Safety Agency News

Spire Global, Inc., a provider of space-based data, analytics and space services, reports it has been awarded two framework contracts by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) with a maximum overall budget of €8.4 million. Concurrent with the framework award, Spire received two specific awards that total multi-million euros under the framework contracts. Under the contracts, Spire will provide space-based automatic identification system (SAT-AIS) data services for ship tracking over a four-year period, including real-time, standard and high-density backup SAT-AIS.

The 2023 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea has been presented to Caleb Halle, Aviation Survival Technician Second Class (AST2) of the United States Coast Guard (USCG). He was recognized for the outstanding courage, endurance and determination he showed during the rescue of the seven-strong crew of the tugboat Legacy in January 2023.AST2 Halle, based at the Coast Guard Air Station Atlantic City, received the award at the annual IMO Awards Ceremony in London. The ceremony…

When asked about the top issues facing shipbuilders, executives at the Shipbuilders Council of America (SCA) listed a number of topics and concerns. SCA is the only national trade association representing U.S. shipyards engaged in the building and repairing of military and other government and commercial vessels, and companies providing goods and services to the shipbuilding industry.Shutdowns have consequencesMatthew Paxton and Paula Zorensky are, respectively, SCA President and Vice President. Their top federal concern at the end of September? A U.S.

Electric vehicles are crisscrossing the globe to reach their eager buyers, but the battery technology involved in the zero- emission automobiles is exposing under-prepared maritime shippers to the risk of hard-to-control fires, industry, insurance, and emergency response officials said.That risk has been put under the spotlight by the burning car carrier [Freemantle Highway] drifting off the Dutch coast. The Dutch coastguard said the fire's cause was unknown, but Dutch broadcaster…

ABS has claimed a first with the publication of an expansive set of requirements to guide the industry in the use of hydrogen-fueled vessels.The ABS Requirements for Hydrogen Fueled Vessels offers the industry a risk assessment framework for introducing hydrogen as marine fuel to their fleet.The publication is a continuation of ABS' attention to the alternative fuel, building upon projects such as the ABS-classed, Glosten-designed hydrogen-fueled research vessel for the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

China will ban vessels from an area near Taiwan on Sunday because of the possibility of falling rocket debris, its maritime safety agency said on Thursday, as Japan sought details from Beijing on a reported no-fly zone in the same location. China has not commented on the no-fly zone, but South Korea, which was also briefed on the plans, said it was due to a falling object related to a launch vehicle. The disruption comes during tension in the region over Chinese military exercises around Taiwan…

ICEYE announced the start of a multi-year framework contract with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) to support their efforts in managing various aspects of maritime operations with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data.Among its many missions, EMSA, a European Union agency, provides technical expertise and operational assistance in reducing the risk of maritime accidents and assisting in response and recovery from marine pollution from ships and oil installations. The agency…

An ABS-led consortium, including CE Delft and Arcsilea, published two of up to six reports studying alternative fuels and decarbonization technologies for the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).ABS offered a 360-degree view of biofuels and ammonia, the first two fuels to be published by the consortium. Each fuel was analyzed using various criteria such as greenhouse gas (GHG) impact, sustainability, fuel availability, fuel scalability and human needs.“These two reports are the result of one year of intense activity with our collaborators…

A refurbished high-spec oil spill response vessel for the Aegean Sea has entered service under a four-year contract with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), a contract with an option for four additional years.Dubbed AKTEA II, the OSRV will be able to reach anywhere in the Aegean within 24 hours and can collect and carry up to 4,500 tonnes of oil.Based in Piraeus, Greece AKTEA II OSRV (IMO 9327516) has onboard capacity of 4,486 cu. m. for recovered oil and is equipped with…

Australia's maritime safety agency has banned a Liberian-flagged oil tanker for six months for the underpayment of seafarers and onboard welfare issues.The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it inspected the AG Neptune in the Port of Gladstone, in central Queensland, on June 17 ,2022 after receiving a complaint about multiple breaches of the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC).During the inspection, AMSA found evidence the employment agreement with 21 seafarers on board the ship had not been met and the crew members were collectively owed approximately AUD $123,000. Inspectors also found evidence the food and drinking water were not of appropriate quality, quantity and nutritional value for seafarers.

A fleet of high-tech specialized aerial drones will be deployed to monitor emissions from commercial ships in the Baltic Sea.Scheduled to kick off later this month, the large-scale campaign is being led by Germany's the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, together with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).Over a three-month period, specially equipped remotely piloted aircraft will take off from the German Armed Forces' Staberhuk site on the east coast of Fehmarn and…

A consortium led by the Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology (DBI) will deliver a Formal Safety Assessment study on containership fires to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The project aims to identify cost-effective risk control options for cargo fires on board container vessels.Considering the constant increase in containership sizes and the frequency of fire originating in containers, the study will quantitatively assess the fire risks on board containerships…

Remotely piloted aircraft are assisting Spanish authorities in actively monitoring sulphur emissions from ships transiting one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.Over the summer the European Maritime Safety Agency’s (EMSA) aerial drones have been monitoring the level of sulphur oxides released by ships transiting the Strait of Gibraltar. The operation carried out by the Spanish General Directorate of Merchant Marine  – under the direction of the Spanish Ministry of Transport…

Authorities in Turkey and Cyprus are on alert for any potential pollution from a 'sheen' of fuel floating across the Mediterranean from a spill in Syria, officials said.Fuel which seeped into the sea from a thermal station off the coast of Syria on August 23 has been snaking across the Eastern Mediterranean, but any potential impact on Cyprus will depend on currents.The latest satellite images of the region provided by the European Maritime Safety Agency showed the oil sheen east of Cyprus breaking down and dissolving, the Cyprus Fisheries and Marine Research Department said.The eastern Cyprus coastline, largely unspoilt, falls within two opposing jurisdictions; an area controlled by the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government and a Turkish Cypriot breakaway state recognized on

Helicopters hover above a patrol vessel in Nigeria's frenetic Apapa port as attack boats zoom past. On the dock, drones emblazoned with the Nigerian flag sit ready to deploy – all part of a $195 million U.S.-backed "Deep Blue" initiative to deter pirate attacks in the world's most dangerous area for seafarers.The more than 2.35 million square kilometer (910,000 million square mile) expanse of the Atlantic Ocean that borders some 20 West African nations is known as "pirate alley"…

Oslo-listed drone company Nordic Unmanned has received a conditional letter of award from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) for a contract worth up to 20 million euros ($23,75 million).The letter of award is related to fixed-wing RPAS (drone) services carrying out long-range general maritime surveillanceThe official value of the framework contract is EUR 20 million over a period of up to 2+1+1 years. Nordic Unmanned is the contractual partner with EMSA. Nordic Unmanned will utilize Textron Systems' Aerosonde as its drone platform and two complete systems…

Spain has detained a tanker ship for illegally dumping fuel in waters off the Canary Islands and creating a 55-square km (21 square miles) oil spill, the Transport Ministry said.Spanish maritime authorities ordered the Liberia-flagged Aldan to dock in the southern port of Almeria last Sunday after the European Union's Maritime Safety Agency detected the spill through satellite imagery.Refinitiv shipping data showed the Aldan, which had been heading eastwards through the Mediterranean to Greece, diverted to Almeria on Sunday. As of Thursday evening it was still there.The ship's manager must pay a 600,000 euro ($713,640) fine to release the vessel…

Enhanced cooperation and implementation of best practices are needed to avoid, deter and report attacks threatening ships and crew in the world's top piracy hotspot, says the United Nations' (UN) maritime agencyKitack Lim, Secretary-General of the UN's International Maritime Organization (IMO) expressed his deep concern about the escalation in the number and severity of attacks on ships and crew in the Gulf of Guinea region, and insisted on the need for a collaborative approach…

Nigeria plans to bar vessels without a valid license to operate in Nigerian waters and has given shipping companies that trade in its coastal and inland waters three months to register, the maritime regulator said on Sunday.The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) said it will notify international oil companies to bar vessels without valid certificates after the three months expire.Most of the vessels that use Nigerian waters are owned by foreign companies.

Aiming to test the use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) in enhancing the maritime awareness picture in the French Mediterranean Sea, Secrétariat Général de la Mer requested the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) set up a multipurpose maritime surveillance operation, having the Navy (Marine Nationale) and customs (Douanes) as the operation's strategic and tactical leaders.Operational missions started on September 23 for an initial period of three months. The RPAS…

On a windy August afternoon in 2017, Akitsinnguaq Ina Olsen was relaxing in the old harbor of Nuuk, Greenland's capital, when a Chinese icebreaker sailed unannounced into the Arctic island's territorial waters."I saw it by chance," Olsen, 50, told Reuters. "My first thought was: 'They're already here!' They're pretty cheeky, those Chinese."She pulled out her phone and took a picture of the 167-meter long Chinese icebreaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon), before it turned around and disappeared.The…

A new aerial drone is being tested to monitor vessel emissions in the Great Belt, a busy shipping lane between the islands of Zealand and Funen in Denmark.Having previously been used for various surveillance tasks, the drone is being provided by the European Maritime Safety Agency to operate over the next four months in a specific area north of the Great Belt, which connects the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait and Atlantic Ocean.The drone will fly into ships' exhaust gas plumes and use its so-called “sniffer technology” to register the sulphur content in the fuel.

Switzerland-based MSC Cruises announced Monday that it will resume "full-experience" cruise operations on select ships in the Mediterranean starting from mid-August.The cruise lines flagship MSC Grandiosa will sail in the West Mediterranean from August 16 and MSC Magnifica in the West Mediterranean from August 29. The ships will be the first to implement a new health and safety protocol that has been approved by the relevant national authorities along the ships’ itineraries.Pierfrancesco Vago…