News and press releases
News and press releases
Published: 9. November 2006. Updated: 9. November 2006.
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The Norwegian Ballast Water Management Regulation has entered into force as of 1 July 2010.
In 2011 a New Inspection Regime (NIR) will replace the current Port State Control regime of the Norwegian Maritime Directorate. As of January 1 next year, vessels are required to submit reports using the national reporting system SafeSeaNet.
Change in regulations: Regulation of 1st January 2005 No. 8 concerning the working environment, health and safety of workers on board ships. An overall report on the working and environmental work on board shall be prepared within 31 January for the preceding calendar year.
Life buoys fill up with water and sink when deployed in water. Based on information received from the Swedish Maritime Authorities and recent reports from Norwegian ship-owners, the Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD) hereby issues a safety alert concerning buoyancy issues on life buoys.
The NMD hereby submits its follow-up report to the “Bourbon Dolphin” accident. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD) was on 10 April 2008 requested by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to follow-up the report and recommendations from the Commission of Inquiry into the loss of the “Bourbon Dolphin” on 12 April 2007.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway, H.E. Ms. Angell-Hansen, today deposited the instrument of ratification of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, with the International Labour Organization (ILO) on behalf of her Government. Norway is the first European country to ratify the Convention.
It has come to the knowledge of the Norwegian Martime Directorate that someone is producing counterfeit copies of the Swedish Hammar H20 hydrostatic releases for liferafts. To an untrained eye the copies look almost identical with the original product, with Hammar’s logo and address on the labels, but there is, however, one very important difference: the copies do not work.
Earlier this year, StatoilHydro and Marathon Oil made an initiative towards Aalesund University College in order to start a project aiming at improving skills and competency in anchor handling operations.
Accident statistics for occupational accidents show a disturbingly high share of accidents involving personnel on board fishing vessels. The degree of seriousness vary, but many incidents involve severe injuries resulting in prolonged sick leave, and in some cases also injury of a permanent character.
Norway has ratified the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001. The Bunkers Convention enters into force on 21 November 2008 and applications will be considered from this day’s date.
The offshore service vessel ISLAND WELLSERVER, owned by the Norwegian company Island Offshore and built by Aker Yards ASA, Langsten, was today declared Ship of the Year 2008 by the Norwegian State Secretary Rikke Lind.
For the first time, the Norwegian Maritime Directorate participates with its own stand at the ONS Exhibition in Stavanger. As authoritative body for mobile offshore units and supply vessels etc., the Norwegian Maritime Directorate has a comprehensive set of rules and regulations of importance to the oil industry.
Olav Akselsen was in a meeting of the Council of State on 22.08.08 appointed as Director General of Shipping and Navigation. His appointment is for a term of six years.
On Thursday 24 July, the Phillipines’ Ambassador to Norway, Victoria S. Bataclan, visited the Norwegian Maritime Directorate. Among other things, she was full of praise for the Directorates education project in the Philippines.
From 1 July, almost 150 years of maritime inquires after shipping disasters will be history. Seafarers and shipping companies will no longer have to explain themselves at public hearings.
On 28 March 2008, the Bourbon Dolphin investigating commission presented its report. The Norwegian Maritime Directorate is one of many parties which have been the object of the commission’s investigation. The Directorate views the investigation as an important contribution to shedding light on what went wrong during the anchor handling operation west of the Shetlands on 12 April 2007, and what resulted in the tragic outcome where 8 seamen lost their lives.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Dag Terje Andersen, find it positive that the ship owner Höegh Autoliners today made the decision to move their enterprise back to Norway.
The preliminary report from IMO’s revision group, consisting of representatives from the maritime administrations of Greece, the Netherlands and Great Britain, is now completed. The final report will be presented ultimo March 2008.
On monday of 22nd October, IMO (International Maritime Organization) started its revision of Norway as a flag and port state. The revision began with an extensive review of the superior work - a meeting which took place at the head office of the Norwegian Maritime Directorate in Haugesund.
On October 1st and 2nd, a delegation from the Chinese Administrative Authorities of Fishing Vessels visited Haugesund and the Norwegian Maritime Directorate. The first day, the delegation was given a guided tour of the area, whereas the second day they spent at the Norwegian Maritime Directorate.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Dag Terje Andersen, presented today the Norwegian government’s maritime strategy. The strategy sets out the government’s plan for further development and growth of the Norwegian maritime sector. - Norwegian maritime industry is to be the world`s most environmentally sound.
The Norwegian Maritime Directorate would like to inform that failure to comply with the requirements on sulphur content in bunkers may be liable for penalties.
As a result of the tragic disaster with Bourbon Dolphin and after consultations with the industry as well as shipmasters, the Director General of Shipping and Navigation decided, on 10.05.2007, to introduce immediate measures for planning and safety management on vessels used for anchor handling. This pending the report from the appointed special investigating committee.
Innovative new labour standards designed to improve the conditions for roughly 30 million men and women working in the fishing sector worldwide were adopted today at the 96th annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
MARINA’s administration building in Manila caught on fire last week and it was feared that important information material regarding seafarers’ qualification papers and Seaman’s Book was lost. The consequence of such a loss could have been a delay in the signing on/off process as well as the dispatch of seafarers to Norwegian ships.
At the 14 Feb 07 Annual General Meeting hosted by the Marseille Port Authority, ICSW
members unanimously agreed to open ICSW membership to individual shipping
companies, ship owners, ship managers, P & I Clubs, port authorities, crewing agencies,
and other commercial companies with an interest in the care of seafarers through the
introduction of the ‘Corporate Associate’ membership category.
IMO has announced the adoption of the Nairobi International Convention on Removal of Wrecks, which "establishes uniform international rules and procedures to ensure the prompt and effective removal of hazardous wrecks from coastal waters".
The Norwegian Maritime Directorate is now working on taking immediate measures after the disaster of the tugboat. The measures have been prepared in cooperation with the shipping industry, including several experienced tugboat masters.
The Ministry of Justice and the Police has appointed a special investigating committee after the disaster of Bourbon Dolphin on 12 April 2007. The Commission will investigate whatever they find necessary to get an understanding of the course of events and causal factors in connection with the disaster. The commission will also consider significant circumstances to prevent such a disaster from happening in the future.
The Norwegian Maritime Directorate is receiving a constantly increasing number of inquiries from seafarers regarding lost and expired certificates. The volume is so great that we find it necessary to characterize the development as problematic and alarming, said the Director General of Shipping and Navigation, Rune Teisrud, in the Editorial section of the latest Navigare magazine.
The maritime inquiry after the disaster involving “Bourbon Dolphin” will be held in the court “Søre Sunnmøre tingrett” on Friday 20 April at 09.30. Circuit judge Ingolf Joa will preside over the inquiry.
The Norwegian Maritime Directorate has urged the Ministry of Trade and Industry to appoint a special investigating committee on the tragic “Bourbon Dolphin” disaster.
The publication has been prepared jointly by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It is intended for masters, ship owners, government authorities, insurance companies, and other interested parties involved in rescue at sea situations.
The Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD) hereby informs the industry that Bureau Veritas has withdrawn their approval of the davit SCM type 14-10 3.5 LR.
As of January 2007, the requirements for reporting accidents at sea have changed. All accidents involving personnel shall be reported on the same form as for marine casualties.
From 1. June 2007 Norway introduces a shipping separation lane scheme around its northern coastline for vessels transporting oil and gas or other dangerous cargoes, as the flow of such shipments from Russia to Europe increase.
On Tuesday 14 November, the new headquarters for the Norwegian Maritime Directorate was officially opened by Minister of Trade and Industry, Dag Terje Andersen. The opening was held in a good maritime spirit.
The Government of Norway and the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization have the pleasure to invite representatives of the media to attend the opening of an Intersessional Meeting of the BLG Working Group on Air Pollution which will be held at Oslo Miletaere Samfund, Oslo, Norway, from Monday, 13 November (commencing at 09.30 a.m.) to Friday, 17 November 2006.
Use the radio communication equipment on board correctly! This message comes from rescue coordinators at the Rescue Co-ordination Centre North Norway. Listen to the emergency channels and alert others immediately in the event of a dangerous situation!