Clay Maitland

On a quest for quality in shipping

Welcome Hans on deck!

It gives me great pleasure in welcoming Dr Hans Payer to our merry band of bloggers. As many people know he is a former member of
the Executive Board of Germanischer Lloyd, and CEO of GL Maritime Services and has also served as Chairman of IACS. He brings a wealth of knowledge on ship design and stability and I for one look forward to reading his insightful comments. Continue reading

Write no epitaph for greek shipping

To make his fateful appeal for emergency financial support, Greek Prime Minister Papandreou chose – unintentionally – a small island in the Dodecanese that was once the base for a significant Greek trading fleet. Continue reading

Dangers of technology addiction for seafarers

I recently wrote about the tug in Alaska that ran into Bligh Reef, Prince William Sound, while its master played a video game. Continue reading

Deepwater Horizon sinking

The massive explosion that engulfed and sank the Drill Rig DEEPWATER HORIZON will have an even more massive political impact. Continue reading

Does Marpol Annex VI cover a Volcano?

claytoonjpgIn his previous post Michael praised the shipping industry in the wake of the grounding of all aviation in Northern Europe, but I have also noticed that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, give or take an umlaut here and there, is spewing all manner of harmful particulate matter, NOX and SOX, CO2 emissions and so forth, probably affecting the world climate for some time to come. Continue reading

Greek shipping will face further scrutiny

Our agents in the Greek shipping community have, as our readers know, been warning us that the alleged bail-out package hatched last weekend wouldn’t work. Sure enough, by early Thursday, the rout had resumed: the yields on 10-year Greek sovereign bonds had risen to a near record 7.4 per cent. Continue reading

We must stop this MADD-ness before its too late

Several weeks ago, a tug towing a barge in Prince William Sound, Alaska ran into Bligh Reef. This is the same reef that collided with the Exxon Valdez twenty years ago. The consequences were famous. Continue reading

Greek shipping and the financial crisis

What do Greek shipowners make of their country’s current fiscal crisis, and how will it affect their willingness to invest? As we scratch our heads about what might happen to all that Chinese-built tonnage, whether or not we buy the story that lots of it has been or will be “cancelled” for- ever, a study of Greek shipping’s history may be instructive. Continue reading

What impact will speculative orders have on ship safety?

As I wing my way to Anchorage, I am inspired to write another brief comment. It’s about the future of vessel quality, safety and the great outpouring of new ships, from, in large part, Asian yards. Continue reading

The sad story of the oily water separator

Everyone seems to have noticed, as Lloyd’s List’s leader of March 26 puts it, that “the unfairness to seafarers in the magic pipe cases in the US has been brought to light again”. Very true. Continue reading