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The phenomenon of liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo weathering is considered in terms of the conditions influencing boil-off gas (BOG) rates during the offshore movements and handling of LNG on marine LNG carriers (LNGC), floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), and floating storage units (FSU). The range of compositions (grades) of commercially traded LNG is significantly broader than the range of compositional changes caused by typical storage times for offshore LNG cargoes. The different nitrogen and natural gas-liquid concentrations of LNG cargoes (i.e., ethane and heavier C2' components) significantly influence the impacts of weathering and ultimately determine whether the LNG delivered to customers is within sales specifications or not. The BOG from LNG in storage is richer in methane and nitrogen; if nitrogen is present in the LNG, otherwise just richer in methane, than the LNG from which it is derived. This leads to the LNG becoming richer in the C2' components as ageing progresses. LNG weathering is shown not to play a significant role in the rollover phenomenon of LNG moved and stored offshore, because nitrogen contents are low (typically<1.0%) and auto-stratification is rarely an issue. LNG stored for long periods on FSU (greater than 8 weeks, or so) experiences significant weathering effects, but most LNG processed by FSRU (and most FSU) has a residence time of less than 30 days or so, in which case weathering has only minor operational impacts. Weathering rates and LNG compositional changes on FSRU for different LNG grades are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1920s, seaborne cargo liability regimes have introduced a small number of mandatory rules into international carriage of goods by sea, through the Hague–Visby Rules, to restrict freedom of contract. These rules worked within a limited scope to offset imperfect competition in the shipping markets. However, the recent Hamburg and Rotterdam Rules attempted to extend this scope of seaborne cargo liability regime, which seems to be more extensive than is desirable. This article compares and examines the shipping sub-sectors’ environment and maritime economics over the past century up to date. The new business patterns of the shipping sub-sectors, the rising influence of developing countries, and the containerisation are creating new shipping environments for this area of law. Compared with previous decades, imperfect competition is only found in a smaller number of areas within the shipping markets nowadays. This article argues that only a limited scope of application is needed for international seaborne cargo liability regime. Thus, these new economic and political realities call for innovative modifications to the recent rules regarding the scope of application, and future regime should refocus international uniformity on a limited scope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model scale experiment at a new basin reproduced a phenomenon occurring for a fast ferry; large roll motion and subsequent cargo shift in a quartering sea. Wave generators surrounding the whole periphery of the basin realized a designated directional sea. A carriage system tracked a free-running model ship and a movable weight simulated the cargo shift. Measuring the directional wave field in the basin confirmed the all-around wave generator successfully reproduced the intended wave field that was estimated for the location and the time of the incident. The encounter wave spectrum analyzed using measured data agree well with the theoretically predicted one. The reproduced ship motion, triggered by a small concentrating wave, tells how the ship responded in the successive large quartering waves and the validity of the procedure to reproduce the incident. Repeated measurements of the model ship's extreme motion confirm a high repeatability of the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the safe carriage by sea of the IMSBC Code group «A» Solid Bulk Cargoes that are likely to liquefy under certain circumstances. One of such cargoes is the nickel ore. In two years' recent period it has proved to be tragic for four ships and their crews which were lost while enroute from Indonesia or Philippines to China ladden with the cargo of nickel ore intended for Chinese steel industry. The most probable reason for the loss of ships is the loss of the acquired stability and sinking due to the shift of the liquefied nickel ore in a bad weather encountered in Luzon-Taiwan range area. The lost ships were: -25 December 2011 Vinalines Queen - 3 December 2010 Hong Wei -18 November 2010 Nasco Diamond -27 October 2010 Jiang Fu Star All the above mentioned ships were «handy size» class bulk carriers of 50 000 - 60 000 dwt, figure 1. The purpose of this topic is to remind masters of ships and others involved in shipment of group A solid bulk cargoes how to assess magnitude of the risks posed by a proposed loading condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper describes functionality of navigation systems interfaces in the newly developed shiphandling simulator for the inland navigation (called InSim) at Maritime University of Szczecin. It is based on analysis of radar interface and conning touch screen that has been designed for the simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses various amendments made by the constitutional court in Italy regarding maritime law. It highlights directives and rules under the Italian Navigation Code which defines the liabilities of the ship owners regarding damage to the cargos during voyages. Also investigated are differences in the Italian national law and Hague-Visby Rules which are set of international rules for the international carriage of goods by sea.

The sizes of container vessels has grown roughly in the last decade. Nowadays a 14 000 TEUs container ship is a reality. There are some orders in Korean shipyards for new bigger ones and they might be deployed in 2011. There are designs of ships over 18 000 TEUs, which are waiting for orders. In Cuba, we have severe limitations in the entrance channel of Havana harbour for operating vessels over 2 500 TEUs. ¿Do these ships are large enough for Cuban needs? This work analyses the transportation of containers worldwide and its implications for our country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We numerically studied the full (six degrees of freedom) motion of a cargo ship without roll stabilizers in rough (sea state 5) conditions for multiple heading angles ranging from 0° (follower seas) to 180° (head seas). We found that the ship exhibits excessive roll motion in quartering (45° off the stern), beam, and head seas. Therefore, roll damping is critical in these conditions. We then investigated the performance of passive and active anti-roll tank (ART) systems and compared their performance in each of the three sea conditions. Each ART consists of three identical tanks, distributed along the centerline of the ship, each of which consists of two vertical ducts connected at the bottom with a horizontal duct. A pump is located at the middle of the horizontal duct of each tank. The pumps are switched on for active ARTs but switched off for passive ones. The loads (forces and moments) exerted on the ship by the ARTs are added to the hydrodynamic loads (e.g., due to pressure and viscous effects) and the thrust in the governing equations of motion of the ship. Whereas both passive and active ARTs are able to reduce the excessive roll motion, active ARTs outperform the passive ones from three perspectives. First, they are more effective in reducing the roll motion. Second, they require much less working liquid. Third, their performance is insensitive to their natural frequencies and, hence, to their geometric design. In addition, we found that head seas are most responsive to ARTs, which suggests that they are effective in mitigating parametric roll. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract  A genetic algorithm for the hub-and-spoke problem (GAHP) is proposed in this work. The GAHP configures a hub-and-spoke network with shuttle services for containerized cargo transport. For a fixed number of hubs, it determines the best network configuration of hub locations and spoke allocations that minimizes the total costs of the system. The GAHP has a simple individual structure with integer number representation, where spokes, their allocations, and hub locations are easily recognized. Due to the characteristics of the problem, which has fixed number of hubs, rearrangements should be performed after every process. The GAHP rearrangement process includes improvements of individual structures, resulting in an improved population. Before applying the GAHP to the container transport network problem, the algorithm is validated using the Civil Aeronautics Board data set, which is extensively used in the literature to benchmark heuristics of hub location problems. To illustrate an example of a hub-and-spoke network with shuttle services, a study case with 18 ports is analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the U.S. Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 which remains an integral part of maritime security. Accordingly, the said act brought together various initiatives that are already in practice, and some other seemingly unrelated legislation. The three initiatives, namely, the Container Security Initiative, Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, and the scanning amendment to the SAFE Ports Act, are discussed in this article.

Global economic development in recent decades has been characterised by a rapidly progressing intensification in world trade and the international division of labour. As a result of the expansive development of international merchandise trade, cargo shipping has been one of the fastest growing economic sectors. The progressive global integration processes, the future reduction in trade barriers and the expected increase in prosperity in numerous regions of the world will also call for a marked expansion in world trade and cargo shipping. This designates maritime logistics as an economic sector with favourable perspectives for development. What growth rates can be expected for EU maritime trade? And what impact will these have on Europe’s ports? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose application of the method of simulation technique for investigation of interaction of railway, automobile, sea and river types of transport for transportation and reloading of cargo by a port. Scenario of simulation, identification of automatons of a system model, as well as one of the fundamental formulae of the model algorithm are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]