Us Center News

This is the dawning of the age of AI and Big Data, huge agglomerations of new and transformative energy; almost self-generating, always strengthening and pulling at the reins, seeking to break free and run, a prospect both exciting and terrifying. That image can imply a human is holding the reins. How quaint: these days, AI itself may be holding the reins.In a review of innovation in 2023 – across any industrial or economic sector, not just maritime – AI looms large, a game-changer equivalent to IBM’s programming advances in the 1940s.

Online valuation and data provider, VesselsValue, said Friday it had acquired the Norwegian shipping research and advisory company, ViaMar.ViaMar, based in Oslo, is becoming part of VesselsValue which has over 200 employees across eight offices worldwide in the UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul, and Manila.The Norwegian company provides market research and advisory services in shipping, energy and financial markets, and, according to VV, has particularly strong relationships with major banks…

China told the United States on Tuesday that it should play a constructive role in safeguarding peace in the disputed South China Sea, as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called for talks and a peaceful resolution. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims, as well as close military ties with the United States. China has been angered by what it views as provocative U.S. military patrols close to islands China controls in the South China Sea. The United States says the patrols are to protect freedom of navigation. Speaking at the end of high-level Sino-U.S.

The ocean cruise market in Germany continues to be one of the fastest-growing tourism sectors. Going by current trends, Germany could rival the UK’s position as the second largest ocean cruise market. Clia Germany revealed at ITB Berlin that 1.77 million German passengers took an ocean cruise in 2014 – a notable rise compared with the 1.7 million that cruised from the UK in 2013. Clia UK and Ireland said the UK’s 2014 figures would be announced next week, at the Cruise Shipping Miami exhibition and conference. According to a Bloomberg report, Germany is becoming Europe’s top contributor of passengers to the cruise industry as record employment levels and generous vacation rules give consumers the cash and leisure time for sightseeing by sea.

Collateral hardship from the Ebola epidemic now includes a delay for Mercy Ships, which operates the world’s largest civilian hospital ship in ports on the West Coast of Africa. Already with one canceled deployment to Guinea, where Ebola first broke out last December, the Mercy Ship now waits in the water with crew and staff, pending an end-of-August decision on field service in Benin. The Mercy Ship was due to sail for the port of Cotonou, Benin, for its 10-month field service…

Norway wants to let oil and gas companies drill in Arctic seas that were frozen as recently as the 1980s even though some climate experts say it is too early to trust global warming to keep the ice away. Russia is also showing new interest in the Arctic despite high costs in a region where governments are struggling to set safety rules after BP's 2010 blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst offshore spill in U.S. history. Many companies, including ConocoPhillips and Idemitsu…

The number of passengers reporting ill during 'Dawn Princess' present voyage is 114 out of 1,778 (6.41 percent). According to the U.S. •    Is consulting with CDC on plans for their super sanitation procedures in Seward, AK. Two CDC Vessel Sanitation Program environmental health officers boarded the ship on arrival in Juneau, AK to conduct an environmental health assessment and evaluate the outbreak and response activities. Stool specimens will be sent to the CDC lab for confirmatory testing and genome sequencing.

Reports indicate that a Swedish company that supplies cargo handling equipment has relocated its U.S. parts and service center from New Jersey to Chesapeake, Va. MacGregor has leased 9,600 sq. ft. of space at a building in the southeastern city of Va. The company supplies ship owners and operators and shipyards with such products as cargo hatches for container ships, cargo securing systems, and ship-mounted cargo cranes, according to its Web site. The company, a unit of Cargotec Corp. of Finland, also offers engineering services related to those products. MacGregor had worldwide sales of about $447 million and had 899 employees at the end of 2005, its Web site said. Source: Virginian Pilot

Recent outbreaks of Norwalk-like viruses on cruise ships, particularly those visiting North America, have afflicted passengers and crew with symptoms of gastro-intestinal illness. to its members. The Club points out that cruise companies visiting U.S. waters from abroad must notify the Vessel Sanitation Program of the U.S. Center for Disease Control when two per cent of passengers or crew are ill with vomiting or diarrhea. Tour companies operating wholly within the waters of a U.S. state should check with the relevant state authority about any notification or other action required. Although Norwalk is a specific virus, its effects are similar to those of other viruses in the calicivirus family.

The Montreal to Lake Ontario and Welland Canal sections of the St. Lawrence Seaway will open for navigation at 8:00 a.m., March 31, according to an announcement made by the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. (SLSDC). SLSDC administrator Albert S. Jacquez said, "This year's opening is especially significant because 1999 also happens to be the 40th anniversary of the dedication of the St. Lawrence Seaway at ceremonies in 1959, involving President Dwight D. In conjunction with the opening, Jacquez also said, "Our new state-of-the-art computerized vessel traffic control center at the Eisenhower Lock in Massena, N.Y., will become fully operational, and will provide Seaway users, both internal and extrenal, with a seamless source of vessel transit information covering both Seaway sections.