Weeks of severe drought across Europe have seen water levels in rivers and lakes drop to some of the lowest levels on record, with two-thirds of the continent now in a state of alert or warning.

Thanks to low water levels, dozens of German warships, which were sunk during World War II, have resurfaced in the Danube near Serbia’s port town of Prahovo.

At least 20 vessels have been uncovered strewn across the riverbed in the ‘sunken graveyard’ — many still laden with tonnes of ammunition and explosives. They are now proving a danger to shipping and fishers in the area, and have narrowed the navigable section on the stretch near Prahovo from 180 metres to 100 metres.

Reuters reports that some of the ships still boast turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sand banks. The vessels were part of the Nazi Black Sea fleet, which travelled through the Danube while retreating from Soviet forces at the end of the war.

In March, the Serbian government invited a tender for the salvage of the vessels, including the removal of ammunition and explosives. The cost of the operation was reportedly estimated at €29m.

“The German flotilla has left behind a big ecological disaster that threatens us, people of Prahovo,” Velimir Trajilovic, 74, a resident of the Serbian port city, told Reuters.

Water levels in the Danube reached one of their lowest points in almost a century this year, according to the Associated Press. Water levels recently fell 1.5m in three weeks, at a stretch of river near Budapest.

Preliminary data indicates this is the continent’s worst drought in 500 years, and experts are warning that drier winters and scorching summers will become the ‘new normal’ as a result of climate change.

There have been numerous other discoveries this summer related to the persistent drought across Europe and North America.

In Spain, archaeologists have been thrilled by the emergence of the Dolmen of Guadalperal, a prehistoric stone circle popularly called the “Spanish Stonehenge”, which is usually submerged by the waters of a dam.

And in the US, low water levels in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, have led authorities to discover numerous human skeletons since early May. Boats, including a sunken World War II-era landing craft, have also been uncovered.

Meanwhile, dinosaur tracks from around 113 million years ago have been revealed at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas due to severe drought conditions that dried up a river, the park confirmed in a statement this week.

Source: https://marineindustrynews.co.uk/dozens-german-warships-sunk-world-war-ii-resurface-danube/

• HSA Group, Yemen’s largest private company, becomes the first private sector organisation to donate to the UN’s appeal
• Funding will go towards the UN’s plan to transfer over one million barrels of crude oil from FSO SAFER and prevent a humanitarian, economic, and ecological disaster in Yemen and the Red Sea region.

HSA Group, Yemen’s largest private company, has today announced a US$ 1.2 million donation to support the United Nations (UN) efforts to avert a major humanitarian, economic, and ecological disaster in the Red Sea. The donation is the first committed by a private sector organisation.

The FSO SAFER oil tanker is one of the world’s largest shipping vessels. Carrying over one million barrels of crude oil, FSO SAFER has been moored off Yemen’s Red Sea coast for over 30 years. The vessel has recently deteriorated beyond repair and could disintegrate or explode at any time, with its oil cargo spilling into the Red Sea.

HSA Group’s contribution will go towards the UN’s US$ 80 million target to fund an emergency operation to remove the tanker’s oil cargo and safely transfer it to another vessel. To date, the UN has received US$ 64 million in pledges from over a dozen governments. Less than US$ 16 million is now required to help ensure the critical mission can occur.

According to the UN, failure to reach the targeted amount could likely result in a major oil spill in the Red Sea.

A spill on the scale predicted by the UN would result in indispensable global shipping lanes being blocked and some of Yemen’s most critical ports being closed. These port closures would cut off food, fuel, and life-saving supplies from reaching millions of Yemenis who already suffer from the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Additionally, a spill of this magnitude would cause serious, perhaps irreparable, damage to the Red Sea’s marine life and biodiversity. Hundreds of thousands of jobs in the region’s fishing industry would be lost as fish stocks would take around 25 years to recover. This would impact communities across the Red Sea region reliant upon trade and economic activity in the area for their livelihoods.

It is estimated that the cost of a clean-up would be US$20 billion, with the ultimate cost to the global economy many more times that amount.

Nabil Hayel Saeed Anam, Managing Director, HSA Group – Yemen region, said:

“HSA Group is gravely concerned by the impending threat of an oil spill from FSO SAFER.

“A spill on the scale projected by the UN would have a devastating impact on Yemen. It would aggravate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, threaten millions with starvation, and destroy livelihoods. It would also be an unimaginable ecological catastrophe.

“HSA has closely followed the campaign led by the UN and the generous donations pledged by the international community. Given that there remains a large funding shortfall, and time is running out, HSA believes that the private sector must step forward.

“We are making this contribution to support international efforts to prevent a disaster that would both tip Yemen further into humanitarian and economic crisis and impact the wider Red Sea region, which plays a critical role in the global economy and the world’s biodiversity.

“We hope that this first donation from the private sector may serve to encourage other companies across the world to contribute to the UN’s response and avert this potentially catastrophic crisis.”

Reference: Cision PR Newswire

With increasing digitalisation in maritime comes an explosion in the volume of data being captured. LR Horizons asks LR’s new Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Chakib Abi-saab how data can be harnessed as a force to build better businesses.

New LR Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Chakib Abi-saab believes that “recognition of the importance of data as the key to better decision making, creating new efficiencies and scalable operational models” represents the single most significant technology change he has witnessed during his 25-year career in maritime.

“In the past, people thought of digitalisation as the simple task to move from analog to digital, like moving from paper sheets to Excel,” he says. “With this ‘discovery’ of data decision making by the maritime industry, the investment in technology has significantly accelerated, and with that, the number of potential partners and the innovation ecosystem of the entire industry has taken off and continues to grow”.

Abi-saab knows his subject, having led teams in both maritime and oil & gas sectors, across Latin America, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and the Caspian – including stints as CTO for ship operators and owners like Bumi Armada in Malaysia, OSM Maritime Group in Singapore, and most recently Bahri, the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia. A dual Venezuelan-US national of Lebanese descent, he prides himself on bridging the worlds of technology and business. He’s also a successful published author with a book on management theory.

The maritime industry still has a struggle on its hands, however, in fully embracing digitalisation, he believes – both in terms of committing to the cost of the technology involved and understanding where to focus its investment.

“With so many potential data inputs, it is a complex task to differentiate between distractive and constructive data sources,” he says. “This requires technology leadership that understands the business and can help position technology as a means to create efficiencies and new revenue streams”.

Nevertheless, “I believe there is recognition among most experts and leadership that digitalisation is one of the fundamentals to a better, safer, and more sustainable environment,” he continues. “Collecting data for trends that create knowledge is the new normal. Some companies now use artificial intelligence (AI) for full predictive environments”.

“That said, data sharing has been a challenge in the past because many organisations viewed their data as their competitive advantage, and therefore, they were unwilling to share it. However, that mindset is beginning to change. I expect we will soon see a ‘digital’ highway for the industry, which will enable the collection and processing of vast amounts of data, and generate incredible insights and new revenue streams for those willing to share their data”.

Abi-saab identifies the take-up of cloud-based applications as the area of technology where the maritime and logistics industries have seen the most significant acceleration of late. IoT and remote sensing considerations are key here, he adds, together with predictive analytics that can enable preventative maintenance and increase safety.

However, “major fragmentation of technology offerings with different systems used by different vendors” remains a significant barrier to a proper predictive environment at present, he feels, which is why he hopes for the above-mentioned “base platform to connect the entire value chain”.

Overall, he feels that maritime can learn useful lessons from the oil and gas industry, which he sees as being much further ahead in its use of data for remote monitoring of rigs and operations, while sharing many of the same issues, such as remote locations and connectivity requirements.
One of the biggest drivers of maritime’s use of digital in the decade ahead is likely to be competition. “The development of new generation of technologies has enabled a few elite players to create a competitive advantage,” he says. “The rest all face the same problems: high costs, small margins, and high expectations of seamless customer experience from their clients. Therefore, those who can successfully adopt the right technology will be the ones that will succeed”.

Therefore, it is “private large companies that have understood the advantages data can bring them” that are currently most engaged with digitalisation, he concludes, adding: “Unfortunately however, they will need support from governments and other organisations like LR to help provide a level of data large enough to provide a holistic view that can transform the way they operate, and the industry in general”.

And it is here that that Chakib Abi-saab particularly relishes the opportunities that joining Lloyd’s Register presents. “Make no mistake,” he says, “digital transformation is happening over the next few years and it is one of the reasons why I’m joining LR. Here, we have the opportunity to be part of and help drive the transformation of not just one company but the whole industry – in everything from cleaner energy sources to daily operational efficiencies and increased safety”.
Source: Lloyd’s Register