Safety and Security

U.S. maritime unions say that cuts in manning levels and burgeoning paperwork loads are increasing the risk of maritime accidents worldwide. At a time when carriers have reduced crewing levels, ships' officers are being forced to manage the paperwork load generated by a growing number of government regulations. Representatives of officers a ...

"Tragic accidents, from the Titanic, to the Estonia or the Costa Concordia, put ship safety in the spotlight," said EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas, setting out the European Commission's priorities for passenger ship safety at a meeting of stakeholders convened by the Commissionn in Brussels. "There are always lessons to l ...

Lloyd's Register has published the first dedicated set of rules for stern-first ice-class ships. The release of the rules comes as more and more ships are being ordered with options such as podded propulsion systems and azimuthing thrusters – products that can improve icebreaking capability and reduce resistance -- allowing them to na ...

The Cruise Lines International Association has appointed a panel of experts to assess the recommendations made in an operational safety review launched by the industry following the Costa Concordia tragedy. The panel of will evaluate suggested policy improvements as part of industry efforts to review and improve safety m ...

Oceanwide Expeditions says that 74 passengers and 21 crew members from the Antarcic expedition cruise ship MV Plancius have been transferred to a rescue ship. On April 9, the Plancius experienced mechanical problems that saw it take shelter April 12, resting alongside the jetty of King Edward Point Research Station in Grytviken/Cumberla ...

Rear Admiral Mary E. Landry, USCG retired,will be back at work at the Coast Guard, April 22, though she won't be wearing quite as much gold braid as in this file photograph. As the newest member of the Coast Guard Senior Executive team, she will be the agency's Director, Incident Management and Preparedness Policy. ...

The UK P&I Club is publishing a series of "Risk Focus" booklets that highlight specific areas of risk. This month (April) sees the publication of the first: "Risk Focus: Slips, trips and falls." The series follows the launch of the UK Club's Bow Tie loss prevention initiative in January 2012. The initia ...

Here we go again. Another of those Antarctic "adventure" cruises has gotten a tad more adventurous than passengers may have expected. This time round, the vessel in question is the MV Plancius, operated by Oceanwide Expeditions of The Netherlands. An "Atlantic Odyssey" that started with embarkation of passengers in Ushuia, Argen ...