Lithgow News

Setting out to increase fairness, equality and inclusion within the maritime sector, Maritime UK has established a Women in Maritime Taskforce, a move welcomed by the U.K.’s new Maritime Minister, Nusrat Ghani MP. “I am delighted to see Maritime UK taking action to attract more women into our maritime industries, and I welcome this taskforce as an important first step,” said Ghani, who is only the second woman to hold the Department for Transport portfolio for the U.K.’s £40 billion maritime sector.

The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (the Institute) and BIMCO are pleased to announce the start of a new venture combining BIMCO’s state of the art eLearning courses and the Institute’s global engagement with students. This is a major boost for young people in the industry by giving them greater access to quality education and improved standards in maritime centres across the globe. A test group of Institute students - in mainly developing countries – and covering a wide range of shipping centres across the globe, will be able to use BIMCO’s eLearning courses in preparation for Institute exams. Angus Frew, Secretary General & CEO of BIMCO said: "BIMCO is proud to support the work of the Institute by providing our eLearning expertise to their students.

The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers has welcomed 200 new members at the annual meeting of its Controlling Council, held this year in Vancouver, Canada. In being formally elected to membership of the ICS, one of shipping’s oldest professional bodies, the candidates join an organization of 25 branches, 18 teaching centers and 4,000 individuals which supports the development of shipping professionals globally. Applications came from 40 countries with the largest growth areas being London, Athens, Mombasa and Dubai, each accounting for 10% or more of the 200 new members.

The shipping industry is investing in training. Newly released statistics from the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS), which celebrated its centenary in 2011, show shipping bucking the trend in terms of cuts to training budgets. While recent figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) revealed a fall of 20 percent in training budgets in 2011, ICS examination registrations are up 44 percent. The ICS 2012 figures for the number of examinations being undertaken are in sharp contrast to the downbeat maritime industry forecasts for the medium to long term. The ICS is experiencing a record year in examination registrations with 5,838 already confirmed, compared to 4,061 in 2011.

The 10,000dwt, Vanuatu flagged ocean flat deck barge "DRC/Blake 1" (ex- Eide Barge 35, Pacific Horizon, MB-100, SLB-1 and SLB-2) was sold to private South American buyers, marking the second time that Marcon International, Inc. of Coupeville, Washington has sold this heavily-built unit. Marcon previously sold her from Horizon Offshore of Houston, Texas to Eide Marine Services of Norway in 2004. "DRC/Blake 1's" dimensions are 100m x 30m x 7.5m' depth and she has a 10 tonnes per square meter uniform deck load. The barge is classed by Lloyds, LR +100 A1 Pontoon.

Britain is to return to the world of semi-submersible rig building for the first time in two decades as prices soar and shipyards in South Korea run out of space. SeaDragon Offshore, a newly-formed company is to take over a former vessel construction facility on Teesside to build the first in a series of three drilling units worth up to $1.5b. As many as 600 jobs could be created at the Haverton Hill Shipyard by SeaDragon which plans to float on either the London or the Oslo stock exchange within 12 months. SeaDragon is backed by Lloyds TSB and has brought in some of the most credible names in the offshore world, including KCA Deutag, a part of the London-quoted Abbott Group, plus naval architects Moss Maritime.