Indian Ocean

India Intends To Become Significant Maritime Player

India’s defense minister declared the country’s intention to be able to project maritime force throughout the Indian Ocean, underscoring the shift toward a littoral-warfare capability. About 40 percent of the world’s sea traffic passes through the Malacca Strait between Malaysia and Indonesia, including ships carrying oil from the Persian Gulf. Indian military strategists are concentrating on protecting the approaches to these sea lanes, which is the basis for India’s drive to become a major regional power in military terms as well. This means that India is becoming a significant maritime player for two reasons — its geostrategic location and disposition astride the key Indian Ocean sea-lines, and its potent naval power. In case of a military conflict in the western Pacific [such as over Taiwan], all states involved in the conflict would like to either protect their own shipping or interdict the adversary’s ships, depending upon their capabilities.” said Gurupreet Khurana, an active Indian Navy commander and defense analyst with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis, a think tank here. However, China is also extending its naval influence through the Indian Ocean region, seeking to protect its energy interests. India and China fought a brief conflict in 1962 over a border dispute that remains unresolved.

Global IP Extends Mobility Offering with Intelsat

Global IP to introduce Ku-band maritime services to oil, gas and energy customers across the vast Indian Ocean region. Intelsat S.A., a  provider of satellite services, announced today that Spain-based Global IP, a provider of satellite communications for maritime, energy and corporate customers, has signed multi-year agreements allowing it to provide broadband service to its maritime customers in the Indian Ocean region

Navy Seizes Suspected Pirate Ship

The Norfolk, Va.-based USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) seized a suspected pirate ship 87 km (54 nm) off the coast of Somalia. The Navy says the vessel stopped 54 miles off the coast of Somalia after the Churchill fired warning shots. U-S sailors boarded the ship and confiscated small arms. The ship (a dhow) is suspected of having fired on a merchant vessel passing off the coast of Somalia. There were 16 Indians and 10 Somalis aboard the dhow, along with various small arms

TSS Extends High-Speed On Demand Maritime Service

Telenor Satellite Services (TSS) now offers high-speed 128 kbps maritime satellite communications service globally. Telenor has added Pacific Ocean coverage to its existing Fleet F77 128 kbps service in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions. The service is terminated at the company’s Pacific Ocean teleport in Santa Paula, California.

Bulk Carrier Sinks

The Liberian-registered bulk carrier Madona, carrying cement, sank in rough seas early Monday morning in the Indian Ocean after all its crew were rescued, an Australian search and rescue official said. The crew of the 33,000-dwt bulk carrier sent out a distress signal on Saturday afternoon before taking to life rafts as the vessel listed and began to sink. Madona, a 183-meter long vessel built in 1982, sank about 200 nautical miles north of the Cocos Islands

Register Before Transiting High Risk Area

The Singapore Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) issued a circular advising masters of ships transiting or operating in the High Risk Area for piracy attacks in the West Indian Ocean to register with both the UK Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) and the Maritime Security Centre-Horn of Africa (MSCHOA).  It also notes that the Vessel Movement Registration process with the MSCHOA has recently been amended to include an entry boundary to the North of the High Risk Area (23°N)

Navy Ship Nears Pirates Holding U.S. Captain

According to an April 9 Reuters report, a U.S. Navy destroyer reached waters off Somalia to help free an American ship captain taken hostage by pirates in the first incident of seizure of U.S. citizens. Gunmen briefly hijacked the 17,000-tonne Maersk Alabama freighter on April 8, but the 20 American crew retook control after a confrontation far out in the Indian Ocean. (Source: Reuters)

Shipping Bodies Raise Alarm as Pirates Take Ransom

The International Chamber of Shipping, ITF, Indian National Shipowners’ Association, NUSI, MUI, IMEC, InterManager, Intertanko and BIMCO deplore the latest development in the Indian Ocean piracy crisis as some Indian crew members of a released merchant ship are retained ashore in Somalia. The Asphalt Venture, a 1991 built asphalt/bitumen tanker was hijacked by Somali pirates on September 28th 2010 and, following a ransom payment, the ship was released on April 15

25 Lost In Ferry Mishap

Twenty-five people are feared dead after their boat sank off the east coast of Madagascar last week, including 18 players and officials from a local soccer club and two Frenchmen. The boat sank on Thursday with some 41 people on board, including nine crew members, while it was traveling from Soanierana-Ivongo on the mainland to the picturesque tourist island of Sainte-Marie, around 40 km (25 miles) away. Fourteen survivors were picked up on Friday

Conference to Examine Global LNG Marketplace

Zeus Development Corporation announces the organization of a conference, March 12-14, 2003, in Los Angeles, to consider the implications of West Coast terminals for the global LNG industry. "With numerous onshore and offshore terminal proposals under evaluation on the West Coast by ChevronTexaco, Marathon, Shell, Mitsubishi, El Paso and others, the LNG industry will likely drive the golden spike in its circumference of the globe this decade," said Bob Nimocks