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Prayer Corner
Many of our Members have asked for prayers from their AOS Family. Please keep the following in prayer:
Th Strang Family and AOS-Mobile
The repose of the soul of Capt. Wolfgang Schroder & for his family
For our Gulf Fishers, Shrimpers, Crabbers and Oystermen, that God will bless them with a fruitful harvest this year. For all those in pirate infested waters that God will protect them. For those who have fallen into piracy, that they will find better, honest ways of sustaining their families, and turn away from a life of crime. |
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Chefs Plan Night to Support Gulf Seafood
By MARY FOSTER, Associated Press
October 27, 2010
NEW ORLEANS (AP) More than 150 chefs from around the nation are planning to show their support for Gulf of Mexico seafood by cooking and serving it in what's been dubbed "America's Night Out for Gulf Seafood."
The Dec. 1 event will see prominent chefs serving seafood to diners, friends and family, as they recommend the product. The chefs coordinating the event include several from well-known New Orleans restaurants including Bacco, Red Fish Grill, Mr. B's, Domenica, Cafe Giovanni, GW Fins, Roux, 7 on Fulton, The Landing and the Ralph Brennan and John Besh restaurant groups.
Sales of seafood have dropped since the BP oil spill this summer. Although experts have said seafood reaching the market is safe and untainted by oil, consumers have been reluctant to try it. The last five years, with Hurricane Katrina, the economic downturn, and then the BP oil spill in the Gulf, have been blows to the seafood industries, said Ralph Brennan, owner of four restaurants in New Orleans.
"This event is an opportunity to show people that our seafood is OK," Brennan said.
Gulf seafood has been tested over 27,000 times and there has not been one incident of it being oil-tainted, Brennan said. "Our seafood was never tainted," said Cliff R. Hall, of New Orleans Fish House, a supplier. "Only our image was tainted."
Hall, who ships seafood to multiple buyers nationwide, said demand is still down 20 to 25 percent in Louisiana, and 50 to 75 percent nationally. At the height of the spill, about 37 percent of federal waters in the Gulf were closed, or 88,522 square miles. Many Louisiana fishermen spent shrimp season working for BP as part of the massive cleanup effort.
Testing of seafood began almost immediately and officials insist that all seafood caught in the reopened areas is safe to consume. America's Night Out for Gulf Seafood was the brainchild of Susan Nash, who said she came up with it after a trip to New York City.
"We saw restaurant after restaurant after restaurant with signs in their windows saying they did not serve Gulf seafood," she said. "It was terrible. We know the seafood is safe, and worry that if others don't understand that it could hurt the industry and our restaurants."
The hope is to get 200 or more chefs from around the country to participate either in their homes or businesses. Each would prepare a meal that included one or more dishes made with Gulf seafood, Nash said. If they prepare it for their restaurants, each chef would decide the menu and prices, she said.
"We have a core group of 30 chefs in Louisiana," Nash said. "Each of those are asking friends who are chefs to participate, and in turn those chefs are asking others."
"The challenge for us is still repairing the brand," said Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. "Any time we can get an event like this with chefs across the country showcasing and endorsing seafood, it helps us do that." |
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 Cruise Ship Collides with Cargo Ship
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
Costa Cruise s has cancelled the Costa Classica's next voyage
after it collided with a cargo ship around 4:45 a.m. Monday.
The 52,926-ton cruise ship w as travelling through the deep-water
channel of the Yangtze River when it collided with the 86,848-ton
Belgian-flagged bulk carrier Low Lands Longevity.
The cruise ship suffe re d scratche s and a gash, re porte dly 20 me te rs long on its starboard side. Ten passengers onboard suffered minor injuries and were treated at a nearby Shanghai medical facility.
The cruise ship docked in Shanghai around 10 a.m. Shortly there after the Italian cruise line cancelled the remainder of the cruise which was set to depart from Shanghai Monday and travel to Japan, Korea and Hong Kong.
Officials are inve stigating the collision. Also on Monday South Kore an Police were searching for 33 passengers from the Costa Classica who failed to return to the ship after docking on the resort island of Je ju.
Forty-four Chine se passe nge rs from the Classica cruise ship disembarke d, taking their luggage with them and leaving their passports onboard.
Sunday afternoon the ship departed leaving the 44 passengers in South Korea. Authorities have found 11 of the passengers, w hile 33 remain missing. Officials say the y believe the passengers planned to enter the country illegally to find work. South Korea's immigration authority says the passengers will be deported. |
LLOYD'S LIST BREAKING NEWS:
Friday 29 October 2010
United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon gives assurance to shipping groups 
by David Osler
THE UN will "spare no effort to address the challenges arising from the issue of piracy", secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has pledged in response to a 930,000 signature petition presented last month by a broad coalition of shipping organisations.
Speaking on behalf of the campaigners, International Shipping Federation president Spyros Polemis, said: "We're grateful to the secretary general for sharing our concerns and taking them to the Security Council for action. Our determination remains that there is no acceptable level of piracy and that the continued attacks off Somalia require urgent international action."
He also pointed out that piracy still prevails in other areas and the industry is seriously concerned at the level of violence used against crew members. It is therefore necessary to eradicate piracy off Somalia in order to take a stand against its growth on a global scale.
International Transport Workers' Federation general secretary David Cockroft added: "We welcome the secretary-general's assurance, and hope that what we are being promised here is real action following his report to the UN Security Council this month. Only concrete, determined countermeasures will do any good against what is well on its way to being a global problem."
The signatures were gathered by BIMCO, the International Chamber of Shipping, the International Federation of Shipmasters' Associations, the International Maritime Employers' Committee, the International Parcel Tankers Association, Intercargo, InterManager, the International Group of P&I Clubs, Intertanko, the International Shipping Federation, the International Transport Workers' Federation, the International Union of Marine Insurance, the Society of International Gas Tankers and Terminal Operators and backed by the Asian Shipowners' Forum, the European Community Shipowners' Associations, the International Christian Maritime Association and the International Committee for Seafarers' Welfare.
Meanwhile, there are reports of an unsuccessful pirate attack on the 1985-built, 1,399 teu MSC Ayala this morning, only 12 miles outside of the Kenyan port of Mombasa. There was an exchange of fire between the pirates and an armed security team on board the vessel, although no-one is thought to have been injured in the shootout.
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Philippines to blacklist owners failing to protect crew
Wednesday 13 October 2010
Lloyd's List
THE Philippines government is attempting to compile a blacklist of shipping companies that have failed to protect their crew by following best practice guidelines.
Embassy officials have requested a full list of shipping companies known to have flouted guidelines from the UK Maritime Trade Operations office in Dubai, which acts as the primary point of contact for merchant vessels and liaison with military forces in the region While the data is understood to have not yet been granted to the Philippines, officials have told Lloyd's List that they have made an appeal via the United Nations Security Council.
A formal decision on what measures would be taken against offending shipping companies that feature on the blacklist has not yet been made, however officials have told Lloyd's List that they are seeking the names in order to "allow the government to guide seafarers accordingly".
Officials would not be drawn on whether this would effectively mean that crew labour would be withdrawn from vessels that appear on the list, however the Philippines alternate permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization confirmed that the government would "continue to explore all measures that could be adopted to prevent piracy incidents off the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin".
According to European Union Naval Forces, the number of shipping companies registering their Gulf of Aden transits in line with industry guidelines has increased over recent months, however they estimate that 15%-20% of vessels are still not complying. A spokesman for EU Navfor also pointed out that this figure only accounts for registration and not full compliance with the guidelines.
The hijacking of the Japanese fishing vessel Izumi with 20 Philippine crew off Kenya earlier this week has now taken the number of Filipinos being held in the Gulf of Aden to 101 and the total number of crew to 389.
While Philippines government representatives have used more moderate language in their promises to "monitor the situation", privately several senior officials are understood to be increasingly frustrated by the lack of effective action being taken to protect crew and vessels. The government was the first to mandate an anti-piracy training programme for all seafarers prior to departing from the Philippines, however these and other measures have not prevented Filipino crew from becoming the most hijacked nationality at sea.
The level of anger within crewing unions over the situation has also given rise to the suggestion that direct crew action could now be on the cards.
"I don't want to say that crew action is inevitable, but there's no doubt that the anger is there," International Transport Workers' Federation Seafarers' Section secretary, Jon Whitlow told Lloyd's List.
"For pretty understandable reasons: the taking of 100 Filipinos, the increasing length of detention of crews and the growing violence. The depth of feeling was shown by the huge support in the Philippines for the recent anti-piracy petition. It's a depth of feeling that should not be ignored."
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 Biometric ID cards for all seafarers move a step closer - ILO breakthrough with plan for document system similar to that used by air crews
Lloyd's List
by David Osler
Friday 29 October 2010
THE seven-year deadlock over biometric identification for seafarers has moved a step closer to resolution with shipowners, unions and governments finally set to discuss the broad outline of workable technical standards next month.
A deal on biometric ID was fast-tracked through the International Labour Organisation as a result of US political pressure in the wake of 9/11 by a large majority and with no votes against.
However, progress on Seafarers' Identity Documents Convention (Revised) 2003 - known as ILO 185 - has subsequently stalled, with just 18 nations having ratified the measure so far. The substantial cost of implementation, particularly for nations with few seafarers, is one of the main roadblocks involved.
But recent tripartite talks at the ILO's headquarters in Geneva appear to have resulted in consensus, and the ILO's Governing Body, as its executive is known, will consider a document on the question at its next meeting between November 4-19.
Few of those that have backed the call are among major seafaring nations, and there are growing concerns that any further delays could have an impact on both maritime security and seafarers' rights.
As a quid pro quo for requiring seafarers to carry new identity documents, port states are required to facilitate shore leave and transits to and from ships, for example by not requiring seafarers to obtain visas from overseas consulates in advance of their arrival.
Sources close to the process say the breakthrough came last month at a session where shipowners, unions and governments examined the reasons why so many nations have not pressed ahead.
The result is a set of amendments that would align equipment standards to those set down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation for air crews.
The proposals include voluntary use of a microchip to be included in ID documents, making them interoperable with the so-called e-passports that have become commonplace since 2003. The hope is that the understanding will remove an obstacle to ratification and speed up ILO 185's entry into force.
However, there are still aspects of the agreed standard, known as ISO/IEC 24713-3, to be ironed out, and a further report will go to the Governing Body in March 2011.
The main ILO official involved with the issue, Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, was yesterday travelling and nobody else at the organisation was available to comment.
Meanwhile, Nautilus International general secretary Mark Dickinson, who was a participant in the meetings, has written to UK Home Secretary Theresa May, urging her to commit Britain to ratification.
"I believe as a consequence of the September meeting we now have all the elements in place for meeting the original objectives of ILO 185: a system that improves global security, provides reliable verification of the identity of genuine seafarers and the affordable technology that can align with other systems used by immigration officers," said Mr Dickinson.
"The system will have important benefits for national and international security, but will also uphold the basic rights of seafarers, which have been facing sustained attack in recent years."
The International Shipping Federation and the International Transport Workers' Federation are also among those urging widespread ratification of the convention.
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Read & View More about the Oil Spill
Workboat Magazine held a free Webinar yesterday, to discuss the Impact of the Gulf Oil Spill on Boat Builders and Vessel Owners/Operators. The audio file can be listened to here:
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Important Upcoming Events for
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