English Nature condemns damage to marine environment

England's seas and coast are damaged and declining according to an English Nature report published in November 2002. State of nature: Maritime - getting onto an even keel is an 80-page report of evidence and analysis of the condition of the seas and coast around England. It reveals that despite important initiatives to protect the marine environment, it is showing signs of significant stress and low resilience to continuing pressure. All this adds up to an alarm call for those who use and manage the coasts and seas and care about the future. English Nature's Chair, Sir Martin Doughty, addressed a gathering of over 100 organisations with marine and coastal interests, including DEFRA, the National Federation of Sea Anglers, Associated British Ports, the Environment Agency, Marine Conservation Society, Greenpeace, Department for Transport and the British Tourist Authority. In his opening speech, he presented the evidence contained in the report and called for a shift in priorities and a more integrated approach to the way policies were set for the maritime environment and the way it was regulated. He said that it was only during the last few years had there been a growing realisation and acceptance that we needed to manage our maritime environment in a more holistic way. The management emphasis needed to shift to integrate action to maintain healthy ecosystems to ensure benefits for future generations. The report is packed full of useful facts and figures and can be downloaded from their website.

BP Bunker boost

Two newly signed contracts have lifted sales at BP Marine's refuelling operation at Salalah in Oman to around 35 000t a month.
The bunkering service, which commenced operations in February this year, is expecting a further increase after recently resuming the supply of fuel at anchorage. This process had been suspended for safety reasons during the Khareefe monsoon season between June and September.

Dubai joint venture

The EmuDome Joint Venture has been awarded a three-year contract by Dubai Municipalities to monitor the stability of the Dubai coastline. The work will improve understanding of the dynamics of the 150km shoreline including erosion patterns, through a number of comparative measurements over the three-year project period.

Salvage summit

New initiatives concerned with effective marine casualty response will be debated at the international Marine Salvage Conference to be held in March 2003 at the London headquarters of the IMO.
The conference is the fourth to be sponsored and organised by the International Salvage Union (ISU), and over 200 representatives of shipowners, salvors, insurers, lawyers and governmental and inter-governmental agencies are expected at the 2003 event.

Owners must get in shape

Shipowners should view the current downturn in the financial and freight markets as an opportunity to get their finances in order, according to Chris Chasty, head of the shipping group at accountant and business consultant Moore Stephens.
'It is time for shipowners to use external cost pressures to impose some healthy discipline on their outgoings and to engage in some hard financial pruning. Hard times are the right time to get into shape,' he said.

Freak waves may exist

The BBC's science programme 'Horizon' recently screened an episode exploring the phenomenon of freak waves. Researchers are now confident that waves up to 200 feet high that rise up from calm seas to destroy ships do exist. New data on the phenomenon, including satellite imagery, featured in the Horizon programme have led to calls for improvement in ship design that will withstand these huge waves. A video copy of the Horizon programme has been purchased and will be available to view on the premises of the IMarEST early next year.

Stratigraphic Atlas available now

The EU STRATAGEM project is studying the Neogene of the North Western European Margin. A major product of this project is a stratigraphic atlas entitled 'The Neogene stratigraphy of the glaciated European margin'. The atlas is available now - visit the STRATAGEM web site for further details.

P&I cover set to increase

Shipowners will have to pay more for their P&I cover next year according to North of England P&I Club underwriting director Paul Jennings. He told NE Club members in Dubai that all clubs would need to consider making significant general increases at the February 2003 renewals to maintain financial stability with owners.
He went on to say that the International Group P&I clubs would need to avoid any further erosion of their free reserves at the next renewal following last year's 40% average underwriting deficit.

Crackdown on oily waste

The Gulf State Oman is toughening up its act to stop the illegal dumping of crude oil waste in its waters. It is to build three new oily waste reception facilities in Muscat, the southern port of Salalah, before the end of this year. Offenders who illegally discharge oil will be fined US$1M

High-speed ship for US Navy

Austal USA, the Alabama based subsidiary of the aluminium shipbuilder Austal Limited, will team up with Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, to explore advanced concepts for a Focused Mission High-Speed Ship (FMHSS) for the United States Navy.
The company will be one of six consortia in the team developing the FMHSS concept, which is an integrated surface combatant craft designed to operate in coastal areas against terrorist threats, high-speed swarm boats, mines and diesel submarines. It may also carry supplies and special forces personnel.

Visit the IMarEST eshop to purchase merchandise, books and conferences, as well as over a hundred years worth of IMarEST Transaction Papers. The e-shop uses Barclaycard Merchant Services' ePDQ engine to automatically and securely verify your payment leaving you safe in the knowledge that your credit card details are safe. Also for a limited time only all members of the Institute that have registered with the website will also obtain a 20% reduced purchase rate.

Recently published by the Institute is "Design of propulsion and electric power generation systems" Click here to view the book details.

The International Directory of Marine Consultancy (IDMC) is a new exclusive fully-featured and searchable web database compiled by the library of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology. IDMC enables users to make the right choice in identifying consultants and their services. Detailed company profiles include full contact details; names of directors and key staff; key areas of expertise; company background and details of projects which have been supplied by the companies themselves. The database has recently been launched and is offered as a free consultancy reference tool to all our members and other users of our website. Click here to search IDMC now. This will make the database directly available to a potential customer base in excess of 16,000 individuals.

To be a part of this and to maintain your own entry in IDMC now will only cost £25 pa. To receive an application form click here or contact idmc@imarest.org.

The International Directory of Marine Consultancy

Call for Papers: "Marine Industry Challenges in the New Global Environment" 2003

The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology is one of the principal sponsors of this international World Maritime Technology Conference which discusses in depth the issues impacting all aspects of the marine world. The conference will be held on 17-20 October 2003, San Francisco, California, USA

You are invited to submit technical papers with topics that include the role of marine technical organisations in the environment, ship operations, production and ship design and technology.

For further information visit www.imarest.org or email: technical@imarest.org