The second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Kochi began on Saturday when the eight participating yachts set sail from the South African capital.
This is the first time in the 35-year-old history of the race that it is touching an Indian port. The Cape Town-Kochi distance is 4,450 miles and the leader is expected to finish around December 3. The Kochi leg represents a sea change in ocean patterns and fresh challenge for the crews. Chief among them is the threat of piracy, and the possibility of colliding with fishing vessels that are plenty off the coast of the Indian sub-continent. Traditionally, southern ocean storms, rough seas, horrendous cold and icebergs have been the principal challenges. At a briefing earlier this week in Cape Town, the teams learned about the new challenges they were likely to encounter, including small, unlit, local fishing fleets and the commercial traffic.
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Monday, November 17, 2008
21 Filipino seamen seized; 22 arrested
Manila: Somali gunmen have hijacked a Japanese cargo ship and a Chinese fishing vessel with a total of 21 Filipino crew members on board while Nigeria's military arrested 22 Filipino seamen on suspicion of stealing crude oil.
The sea raids on Friday and Saturday brought to 135 the number of Filipinos in captivity in troubled African regions. Two Filipinos, however, were among the 22-man crew set free on Saturday when pirates released the Japanese chemical tanker Stolt Valor, according to the Seafarers Assistance Program in Kenya. The tanker was seized on Sept. 15. Later that day, the 20,000-ton Chemstar Venus, owned by a Japanese company and manned by five South Koreans and 18 Filipinos, was seized 155 kilometers east of Somalia's port city of Aden, South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement. South Korean officials said they had no information on the condition of the crew or whether or not the gunmen had asked for ransom. On Friday, Chinese fishing vessel Tianyu-8 carrying a crew of 24-three of them Filipinos-was also hijacked by suspected Somali pirates. Some estimates put the amount of crude stolen from the Niger Delta at 100,000 barrels per day, equivalent to around $5.6 million daily or $2 billion a year at current prices. It is shipped out of Nigeria and sold in the international market. Meanwhile, the European Union launched last week a security operation off the coast of Somalia-its first-ever naval mission-to combat the growing acts of piracy and to protect ships carrying aid agency deliveries.
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The sea raids on Friday and Saturday brought to 135 the number of Filipinos in captivity in troubled African regions. Two Filipinos, however, were among the 22-man crew set free on Saturday when pirates released the Japanese chemical tanker Stolt Valor, according to the Seafarers Assistance Program in Kenya. The tanker was seized on Sept. 15. Later that day, the 20,000-ton Chemstar Venus, owned by a Japanese company and manned by five South Koreans and 18 Filipinos, was seized 155 kilometers east of Somalia's port city of Aden, South Korea's foreign ministry said in a statement. South Korean officials said they had no information on the condition of the crew or whether or not the gunmen had asked for ransom. On Friday, Chinese fishing vessel Tianyu-8 carrying a crew of 24-three of them Filipinos-was also hijacked by suspected Somali pirates. Some estimates put the amount of crude stolen from the Niger Delta at 100,000 barrels per day, equivalent to around $5.6 million daily or $2 billion a year at current prices. It is shipped out of Nigeria and sold in the international market. Meanwhile, the European Union launched last week a security operation off the coast of Somalia-its first-ever naval mission-to combat the growing acts of piracy and to protect ships carrying aid agency deliveries.
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MIS rolls out Middle East first
United Arab Emirates-based Maritime Industrial Services (MIS) has scored what it claims is a MIddle East first with the completion of a newly-designed offshore jack-up drilling rig for Nigerian drilling company SeaWolf Oilfield Services.
The unit, named SeaWolf Oritsetimey (Hull 104), is also a world first as this particular design is the first Friede & Goldman Super Mod 2 ever to be built. Along with its sister rig, the SeaWolf Onome, this rig is one of two offshore jack-up drilling rigs being built by MIS for SeaWolf Oilfield Services in contracts worth $254 million. For a yard with no previous record in building new rigs, MIS said that is considers this an exceptional feat. “We are pleased to confirm that this steep learning curve and the experience gained on those two first rigs, is already delivering results with our third rig, the KS Endeavour (Hull 107) scheduled for delivery well ahead of its contract delivery date” the company said in a statement today. Capitalising on the capacity shortage in traditional new-build yards in Singapore, China and the US Gulf Coast, MIS entered the new-build market two years ago, making it the first yard in the Middle East to offer such services. Today MIS has an order book of $1 billion and a total of seven rigs under construction at its yard in Sharjah. Both SeaWolf rigs are of a Friede and Goldman Super Mod 2 design with a 30,000 foot rate drilling depth and can operate in water depths of 92 metres. The SeaWolf Onome, SeaWolf’s second jack up rig being built by MIS, is slated for delivery in February 2009.
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The unit, named SeaWolf Oritsetimey (Hull 104), is also a world first as this particular design is the first Friede & Goldman Super Mod 2 ever to be built. Along with its sister rig, the SeaWolf Onome, this rig is one of two offshore jack-up drilling rigs being built by MIS for SeaWolf Oilfield Services in contracts worth $254 million. For a yard with no previous record in building new rigs, MIS said that is considers this an exceptional feat. “We are pleased to confirm that this steep learning curve and the experience gained on those two first rigs, is already delivering results with our third rig, the KS Endeavour (Hull 107) scheduled for delivery well ahead of its contract delivery date” the company said in a statement today. Capitalising on the capacity shortage in traditional new-build yards in Singapore, China and the US Gulf Coast, MIS entered the new-build market two years ago, making it the first yard in the Middle East to offer such services. Today MIS has an order book of $1 billion and a total of seven rigs under construction at its yard in Sharjah. Both SeaWolf rigs are of a Friede and Goldman Super Mod 2 design with a 30,000 foot rate drilling depth and can operate in water depths of 92 metres. The SeaWolf Onome, SeaWolf’s second jack up rig being built by MIS, is slated for delivery in February 2009.
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Secondhand AHTS vessel values plummet
Global offshore researcher ODS Petrodata is forecasting a drop in value for second hand AHTS vessels in the next half year.
ODS Petrodata said that vessel values had already peaked, but that it was hard to say how much the values would drop; however a 50 percent nosedive for certain vessel types could be expected. However, while the value of vessels has diminished, ODS sees it as simply retreating towards its newbuilding price, and that the vessels would still be worth more than the newbuilding price. To illustrate the point, ODS said that in 2001, the average AHTS newbuilding would have been fetched for a price of US$35 million, but these vessels would now be worth more than US$55 market on the open market.
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ODS Petrodata said that vessel values had already peaked, but that it was hard to say how much the values would drop; however a 50 percent nosedive for certain vessel types could be expected. However, while the value of vessels has diminished, ODS sees it as simply retreating towards its newbuilding price, and that the vessels would still be worth more than the newbuilding price. To illustrate the point, ODS said that in 2001, the average AHTS newbuilding would have been fetched for a price of US$35 million, but these vessels would now be worth more than US$55 market on the open market.
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Chinese sales of vessels jump 170 percent
China has reported that the country sold over 1,400 vessels abroad in the first seven months of this year, a surge of 170 percent on the same period of last year.
The exports were valued at US$10.58 billion, a jump of 61.6 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs. The administration attributed the growth to the nation’s comparative advantages in labour costs, ship building technology and infrastructure for the business. The total export value included US$3.49 billion for container vessels, up 81.7 percent, US$2.84 billion for liquid cargo ships, a rise of 53.3 percent, and US$2.04 billion for bulk cargo ships, a jump of 54.6 percent. The three categories combined to account for 79.2 percent of the total ship export value. Nearly 90 percent of the exports were achieved through processing trade.
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The exports were valued at US$10.58 billion, a jump of 61.6 percent, according to the General Administration of Customs. The administration attributed the growth to the nation’s comparative advantages in labour costs, ship building technology and infrastructure for the business. The total export value included US$3.49 billion for container vessels, up 81.7 percent, US$2.84 billion for liquid cargo ships, a rise of 53.3 percent, and US$2.04 billion for bulk cargo ships, a jump of 54.6 percent. The three categories combined to account for 79.2 percent of the total ship export value. Nearly 90 percent of the exports were achieved through processing trade.
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