Finger-thin undersea cables tie the world together

The lines that tie the globe together by carrying phone calls and Internet traffic are just two-thirds of an inch (1.68 centimeters) thick where they lie on the ocean floor.

The foundation for a connected world seems quite fragile, an impression reinforced this week when a break in two cables in the Mediterranean Sea disrupted communications across the Middle East and into India and neighboring countries. Yet the network itself is resilient. In fact, cables are broken all the time, usually by fishing lines and ship anchors. It takes a confluence of factors for a cable break to cause an outage. Most telecom companies have capacity at multiple systems, so if one goes out, they simply reroute to a different system,'' said Stephan Beckert, analyst at research firm TeleGeography in Washington. The two cables, FLAG Europe Asia and SEA-ME-WE 4 were cut on the ocean floor just north of Alexandria, Egypt. By an accident of geography and global politics, Egypt is a choke point in the global communications network, just as it is with global shipping. The reasons are the same: The country touches both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, which flows into the India Ocean.
Read More

Sting on his Sydney yacht

Rock star Sting has hired one of the most expensive yachts on Sydney Harbour as a floating palatial home base for his family ahead of the Australian leg of The Police's world reunion tour.

Sting, 56, accompanied by wife Trudie and their four children, flew into Sydney and headed straight to the sumptuous Phoenix 1 at the Rozelle Bay Super yacht Marina.
Not short of a dollar after the North American, European and South American legs of The Police's concert tour, Sting can easily afford the 35m yacht's whopping daily charter rate of $13,200. Sporting a short beard and spectacles, the singer looked relaxed and buffed as he sipped wine with Trudie and then strolled around the aft deck of the Phoenix 1 as it toured Sydney Harbour. The couples were later joined on deck by various members of the pair's clan - which includes Bridget, 23, Jake, 22, Eliot, 17, and Giacomo, 12 - all in Sydney with their parents.
Read More

Camilla’s ‘cursed’ cruise ship is struck by winter sickness bug

A cruise ship launched by the Duchess of Cornwall less than a month ago has been hit by a potentially fatal stomach bug that left almost 80 passengers confined to their cabins.

Three weeks ago, superstitious seafarers speculated that Cunard’s MS Queen Victoria, which cost £300 million, was cursed after the bottle of champagne used by the Duchess at the naming ceremony failed to smash against her bows. Now, at least 78 passengers have been struck down by norovirus, more commonly known as the “winter sickness bug” that causes severe vomiting and diarrhoea. Three thousand passengers, including Sir Jackie Stewart, the former Formula One motor racing champion, paid up to £33,000 to go on the 16-night voyage. The Queen Victoria, on its second cruise, was moored at Lanzarote while 25 passengers suffering the virus were recovering in their cabins and crewmembers disinfected the vessel to prevent further spread of the infection. Voyagers have been given antiseptic lotion for washing their hands and warned not to use the vessel’s public lavatories.
Read More

The final curtain

Just after midnight, the last yacht, Capriccio of Rhu, with the indomitable Michele Colenso at the helm, crossed the finish line to bring down the curtain on the Rolex Sydney Hobart ocean-racing classic for another year.

It was a fine achievement by this cruising yacht, the only one in its division, especially as Capriccio or Rhu lost considerable time taking an injured crewmember into Wollongong for medical treatment on the first night. Moreover, it was another personal triumph for Michele who was diagnosed with breast cancer just before last year’s race. Also at the tail end of the fleet, in fact the last racing yacht across the line was Huckleberry, one of four entrants from West Australia. For Steve Humphries and his crew it has been a long haul, having aborted their delivery trip by sea because of bad weather and resorting to the long road trip across the Nullabor. For John Walker, at 85 the oldest skipper to have competed in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, this year’s race may not be his last.
Read More

China shippers order 30 vessels for $1.9 billion

Two Chinese shipping lines had ordered 30 vessels for more than $1.9 billion to meet surging demand for transport of goods and raw materials.

China COSCO Holdings Co, the listed flagship of the country's top shipping conglomerate, ordered 16 container vessels - each with the capacity to load 4,250 twenty-foot equivalent units from state-owned shipbuilders in Jiangsu province. The ships, costing a total of $1.08 billion, will be delivered between August 2011 and June 2012. The purchase will be funded 20 percent from China COSCO's own reserves and 80 percent through bank loans, the company said at the weekend. China COSCO now operates 144 container vessels with total capacity of 435,000 TEUs including the latest deal, has ordered leasing or construction of 56 more ships of 395,000 TEUs. China Shipping Development Co ordered four very large ore carriers (VLOCs> of 300,000 dead weight tonnes each for about $467 million, plus six 57,300 tonne coal carriers and four 57,000 tonne vessels for about $389 million.

Read More

Petronas signs gas production deal with ConocoPhillips, Shell

ConocoPhillips, Shell and Petronas Carigali have signed a production-sharing contract with Malaysian national oil company Petronas for the appraisal and development of four discovered undeveloped natural gas and condensate fields offshore the northwest coast of Sabah, Malaysia.

The fields, which include Kebabangan, Kamunsu East, Kamunsu East Upthrown and Kamunsu East Upthrown Canyon, have been designated as the Kebabangan Cluster. The fields lie in water depths ranging from 450 feet to 2,500 feet. The Kebabangan field is expected to be the first of the four fields to be developed. The other fields will be developed later once appraisal drilling is complete and commerciality is established. Joint venture partners in the PSC will include ConocoPhillips Sabah Gas Ltd. with 30 percent, Petronas Carigali with 40 percent, and Shell Energy Asia Ltd with 30 percent.
Read More

Hyundai Heavy aims for $27 bln ship orders in 2008

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., the world's largest shipbuilder, was aiming to win $27.4 billion worth of orders in 2008 from an estimated $26.9 billion in 2007.

Hyundai said that it was also aiming to post annual revenue of 18.1 trillion won ($19.34 billion) in 2008; up 16 percent from an estimated 15.6 trillion won in 2007.The Company’s 2007-estimated order total represented a 42 percent jump from 2006, while the 2007 revenue figure represented a 24 percent increase. ($1=935.8 Won).
Read More

Sustained buoyancy in shipping industry

Since 2003, the world economy has been experiencing a growth phase, the rate of growth varying between 4-5 per cent, and this has helped the shipping industry to have arguably the best period ever.

The protracted buoyancy in the shipping market has attracted the interest of general investors with the result shipping stocks are ruling high. There is a feeling now that shipping is unlikely to face the kind of slumps experienced earlier. Ship-owners are willing to pay skyrocketing prices to acquire the existing tonnage and the tremendous ordering frenzy has resulted in slots in all established shipyards being booked until almost the end of 2011. The increased trade in finished goods with the emergence of India and China as the manufacturing hubs is also likely to add further impetus to the growth in demand in the container segment. All these factors and realistic expectations due to the growth of the world economy could make 2008 another decent year for the world as well as Indian shipping.

Read More