Fatalities in cargo hold fire

On a general cargo vessel undergoing repairs at a yard, a shore worker was gas-cutting the deck plating of the upper tween deck. The hold had only one means of access available, consisting of a common access trunk with fixed vertical ladder sections.

Eight other labourers were engaged in different tasks in the lower hold. Apart from remnants of wooden sheathing on the tanktop and spar ceiling against the side shell, there was an accumulation of flammable debris, consisting mainly of discarded insulation foam both in the tween decks and at the bottom of the hold.

It is thought that falling sparks and carelessly disposed cigarette butts started a fire in the mid-tween deck and was unnoticed by the workers for a considerable time.

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Good health at sea ensures productivity

Seafarers' good health and being 'fit as a fiddle' at sea have become critical factors for ship owners to ensure productivity. Taking a proactive stance the Seabird Health Foundation in association with Bernhard Schulte Ship management embarked on a pioneering role to create awareness among ship manning, ship management, ship owners and corporates by organising a seminar on November 8, 2008 at The Club, Andheri (W) Mumbai, on maintaining good health and fitness at sea.

The event drew a large number of personalities, company executives, representatives from manning and shipping companies as well as captains and marine engineers keen on finding a solution to several 'cases' of death and sicknesses due to health negligence that could deal a severe blow to the shipping trade as stress and fatigue threaten to reach alarming proportions. Presentations that were made brought into focus several revealing facts, at the same time various simple and very easy to follow remedies offered made a deep impact on the participants attending the seminar.

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India's robust maritime sector could weather the financial storm

When will it all happen? How bad will it get? These are queries that are buzzing around Indian players in the shipping field while mulling over the financial meltdown. But as our policy makers would like to depict, the fundamentals are strong and the possibility of the Indian maritime sector feeling the effect of the global financial crisis will witness a quick turnaround coming out of the present financial crisis safe and sound.

Hope is writ large all around, with what is being considered as a positive outcome of the US elections with Barack Obama making history. The US president elect is expected to bolster measures to overcome recession in the world's biggest economy. Significantly, the return of investments into India is expected to benefit the rupee. The strengthening of the rupee and prices of crude oil coming down are their certain expectations.

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The business of ship recycling

Late last year, the world was treated to the sight of a group of elderly ex-US Government ships being towed across the Atlantic from their long layup in US waters to a special recycling facility in Northern England. It was an operation that was to become controversial, as environmentalists challenged the validity of permissions that had been given by the local authority to the recycling company.

But the drama did show the general public that there was indeed a “business” in ship scrap and that properly organised, with due environmental safeguards, an industrial operation to dismantle ships could still be undertaken in a highcost industrial country. Indeed, with more than 150 other members of the US Government “ghost fleet” awaiting disposal, there was clearly a viable industry that was just waiting to start up, once the environmental objections had been overcome.

Ship demolition is necessary as ships become redundant, and provides a large amount of recyclable materials. Some 95% of an average merchant ship will be re-used, from the steel which will be either sheared into smaller lumps to be fed into furnaces for re-rolling, to the non-ferrous metals and pipework of the ship which will be re-used.

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Time to take a call on ship building, maritime activity

The first edition of the Port & Ship International India 2008 conference and exhibition proved to be the most comprehensive setting that brought the industry professionals on a common platform to meet and undertake business in India. The event was jointly organised by Inter Ads Limited and E. J. Krause Associates Inc of the USA.

Sharing his views at the inaugural session, Dr. Stephen Hesselmann, Head, Maritime Department, Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, Government of Germany contended, “India is becoming an economic warehouse. It has many business opportunities as the maritime industry is booming at a very fast pace. The number of containers has increased by 44% from that of the previous year.

Port & Ship International India 2008 is an international exhibition and conference which gave a detailed insight on shipping and ship building, ship technology, maintenance and repairs, ocean engineering, marine offshore technology.

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GTI launches state of the art 'Talent development centre' on its campus

To speed the momentum of developing world class workforce, GTI has established the 'Talent development centre'- a fully equipped, state of the art training facility on its campus. This center was inaugurated by Mr. Dinesh Lal, Director- Gateway Terminals India. Also present on the occasion were Jose Santiago, Regional HR Head, APMT and Robert Tetteroo, Regional Head Training & Development, APMT.

Set on the GTI campus, the training centre is designed to provide hands on experience of work in the terminal environment for developing world-class maritime professionals. It houses automated systems, latest Audio Video systems, two Training rooms having total seating capacity of 55 people and an IT training laboratory. Designed in vibrant colors, this facility provides motivating ambience to facilitate learning.

“At GTI we believe in bringing out the best in people by providing modern training facilities and programs,” said Arvind Bhatnagar, GTI's CEO.

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Inland waterways to get a boost

Plans are underway to give a big boost to shipping activity in the inland waterways. Cashing on the tourism boom and the numerous mega power projects set to come up the government is putting in place several measures that will also see river tourism taking a higher growth trajectory.

Officials are certain of getting excellent results since water transport is fuel efficient, environment friendly and a cheaper mode of transport than road and rail. Besides, India is richly endowed with navigable waterways, comprising rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc. An estimated 14,544 km of the waterways could be used for passenger and cargo movement. At present 44 million tonnes of cargo is being moved annually by inland water transport (IWT) it comprises only 0.5% of the domestic cargo traffic.

But when it comes to cruise tourism, the states in the North East through which the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Yamuna flow and those of the South including Goa and Kerala have stolen a march

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