Rena News

The Sri Lankan navy said on Tuesday an oil slick had been spotted a kilometer from a loaded supertanker carrying roughly 2 million barrels of oil that has been engulfed in intermittent fires since an explosion on September 3.Oil from the engine room of the 20-year old New Diamond tanker “appears to have leaked out to the sea” following regular bouts of water-dousing by fire-fighting vessels, the navy spokesman said.The oil slick has raised concerns about the potential of further leakage from the cargo holds…

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretariat is attending the latest in a series of conferences to develop a legally binding international instrument, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction - known as 'BBNJ'.According to the UN body, the 3rd Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) is being held at UN Headquarters in New York, United States (19-30 August). The current Conference session is the third in a series, with the fourth (final session) set to take place in the first half of 2020.The current conference session is discussing the draft treaty text.

Todd Schauer is Director of Operations at Resolve Marine Group, as well as President of the American Salvage Association. After graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a degree in Naval Architecture in 1991, he followed that up with graduate degrees in Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. And, while his considerable U.S. Coast Guard experience includes shipboard engineering, marine safety, advanced engineering and emergency response, he is best known for his longtime role in the commercial salvage business.

Todd Schauer is Director of Operations at Resolve Marine Group, as well as President of the American Salvage Association. After graduating from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with a degree in Naval Architecture in 1991, he followed that up with graduate degrees in Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan. And, while his considerable U.S. Coast Guard experience includes shipboard engineering, marine safety, advanced engineering and emergency response, he is best known for his longtime role in the commercial salvage business.

The increasing automation of vessels is causing some mariners to lose basic maritime skills. During dinner on June 10, 1995, the last night before the cruise ship Royal Majesty was due to arrive in Boston from its voyage to Bermuda, the master bragged to the passengers at his table that his ship could never run aground because it had all the latest electronic equipment, including a navigation system that integrated the GPS signals and other information. At 2225 that night the ship grounded on the Rose and Crown Shoal near Nantucket. It was 17 miles west of its planned trackline.

A review of coastal navigation safety by Maritime NZ has found that there is a sound framework in place to manage the movement of ships around the New Zealand coast, with procedures in place to assess risk and adjust safety measures if required. Maritime NZ Director Keith Manch said the review, begun in April last year, was prompted by an anticipated increase in the number of ship visits to New Zealand, a trend toward larger ships, and technology changes in navigational aids. Consideration was also give to a Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) recommendation following the grounding of the Rena that Maritime NZ collect data on shipping movements around the New Zealand coast, and monitor and control the use of virtual aids to navigation around the New Zealand coast.

The Maritime Union of New Zealand is concerned about the reduction in monitoring of international shipping by Maritime New Zealand, the Government agency responsible for ensuring a “safe, secure and clean” maritime environment. Less than half of “Priority 1” vessels (49%) coming into New Zealand were inspected in the 2014/2015 year, according to Maritime New Zealand’s annual report. That is well beneath the target of 70% inspections for the year, and the 82% of inspections achieved in the 2013/2014 year. Maritime Union of New Zealand national secretary Joe Fleetwood says the monitoring and investigation of compliance by international shipping was a key role of the agency.

BRP has added 19 new Evinrude dealers and four boat builders in its North American network in the third quarter of fiscal year 2016. The performance and breakthrough design of the award-winning Evinrude E-TEC G2 engine, as well as the entire Evinrude product line, continues to draw interest from the world’s top dealers and boat builders. “We’re excited to be able to offer our customers the power and customizability of the Evinrude E-TEC G2 engines,” said Jeff Junker, general manager, Wher-Rena Boatland in North Carolina, U.S., one of the leading dealers in the North American market. “The Evinrude E-TEC G2 outboard is not only the best performing and most fuel efficient engine on the market, but it has garnered praise for its bold, breakthrough design and stylish good looks.

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc. delivered the M/V Rena Marie (Hull 191), the 61st 90-foot inland towboat to Florida Marine Transporters, Inc. (FMT) of Mandeville, La., continuing its ongoing new build program. Florida Marine Transporters, Inc. signed an order for additional towboats earlier this year, bringing the total vessels contracted over the last 10 years to 65. Five of the most recent 90-foot inland towboat deliveries to FMT occurred over the past 12 months. Delivered July 9, 2015, Rena Marie was constructed at Eastern’s Allanton Facility from a design furnished by Gilbert Associates, Inc. of Boston, Mass.

More than 250 shipping and insurance professionals gathered for the first ever Asian Maritime Casualty Forum held during Singapore Maritime Week. The two-day conference, hosted by global marine and engineering consultancy London Offshore Consultants (LOC), highlighted some of the vital issues in salvage and vessel wreck removal and in particular rising costs, technological challenges and the need for the parties involved in major casualties to work more closely together. The industry…

Maritime New Zealand has approved a pause in work on salvaging the Rena while the wrecked cargo ship’s owners wait for their resource consent application to be heard. The ship's owner Daina Shipping has been seeking permission to leave sections of the wreck and some debris on Astrolabe reef, where the container ship grounded in 2011. Maritime New Zealand said the pause would take effect only once the wreck reached the state set out in the consent application, which was expected to be heard later this year. "Maritime NZ accepts that it is not reasonable to require further salvage work to be carried out, beyond what is required to reach the wreck state set out in the application, until resolution of that process," said director Keith Manch.

Vesper Marine has been awarded the contract to provide Virtual Automatic Identification System (AIS) Beacons to mark seven reefs hazardous to shipping in the Bay of Plenty, as well as provide a coastal monitoring capability. The beacons will alert ships’ crews and the local government’s Regional Council that a vessel is heading towards a charted danger or entering the no-go zone around each hazard. The contract is in response to the October 5, 2011 events that resulted in the worst environmental disaster in New Zealand’s history…

New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) published its final report into the grounding of containership Rena in October 2011. The TAIC’s investigation found that the grounding was a result of improper crew practices, and that equipment/machinery malfunction played no part in the incident. According to the report, the Liberian-registered containership Rena had left the New Zealand port of Napier at 10:20 a.m. on October 4, 2011 bound for the New Zealand port of Tauranga. The master had given an estimated time of arrival at the Tauranga pilot station of 3 a.m.

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) announced it is undertaking a review of coastal navigation safety to identify risks and assess current and potential safety measures. MNZ Director Keith Manch said the review, which begins July 2014, is part of a focus on developing an intelligence-led, risk-focused approach to maritime safety. “In order to appropriately manage risks in the coastal environment we need an accurate and up-to-date picture of what those risks are,” he said. The first phase is expected to last around 12 months and will involve assessing the nature of risks around coastal navigation and how they are being managed. “We are taking an open-minded approach, so the first thing to do is establish what risks actually exist and what measures are in place to address them,” Manch said.

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) welcomed the release of the independent review of its response to the grounding of the Rena, and the announcement of $2 million of government funding to help improve New Zealand’s maritime response capability.The report, by independent reviewer Simon Murdoch, was released today by Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee.MNZ Director Keith Manch said the organization was already implementing a number of the review recommendations and the funding package would help MNZ develop a wider strategic and operational response to maritime incidents.In the review report…

New Zealand Government Transport Minister Gerry Brownlee has announced a $2 million package to help Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) improve New Zealand’s wider maritime response capability following an independent review of its response to the grounding of the container ship 'Rena' off the coast of Tauranga in October 2011. Conducted by former Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Murdoch, the review identified several areas for improvement. Mr Brownlee says the Rena response was about more than oil…

Resolve Marine Group has further strengthened its fleet with the acquisition of the 152-ton bollard emegency towing vessel (ETV), 'Resolve Monarch', from JP Knight (Lowestoft) Ltd., and the vessel is currently en route to the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand where she will assist with Resolve’s work on the 'MV Rena' project. Previously named the Anglican Monarch, the purpose built (ETV) was on contract with the United Kingdom government, where she served as part of the government’s coast line emergency response fleet, actively involved in many high-profile maritime casualty rescues.

Braemar Shipping Services plc., an international provider of broking, consultancy, technical and other services to the shipping and energy industries, announced its full year results for the year ending February 28, 2013. James Kidwell, chief executive of Braemar Shipping Services plc, said, “We have reported a robust group performance, in extremely challenging shipping markets, thanks to our progressive diversification into a broad range of maritime services. “This year’s performance shows that the strategy to develop a more broadly-based business has reduced volatility of the Group’s results and the exposure to the shipping cycle.

Insurers, Lloyd's of London, say in a new report that the cost of dealing with shipwrecks is rising as ships grow in size. The report, 'The challenges and implications of removing shipwrecks in the 21st century', warns that the cost of dealing with shipwrecks is spiralling and the increase in removal cost is often passed to insurers, reinsurers and ship owners. Recent examples of expensive wreck removals include the container ship Rena which sank off New Zealand in 2011. So far, that removal has cost USD240m while the highly complex work to take away the ill-fated cruise ship Costa Concordia is still underway. Lloyd's says that the total cost of the top 20 most expensive wreck removals in the past decade is USD2.1bn and rising.

Heavy fuel oil on board the wrecked container ship is expected to leach out over time, but the ship's owners and insurers would prefer to leave it where it is. No decision had been made on leaving Rena on the reef, but draft assessments have been distributed for stakeholder and regional council review. Meanwhile the Maritime New Zealand order for full wreck removal remains in place, reports the Bay of Plenty Times. Matt Casey QC, and Keith Frentz from Beca AMEC, recently presented a report to the Tauranga City council on behalf of Daina Shipping Company and insurer The Swedish Club.

Braemar Shipping Services, international provider of shipping, marine & energy services, issues interim financial statement. The interim management statement refers in relation to the period since the announcement of the interim results on 30 October 2012. Revenue from the Environmental division was boosted by £15-million in the first half by the work on the MSC Rena in New Zealand. In the third quarter revenue from work on the container shipwreck reduced faster than expected, to £3.4m. Braemar's involvement in this project is expected to be completed by the financial year end. The Shipbroking division continues to face challenging conditions, with excess shipping capacity in most sectors affecting values and rates.

Braemar Shipping Services plc, (“Braemar”), an international provider of shipping, marine and energy services, today issues its interim management statement in relation to the period since the announcement of the interim results on 30 October 2012. The Shipbroking division continues to face challenging conditions, with excess shipping capacity in most sectors affecting values and rates. An increasing proportion of Braemar’s business is now done on the spot market. There were no significant changes in the market conditions in the past three months. Braemar Technical Services performed in line with management’s expectations. It continues to develop its position as a global provider of surveying, adjusting and engineering services to the energy, shipping and insurance sectors.

Daina Shipping fined $300,000 in NZ Court for discharge of harmful substances following grounding of the ship Oct. 2011. “The guilty plea by the owners has led to this case being resolved in a timely fashion and that is to be welcomed,” MNZ Director Keith Manch said. “The completion of this prosecution marks another step in the response to the grounding of the Rena. Daina Shipping Co. was charged under sections 338(1B) and 15B of the Resource Management Act 199, for being the owner of a ship from which harmful substances and/or contaminants were discharged into the coastal marine area.