Royal Institute Of Navigation News

Captain David J.F. Bruce, Permanent Representative of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), and Senior Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs, RMI Maritime Administrator passed away on Friday, 29 September 2023. He was a loving husband to Alison for 53 years, father to Gwendoline, and grandfather to Alison and Alexander. Captain Bruce had a storied career and connection with the sea, first going to work at sea in 1957 after his studies at Melville College in Edinburgh…

Global shipping is still feeling the effects of a cyber attack that hit A.P. Moller-Maersk two days ago, showing the scale of the damage a computer virus can unleash on the technology dependent and inter-connected industry. About 90 percent of world trade is transported by sea, with ships and ports acting as the arteries of the global economy. Ports increasingly rely on communications systems to keep operations running smoothly, and any IT glitches can create major disruptions for complex logistic supply chains. The cyber attack was among the biggest-ever disruptions to hit global shipping.

The Nautical Institute took its AGM to South Asia for the first time on May 31 and June 1 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The theme was challenges facing maritime administrations. Speakers and delegates highlighted the need to devise and promote best practice to encourage development of regulation that is realistic, practical and that can be complied with readily. It was concluded that a key to achieving this is the recruitment and retention of capable maritime professionals as marine administrators and this requires competitive salary and career advancement structures to be in place.

Paperwork is, and always has been a necessary and essential aspect of ship operation. Indeed, the Barcelona Maritime Code of 1258 required ships carry clerks specifically for this purpose releasing the master to concentrate on his primary duty, safely navigating the vessel. Unfortunately, such is the way of things few ships now carry clerks. Indeed, notwithstanding a mushrooming in documentation shipping is required to carry and use in recent years, notably at the behest of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the number of crew available to manage the workload continues to reduce, the burden increasingly falling on the bridge watchkeepers. To what extent this has an impact on safety is moot.

Canyon Offshore-Asia Pacific, based in Singapore has announced the appointment of Jerry Rowbury to the position of Commercial Manager-Asia Pacific. Rowbury will be based out of Canyon Offshore’s Singapore facility and will be responsible for ROV sales, marketing, business development and commercial activities in the Asia-Pacific region. Rowbury is a Chartered Hydrographic Surveyor with more than 20 years industry experience. He is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Hydrographic Society.