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Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), which is parent company of the Japanese ocean carrier MOL, reported a net loss of US$678,1 million in the 3rd quarter of 2012, ending 31st of December. Quarterly revenue was US$12,9 billion.
For the full fiscal year of 2012, ending 31st of March 31, 2013, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines predict a net loss of US$2 billion and revenue of US$17.2 billion.
A cruise vessel with Chinese tourists onboard has embarked on a voyage to the Paracels, a group of islands in the South China Sea, which are claimed by both China and Vietnam. The cruise vessel left the coast of mainland China on Sunday regardless protests against any such voyage by the Vietnamese government in early April.
Vietnam and China have long disputed sovereignty over the Paracels islands. China is also competing with other Southeast Asian nations to lay claim to other parts of the South China Sea, notably the Spratly Islands.
The National Border Committee of Vietnam under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had filed a protest on 5th of April, 2013 against the plans for the cruise, arguing that Vietnam had “incontestable” sovereignty over the Paracels and Spratlys islands. China’s territorial claims have come under closer scrutiny recently as the country professionals its military strength more prominently. This month, Chinese soldiers set up camp inside the remote Ladakh region of northern India, Indian authorities reported. Is is unclear why the soldiers made that move.
5 crew members were kidnapped in Nigeria waters by pirates. Pirate attacks in Gulf of Guinea are rising.
The MV City of Xiamen container vessel(Antigua and Barbuda-flagged) was under attack 5 days ago off the coast of oil-producing Bayelsa state, according to information from security sources.
Most of the people on the ship were from Sri Lanka and there was 1 member from Russia and 1 from Myanmar.
The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) informed for 14 well armed pirates that attacked the container vessel and breached its citadel which is built to defend the crew from bandits. The armed men took 5 people as hostages and also took all the money on the ship.
There was another case of attack when a speed boat off Nigeria fired upon another container ship on April 24 but did not have success with the attack because the vessel increased its speed and escaped.
Coast Guard of Aberdeen appeals for information in search for 3 crew members and a ship.
At 10:34 am on April 29th, MRCC Aberdeen obtained a distress call from a Dutch national concerned for the crew members of the Dutch ship Warnow.
The ship had originally sailed from Holland with 8 crew members on its board and had called in at Middlesborough, and then continued to Stonehaven, where 5 crew members disembarked. It then departed Stonehaven, with 3 crew onboard on the 15th of April, 2013 bound for Norway. They were expected to arrive on April 22nd, but no-one has heard from them since the April 15th.
The ship is a Dutch-flagged 15-metre steel-hulled, former pilot vessel with a black hull, white cabin, the ship has been converted to have a mast and sails. There are 3 Dutch nationals onboard. Anyone with information is to contact Aberdeen coastguard on 01224 592 334 or VHF Channel 16 or Medium frequency 2182 khz.
Bad maps are being blamed after Canadian naval reservists participating in the U.S.-led war on drugs last year caused a diplomatic flap by firing their weapons and intercepting fishing vessels in Jamaican waters — without the permission of Jamaica’s maritime authorities.
The embarrassing accident that has never before been publicly reported, broke international maritime law — not the 1st time legal questions have been raised about increasing involvement of Canada in the drug war.
On 27th of March, 2012, HMCS Goose Bay and Kingston were patrolling south of Jamaica as part of Operation Caribbe, Canada’s contribution to an ongoing, US - led anti-drug trafficking mission in the Caribbean and East Pacific.
Documents received by Postmedia News show that at one point, crew on both ships started firing their vessels’ weapons, including large 50-calibre machine guns, as part of a live-fire training exercise.
The Goose Bay also deployed its small rigid-hulled inflatable vessel on 2 occasions, which day to intercept and identify 17 small fishing boats to ensure they were not carrying cocaine, marijuana or were involved in any other illicit activity.
The Goose Bay and Kingston also reportedly pulled up alongside 1 ship, which Jamaican officials reported had a “retired senior political figure on board.”
The Goose Bay and Kingston are Kingston-class maritime coastal defence ships, which are much smaller than the navy’s frigates and destroyers, crewed almost entirely by reservists, and generally used for patrolling Canada’s coasts.
It was only the next day, when the head of the Jamaican coast guard contacted Canadian authorities to complain, that defence officials realized the Goose Bay and Kingston had been in Jamaican territory and not international waters.
“HMCS Goose Bay and Kingston inadvertently conducted live weapons training and other maritime operations in Jamaican territorial waters,” the document reads, “in contravention of international maritime law.”
The mistake was quickly attributed to the Canadian vessels’ maps.
“This was an oversight,” according to the documents’ talking points prepared in case media got wind of the story. “The ships were operating with navigation charts that did not accurately reflect the territorial waters of Jamaica. Consequently, the ships’ captains thought they were in international waters when they conducted the exercises.”
The notes go on to say that the Canadian Forces had “amended their navigational charts to accurately reflect Jamaica’s claimed territorial waters, and future deployments of ships and aircraft to the region will ensure the correct charts are used to ensure that nothing similar happens in the future.”
There was no explanation as to why the ships had the incorrect maps.
The Defence Department did not respond to questions by press time.
Canadian military vessels and aircraft aren’t strangers to the Caribbean, particularly since the Conservative government first launched Canada’s involvement in U.S.-led anti-drug trafficking efforts in 2006.
Canada’s involvement there and throughout much of the Western hemisphere has grown substantially over the intervening years, with Canadian surveillance aircraft, naval vessels and even submarines an increasingly common sight during interdiction missions.
Documents obtained by Postmedia News indicate much of this “larger, more robust contribution” to the U.S.-led war on drugs has been driven by the military itself, which has seen the mission as a key opportunity in the aftermath of Afghanistan.
National Defence reports that the total cost of Operation Caribbe has increased from $25.3 million in 2008-09 to an estimated $282.2 million this year, reflecting that increased involvement as more military assets are dedicated to the mission.
(Officially, National Defence says the actual cost of participating in Operation Caribbe was $7.4 million in 2008-09 and $9.6 million this year because the rest of the costs would have been incurred whether the mission was undertaken or not.)
This expanded role, which has gone largely unreported, has included some prickly legal questions beyond the actions of the HMCS Goose Bay and Kingston.
In 2010, for example, the Conservative government agreed to let armed U.S. Coast Guard boarding teams ride in Canadian military vessels despite what was described in internal notes as “the unique nature of this arrangement and complex legal issues.”
More recent briefing notes have indicated an interest in having Canadian authorities actually boarding vessels suspected of illicit activities and making arrests, which would raise other legal questions.
A federal government program designed to send military-grade tactical gear to Latin America, including boots, pistol holsters and boats, to help battle organized crime groups was scrapped last month after questions about its legality were raised.
The Defence Department briefing documents estimate that transnational criminal organizations in the region are worth more than $40 billion US, with cocaine being their main source of income.
The organized crime groups are a “corrosive” threat to governments and populations throughout the Americas, particularly in Central American countries such as Honduras, Guatemala and Panama, the documents add.
Canada’s involvement in tackling this threat started in 2006 with the deployment of a maritime patrol aircraft to the region after the U.S. military diverted half of its surveillance planes to the Middle East and the Dutch retired its fleet of patrol aircraft.
The Conservative government has made the Western hemisphere one of Canada’s foreign policy priorities.
