Port state control versus marine environmental pollution

This work analyses whether port state control (PSC) has been effective in reducing environmental pollution in the region it covers. The analysis covers the technical and political aspects of PSC's effectiveness. To match the complexity of marine environmental pollution and safety issues, several indicators are developed to assess performance under both aspects. Previous studies on quantitative and qualitative material, as well as fresh evidence, are utilized to obtain quantitative or qualitative evaluations, as the case may be. The separate insights are then combined to reach an integrated conclusion. PSC is found to be effective in fighting marine environmental pollution, but with peripheral shortcomings of a mainly operational nature. These shortcomings limit the effectiveness to a less than optimal degree.     

Comparative advantage and maritime transport in the Baltic States

Conventional wisdom has it that, because of locational and other advantages, transit trade and transport, especially maritime transport, could be expected to play a major role in the development process of the Baltic States which was expected to follow their renewed independence in 1991. This paper secks to evaluate this proposition. The first section of the paper provides a brief account of the present state of the shipping and port sectors in the three Baltic republics and offers some speculation about likely future developments. The following section considers whether there is any historical basis for the presumption in favour of transit trade. The paper concludes with a somewhat speculative discussion of whether the Baltic States might be expected to possess any long run comparative advantage in maritime transport. It is suggested that in this respect a distinction should be made between ports and shipping and that in a more prosperous future, shipping, in particular, might be expected to decline in importance.     

Public subsidy of seaports

There is much contraversy regarding this issue. On the one hand there are the 'islanders' Which are generally the countries of Anglo-Saxon culture or influence in Which ports are often considered as mere commercial enterprises, and on the other hand the continentals where ports are instruments of national or local policy. The French belong by tradition to the latter. But a further examination of the subject would be useful; this article presents this reappraisal.

I would like first of all to examine what lies behind the notion of government subsidy for ports, and then to draw conclusions regarding 20 years of French law which have steadily reformed the status of French Ports.     

Balancing the economic and environmental performance of maritime transportation

This paper looks at the implications of various maritime emissions reductions policies for maritime logistics. There can be important trade-offs that have to be made between the environmental benefits associated with such measures as reduction in steaming speed and change in the number of vessels in the fleet, and more conventional logistics attributes such as in-transit inventory holdings.     

Lights, camera and acoustics: Assessing macrobenthic communities at a dredged material disposal site off the North East coast of the UK

This study presents the results of a trial assessment based on a combination of sampling techniques at a dredged material disposal site located off the North East coast of the UK, over 2001 to 2004. The site was surveyed with a high-resolution sidescan sonar system producing a mosaic with 100% coverage of the survey area. Benthic communities and sediments were ground-truthed using a Hamon grab with a video camera. Additionally, the area was also sampled in 2003 with a Sediment Profile Imaging (SPI) camera, which complemented other techniques by providing in situ information on sediment quality, and biogenic activities. An assessment is made of the benefits of combining the results from conventional methods, principally using grab samples, with those from acoustic techniques and optical imaging devices to determine seafloor and macrobenthic conditions. This information has the potential to contribute to the enhancement of routine monitoring programmes within UK waters.     

The overall motion induced interruptions as operability criterion for fishing vessels

A new index, namely the overall motion induced interruptions (OMII), is proposed as a seakeeping criterion for fishing vessels, to compare ships having different hull forms and dimensions by means of an only parameter, in a human centred approach, mainly related to the onboard risk level. Therefore, the first aim of the paper is to investigate the factors affecting fishing vessels’ seakeeping performances to improve them to reduce the high number of injuries occurring during fishing operations, mainly related to both risk perception and harsh weather conditions. Despite the classical approach, where motion induced interruption is determined for a certain sea state with regard to several location points, the new index accounts for all crew members’ positions on the working deck, all heading angles the vessel may experience during fishing operations, based on relevant operating scenario, and all sea states the ship may encounter in the fishing area. The influence of position, heading angles and sea states on the attained risk level is fully investigated, analysing seakeeping performances of four fishing vessels with different hull forms and dimensions. Finally, a new operability criterion is proposed, based on OMII, to investigate the influence of ship size and operating scenario on the risk of injuries during fishing operations. Main factors affecting fishing vessels’ seakeeping performances are fully discussed, paying attention to relevant correlation with ship roll natural period.     

Fracture toughness of steel plate from MV Kowloon Bridge

Chemical analysis, tensile, Charpy, DW NDT and fracture mechanics toughness data are presented for a grade A steel plate from the Kowloon Bridge, a sister ship of Derbyshire. The plate is shown to have poor toughness under dynamic loading conditions. The results leave open the possibility that brittle fracture could have contributed to a structural failure in the Derbyshire even at the high temperature of +30°C which is reported to have existed at the time of the ship's disappearance. The results are felt to support the proposition that present classification society rules need tightening to reduce the risk of brittle fracture in ships.