Captain Seafarer Blogs

Fort Zeelandia

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on November 1, 2013

Once the Dutch decided to compete with the Portuguese and the Spanish for maritime commerce with East Asia, they jumped in with both feet. After establishing a base in Batavia (modern-day Jakarta), they focused on trade with China and Japan.

Other experimental ironclads

Posted to Maritime Musings (by Dennis Bryant) on March 23, 2012

When the Union Navy learned that the Confederate Navy was building an iron-clad warship to threaten the wooden-hulled blockade fleet, it launched a crash project to build its own iron-clad warships. Of the 17 proposals submitted, the Union Navy selected three for construction.

Carriers in for a brutal year as capacity floods in

Posted to Far East Maritime (by Greg Knowler) on July 4, 2012

Alphaliner’s chart of the week focuses on the new tonnage that has been added by the top 20 container shipping lines in the past 12 months. As incredible as the capacity is – 844,000 TEUs for a fleet growth of 6.4 percent – the one carrier that stands out is CSAV.