ECUADOR POLLUTION Meanwhile back
in the jungle, the real owners of this paradise turned hell want to
know who will clean up the mess or compensate them for their wrecked
and sidelined lives.
Please "Mouse Over all
Images for Captions, Summery and Picture Credits. Some pictures in the PRESS BANK may be
subject to Copyrights. Check before use
Mexico flu outbreak
steers more
cruises to Seattle
More cruise liners
will call at Seattle
instead of Mexico becomes off limitis because of the Swine flu
outbreak. This resulted after U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) officials recommended that Americans avoid non
essential travel to Mexico a huge blow to the country's tourism
industry. Peter McGraw, of the Port of Seattle said the Royal
Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas, which can carry more than 3,000
passengers, will arrive Thursday. Carnival Cruise Lines also is
expected to schedule extra visits to Seattle. Royal Caribbean cruise
ships are expected to make a half-dozen extra daylong visits to
Seattle, because of the swine-flu outbreak. The cruise liners will
depart from Southern California ports and, instead of sailing south
to Mexico, will head north to cities such as San Francisco, Victoria,
B.C. and Seattle.
This
co-incides with the
annual Alaska cruise season which began last week and will have 211
sailings this year. Cruise lines and Port officials are busy meeting
the extra trade. For Seattle, each ship will bring several thousand
passengers into town for the day, boosting the tourist-oriented
businesses and restaurants. Port officials estimated that each
sailing on the Seattle-Alaska route is worth about $1.7 million for
the Puget Sound area, thanks to cruise lines buying food and supplies
in Seattle, plus the spending by passengers and crew on everything
from souvenirs and meals to hotel rooms before or after the trip McGraw
said. The extra ship visits will be on weekdays when there are
berths available at the city's two cruise terminals, the downtown
Bell Street Terminal and the new Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at
Interbay.
Govt 'playing
Jekyll and Hyde'
over reef Environmentalists
have accused the Australian government of a "Jekyll and Hyde"
attitude to the Great Barrier Reef. They say the government is spending
millions on conservation but refusing
to ban
coral-harming pesticides. The World Wildlife Fund-Australia
criticised the government regulator, the Australian Pesticides and
Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), for refusing to restrict the
use of herbicides atrazine and diuron. The WWF says that there was
clear scientific evidence the chemicals were poisoning the reef.
Dr Piet Filet, WWF's reef
catchments manager, said "It's just another cumulative stress
that really the reef can't afford, given the other issues around such
as increasing temperatures and cyclones," he said. "If the
reef is already looking weak because of an excess of nutrients or
pesticides, then the bleach susceptibility goes up."
Passenger
Ship Escapes Pirate Attack
MSC
Cruises confirms that
the Melody cruise ship was attacked by pirates near the
Seychelles Islands on Saturday evening, April 25, 2009. The ship
initiated avoidance procedures and quickly escaped the attack with no
injuries to any of the approximately 1,000 passengers and 500 crew
members onboard. The pirates approached the ship in a small speedboat
firing automatic weapons while the ship was sailing 180 nautical
miles from Port Victoria in the Seychelles. MSC
Cruises immediately informed the Italian government foreign office
(La Farnesina), the Maritime Security Center in London and
the Coordination Center for Security in Dubai.A military vessel
from the international security forces in the region has been sent to
escort the Melody as a precaution, and the ship is
continuing to Aqaba, Jordan, on its scheduled itinerary.
Kashmir
Houseboat Ban
In Kashmir the courts have ruled that
the 1200 famed houseboats on the Lake Dall are to
close until they agree a new waste disposal system to keep the lake
clean. The law blames them for the massive pollution of the lake. The
Houseboats Owners Association said it will challenge the ban
which it says will devastate the tourism industry. One owner Mohammad
Azaim Tuman, Chairman of the Houseboat Owners Association said,
"Houseboats have a unique place in Kashmir's beauty. We agree
the lake has been harmed by the houseboats and we'll ask officials to
chalk out a new programme to deal with the issue. But tourists have
made advanced bookings for the next six months. Where will they go?"
Ironically, it has in some
ways made the lake look even more beautiful. The combination of
untreated sewerage and phosphorous and nitrogen in the water acts as
a super-fertiliser which has promoted the growth of ferns, duckweed
and green algae, which in turn is killing other aquatic life.
Spike Goes Pirate
Hunting With the
US Navy in 'Pirate Hunters: USN
The US
Navy is allowing embedded access to film makers Spike (The True Story
of Black Hawk
Down) And 44 Blue Productions in their fight to end the threat of
real-life pirates terrorizing the coast of Africa. Adam Friedman
(Vertical Ascent) is the named producer on the pilot "Pirate
Hunters: USN" billed as an up-close and behind-the-scenes look
at the US Navy operation to end this deadly threat of piracy in the
Gulf of Aden. A Spike programming spokesman said, These often-violent
hijackings off the coast of eastern Africa not only pose a grave
threat to the lives of sailors taking cargo through the region, but
are also starting to add an exorbitant amount to the cost of
worldwide trade. Now, television viewers will be able to see this
dramatic, tension-filled and high-stakes military mission first-hand.
The US Navy is allowing Spike and 44 Blue Productions in-depth access
as they embark on their mission from the military base in the seaside
nation of Djibouti (bordering Somalia and Ethiopia) and on the open
water. Cameras will capture every element of life aboard two US
warships, the USS San Antonio and USS Boxer, as they patrol 1.1
million square miles of ocean for the pirates who call this region
home.
Ethiopia
PM plays down calls for
halt on Gibe dam construction
Ethiopia’s
Prime Minister, Meles
Zenawi has rejected calls from ‘Concerned’ groups demanding a
halt on the ongoing construction of the Gilgel Gibe III hydroelectric
dam, claiming the project threatens the survival of Africa’s lake
Turkana, the largest permanent desert lake in the world.
Following the start of the construction in 2004, NGO’s,
Environmentalists, friends of lake Turkana and ecologists from Kenya
accused Ethiopia of launching the project without taking an
environmental and social impact assessment, saying it violates laws
of environmental protection.
Some believe the project could in future lead to
conflict with neighboring Kenya. Meles pointed out that the project
was launched in full understanding and agreement with it's
neighboring Kenya. He said, "Kenya will be the primary
beneficiary from the project gaining power export on considerable
less expense."In response to concerns saying the project poses
threat to Lake Turkana’s survival the premier said that Gibe III
project is not an irrigation project that consumes huge amount of
water to endanger the survival of Lake Turkana. The Gibe III dam
located some 300 km south west of the capital is under construction
by an Italian contractor Salini construttari in an estimated contract
deal of 1.7 billion US dollar. Gibe III is the third in a series of
hydroelectric projects in the region being constructed to generate
power from the Omo River, 80% supplier to Lake Turkana. On completion
Gibe III will produce 1800MWof energy a year which will enable the
nation to export power to Djibouti, Sudan, Kenya, Yemen, Uganda and
Egypt
Iran Urges
Finalization of littoral Caspian Sea
Iran's
special envoy for the
Caspian Sea affairs Mehdi Safari called for accelerated efforts to
finalize the convention on the Caspian Sea legal regime. Speaking in
the 25th meeting of the special working group for the compilation of
the Caspian Sea legal regime convention which was hosted by Russia.
Safari
said, "Considering
the emphasis laid by the heads of state on the accelerated
finalization of the Caspian Sea legal regime convention, I stress it
is necessary that this document be finalized at the earliest time in
a bid to pave the way for an increase in useful mutual cooperation
among the littoral states of the Caspian Sea." The states are
Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Russia.
Djibouti
sends
engineers to aid
$6bn Shire–Zambezi project
The government of
Djibouti has sent
engineers to Malawi to offer technical assistance in the construction
of the Nsanje Port and the proposed $6-billion Shire–Zambezi
waterway project. The Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika had asked
Djibouti to offer technical assistance with respect to the project.
The president welcomed the Djibouti engineers indications that the
ambitious project was feasible. He said, “I am glad that what other
people thought was a pipedream is now coming out to be reality. Malawi
approached Djibouti to assist on the project because the East
African nation has one of the best-managed seaports in the world,
with capacity to handle six-million to eight-million tons of cargo a
year.
The Shire–Zambezi
waterway will help
landlocked Malawi save on huge transport costs. which mainly uses
road transport to ferry imports and export to and from the seaports
of Beira and Nacala, in Mozambique, Dar-es-Salaam, in Tanzania, and
Durban in South Africa. German firm Hydroplan Ingenier conducted a
European Union-financed prefeasibility study into the project, which,
besides other things, recommended that a comprehensive feasibility
study be conducted to ascertain the navigability of the two rivers
because, while the Shire river is deep and narrow, the Zambezi river
is wide and shallow. Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia – the key
beneficiaries of the project – have already signed a memorandum of
understanding to work together on the project.
Cyclones
Spurt
Water Into
Stratosphere, Feeding Global Warming
Scientists at Harvard
University have found that tropical cyclones inject ice
into the stratosphere, possibly feeding global warming. As a result
scientists now believe that global warming is likely
to increase the severity of tropical cyclones.
Data suggests that the amount of water vapour in
the stratosphere has grown by roughly 50 percent over the past 50
years.
The study tried to work out why this
increase has occurred. Using
satellite data gathered from 1983 to 2006, scientists analyzed
towering cloud tops associated with thousands of tropical cyclones,
many of them near the Philippines, Mexico, and Central America. They
found that in a cyclone, narrow plumes of
storm clouds rise explosively through the atmosphere often pushing into
the stratosphere. Tropical cyclones
are twice as likely as other storms to punch into the stratosphere, and
four times as likely to inject ice into the stratosphere. The
stratosphere's lower boundary known as
the tropopause is located some 6 to 11 miles above the Earth's surface,
it is the coldest part of the Earth's atmosphere, normally a barrier to
the lifting of water vapor into the stratosphere. But very deep
clouds, such as those in a tropical cyclone can rise through the
atmosphere at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour and punch through
the tropopause. They can end up depositing their
ice in the warmer overlying stratosphere, where it then evaporates.
The
Netherlands supports AU Somalia
mission to tackle causes of piracy
The Dutch Foreign minister announced that the
Netherlands will
contribute $1.5 US million
to training African Union troops for the mission in Somalia. African
Union troops are now protecting
the airport, the presidential palace, a number of government
buildings and the port of Mogadishu. The Netherlands will
contribute a frigate to the EU anti-piracy mission
in the waters around Somalia.
Until AMISOM is
at full strength, the mission cannot be expanded into other parts of
the city and the rest of the country. Somalia has been without a
central
government since 1991. Ongoing fighting between clans, warlords and
militias has driven more than a million people from their homes. An
estimated 43% of the population is dependent on humanitarian aid. The
In the past pirate groups have shown
that they can operate at up to 750 kilometres off the coast.
Tsunami aid often bypassed
conflict
victims-report
A report focusing on the
lessons of the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami disaster was presented to U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who was former U.N.
special
envoy for the tsunami. The
105-page report entitled "The Tsunami Legacy: Innovations,
Breakthroughs and Change, says that distribution of billions of
dollars in aid often ignored victims of conflicts in Sri Lanka
and Indonesia. The
tsunami, caused by an undersea earthquake, killed more than 228,000
people and provoked a huge international response, with some $13.5US
billion pledged worldwide to fund recovery.
The report, commissioned by Indonesia, Thailand,
India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives said this was due in part to
restrictions by aid donors on how their money could be spent. The
report said that in
Sri Lanka and Indonesia's Aceh region, both hard hit, there was a
need to aid the victims of conflicts as well as those of the tsunami.
Commissioned by the
Tsunami Global Lessons Learned project, the report also faulted
authorities throughout the tsunami-hit area for other forms of
discrimination. It says "Many tsunami-affected
communities were still unable to adequately access assistance
immediately after the disaster because of barriers associated with
their gender, ethnicity, age, class, religion or occupation," The
report, however, also found much to praise in the aid
operation, including a willingness by governments to delegate the
task to local organizations and a determination to combat
corruption. Since the tsunami, governments and international
agencies have set about creating national and regional early-warning
systems, with 24 early detection buoys placed in the Indian Ocean. In
addition, 250,000 new permanent houses and more than 100 air and
seaports have been built, 3,000 schools constructed and hundreds of
hospitals rehabilitated. Ban and Clinton told the conference lessons
from the tsunami were important because the number and intensity of
weather-related disasters were increasing.
Spy plane shows worth as
flood-fighting tool
A Predator drone of the sort used by the American
military was sent
up three times in recent weeks to give officials a bird's-eye view of
the flood in the Red River Zone. Equipped with radar and infrared
cameras, the aircraft provided
remarkably detailed, real-time video images of ice flows, flood
patterns and trouble spots.
Makers of the
Predator, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. said it has
distinct advantages, chief among them its ability to stay in the air
for up to 30 hours and the streaming of video from the sky which is
instantly downloaded to command centers on the ground and the laptops
of the field force.
The Predator used in North Dakota
is about the size of a single-engine Cessna, cruises at 20,000 feet
and flies at around 260 mph. A pilot
operates it from a virtual cockpit. The
aircraft can spot flood victims at night, scout dikes when it is
overcast, and zoom in so close with its cameras that it can spot
footprints in the snow. Predators also were launched last summer to
assess hurricane damage
to Gulf Coast bridges and oil rigs.
Hurricane
Katrina hearing begins A
lawsuit filed by New Orleans residents against government engineers
for damages caused by Hurricane Katrina has begun in Louisiana. More
than 1,800 people died and much of the city was flooded by the
devastating hurricane in 2005. The residents claim that the US Army
Corp
of Engineers is liable to pay damages, because of poor maintenance of
a shipping channel near the city. The residents' lawyer
described the
disaster as "the largest preventable catastrophe in American
history". They
argue that because of the Corp
of Engineers' poor upkeep of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet
(MRGO), a shipping channel that links the Gulf of Mexico and New
Orleans, flooding was exacerbated. They
are asking for damages of between $300,000
(£206,000) and $400,000 for each individual. Government lawyers acting on behalf
of the Corp of Engineers will
argue that the flooding was caused by Katrina's storm surge, and not
by a failure of the MRGO's flood defences. If successful, some
120,000 other residents and firms could seek payouts.
Powerful
cyclone hits Bangladesh
Cyclone Bijli came into contact with the
mainland near Cox's
Bazar. Wind speeds were estimated at
up to 90km/h (55mph). Officials ordered fishing boats to
return to shore and warned of
heavy downpours, dangerous surf and high winds. Neighbouring
Burma was also reported to be on Alert.
Authorities in Cox's
Bazar raised the storm warning to
signal number six out of 10, while in Chittagong it stood at seven, as
the cyclone
picked up speed.
Flights at Chittagong
and Cox's Bazar were suspended, and tourists left the Cox's Bazar
beach resort. Cyclone shelters have been prepared to accommodate up
to a million people along the nearby coast. Storms and cyclones
batter Bangladesh almost every year, killing many people and causing
huge damage to crops and property. A cyclone in April 1991 killed
around 140,000 people, while Cyclone Sidr swept part of the coast in
November 2007 killing around 3,000 people.
Water
Levels
Dropping In Major Rivers
According to the
National
Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), rivers in some of the world's
most
popululated
regions are losing water, The scientists, who
examined stream flows from 1948 to 2004, found significant changes in
the world's largest rivers, including the Yellow
River in China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West
Africa and the Colorado in the United States. Discharge from the
world's great rivers results in
deposits of dissolved nutrients and minerals into the oceans, the
freshwater flow affectsocean circulation patterns and
effects salinity which plays a vital role in
regulating the world's climate.
The rivers in the study drain water from
every
major landmass except Antarctica and Greenland and account for 73
percent of the world's total stream flow. Flows of 925 of the largest
rivers,
combining
measurements with computer-based stream flow models to fill in data
gaps were determined. In
contrast, the scientists reported greater stream flows over less
populated areas near the Arctic Ocean, where snow and ice are
melting. Many factors including dams and the diversion of water can
affect river discharge. The researchers found that reduced flows
appear to be related to global climate change and increasing rates of
evaporation. Although the recent changes in
freshwater discharge are relatively small and impact major river
mouths, the freshwater balance in global oceans needs to be monitored
for long-term changes. The study found that, from
1948 to 2004, annual freshwater discharge into the Pacific Ocean fell
by about 6 percent approximately the same volume of water that flows
out of the Mississippi River each year. The annual flow into the
Indian Ocean dropped by about 3 percent. In contrast, annual river
discharge into the Arctic Ocean rose about 10 percent. Some rivers,
such as the Brahmaputra in South Asia and the Yangtze in China, have
shown stable or increasing flows. But they could lose volume in
future decades with the gradual disappearance of the Himalayan
glaciers feeding them.
A Bangladesh Inland
Water
Transport Authority (BIWTA) report states that
Navigable routes in the country have shrunk dramaticaly due to lack
of dredging. Waterway routes have reduced to 3,800 km from 5,200 km
in the winter season. The failure to remove increased silt from
the riverbeds is causing a negative impact on the economy. Bangladesh
is
covered by a network of 24,000 km of rivers, canals, creeks and
lakes. During the monsoons, 2.4 billion tonnes of silt flow through
rivers of Bangladesh. Which is 13% of the world total
In
the high rainy season, the waterway network has reduced to around
6,000 km from 8,400 km due to siltation. BIWTA blames acute budget
shortfalls and points out that there have been no increases in
allowances for 5 years. The report is self critical of the BIWTA,
which was set up in 1958 for development, maintenance and control of
inland water transport and certain inland waterways. The dredging
department has seven dredgers, which were purchased in 1972 and
1975 but their capacity falls short by 75%. The report says the use
of waterways is more affordable to the poor and
Environmentaly benefitial. Waterways navigablity for ferry, steamer,
launch, cargo and oil-tanker is being maintained.
Belgium sends expert
team
to
negotiate release of dredger
The Belgian government
has sent a team of experts to East Africa to negotiate the
release of the Belgian dredger Pompei, and its captured 10-man
crew of two Belgians, a Dutch
citizen,
three Filipinos and four Croatians. The ship is anchored off the
Somalia coast. It was seized a few hundred miles north of the
Seychelles as it was
sailing to South Africa.
Mediterranean
Shipping Company Launches Two
Services The Mediterranean
Shipping Company is introducing two new services the Puma and The
Condor to link North,
Central and South America. The
Geneva-based carrier
said in a press release that,.“These additional services complement
MSC’s already-established comprehensive service network in the
Pacific. The Puma
Service
which now calls at ports in the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador,
Costa Rica and
Panama, will now call at Balbao, Long Beach, Oakland, Manzanillo and
Puerto Caldera, on a weekly basis and fortnightly to Salina
Cruz, Mazatlan, Puerto Quetzal and Acajutla. The first sailing will
be the MSC Peru, departing from Balboa on April 29. The
Condor Service, covering Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama. It
will
offer a weekly rotation of Balboa, Callao, Paita, Guayaquil and
Buenaventura. The first voyage was the MSC Paola, departing from
Balboa on April 18.
HCM
City’s
Department of Transport has submitted a proposal on a future inland
waterway that would connect the city with neighbouring localities.
The mega-project, estimated to cost US$133.3 million, is awaiting
final approval. More than half of the budget will be devoted to
developing the waterway system and the remainder to the port and
marina network. The city Department of Transport
said once there was a connection between local inland waterway routes
with specialised riverways, national inland waterways and the city’s
sea routes, a complete waterway transport network would be
established. The three-phase scheme would facilitate waterway
transport from HCM City to the Mekong Delta provinces.
Also networking of rivers and canals, to neighbouring Dong Nai Province
through Sai Gon and Dong Nai rivers, and to other provinces northwest
of the city to the Sai Gon River-Tra Creek-Thay Cai Canal-Vam Co Dong
River area. Additionally there will be upgrading and
placing into service of a number of inland waterway routes that link
the
city’s downtown with the new seaport complex in the Hiep Phuoc-Nha
Be area. Bach Dang historic marina will be turned into a tourist spot
and part of Sai Gon Port, which mainly handles cargo shipment, will
be converted into an inter-provincial and international passenger
port. The Nhon Duc new river port will also be built, as well as
other stopovers for boats across the city.
Several
waterways, including the Mooloolah and Maroochy rivers, in Queensland
Australia are being tested for signs of contamination in the wake of
the recent flash-flooding, including the removal of dead
animals and waste contamination from food and debris. Officials say
the floods caused at least $2million AU worth of damage to roads and
infrastructure.
The
Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has taken measures to
boost social and economic growth of the North East of the country by
improving trade activities through the waterways between India and
Bangladesh. On-going measures include construction of a number of
permanent and floating jetties in the State. During an inauguration
of a low-level jetty at Pandu Port, the Indian Secretary of the
Department of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways said “At present,
the scenario may not be too encouraging
but there is huge potential, which needs to be explored to enhance
the activities through the waterways.
A P V N Sarma the secretatry said, “At present,
there is an IWT transit and trade protocol between India and
Bangladesh and as the Brahmaputra river connects the region with the
Kolkota and Haldia ports through Bangladesh, there are trade avenues
to look up to. Sarma also layed the foundation stone for a high-level
jetty at the same place a day later. Floating terminals are
coming up at Dhubri, Jogighopa, Tezpur, Silghat, Jamuguri, Neamati
and Dibrugarh. The low-level jetty, has been constructed by IWAI at a
cost of Rs 38.14 crore and a broad gauge railway siding connecting
the terminal is also under construction by the NF Railway. S.P. Gaur
the Chairman of IWAI, said that about 1.3 million tonnes of cargoes
were carried on the National Waterways 2(River Brahmaputra from
Dhubri to Sadiya covering a distance of 891 km), and that the
activities this year have improved on that.
Pulitzer
Prize-winning
journalist Hendrick Smith details widespread pollution of America's
waterways in the PBS Frontline documentary Poisoned Waters. Smith
reports that untreated toxins and chemicals from urban sprawl and
development are damaging or destroying natural habitats in the
Chesapeake Bay and the Puget Sound. In the Potomac River, chemical
compounds could be causing mutation in the genitalia of frogs, while
high
levels of PCBs in the Puget Sound have
led to the endangerment of orca whales.
ATIS
Required to navigate Inland Europe
France, Germany, Holland and
Belgium have decided to end the deregulation for overseas vessels from
the mandatory fitting of an ATIS (Automatic Transmission
Identification System) on their VHF sets. Overseas Vessels entering
the Waterways have now got to comply. An allocated ATIS number can be
used to identify the vessel. Boat owners planning to use the inland
waterways of Europe should be able to find the new regulations on the
internet
In
Tasmania Alex
Schaap,
the
Government's general manager of biosecurity and product integrity,
conceded that the state's monitoring of potentially harmful
pesticides in waterways is flawed and may need replacement. A
state-commissioned report revealed that the chemicals remain
in the environment for up to three times longer in cool-climate
regions because of a longer half-life under these
conditions, letting them leach into soil. Banned
in Europe, they have been linked to damaging genetic changes in human
cells, cancer in laboratory animals and chemical castration of frogs.
The waterways are being tested too far
downstream and this gives misleadingly low detection rates. Tasmania
is reviewing regulation of the triazine chemicals atrazine and
simazine.
Drug
makers and other
manufacturers have been found to have legally released
hundreds of millions of pounds of pharmaceuticals into water that is
often used for drinking in America. An Associated Press investigation
reveals that US Federal officials say they don't even know how many
pharmaceuticals are being released. Some researchers say that what
amounts to a "don't ask, don't tell" policy is in
operation. The report says that some government studies found
higher levels of opiates, barbiturates and tranquilizers in
wastewater from treatment plants that are downstream from drug
makers. But a secrecy agreement bars researchers from revealing the
locations where those studies were done
English
Channel French Strike Update
Shipping stranded
on both sides of the English Channel is finally moving after
a blockade by French fishermen who are protesting against strict EU
fishing quotas, was partially lifted. The fishermen were moved along
from Calais. Ferry operators warned the blockade could resume. The
blockade of this very busy waterway resulted in Chaos on both sides
as Frieght and passengers back-logged. Approximately 600 lorries were
waiting at Calais with 1,200 passengers still stuck at the French
port. There were similar stories on the English side. Blockades
remained at the time of publishing at the French ports of Boulogne
and Dunkirk badly disrupting normal services. >>
Kenya To Start
2ND Lamu Port
Construction Next Year
Kenya's
Transport Minister Chiaru Ali
Mwakwere announced that Kenya will start building a second port
at Lamu from next year. The project is estimated to cost $22
billion USD. He said, the port of Lamu will be bigger than the one at
Mombasa. The project also includes the construction of a railway line
and a highway linking Lamu to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa,
Juba in Southern
Sudan and Kigali in Rwanda. There is also provision for three
airports. Three resort cities will also be built at Lamu, Isiolo and
Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. >>
The
French
Secretary of
State for Transport led a port industry delegation to Hong Kong on a
business promotion trip in an attempt to convince customers in
Asia to continue doing business with the French ports. The delegation,
included top managers of the
ports of
Marseilles and Le Havre. France is
streamlining its port organization and investing in infrastructural
projects to deal with the economic downturn. The Secretary said
he was "not worried" about the future of the port industry, although
the senior managers of the two ports said there
had been significant decreases in businesses over the last
few months. The delegation is also to visit Seoul and Shanghai. >>
President Arroyo of
the Phillapines
opened Leyte's first roll on-roll off facility. She arrived to
the port with more than 500 passengers from Surigao City on board the
MV Ocean King II. The shiip was also on its maiden voyage. The
port, took three years to build. Oscar Sevilla, general manager of
the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), said the San Ricardo roll on-roll
port
was part of the nautical highway's eastern seaboard route.
Sevilla said
that with the San Ricardo port now in operation, travel time from
Mindanao to Eastern Visayas would be reduced
from three hours to only an hour and 30 minutes. She also
opened another Ro-Ro port in the Port of Naval, later in the day, with
a send off of more than 500 passengers on board the MV Hansel
Jobett, owned by Sta. Clara Shipping Corp.>>
The Indian port of Mundra this month handled rail coaches
destined for the Delhi Metro and a lift of a huge 585 tonne
boiler, destined for Al Jubail in Saudi Arabia. This, was the
heaviest project cargo handled by Mundra Port.The Port has
recently
overseen the movement of project cargoes for several international
companies. >>
India has
invited Bangladesh to send a delegation to visit the construction site
of a proposed Dam on the Barak river. The River Barak, also called
Meghna, is shared by the two South Asian neighbours. It is a principal
source of water for eastern Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi Government has
expressed concerns and fears that the Tipaimukh Dam could deprive
Bangladesh of its share of the cross boundry river water. The Indians
say that there will be no downstream effect. Bangladeshi experts had
earlier sought data and information from New Delhi about the Dam as
many experts fear that it will have an adverse environmental
impact on Bangladesh.
Fishermen
in Mangalore India are concerned over sea water becoming increasingly
oily due to what they suspect is a
leakage from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Plant. The district
administration, responded to the complaints by the
residents, and sent a team of officials to the spot for inspection. The
locals had been complaining that their wells and ponds have become
contaminated with oil. The water becoming undrinkable.
An oil
slick has washed up on the beach. Local leaders, said care is being
taken
to ensure that tourists do not venture into the sea. The
officials
have not ruled out the possibility of the oil slick being a
discharge from a passing ship. >>
The Shanghai
International
Port Group has
postponed its stake purchase in a Belgium terminal from A.P.
Moeller-Maersk Group amid slower container throughput this year.
Shanghai port, China's biggest port operator, signed a framework
agreement in September 2006 to buy 40 percent of a container terminal
in Zeebrugge. Jiang Haitao, the company's board secretary, said “If we
had bought the stake, we should have been jointly running the Belgium
port already." Container throughput at Shanghai port is expected to
grow. Last year, the company saw net profits jump by 26.9
percent. >>
The
Maryland Port Administration has put its Seagirt Marine Terminal on the
market for lease It says it’s the only way to pay for dredging and
other improvements. Bidders would be required to invest in a new
50-foot berth and new cranes at the 200-acre terminal. MPA Executive
Director James J. White said, It is
critical that the Port of Baltimore has a 50-foot berth by 2014 when
the completed expansion of the Panama Canal will bring more cargo and
larger vessels from Asia to the U.S. East Coast.The contract is
expected to be for 30
years.
Proposals are due next month. Dredging of a 50-foot berth is
expected to cost $80 million. Baltimore handled about 500,000
containers in 2007. Competing ports that focus more closely on
container traffic posted higher numbers, including 4 million in New
York, 2 million in Savannah, Ga., and 1.5 million in Norfolk. >>
Owners
ordered oil spill disaster voyage
The
owner of
a cargo ship at the centre of Queensland's worst oil spill gave the
vessel's master the green light to sail into cyclonic conditions. A
report on the disaster released by the Australian Transport Safety
Bureau showed the master and crew aboard the Hong Kong-flagged
Pacific Adventurer had endured a sleepless night and could barely
stand upright as a result of "gale force weather conditions and
large swells" off Cape Moreton, on March 10. It took less than a
minute for 31 containers of ammonium nitrate to fall overboard as the
stricken vessel rolled 40 degrees from side to side. The falling
containers punctured the ship's fuel tanks, causing 250 tonnes of
diesel oil to spill into waters off Moreton Island. It later washed
up along 60 kilometres of pristine beaches on Moreton and Bribie
islands and the Sunshine Coast.
The report detailed the crew's
movements aboard the Pacific Adventurer as they sailed in treacherous
conditions whipped up by tropical cyclone Hamish. Extra measures were
taken to lash down the cargo on the ship's deck. By midnight on March
10 the ship was "rolling very heavily, at
times as much as 35 degrees to port and starboard in the confused
swell", Water was constantly being shipped on the starboard
side. None of the off-duty crew could sleep and those on the bridge
were unable to stand without holding on to a support. Seven nautical
miles east of Cape Moreton, the Pacific Adventurer tipped violently
40 degrees towards port. As the ship rolled the second mate saw
all the
port side containers on Bay 25 move and fall over the side of the
ship. He yelled to the master and as the ship rolled violently back
to starboard, both he and the master saw the bottom tier of
containers on the starboard side of Bay 25 collapse and fall over the
side of the ship. In less than a minute, the ship had lost all 31
containers on Bay 25. The owner Swire Shipping had adviced the ship's
master to "proceed" in the cyclonic conditions. >>
Norway won
its sovereignty claim over
a potentially resource rich area of seabed in the Arctic Ocean. Based
on the
evidence supplied by Norway in 2006, the UN Commission for the Limits
of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) approved Oslo's claim to the vast
chunks of seabed in the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea and the Arctic
Ocean. This means Norway's continental shelf has been extended by
235,000
square kilometres or "the equivalent of seven football pitches"
for each Norwegian citizen out of a population of 4.8 million.
Norway
stands to benefit from exploitation rights in almost two
million square kilometres in the Arctic region. The five countries
bordering the Arctic Ocean -- Canada, Denmark/Greenland, Norway,
Russia and the United States -- dispute the sovereignty over parts of
the region, believed to contain vast amounts of untapped oil and gas
reserves. >>
Greenpeace
activists protested as the last of the six Japanese
whaling ships returned to port from a five-month Antarctic mission.
Greenpeace anti-whaling campaigners shouted and held up a placard
that read: Japan hunts whales under a
1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling that allows
"lethal research" on the mammals. The Whale meat is eaten.
The whaling fleet's six ships were harassed by Green Peace at sea,
resulting in smaller than expected hauls. The
Captain of Grennpeace groups lead ship, the Steve Irwin, has vowed to
"be
their ongoing nightmare every year until they stop their horrific and
unlawful slaughter of the great whales in the Southern Ocean Whale
Sanctuary".
He is Captain Paul Watson a Canadian. The other five
ships from the Wahling fleet arrived back in Japan, including the
Yushin Maru No. 3, which was damaged in a collision with the Steve
Irwin. The Japanese Coast Guard sent officers to inspect the vessel
for signs of damage after the animal rights activists had thrown
bottles of foul-smelling liquid and paint into the ships path and
tried to entangle the ships' screws with rope. Sea Shepherd has
accused Japan of deploying acoustic weapons, which send out
high-frequency sound waves to disorient the activists. The six ships
caught 680 whales -- including 679 minke and just one fin whale, well
below a planned haul of between 765 and 935 of the giant
mammals. Greenpeace said that last year, boxes of the whale meat,
some falsely labelled 'cardboard', were couriered to the homes of the
ship's crew and later declared "souvenirs" by authorities and put up
for sale.
The Greenpeace activists Junichi Sato and Toru Suzuki, who the group
said first exposed the "embezzlement of whale meat", are on
trial and facing up to ten years in prison.>>
The Metro
Manila
Development Authority has unveiled a new weapon against garbage on
the river systems, which recently caused floods in the capital by
cloggage. They have taken some of the departments old and
unserviceable motercycles stuck floaters on them and a propeller in a
cage and put them to work on the Parañaque River. The vessels
look a bit like the airboats on Florida's Everglades. Apart from
patroling Metro Manila’s waterways to prevent people from dumping
their garbage there, the vessels are designed to push floating
garbage to the riverbanks where dredging machines can collect it Each
vessel can be operated by one person as if he were driving a
motorcycle.
EPA
Administrator Lisa Jackson said that the United States
and
Canada have applied to the International Maritime Organization to
create a 230-mile emissions control area around much of their
coastline. The move is intended to ensure the shipping industry does
its part to improve air quality. Ships moving through the zone would be
subject to tougher
emissions standards. "This is an important and long overdue step
to protect the air and water along our shores," Jackson said,
speaking at a press conference in Port
Newark. Jackson estimated that 40 of the 100 largest U.S. ports are
located in metropolitan areas that fail to meet federal air quality
standards.
One of them is the Port Newark facility. The
The head of the
Environmental
Protection Agency wants to limit emissions along the nation's
coastline and within its seaports, just as the agency does along
highways, with tougher pollution standards on large commercial ships.
>>
The Ghana
Meteorological
Agency (GMA) has
warned of flooding in low-lying areas of Accra as heavy rains
associated with strong winds lightning and thunder are expected across
the country untill to September. The agency warned that the
expected rain
could cause extensive damage to life and property. The expected floods
in Accra in particular would not be precipitated by the intensity of
the rains but rather as a result of lack of drainage. In the past, even
400 millimeters of
rainfall over three days would not cause floods in Accra, but now
because of the blockage of waterways and choked drains between 60 and
80 millimeters of rainfall could result in floods. Accra experienced
average rainfall last year, but it resulted in floods in some parts of
the city with its consequent loss of lives and property. In 2007, for
example, floods claimed seven lives in Accra and displaced hundreds of
people in the Western Region and the three northern regions
Seven
crew members are missing after two
construction ships collided during a gale off north China's Tianjin
municipality. The accident happened when two ships off a refinery of
the Dagang Oilfield with 37 on board
were moved by high wind, bumped into a dam and then collided.
Twenty-two of the crew members were saved from the sea by helicopters
and eight others were picked up by other vessels. None of them were
seriously injured. Rescuers are still searching for seven
missing crew. Gales at speeds of 62 to 75 kilometers per hour raised
the tide with almost 5 meters swells.
>>
3
dead, 6 missing after storm hits dredgers in N China port Three crew
members died after two dredgers were badly damaged during a gale off
Tianjin, north China. The accident happened at dawn when the vessels,
which are used to gather sediment to keep the waterways
navigable, were caught in high winds and five meter swells. Helicopters
and rescuers were able to successfully save 28 of the 37 crew members,
none of whom were seriously injured. Initial investigations have
revealed that two ships did not heed a warning to return to port.
Rescuers are continuing their search for the six crew members who
remain missing
Burundi:
Floods 8,000
people displaced in rain flood, in a commune north of Bujumbura,
capital city of Barundi. At least 1,200 houses and crops also
damaged.
Afghanistan: Chaos after Flash
Floods Flash floods
from heavy
rains from end March to early April have left devastation in the
western province of Herat, usually facing drought. Hundreds of people
are directly affected by the flooding, and a 150 wells have been
destroyed. More than a thousand farm animals perished. Most of the
affected live in the Kohsan and Ghorian districts bordering Iran,
approximately 100 km to the west of Herat. These two districts
comprise a population of 15,000 people from 40 surrounding villages,
living in mud-brick homes. Agricultural canals around Islam Qala
village are severely damaged and require reconstruction.
Yemen:
MSF team finds
35 dead people on the coastline of Abyan governorate Médecins
Sans Frontières (MSF) mobile teams in the
coastal location of Radah, have found 35 dead African refugees during
the night of April 22, 09. There were approximately 120 survivors.
The refugees are of Somali and Ethiopian origin and were coming from
the port of Bosasso, Somalia. They were travelling on the smugglers
boat in extreme harsh conditions during a two-day trip across the
Gulf of Aden. When they reached the coast of Yemen in the evening of
April 22. the refugees started moving and the boat capsized. Many
refugees were travelling in the hull of the boat, designed to carry
fish. A real death trap. The MSF team after efforts with locals
managed to free three women from the hull. Unfortunately the rest of
the trapped refugees were dead from drowning. Refugees also drowned
when they tried to swim to shore. The death toll in this landing is
35 people so far. Other refugees may be missing. The refugees
reported that during their travel, armed Somali pirates intending to
rob them and throw them in the sea stopped them in the middle of the
ocean. They managed to escape after their smugglers negotiated with
the pirates. On April 10, during the landing of another boat carrying
76 persons, the smugglers forced the refugees to jump in deep waters
near the coast of Yemen, in Melha, 30 km from Ahwar town, which
resulted in the death of many refugees. In the following days, 16
bodies were washed ashore and recovered. An unconfirmed number of
refugees are still missing. During this landing, MSF assisted 48
survivors.
3 missing in
Cagayan
flash floods TUGUEGARAO
CITY, Cagayan
Three people were missing, 27 water buffaloes were dead, and at least
eight boats destroyed as a sudden flash flood hit the village of
Mawanan at around after continuous rains caused the Nanungaran River
to overflow. At present, the Mawanan River is not passable due to
strong currents.
Five die in
boating accident in Florida
A boat crashed in the Intercoastal Waterway in Florida,
killing five people and injuring seven others, three critically.
Between 12 and 14 people were aboard the pleasure craft when the
accident occurred on Sunday near the Palm Valley Bridge.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman Joy
Hill said the 22-foot 2000 Crownline hit a 25-foot tug moored at
a dock under construction. Rescuers had
to install planking to reach crash victims. The
wreck happened in an area of the waterway that has no posted speed
limit, How fast the boat was going,
the number of occupants and whether they were wearing safety vests,
weather conditions and whether alcohol was involved were questions
that were unanswered as the investigation began
ChittagongChannel closed
after
ship sinks Chittagong,
A
crew member was missing and shipping was suspended after a vessel
sank in the Karnaphuli channel at Chittagong port. Eleven crewmen of
the lighter ship 'Seven Circle-25', which went down at around 8:30pm,
managed to swim ashore. The twelfth crewman remains missing. The
lighter vessel sank after taking on clinker from a mother ship at the
outer anchorage. Locating the accident spot in the dark and stormy
weather became impossible and all types of ship movement in the
Karnaphuli channel has been suspended till conditions allow.
Strong
cyclone
Sea of Japan and Tartar Strait
A strong cyclone hit Primorye Territory. Heavy
showers, were accompanied by gales with gusts of up to 25
metres per second. The cyclonic whirlwind entered the western part of
the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and shifted eastward. The cyclone,
picking up force, shifted eastward on April 22 and reached the island
of Hokkaido and the southern part of Sakhalin Island. Precipitations
possibly in the form of wet snow and gale winds up to 20-25 metres
per second were forecast. There is also a possibility of emergencies
in the seas of Japan and Okhotsk, in the Tatar Strait and the La
Perouse Strait, connected with possible damages to ships, disruption
of operation of ferry services and inundation of coastal zones.
Flash flood
watch Hawaii The National
Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for all
Hawaiians islands starting at noon Thursday 23-04-09 to
Friday.23-04-09. People were advised to monitor forecasts and be
prepared to move to higher ground. The NWS advisory said that heavy
rain could result from high-level unstable conditions forming over
the islands combining with low-level moisture that is lingering from
a recent cold front.
D I
S
A S T E R W A
T C H
X
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
PRESS
RELEASES
ALGONQUIN
PARK
BIRDS
INDIA
CIVITAVECCHIA
KBAL
SPEAN
KERALA
NORTHERN
OUTDOORS
WC
COSTA RICA
CIVITAVECCHIA
Tzars
Waterways
X
Please "Mouse Over all
Images for Captions, Summery and Picture Credits. Some pictures in the PRESS BANKmay be
subject to Copyrights. Check before use
Today,
we officially launch Waterways News.
We learned a lot from the five
or so pre-launch test issues, through your feedback, some issues are
good enough to deposit in our
archives. We will be reformatting them and doing exactly that.
So what is Waterways News?
The simple answer is
that it is a true multimedia broadcast medium using various
styles and formats to communicate daily news and key facts to the
waterways sector. At Waterways News we have spent years naturally
looking at and looking for the type of content that is now Waterways
News. Google the word waterways, on any search engine and the results
are completely dominated by news of Waterways in a handful of
countries. Whilst these countries have well developed Waterways, they
constitute less then 4% of the world's total. So, in the years that
we have searched for ' Waterways News', we have often come up with
pages and
pages of very minor news, such as 'Dog Dives for Ball in Canal in
Hertfordshire' and
major news from around the world has been missed or resigned to page
148 or worse! Surprisingly, the world's most developed waterways,
the
Dutch waterway's are also very absent from searches as are Thai
Waterways. Indian
and Chinese waterways are increasingly getting into the sphere mainly
because they are fast emerging economies and a lot of new press and
on-line presence is evolving.
Given the above argument, we have
to
conclude that significant Waterways, Waterways Authorities and Bodies
and others related to the sector around the world outside of The UK,
USA and Australia (English Speaking Nations) are under represented and
need greater on line news presence and PR. This medium is for you to
network, to make your announcements and to make sure that you furnish
us with your breaking events and news. I am going to leave this
written comment brief as we are convinced that anyone using Waterways
News will quickly form the opinion that this publication is a stand
alone trail blazer, that nothing like this exists to date and that it
is really needed. We are led by our own convictions and style.
We are convinced you'll be hooked to the unique character that is
Waterways News.
We hope you feel as strongly in representing your
Waterway to its users, the rest of the sector and the World as we do.
At every stage of our design, we have sought to provide you with a tool
for the trade. The rolling news headlines, the rolling news summaries,
the embedded videos, the simple short and processed stories and
features and ofcourse the occasional song or two and personal
interaction are all due to become part of your daily life.
We are convinced you'll be hooked to the unique character that is
Waterways News.
MOUSE
OVER
GRAPHIC FOR INFO
