Marine Industry Scan

IMO PSPC and its implications

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:36:00 +0000

IMO Performance Standard for Protective Coatings - Resolution MSC.215(82)

On 8 December 2006 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted a Performance Standard for Protective Coatings (PSPC). This new coating standard applies to ballast water tanks on newbuildings in all types of ships and is settled in the Resolution MSC.215(82). With the new standard technical regulations for the coating of ballast water tanks come into force as well as inspection and verification items.

An attempt is made in the forum to list out all the documents and opinions to enforce this regulation.

Contribute in this location: http://forum.navgathi.info/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=35&start=0

Discrepancies in the River-Sea Rules issued by DG Shipping

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:32:00 +0000

The River-Sea rules came in to existence through a provision in the MS Act as per the Section 456, where DG Shipping is empowered to make suitable exemptions to cater to vessels plying within the national waters.

This rules came in to effect through Order No. 4 of 2008 in the month of July.

There are some discrepancies noted in the rules that need clarification either from DG Shipping or IRS Class.

It is covered in the forum: http://forum.navgathi.info/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=34&start=0

1565 visits in September

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:54:00 +0000

There has been steady progress in the visits of users to our marinewiki site. This month alone saw 1565 visits with a wide distribution across the world. It truly shows that people across the world are accessing our knowledge repository - we hope that all have found the information useful.

Our site is still far away from being reasonably complete. There are few targets we have in mind for this year and next. It will be outlined soon.

Low Sulphur onboard ships

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:25:00 +0000

Recently there has been lot of talk on the use of low sulphur on board ships. With the Annex VI of MARPOL in force and lot of other flag states and group of nations competing with each other to take up the standards of fuel usage on board ships (both in sea and port), it is difficult to track these developments. We have tried to summarize it in marinewiki:

http://navgathi.info/index.php/Allowable_marine_fuel_sulphur

Seeking suggestion from experts on Kerala IV Rules 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:53:00 +0000

We are seeking suggestions from experts on the stability criteria (as well as other issues) in the new Kerala Inland Rules 2010. To participate in this, visit http://forum.navgathi.info/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15&start=0

IWAI Seminar on Cargo movement in NW-3 at Kochi

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:56:00 +0000

An informative and interesting seminar that saw participation from all the stakeholders - regulatory bodies (IRS, Irrigation Department, Kerala State Shipping & Inland Navigation Corporation), ship owners (LOTS, Kerala Backwaters,...), shipbuilders (Master Shipyard,KSINC,...), Ship designers (Navgathi,...), Hospitality sector (CGH, Muthoot Resorts...), Financial institutions, Oil major, and other related bodies.

The chief guest of the event was Sri. K. Mohandas, Secretary Shipping (Govt. of India). The event kicked off with an introduction to IWAI and the scope of event by Sri. S.P. Gaur, Chairman IWAI. Sri. M.N. Gunavardhanan, Secretary Water resources and Inland Navigation (Govt. of Kerala). in his address sought central assistance in new projects in inland water development, declaration of NW-3 extension to Kovalam in south and if possible to Kolachal and to Nileswaram in North so that the present 213 Km can be increased to 423 Km.

As a response to this request by the Kerala secretary, Sri. K. Mohandas, very diplomatically suggested Kerala government to focus on executing the sanctioned projects and prevent the 180 crores funds from being lapsed the financial year. He added one interesting snippet. With the commissioning of Vallarpadom ICTT (International Container Transshipment Terminal) project upto 3 million TEU is expected to be handled per year. Of this if we assume 50% is taken by railways (an overestimation), if we consider the remaining 1.5 million on the roads that would mean 6 TEU per minute. This is unprecedented and it would mean that inland waters have to share this burden (or opportunity!).

Morning Session

The first presentation was by Sri. Pradeep Kumar, Member (Finance) IWAI. He traced the history of inland waterway no.3 rules to the act in parliament on 8th Aug, 1992 and with effect from 1st Feb, 1993. He observed that the lowest air draft level was in the Kaniyampuzha rail bridge at 4.2 m and a breadth limitation of 9m. He pointed out that despite being operational for the past 18 yrs, currently 0.76 M-T cargo is only transported through NW-3. This, though, is projected to grow to 7 M-T in 2020. IWAI recommends 350 T cargo vessel with 50 m x 8.5 m dimensions and 1.8 m draught with a speed of 10 km/hr. He brought out some of the issues that stands in way of NW-3 development:

fishing nets / stakes from fairway to be removed
no sites for dumping dredged material
bank protection work undertaken by Irrigation department is delayed
land acquisition problem in Alapuzha terminal

The next presentation was by Sri. UnniKrishnan, Joint Director SEZ, whose talk was titled, "Inland water connectivity to Vallarpadam ICTT". He tried to highlight the strategic importance of having a transshipment port as well as the commercial benefit (about UD$ 200 per TEU) for the exporters. He highlighted the cost savings for the shippers who use water transportation to bring containers to ICTT instead of the roads. He also impressed upon the PuthuVypeen SEZ.

Sri. Wilson Jacob, Chairman of Kottayam Port talked about the opportunities offered by the new port (commissioned yet not in use) - the first river-port with public-private partnership. He has some suggestions for improvement:

improve and develop the feeder canals to the areas where trade houses are present
the kadoor river that connects to Kottayam need to be maintained
suggest facility to directly transfer cargo from barge to vessel in ICTT instead of going to the Bolgatty Palace IWAI jetty and then to ICTT by road.
improve the height of bridges (now 6.5 m) and width (now 12.5 m) of lock gate at Thannermukkam to allow for larger vessels.

The next presentation was by Sri. Mohan Kumar of Govt. of Kerala who talked on "Development of IWT in Kerala". He brought some interesting statistics like the total length of feeder canal is 1097 km. He tried to impress upon the IWAI and central govt. on the additional canals that need to be developed: Vadakara - Mahe (17.61 km), Mahe - Thalassery (10.15 km), Thalasseri - Anjarakkanidi (3.47 km) and Anjarakkanidi - Kattampally (16.8 km) a total of 48.03 km. Continuing to what Sr. M. N. Gunadardhanan said on the west coast canal extension from Kovalam to Kolachal, he added the historical significance of this AVM (Anantha Victoria Marthandam) canal to the kings of Travancore and sought 282 crore for the 42 km extension.

A. Rajesh from Choice Shipping, as a representative of operator gave the talk on integration of EXIM trade to the inland waters. He highlighted the design constraints for a ship in inland waters in the form of - air draught, water draught, discharging capacity anywhere (use landing craft concept), bund constraints, labor use in loading points. He informed the audience that Choice was working on some interesting designs with naval architects to bring out innovative solutions.

John Mathews from LOTS was the last speaker in this session. He brought out the plight of NW-3 though a good metaphor comparing it to having "all qualities of a good groom but without any takers". He pointed out that 99% of the cargo movement in NW-3 was in the Champakara and Udyogmandal canal with FACT, Binani Zinc as major customers. He had some suggestions to improve the scene in NW-3

IOCL, BPCL, HPCL have tankage facility, but none has barge facility except BPCL.
With the new LPG terminal in Puthuvypeen, IOC will need to shift this to its Udayamperoor bottling facility, recommend use of barge.
Revive the IVBSS Inland Vessel Building Subsidy Scheme)
Clear the Kottapuram-Kochi of fishing nets as well as maintain the draught
Near IREL a walway in Kovilthottam is preventing cargo movement. To remove this issue
All dangerous cargoes like sulphuric acid, ammonia, phosphoric acid movement must be made mandatory.

The session was followed by Q&A session where some interesting information was revealed:

Apparently Chief Minister had convened a meeting with the state government companies and urged them to mandatorily use inland water for transportation
An attempt is made by Inland water to get the carbon credits for the ship owner when a cargo is shifted from road to water.
Apparently the IVBSS scheme was recommended to be revived by IWAI, however planning commission has rejected it.
As an answer to Mr. Mohan Kumar's request from Kerala State on increased funds the IWAI chairman asked them prevent the lapse of funds given.

The chairman, Sri. N. Ramachandran summed up the session with the following:

Necessity of getting practical ideas from the private sector, who are the users of NW-3
Clearing of bottlenecks (dredging, fishing stakes / nets) from NW-3
State government PSUs to use IW and set example to others
Dangerous cargo movement to be made mandatory through IW
Oil companies to use more of IW

Afternoon Session

The first session in the afternoon was a presentation by Mr. A.H. Shabeer from Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) on the seaport-airport connectivity. He brought out some facts about CIAL - That it is the first greenfield airport in India (started on 25th May 1999), fourth busiest in India for International flights, handle 3.6 million passengers per year, 455 aircrafts per week, 28,000 MT cargo per year. CIAL plans to develop the aerotropolis with hotel, trade fair, golf course, aviation academy, museum, mall, maintenance hangar, aerospace industrial units, etc. He also introduced the proposal for the inland water connectivity and the plan to make it one of the first major port connected with airport. The connection is in three areas - Seaport to Eloor (23 km), Eloor to Kanjoor (26 km), Kanjoor to CIAL (0.5 km). The fisrt stretch is well maintained, where as second need to be worked on whereas third stretch need lots of work.

Adm. B.R.Menon, Chairman KSINC, added to the above presentation by bringing out the fact that Pathalam bund was the major obstacle in this project. There is a proposal to build a lock which might cost 6.5 crores. The Kanjoor lock is already done. Another aspect is the strengthening of the bridge across Chengalthodu when it is widened.

M. Sivasankar, Director (Tourism) Govt. of Kerala presented the potential for inland tourism. He highlighed some facts like - kerala tourism is India's only tourism superbrand; it is the fastest growing destination with 13,13o crores earnings in 2008. He observed that inland waters can become a mode for transporting tourist from one end of the state to the other.

Jose Dominic from CGH Earth gave a passionate speech on how Kerala tourism developed from the laggard days of 1980 to the magical days today. He vouched for the unique feature of Kerala that caused this growth and also sought intervention from the authorities to make the inland water free from all the issues mentioned above. He was also very positive about the Muzris project in Kodungallur. His speech was also riddled with lot of hostorical facts and stories that made the presentation one of the most interesting ones.

The chairman, Sri. Sunil Kumar summed us as:

seaport-airport connectivity by water - funds are not issue, the modalities of executing the project are worked out.
feeder canals are important from perspective of tourism sector more than NW-3
Muzris project will become one of the most attractive ones in the future
Suggest the use of terminals set up by IWAI
If the NW-3 remains underutilized like today all the problems like nets, siltation would reappear. Suggest not to wait till it becomes perfect instead start using it and find problems so that jointly with IWAI can improve the infrastructure
IWAI promises all possible support for the development on inland waters

All in all the seminar was pretty interesting and informative.

Forum Launched

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:10:00 +0000

Taking a cue from the users of MarineWiki, we have formally launched a forum to exchanged ideas, thoughts and knowledge in the field of naval architecture, marine engineering and ocean engineering.

It will be at http://forum.navgathi.info

Register yourself, and get going. Remember to answer queries along with asking them.

Resistance Notes - Frictional Resistance

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:17:00 +0000

The third chapter on Resistance notes is updated with the Frictional Resistance.

Check out the same in the marinewiki - http://navgathi.info/index.php/Frictional_Resistance

Resistance Notes -Dimensional Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:02:00 +0000

The second chapter on Resistance notes is updated with the dimensional analysis.

Check out the same in the marinewiki - http://navgathi.info/index.php/Resistance_-_Dimensional_Analysis

Updates in MarineWiki - Resistanance notes

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:59:00 +0000

The MarineWiki is undergoing major changes as we speak. As many would have noticed the name and logo itself have undergone changes. More importantly many of the editors are working on the articles and you can see some major changes in the coming weeks.

One major area that is Naval Architecture section where the subsection Ship Resistance is undergoing major overhaul. One can see the first article with "Resistance Types" which gives a good introduction of Ship resistance.

Read it in http://www.navgathi.info/index.php/Resistance_Types

Indian River Sea Vessels Conference by IME - A grand success

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:06:00 +0000

Yesterday, the one day seminar on "Indian River-Sea Vessel - A Holistic Approach" was organized by The Institute of Marine Engineers (India), Cochin Branch. From the content of the papers, the response and discussion on it, as well as the wisdom shared by the dignitaries, the seminar was a grand success. A big congratulations for the organizers led my M.P.John!

Some of the key overriding factor which came out of this seminar are as follows:

1. All the stakeholders feel that there is an excellent business opportunity. With a little bit of push, maybe from the government, this can take off. This include, but not limited to:

better infrastructure in terms of port, port facilities,
ease of getting finance for construction and operation,
incentives either in form of subsidies, guarantee cargo or similar

2. A change in approach to this new mode of shipping from government bodies (DG, MMD, government), Classification Society (IRS), Ship owners, Ship operators, Charters, Crew and other stakeholders.

3. A look in to the possibility for including high valued and dangerous cargo - like oil tankers, chemical tankers, etc. in future amendments.

4. A recommendation to include professional bodies like The Institute of Marine Engineers (India) as non-exclusive surveyors to ensure compliance on rules as an alternative to IRS surveyors. This could also include bodies like Institute of Naval Architects, etc. The issue to consider is the chain of responsibility.

5. A requirement to educate a whole lot of people involved in the chain - ranging from bankers, government officials, logistics providers, consumers, and other parties about the benefits of this new regulation and the trade in particular.

6. A benefit of having standardized designs for certain range of parameters in terms of geometric parameters and other operational requirements to reduce the cost of vessel was felt.

7. A recognition that a suitable vessel would have a draft of under 3.5 m to call at most minor ports and reap maximum benefit of this rules was noted.

All in all, a great seminar to be a part of.

Some of the issues that was raised as errors, omissions and discrepancy in the rules would be covered as a separate writeup in a couple of days.

Useful links:

1. River-Sea rules and explanation can be found here: http://navgathi.info/index.php/Indian_River-Sea_Rules

2. Ambiguity and Issues with River-Sea rules are covered here: http://navgathi.info/index.php/Indian_River-Sea_Rules

3. Rules for the latest River-Sea regulation can be downloaded from the DG Shipping website. Under the "Shipping Notices" (sixth tab on the horizontal ones from left), select "DGS Orders".
Chose the year 2008 from the bottom right side of the page.
Select "4 of 2008 - Notification for Construction, Survey, Certification and Operation of Indian River-Sea Vessels"
Click and download all the Annexes

MV KARUTHAL Naming Ceremony

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:15:00 +0000

A long and arduous journey - at the end of it MV KARUTHAL, the largest vessel built by a private yard in Kerala was officially named today at the Cochin Port Trust, BPT Terminal. The owner, Trans Asia Shipping Services Pte. Ltd. (Singapore) and the shipyard, Century Shipyard, along with lot of other suppliers, sub-contractors and support staff made this successful endeavor possible.

Johnson Mathew, CEO of Trans Asia had a vision to built a sea-going container vessel in Kochi. Although it appeared impossible at the time when the project was conceived, two years back, his vision was executed by a great team of specialists. Notable among them were Joy Jacob, the Executive Director of Century Shipyard and MD of NavTech Designs; Cmdr. Zachariah, Chief Naval Architect this vessel; Xavier, MD of Century Shipyard, the man responsible for the construction process; Vijayan of Trans Asia who coordinated the project from owners side.

Navgathi also contributed to this project in a small way. We did the design of the hatch covers - first optimized the hatch cover and reduced its total weight by about 25 tonnes for four hatch covers and second converted them to be able to carry containers on top (see the photo above). Apart from that we also designed the structural fire protection plan, assisted in the Torsional vibration calculation and other minor support drawings.

The Chief guest of the naming ceremony was Sri. Ummen Chandy, ex. Chief Minister of Kerala and leader of Opposition. Other dignitaries include MLA Dominique Presentation, MLA Ibrahim Kunju, Chairman of Cochin Port Trust Premachandran.

In another couple of days, the vessel will set sail on its maiden voyage to Middle East. We wish its owner Trans Asia best wishes and hope that it will endeavor in many such project in the future.

Vessel Particulars:
Length 67.3 m
Breadth 12.8 m
Depth 5.6 m
Draft 3.2 m
Deadweight 1600 T
Capacity 81 TEU

Thekkady Boat Tragedy – Will we learn this time?

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:59:00 +0000

One more tragedy to this long list of mishaps that has been happening in Kerala waters - I am hoping that this is the tipping point for actions to prevent any future incidents to take place. These may include legislation to make stringent rules, execution to ensure that these rules are enforced, and a culture to follow the safety norms.

It would be unreasonable to pass any comments on how the tragedy occurred without going through the detailed investigation on the design, construction, testing, operation as well as the event itself. However, it would be appropriate to suggest a checklist for the investigating committee.

Let us go through the sequence of activities preceding the event on 30th September. The sequence would be something like this - boat design, construction, testing, and operation.

Starting with the boat design. Contrary to what some reporters on TV (with scant knowledge on what they are talking as well as a lack of desire to know them), fiberglass boats are not less safe just because they are light. A boat, irrespective of the material used (the strength rules are not standardized in case of wood), need to meet the requirements with respect to strength, stability, and performance. Just because the material (fiberglass) is light does not mean that the boat itself is less strong. Fiberglass as a material is stronger than steel for the same weight. Hence a same sized boat (same strength) would be lighter if made of fiberglass. With regards to stability, just because it is lighter it tends to have its center of gravity higher than steel boat, however, it still need to meet the requirements, compensating by a better hull shape or better distribution of weights.

Note that I stressed the material wood. There are no rules specifying the strength of such boats either in our Merchant Shipping Act (applicable for sea-going vessels) or in Inland Vessels Act (applicable for vessels plying in rivers, lakes, and other water bodies except sea). Let us forget these kinds of boats for the time being. That would be a digression from the topic in hand.

Coming back to fiberglass and steel boats, how many of us are aware that the Inland rules we follow in Kerala are the outdated Canal Act of Travancore Cochin States, which were more relevant in 1912 and not in this day. It even refers to Maharaja of Travancore and Cochin! Our successive governments never bothered to have a proper Inland Water Rules applicable for vessels plying in Kerala waters. To the credit of the current government, and a possible outcome of the previous tragedy - Thattekad incident, there was an attempt to enact such a rule. There was a committee of experts and many organizations and experts contributed to prepare a draft rule that is now awaiting legislative approval. If that rules is enacted, and enforced, probably boats would be much more safer.

Talking further about the Canal rules, note that the rules specify only one relevant aspect to check ship's safety - freeboard. It does not have any means of checking the stability of a vessel. There are no test procedures for that. The stability test would include assessing the position of center of gravity of the vessel by means of an inclining experiment, further based on that result predict the static stability, dynamic stability (response to waves, wind and passenger heeling). Unfortunately the outdated Canal rules do not talk of any of these. So, when we say that, the boat has been tested as per the rules, then it is totally meaningless statement to assure us of its safety when the rules one speak of is the Canal rules of Kerala State.

Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), a third-party non-governmental organization that assesses and certifies the vessels strength and safety is another party in this whole chain. IRS has excellent rules for sea-going vessels and they have great experience in approving such designs as well as construction process. However, their Inland Vessel Rules are incomplete since it does not talk of vessel stability. That means IRS do not have clear criteria for inland vessels. So, again, when we say that a boat was built and certified as per IRS rules, then we can be assured of the vessels' strength, but we can never be sure of its stability. Only in scenario when the vessel is IRS built and registered with states that have their own reasonably adequate inland rules with respect to stability (like in case of Maharashtra), we can be certain of stability aspect.

So, in short, when we assess the boat's design, we must check the following aspects. How was the vessels' stability assessed? In the design stage, we do a preliminary Stability assessment. In this, we estimate the center of gravity of the vessel, and check its static as well as dynamic stability for various cases. These cases ideally should reflect all possible scenarios that can happen to the vessel in operation. There was one gentleman (expert) who was quoted saying, "...since all passengers moved to one side because they saw something the boat toppled and capsized." I sincerely hope that he was misquoted. All passengers moving to one side is a very normal scenario in a passenger tourist boat (that is why they are going in the first place!). So, that means in our preliminary Stability assessment, this is a definite condition to check. If it is double decked (like in this case), surely, we can check what will happen if all passengers go up and move to one side. That is why I mentioned- all possible scenarios should be evaluated.

Another important issue in the existing rules is the sub-division of vessel in to compartments. All of us are familiar with the scene in the Titanic movie when after the iceberg incident, the Ship's Naval Architect explains to Captain and Rose (Kate Winslet) how when water enters the compartments it gets filled and it overflows to the next until the whole vessel gets flooded. The lesson learnt in the incident was the importance of watertight bulkheads (it was 1912) and our rules still allows boats without sufficient watertight bulkheads (compartments) to ply. Most of the vessels plying in our backwaters are unsafe from this point of view and it is surprising despite knowing how fast a boat can sink if there is a damage in any one area!

Now coming to construction, there are various stages where compromises can be made in terms of the quality of materials used and method of construction. One way to ensure quality in these two is to have independent surveyors to do testing during construction as well as to assure of the material quality by testing. Our Canal rules nor the Irrigation department have means of ensuring that. So, a sub-standard vessel can easily pass through these processes and pass itself as a "safe vessel". IRS (or other Classification Societies), however, has a rigorous means to ensure quality of materials as well as process of construction. Hence if there is a certificate from IRS then we can be assured of the two areas.

Along with various other tests, one test that is most important one to assess the stability of the vessel is the inclining test. This is done after (most of) construction is complete and vessel is (nearly) ready. The previously calculated center of gravity is updated with this actual value from the test and the Final Stability analysis is done. Again in our Canal rule, there is no provision to perform this test and assess the stability. This test, though, is mandatory in case of vessel built under IRS. However, as explained above, the rules of IRS are inadequate to make the assessment for stability.

The next stage is the vessel during operation. Although in the design stage and construction stage (after testing) we can assure of the vessel strength and stability in a predicted scenario, it depends on the operators to follow the guidelines. Most of the operators do not understand the importance of capacity of a vessel - in case of cargo vessel it is the deadweight and in case of passenger vessel it is the passenger capacity. In either of the cases, when there is an overload, the vessel will immerse in water more than it is designed and two important effects can happen. One is with regards to strength. All the structure of the vessel is designed as per a draft (immersion level in water) called maximum draft. When the draft increases, the load on the vessel structure increases (as depth increases the pressure increases and therefore force acting on the vessel sides), and a scenario may happen that the structure may give way. In case of wooden boats, it is usually the caulking between the planks that give way and water enters the compartment. The other aspect is with regards to stability. If a proper assessment was done in form of an authoritative Stability analysis, then when there is an overload, say 50% more, the whole scenario changes and the vessel may not be stable in a particular condition like all passengers moving to one side. That needs be ascertained. Other operational aspects include providing adequate number of life jackets and life buoys would be inadequate when there is overloading.

The last important aspect is the safety culture. That is not a scope of this discussion, however, if people appreciate that, then surely many incident of overloading, under capacity of life saving equipments, etc. may not happen.

In this incident as well as other accidents, the common thread is the inadequacy of the rules. Our legislators must, instead of taking credit for rushing to the accident spot, pass the pending Inland Vessel Act, have a qualified Kerala Maritime Board, and save people from such unsafe vessels and avoidable accidents.

There are some of the aspects to be considered in this investigation and a detailed analysis would be taken up when sufficient data is available.

MV Karuthal, one of the biggest marine vessels built in the private sector in Kerala takes to the waters

noreply@blogger.com (sooraj) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:41:00 +0000

Today was the launching ceremony of MV KARUTHAL at Century Shipyard. The 1600 DWT vessel was built by Century Shipyard Ltd for Trans-Asian Shipping Services Ltd, Singapore. The multi-purpose container vessel was designed for service along the coast in all major and minor ports with a loaded draft of 3.2m.

Having the capacity of carrying 52 TEU containers, She has the basic dimensions of 67.5 m length, 12.5 m breadth, 5.5 m depth, 3.2 m loaded draft, and a deadweight of 1600 T.

MV KARUTHAL being the fourth ship to be built in the yard, century shipyard is said to have the capacity to build two big vessels and four small vessels at a time, as per the company officials. Hope that Century Shipyard and Trans Asia build many more vessels in the future

Intentional mistake on Japan's first Solar powered Cargo vessel

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 08:57:00 +0000

It is pathetic that such a reputed company want to tout using some solar power in the ship as equivalent to solar powered ship. Recently another houseboat was launched as "World's first solar powered houseboat" when again, its main propulsion is not powered by the sun. I guess people have to check out what it means to have solar powered boat/ship!

Read the news from Treehugger

Japan’s First (Barely) Solar Powered Cargo Ship Takes to the Waves

Although it’s being billed as Japan’s first solar powered cargo ship the amount of renewable energy onboard is so small that I frankly find it laughable. Although the Auriga Leader, a freighter capable of carrying 6,400 automobiles, does have 328 solar panels on board they produce only 40 kilowatts of power, a figure which is a mere 0.2% of the ships overall energy usage. Here are some more details:

Solar Power Runs Lighting Onboard
According to the original ENN piece (sourced as AFP), company officials have said that the solar power on the 200 meter long ship currently runs the supporting lighting onboard as well as the crew living quarters. Which then makes it odd that they also say that the ship is the first in the world with a solar-based propulsion system.

Though company officials say they hope to generate a greater proportion of the ship’s energy from solar power in the future, with such a small percentage of power usage generated from solar (I imagine they could probably have reduced energy usage by a similar amount through simply swapping the regular lightbulbs with CFLs), they clearly have their work cut out for them.

The Auriga Leader has been developed by shipping company Nippon Yusen K.K. and the Nippon Oil Corporation.

Boat India 08

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:04:00 +0000

The three day Boat India 08 came and went Without causing much ripple in the marine community. The timing was unfortunate for the hard working organizers, who despite the tide against them, made a good show given the circumstances. First was the economic woes, then the Mumbai attack (people with limited knowledge of geography did not know that Mumbai is 2000 Km away from Kochi), and last the traffic blockade caused by some jobless political class to hold the rally in the center of the city.

The award night was well attended compared to the conference and exhibition adjacent to that. Having said that, it is thanks to Marine Biz Tv that such international events happen in Kochi and kudos to them for organizing it.

Solar energy news

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:11:00 +0000

Even we in the marine industry need to watch out of this development.

Source: Economic Times (23rd July 08)

New river-sea regulations to synergise inland, coastal ops

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 05:31:00 +0000

It not only makes vessel construction cheaper, but also offers flexibility to manning rules

OUR SHIPPING BUREAU MUMBAI 20 JULY

The latest notification issued by Directorate General of Shipping (DGS) for construction, survey, certification and operation of river-sea shipping will prove to be a shot in the arm of inland waterways and coastal shipping operators, say many of the players of the sector.

The 'path-breaking regulation' exempts Indian ships other than passenger vessels, oil tankers, and offshore vessels support and supply vessels, operating along the Indian coast and within the territorial limits of India from the provisions of the MS Act 1958. It amends and dispenses with the requirements to observe the MS Act provisions which have been found unnecessary for inland and coastal shipping while at the same time keeping the integrity of the Act in protecting the interests enshrined in those very provisions.

According to those who have been associated with drafting the notification, DGS has been guided by the direction provided in the national maritime development programme.

Accordingly, the notification has put in place systems that would lead to seamless flow of cargo across inland, coastal and mainline shipping modes.

As expressed by one member of the panel, the notification is an industry-initiated document vetted by the government.

There is ample evidence to show that the administration has acted on the reservations expressed by the coastal shipping industry with regard to the prevailing MS legislation application. If coastal shipping was found to be uneconomical due to high cost of construction and operation, the new rules not only make constructing of vessels cheaper and more affordable, it also offers flexibility to manning norms.

"The cost of constructing an average coastal vessel will stand reduced to Rs 8 crore from Rs12-13 crore by dispensing with a lot of regulations which are superfluous and not required for such vessels which operate only in Indian territorial waters and subject to Indian jurisdiction,"
said Capt SS Naphade, coordinator of the committee that went into the exercise.

"Costs of manning and bunker costs are the main costs in operation of these vessels. With this legislation capital expenditure stand substantially reduced," said Capt Naphade, who also represents Jaisu Shipping Company, one of the leading local companies in dredging.

"Manning cost will get substantially reduced. More importantly, for employees there are better prospects for upward mobility across the spectrum of operations," opined Atul V Jadhav, an active member of the Indian Coastal Conference (ICC), an organization of coastal shipping operators.

"Many of the operators were thinking of exiting the business due to their operations becoming unviable. But today, we have a hope as the cost of operation will go down," he added.

For Ajoy Chatterjee, chief surveyor with the government of India-cum-additional director general of shipping (engineering), the set of rules would open up a totally new area for ship builders, ship designers, port operators, small and big transhippers, etc.

Mr Chatterjee, who was the chairman of the committee that took the momentous legislation to its logical conclusion, said, "We would see more movement of short sea shipping within neighbouring ports. It will also fill up gaps that are there today in coastal shipping.

The legislative move is also seen as a very important step forward towards augmenting Indian fleet, which would invariably go to contribute more Indian ships carrying more Indian cargo.

Source: Economic Times Newspaper

Solar boat launch and saving the ecosystem

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:36:00 +0000

June 3rd was a special occasion: it marked the key handing ceremony of the solar powered boat from Team Sustain to the Coconut Lagoon representatives (Casino Group). This was a landmark event: a step in the right direction. Team Sustain and Casino group deserve all the kudos to see this dream come true for all environment lovers.

A cruise through the Vembanad lake is enough to convince anyone of the urgent need for some steps to stop and reverse the damage caused to the lake. The lake is practically getting killed by these looters in the name of tourism. The hotles & resorts have only joined hands in looting the environment and this action by Casino group would give an alternative direction to many others pursuing the path of environment destruction.

Hope that many more hotels, resorts and boat owners change to this alternative energy not just to save their operational expense in form of fuel, but also to save such pristine environment.

Shiptek 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:50:00 +0000

Three days of Shiptek 2008 show came to an end. Actually two days of conference and tradeshow with the last day (today) spend at the backwaters of Punnamada kayal.

The event was inaugurated by Noboru Ueda, Chairman of ClassNK on 29th morning. Following the introduction were lot of paper presentations. However, since there was not enough time alloted to each person, very few of them could actually convey all what they wanted to in the stipulated time. Or it was that they could not condense the essence of the paper in this time.

Unlike other marine exhibitions or trade shows, there were very few stalls, less than 20 in number. That is understandable considering that it is the second such event and first in Cochin. Maybe geographic location was the reason. Having said that one thing that clearly came out of the event was that India is going to be a player in the shipbuilding (and to an extent conversion) scene and Cochin is going to be one such hot spot.

30th night was a gala event and I was surprised (along with many others) to understand that Sohan Roy and his Aries Group has diverse interests ranging from furniture to Hollywood movie production (quoted from Voyages, their 10th year anniversary magazine). I admire the versatility in the man to pursue such eclectic tastes.

Over all it was a nice event; for a startup company and a person relatively new to this field (in India) it was a great opportunity to meet some important decision makers in this part of the world in the marine industry.

Dubai boat show 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Sandith) — Thu, 01 May 2008 11:05:00 +0000

Just came back this morning after visiting Dubai boat show - the definitive show of the middle-east and South Asia. One had to be here to realize the vision and of the government (rulers) of UAE, especially Dubai.

The hot topic of the show was the development of the Dubai Maritime city; to be built near Palm Jumeira. Already over 100 companies have expressed interest to be a part of the city.

Some of the best yachts were at the show. All the leading brands - Ferretti, Azimuth, Aicon, Princess, Sunseeker and a whole lot of others. One genuine concern about the yachts and the so called guides (girls) are the absolute ignorance about the yachts (in question) or the company they are representing at the show. Except many being just an attraction to lure people to stall, I found most of them redundant. Why we need gorgeous babes when there are such sexy boats! Maybe companies can save money on this.

Lots of equipment suppliers, and other service providers were there. Two solar boat were in the show - promising future ahead for that area.

All in all this was a great show. For all those who missed it this time, make sure you catch up next year.