Reuters is reporting that a Chinese flagged bulk cargo ship carrying 4000 tons of iron ore capsized in the East Yellow Sea on June 28th.  5 were killed, with 5 others missing.  Reports indicate 4 sailors were rescued in the incident.  I’ve been unable to locate a photo of the vessel, but would be interested [...]

It appears with the increasing cooperation of N. Korea, the U.S. break bulk fleet may be seeing more and more voyages to N. Korea.  All of the major news outlets have been reporting on the arrival of the M/T Baltimore in N. Korea yesterday. nytimes article A file photo of the M/T Baltimore courtesy of  [...]

The actual enforcement of MARPOL Annex VI is now closer to reality with the recent passage of a bill in the U.S. Senate.  Annex VI concerns the prevention of air pollution from ships.  The U.S. has already ratified MARPOL Annex VI, but has yet to define how it would enforce it from the federal level.  [...]

The American Maritime Officers (AMO) union is now offering a possible solution to what was previously a catch 22 for many officers trying to get their PIC/DL endorsement to work aboard tank vessels.  The union has set up a somewhat formal observers program, to give officers 90 days to work aboard a tanker, while receiving a [...]

The International Maritime Bureau brings us the Live World Piracy Map.  This is an interesting tool, that gives us an overall picture of where piracy attacks are occuring, and some details about each attack that has been reported.  You can find the map here.