Turkey Defuses Stray Naval Mine in the Black Sea
A military diving team deactivated a stray naval mine off Turkey's northwest coast on Monday, Turkey's defense ministry said, the second such device to be defused in the area in days amid the war in Ukraine.NATO member Turkey borders the Black Sea, as does Russia and Ukraine, which Moscow invaded on February 24.Russia's main intelligence agency last week accused Ukraine of laying mines to protect ports and said several hundred of the explosives had broken off from cables and drifted away.
Strike Blocks Tankers in France
A rolling strike on blocked 14 oil tankers from entering France's biggest oil port of Fos-Lavera, part of the state-run French port of Marseille, according to a Reuters report. The total number of ships is unchanged on the previous day but down four ships compared with May 2. "This includes eight crude oil ships and 6 refined oil tankers," the port said in a statement, adding that one gas tanker and three chemical tankers were also blocked from entering the hub. France's national port union, part of the CGT federation, called on workers last month to stage 24-hour strikes on a weekly basis to protest against government plans to privatise loading activities at state-run ports.
Double Skin is In
The movement of petroleum products on the nation's rivers, lakes, bays and oceans is soon to be regulated of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Called OPA 90, this regulation requires many bulk carriers of petroleum products to use double-hulled barges to haul their cargo by 2005 and all to be doubled hulled by 2015. Looking first at the large product tankers and crude oil carriers, 23 product carriers and 17 crude oil carriers must be double hulled by 2005, another 20 product carriers and 17 crude oil tankers need to be double hulled by 2010 and another 13 product and 9 crude oil ships need to meet OPA 90 by 2015. These conversions (or ship retirements) are a major issue impacting the ability of the U.S. to transport crude oil and its refined products.
