Severe Cyclone Ita heads towards Queensland
per hour. communities along the far north Queensland coast. GALES extending out to 200km from the centre. tonight and maintain cyclone intensity for longer into Saturday. at Port Douglas and Cairns during Saturday. Blue Alert – no major shipping. Red Alert – port is closed. Red Alert – port is closed. Blue Alert – precautions in place. Normal operations. Normal operations. severe weather in the next few days. directed by the Regional Harbour Master.
Cyclone Warning for North Queensland
Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) is advising of the approach of Cyclone Ita towards the North Queensland coast of Australia. Forecast to develop into a severe category level 4 tropical cyclone, it is expected to make landfall late on Friday, April 11 between the Lockhart River and Cape Flattery. With gale force winds and high sea levels predicted, warnings of potential floods to low lying areas are being issued. ISS Australia has provided the latest port update from the region and will continue to monitor the impact of the storm on behalf of shipowners and operators.
Ballast Water Treatment 'Chaos' Says ICS Chairman at AGM
At the ICS AGM, national shipowners’ associations from Europe, Asia and the Americas, representing all sectors and trades and 80% of the world merchant fleet, considered pressing international issues of concern to global ship operators. Matters discussed included the continuing piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean and the challenge of further reducing ships’ CO2 emissions. Another pressing concern discussed by ICS members was the serious problems for shipowners created by the delayed entry into force of the IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention. Because of major changes proposed at IMO to important draft guidelines on ballast water sampling and analysis that will be used by port state control inspectors…
