New Zealand authorities are investigating the loss of a crewmember over the side of the bulker Berge Rishiri on Saturday. The man is missing and likely deceased, and Maritime Union NZ has called for the national government to look closely at the conditions on board to find any potential factors behind the incident.

The seafarer, a Chinese national, was last seen at 0800 hours at the end of his watch on Saturday morning. He was first noticed missing when he did not show up for duty at 1600 hours later that day. The ship notified Maritime NZ, and a search was launched; however, it was suspended after about one day, given the low likelihood of survival in the cold waters of the Southern Ocean.

Maritime Union NZ National Secretary Craig Harrison called on the government to do more to protect the welfare of international seafarers. He noted that globally, more than 500 seafarers a year go missing and another 500 are killed at sea (as of 2019). In a statement, he said that he would like Maritime New Zealand to investigate whether the crew were having adequate rest breaks, and that they were not required to secure any cargo while underway.

“We would like to know how long the seafarer had been at sea and on duty and have assurances they were not kept on the vessel longer than their contracted period, as we have seen huge mental health issues with seafarers basically kept captive on vessels for months and sometimes years,” Harrison said. “These crew members are in New Zealand waters, their work is essential for New Zealand, and in our view their rights and welfare are often overlooked.”

Berge Rishiri put into port at Napier on Monday, where police planned to board her and interview members of the crew. A spokesman for Maritime NZ told Stuff.co.nz that the incident occurred outside of the nation’s territorial seas, so its jurisdiction is limited.

Berge Rishiri is a 35,000 dwt bulker built in 2017 and flagged in the Isle of Man. She has few recorded PSC deficiencies and none related to hours of rest or crew welfare.

I’m standing at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, mesmerized by a mind-blowing scene of natural destruction. A milewide section of glacier front has fractured and is collapsing into the ocean, calving an immense iceberg.

Seracs, giant columns of ice the height of three-story houses, are being tossed around like dice. And the previously submerged portion of this immense block of glacier ice just breached the ocean – a frothing maelstrom flinging ice cubes of several tons high into the air. The resulting tsunami inundates all in its path as it radiates from the glacier’s calving front.

Fortunately, I’m watching from a clifftop a couple of miles away. But even here, I can feel the seismic shocks through the ground. Despite the spectacle, I’m keenly aware that this spells yet more unwelcome news for the world’s low-lying coastlines.

As a field glaciologist, I’ve worked on ice sheets for more than 30 years. In that time, I have witnessed some gobsmacking changes. The past few years in particular have been unnerving for the sheer rate and magnitude of change underway. My revered textbooks taught me that ice sheets respond over millennial time scales, but that’s not what we’re seeing today.

A study published Aug. 29, 2022, demonstrates – for the first time – that Greenland’s ice sheet is now so out of balance with prevailing Arctic climate that it no longer can sustain its current size. It is irreversibly committed to retreat by at least 59,000 square kilometers (22,780 square miles), an area considerably larger than Denmark, Greenland’s protectorate state.

Even if all the greenhouse gas emissions driving global warming ceased today, we find that Greenland’s ice loss under current temperatures will raise global sea level by at least 10.8 inches (27.4 centimeters). That’s more than current models forecast, and it’s a highly conservative estimate. If every year were like 2012, when Greenland experienced a heat wave, that irreversible commitment to sea level rise would triple. That’s an ominous portent given that these are climate conditions we have already seen, not a hypothetical future scenario.

Our study takes a completely new approach – it is based on observations and glaciological theory rather than sophisticated numerical models. The current generation of coupled climate and ice sheet models used to forecast future sea level rise fail to capture the emerging processes that we see amplifying Greenland’s ice loss.

How Greenland got to this point

The Greenland ice sheet is a massive, frozen reservoir that resembles an inverted pudding bowl. The ice is in constant flux, flowing from the interior – where it is over 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) thick, cold and snowy – to its edges, where the ice melts or calves bergs.

In all, the ice sheet locks up enough fresh water to raise global sea level by 24 feet (7.4 meters).

Greenland’s terrestrial ice has existed for about 2.6 million years and has expanded and contracted with two dozen or so “ice age” cycles lasting 70,000 or 100,000 years, punctuated by around 10,000-year warm interglacials. Each glacial is driven by shifts in Earth’s orbit that modulate how much solar radiation reaches the Earth’s surface. These variations are then reinforced by snow reflectivity, or albedo; atmospheric greenhouse gases; and ocean circulation that redistributes that heat around the planet.

We are currently enjoying an interglacial period – the Holocene. For the past 6,000 years Greenland, like the rest of the planet, has benefited from a mild and stable climate with an ice sheet in equilibrium – until recently. Since 1990, as the atmosphere and ocean have warmed under rapidly increasing greenhouse gas emissions, Greenland’s mass balance has gone into the red. Ice losses due to enhanced melt, rain, ice flow and calving now far exceed the net gain from snow accumulation.

Greenland’s ice mass loss measured by NASA’s Grace satellites.

What does the future hold?

The critical questions are, how fast is Greenland losing its ice, and what does it mean for future sea level rise?

Greenland’s ice loss has been contributing about 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) per year to global sea level rise over the past decade.

This net loss is split between surface melt and dynamic processes that accelerate outlet glacier flow and are greatly exacerbated by atmospheric and oceanic warming, respectively. Though complex in its manifestation, the concept is simple: Ice sheets don’t like warm weather or baths, and the heat is on.

Meltwater lakes feed rivers that snake across the ice sheet – until they encounter a moulin. Alun Hubbard

What the future will bring is trickier to answer.

The models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predict a sea level rise contribution from Greenland of around 4 inches (10 centimeters) by 2100, with a worst-case scenario of 6 inches (15 centimeters).

But that prediction is at odds with what field scientists are witnessing from the ice sheet itself.

According to our findings, Greenland will lose at least 3.3 percent of its ice, over 100 trillion metric tons. This loss is already committed – ice that must melt and calve icebergs to reestablish Greenland’s balance with prevailing climate.

We’re observing many emerging processes that the models don’t account for that increase the ice sheet’s vulnerability. For example:

– Increased rain is accelerating surface melt and ice flow.

– Large tracts of the ice surface are undergoing bio-albedo darkening, which accelerates surface melt, as well as the impact of snow melting and refreezing at the surface. These darker surfaces absorb more solar radiation, driving yet more melt.

In August 2021, rain fell at the Greenland ice sheet summit for the first time on record. Weather stations across Greenland captured rapid ice melt. European Space Agency

– Warm, subtropical-originating ocean currents are intruding into Greenland’s fjords and rapidly eroding outlet glaciers, undercutting and destabilizing their calving fronts.

– Supraglacial lakes and river networks are draining into fractures and moulins, bringing with them vast quantities of latent heat. This “cryo-hydraulic warming” within and at the base of the ice sheet softens and thaws the bed, thereby accelerating interior ice flow down to the margins.

The issue with models

Part of the problem is that the models used for forecasting are mathematical abstractions that include only processes that are fully understood, quantifiable and deemed important.

Models reduce reality to a set of equations that are solved repeatedly on banks of very fast computers. Anyone into cutting-edge engineering – including me – knows the intrinsic value of models for experimentation and testing of ideas. But they are no substitute for reality and observation. It is apparent that current model forecasts of global sea level rise underestimate its actual threat over the 21st century. Developers are making constant improvements, but it’s tricky, and there’s a dawning realization that the complex models used for long-term sea level forecasting are not fit for purpose.

Author Alun Hubbard’s science camp in the melt zone of the Greenland ice sheet. Alun Hubbard

There are also “unknown unknowns” – those processes and feedbacks that we don’t yet realize and that models can never anticipate. They can be understood only by direct observations and literally drilling into the ice.

That’s why, rather than using models, we base our study on proven glaciological theory constrained by two decades of actual measurements from weather stations, satellites and ice geophysics.

It’s not too late

It’s an understatement that the societal stakes are high, and the risk is tragically real going forward. The consequences of catastrophic coastal flooding as sea level rises are still unimaginable to the majority of the billion or so people who live in low-lying coastal zones of the planet.

Personally, I remain hopeful that we can get on track. I don’t believe we’ve passed any doom-laden tipping point that irreversibly floods the planet’s coastlines. Of what I understand of the ice sheet and the insight our new study brings, it’s not too late to act.

But fossil fuels and emissions must be curtailed now, because time is short and the water rises – faster than forecast.

Source: https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/greenland-ice-sheet-will-contribute-one-foot-to-sea-level-rise

(Seychelles News Agency) – Officials involved in search and rescue operations, disaster management and maritime assistance services in the Western Indian Ocean are meeting in Seychelles to produce better coordinated efforts in tackling maritime disasters.

At a four-day workshop at the Story Hotel on the main island of Mahe,  participants from the Seychelles Coast Guard (SCG), Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCCA) and Disaster Risk Management Division (DRMD) are meeting the colleagues from the Comoros, France, Iran, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius and Mozambique to build a collaborative Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) maritime safety and security framework.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is providing its expertise in the “table-top exercise” which the Australian government is funding.

The table-top exercise will mainly involve practical aspects of training, “even though there will be theory, it will be mainly visits and exercises,” explained the Seychelles Maritime Safety Authority (SMSA) head, Captain Joachim Valmont.

The Indian Ocean is a major transit area for international trade as half of the world’s container ships, one third of the world’s bulk cargo and two thirds of the world’s oil shipment passes through these waters annually.

Speaking to the press at the official opening of the workshop, Seychelles Coast Guards (SCG) chief, Jean Attala said the size of the Seychelles’ EEZ is one that “poses a challenge to the country”. The island state has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 1.3 million kilometres.

“There are different types of local and foreign vessels passing through our seas, and there are times that accidents happen,” he explained.

“Gathering concrete information as to where an accident has taken place as well as the coordination of a search and rescue mission is one that is relatively hard,” he said.

Valmont further added that due to the vast EEZ, “if we are to hold a major search and rescue operation, we will need the support of countries in the region”. Furthermore, the country has very limited aircraft capacity for such operations, effectively just one plane.

The meeting in Seychelles is the first in two IORA is holding – the second will be for the Eastern Indian Ocean countries of Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives and Singapore.

Through both workshops held for the different regions of the Indian Ocean, those taking part will be able to identify ongoing mechanisms that they may later adopt to address the gaps and areas for improvement
in regional maritime safety and security arrangement.

Source: http://www.seychellesnewsagency.com/articles/17311/IORA+meeting+in+Seychelles+tackles+framework+for+effective+search+and+rescue+coordination

A dry bulk ship loaded with steel rebars was beached 200 m off Catalan Bay in Gibraltar early this morning morning having collided with an LNG carrier.

The bulk carrier, OS 35, was ordered to come close to shore to minimise the risk of it sinking with tugs and booms quickly deployed.

As of 7am today, the Gibraltar government said the situation remains stable with the bow of the vessel resting on the seabed in 17 m of water, listing by three degrees to starboard.

A notice to mariners has been issued by the Gibraltar Port Authority with a 200 m exclusion zone already in place around the OS 35.

The vessel was carrying 183 tonnes of heavy fuel oil for its own consumption, alongside 250 tonnes of diesel and 27 tonnes of lube oil.

The bulk carrier was leaving Gibraltar to head to Vlissengen in the Netherlands at the time of the collision with the LNG carrier Adam LNG, which was heading into the Bay of Gibraltar. The LNG carrier was not damaged in the collision

The OS 35 is owned by Greece’s Oldstone Management while the LNG carrier is controlled by Oman Ship Management.

Global defense and technologies partner HII announced on Monday that its Ingalls Shipbuilding division has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Navy to begin the combat systems availability for the Zumwalt-class destroyer, Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002). During this availability, Ingalls will complete the installation, activation and testing of the combat systems to ensure a fully functional system is ready to operate in the Navy fleet, as part of the Navy’s phased delivery approach.

“HII is excited to support our Navy colleagues in bringing this new capability to the fleet,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Kari Wilkinson said. “As a dedicated partner in the construction and system activation of Navy destroyers, Ingalls is eager to leverage our shipbuilders’ expertise and modernized facilities in supporting the Navy’s future generation systems and platforms.”

The $41.6 million cost-incentive-fee contract allows Ingalls to begin program management, labor, materials, and facilities to accomplish industrial efforts and fleet industrial efforts to support the ship’s combat system.

The DDG 1002 features a state-of-the-art electric propulsion system, wave-piercing tumblehome hull, stealth design and is equipped with the most advanced warfighting technology and weaponry. This ship will be capable of performing a range of deterrence, power projection, sea control, and command and control missions while allowing Navy to evolve with new systems and missions.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/ingalls-awarded-ddg-combat-systems-499085

Swedish and Finnish rescue services began evacuating families and elderly passengers from a fire-stricken Swedish ferry in the Baltic sea late on Monday, but said the situation was calm and that no one had been injured.

About 70 out of around 300 people onboard were scheduled to be evacuated by helicopter as the powerless vessel was drifting toward the island of Gotland and risked running aground later on Monday, at roughly 2100 GMT.

“We are evacuating families with children and the elderly. We have strong winds that make evacuation by boat difficult,” a Swedish Maritime Administration spokesperson said. “But the situation is calm and under control,” the person added.

The fire began in a container on the car deck on board the Stena Scandica on route from Latvia to Sweden.

A technical investigation will be launched to determine what started the fire.

Source: https://www.marinelink.com/news/authorities-begin-evacuation-firestricken-499084