MV Iloilovatu to Rotuma
THE government-owned ship MV Iloilovatu will set sail for Rotuma tomorrow, the Ministry of Works said in a statement.
The ship was scheduled to sail for Rotuma on Monday, the ministry said. Several attempts to reach Government Shipping Services for a comment regarding the delay proved futile.
Questions sent to the ministry’s public relations officer Peni Namotu remained unanswered. This newspaper was told that the director Transport Planning Unit, Ministry of Works, Transport and Public Utilities, Lui Naisara whose contact was on the notice, was out of the country.
According to the Government Shipping Service website www.governmentshipping.gov.fj, the MV Iloilovatu is one of 14 vessels in the government fleet.
546 ship containers lost
THE World Shipping Council estimates in its report on containers lost at sea that for the combined six-year period from 2008 to 2013, there were 546 containers lost on average each year.
This figure does not include catastrophic events, and 1679 containers lost at sea each year including catastrophic events, such at the MOL Comfort disaster.
The report notes that 2011 and 2013 each saw rare catastrophic events that resulted in complete and total vessel losses.
* Source: WORLDMARITIMENEWS.COM
Pirates lurking the seas
OVER the previous week, pirates were lurking on ships sailing in the immediate vicinity of the Bab al Mandeb — a strait between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, Djibouti and Eritrea, north of Somalia and along the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor, the UK Marine Trade Operations (UKMTO) said in the latest report.
The majority of reports received last week state the sighting of one or two skiffs appearing to be acting aggressively and closing at speed but with no ladders or weapons seen.
* Source: WORLDMARITIMENEWS.COM
Royal Navy names ship
The Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, has been officially named by Her Majesty the Queen at a ceremony in Scotland.
The ceremony, held at Rosyth dockyard near Edinburgh, marks the completion of the flagship which is the largest ship built for the Royal Navy.
With a height of 56 metres she is taller than Niagara falls, at 280 metres long she has a flight deck the size of 60 tennis courts, four jumbo jets could fit alongside each other on the 70 metre wide deck.
She carries enough fuel to transport a family car to the moon and back 12 times.
* Source: WORLDMARITIMENEWS.COM
