The Elders News

Libyan oil output will resume from all shuttered fields and ports, the Tripoli government's newly installed head of National Oil Corporation (NOC) said on Friday after meeting groups that have blockaded the facilities for months.The decision to lift force majeure on production could mean a return of 850,000 barrels per day (BPD) of oil to the market that has been shut off by the groups aligned with eastern commander Khalifa Haftar.Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah of the Government…

Libya halted oil production from its El Feel oilfield on Sunday and two sources at Zueitina oil port said exports there had been suspended after protesters calling for Tripoli-based Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah to resign took over the sites.Halting operations in El Feel and Zueitina would cripple Libya's oil production which averaged 1.21 million barrels per day before the latest outages. The force majeure on El Feel curtails the North African nation's production by 70,000 barrels per day.Libya has had two competing governments since March when the eastern-based parliament appointed Fathi Bashagha to replace Dbeibah, renewing a standoff between the east and west of the country.

Somali pirates released a hijacked oil tanker and its eight Sri Lankan crew on Thursday, a Somali security official and the pirates said, bringing the first hijacking since 2012 to an unusually swift conclusion without the payment of a ransom. The release followed a gunfight earlier in the day between the pirates and the marine force, and then intensive negotiations between the marine force, clan elders and the pirates. "There has been discussion going on after the gunfight of this afternoon ...

Somali al Shabaab fighters have seized a small port in the semi-autonomous Puntland region, the latest sign of a resurgence in activity by the Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa nation. A series of offensives last year by the African Union force AMISOM and the Somali National Army had driven al Shabaab out of major strongholds in the southern region of Somalia. At the time, officials said some al Shabaab fighters had moved north to the Puntland region, beyond AMISOM's area of operation. In recent weeks, al Shabaab has also retaken smaller towns and launched deadly attacks in the southern region. "Al Shabaab fighters with several boats captured Garad town," Hassan Mohamed, governor for Mudug region of Puntland told Reuters, adding that the attack took place on Monday.

The “World’s Best” Crystal Cruises is introducing a new expedition-style  voyage traversing the Arctic Ocean via the legendary Northwest Passage – one so mysterious and remote (500 miles north of the Arctic Circle), that explorers spent centuries seeking the passage, until it was first completed successfully by Roald Amundsen just over 100 years ago. Crystal will be the first luxury cruise line to ever navigate the route, maneuvering through 900 miles of majestic waterways lined with spectacular glaciers, towering fjords, and vast unspoiled landscapes away from mainstream civilization and tourism, north of mainland Canada. Beginning August 16, 2016 in Anchorage/Seward, Alaska, the award-winning Crystal Serenity will sail for 32 days from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean/New York City.

Rebels occupying major oil ports in eastern Libya said on Wednesday they would boycott Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq and keep two major export terminals shut for now, a blow to efforts to restore vital oil exports. The rebels even warned they would take action if Tripoli did not fulfil its part of a recent agreement to reopen the oil ports, a veiled threat to close the terminals again. "Nothing has been implemented," said Abd-Rabbo al-Barassi, self-declared prime minister of the rebel movement. He accused the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists in parliament of undermining the agreement and trying to take over the ports. The struggle over energy wealth is part of growing turmoil in the North African country three years after the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The body of a South Korean boy whose shaking voice first raised the alarm that a passenger ferry with hundreds on board was in trouble has been found, his parents believe, but a DNA test has yet to confirm the find, media said on Thursday. His parents had checked his body and clothes and concluded he was their son, the Yonhap news agency said. The crew had told the children to stay put as the ferry sank. The Sewol sank on April 16 on a routine trip from the port of Incheon, near Seoul, to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Investigations are focused on human error or a mechanical fault, with media saying the ship was three times overloaded, with cargo poorly stowed and inadequate ballast water.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town and one of the greatest living moral icons of our time, is scheduled to lecture on a segment of Holland America Line's 2014 Grand World Voyage on ms Amsterdam. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate will sail March 28 to April 2, 2014, from Durban to Cape Town, South Africa. Tutu will address guests at two speaking engagements onboard about his role as the first black African to serve as archbishop of Cape Town and about his work forging racial equality throughout the world.

Specilaist livestock carriers 'MV Galloway Express' and 'MV Ganado Express' have been named at the COSCO Shipyard in Guandong, China. These livestock carriers are the first two in a newbuilding programme of four next‑generation livestock vessels, being built for Vroon in Guangdong. The vessels have a cargo capacity of approximately 4,500 sqm and a cruising range of around 18,000 NM. They are fitted with animal-welfare facilities exceeding Australian (AMSA) regulations and incorporate…

Tim Holt, Head of Intelligence at Special Contingency Risks (SCR), part of the Willis Group, gives his reasons, suggest remedies. •    “Piracy is the second largest generator of income in Somalia, yielding an estimated $200 million annually. •    “As pirate financiers invest more and more in the success of their operations, lucrative opportunities for local business have vastly expanded. A $4 million ransom will be injected back into the local economy, benefiting a community that once lived in abject poverty. There is little wonder why the practice has boomed when Somali per capita income is $600 and a minimum $10,000 is available for each perpetrator of a successful operation. With 90% of the world’s trade is transported by sea, the opportunities are vast.

The Australian Maritime Complex along with Landcorp recently announced the name of the Floating Dry Dock at the official naming ceremony. The Floating Dock was given the traditional Nyoongar name Yagan by the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Counsel in consultation with Nyoongar Elders. Yagan, the Nyoongar word for tortoise, metaphorically refers to the amphibious functions of the floating dock. With fully automated ballast and maneuvering systems the dock has the capacity to lift 12…

Two recent shipping incidents in BC Canada waters have heightened the fears of the Gitga’at First Nation facing the prospect of the world’s largest oil-tankers passing right past their village of Hartley Bay. Enbridge has teamed up with other multinational oil giants to build the Northern Gateway Pipeline to carry oil from Alberta’s tar sands to a port in Kitimat where it would be loaded onto tankers roughly double the size of the infamous Exxon Valdez. The shipping lanes proposed by Enbridge plunge straight through the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest and prime whale habitat. In the first incident, a cruise ship docked in Vancouver with a dead Fin whale impaled on its bow. This second largest animal on Earth, is especially vulnerable to being struck by ships.

That is the basic business principle that has sustained Dietmar Wertanzl, senior VP of Fleet operations for Celebrity Cruises, since he began his career with the industry in the late 1970's. Not even 30-years old, Wertanzl began on what was then known as Norwegian America Line's Vistafjord as a dining room steward, so swept up by the magic of sea travel. Wertanzl's philosophy is simple. Treat your employees and customers the way that you would want to be treated. He always falls back on this simple notion: In order to run a successful fleet — from both the hospitality and technical end — everyone must work together to educate one another.