New Board of Directors of INSA

Mr. S. Hajara, Chairman and Managing Director, SCI has been elected as the new President of Indian National Shipowners Association (INSA) at the 27th Annual General Meeting of the Association held in Mumbai on September 28, 2007.

Mr. Hajara was earlier the Vice President of the Association. Mr. Atul Agarwal, Jt. Managing Director, Mercator Lines has been elected as the new Vice President. Two new faces have also been inducted in the Board, viz. Captain S.S. Tripathi, CMD of Dredging Corporation of India and Mr. Arun Sharma, Executive President and CEO, India Steamship. The other Directors re elected for the year 2007-08 are: Mr. Anil Devli, Executive Director, Shreyas Shipping; Mr. R.L. Pal, Group Sr. Vice President, Reliance Industries; Mr. A.R. Ramakrishnan, Chief Executive Officer, Essar Shipping; Mr. K. M. Sheth, Executive Chairman, Great Eastern Shipping; Mr. S.K. Shahi, Chairman & Managing Director, SKS (Ship) and Mr. R. Srinivasan, Executive Director, West Asia Maritime.

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Melting sea ice forcing Walruses ashore

Thousands of walrus have appeared on Alaska’s northwest coast a clear indication of the consequence of global warming melting the Arctic sea ice.

Alaska’s walrus, especially breeding females, in summer and fall are usually found on the Arctic ice pack. But the lowest summer ice cap on record put sea ice far north of the outer continental shelf, the shallow, life-rich shelf of ocean bottom in the Bering and Chukchi seas.

Walrus feed on clams, snails and other bottom dwellers. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, September sea ice was 39 per cent below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000.

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Paragon Shipping Inc. to acquire two vessels

Paragon Shipping Inc. announced it has entered into agreements with unaffiliated third parties to acquire two, 2006-built Panamax drybulk carriers.

The first vessel, to be named "Coral Seas", has a capacity of 74,477 dwt and will be purchased with the benefit of a timecharter attached at $54,000 per day for a period of 23 to 25 months. The second vessel, to be named "Golden Seas", has a capacity of 74,475 dwt and a timecharter attached at $64,000 per day for a period of 11 to 13 months. Both vessels will be delivered between November and December 2007 and immediately delivered into their respective timecharters. The aggregate purchase price of the vessels is $178 million. With the addition of these two vessels, the Company's fleet will consist of seven Panamax drybulk carriers, three Handymax drybulk carriers and one Supramax drybulk carrier, with an aggregate capacity of approximately 706,358 dwt.

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Evergreen launches weekly service from Asia to East Med

Evergreen Line will launch the weekly AEM service on November 9, deploying seven ships between 2,500 TEU and 3,500 TEU that will link Asia with ports of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The first sailing will be made by the 2,824-TEU Ital Ottima, departing Shanghai to commence its 49-day rotation of Shanghai, Ningbo, Nansha, Hong Kong, Tanjung Pelepas, Haifa, Limassol, Piraeus, Istanbul, Tanjung Pelepas and back to Shanghai.Evergreen Line will also use the AEM service to connect with feeders serving other ports in the East Med and Black Sea. The Evergreen service is expected to be welcomed by Israeli shippers that have seen carriers like Maersk Line and China Shipping end direct service to the country while even Zim is cutting Haifa from its Asia Mediterranean Pacific (AMP) pendulum service.

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IMO publishes new GMDSS Manual

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has issued a complete revision of its comprehensive handbook on the global maritime distress and safety system (GMDSS), the GMDSS Manual.

The intent of the new GMDSS Manual is to provide, in a single comprehensive publication, an explanation of the principles on which the GMDSS is based, the radio communication requirements and recommendations for its implementation, the operational performance standards and technical specifications to be met by GMDSS equipment, and the procedures for and method of operation of the various radio services which form the GMDSS and the Master Plan for the GMDSS. The Manual is intended for use by ship personnel, shore operators, trainers, administrations, regulators and anyone else concerned with ship communication. The Manual is available from authorized distributors of IMO publications and via IMO's Online Bookshop.

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