Sea Views: India considers 'bio-cards' for seafarers

In the fight against global terrorism, India is to carry out a feasibility study into biometric templates for seafarers' identity cards of similar form to the ID cards introduced by the International Civil Aviation Organisation for that industry.

Biometric data is any data from the body that is unique to one individual, such as fingerprints, blood details or retina prints.

According to Fairplay, the move follows the US push at IMO and ILO forums for impersonation-proof seafarer identity documents at a time when ships are increasingly perceived as posing a security threat.

"India, being a big supplier of seamen globally, will face a major challenge, as thousands of CDC (continuous discharge certificate) holders step out of innumerable marine institutes in the country," said a senior official from the directorate-general of shipping.

He said India understood U.S. security concerns, but was currently studying the viability of the scheme. The Herculean task would mean issuing cards to current serving seafarers as well as new industry employees.

Laurel for Super Galex Service: Laurel Navigation's Pacific Sky has recently inaugurated the upgraded four-partner, six- ship 'Super Galex' weekly service from the Far East to Khor Fakkan.

Laurel, a new flag in the Gulf region, together with CMA-CGM, Hanjin and Norasia, decided to re-vamp the original Gulf Asia Line 'express shuttle' between Singapore and the Gulf into a fully-fledged service connecting Korea, China, Southeast Asia and the sub-continent with the Gulf region via Khorfakkan.

Six larger, faster vessels connect 15 ports directly on a 42 rotation, and, in answer to customer demand, focuses on China, with five direct port calls. Star Shipping of Dubai is the UAE agent for Laurel Navigation.

U.S. backs Yemen Coast Guard formation: As part of the the U.S.' strategy to improve maritime security in this region, the first 20 officers of the reformed Yemeni Coast Guard are to be trained in the U.S. Sources in Sana'a say that the force should number 2,000 within four years and be capable of patrolling Yemen's 2,400-km coast.

The plan to create a new Coast Guard has come in the aftermath of the USS Cole incident, September 11 and the rise in regional piracy and terrorist traffic at sea.

GL shows continued growth: German classification society, Germanischer Lloyd has reported continued growth for the first six months of 2002 with a total addition of 284 new seagoing vessels over the previous year, increasing to 3.8 million GRT the vessels in GL class.

In the first six months of this year alone, 136 new ships with 2.1 million GRT and GL class have already been put into operation. The sales revenues in the GL Group also rose in comparison to the previous year with a 9 per cent increase to around 88 million EUR.

Figures up to June 30, 2002 show 5,164 seagoing ships with 38.8 million GRT (including 1,080 container ships of 23 million GRT). The GL share of container ships of the world fleets totalled 35.1 per cent by number and 32 per cent by tonnage, in a report by ISL Bremen dated April 1, 2002.

For new buildings, the order level for seagoing ships with GL class stood at 458 amounting to 7.1 million GRT, including 202 container ships of 7.1 million GRT. The ISL figures for GL's share of container ships on order worldwide show 56.9 per cent by number and 47.9 per cent by tonnage.

MPA signs Instruments with nine classification societies: The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has signed Instruments with nine classification societies on the appointment and authorisation for statutory certification and survey services for vessels registered in Singapore.

The nine classification societies, all of which are members of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), are: American Bureau of Shipping, Bureau Veritas, China Classification Society, Det Norske Veritas, Germanischer Lloyd, Korean Register of Shipping, Lloyds Register of Shipping, Nippon Kaiji Kyokai and RINA SpA.

The purpose of the Instru-ments, which took effect from 1 August, is to appoint and authorise the nine classification societies to perform statutory certification and survey services for Singapore-flagged ships, in line with recent recommendations from the IMO regarding the authorisation of external organisations to act for flag state administrations.

A statement by MPA said that as well as formalising the existing relationships between the administration and the classification societies, by providing a formal framework for the classification societies to carry out their delegated duties, it also made the classification societies more accountable for their work, and provided a basis for the MPA to better oversee the work carried out by the classification societies on its behalf.

The Instruments are valid for three years, and are subject to renewal by 12 months notice prior to their expiration.

Indian port refuses entry to stowaway ships: The Kandla Port Trust is rejecting any ship with stowaways from berthing, according to the UK's P&I Club, the reason given being the port's proximity to the India-Pakistan border.

A club member, the club said, had to steam from Kandla to Mumbai to disembark a stowaway. After travel documentation to Tanzania had been secured, Mumbai insisted the vessel wait until the stowaway was in the air before it left port.

On returning to Kandla, the ship had to join the end of the queue for berthing facilities. This added to delays. The club has warned of similar and potential problems arising at Porbander, Jamnagar, Sikha, Okha and Mundra.