK productivity remains sluggish compared to Continue reading “British Marine research suggests boating sector growth for the sixth consecutive year”

European Commission Reducing marine litter stakeholder survey and consultation

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Photo credit: Creative Commons/Forest/Kim Starr
Photo credit: Creative Commons/Forest/Kim Starr

The European Commission has published a stakeholder survey “Reducing marine litter: actions on single use plastics and abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear” as part of the follow up to the EU Strategy on Plastics scheduled for adoption in January 2018.

Plastics are an important material in our economy and present in many aspects of our daily lives, but they also have relatively low rates of reuse and recycling and are prone to littering.

The European Commission Action Plan for a Circular Economy (2015) therefore identified plastics as one of 5 priority areas. A Communication outlining the strategy for Continue reading “European Commission Reducing marine litter stakeholder survey and consultation”

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