Climate Neutral Island Supply Vessel Launched for Marshall Islands
A climate neutral island supply vessel has been launched for the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) to service the Marshall Islands.GIZ is implementing the bilateral project financed by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) together with the government of the Marshall Islands. The ship, which was developed by the ship design office Kostec Co. and the shipyard Asia Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. in Busan/Geoje, South Korea, together with the Emden/Leer University of Applied Sciences and the Hamburg design office SDC…
2008 IMO Award to Brazilian Seafarer
The 2008 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea has been presented to a Brazilian seafarer who saved fellow crew members from a dangerous fire on a ship. Mr. Rodolpho Fonseca da Silva Rigueira, of the drill ship Noble Roger Eason, nominated by the Government of Brazil, for his decisive, selfless action to rescue six fellow crew members from a catastrophic fire which burst out on it. The fire originated from an explosion, causing imminent risk to the lives of crew members in the vicinity of the explosion; yet, instead of evacuating the area, he repeatedly faced the fire and very high temperatures to save his colleagues, at severe risk to his own life. Mr. Rigueira was presented with the award by IMO Secretary-General Mr. Efthimios E.
Implications of the Jho Doctrine
On June 30, 2008, in the case of United States v. Jho, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed a ruling of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and held that it was not a violation of international law for the federal government to prosecute an owner of a foreign ship and a chief engineer for violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) by failing to correctly maintain the ship's oil record book (ORB). The court went further and ruled that each time the ship called on a US port with the falsely maintained ORB constituted a separate offense. The sentencing aspects of those separate violations were remanded to the district court for consideration. The implications of that decision are only beginning to be understood.
