Nichols Bros still hopeful

A bankruptcy judge has handed US yard Nichols Bros Boat Builders an eight-week reprieve to finish ongoing projects.

Judge Samuel Steiner granted the shipbuilder's request for eight weeks' worth of an operating budget so that 20 staff can continue at its Freeland yard, during a hearing in Seattle. It wants to finish seven ships, including a joint contract with two other yards to build four 144-car, 1,500-passenger ferries for the state of Washington. Washington-based Nichols Bros laid off 185 workers on November 2 and filed for bankruptcy on November 16.
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China warship docks in Tokyo

A Chinese guided missile destroyer has docked off Tokyo in the first port visit by a Chinese warship since the Second World War.

A military band and crowds waving Chinese and Japanese flags welcomed the arrival of the destroyer Shenzhen in the Japanese capital. The highly symbolic visit is being seen as a sign of warming of ties between the two Asian rivals. Admiral Eiji Yoshikawa, Japan's chief of naval operations, told the Chinese delegation that Wednesday's visit showed both countries were making "big strides" in their relations. The port call is part of a planned series of exchanges that will see Japan sending a warship on a similar visit to China later.

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Inmarsat sees China maritime revenue rise

Satellite communications firm Inmarsat’s China maritime business will grow by 8 percent annually for the next few years amid strong demand for satellite phones and systems.

London-based Inmarsat, whose constellation of satellites covers more than 85 percent of the globe, expects strong demand from China’s export and fishery sectors, told Lisa Wagner, head of enterprise business. Satellite systems can help extend the boundaries of wireless networks to areas with unreliable, insecure or non-existent telecoms infrastructure, such as at sea or in remote land areas. These applications can also help fishing vessels communicate among themselves via encrypted messages. Inmarsat, which started in 1979 as an inter-governmental organisation to provide safety and distress communications for the maritime community, makes about 60 percent of its revenue from its maritime business.
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Type 45 destroyer- Diamond to cut the waves

The Royal Navy's newest and most powerful Type 45 destroyer – Diamond, was
launched from BAE's shipyard at Govan, on the Clyde.

Several thousand members of the public attended the launch, including over three thousand local schoolchildren. The Type 45 destroyers are the larger and more powerful replacement for the existing Type 42s. The destroyer will carry the world-leading PAAMS system (Principal Anti-Air Missile System) which is capable of defending a Type 45 and ships in its company from multiple attacks by the most sophisticated anti-ship missiles.
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India on maritime body’s high table

India has been elected to the executive council or governing body of the International Maritime Organization for the term 2008 – 2009.

This signals a change in international perception of India as an emerging maritime trade power. India polled 127 votes, more than the traditional European colonial maritime powers like France, the Netherlands and Germany. This time an election was held for the ten seats on the IMO's high table. Belgium, a new entrant and one of the 11 contenders for the 10 seats, forced the elections, challenging the monopoly of more recognized maritime trading nations. At a time when 98 per cent of global trade is conducted by sea, this victory will ensure India pays closer interest to commercial shipping and the navy.
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CNOOC’s first offshore wind project

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has put into operation its first offshore wind power station, built to supply electricity to the Suizhong 36-1 oilfield in Bohai Bay.

The wind power station was built; with an investment of 40 million yuan ($5.4 million).The station kicked off trial operations on 8 November and had generated 200,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity by 26 November. The generating unit was fixed to a jacket structure of CNOOC's Suizhong 36-1 oilfield, 70 kilometers offshore in northeast China's Bohai Bay. A five-meter-long submarine cable links the unit with the central platform of the oil filed for power supply. "This is the first wind power station in the world designed for power supply of offshore oil and gas fields," said Zhou Shouwei, CNOOC's deputy general manager. The Chinese government has been promoting the use of renewable energy, including wind power and solar power, amid efforts to shift from heavy reliance on coal consumption.
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Japan stands by its renewed 'scientific' whale slaughter

Luis Pastene's name is virtually unknown in the anti-whaling countries of the Western world.

It is his work that drives Japan's 'scientific whaling' program, which in turn provoked international outrage. Japan's giant 8030-tonne factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, and three smaller whaling boats, left for the Antarctic Ocean on the biggest scientific whale hunt in history. The fleet is intent on slaughtering as many as 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales, and, crucially, 50 of the vulnerable humpback whales protected by an international moratorium since 1966. Back at the laboratories of the institute, not far from the world's biggest fish and seafood market at Tsukiji, Dr. Pastene and his colleagues will scrutinize thousands of samples taken from blubber, livers, earplugs, ovaries and testes, bones, lungs and even the skin of foetuses borne by cows at the time of their death. The institute is the centre of Japan's scientific whaling program. Critics say its research is a sham designed to allow the country to continue commercial whaling.

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