He said it might be held consecutively with the world junior boat race, the Formula Future, which Malaysia had bid to host next year.

Malaysia first held the F1 Powerboat Championship in 2001 in Tanjung Puteri, Johor followed by at The Mines Resort in Seri Kembangan near here in 2002 and 2003 and the last one at Putrajaya Lake Club in Precinct 8 Putrajaya in 2004.

H2O was informed by F1 Powerboat Championship promoter Idea Marketing S.A of Italy that it had won the bid to host the race last month, Yahya told Bernama.

He said H2O had also been given the nod to hold both races at the Maritime Centre in Precinct 6, Putrajaya by Putrajaya Corporation president Tan Sri Samsudin Osman.

“The Maritime Centre in Precinct 6 is more suitable than other precincts in Putrajaya as the lake is bigger,” he said. On Malaysia’s bid to hold the Formula Future in Putrajaya, he said the result would be known in December.

On the interest shown by Melaka and Terengganu to host F1 Powerboat Championship, he said if they were serious about it, the race could be held there alternately with Precinct 6 Putrajaya.

Although Malaysia had never played host to the Formula Future, national contenders won the championship four times — in 2004 (Lisbon, Portugal), 2005 (Lisbon), 2007 (Leer, Germany) and 2008 (Ravenna, Italy). Malaysia did not defend their titles at the Pushkin Formula Future in St Petersburg, Russia from Aug 17 to 19 due to the H1N1 scare (source: themalaysianinsider.com)

Middle East Workboats conference to reflect on good and bad of global financial crisis; crewing and piracy also seen as principal concerns

A major growth area for the Middle East maritime industry – workboats, with an estimated 2000 vessels docked or repaired in the region – is facing unprecedented challenges, says a leading expert.

“We are operating in challenging times,” said Captain James MacHardy, the former CEO of the Society of International Gas Tanker & Terminal Operators, who will be chairing the region’s premier event focused on workboats to be held in Abu Dhabi later this year. “Never has the shipping industry, in all its sectors, had so many factors working for it or against it,” he added.

The 2009 Middle East Workboats exhibition and conference takes place from 5-7 October at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister for Public Works and Chairman of the National Transport Authority. Workboats include tugs, ferries, supply vessels; police, fire, patrol, pilot, rescue and oil spill boats; along with, dredgers, barges and floating cranes, among others.

“The boom and burst cycles we live through are exciting and for many provide the spice in shipping,” said MacHardy who, on retiring after nearly 40 years with BP Shipping, MacHardy became CEO of the society, a London-based trade organisation linking shipping companies and terminal operators in the liquefied gas industry. His main interest now is the promotion of the marine industry as a career for young people and the continuance of the safety record of the industry.

“For Middle East Workboats we have tried to bring together the principal areas of challenge and concern in our industry and at the same time reflect on all aspects, both the good and the bad, in the present financial climate,” he added.

Several areas of concern affecting the industry will be addressed and two principal ones are personnel and piracy. “There is a serious lack of competent seafarers throughout the shipping industry and probably more so in the small vessel sector,” said MacHardy.

According to Seatrade, organisers of Middle East Workboats, the source of skilled manpower is diminishing even as the provision of quality training increases. In addition, the immigration regulations of a number of regional countries, including the UAE, are posing major challenges for workboat operators.

“The issue of piracy is serious, expensive and dangerous but little talked about outside the marine industry,” MacHardy added. The Gulf of Aden and the Somali coast is currently the piracy hotspot. There are around 34 naval vessels from 16 countries operating off the Somali coast to deter piracy but pirates continue to hold 10 boats and 190 seamen for ransom

“The loss of life, loss of cargo and loss of vessels goes on daily on a worldwide basis but industry organisations and the world navies seem powerless,” said MacHardy.

Middle East Workboats will also feature speakers on marine products, vessel design, construction and operations.

Principal sponsors for 2009 are DNV, ESNAAD, Irshad. Other sponsors are ABS, DVB, Khalid Faraj Shipping, Lamnalco, Svitzer, Topaz Energy & Marine, Wartsila and ZMI. Supporting organisations are the International Marine Contractors Association and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. For more details about Middle East Workboats 2009, visit: www.middleeastworkboats.com

-ends-

Photo caption:

“Never has the shipping industry, in all its sectors had so many factors working for or against it,” says Captain James MacHardy, former CEO of the Society of International Gas Tanker & Terminal Operators and chairman of Middle East Workboats.

About Seatrade

Seatrade is among the shipping world’s most respected brands, specialising in publications, events, management training, awards schemes and websites covering all aspects of maritime activity. In 2004 Seatrade Middle East opened in Dubai emphasising the company’s commitment to the region. Seatrade is also involved in the organisation of the Seatrade Academy management training courses for shipping professionals, in association with the Cambridge Academy of Transport. For more information about Seatrade’s evolving portfolio of publications and events, visit www.seatrade-global.com

Media contact

Nathalie Visele

Shamal Marketing Communications

Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates

Tel: +971 4 365 2711

Cell: +971 50 457 6525

Email: Nathalie@smc-pr.com

Middle East Money & Ships to examine financial challenges and investment opportunities in regional shipping industry

The financial challenge faced by the regional shipping industry in the global economic slowdown is to be examined at Middle East Money & Ships, the region’s premier networking event for senior executives from the maritime and finance sectors.

The conference from 7-8 October 2009 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, Dubai, UAE, will assess the regional appetite for investment in shipping, the likely pattern for recovery, where the money will come from as well as providing a realistic assessment of the current order book.

A special session on financing the industry will be chaired by Marcus Machin, Director of Tufton Oceanic (Middle East), a fund management firm for the maritime and energy related sectors with offices in London, Isle of Man, Dubai, Cyprus, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“For a capital intensive industry such as shipping, developments in the international capital markets have direct and immediate relevance as has been demonstrated through the extreme volatility of recent market cycles across all sectors of the shipping market,” he said.

“Forums such as Middle East Money and Ships provide a valuable opportunity for the exchange of information and ideas amongst all market participants in relation to the biggest continued challenge of the shipping industry – that of attracting institutional investment capital.

“For investors shipping has always provided cyclical investment opportunities which – though not for the faint hearted – have on occasion provided exceptional returns. As a barometer of the international economy, marine sector assets have been more widely accepted as an asset class in recent years than ever before.

“Arising from the rapidly changing dynamics of the shipping market, for institutions based in the Middle East, which traditionally have not had wide exposure to international shipping, there is a strong argument to invest in the liquid, US dollar based, and international shipping sector.”

Richard Coxall, Chief Financial Officer of Abu Dhabi owned Emirates Ship Investment Company which operates a fleet of bulk carriers and product tankers, sees the need for more transparency and higher levels of equity as crucial issues for the regional industry.  “The how much, where from and what costs questions in the context of capital for finance need to be answered,” said Coxall, who will also be speaking in the debate.

“The regional maritime industry has witnessed great changes and never more so than in today’s financial climate,” said Christopher Hayman, Chairman of Seatrade, the conference organisers. “All market conditions provide opportunities for those who really want to find them and we will explore the potential for growth and development of the sector.”

The 2009 Seatrade Middle East & Indian Subcontinent annual regional awards, recognising maritime safety and environment, ship and port operations and security, plus port and shipping business efficiency, will follow this year’s Money & Ships conference. The award’s Gala Presentation Dinner will be staged at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, on the night of Thursday 8 October 2009. This high level event is expected to be attended by around 800 senior executives from the region’s maritime industry.

For more details about the conference, please visit: www.moneyandships.com

For more about the Seatrade Middle East & Indian Subcontinent Awards, visit www.seatrade-middleeast.com/awards

-ends-

Machin picture caption:

“As a barometer of the international economy, marine sector assets have been more widely accepted…in recent years than ever before,” says by Marcus Machin, Director of Tufton Oceanic (Middle East), who will be chairing a debate on finance at the Middle East Money & Ships conference in October.

General picture caption:

The financial challenge faced by the regional shipping industry is to be examined at Middle East Money & Ships, the region’s premier networking event for senior executives from the maritime and finance sectors.

About Seatrade

Seatrade is among the shipping world’s most respected brands, specialising in publications, events, management training, awards schemes and websites covering all aspects of maritime activity. In 2004 Seatrade Middle East opened in Dubai emphasising the company’s commitment to the region. Seatrade is also involved in the organisation of the Seatrade Academy management training courses for shipping professionals, in association with the Cambridge Academy of Transport. For more information about Seatrade’s evolving portfolio of publications and events, visit www.seatrade-global.com

Media contact

Chris Mullinger
Shamal Marketing Communications
Dubai Media City, United Arab Emirates
Tel.: +9714 365 2711
Cell: +9715 0658 5843
E-mail: chris@smc-pr.com

MaritimeJobSearch.com | Shipping, Transportation, and Engineering Jobs

Loland is also collaborating with the Maritime Events Limited and the Regional Maritime University in Accra, Ghana to organise the second African manning and training conference in Ghana next month.

According to the master mariner and consultant, the moment African countries begin to act consciously against corruption in their educational system to correct the negative impression that Africans are going about with fake certificate, the continent will become an alternative source of maritime labour in the world.

Speaking with The Guardian on the forth coming conference in Ghana, Loland said there are negative impressions about African countries in foreign countries, adding that the negative impressions have hitherto made it impossible to recognise the maritime workers even those who acquired their certificate genuinely.

“African countries lack qualifying educational institution and this coupled with the impression about Africa by other countries. There are pirates in Somalia, there is militancy in Nigeria, and you can not see negative things about other countries. There is this impression about low educational standard, there is no international shipping company in Africa, the existing ones are into coastal operations”

Fielding questions on the need to employ the available and qualified seafarers in Africa by foreign ship owners, Loland said those who have genuine qualification would need to defend their certificate and to tell the world that they have been trained to international standard

“If you are qualified and can prove it, you will get a job. There should be no fear about employment. One way to prove it is showing papers and the other is to express ability. All these should be accepted internationally”, he said

The Norwegian maritime consultant, who took a clean swipe at the African maritime sector, lamented that the continent has a viable coast line only very few of the citizens are in the international maritime labour market

He said the continent of Africa has a long way to go in the attempts to meet up with advanced maritime nations, adding that within the continent seafarers are still being looked upon as inexperience and with low level of education

“When I talk to ship owners here they said Nigerians lack experience, they said the country lacks educated seamen. Many Nigerians go to Ghana for training because the Nigerian certificates are not recognised by other countries. Africa has a long coast line but only few Africans are in the international seafarers market. Why are there few Africans on board ships? What can we do to change this? How can we create jobs? We can improve Africa as an area where you can take seamen from”.

Continuing, he said: What I am seeing personally is a long, long way to go for Africa,” adding that countries in the continent would need to begin to organise properly, put in place a system to avoid fraud and corruption which are in all countries but more in magnitude in Africa, they will need to come up with proper documentation. They will need to eradicate a situation “when if you go to school and you can say I have so much money, can you give a certificate,” Africa doesn’t have a specialised maritime institution, I mean the institution that can go into the specifics in maritime”

Commenting on the Ghana conference, he said it was on training and manning, adding that those things that would make Africa an alternative source of manning and crewing would be looked into with the view of finding out the problem area for correction so that the country could become a viable place to source maritime labour in the world.

“The conference in Ghana is about maritime training and manning, to make Africa a new continent for seafarers and maritime crewing source

The foreign master mariner, who said he has been involved in the training of the youths from the Niger Delta, as seafarer lamented the continue domination of the seafaring business in Africa by the Indians and the Philippines

“Today most crew comes from Asia and former east block countries. Only very few from Africa. What we will like to achieve with conference is to make Africa a new continent for the supply of crew vessels, we want to find out the requirement to become a sailor, what are the shipping companies are looking for? Why Africans are not being taken as sailors by ship owners? Is there anything wrong with educational system or is there anything wrong with the impression about Africa? When we asked these questions, then we have to find answers as to the reasons why Africana are not involved. The Philippines are dominating. The other countries are India, China”

The second maritime manning and training conference in Ghana is expected to be chaired by former Executive Director of O. T African Lines, Mr. Asoma Banda. According to the organisers, the event billed to begin on March 10, is targeted at ship owners from the continent.

This is the first private initiative aimed at generating interest in the maritime issues especially maritime labour matters. The first of the conference took place in Abuja about four years ago and was attended then by the Secretary General of the International Organisation. It was organised by the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the defunct National Maritime Authority, now National Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (source: www.ngrguardiannews.com).

International Niche Job Board Invites Employers and Recruiters To Post Jobs For FREE!!!

Chicago, Illinois, January 31, 2009 – MaritimeJobSearch.com, an international niche job board for the Shipping, Transportation, and Engineering industry, is celebrating its one year anniversary and is providing free job postings. The site www.MaritimeJobSearch.com has been up and running for one year and has positioned itself as a global niche job board for maritime, offshore, and port jobs to be reckoned with.

“MaritimeJobSearch.com started as a hobby project and has grown to an international job board with a quality resume database of nearly 4,000 job seekers in the last year”, indicated Dirk Meuzelaar, Interactive Project Manager at Maritime Job Search. The website www.MaritimeJobSearch.com is receiving much praise for its design and high level of usability “I have to say it is very easy to use and thank you for loading our logo into the Halcyon profile. I am very impressed”, says Heidi Heseltine of Halcyon Recruitment. “I found the usability of the site very good. It is pretty user friendly”, says Charlotte Bollu of KeyPower Consultants.

For additional information about MaritimeJobSearch.com or to start your free job posting trial until 3/31/2009, contact Dirk Meuzelaar.

“Excellent! I found your site very easy to use to post our job. Thanks for offering this opportunity to companies such as ours”, Carolyn Macina of Young Brothers, Ltd.

About MaritimeJobSearch.com

MaritimeJobSearch.com is an international niche job board for the Shipping, Transportation, and Engineering industry. There is the ability to add video and keywords to your company profile and job postings for search engine optimization. In addition, employers and recruiters may gain access and receive daily resume alerts from the resume database with almost 4,000 job seekers.

Information about your apprenticeships/internships can be added to your company profile for FREE. To increase your exposure, all your job postings with MaritimeJobSearch.com are distributed to all major job boards around the world like BaseGoogle.com, Indeed.com, SimplyHired.com, CareerJet.com, JobRapido.com, Recruit.net, etc.

All services for job seekers are FREE. This includes searching and responding to jobs, uploading video and resumes, and receiving daily job alerts.

Overall, MaritimeJobSearch.com is an effective, usable, and well designed site that will fulfill all your needs.

Contact Information

Dirk Meuzelaar | Interactive Project Manager
MaritimeJobSearch.com
200 S. Wacker Drive – 15th Floor
Phone: 312.924.1020
Fax: 413.513.5697
Email: dirk@maritimejobsearch.com

www.MaritimeJobSearch.com | Shipping, Transportation, and Engineering Jobs

Despite daily news of redundancy, the marine industry is booming and can’t recruit fast enough. To tackle the problem one North East College is launching a campaign to promote careers at sea.

South Tyneside College has produced a television advert, which highlights the benefits of working at sea from the excellent pay and conditions to the adventurous lifestyle.As well as a television campaign, the College will be using press and web-based advertising, direct mail, posters and flyers to get the message out to young people about choosing a marine career.

Anyone interested is being encouraged to come along to a marine open day at South Tyneside College to find out more. The event takes place on Saturday 7th February between 10am and 3.00pm at South Tyneside College’s Westoe campus.

Potential students will hear about the benefits of a career at sea from those working in the industry, and will also be able to test out their sea legs on the College’s marine simulation unit.

Head of the Marine College at South Tyneside, Gary Hindmarch, said:  “With potential earnings of up to £40k tax free and a chance to see the world, a marine career offers fantastic opportunities.

“We want to ensure that as many youngsters as possible are aware of the benefits and consider this as a viable career option.

“At the moment, skills shortages at sea mean that enthusiastic youngsters wanting a marine career are virtually guaranteed a job, so it’s a great time to sign up.

“And what better way to see if it’s the career for you than by having a go at piloting a ship yourself and talking to those already in the job at our open day.

“Hopefully this campaign will help to boost the number of new recruits entering the industry and go some small way to tackling the current skills shortage.” (source: www.stc.ac.uk).

Capt. Wei follows a long succession of influential maritime industry leaders as Commodore. The Award will be presented to Capt. Wei on March 25, 2009 at the Gala Dinner marking the conclusion of the annual Connecticut Maritime Association conference and trade exposition.

The Award is given each year to a person in the international maritime industry who has contributed to the growth and development of the industry.

Capt. Wei Jiafu, president and CEO of COSCO Group assumed his position in November 1998. Prior to that, he had been the senior executive in many subsidiaries of COSCO both at home and abroad. He had supervised COSCO’s asset operations and management. During his tenure as the president of COSCO (Singapore) Ltd., he had managed to turn it into a public listed company in 1993, marking COSCO’s first entrance into the international capital markets.

With over ten years of seafaring experience and as a well-experienced captain, Capt. Wei has a rich knowledge in international shipping management and operation. He is a senior engineer with a Doctorate in Ship and Ocean Structural Design and Manufacture and a Master’s Degree in Shipping.

Beth Wilson-Jordan, president of the CMA, upon making the announcement stated, “Today, as the world deals with unprecedented economic and trade challenges, the CMA is delighted to have as our Commodore someone actively involved in the growth and development of world trade. With the Board’s choice this year of Capt. Wei we continue the tradition of recognizing excellence. It will be an honor to have the leader of one of the world’s largest shipping companies accept the CMA Award”.

Former CMA Commodores include: Ole Skaarup, Jacob Stolt-Nielsen, George Livanos, Phil Loree, Thomas Moran, Gregory Hadjieleftheriadis, Helmut Sohmen, Gerhard Kurz, William O’Neil, Richard du Moulin, Per Heidenreich, Mark Saverys, Frank Tsao, Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Peter Georgiopoulos, C. Sean Day, Torben Jensen, Morten Arntzen and John Fredriksen.

The 2009 Commodore Award will be presented to Capt. Wei at the March 25 Dinner at the Hilton Hotel in Stamford, Connecticut.

For the first time in its 35-year history, the event has included an Asian stop on its itinerary. The traditional second leg from Cape Town to Australia or New Zealand — a journey of howling storms, fierce seas, biting cold and icebergs — has been replaced by the unknown dangers awaiting the boats on a 4,450-mile journey to the Indian port of Cochin that begins on Saturday.

“I’ve never entered a leg of a race so confused about how the outcome might turn out,” Ken Read, the American skipper of second-placed PUMA, said on Friday.

“There are so many obstacles out there, not just above the water but under the water, that we have to worry about. It’s going to be the luck of the draw. It’s a bit unnerving, but we just have to learn how to put the pedal down and hope like crazy there’s nothing in the way.”

PUMA is one point behind Ericsson 4 in the quest for one of sailing’s most prestigious prizes. The race started in Alicante, Spain, and ends in St. Petersburg, Russia, in June 2009 after 10 legs and six in-port regattas.

After a stopover of nearly two weeks, the yachts will leave Cape Town and head south in the hope of picking up strong westerly winds and avoiding the Cape Aghulas current that is notorious for the treacherous waves it spawns on the shallow shelf close to South Africa.

The yachts have to pass through a wide “scoring gate” between Antarctica and the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius along the meridian of 58 degrees east before picking up the trade winds and heading north to India, where they are due to arrive in early December.

Race organizers set this course in a bid to keep the yachts from the pirate-infested waters off Somalia. The skippers, however, have been warned to take extra precautions and had to attend a briefing on piracy during their stay in Cape Town.

“We are not going to be paranoid about sailing this route,” said Fernando Echavarri, the skipper of Telefonica Black. “But now we are aware of what might happen and what to do if it does.”

One of the biggest risks is the density of commercial and fishing traffic. Read said he was particularly worried about his high-tech, high-speed vessel hitting a small, unlit wooden fishing vessel.

“Whoever makes it through unscathed without many problems under water or above water could have a really good leg,” he said.

Several of the boats suffered storm damage on the first leg, and the crew of Ericsson 3 was busy replacing a keel on Friday, less than 24 hours before the race restarted.

Third-placed Green Dragon, staffed by a mainly Irish team with Chinese sponsorship, hit an unknown object on the way from Spain, and had sail problems during a test run on Thursday. British skipper Ian Walker said spare parts were on their way and predicted his vessel would be in good shape for the departure.

The winner of the first leg has often gone on to claim overall victory, but Ericsson 4 skipper Torben Grael said there was no room for complacency.

“There will be plenty of risks,” said Grael, a Brazilian of Danish descent. “It’s going to be a very tough race and whoever wins it will have to earn it.” (source: cnn.com)

The centre will serve Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d’Ivoire.

Eight years ago, at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Conference on Search and Rescue and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System held in Florence, Italy, Liberia was selected to host the Regional Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) for the five countries.

A multilateral agreement for the center was signed in 2007 by and between the governments of the five countries.

The demonstration, which took place in Brussels on 14 October, aimed to lobby European decision-makers for an increase in employment for European seafarers and a set of standard conditions and against the replacement of crew with cheap labour. The seafarers’ demonstration was part of a long-term campaign by the ITF’s European arm, the ETF, and its affiliated unions for a fundamental review of the employment conditions of those working in the European Union (EU) maritime sector.

An ETF charter for European seafarers was presented to the Commission Vice-President responsible for transport, Antonio Tajani, on the day of the demonstration. The charter’s demands include: more employment opportunities; no social dumping; equal rights; greater regulation of the maritime sector and the right to safe working conditions and social security and state pension entitlements.

Philippe Alfonso, ETF Maritime Political Secretary commented: “The ETF has shown European Commission and Brussels policy-makers that seafarers’ unions across Europe are determined to promote European jobs at sea. The seafarers, representing 23 trade union organisations from 16 European countries, said that they wanted the European legislator to act now to safeguard European maritime know-how and make the industry a sector of excellence, where skilled and well-trained EU seafarers can enjoy the best possible living and working conditions.

“We also need to give young Europeans a chance to embark on maritime careers and to ensure that no one will be prevented from doing so because of poor working conditions.”

The event is being followed by a public seminar at the European Parliament today, held under the auspices of the Party of European Socialists and in the presence of Commission Vice-President responsible for transport, Antonio Tajani. It will debate the social aspects of EU maritime policy (source: itfglobal.org)

What has to be done according to you to increase the quality and number of jobs at sea?