Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
February 13, 2015
The sea lily (Bourgueticrinida) is an order of marine animals referred to as crinoids. They are typically found in deep ocean waters (to a depth of about 18,000 feet). In their adult form, they are attached to the sea floor by means of a stalk.
Posted to Global Maritime Analysis with Joseph Keefe
(by
Joseph Keefe)
on
February 3, 2015
Long Beach, CA: Less than 12 hours after the New England Patriots’ late game heroics stunned the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft found himself facing a standing room only audience of Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) delegates…
Posted to Maritime Transportation Security News and Views
(by
John C.W. Bennett)
on
April 15, 2011
The US Government having been kept in business for another week, the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC) started a two-day meeting on April 12th. The agenda previously discussed was modified such that the day started with the discussion of Seafarer Access Shore Leave Policy…
Posted to Law to curtail Shipping Trade Malpractices
(by
Joseph Fonseca)
on
March 14, 2011
An Act to facilitate swift and efficient movement of goods in India in relation to export/ import or coastal cargo is set to be enacted soon. It promises to bring transparency in trade practices by publishing of tariff by shipping transport…
Posted to FORAN V70 launched in India
(by
Joseph Fonseca)
on
February 2, 2011
Another system for the design and production of ships and off-shore platforms will be launched in India close at the heels of NAPPA systems. Popularly known as FORAN V70 it is scheduled to be launched on 16th February 2011 in Mumbai by the Spanish multinational…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
October 31, 2014
The sea otter (Enhydra lutris) is a member of the weasel family that ran away to sea. It is the smallest of the marine mammals and the only one that does not rely on fat (blubber) for warmth. Rather, it has the thickest coat of fur of any mammal – up to one million strands of hair per square inch.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
April 8, 2014
The Strait of Malacca is named after Malacca, now part of Malaysia. In about the year 1400, Parameswana, the last Raja of Singapura, was expelled from the area around present-day Singapore by local rivals. He relocated to the fishing village of Malacca…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
April 1, 2014
Elephant seals are large seals represented by two species, the northern elephant seal and the southern elephant seal. Both were hunted to near extinction through the end of the nineteenth century. The smaller northern elephant seal is found in the eastern portion of the North Pacific Ocean…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
November 15, 2013
The island group, consisting of two atolls and about 27 coral islands, was stumbled upon by Captain William Keeling (1578-1620) of the East Indiaman Susanna. In 1609, he was returning to England from the East India Company’s trading post on Java.
Posted to Martin Rushmere
(by
Martin Rushmere)
on
April 28, 2013
Northwest and as the door on a coal terminal closes, another opens for hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Gray’s Harbor, normally associated with autos and breakbulk, is eyeing a huge bonanza in the form of crude-by-rail. The stuff will probably come from the fields…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
March 19, 2013
The US Coast Guard motor lifeboat 36500 is the only one of the many hundreds that were built between the 1930s and the 1950s to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places. On 18 February 1952, during a severe winter storm off Cape Cod…
Posted to SCI acquires Kamsarmax Bulk carrier & PSV
(by
Joseph Fonseca)
on
December 19, 2012
The Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. (SCI) accepted delivery of a Kamsarmax Bulk carrier, m.v. “Vishva Jyoti” yesterday. The vessel is the first of a series of four Kamsarmax bulk carriers ordered by SCI with Jiangsu Eastern Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., China.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
July 31, 2012
The United States Navy disposes of many of its old, obsolete, and decommissioned warships by sinking them in deep ocean waters. This practice, called a sinking exercise or SINKEX, involves removing toxic and hazardous substances to the maximum practicable extent…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
May 25, 2012
The Xue Long (Snow Dragon) is the premier polar vessel of the People’s Republic of China. It was built in the Ukraine in 1993 and modified upon its acquisition by China in 1994. Its major function is to serve as a resupply vessel and scientific research platform in the Antarctic and the Arctic.
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
May 4, 2012
Abel Tasman (1603-1659) was a Dutch merchant and explorer. He is credited with the European discovery of Australia and New Zealand. He joined the Dutch United East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie - VOC) in 1633 and was promptly…
Posted to Maritime Musings
(by
Dennis Bryant)
on
April 13, 2012
Late on the night of April 14, 1912, the “unsinkable” passenger ship RMS Titanic, on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York struck an iceberg. It sank about three hours later, at about 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912. Of the 2,224 persons on board, 1,514 lost their lives.
Posted to Far East Maritime
(by
Greg Knowler)
on
January 25, 2012
The Year of the Dragon begins now, represented in the Chinese zodiac by the Water Dragon. There is some irony in that, because the worst drought in 50 years has forced Chinese maritime authorities to close the Yangtze River above the port of Wuhan, more than 600 miles upriver from Shanghai.
Posted to Maritime Transportation Security News and Views
(by
John C.W. Bennett)
on
December 6, 2011
Some 26,000 Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWICs) may be rejected by TWIC reader machines because of defective encoding. At some point recently, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) posted on the “Latest News”…