The industry should never underestimate the benefit of training in developing and retaining a pool of loyal and committed seafarers who can add value to the entire maritime industry by reducing the number of accidents and casualties and improving the image of shipping in general, said Daniel Ioannides, Director of Cyprus-based owner Ocean Tankers.

Addressing delegates attending the 2nd International Ship Management Summit, he said well-trained and experienced seafarers “should eventually be offered shore-based positions so that they may in turn guide the crew of the next generation and work together to achieve the industry goal of continuous improvement in safety, quality, and reliability.

“As a responsible ship owner and an advocate of the belief that prevention is better than cure, I believe that the implementation of a well-designed and planned training program on a long-term basis should be sought for on a collective basis. It’s never too late, to begin.”

Undoubtedly it would be a difficult task to try to get together the parties concerned to strike a universal agreement to begin to solve the problem once and for all, he said. However, he said he believed “that the shipowners acting through the national shipowners unions and ECSA (The European Community Shipowners Association) together with the ship managers should create a common forum to discuss and debate the matter on a collective basis, to strategise the best way forward.

“Perhaps the creation of a European Maritime Academy sponsored and supported by all parties concerned to recruit and train young cadets might be the best way forward, instead of individual initiatives which are in competition with one another. Once a consensus has been reached between ship owners and managers, I believe the matter should be discussed further perhaps at IMO level, supported by the member governments.

“Let’s remember the well known motto: “United we stand and divided we fall”,” he said. “This is a call to unity. It’s the only way forward.”

The maritime industry needs to proactive, not reactive to issues facing it and should see new challenges as opportunities and not as threats, according to Dimitrios Theologitis, head of unit, Maritime Transport & Ports Policy at the European Commission.

Speaking at the Ship Management International 2nd International Ship Management Summit in Limassol, Cyprus, Mr Theologitis said for this to happen “requires an exercise of collective responsibility from all involved actors, not only from ship owners. Flag and coastal states, cargo owners and ship management companies, among others, play a very important role in shaping the image of the overall shipping activity.”

Shipping is entering into a new era where new forms of logistics, shifting patterns of maritime trade, advanced technologies and growing environmental concerns will change the face of the business as we know it today, delegates were told.

“There is an enormous potential for European shipping, both in the deep-sea and short-sea trades. The removal of obstacles and simplification of controls in European ports for ships transporting internal market goods under a ‘European maritime space without barriers’ will be an important step forward,” he said.

However, this will not be enough. Competitive pressure from shipping nations close to the Pacific and Indian Oceans will continue to increase, Mr Theologitis added.

“As Europeans, we need to consider carefully all challenges and shipping scenarios in order to take the right strategic decisions for securing the future for our industries.

“We all have an interest in ensuring that Europe retains its shipping excellence and maritime know-how.

“It is for that very reason that, in the framework of the integrated maritime policy of the European Union, the Commission is carrying a strategic review of its maritime transport policy, examining opportunities and threats for European shipping in the coming ten years. Included there will be three main points of focus: the competitiveness of European shipping in a globalised environment, the human factor – which in part is the subject of today’s conference – and the question of quality shipping, meaning safe, secure and environmentally responsible shipping.

“We expect to present our views next October, by means of a policy Communication to be addressed to the European Parliament and Council,” he said.

Pointing to the issue of the shortage of qualified seafarers as an area of less success within the industry, he told delegates that the European Commission has been working for years to improve the health and safety conditions on board vessels.

“We make constant efforts on the training and certification requirements of seafarers. We have a long-standing commitment to support adequate labour conditions in the maritime world. We have been also been instrumental to bringing into reality the consolidated convention on maritime labour of the ILO, and we actively support the social partners towards achieving an agreement for the practical implementation of these rules in European shipping.

“These are practical, concrete actions of our daily work in support of seafarers. It is certainly curious that all those efforts of the European Commission are rarely presented or commented on in shipping conferences.

“Therefore, claims that the application of the principle of environmental responsibility to the shipping sector criminalises the sector gives a very bad image of shipping, as it suggests that violations of the environmental regulations are a normal practice in the shipping sector. Furthermore, the claim is not factual,” he said.

The UN World Food Programme has appealed to naval powers to help protect its ships carrying life saving assistance from pirate attacks, saying that as many as two million Somalis could go hungry without this essential help.

A Dutch frigate was scheduled to finish escort services for WFP on June 25. Since the escort system started last November, no WFP ships have been targeted by pirates, despite an upsurge of piracy in Somali waters – 31 attacks so far this year according to the International Maritime Bureau.

“Without escorts, our whole maritime supply route will be threatened,” said WFP Country Director Peter Goossens. “Shipping companies are reluctant to sail unescorted to Somalia, and we have no offers to take over from the Royal Netherlands Navy.”

“Millions of Somalis are suffering from a combination of insecurity, drought and high food and fuel prices. If relief shipments slow down, we could face a major catastrophe,” said Goossens, adding that WFP is trying to scale up relief food distributions to avoid a disaster.

Some 80% of WFP food for Somalia arrives by sea. From mid-November to 25 June, a succession of French, Danish and Dutch frigates will have escorted 27 ships loaded with 112,500 tonnesof WFP food – enough to feed nearly 1 million people for six months.

Relief food deliveries by sea are essential. High commodity prices in East Africa have prompted WFP to purchase food in South Africa. WFP plans to ship 220,000 tons of food by sea to Somalia between June and December, to reach a total of 2.4 million people per month by December.

Experts fear that the number of people requiring food assistance later this year could reach 3.5 million people – nearly half the total population. Without urgent new contributions, WFP warned it will run out of food for Somalia in September.

Epic Ship Management, the third party ship and commercial management arm of Epic Shipping, has been taken over by the Pacific Basin Group in a move which will see a managed fleet of 130 vessels across 15 different vessel types exceeding three million dwt.

The move, which follows Epic’s decision to withdraw from its third party shipmanagement business in order to concentrate on shipowning and other projects, will mean the creation of a dedicated third party shipmanagement operation backed up a $2.5bn parent company.

The new operation will be named PB Maritime Services and will be headed up by Nigel Cleave as CEO. It will have offices in Singapore, Japan, the UK, Cyprus, Germany, the Baltic countries and the Philippines, providing a round the clock service wherever a client or vessel may be.

Epic will continue in its own right, with PB Maritime Services and Pacific Basin Tankers, two new divisions formed three months ago, taking over the ship management and commercial management activities of Epic respectively.

The PB Maritime Services fleet will encompass a broad range of vessel types, size and age, comprising VLCCs, product carriers, chemical and LPG carriers, in addition to specialised units in the offshore oil sector and in short sea transportation, including offshore oil support vessels, ro-ro, ro-pax, car carrier, container ships and tugs under its management. As such, PB Maritime Services will have considerable experience across virtually all sectors of the ship management industry, which includes the engagement of over 2,700 seafarers of varying nationalities.

It is currently supervising an extensive number of newbuildings under construction which will flow through to management upon delivery. It has pledged to continue to actively source and recruit highly talented staff both afloat and ashore.

In addition to having a major recruitment and crew manning operation based in the Philippines, it is also one of the largest foreign employers of Chinese seafarers.

Epic Shipping was created in 2004 when the Pacific Basin Group was floated on the Hong Kong stock exchange. Pacific Basin was at the time a substantial privately held shipowning and operating group of companies, based in Hong Kong with a strong position in the handy sized bulk carrier sector, focused on the Pacific area and in particular the Chinese market. As part of Pacific Basin’s pre-IPO restructuring, Epic Shipping was formed as a separate vehicle to hold the tanker and other non bulk carrier ship owning, operating and ship management activities of the business, which were not included in the flotation.

Epic Shipping’s shareholders remain largely drawn from the original private shareholders of Pacific Basin.

V.Group is currently negotiating departure terms with up to 10 senior managers as the shipping services company undertakes a strategic rethink in the face of intensifying pressure in the shipping and capital markets.

The latest termination process, which follows news earlier today that Don Anderson has stepped down as chief executive, is still in the early stages and has yet to be concluded.

But SMI understands that the senior managers and in some cases directors, may be given the opportunity to sell their shareholdings in the group as part of their move out of the business.

Roberto Giorgi, V.Ships President, was quoted in the press as saying the company would focus a lot more on its core shipmanagement business, with particular emphasis on product delivery and client relations. “We will grow only when and where it makes sense. This is almost of paramount importance now due to crew shortages, the continuation of this terrible weakness in the dollar, which is hitting everybody, and the rising costs in just about every area: bunkers and lube oil; insurance; technical expertise; maintenance and repair in European and Asian yards.”

While the company is putting more energy and resources into core propositions it is understood to still be committed to the other 20 services it offers. Indeed, it is looking to extend its activities in other areas, especially at the end of the ship life cycle such as ship scrapping.

Sources close to the business claimed the company was going through a period of consolidation and that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the group at the moment.

The US Coast Guard has warned ship owners to ensure they possess up to date nontank vessel response plans or face rigorous inspection. Owners should also submit their plans to the Coast Guard as soon as possible and if they have, they should ensure they are still current.

As some nontank vessels have still not submitted NTVRPs and because nontank vessels also pose the risk of serious bunker spills, the Coast Guard will screen all nontank vessels prior to their first arrival in the US for the submission of NTVRPs. The COSCO BUSAN oil spill reinvigorated the interest in this rather dormant rulemaking. It is worth noting, however, that the COSCO BUSAN did, in fact, have an NTVRP in place.

The United States Coast Guard issued the notice to inform US and foreign-flag nontank vessel owners and operators that it will begin enforcing the requirement to prepare and submit a nontank vessel response plan (“NTVRP”) for certain nontank vessels from August 22, this year.

The US Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004, which was signed into law on August 9, 2004, required owners and operators of all nontank vessels of 400 gross tons or greater as measured under the International Tonnage Convention to prepare and submit NTVRPs to the Coast Guard by August 8, 2005. The Coast Guard issued Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular Number 01-05, which was amended by Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular Number 01-05, CH-1 (“NVIC 01-05, CH-1”), in order to provide interim guidance for the development and review of NTVRPs.

The initial Coast Guard enforcement will focus on nontank vessels of at least 1,600 gross tons. The local Coast Guard Captain of the Port may place operational restrictions on non-compliant vessels under the authority of regulations issued under the Ports and Waterways Safety Act (“PWSA”). The Coast Guard will rely on PWSA for enforcement actions until its NTVRP regulations are promulgated due to the uncertainty of enforcement authority under the Act pending issuance of the regulations.

John Fredriksen’s Frontline has succeeded in privately placing 3 m new shares at a subscription price of NOK357 per share. Gross proceeds from the equity issue amounted to NOK 1,071 million (equivalent to approx. USD 210 million).

The net proceeds from the private placement will be used to finance the acquisition of five double hull suezmax tankers and as settlement for the delivery of shares in Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. currently covered by forward contracts.

Hemen Holding Limited, a company indirectly controlled by Frontline’s chairman John Fredriksen, guaranteed the subscription of 2.3 million shares and was allocated a total of 225,000 shares. No compensation was received for the underwriting. Hemen Holding Limited will now control a total of 26,304,053 shares constituting 33.8% of the issued share capital in the company.

The share issue was lead managed by Carnegie ASA, with Fearnley Fonds ASA, DnB NOR Markets and Dahlman Rose & Co LLC as co-lead managers.

Frontline is buying five double-hull suezmax tankers from Evangelos Pistiolis’ Top Ships for $240m, and chartering-in five more from Eigir Shipping.

The two transactions will more than double Frontline’s existing fleet of double-hull suezmaxes to 19 vessels, promoting the company to a leading role in this segment.

Delivery of the Top Ships vessels, which were built between 1992-1996, will commence this month and be completed in August.

Chinese ports will be operating heightened cargo restrictions and security precautions during the Beijing 2008 Olympics, in response to increasing worries over the movement of hazardous cargoes.

Shanghai Maritime Safety Association (MSA) issued notification regarding the restrictions over the shipment and operation of hazardous cargoes in Shanghai, with increased surveillance to be instated at most Chinese ports and certain perilous commodities prohibited entirely.

During the high temperature period between June and October vessels carrying hazardous cargo will be subject to enhanced supervision, with the additional implementation of anti-pollution schemes. Regulations will also be set in place with regard to the age and type of vessels entering the port to maintain optimum security control.

A temporary restriction period between 20th July and 31st August will monitor vessels transporting liquid cargo in bulk, with a strict limit on hold cleaning with crude oil and complete suspension of any radioactive, explosive or toxic cargo.

Regulatory measures will also operate at the ports of Ningbo, Qingdao, Dalian, Guangzhou, and Xingang/Tianjin, with security levels reinforced via comprehensive PSC vessel inspections and seaman’s certificates and passports requiring advance submission.

Quingdao MSA will be enforcing heightened submission and approval procedures due to the majority of Sailboat Games being held around the Quingdao waters. It has announced stringent policies on transportation in adverse weather conditions, the restriction of vessel flow with the support of patrol vessels, rigorous monitoring of illegal acts and implementation of heavy penalties for breach of law and regulation. Public security and frontier guards will conduct obligatory vessel checks, and oil pollution emergency action will be readily activated to deal with crises accordingly.

Solid progress backed up by a comprehensive underwriting review which improved the risk profiling of renewing members was the main message emanating from the annual general meeting of the American P&I Club held in New York.

While year-on-year tonnage entered into the club fell slightly, underlying premium rates rose substantially and club managers reported a fall in the number and aggregate value of claims reported in the year.

Arnold Witte, Club Chairman, told the meeting that, in order to meet the arduous business conditions which have characterised the P&I market for several years, the club had continued its policy of careful risk selection and attentive claims management. This boded well for the future.

But looking ahead, he said: “The American Club is committed to further improvement in its overall results ….. this will continue to require much dedication of effort and, as a paramount commitment, unparalleled service to members.”

Joe Hughes, Chairman and CEO of managers Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc., said there was cause for cautious optimism that the recent steps taken by the club to improve its operating performance and enhance its service capabilities would continue to generate positive results. The entire P&I sector still faced challenges, but the club was now well placed to build on its recent achievements.

The meeting heard that the improved claims situation meant that incurred claims for the club’s own account at the end of the 2007/2008 policy year were $22m lower than those experienced in 2006 at the same point. However, the incidence and aggregate value of claims within the International Group Pool remained a matter of concern, as did the relentless increase in commodity prices and other macro-economic trends driving global inflation.

Entered tonnage had held fairly steady and rating levels remained firm, a respectable increase in premium and deductibles having been seen at this year’s renewal.

The annual report and accounts show that free reserves increased by some 7.5% to nearly $34m at year-end 2007. While total assets increased by about 3.5% over the period, the club’s cash and invested funds grew by over 7% to approximately $240m. The overall return of the investment portfolio was 5.35% – slightly ahead of a blended S&P500/Merrill Lynch fixed-income benchmark, a creditable performance in the light of the market turmoil at year-end.

At the operating level, the club generated a surplus of nearly $2.4m over the 12 months to December 31. While there had been a reduction in year-on-year premium from $152m to $135m, investment income remained steady, as had incurred claims. However, other expenses reduced by nearly 12% during the year, making a positive contribution to overall results.