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FAR EAST - IRRAWADDY/RAJANG RIVERS New
Ship For the Rajang They
tried to
conserve as many original features as they could, restoring her to
recreate the atmosphere and character of the first class deck of a
colonial river steamer
COVER FEATURE One Man's
dream to bring a sense of the old to the Ranjang river in Sarawak.In
this video of beautiful City of Kuching is celebrated with song from
Enya
AUSTRALIA - PACIFIC $25m Bill For
Pacific Adventurer The
Queensland government says it will seek $25 million from the owners
of Pacific Adventurer which caused one of Australia's worst oil
spill disasters.
LONDON - WORLDWIDE Mercy
Ship changes defaced teenagers life
Mercy Ships helped to tranform the life of
this gentle African youth by operating on his face, A touching story
RUSSIA - SEA OF JAPAN Major New Oil Port
In Russia Kozmino
is set to become one of the largest oil outlets It wilL have a capacity of a million
barrels per day.
Pulitzer
Prize-winning
journalist Hendrick Smith details widespread pollution of America's
waterways in the PBS Frontline documentary Poisoned Waters.
NORWAY - NORTH ATLANTIC Agenda
21 scuttle Norway
Whaler "We
came to Henningsvaer. We saw
the Skarbakk. We sank the bastard." This was the message
left by the anonymous activists who scuttled the boat, anchored in
Henningsvaer harbour.
x
ETHIOPIA - INLAND WATERWAYS 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,
HAITI -CARIBBEAN Haiti rejects aid ship Haitian
officials have rejected a Mexican aid ship carrying 77 tons of
much-needed food aid because of "unfounded" swine flu
fears.
Drug
makers and other
manufacturers have been found to have legally released
hundreds of millions of pounds of pharmaceuticals into water
COVERS FEATURES Past cover
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cover issue you can browse through the full past edition of
Waterwaysnews and access other covers and issues through our archives
COVERS FEATURES Past cover
features and issues are
archived for your use. Once you search for a cover issue you can browse
through the full past edition of Waterwaysnews and access other covers
and issues through our archives
KOREA - INDIAN OCEAN S.
Korea
Navy aids N. Korean Ship A
South Korean Navy destroyer chased
Somali pirates from a North Korean cargo ship off the African coast
in the country's first such operation abroad
AMERICAS -PACIFIC/ATLANTIC MSC Launches Two
Services The Mediterranean
Shipping Company is introducing two new services the Puma and The
Condor to link North,
Central and South America.
LONDON - WORLDWIDE Mercy
Ships founders honoured
Mercy Ships founders Don and Deyon
Stephens have received the Variety Club International Humanitarian AwardNFO
VIETNAM - INLAND WATERWAYS Inland
waterway plan tipped for Ho Chi Minh
City
HCM
City’s
Department of Transport has submitted a proposal on a future inland
waterway that would connect the city with neighbouring localities.
USA - RED RIVER 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
USA - INDIAN OCEAN 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.
INDIA - LAKE DAL 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.
BANGLADESH - INDIAN OCEAN 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.
MALAWI - INLAND WATERWAYS/ZEMBISI 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.
PORT-AU-PRINCE,
Haitian
officials have rejected a Mexican aid ship carrying 77 tons of
much-needed food aid because of "unfounded" swine flu
fears. Haitian officials said they wont let The Mexican navy ship El
Huasteco which was still in Mexican waters at the time berth at
Port-au-Prince. It is carrying carrying rice, fertilizer and
emergency food kits. The Mexican Ambassador Gonzalez y Reynero said
that the cargo and 64 sailors aboard the ship had all been screened
in Mexico. "We did not want to turn back the ship, but we also
did not want our crew to be mistreated." She said it was
possible the ship could try again to deliver the aid sometime in the
future.
A
South Korean Navy destroyer chased
Somali pirates from a North Korean cargo ship off the African coast
in the country's first such operation abroad, The South Korean
destroyer has been escorting cargo vessels since April off
piracy-prone Somalia on a key shipping route for South Korean
container vessels and oil tankers.
Mercy Ships
founders Don and Deyon
Stephens have received the
Variety Club International Humanitarian Award presented by Prince and
Princess
Michael of Kent at a glittering ceremony in London. Previous winners of
the award include Sir Winston Churchill and
Audrey Hepburn. In the last 30 years
Mercy Ships missions have sailed to 70 countries and provided medical
care to
more than two million poor people. Thousands of free onboard
surgeries have transformed the lives of people suffering from
conditions that are easily treatable in wealthy countries. . Judy
Polkinhorn, Executive Director of Mercy Ships UK, said: “30 years
ago, Don and Deyon had a dream to help the poorest people in the
world – and they went out and did it. They have helped literally
thousands of people and Mercy Ships UK is rightly proud to be part of
their international vision.” Mercy Ships’ current
ship, the Africa Mercy, spent seven years in Newcastle being
converted from a rail ferry into the world’s largest charity
hospital ship and is now serving the people of Benin.
The main treatments are for large benign tumours, cleft lips and
palates, flesh-eating noma,
cataracts and obstetric fistula. Mercy Ships crew members have also
completed hundreds of development projects covering water and
sanitation, education, infrastructure development and agriculture.
Don Stephens said, “In challenging
economic times which affect us all, the world’s poorest suffer even
more. Twenty per cent of newborn babies will not live to the fifth
birthday, largely due to preventable disease. The average lifespan of
women where our ships serve is 46 years. Medical care, both primary
and surgical, are scarce commodities and when they do exist are often
far beyond the financial reach of the poor.” He added: “Mercy
Ships offers hope and healing to the world’s poorest. On behalf of
the world’s poor and our dedicated professional volunteers, it is
an honour to be considered for this award.” Deyon Stephens added,
“Living on board the first mercy ship with our four children for 10
years was an experience rich in significance, adventure, adversity
and satisfaction. “Mercy Ships has now seen 30 years come and go.
Millions of the world’s most needy have now felt the compassionate
and healing hands of those serving onboard.”
State
seeks $25m
from oil ship owner THE
Queensland government says it will seek $25 million from the owners
of Pacific Adventurer which caused one of Australia's worst oil
spill disasters. The ship owned by Swire Shipping
spilled 270,000 litres of oil into Moreton Bay in March. Queensland
Transport Minister Rachel Nolan, who on Wednesday declared the
clean-up over, said Swire had offered $20 million but the bill had
come to $25 million. We have a guarantee from Swire for $20 million
and we will now pursue them for the remaining cost, The ship's
captain is due back in court in June charged with one count of
discharging oil into Queensland waters, About 2,500 people from
dozens of government agencies, councils and private firms were
involved in the clean-up. More than 3,000 tonnes of sand contaminated
with oil was removed from Moreton Island.
Lawyer
Fights
Ship Breaking in
Bangladesh
Bangladeshi attorney Rizwana Hasan has
started a legal battle against the dismantling of ships in her
country. She says this practice is polluting the environment and
costing untrained workers their lives and should be stopped.
Decommissioned ships sent to the southern coast of Bangladesh are
dismantled by hand on the beaches. It is estimated that one worker
dies every day in the ship breaking yards in Bangladesh. Hasan has
already successfully petitioned the government to prevent two toxic
ships from coming into Bangladesh for breaking.
She said.,
“The dismantling is done manually, all the waste actually ends up
in our coastal area, and the laborers who work there are not provided
with personal protection equipment, so they end up inhaling all the
toxic elements." Hasan says ship breaking workers receive no
safety training and are not aware they are being exposed to harmful
chemicals like asbestos. She says many of them work for less than one
dollar per day and receive no medical care for injuries.
Agenda 21
campaigners take direct
action to scuttle Norway Ship
On April 23 a group identifying
themselves as Agenda 21 crept
on board Norwegian whaling
ship the Skarbakk and used an
adjustable spanner to open a salt water intake and flood the engine
room. The ship sank in port. "We came to Henningsvaer. We saw
the Skarbakk. We sank the bastard." This was the message
left by the anonymous activists who scuttled the boat, anchored in
Henningsvaer harbour. Fire crews
had got to the ship before it hit bottom but it had already filled with
sea water,
so damage was extensive and expensive. The Skarbakk is the
fourth ship Agenda 21 have sunk in 12 years. Norwegian whalers pay huge
insurance premiums as a result of these campaigns.
The action is part of
a longstanding promise that dates back to 1992 (when the UN agreed
Agenda 21). One of the original founders of
Greenpeace in the 70s and now the head of the Green Peace Sea Shepherd
Conservation
Society, Captain Paul Watson warned then that if whalers did not
comply with international conservation law, his organisation would
sink their boats. He went ahead and did it too, sinking the Nybraena
in 1992 and the Senet in 1994. A group calling itself Agenda 21
took
over after that. Watson denies all knowledge of this latest incident,
but congratulated Agenda 21.
New
Ship
For Borneo's Rajang River Luxury Cruise
A brand new ship The RV Orient Pandaw has launched at a cost of
US$2.7million. It is made of teakwood
and brass and is now undergoing
minor renovations and changes for the maiden trip on July 1 2009, when
some sixty mainly western customers will sail the country's longest
river, the Rajang. Alexander Scheible, a representative of the
Irrawaddy Fotilla
Company said, Some
1,300 people, mostly Americans, Europeans and Australians, had
confirmed their participation for the year. Passengers, pay
betweenUS$3,000 and US$5,000
for the eight days nine nights trip. He said, They always want to try
something new. The Rajang, with its rich native culture and
traditions, rainforest and rapids, will make for an interesting
eco-tourism experience, Westerners are always curious
about Borneo and Sarawak in particular with its history of
colonialisation. Most of the passengers were those who
had experienced the company's cruises in Myanmar and Vietnam. The
shiphas been built Ho Chi Minh city. The RV Orient Pandaw,
is
powered by two 850hp engines.
US
Officials:
Ships Must Adopt Own
Pirate Defenses
U.S. officials are pressing
commercial shipping companies to adopt their own measures to defend
their ships from pirate attacks. The US Defense Department's
undersecretary for policy said security measures
aboard ships are the single most effective response to pirates, she
said 78 percent of unsuccessful pirate attacks were stopped after the
ships' crews took action.She was giving testimony before a
Congressional
committee Senate Armed Services. During the hearing, some lawmakers
pushed for the U.S. government to formally
recommend the shipping industry use private security on its most
vulnerable ships. The undersecretary said the U.S. military will
continue to respond when U.S. flagged vessels are attacked, but that
the Defense Department would be reluctant to provide military
security for private shipping, except in extraordinary cases. The
United States, the Indian and Chinese Navies, a number of other
countries and the European Union have
dispatched naval forces to the Gulf of Aden to respond to the
increasing attacks by Somali pirates.
Major
New Oil Port Near Complition In Russia
Russia’s state-owned crude oil
pipeline company Transneft will start loading oil tankers at the new
Russian oil port Kozmino by this
December. It wil have an annual capacity of 50 million tonnes
per year, which is a million barrels per day. Kozmino is set to become
one of the
largest oil outlets opening on to the Asian and Pacific market and a
known name. Most of the shipments have already been signed to China.
Kozmino is wholly owned by the Moscow-based pipeline
company, Transneft. Transneft also has a controlling stake in the
Baltic oil export port of Primorsk, which was built recently on the
Gulf of Finland. The new Kozmino port plan, together
with the ESPO and China pipeline arrangements, backed by Chinese
financing of $25 billion, make certain that the new Siberian
oilfields, such as Rosneft’s Vankor field in central Siberia, will
move oil eastwards to Asian markets, rather than westwards to Europe.
This geostrategic shift of Russian energy
flow has been a Chinese objective for years. If oil demand conditions
remain volatile, spot trading of Russian oil from Kozmino is likely
to give Asian buyers a price advantage, and put pressure on Middle
Eastern suppliers.
In what is the first
confirmed example of plans to house tourists
aboard cruise ships during the Olympics, Newwest Travel says it has
an agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line to bring in its nearly-300
metre long Norwegian Star, a 2,240-passenger cruise ship, to
Vancouver for the 2010 Games. Newwest received national attention
last weekend after it took Vancouver media on a tour of the Norwegian
Star, which its subsidiary, Newwest Special Projects, has leased to
provide public accommodation during the Games. The ship will be
moored in North Vancouver. A $57.3-million deal to house 2010
Olympic security personnel on a ship is also being concluded.
Deakin
University's 3D simulator to aid
Melbourne port navigation A
3D vision of
the Port of Geelong was
used in a recent series of workshops, held by Deakin University Australia
to show the Melbourne state channels authority how the
next generation of larger ships would affect access to the port.Victorian Regional Channels
Authority
Harbour Master Captain Dilip Abraham said the project would help the
Port of Geelong plan for the future. "With bigger ships on the way we
need to understand how our channels will cope, and how we can
navigate the bigger ships safely into the port, especially if
conditions are difficult,"
The 3D simulation featured projection
screens with a field of view of 200 degrees with full surround-sound.
In the simulation, wind direction and strength as well as
tide and wave movements were factored in.
The workshops were conducted at
Deakin's Centre for Intelligent Systems Research, home to Australia's
biggest team of academic experts in simulation, visualisation and
touch technology.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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Please "Mouse Over all
Images for Captions, Summery and Picture Credits. Some pictures in the PRESS BANKmay be
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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.
The
Irrawaddy
Flotilla once had a fleet of
over 650 boats, grand old paddle steamers
that could carry over 300 passengers. During the Japanese invasion the
fleet was destroyed and denied to the them. The one remaining steamer
lay dormant till it was purchased and put back to service by one man
who has a dream to ressurust the operations of the Flotill
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