Topics

1

Shipping News and information / digital-seas.com gives pretty good tracking information

« on: February 22, 2011, 05:51:48 AM »

After a frustrating start when for a number of days I was being told by the site to register and log in, when in fact I was registered and logged in, I can now see the vessel tracking information as given by digital-seas.com and it's more detailed that what I have been seeing at marinetraffic.com.

I can now see the actual port areas that my tracked vessel docked at, e.g. Leonardo rather than just New York, as well as time spent in (presumably) service ports such as Sarroch Oil Terminal.

2

Shipping News and information / Glad my cargo wasn't in this ...

« on: February 21, 2011, 03:39:36 AM »

'Near miss' at wharf as 28-tonne container falls

A container that fell from a crane at Darwin Port

Two workers at the Darwin Port had to run to avoid a shipping container crashing onto East Arm Wharf at the weekend, the Australian Maritime Union says.

The Port Corporation has confirmed the container fell 12 metres onto the wharf on Saturday night when the ship's crane failed.

The container was listed as four tonnes but the Maritime Union says it weighed 28 tonnes and exceeded the crane's load limit.

The union's Thomas Mayor says two workers were lucky to get out of the way.

"It was a near miss," he said.

"One of the guys fell backwards as he tried to get out of the way and the container landed only 10 foot from where he was."

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is investigating.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/02/21/3144379.htm

3

Shipping News and information / MMSI 051847104 aground in mid North Altantic?

« on: February 18, 2011, 03:10:32 PM »

I was just playing around with Siitech Lite, when I spotted this vessel in mid North Atlantic and with navigation status showing as "Aground".

Can this be true?

I can't find a ship name for MMSI 051847104.

4

Shipping News and information / Huge solar flare jams radio, satellite signals: NASA

« on: February 17, 2011, 12:38:24 PM »

A powerful solar eruption that has already disturbed radio communications in China could disrupt electrical power grids and satellites used on Earth in the next days, NASA said.

Geomagnetic storms usually last 24 to 48 hours, "but some may last for many days," read a separate statement from the US National Weather Service (NWS).

"Ground to air, ship to shore, shortwave broadcast and amateur radio are vulnerable to disruption during geomagnetic storms. Navigation systems like GPS can also be adversely affected," it said.

http://www.news-about-space.org/space-exploration-news/cluster8322549/

5

Shipping News and information / Marinetraffic.com has some operational quirks

« on: February 16, 2011, 09:52:17 AM »

I quite like the marinetraffic.com site, but I've noticed some quirks. I don't know if they are bugs or side-effects of radio transmissions.

For example, I am tracking the cargo vessel ITALY EXPRESS. Its current position is steaming up the east coast of North America en route between the ports of New York and Halifax.

According to marintraffic.com, the most recent report of its position has been made by AIS station with ID 276, which according to the site is based in Norway! Station 226 "BARM" reportedly has radio capabilities of:- Max: 9.38 N miles, Average: 1.63 N miles, and coverage of 861 sq km, yet Olso (for instance) is 2700 nautical miles from New York.

Either station 276 is not in Norway, or the VHF AIS signal from ITALY EXPRESS is traveling a l-o-o-n-g way!

6

Shipping News and information / List of AIS Station IDs?

« on: February 14, 2011, 12:37:14 PM »

Can somebody point me to a list of global AIS station IDs? I have Googled around without success.

7

Shipping News and information / OOCL Italy Express

« on: February 12, 2011, 12:15:43 PM »

Hi folks,

I have been advised that a freight export of mine from the USA is traveling to Australia on the "OOCL Italy Express V.050".

However, the OOCL website does not list that vessel, and also I have found various references to it as "OOCL Vancouver" with owner as La Sabanas Shipping Co.

I'm now confused as I'm not sure which vessel is which. I guess there's been a renaming but I haven't been able to find any good details about that.

I'd be grateful if the spotting experts here could help me out.

Also, what does "V.050" imply?

Thanks!