Shipping’s call for UN force against Somali pirates – The global shipping industry (represented by the Round Table of international shipping associations) has called for the establishment of a United Nations force of armed military guards to tackle the piracy crisis in the Indian Ocean, which it says is spiralling out of control, it was reported on 9th September.

In a hard hitting letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), BIMCO, INTERTANKO and INTERCARGO demand a bold new strategy to curb rising levels of piracy which have resulted in the Indian Ocean resembling the Wild West.

On 9th September the European Space Agency advised that the first Galileo navigation satellite had arrived at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, ready to begin preparations for launch on 20th October.

The satellite is due to be launched aboard a Soyuz ST-B vehicle on 20th October, together with a second Galileo that is now being readied for its own flight to French Guiana. This will be the first launch of Russia’s workhorse Soyuz rocket from French Guiana and will take place from a new facility 13 km northwest of the Ariane 5 launch site.

A new aviation safety podcast was launched on 1st September by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in conjunction with the Sony Award winning Flaps podcast team. Known as Airspace, the podcast is initially part of the Airspace & Safety initiative (ASI*) work to inform the aviation community of changes resulting from next year’s London 2012 Olympics, but will also feature other
safety and airspace issues.

The first edition focuses on the airspace restrictions that the British Government will be putting in place during the Olympics and can be heard or downloaded here: www.soundcloud.com/flapspodcast/caa-airspace.

The International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA), in conjunction with the Arabian Maritime Navigation Aids Services (AMNAS) will host an IALA training seminar on the IALA Risk Management Tool Box – PAWSA, IWRAP Mk2 & Simulation from 27th November to 1st December 2011, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Muscat.

A flyer with more information.

The European Space Agency announced on 2nd September that the 9th September deadline for letters of intent is approaching fast for proposals of experiments relevant to climate change that use the International Space Station as a platform.

ESA is soliciting proposals for flight experiments relevant to climate change studies using the ISS as a platform. Often invisible to the naked eye, profound changes occurring on, in and above Earth and to its climate can be observed by instruments mounted on the Space Station. This is one of many new areas where the Space Station will benefit science and technology, and where the addition of recoverable Earth observation experiments could further expand its capabilities.

IALA workshop on global sharing of maritime data, 12th to 16th September, 2011.

To be held at IALA HQ, 10-14 rue des Gaudines, St Germain en Laye, 78100 France.

Tel: +33 1 34 51 70 01

Fax: +33 1 34 51 82 05

e-mail: iala-aism@wanadoo.fr

URL: www.iala-aism.org

More information in the accompanying pdf.

Report on the 8th POSITION NAVIGATION and TIMING (PNT) BOARD meeting, 9th and 10th June 2011, Crystal Palace Hotel, Washington.

We publish here a report from Dr Refaat Rashad, President of IAIN, (Arab Institute of Navigation) who attended the eighth meeting of the Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Board hosted by NASA in Washington in June.

Some presentations made during the gathering are to be found at:
www.pnt.gov/advisory/2011/06

EUROCONTROL announced in July that it is assisting the European Commission in building the Single European Sky, contributing to its regulatory and technology elements. A formal letter was received from the Commission, nominating the Agency to take on the role of European Network Manager as defined in the Single European Sky II (SES) legislation.

Following the invitation of the Commission, EUROCONTROL is now seeking the formal approval of its Members States to accept the nomination.

Towards the end of July in Montreal ICAO announced that it expects global air traffic to grow by about 5.3% in 2011, 6.2% in 2012 and 6.1% in 2013, in terms of
passenger-kilometres performed. The projected increases reflect positive economic prospects worldwide, based on an average 3.5% growth in the world Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the next three years, as estimated by IHS/Global Insight, a major economic forecasting organization.

Despite multiple headwinds, such as potentially higher oil prices and the implementation of fiscal austerity policies in key economies, this reduced forecast from the 3.9% global GDP growth in 2010 should, nevertheless, allow the
momentum in traffic growth to continue, fuelled by strong air travel demand due to improved household balance sheets and robust business cash flows.

On 15th August the Nautical Institute, which has been serving the maritime professional since 1971 announced that it is to expand its accreditation services.

Members’ input, which has fed into the Institute’s current five year strategic plan, highlights that focus on competency and professionalism across the entire maritime industry is greater than ever.

The issue of competency in the modern era is consistently raised by members in
terms of the effectiveness of training, reduction of sea time and experience,
assessment and use of simulation. There is a strong perception that competency is
reducing across the board at sea and ashore, not merely due to the rapid promotion of officers but due to the shortage of suitably qualified personnel.

On 15th August the new, improved, NATO Shipping Centre (NSC) website went live providing more comprehensive and timely information about pirate activity around the Horn of Africa for the shipping community.

It was announced from Washington on 31st July that the National Transportation Safety Board had launched a team of investigators to assist the government of Guyana with its investigation into the previous day’s accident at Cheddi Jagan
International Airport, Georgetown, Guyana, involving a scheduled passenger
flight.

On 30th July at approximately 0125 (EDT), Caribbean Airlines flight 523,
(Trinidad & Tobago registration 9Y-PBM), en route from Trinidad to Guyana,
overran the runway during landing at Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana.

Report on the second planning and organizational meeting for the Sixth
Meeting of the International Committee on GNSS (ICG), Vienna, 7th June 2011

The website for the 6th ICG Meeting is available under www.icg2011.go.jp.

All the ICG-6 participants should have registered online by 15th July 2011.

Participants wishing to give a presentation during the first plenary
session are requested to submit the titles of their presentations by 30th
July 2011.

Pirate attacks on the world’s seas totalled 266 in the first six months of 2011, up from 196 incidents in the same period last year, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) revealed on 14th July simultaneously in London and Kuala Lumpur.

More than 60% of the attacks were by Somali pirates, a majority of which were in the Arabian Sea area said the report, Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships. As of 30th June, Somali pirates were holding 20 vessels and 420 crew, and demanding ransoms of millions of dollars for their release.

Shortly after noon on 14th July the Secretary of State for Transport, Philip Hammond, gave HMG’s updated Coastguard reforms. Broadly speaking it is Westminster’s belief that Coastguard stations will be better coordinated and more resilient to the challenges of the coming decades under the updated modernisation proposals.

In his statement the Minister said the Coastguard has been helping to manage our seas and protect those who use them for over two centuries. However, the service has undergone few changes over the past 40 years and is now in need of modernisation as the current structure is not sufficiently resilient and fluctuating workloads cannot be properly distributed.

Air cargo security – From Montreal on 27th June it was announced that ICAO and the World Customs Organization (WCO) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for increased co-operation to protect air cargo from acts of terrorism or other criminal activity and for speeding up the movement of goods by air worldwide.

Aviation safety information – On 15th June the Council of ICAO adopted a code of conduct to oversee the collection, sharing and use of aviation safety information, in support of the Organization’s ongoing drive to further improve safety worldwide.

Fatigue risk management – The Council of ICAO adopted at its meeting of 13th June international standards for Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) as an alternative to prescriptive flight and duty limitations to address crew fatigue, often cited as a factor in aircraft accidents. The new standards become applicable on 15th December this year.

An invitation has been issued by the Danaish Maritime Safety Administration (DAMSA) for the Third and final EfficienSea Major Event arranged with the Estonian Maritime Administration and to be held in Tallinn, Estonia on 21st and 22nd September this year.

The EfficienSea project started in January 2009. Now almost three years have passed the organisers have called for fresh input and focus in order to make the most out of the project.

On 21st September, the respective themes of the project will be:

• Recruitment and Competences
• e-Navigation
• Maritime Planning and Vessel Traffic Data
• Dynamic Risk Management

These topics will be presented by the work package leaders.

MonaLisa, an EU co-funded project

The MonaLisa project, an action in the Baltic Sea region aimed at improving the quality of maritime transport, will benefit from €11.23 million in EU contribution from the 2010 TEN-T Multi-Annual Call, it was announced by the EC on 15th June.

MonaLisa aims at improving quality of maritime transport, safety at sea, exchange of maritime data and facilitation of environmental performance of shipping and implementation of e-Maritime relevant applications.

According to a statement issued by the European Commission in mid-June ministers are expected to reach a general agreement (known as a ‘general approach’) on a proposal modifying the mandate of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) to enable it to deal with new challenges in an ever-changing world.

Commission requests nine Member States to comply with EU vessel traffic monitoring and information system regime

It was announced from Brussels on 16th June that the European Commission has requested Belgium, Estonia, France, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Finland and the United Kingdom to adopt national legislation to implement EU rules setting up a vessel traffic monitoring and information system.

The new access fairway to the Swedish Port of Norrköping was inaugurated on 9th June amid numerous key personalities including the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure. These works, which now enable 24-hour access to the port and its new intermodal terminal, began in 2009 and benefitted from €3.5 million in EU co-financing from the TEN-T budget, managed through the TEN-T Executive Agency.

After a successful 2011 conference with more than 130 participants from 21 countries, the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) and the EfficienSea project with the support of the Nautical Institute and the International Association for Marine Electronics’ Companies (CIRM) have decided to repeat the event next year.

On 21st and 22nd September the EfficienSea project is arranging the third and final open conference hosted by the Estonian Maritime Administration, presenting results of the project.

From all corners of the globe, submarine rescue specialists, parachuting diving teams, engineers and military doctors gathered in Spain to prove rescue systems and procedures that have been developed to rescue submariners from the worst case scenarios at the end of May. Over the period from 27th May to 10th June the world’s experts in sub sunk operations were concentrated off the Spanish port of Murcia in the Mediterranean to improve their response capability. ESPS Galicia, the Spanish Navy’s command ship, steamed from Cartagena to take part.

The European Space Agency, Arianespace and the European Commission announced on 23rd May that the launch of the first two satellites of Europe’s global navigation satellite system is planned to take place on 20 October.

This will be the first of a series of Galileo satellite launches by
Arianespace from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.