IMC and IMI UPDATES
This month also we have new joinees with us. We welcome them all whole heartedly to this club
New Joined IMC:
- North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA)
- Australian Marine Environment Protection Association (AUSMEPA)
- Australasian Network of Maritime Education and Training (ANMET)
- Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA)
After 8 years at MASSA Maritime Academy Capt. Ajay Achuthan has planned to move on and will be handing over to Capt S Y Limaye wef to 7th Jan 2009. We wish him all the very best for all his future endeavors and welcome Capt. S Y Limaye to this elite club.
AMET University, India's first and only Maritime University, that acquired the coveted status in August 2007, has launched in this academic year (2008-09) in July 2008, a host of UG, PG and PhD level programmes catering to the range of shipping activities. Capt. Bharadwaj states that when we refer to Maritime Education and Training in this country, invariably, almost taken for granted, the limits get automatically defined to Shipboard competencies. With tremendous growth in various sectors of shipping in this country as well as newer opportunities emerging globally, there is an urgent need for qualified and skillful manpower to be able to sustain this growth, if not drive the growth.
Captain says that, to be able to innovate and respond to the needs of the other allied sectors of shipping that is growing so fast, be it Ship building, Ports and Terminals, Supply-Chain and Logistics, Off-shore, and maritime support services.
With the University status, AMET is now empowered to respond quickly to the needs of the industry. He says that, we must remember that more than 50% of the jobs are not invented as yet.
In the national list of 32 programmes awarded “Excellent” in the programme listing catalogue of higher education in the Netherlands (Keuzegids Hoger Ondewijs), the officer training programme of the Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz proudly takes up a shared 18th position with a total of 84 points on a 1-100 scale.
The MIWB is the only institute of the Frisian universities to reach this list. In the Netherlands there are some 330 different Bachelor programmes offered at over 1000 locations and institutes which are all taken into consideration.
This year THE DUTCH DP CENTRE at the Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz (MIWB) will celebrate its 10th anniversary of their full mission class 3 DP simulator.
Since its establishment some 604 (April 2008) trainees have received their certificate and courses are run weekly. The Dutch DP Centre is fully certified by the Nautical Institute according to provisions from DNV, IMCA, IMO, VBKO, etc.
Tim Carter the past president of the International Maritime Health Association (IMHA) and chief Medical Adviser to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in Britain met officials of the union and press representatives today. He is visiting Mumbai to discuss developments in seafarer medical fitness assessment with the maritime sector and to help organize the program for the 10th International Symposium on Maritime Health to be held in Goa this September. Union officials presented several case histories of seafarers who had been unreasonably discriminated against because of health problems. Tim endorsed the approaches that they were taking both to these cases and to wider programs to improve the health and welfare of Indian seafarers both on Indian flagged and foreign ships.
The 26th IAPH World Ports Conference
The International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) will meet in Genoa, Italy, 25-29 May 2009, for its conference that is more commonly known as IAPH World Ports Conference. It is a biennial world port summit for the world ports to meet, exchange opinions and share experiences on the latest trends in port management and operations.
The Conference theme "Oriented to the market, Open to the future!" will reflect the need for the global ports industry to work openly with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders to address the challenges and opportunities facing ports as critical segments in international logistics chains, both today and in the future.
For details, please visit the conference website at: http://www.iaphconference.com/
The chief minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, M Karunanidhi, inaugurated the Indian Maritime University at Uthandi in Southern India on Wednesday. The institute, which is India's first national maritime academy and was set up by the Department of Shipping through an Act of Parliament, will kick start its academic year in June with a plethora of courses up to international standards ranging from MBAs in port management and logistics to degrees in maritime law and dredging. In fact, the university is associated with a number of other international academic institutions including the Dalian Maritime University, Shanghai Maritime University and Antwerp University for its courses.
Manila: International Container Terminal Services, Inc. (ICTSI) recently appointed Francis Andrews (pictured) as regional manager for Europe and the Middle East. Andrews has been with the Company since 2000, and was formerly general manager of Manila International Container Terminal, and sat on the boards of various ICTSI subsidiaries. From 2000 to 2001, he was at the helm of former ICTSI subsidiary International Port Services as CEO and general manager. His longest tenure was with Sea-Land Services, where he worked from 1973 to 2000. ICTSI is a leading developer of international ports and terminals with a global port network spanning 11 countries in four continents. Headquartered in the Philippines, the company is in its 20th year of operation, and continues to pursue container terminal opportunities around the world.
The Ministry of Shipping is planning to speed up its efforts to create a Marine Emergency Fund to be used for relief operations in the aftermath of marine casualties, including loss of ships and oil spills in the Indian territorial waters. Measures such as the early creation of the fund and putting in place an emergency response mechanism have climbed higher on the Shipping Ministry's priority list in the wake of a sharp increase in the number of marine casualties across Indian waters in the last few years. The proposal for creation of an emergency fund emerged after a high-level committee, headed by the Directorate-General of Shipping, made a string of recommendations to reduce such incidents. The Ministry is also considering a proposal to have an emergency response mechanism for responding to emergency situations, such as salvaging sunken ships and combating oil pollution. Some of the proposed measures may require suitable legislative changes. The committee made a sharp focus on the need to restrict movement of older vessels, as these vessels accounted for a bigger slice of the casualties. Ministry figures indicate that in the last three monsoons alone some 30 ships sank, out of which about 60 per cent were above 25 years old
BW Shipping Managers Pte. Ltd. has been renamed BW Maritime Pte. Ltd. as part of an internal reorganization to leverage strengths across the BW Group. Under its new name, the company will continue to be responsible for all tanker fleet commercial activities along with a number of corporate activities within the BW Group. Additionally, it been registered in Singapore's Approved International Shipping Enterprise (AIS) scheme from 1 January 2009. AIS provides companies with a tax exemption on income from the operation of ships outside of Singapore for a period of 10 years. “These new names do not reflect any change in the substance of who we are or what we do, but represent a step forward in rationalizing the structure of the group, allowing us to benefit from group wide capabilities and for BW Maritime to join the Singapore AIS scheme,” said Andreas Sohmen-Pao, BW Maritime MD and Group CEO. The BW Maritime name change coincides with the formation of BW Fleet Management, which combines the strengths of the ship management teams from BW Gas and the former BW Shipping.
Members of the UAE maritime community are grouping themselves to create ways of promoting the industry and also address the serious concerns affecting them. Through the International Propeller Club of the UAE, Dubai Chapter, the maritime community will seek to enhance quality and improve professionalism in the country's maritime industry Created recently as a non-government organization with the aim of bringing together all members of the maritime community to discuss areas of mutual interest and chart the way forward for the industry, it will complement existing bodies working towards the cause of the maritime industry. "Our primary purpose is to generate interest for the enhancement of the maritime sector," said Tom Burke, President of the International Propeller Club of the UAE. The Dubai Maritime City Authority, the world's first purpose-built maritime centre, is sponsoring the Propeller Club as part of its initiative to support grassroots development of the maritime sector in the UAE and the region. Existing private maritime bodies include the UAE Ship Owners' Association and the Dubai Shipping Agents' Association.
President and CEO of the COSCO Group Captain Wei Jiafu has been named as the Connecticut Maritime Association (CMA) Commodore for the year 2009. Capt. Wei follows a long succession of influential maritime industry leaders as Commodore. The award will be presented to Capt. Wei on March 25, 2009 at a gala dinner marking the conclusion of the annual Connecticut Maritime Association conference and trade exposition. The award is given each year to a person in the international maritime industry who has contributed to the growth and development of the industry. Capt. Wei Jiafu, president and CEO of COSCO Group assumed his position in November 1998. Prior to that, he had been the senior executive in many subsidiaries of COSCO both in China and abroad. He had supervised COSCO's asset operations and management. During his tenure as the president of COSCO (Singapore), he managed to turn it into a public listed company in 1993, marking COSCO's first entrance into the international capital markets. With over ten years of seafaring experience and as a well-experienced captain, Capt. Wei has a wealth of knowledge in international shipping management and operation.
A new satellite named Eurobird streams Marine BizTV making it available in Europe. In addition to satellites, Thaicom-5 (C Band) and Hotbird 6 (Ku Band), a new satellite named Eurobird also covers Marine BizTV enabling its availability in Europe. The downlinking frequency to obtain the channel is 11919, Polarity: Vertical, Symbol Rate: 27.500, FEC:3/4. The channel has its coverage through satellite and cable TV in Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe, North and South America and parallel coverage on Web TV. Marine BizTV will be distributed to the target segment via DTH in areas where DTH platform is popular and through cable network in areas connected through cable distribution networks .
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P.S: Kindly update us on any important activity or news of the organization we will be happy to update it in our Newsletter