Clay Maitland

On a quest for quality in shipping

Namepa’s National Maritime Day panel – Part I

As part of Namepa’s National Maritime Day celebrations I recently hosted a panel that covered a host of regulatory requirements from whistle blowing, to the Maritime Labor Convention, to harbor of safe refuge and seafarer welfare. Continue reading

How technology expands awareness

I visited the headquarters of MAIB yesterday, the United Kingdom government’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch, located in Southampton.

The MAIB people are using advanced systems for recovery and analysis of a growing menu of electronic “black box” data, much of it carried aboard modern commercial and passenger ships.

The growing use of diverse electronic monitoring systems, ashore and afloat, is expanding “maritime domain awareness” to track the actions of people, processes and things.

Regulators can access a growing array of sophisticated on-board monitoring technology to tell us what actually happened (read: accidents).

Moreover, we are now acquiring the means to monitor what’s happening on board and under way, right now, in real time.

No more “magic pipes”?

It means that the investigation of casualties… Continue reading

The Titanic and Evacuation, Survival and Rescue

The TITANIC, as fitted out, proved deficient in at least one important item: lifeboats. Continue reading

The design lessons learned from the Titanic

A great deal has been learned about the fate of the TITANIC since the location of its wreck by an expedition led by Dr. Robert D. Ballard, then of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Jean-Louis Michel of IFREMER in early September, 1985. Continue reading

Titanic: 100 years of lessons learned

I had the pleasure this week of addressing the audience at the World Maritime Day Observance event in Banff, Alberta on the subject of the Titanic and the Artic and in particular the lessons learnt from the disaster and would like to share my thoughts in a series of related blog posts. Continue reading

Lessons learned again?

April is said to be the cruelest month. It is memorable for disasters, from the Titanic to Texas City, Deepwater Horizon and so on. Continue reading

Cruise disaster could have larger lessons

I noticed an article from Melissa Bert, a USCG captain, that asks some interesting questions about Costa Concordia, current safety regs and training procedures. Continue reading

Balancing size and safety.

AS WE approach the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this coming April, passengership safety remains an important issue. Continue reading

Does industry lack integrity when it comes to dangerous cargo safety?

Shipping industry conspicuously silent about Vinalines Queen death toll Continue reading

Another hazardous cargo, another sinking

On Christmas day, the bulk carrier Vinalines Queen, carrying a cargo of nickel ore from Morowali, Indonesia, to China, went missing. The ship and its crew of 22 must now be considered lost. Continue reading

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