"Ghost Ship" Washes Up in Ireland
An abandoned cargo ship landed on the coast of Ireland this week after more than a year drifting alone at sea.The Irish Coast Guard said it responded to a merchant vessel aground near Ballycotton, Cork on Sunday, only to discover there was no one was on board.It turns out that the mysterious vessel is the 250-foot Tanzanian-flagged Alta, which had been left crewless and adrift on the other side of the Atlantic when the U.S. Coast Guard rescued all 10 crew members on board after the vessel lost power while en route from Greece to Haiti in September 2018.At the time of the rescue, the U.S.
Master Prosecuted for Cruise Liner Grounding
The master of a cruise liner which was damaged going over rocky shoals has pleaded guilty to two charges at Belfast Magistrates court June 16, the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) reported. Captain Joao Manuel Fernandes Simoes pleaded guilty to failure to properly passage plan in breach of SOLAS and failure to report the incident contrary to the Merchant Shipping vessel traffic monitoring and reporting requirement regulations. On May 11, 2015 the Bahamas registered cruise liner MV Hamburg called in to Tobermory en route from Dublin to Hamburg. The Bay could not be entered on arrival as there were already two other cruise liners so the Hamburg remained outside about two miles to the North East of the popular port. The call to enter came at around 1 p.m.
Varadkar to Overhaul Safety/Emergency Response Services
Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar unveiled an Action Plan to improve Maritime Safety and Marine Emergency Response Services, including an overhaul of operations within the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. The Action Plan will set up a new, over-arching maritime safety section inside the Department - the Irish Maritime Administration - which will bring together the Irish Coast Guard and the Marine Survey Office. Speaking after Cabinet approved the Action Plan…
Delta Power Secures Order From Irish Coastguard
In 2011, the Irish Coastguard placed a contract with Delta Power Group (builder of Delta RIBs) to supply 12 highly specified RIBs as part of a five year program of replacements and updates in its extensive fleet of search and rescue craft. Three 9.00m Delta RIBs, fitted with shockwave seating and Yamaha F225 Outboard motors, have already been delivered in 2011. As a follow-up to this delivery, the next installment in the contract is for seven slightly smaller RIBs – namely, one x DELTA 7.00m X, two x DELTA 7.50m Xs and four x DELTA 8.00m Super Xs. The demanding delivery schedule requested was just three months, with tests and trials throughout January, 2012.
Delta RIBs for World Market at Seawork
Delta Power Group (builder of Delta RIBs) announced three recent contracts. Both the 10.80m Phantom daughter craft, modified for Arctic waters and the 9m Irish Coastguard vessels make their debut at this year’s Seawork exhibition (The 10.80m is on E P Barrus’ berth 12 and the 9m Irish Coastguard vessel is on Yamaha’s berth 3). The Severn Area Rescue Association’s new Delta RIB (March 2011 delivery) is based on the Delta six person SOLAS 450IPI Rescue RIB and is fitted with sophisticated communications equipment to facilitate searching for survivors at both day and night.
Human Factor is Key to Safety
Parliament's Temporary Committee on Safety at Sea was told that the EU's response to recent maritime disasters had missed the key point - the human factor. Eduardo Chagas, of the Maritime Transport Section of the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF), explained that the prime causes of tanker casualties were not structural but human. Grounding and collisions accounted for almost 50% of incidents, whereas only around 11% were related to hull failure. According to Chagas, human conditions in the maritime sector should be taken more seriously, especially in EU legislation. Flags of convenience and false certificates for merchant navy officers were the issues that most needed to be tackled.
