LAGOON

Venice 'Blue Flag' Accord Signed

Cruise ships agree to adopt the strictest measures to reduce air pollution when entering Italy's Venice Lagoon. The agreement, known as “Venice Blue Flag II,” commits cruise lines to operate the main and auxiliary engines of their ships with marine fuel with sulphur content of no more than 0.1% (lower than the EU guidelines, which recently set restrictions at 0.5%) immediately upon passing the Lido harbour entrance and while travelling through the Lagoon’s marine canals. It also charges the Coast Guard with using its own personnel to conduct adequate supervision in order to verify observance with the agreement. Fuel analyses will be provided under a specific agreement signed by the Coast Guard, Port Authority and Customs Office. “An important step forwards: the establishment of a ‘green zone’ extending to the entire Lagoon is a fundamental, essential aspect of the process of dealing with the issue of large cruise ships in Venice.”

These were the words chosen by Venice’s mayor, Giorgio Orsoni, to welcome the voluntary agreement between cruise lines on the use of green fuel upon passing the entrance to the Lagoon harbour. 

Following on from the first Venice Blue Flag agreement, signed in 2007, which called for the use of special, less polluting fuels when docked, the new agreement with the international association CLIA Europe, representing the major cruise lines, and with strong support from Mayor Orsoni

SMIT Completes Salvage of Tanker in Lagoon

SMIT Salvage has successfully completed the salvage of the tanker Irina 2. This 15,063 gt vessel ran aground 40 miles off Oro Bay, Papua New Guinea, on July 29 after departing Kimbe with a cargo of palm crude. This casualty was one of three groundings SMIT responded to in August. The Irina 2 grounded in a lagoon. SMIT, working under a Lloyd's Open Form agreement, mobilised salvage personnel and equipment and two tugs - one of which connected up to the casualty.

Ship Runs Aground Off St. Croix

Less than a half-mile west of the channel entrance to Krause Lagoon, the freighter Sea Cloud remains hard aground in the amidships area after a failed attempt to enter the channel yesterday morning. A Coast Guard team from St. Croix immediately responded to the incident and was assisted by a second team from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Coast Guard and local authorities along with the salvage company and environmental response contractor hired by the responsible party are working together to

Clean Tanker Decline Deepens

Tumbling freight rates for clean tankers in the Atlantic have dropped steeply this week, and brokers pointed to the almost total closure of most transatlantic arbitrages as the reason. "The Continent transatlantic market has collapsed with the close of the arb'," said one New York tanker broker. "I believe it's 100 percent closed now." London's Baltic Exchange closed on Tuesday with its assessment of the Rotterdam to New York trade down by nearly nine points on the preceding day to $0.26

NAVSEA Takes Lead in Repairing Oil Leak from Sunken Ship

Divers from Mobile Underwater Diving Salvage Unit (MUDSU) 1 based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, will soon descend into a Pacific lagoon to stop a recent oil leak and assess the material condition of a World War II Navy oil tanker that sank in 1944. USS Mississinewa (AO 59), a 553-foot auxiliary oiler, was commissioned May 18, 1944, and supported the ships of the 3rd Fleet in the Central and South Pacific. The huge lagoon at Ulithi Atoll was an anchorage for hundreds of Pacific Fleet ships and

Captain Leonard to Employ GOST Nav-Tracker

The Nav-Tracker GPS tracking system from boat security systems supplier Global Ocean Security Technologies (GOST – formerly Paradox Marine) will be used to monitor the progress of Three Little Birds, a Lagoon 500 catamaran, on a- three-year circumnavigation. Boat captain Scott Leonard and his family will set sail in July and throughout the voyage, Scott plans to become “The Mobile CEO” – running his multi-million dollar financial services firm while sailing around the

Carnival to Build and Operate Cruise Terminal in Honduras

Carnival Corporation & plc has signed an agreement to build and operate a cruise terminal on the island of Roatan, Honduras. Development of the facility - to be called "Mahogany Bay - Roatan" – is expected to start in fall 2007 and be completed by summer 2009 at a cost of $50m. The cruise facility will be situated on 20 acres on the Roatan waterfront and will consist of a two-berth cruise terminal capable of accommodating super post-Panamax vessels and up to 7,000 passengers daily.

The World's Largest Sailing Catamaran to Set Record

Hemisphere (formerly Project Gemini), designed by naval architects Van Peteghem Lauriot Prévost (VPLP) and built by Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, CT, is on course for delivery later in 2008. With a length overall of 145 ft. and a gross tonnage of just under 500,  is set to scoop the record as the world's largest sailing catamaran.  The result is a  design  with practical features blending speed and stability with both space and style

This Day in Naval History – Nov. 19

1813- Capt. David Porter claims Marquesas Islands for the United States. 1943 - Carrier force attacks bases on Tarawa and Makin begun. 1943 - USS Nautilus (SS-168) enters Tarawa lagoon in first submarine photograph reconnaissance mission. 1961 - At the request of President of Dominican Republic, U.S. Naval Task Force sails to Dominican Republic to bolster the country's government and to prevent a coup. 1969 - Navy astronauts CDR Charles Conrad Jr. and CDR Alan L

This Day in Naval History – Nov. 19

1813- Capt. David Porter claims Marquesas Islands for the United States. 1943 - Carrier force attacks bases on Tarawa and Makin begun. 1943 - USS Nautilus (SS-168) enters Tarawa lagoon in first submarine photograph reconnaissance mission. 1961 - At the request of President of Dominican Republic, U.S. Naval Task Force sails to Dominican Republic to bolster the country's government and to prevent a coup. 1969 - Navy astronauts CDR Charles Conrad Jr. and CDR Alan L