Svitzer Australia Appoints New Managing Director
in 2007 with the acquisition of Adsteam Marine. The company is now the largest employer of Australia’s seafarers and completes over 50,000 harbor towage tug jobs annually in Australia alone. The company’s fleet of over 100 vessels services 28 ports and terminals around Australia and Papua New Guinea
Australia's Oil Search Slashes Workforce by 34%
Australia's Oil Search on Wednesday said it has reduced its total workforce by around 34% under its cost restructuring review to cushion the blow from subdued oil prices as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.The Papua New Guinea-focused oil and gas producer said full-time employees have currently been reduced to 1,222 from 1,649 in mid-March, with another 137 moving out by year-end.The firm expects production costs to be about $10.50/boe in 2020, compared to a previous cost guidance of US$11-12/boe, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Polarcus to Cut Jobs, Salaries
did not provide any details on the financial terms of the deal, nor on the identity of the client.Worth noting, Polarcus used the photo of its Polarcus Adira vessel to illustrate a social media post announcing the contract. Marine Traffic data show the vessel is currently in moving from the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa to Las Palmas, Canary Islands.The new contract comes after Polarcus in the past month lost two survey deals in Africa in Asia.COVID-19 precautionsWhen it comes to COVID-19 response in the offshore environment, Polarcus has said it is screening all field crew before traveling from
IMO Supports Women in Port Management
Management Program held at the Galilee International Management Institute (GIMI) in Nahalal, Israel, (6-19 November).The two-week course provides participants with key information and updates on innovations in the port industry. The participants are from: Cabo Verde, Fiji, Kiribati, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles and Solomon IslandsSubjects covered include global trends and advances in port development, management and operations; port security and efficiency in container terminals; and international law concerning ports and ships.Organized visits to the Israeli Maritime Training Authority in Akko
ITF Expands into Asia Pacific
The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) has established its latest Contacts Network, covering Bangladesh, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Thailand.ITF has seen a significant increase in seafarers requesting assistance from countries without an inspector or contact, in recent years.Attempting to resolve these requests is often challenging due to several factors, including the local political context and the effectiveness of maritime authorities.To address this problem the ITF initiated a project in 2018 to create a network of contacts
Equatorial Guinea Punishes Subsea 7
Equatorial Guinea has ordered energy operators to stop doing business with oil and gas service firm Subsea 7 for failing to comply with local laws aimed at creating more jobs for locals, the oil minister said on Thursday.In September, an oil ministry source warned that Schlumberger, Subsea 7 and FMC faced bans from working in Equatorial Guinea if they did not commit to local content laws.The move was part of a crackdown by the African country to enforce local content laws that have been in place since 2014. Petroleum operators were told in July to cancel contracts with Canadian-based CHC Helicopter.
Thailand Emerges as an International Maritime Training Center
students from the cruise ship and offshore oil & gas industries, partly due to the growth in cruise ship operations based in Asia and voyaging to new Asian cruise destinations such as Phuket and Phang Nga Bay, the Andaman Islands, the Mergui archipelago, Bali and Lombok, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, and also because of the starting recovery of the oil and gas offshore operations.Bill O’Leary, principal consultant to the Malaysian National Fund on marine development and one of the four partners in Galileo, commented, “Safety and security at sea have always
Crew Kidnapping Rising in Gulf of Guinea - Dryad
and piracy reported across Southeast Asia during the second quarter of 2016, taking the total for the first half of the year to 49. This is a 66% reduction for the half yearly total when compared to the first six months of 2015. However, despite the global downturn, maritime piracy in the Gulf of Guinea and Sulu Sea continues to give cause for concern with kidnap for ransom the main threat. The Gulf of Guinea is now widely regarded as the most dangerous region in the world for seafarers and was designated a Pirate Danger Area by Dryad Maritime in April 2016. Since then the area has seen a continuation
ISS Hires New VP for Africa Operations
the team this month and will support Mombasa-based senior vice president David Mackay with operations activity across the region. Nielsen joins ISS with agency experience in West Africa, having operated as a director at OBT shipping for over 10 years, working through Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Gambia. Prior to that, Nielsen was a MISE management trainee with A.P. Moller–Maersk and worked in various departments within Maersk before becoming Commercial Manager and Acting General Manager for the group in Mozambique.
Crime DOES Pay: Denmark Compensates Suspected Pirates
Indian Ocean have dropped from a peak of 237 in 2011 to just 10 in the first nine months of this year, the lowest since the piracy crisis began in 2008, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Piracy has since picked up along the west coast of Africa and is expected to increase in the Gulf of Guinea ahead of Nigeria's election next February, when ransom money is expected to be funnelled into campaign financing. (Reporting by Ole Mikkelsen; Editing by Tom Heneghan, Reuters
High Seas Becoming Less Secure
people who sail them.” He added: “Although the Indian Ocean is relatively quiet at the moment, the overall political direction of Somalia is far from settled. Things could change very quickly and with very little notice. The prevalence of piracy, cargo theft and crew kidnaps in the Gulf of Guinea is well reported and it seems to be re-emerging east of Malacca.” Astbury said that in the Mediterranean, few people realised the scale of the people displacement caused by the civil war in Syria and its spill over into the wider region. The numbers of people affected ran into the millions
