Sailors call the latitudes between 40 and 50 degrees south of the equator the Roaring Forties. In 1611, Dutch explorer Hendrik Brouwer first used this band by which it effectively halved the duration of the trip from Europe to Java. “To run the easting down” was the phrase used to describe the fast passages achieved through the Roaring Forties. During…
Sweden’s Stena RoRo has purchased a used ferry, Yamato, from the Japanese shipping company Hankyu Ferry. It is intended for the European market. The ferry vessel is the 2003- Yamato built by MHI SHIMONOSEKI SHIPYARD measures 195 meters in length and disposes of 2,350 lane meters. The Yamato ferry will be rebuilt at a shipyard in Europe and adapted to…
One of the leading canned sardines and mackerel producers and exporters in Morocco, which has been Friend of the Sea-sustainable since 2012, Cibel has now obtained Friend of the Sea international sustainability certification for its fishmeal and fish oil production. Cibel is the acronym for Complexe Industriel Bel Hassan, a high-tech center for seafood, fishmeal, and fish oil production. It…
The world’s shipbuilding companies are concentrated in three East Asian countries – China, South Korea, and Japan – that when combined control 90% of global market share. But finally, after seven years, South Korean shipyards have recaptured the lead in annual shipbuilding orders secured, according to newly released data from Clarkson Research institute. South Korea lost its No. 1 rank…
The U.S. Navy is contemplating on building a high 14-foot seawall to protect the Navy Yard in Southeast Washington, D.C. from rising sea levels, an effect of climate change. The Navy Yard is the Navy’s oldest installation. It was established in 1799 as a shipbuilding facility and port, and later used for making ordnance, and then turned into an administrative…
An international joint venture formed by DP World Group and industrial engineering specialists of SMS Group may just be the catalyst that would revolutionize the way ship containers are handled in ports. A new and intelligent container storing system, called the High Bay Storage, will be applied for the first time in Dubai in 2020. The High Bay Storage system…
The Port of Zamboanga is a seaport located in Zamboanga City located in western Mindanao. The international container Port of Zamboanga ranked 2nd in Asia according to the 2010 Super Efficient Ports in Asia study (African Journal of Business Management Vol. 5(4), pp. 1397-1407, 2011). Zamboanga City is the commercial and industrial center of the Zamboanga Peninsula, which faces the…
National Fishery is composed of Commercial, Municipal, and Aquaculture Fishery. The Municipal Fishery sector is composed of Municipal Marine and Municipal Inland Fishery. Aquaculture is composed of Mariculture (Seaweed, Oyster, Mussel), Marine Fish Cage, Marine Fish Pen; Brackishwater Fish Cage, Brackishwater Fish Pen, Brackishwater Fish Pond; Freshwater Fish Cage, Freshwater Fish Pen, Freshwater Fish Pond; Small Farm Reservoir, and Rice…
The British-led Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (Black Sea MAP) claims to have found the world’s oldest intact wreck, an ancient Greek sailing vessel that was radiocarbon dated back to 400 BC, making the shipwreck over 2,400 years old. The wooden hull is quite well preserved because it had been lying below the surface of the Black Sea about 2…
Between 2014 and 2016, Greenpeace had been tracking Thailand’s rogue fishing vessels, and found that as many as 76 vessels with Thai flags had moved their operations to the Saya de Malha Bank area off the coast of east Africa to avoid being policed on illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and slave seafaring. Despite all international pressure on Thailand,…
Philippine Airlines (PAL) is venturing into the maritime sector, and will soon launch a ferry service between Kalibo and Boracay. Tourists coming from Kalibo, Aklan will soon have a more plush and comfortable option of travel to the world-famous Boracay Island. The concept of the ferry service was disclosed to the media on October 23, just a few days before…
The Port of Cagayan de Oro is situated in Cagayan de Oro City, the capital of Misamis Oriental and the regional center of Northern Mindanao. It is located in the Northern Coast of Mindanao within Macajalar Bay, near the mouth of the Cagayan de Oro River. It faces northwest and is protected to the east by a stretch of coast…
The Philippines, being an archipelago, has no land borders with neighboring countries. Unlike some countries in Northern Africa like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, that have problems with porous borders between countries, the Philippines is spared of that kind of border problem. However, while these North African countries share the same stretch of coastline along the Mediterranean Sea, the…
Spain had designed a new submarine. However, the project encountered some physical and engineering problems. In turn, the solutions to these problems created even new problems. At first, it was a design error, which made the submarine unable to float. The solution was to make the submarine longer. As an unfortunate result, the new size of the submarine ended up…
The Port of Davao is a seaport located in the island of Mindanao. The Port of Davao consists of a number of ports, all within the Davao Gulf, which is part of the Celebes Sea, but its main office and seaport is located at Sasa, Davao City. The Sasa Wharf is one of the largest and busiest piers in the…
General Santos City (GenSan) is located in South Cotabato, in southwest Mindanao, and is a modern fish port. Its original name was Dadiangas, but was later renamed General Santos after the city’s founder, General Paulino Santos, who was a former commanding general of the Philippine Army. As the Tuna capital of the Philippines, GenSan carries the flag for South Cotabato…
The Tañon Strait is a body of water, situated between the islands of Negros and Cebu in the Visayas region. The Strait is about 100 miles (161 km) long, and connects the Visayan Sea in the north to the Bohol Sea in the south. Its width varies from 3-17 miles (5 to 27 km), with the narrowest point in the…
With the culmination of the second Malinis at Masaganang Karagatan (MMK) The Search for the Country’s Outstanding Coastal Community, the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) is now accepting nominations for the third season of MMK. An annual program by the DA through the BFAR, MMK gives recognition and incentives to outstanding coastal communities for their…
The Port of Surigao serves as the Base Port of the Port Management Office of Surigao. Located in Surigao City on the northeastern coast of Mindanao, the Port of Surigao lies in a protected cove, making it an all-weather facility and ideal port of refuge. The Port Management Office (PMO) of Surigao has jurisdiction over various ports in the provinces…
“Great Powers, Grand Strategies: The New Game in the South China Sea,” edited by Anders Corr (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2018), is a good read because it puts the South China Sea conflict into a global strategic context. In so doing, it looks at the movements of China well within the EEZ of Philippine coasts, a topic dear to my heart,…
Scientific Family. The Giant Clams belong to the genus Tridacna (Bruguière 1797), of which Tridacna gigas is the largest living immobile bivalve mollusk in the world. The Giant Clam is known as “Taklobo” in the Philippines. They live in the shallow coral reefs of the South China Sea, West Philippine Sea, Sulo Sea, Red Sea, but mainly in the Indian…
The Australian Federal Government announced on 24-November-2017 in Canberra that Lürssen would be awarded as the Prime Contractor to deliver the Royal Australian Navy’s Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs). The OPV program will see 12 vessels built in total. West Australian shipbuilders Austal and Civmec/Forgacs, and Government shipbuilder ASC would all be part of building the vessels, according to the Defense…
Dream Cruises, the leading cruise company in Asia, and a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong, has taken delivery of its newest cruise ship, which was constructed in the city of Papenburg located in the district of Emsland in Lower Saxony, Germany. Papenburg is notably situated at the River Ems, and is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer Werft, which…
The Talangka in the Philippines is from the scientific family Grapsidae and species Varuna litterata. Apart from the Philippines, Varuna litterata is also known to exist in Australia, China, Fiji, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nansha (Spratly) Islands, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paracel Islands, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. The Varuna Litterata was named in 1798…
Belgian caviar house, Imperial Heritage, recently obtained Friend of the Sea’s certification for aquaculture. Breeding activities of the Danube Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) and the Siberian Sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) take place in Italy, and have been found compliant with Friend of the Sea sustainable aquaculture criteria, some of which are: (a) No impact of the aquaculture site on critical habitat; (b)…