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WEEK 1 & 2 (1 - 12 August 2006)
Charging mechanism for users
of Straits of Melaka proposed
Kuala Lumpur - A charging mechanism, if necessary, should be implemented for users of the Straits of Melaka while the mentality of getting free premium service at the expense of taxpayers' money should be stopped, a maritime conference was told Tuesday. "Straits users must start paying their dues," Datuk Kept Jaffar Lamri and Kept Mohamed Halim Saidi of Institut Lautan Malaysia (IKMAL) said in their paper on navigational safety in the straits presented at the two-day Fifth MIMA (Maritime Institute of Malaysia) Conference on the Straits of Melaka here. They said the management and operations of the straits was costing the littoral states of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia substantial amounts of money. This was especially so when users of the straits and other interested parties were demanding premium services in safety and security. Jaffar and Halim said the International maritime Organisation (IMO) should also assist the littoral states in getting contributions for the management and operations of the straits as the main concern now was to beef up security and eradicate piracy and armed robberies. Between 1990 and 2000, Malaysia on its own, had spent more than US$50 million (RM183 million) on upgrading navigation facilities in the straits. Jaffar and Halim also said the Vessel Traffic Surveillance (VTS) System in the straits had contributed tremendously in providing navigation advice and information for safer navigation. The implementation of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) required by the Safety of Lives at Sea Convention (SOLAS) had also contributed to the positive identification of vessels to facilitate among vessels in close quarters. Jaffar and Halim came to this conclusion based on data of random surveys and interviews with ship masters by port pilots from the Sungai Udang Port in Melaka. The ship masters also felt that high enforcement activities carried out by the littoral states of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia had provided them with comfortable assurance on safety against piracy and armed robberies in the straits. The mariners also found the VTS System, which monitored all vessels passing through the straits, had also provided them with great comfort since their safety was being monitored and that any assistance, if required, could be directly communicated to the VTS centres. Jaffar and Halim said while many of the ship masters considered piracy to be the highest risk in the straits, the other major concern was heavy traffic. They said traffic density was the second highest risk when vessels entered or left the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), a measure where imaginary shipping lanes were provided in the navigational charts to guide vessels proceeding along appropriate traffic lanes. "The overtaking and crossing situation at the point of alteration and precautionary areas also contributed to the navigational risks," they said, adding that the areas off Port Klang, Port Dickson, Sungai Udang Port and the Singapore Straits were well-known for these risks. They said traffic density risks usually occurred along the narrow and shallow waters in the straits amidst increasing numbers of vessels using the straits and the high level of fishing activity. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Combined navy, air force high-tech exercise
Kuala Lumpur - The Malaysian navy and air force Friday launched a combined exercise codenamed "Exercise Angsa 1/2006" in the country's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) that will see high-tech manoeuvres until Aug 25. Chief of Navy Admiral Tan Sri Ilyas Din said the exercise was aimed at fortifying the nation's maritime capability by the navy and the air force joining forces. Ilyas said a strengthened maritime defence force was a bastion for a littoral country like Malaysia. "Having a maritime defence force integrating sea power and air power is no longer a choice but a requirement for the nation's defence," he said after launching the exercise at the Defence Ministry here via video conferencing with the navy and air force personnel at the naval base in Lumut. Also present was Deputy Chief of Air Force Lt Jen Datuk Azizan Arifin. Ilyas said the combined exercise, which was planned two years ago, would be used as a yardstick to gauge and analyse the effectiveness of the C4 (Command, Control, Communication and Computer) system. About 1,500 naval personnel and 1,000 airmen are taking part in the exercise. The exercise, which covers the Melaka Straits, South China Sea, and Sabah and Sarawak waters, will see the use of 20 naval vessels and 25 jetfighters.The exercise puts to test the network centric warfare with the use of "P4 ATM", a video and communication tool, said Ilyas.It involves the naval and air forces formations and units in Lumut, Kuantan, Miri, Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu and Labuan. Exercise Angsa entails a conflict to wrest control of Labuan island by challenging the operational capability of the vessels and jetfighters in simulation in armed conflict and period-of-tension situations. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Cops storm Pulau Gaya, clash leaves one dead, four injured by Muguntan Vanar and Ruben Sario
Kota Kinabalu - Police mounted a massive mop-up operation for drug suspects on Pulau Gaya – a stilt-house settlement of fishermen and low-income earners off the city’s coast – following a clash that left three marine policemen critically injured. A suspected drug pusher in his 30s was shot dead while another man, also in his 30s, was wounded while fighting off the policemen in the shallow waters of the island in the early morning drama. In an immediate follow-up, teams of battle-ready policemen with M16 rifles rushed on speedboats to the island where the mop-up operation was conducted. The police recovered two parangs and drug packaging paraphernalia. “We are increasing our manpower for a larger scale operation to hunt down accomplices of the drug suspects,” Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Mangsor Ismail told reporters later. He declined to reveal the identities of the injured policemen. The identities of the dead and injured suspects were not immediately available but police believe they were of Suluk origin, an indigenous Filipino group. “As yet, we cannot tell if they are Malaysians or illegal immigrants or those holding IMM13 refugee documents,” said Mangsor. He said the three injured police officers – a chief inspector, a lance corporal and a constable – were in serious but stable condition at Queen Elizabeth Hospital here. The wounded drug suspect is also in serious condition in the hospital. Giving details of the shooting on the island during a 10-minute boat ride there, Mangsor said a police team in civilian clothes landed at a jetty in Kampung Pondo at 10.35am. The village is one of several settlements of wooden houses on stilts in the 1,465ha Pulau Gaya, with a population of at least 8,000. The police team had gone there to look for “two or three” drug suspects in a follow-up operation to a July 25 drug bust in which four people were arrested while packing the synthetic drug syabu. While the cops were walking along a narrow wooden platform in between houses, Mangsor said, two men armed with parangs charged at them. “The two suspects slashed the chief inspector, who was in the front,” he said, adding that this resulted in the other policemen falling into the sea. Mangsor said the suspects jumped into the shallow waters and continued to swing their parangs at the cops. During the struggle in the water between the cops and the suspects, two policemen fired several shots which hit the suspects. Mangsor said one of the police officers radioed the command base for reinforcements and the injured were taken to the hospital. At about 2.30pm, journalists who were stopped from taking a boat from the Kota Kinabalu jetty to Kampung Pondo, saw the body of the dead suspect wrapped in a black plastic bag being taken to the mortuary in a boat. Described as a “black area”, Kampung Pondo was initially a settlement for refugees from the southern Philippines in the 1970s but it slowly became a squatter colony where many criminals found a convenient hideout. Over the years, police have conducted raids to flush out criminals involved in offences ranging from drug dealing to smuggling of cigarettes.The state later relocated a good number of legally documented immigrants to the mainland. So far this year, police have arrested 25 people in 30 drug-related cases, the latest being the arrest of four men for possessing syabu on July 25. © 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.
Felda to sell remaining ships
MALAYSIA'S state-controlled Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) plans to dispose of its three remaining chemical/product tankers, but maintains that it will not exit the shipping business. The three ships are the Sutra Duta, Sutra Empat and Sutra Lima. Felda is the biggest plantation group in the country. Its shipping assets are currently held under Sutrajaya Shipping. "Shipping is still part of our (maritime logistics) requirement, so the company will remain, (but) we plan to sell the existing ships," Felda chairman Dr Mohd Yusof Noor told Malaysian news agency Bernama on the sidelines of a media briefing. At present Sutrajaya owns three vessels after selling two. “We want to sell the vessels as they are small and can only make shorter trips. So, either we will replace them with the same number of vessels or opt for leasing," Mohd Yusof said. Sutrajaya Shipping was formed in 1999 to ensure control over export shipments of Felda's crude palm oil. © Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Limited 1999 - 2006.
Government must have clear policy on private maritime security companies
Kuala Lumpur - It is crucial for Malaysia to come up with a clear policy on the operations of private maritime security companies (PMSCs), especially in the busy Malacca Strait, to safeguard her sovereignty, a maritime expert said here Wednesday. Capt Noor Apandi Osnin, a research fellow at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA), said currently the PMSCs appeared to be taking advantage of the apparent weakness of Malaysia's governance over its territorial waters, claiming that they were licensed to carry out armed escorts in the country's waters when in fact no Malaysian authority or agency had given such approval. "Threats of arrest by the relevant Malaysian authorities are ignored as the PMSCs continue their operations with no detention by the authorities. Therein lies the crux of the problem. "Malaysia has been trumpeting the importance of its sovereignty while at the same time allowing the PMSCs to go unchallenged," he said in a paper presented at the two-day Fifth MIMA Conference on the Strait of Malacca, which ended here Wednesday. "This decision or policy will then need to be broadcast and communicated to users of the strait in order to dispel conflicting views and claims. The appropriate channel is through a formal submission to the International Maritime Organisation," he added. Listing out four options for the country to tackle this problem, he said Malaysia could do nothing, allow and regulate PMSCs in Malaysian waters, ban PMSCs in her waters, or eliminate the source of the problem. "Currently Malaysia appears to be implementing option 1 (which is doing nothing). Although many actions are being taken to ensure safety of the Strait of Malacca, they are insufficient," he added. He said as far as the PMSCs were concerned, their existence was based on business considerations and the current perception, whether real or imagined, that the Strait of Malacca was infested with threats. "Though it is common knowledge that littoral states Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have done a lot to improve the situation, their work is not formally reported or acknowledged at the correct forum, namely the International Maritime Organisation. "This undermines efforts of the littoral states. On this premise, the demand for PMSCs exists but their high fees are hindering their use by the majority of ship owners. If the PMSCs can link with insurance providers and structure their fees attractively, then they (the PMSCs) are here to stay," he added. In 2004, 63,636 ships passed through the Strait of Malacca, a three per cent increase over the 2003 figure of 62,334 ships. Last year, 62,616 vessels passed through the strait while only 12 piracy attacks (representing less than 0.02 per cent of the traffic volume) were reported to the International Maritime Bureau. "Notwithstanding the fact that the Malaysian part of the Strait had been safely maintained, statistics presented at and accepted by the international maritime community at the 81st International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Maritime Safety Committee meeting recently indicated that the Strait of Malacca was among the most affected in terms of piracy and armed robbery in 2005, even though there had been a general downtrend worldwide," said Noor Apandi. He said the issue of PMSCs needed to be urgently and seriously addressed in order to produce a cohesive, efficient and effective action plan which would both address the role of PMSCs and protect the country's integrity and sovereignty. © 2006 BERNAMA.
How diesel is being smuggled
Sandakan - Diesel smugglers are using a new ruse to avoid detection - storing the fuel inside fish tanks modified to hold about 10,000 litres of oil. The ruse came to light when a National Maritime Enforcement Agency personnel intercepted a fishing tugboat in an operation dubbed Phimal (Philippines-Malaysia) off Seguntur, here, Sunday. KM Berani Commanding Officer Lt Cmdr Ahmad Faridi Ferdaus said the tugboat was trying to sneak back to shore at Seguntur at about 11pm. "We detained two Indonesians and two Malaysians, aged between 20 and 30," he said, adding the Indonesians did not possess any identification papers. © Daily Express (Sabah).
Ilyas: Straits of Malacca not a high-risk area by Mazni Mustafa
Ipoh - The Straits of Malacca has been listed as a high-risk area because of incorrect reporting on piracy and threats in the region. Navy chief Laksamana Tan Sri Ilyas Din said efforts by the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) to beef up security along the straits had also been affected by such erroneous reporting. He said the RMN had proof that certain cases of pirate attacks reported to have happened in the straits had actually taken place outside the territory. The misreporting, he added, also included incidents of fishing boats passing near trading vessels at night being classified as cases of attempted piracy. The bodies that released these reports, he said, should be more careful as the waterway was very long and wide. “We hope they do not generalise their reports because this affects our efforts to beef up security as well as the confidence of shipping companies using the straits. Laksamana Ilyas was commenting on the Lloyd’s Market Association Joint War Committee’s inclusion of the straits in its list of war-risk areas. This is the second consecutive year that the waterway has been included in the list. He said that based on its surveillance reports on security levels in the straits, the RMN was confident that it was safe. “We are positive because our surveillance has been within the correct boundaries of the straits,” he said. On another matter, Laksamana Ilyas said the RMN had decided to occupy its Teluk Sepanggar base near Kota Kinabalu al-though the building had yet to receive water and electricity supply. “We have instructed 350 of our personnel to move in because we do not want to see facilities in the building damaged while we wait for the utility supply,” he said. In the interim, he said, those at the base had to rely on water tankers and generators. According to him, work to lay the infrastructure for water and power had been delayed by unresolved land acquisition matters related to the building of an access road to the complex. “We expect things to be in place in two years,” he said. © 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.
Indonesian fisherman shot dead by PNG soldiers by Nethy Dharma Somba
An Indonesian fisherman was reportedly shot dead by Papua New Guinean soldiers while fishing in PNG waters, an official said Wednesday. Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Jacobus told The Jakarta Post that the man, identified as Mulyadi, was one of nine aboard the boat Buana Jaya. Two men, Hamid and Oval, were wounded in the shooting. They are currently being held with the other men who were on the boat, Hamka, Nasrul, Dawi, Seri, Lompo, Tuamara and Lupus, by PNG soldiers at an undisclosed location, said Tommy, quoting information from the Indonesian consulate in Vanimo, PNG. He said he had no information on the cause of the incident. The 10 men, residents of the Dok V area in Jayapura, left on the boat Monday. The next day, Ismail, a neighbor of Mulyadi, saw the Buana Jaya being escorted by a PNG speedboat in the direction of Vanimo. He said he had not thought about the presence of the escort until the evening, when police officers informed him of Mulyadi's death. Tommy said the Papua Police were coordinating with the Indonesian consulate in Vanimo and local police to get more information on the incident. The PNG government is yet to release a statement and the information made available by the Indonesian consulate came from witnesses. The PNG government has not indicated when Mulyadi's body will be returned to Indonesia. © The Jakarta Post.
Indonesia key to end piracy in Malacca Straits by Richel Langit-Dursin
Kuala Lumpur - Maritime experts have urged Indonesia to put an end to piracy attacks in the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest sea routes. In a recent conference on Covering Maritime Piracy in Southeast Asia, experts accused the Indonesian government of not seriously dealing with the piracy problem in the Strait of Malacca, the main ocean highway from Asia to Europe. "To stop piracy attacks in the Malacca Straits, Indonesia needs to improve its governance," Mak Joon Num, an analyst at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, said in an interview. Mak was one of the speakers in the two-day conference on maritime piracy, which was organized by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in the capital of Malaysia, one of the littoral states of the Strait of Malacca and the seat of the International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Center. Mak recalled that in the late 1990s former strongman Soeharto, embarrassed by piracy attacks, ordered a massive crackdown on suspected Indonesian pirates and for several years there were no piracy cases in Indonesian waters, including the Strait of Malacca. Maritime experts pointed out that rogue elements of Indonesian enforcement agencies, including the Indonesian Navy are involved in piracy attacks in the strait, but Indonesian authorities are turning a blind eye to the problem. In Belakang Padang, off the coast of Batam, residents, including the village chief, know the pirates, who move freely during the day in the area, but nobody dares to arrest them. "The police in Belakang Padang have no will to stop piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Malacca Straits," said Paris Institute of Political Studies researcher Eric Frecon, who stayed with the pirates in Belakang Padang and made a documentary film, Piracy in the Straits. "The local police are not only tolerant of the criminal activities of the pirates, but they are also accomplices and act as bodyguards of the pirates," Frecon said, adding that poverty and unemployment spark piracy attacks. A former pirate, Marcus Uban, asserted that he left for Batam to become a pirate in order to earn a living. "Just like me, many came from a miserable kampong life and we targeted cargo ships," said Uban, who has opened a karaoke bar in Batam and promised to become "a good man". In addition to not having the will to stop piracy, the Indonesian authorities do not have the means. In Belakang Padang, for instance, policemen operate with only two small one-engine wooden boats, although the place is a major pirate den. "The small islands suffer from lack of care and attention from Jakarta," Frecon said. Every year, more than 60,000 vessels use the Strait of Malacca, the only passage that is economically viable. Annually, around 30 percent of world trade and 50 percent of world energy need to pass through the 937 kilometer-long waterway. Cargo ships are not the only victims of piracy, but also trawler fishermen in the strait, which is between Malaysia on one side and the Indonesian island of Sumatra on the other. Experts, however, lamented that reporting on maritime piracy is biased, with piracy attacks against fishermen underreported and receiving less attention. "Fishermen are attacked all the time and piracy has become a sustainable activity," Mak said. "The predators are all based in Sumatra and weak governance allows predations to be well-organized." In Hutan Melintang, a fishing community in Malaysia, trawler fishermen complained that since the 1970s, "lost commands" of Indonesian enforcement agencies are responsible for 50 percent of the piracy attacks against them. On average, Hutan Melintang is hit by one predation a month and the fishermen are the silent victims, providing bread and butter to Indonesian pirates. There are more than 900 large boats in Hutan Melintang and 400 trawl regularly in the middle and northern approaches of the Strait of Malacca. "The problem of piracy is land-based. It can only be solved by tackling issues in Indonesia such as corruption," Mak said, adding that Indonesia has to settle its boundary dispute with Malaysia as it is providing renegades with reason to arrest fishermen's boats. Indonesia and Malaysia have yet to ink a territorial sea agreement covering the northern end of the Strait of Malacca. Maritime experts, however, stressed that pirates are driven by economics, not by ideology and there is no link between piracy cases in the strait and terrorism. "It is very unlikely that pirates have a real interest in helping terrorists," Frecon said, adding that as long as poverty and unemployment remain significant economic problems, piracy would exist. Apart from resolving its border dispute with Malaysia and establishing its own coast guard, Indonesia should also strengthen its cooperation with Singapore, which had expressed concern about possible terrorist attacks in the Strait of Malacca. "International cooperation for piracy prevention in Southeast Asia remains essentially an ad hoc process," said Sam Bateman, senior fellow in the Maritime Security Program of the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies in Singapore. The former Royal Australian Navy commodore stressed that cooperation remains bogged down by the divergent interests of the different stakeholders, which include the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and India. Bateman, however, said measures for international maritime security cooperation in the Southeast Asian region should also encompass the prevention of other illegal activities at sea, such as the prevention of trafficking in arms, drugs and people. "Measures for international maritime security cooperation in the region should not be focused solely on piracy prevention and the concomitant risks of maritime terrorism," he said. © The Jakarta Post.
JWC urged to specify way out of war-risk list
The London-based Joint War Committee (JWC) of the Lloyd’s Market Association should clearly provide the requirements for the de-listing of the Straits of Malacca as a war-risk area instead of keeping the littoral states guessing. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said there must be transparency on the issue because the increased insurance premiums would inevitably impact on economies. “This will in turn hurt their ability to continue funding the enhancement of the safety and security of navigation in the Straits of Malacca,” he said. In terms of navigational safety, Chan said with the support from Japan, the littoral states had gone beyond the ordinary requirements in ensuring a safe water passage traffic system. “Malaysia, for example, has spent more than US$50mil to upgrade navigational facilities in the Straits. “Considering that these aids are used free of charge by more than 70% of the transiting vessels that do not call at any of its ports, it is a big sacrifice on the part of the littoral states for the international community,” he said. More importantly, he said, littoral states must now look at the far bigger challenges in an allencompassing manner in the future. “Navigational safety for instance, based on the seven percent average annual growth of the number of vessels using the straits, is forecast to double by the year 2020. “With enhanced economic activities in the region, their numbers are also projected to double in a decade,” he said. Today, he said the Straits of Malacca by any global standard was already very congested. “Just imagine what the scenario would be with close to 200,000 vessels of various sizes squeezing their way through its narrow channel annually. “Unless there is a corresponding enhancement in its navigational safety facilities, the probability of an accident is likely to increase. “This could pose serious threats to lives and property as well as the security of the Straits’ eco-system,” he said. He added that more ships and congestion in the straits could also mean more insecurity. “Ships will have to navigate at a slower speed, making them more vulnerable to sea robbers. This simply means that the security measures in the Straits have to be beefed up in tandem with its increasing traffic volume,” he said. To address these emerging challenges, Chan said close and continuous co-operation amongst all the stakeholders was required. “This calls for empathy and an understanding of each other’s rights, obligations as well as limitations. “Any co-operative initiative should be based on the principles outlined in Article 43 of UNCLOS. “The most promising initiatives would be those premised on the principle of equitable sharing of burden, particularly in the maintenance of the Straits. “However, it does not preclude other mutually accepted forms of co-operation such as assistance in terms of capacity building,” he said. Chan said they were confident that indications were aplenty to show that as more dialogues and discussion take place amongst the stakeholders, more cooperative initiatives would be forthcoming. “With the involvement of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), hopefully these dialogues would crystallise into a concrete cooperative mechanism,” he said. Chan said the littoral states had enhanced their security enforcement in the Straits of Malacca and the obsession with security threat should not be allowed to obscure all the good work that they had done. “As a result of more co-ordinated and robust enforcement that includes the Maslindo series of coordinated patrol, the ‘Eyes in the Sky’ air patrol, the number of attacks against vessels has drastically declined. “Furthermore, following the Batam declaration and the recent Asean Defence Ministers Meeting, more co-operation at the regional level is in the offing,” he said. He added that should place the region as a whole in a better position to jointly address the threats of sea robbery and piracy. “In spite of this, and the representations from the littoral states, the shipping community and the international maritime bureau, the continued listings is not justified and the Straits of Malacca should be excluded from the war-risk zone,” he said. © 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.
KL: War risk rating on Malacca could hurt funding for security patrols
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia said Tuesday the declaration of Malacca Strait as a war-risk zone by British-based insurer Lloyd's could hurt the region's ability to fund increased patrols there just as it is beginning to reduce piracy in the busy waterway. Attacks in the Malacca Strait, a 965-kilometer narrow waterway between Indonesia's Sumatra island and peninsular Malaysia on the other, have decreased drastically since coordinated sea patrols began in 2004, Malaysia's transport minister Chan Kong Choy said.Air patrols over the strait began the following year. "The increased insurance premiums would inevitably impact on the littoral states' economies," said Chan at a conference hosted by Maritime Institute of Malaysia. "This will in turn hurt their ability to continue funding the enhancement of the safety andsecurity of navigation in the straits." In June 2005, the Joint War Committee of the British-based global shipping insurer Lloyd's Market Association heaped a war risk rating on the Strait of Malacca, adding to transport costs for vessels passing through the sealane - one of the world's busiest. Besides conflict areas, the "war risk" rating can be attached to areas considered at threat from maritime piracy or terrorism. Companies and government officials in Malaysia, Singapore andIndonesia, the three states bordering the strait have protested the war risk rating. "We are confused," said Chan at the conference, attended by international maritime security and environmental officials. "At the very least, it should provide clearly what are the requirements for the delisting instead of keeping the littoral states guessing," he added. The International Maritime Bureau said last week that attacks in the waterway dropped to three in the first six months of 2006 from eight the previous year. Attacks have been dropping since the patrols were launched, the piracy watchdog said. More than 60,000 vessels ply the route yearly, Chan said. It transports half the world's oil and more than a third of its commerce. The pinch will be felt when traffic - and costs of transportation - increases in the strait. Governments will then be forced to bear a certain portion of the burden to keep costs from being passed to consumers, Malaysian officials said. © The Jakarta Post.
Korea, Japan to meet over East Sea survey by Lee Joo-hee
Representatives of Korea and Japan will meet today in Tokyo to discuss the controversial maritime surveys in the East Sea, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Park Hee-kwon, director-general of the Korean Foreign Ministry's Treaty Bureau will meet Ichiro Komatsu, director-general of Japan's International Legal Affairs Bureau, to share views on how to solve the long-standing conflict. The two countries are set to meet next month to discuss demarcation of their respective economic zones. "This meeting will be a ground for the two countries to share views ahead of the EEZ talks next month and to discuss the matter of maritime surveys in the East Sea," the Ministry said in a press release. Maritime surveys have continued to be a source of conflict because the two countries have yet to draw their EEZ boundaries on the East Sea. In April, Tokyo's maritime survey ships headed toward the Korean-controlled Dokdo islets, which provoked outrage from the Seoul government. Although Japan claimed it was an innocent scientific survey, Koreans believed it to be a provocation against its territorial rights. Japan claims it holds the sovereignty over the islets, which they call "Takeshima." The waters surrounding the islets have been provisionally designated as joint fishing zones. The two countries reached a last-minute deal to halt the survey in exchange for Korea's withdrawal of a plan to submit for name changes to a U.N. agency. In July, Korea sent out a vessel to the waters near Dokdo, prompting protest from Japan. Japan has suggested that the two countries adopt a system of notifying each other before conducting any type of maritime surveys in the waters in question. Japan claims a provisional system is needed before finalizing the EEZ demarcation. Korea has opposed the idea for fear of further delaying the EEZ negotiations. © Herald Media Inc. (Korea)
Lloyd’s drops war rating on Malacca Strait by John Burton
Singapore - One of the world’s busiest and most hazardous shipping routes was yesterday declared to be winning its fight against piracy when Lloyd’s, the shipping insurer, dropped its war risk designation for the Malacca Strait. Lloyd’s surprise decision, which will cut insurance costs for shipping lines using one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, came a year after the insurer incensed the shipping industry and regional governments by imposing the rating. The Malacca Strait came to be regarded as among the world’s most dangerous sea lanes after a surge in piracy attacks after 1998, as the Indonesian economy deteriorated and Aceh rebels stepped up their military campaign. However, the International Maritime Bureau, which tracks global piracy, said recently that attacks in the area had fallen to their lowest level since 1999. Lloyd’s said there had been a “significant improvement” in security along the 900km strait as Singapore and Malaysia increased naval and air patrols. Malaysia, which last week called for the lifting of the designation, said it welcomed the decision, but added it would push for shippers to pay fees to use the Strait in an effort to help defray the costs of security. Lloyd’s said ships calling at north-east ports on the Indonesian island of Sumatra would still be subject to war risk insurance premiums. Aceh separatist rebels on Sumatra have been blamed for many of the attacks. Syed Hamid Albar, the Malaysian foreign minister, said Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia had spent heavily to improve security and that other nations should help foot the bill. He said Malaysia “was trying to work on a co-operation plan to find a way where the user states are also made responsible”. Countries such as Japan and China would be most affected by the proposal since 80 per cent of energy supplies to east Asia pass through the Strait. About 40 per cent of global trade is carried by the more than 50,000 vessels that ply the waterway annually. In spite of the increased patrols, the IMB recently warned that piracy remains a problem, with four attacks in July and one reported so far this month. © The Financial Times Limited 2006
Lloyd's move may hurt economy
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia urged London insurer Lloyd's Tuesday to lift its war-risk designation of the Malacca Strait, saying it feared higher premiums would hit its economy and eventually make its ports less competitive. One of the world's busiest sea lanes, the Malacca Strait links Asia with the Middle East and Europe and carries about 40 percent of the world's trade, including 80 percent of the energy supplies of Japan and China. Transport Minister Datuk Chan Kong Choy said Lloyd's should consider reviewing its position, prompted by fears of pirate attacks, and urged the insurer to say what steps the countries along the seaway must take for the designation to be dropped. "There must be transparency on this issue," Chan told a meeting of marine policy experts. "Otherwise the increased insurance premiums would inevitably impact on the littoral states' economies. This will in turn hurt their ability to continue funding the enhancement of the safety and security of navigation in the Strait." The Strait was declared vulnerable to "war, strikes, terrorism and related perils" more than a year ago by Lloyd's Market Association's Joint War Committee, an advisory body made up of underwriters from the Lloyd's insurance market. The move meant container vessels must pay as much as $5,000 extra in insurance premium for passing through the 805-km (500-mile) long Strait. In June, ocean crime watchdog the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said the Strait was no longer a piracy hotspot due to increased patrolling by the three littoral states of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. But the long-term threat remained. There have been seven incidents of piracy in the Malacca Strait this year, and quarterly comparisons show an increasing trend, the piracy reporting centre of the IMB said. "In April we recorded three attacks, and in July we recorded four attacks, so it doesn't look very good this time round this quarter," said Noel Choong, chief of the centre. "In the short term it could be quiet, but in the medium- to long-term it doesn't look so good." Indonesia has tightened patrols after high-profile attacks in July on two U.N.-chartered vessels carrying relief supplies to the tsunami-stricken province of Aceh, Choong added. Nevertheless Lloyd's war-risk designation seemed excessive, maritime experts said. "I agree with the minister, it seems completely out of line," said Jon Van Dyke, a specialist in maritime law at the University of Hawaii. "This is not a war zone. This is a complex problem, but calling it a war zone seems completely inappropriate." The war-risk tag also scared off leisure travellers, one shipping official added. "It's affecting the tourism industry," said Captain A. Sufian, a director of Malaysian Bulk Carriers Bhd. "The marinas are empty, because people do not want to come to this area." © Daily Express (Sabah).
Malacca strait dropped from risk list
LONDON 08 August – Lloyd’s Joint War Committee has dropped the Strait of Malacca as a whole from its war risk list. However, the committee has added the northeastern coast of Sumatra, between five degrees and forty minutes north and zero degrees and forty-eight minutes north, although that excludes transit. The decision has been welcomed by the International Chamber of Shipping. “The immediate reaction is to say very good. We are very pleased they have taken this decision, it is the right one,” ICS secretary general Chris Horrocks told Fairplay. Vessel owners are supposed to inform insurers when their ships are entering areas on the JWC's war list, which are areas carrying high risk to vessels of damage from war or terrorism. Insurers may then decide to charge an extra insurance premium on those vessels during voyages into the listed areas. However, industry sources indicate that many owners escaped being charged extra owing to a difference in views between insurance brokers on the risk posed by Malacca strait transit. The major consequence of the committee's decision, on the back of advice from independent security analyst Aegis Defense Systems, to add the strait to the war list has been political and operational. The littoral states and shipping industry bodies reacted angrily to the decision but it has prodded the authorities into action. Security has improved throughout the area owing to joint patrols between Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. ©Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Limited 1999 - 2006.
Malacca Strait users may have to pay fees: experts by Clarence Fernandez
Kuala Lumpur - Shipping vessels could soon have to pay a fee to use the Malacca Strait, as nations along one of the world's busiest waterways hunt for ways to share the costs of keeping it open and safe, experts said on Wednesday. The 900-km-long Malacca Straits links Asia with the Middle East and Europe, carrying about 40 percent of the world's trade, including 80 percent of the energy supplies of Japan and China. Littoral states Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have stepped up patrols of the Strait in response to a surge of concern over incidents of piracy that prompted London insurers Lloyds to list the region as a war-risk zone, boosting premiums. Maritime experts meeting in the Malaysian capital said they were studying ways for the littoral states to persuade shipping companies and maritime nations to help defray the costs of keeping the channel open and secure. "People, I think, are willing to pay money to keep the Malacca Strait a safe, reliable resource and as the pressure of traffic increases, they will be willing to pay a bit more to keep access open," said Jon Van Dyke, a specialist in maritime law at the University of Hawaii. "Collecting a toll could be done through the country where the ship is registered," he added. "Enforcement is going to be difficult, but you do it the same way you enforce fishing regulations -- you impose a draconian fine on the few you do catch, and that has a deterrent effect on the rest." Plans for a toll encountered unanimous industry opposition when first mooted 10 years ago but opinion in the shipping industry was gradually changing, another expert said. "So far the positive response is a verbal one, where users of the Strait say the littoral states must come up with a mechanism and we will look at it," said Cheah Kong Wai, director general of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia, a think-tank. This could involve setting up a body to collect the dues, perhaps on a proportionate sharing basis, he added, although he could not estimate how soon such a scheme would take effect. Whatever the ultimate shape of such a proposal, support from the International Maritime Organisation, a United Nations agency charged with safeguarding international shipping that groups 166 nations, will be crucial, the analysts said. "The IMO is finally stepping up to the plate on this," said Van Dyke. "Shippers are finally realising they have no choice. And coastal countries are more comfortable with the IMO doing this than with Japan or the United States, for instance." © Reuters 2006.
Maritime agency to increase patrols following complaints of harassment
Putrajaya - The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) will increase patrols in the Straits of Melaka following complaints by Malaysian fishermen of harassment by Indonesian enforcement authorities while fishing within Malaysian territorial waters. Joint operations were also carried out with other Malaysian maritime agencies to monitor areas where encroachments frequently occurred and to gather intelligence, said MMEA director-general Rear Admiral Datuk Mohammad Nik. He assured Malaysian fishermen that it was safe for them to ply the straits as the authorities were constantly monitoring the situation. Mohammad was commenting on the seizure of two fishing boats with seven fishermen from Kuala Selangor on Tuesday by Indonesian enforcement authorities. The incident happened at night near Pulau Jarak, 45 nautical miles from Lumut in Perak. Mohammad said the fishermen were within Malaysia's exclusive economic zone but were detained for allegedly breaking Indonesian law. "They were taken to Belawan, Sumatra and detained by the Indonesian marine police and marine department," he told reporters at his office, adding that MMEA would investigate the report it received. He said the agency viewed the incident seriously and would take measures to restore the confidence of Malaysian fishermen about their safety in the straits. On the operations of the agency since November last year to July this year, he said 134 vessels were inspected at sea and 49 of them were detained for offences related to permits, smuggling, illegal immigrants and illegal employment of foreign fishermen. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Maritime sector lacks skilled Malaysians: MISC chairman by Presenna Nambiar
MALAYSIA'S maritime industry faces a shortage of local skilled workers due in part to fewer young people taking up shipping careers. "There is a high percentage of foreign skilled workers in the local maritime industry. Even though we ensure that the premium level is Malaysianised, the other level still requires Malaysians," MISC Bhd chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican said. He was speaking at the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding between shipping giant MISC and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. Mohd Hassan signed on behalf of MISC, while UTM was represented by its vice-chancellor Datuk Mohd Zulkifli Mohd Ghazali. The signing ceremony marks the start of a cooperation between the two parties to produce skilled and industry savvy graduates as well as to promote research activities in the maritime, shipping and offshore industry in Malaysia. The collaboration between MISC and UTM includes the joint appointment and sponsorship of the Professorship Chair, to bridge the gap between UTM and the maritime industry through the alignment of UTM's syllabus with the maritime industry's needs. There are also provisions for a joint post-graduate professional training programme that will leverage on the strengths of UTM and MISC's maritime training institute, the Malaysian Maritime Academy. Earlier in his speech, Mohd Hassan said he hopes the human and capability development initiatives will help reduce Malaysia's dependence on foreign seafarers and in the process, create a better avenue for a more challenging human capital market for both MISC and Malaysians. "I think universities, as we go forward, need to produce graduates who are going to be useful in the industry, and (they) cannot be detached from the requirements of the marketplace. So this is one of the very key elements of the collaboration that we are undertaking," he said. UTM has produced some 500 graduates under its maritime courses, which have been available for 25 years. © The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad.
Meeting signifies close cooperation between Malaysia-Singapore police force by George Francis
Miri - Malaysian police have arrested and handed over 10 criminal suspects to its Singapore counterparts so far this year. Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Fauzi Saari said the Singapore Police had reciprocated in arresting and handing over three suspects to the Malaysian Police. "This signifies the close cooperation between the two forces and our determination to ensure that criminals are brought to justice," said Fauzi at the opening of 115th Malaysia and Singapore CID Liaison Meeting here. The Singaporeans arrested in the Malaysian territory were four accused in murder cases, two forgeries, a rape case including unlawful possession of firearms and violations of immigration law. On gangsterism in Malaysia, Fauzi said based on intelligence, there was no direct connection with the Singaporeans, adding that each country has contrived its own strings of the underworld. He said police had carried out 6,032 raids on the underworld vice-gangsterism for the past six months of this year, with 44,982 people screened. Of the arrests, 403 suspects, with some being ordered as "restrictees" under the Emergency Ordinance with the hard cores had been found up to under six consecutive orders. Fauzi, in his final address of the CID liaison meeting before going on retirement in September, said all the meetings had been very meaningful as an avenue to strengthen communication and cooperation in law enforcement between two countries. "Our cooperation among others includes exchanging of information, exchange of training and intelligence, assisting investigation, effecting arrest, locating and recovering stolen and illegally gained properties." Officers from both countries had constantly exchanged vital criminal intelligence for investigation and operations. Besides the CID cooperation, the Malaysian Marine Police and the Police Coast Guard of Singapore had also established close working relationship in preventing and combating maritime crimes, said Fauzi. Forensic investigations and analysis stood prominent in the meeting, with Malaysians headed by Fauzi while the Singaporeans led by CID director Lock Wai Han. © 2006 Brunei Press Sdn Bhd.
MISC, UTM sign pact on maritime research
Kuala Lumpur - MISC Bhd, one of the largest shipping firms in the world, has teamed up with Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to collaborate on human capital development and promote research activities in the maritime industry. “The joint undertaking is expected to generate substantial benefits not only for the two organisations, but also Malaysia's maritime, shipping and offshore industry,'' MISC said in statement. The two organisations yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to undertake, among others, a joint sponsorship of a professorship chair, post-graduate professional training, degree programmes, sponsorship of scholarships for selected UiTM students, as well as research activities. “The MoU paves the way for both organisations to cooperate in the development of capabilities and expertise in the maritime, shipping and offshore industry in Malaysia,'' MISC chairman Tan Sri Hassan Marican said at the signing ceremony. © 1995-2006 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.
More meaningful discussions on Straits of Melaka now, says MIMA chief
Kuala Lumpur - Current discussions on the Straits of Melaka had seen less rhetorics on national sovereignty but more meaningful discussions on how the littoral states of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and users of the straits could work together, a conference was told Tuesday. The direction of the discussions had changed in the last two years, said Vice Admiral (Rtd) Datuk Seri Ahmad Ramli Hj Mohd Nor, Chairman of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA), adding that "this is most welcome as MIMA also feels the need to move away from rhetorics to action." Speaking at the two-day MIMA Fifth Conference on the Straits of Melaka here, he said the Straits of Melaka had over time transformed from a spice route to a sea route that carried the world's trade in oil, manufactured goods and raw materials. As such, ensuring navigational safety in the straits was therefore paramount not only for the purpose of shipping but also to safeguard the interests of the littoral states, he said. Ahmad Ramli said over the last 10 years, trends in discussions on the straits had changed. When MIMA started its research on the straits, the focus of attention was on the issues of sharing the burden of managing the straits and addressing what was then known as the "free rider notion". But he said the focus for action then and which was still relevant today was the need to ensure the safety of navigation in the straits. More recently, he said security issues in the straits had gained prominence and subjects such as piracy, terrorism and the nexus between the two were widely discussed after Sept 11. Ahmad Ramli said while the proponents of the nexus of terrorism and piracy in the straits had come to terms that such a nexus was highly unlikely, security issues in the straits would remain on the radar screen of the international community because of recent incidents in northern Sumatra. He said ironically, security issues had also proven to be the rallying point for co-operation in the straits and had prompted initiatives such as the Tripartite Co-ordinated Patrol and the "eye in the sky" surveillance by the littoral states. Ahmad Ramli said while the content of the conference may be national, it had regional as well as international ramifications and ultimately issues on the straits would have to be resolved through national action, with co-operation and assistance from other countries. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Multilateral cooperation vital to global stability & growth: minister by Dominique Loh
Singapore - Singapore's Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean has emphasised that economic prosperity can only come if there is peace and stability. This was his simple, but potent message to 60 senior military officers from 27 armed forces. These officers are gathered in Singapore for a dialogue organised by the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies. Security and economic development go hand in hand but they're also sensitive to outside forces that can make a huge impact, and the Straits of Malacca is a prime example with traffic that account for about a third of the world's trade and tankers carrying half of the world's oil supply. A strike by pirates or terrorists can paralyze regional and even global commerce, so more needs to be done to secure these sea lanes. In the years ahead, Defence Minister Teo believes peace and security will depend on how global powers react to each other and their relations with smaller countries. He cautioned from time to time, there will be flash points, and the current events in the Middle East is one example. That is why he is encouraging multi-national cooperation to promote peace and security. "Multilateral dialogue is necessary and useful, but we should also move beyond dialogue to practical cooperation. We could for instance consider conducting more multilateral activities including joint exercises which would help to build capacity and enhance inter-operability among the participating armed forces," said Mr Teo. He also noted that with China and India becoming economic powerhouses in the years ahead, their growth will also depend on geopolitical stability, and this can't be done by any single country acting on its own. © 2006 MCN International Pte Ltd.
Najib welcomes Lloyd's move on Straits of Malacca
Putrajaya - Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak welcomes Lloyd's move to delist the Straits of Malacca from "war risk zone". "I have long fought for this because there was no basis for the war-risk rating and piracy incidents have been greatly reduced, especially on the Malaysian side of the straits," he said after chairing a Cabinet committee meeting here Tuesday. Najib said that throughout the year, there has been no piracy incident reported. "So there is no reason for Lloyd's to impose war risk insurance premiums on those using the Straits of Malacca," he said. The London-based insurance broker Lloyd's Joint War Committee on Monday was reported to have removed its war risk rating for merchant ships using the Straits of Malacca. The designation was dropped after significant improvement in the security situation, according to local shipping sources. The Straits of Malacca is one of the world's busiest sea lanes, linking Asia with West Asia and Europe. It carries about 40 percent of the world's trade and more than 50,000 merchant ships ply the water way every year. © 2006 BERNAMA.
National Effort Required For Ecosystem Problem In Straits Of Melaka
Kuala Lumpur - Continuous efforts at the national level can help address the problems of ecosystem decline and over-exploitation of fisheries in the Straits of Melaka, Research Fellow, Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA), Mohd Nizam Basiron said Tuesday. The primary concerns have been the degradation of the coastal and marine ecosystems which could threaten the availability of goods and services provided by these ecosystem, he said. The coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass beds in the Straits of Melaka are threatened by human activities particularly coastal development, tourism and pollution, Mohd Nizam said in his paper presented at the Fifth MIMA Conference On The Straits of Malacca, here Tuesday. His paper was titled "Environmental Protection In The Straits of Malacca". "While some form of protection has been accorded to these ecosystems by designating them as protected areas, this has only slowed down rather than stop the loss completely," said Mohd Nizam. The second problem, he said was pollution from land-based activities which is significant in the Straits of Melaka because of the industrial, agriculture and settlement areas in its hinderland. He said the area was also experiencing an over-exploitation of its fisheries resources. While catch level has remained constant and indeed increased, evidence of over-fishing has been observed since 1980s as efforts to address over capacity have met only with limited success, he said. Other problems afflicting the area have been reduced navigational safety and accidents involving oil spills. He said these problems could be reduced via stronger and expanded cooperation among the littoral states and user states of the Straits. "The scope of cooperation can be expanded beyond navigational safety and oil spill control and should include more user states other than Japan." He said that opportunities also existed for the security community from the three littoral states to contribute towards environmental management in the Straits of Melaka through optimal use of surveillance assets for pollution prevention and fisheries management. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Pirates driven off
The piracy threat is retreating, About 70,000 vessels transit the vital Straits of Malacca each year. While the incidence of piracy has never actually very high (during the "worst" period in recent years well under 0.1-percent of ships in the Straits were attacked), it did grab a lot of headlines, particularly given global concerns about terrorists. This led Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore to initiate a well-coordinated anti-piracy program, which is being supported by many other southeast Asian countries, as well as the U.S. and other major maritime powers. This, coupled with increased security measures by ship-owners (some of whom have been training their crews in anti-piracy techniques, often using specialized equipment and occasionally weapons), the December 2004 tsunami, which appears to have devastated some pirate bases, and the end of the separatist movement in the Aceh region of Sumatra, has resulted in reducing the incidence of piracy to about one vessel in every 10,000. Moreover, all recently reported incidents have clearly been attempts to steal money or goods, almost always from smaller vessels, notably fishing boats and coastal freighters serving the smaller ports. Off Somalia, increased naval patrols, and a changing political situation on land, has much reduced Somali pirate activity. In the Persian Gulf, more police and coast guard activity has reduced piracy there as well. © 1998 - 2006 StrategyWorld.com.
RP, Malaysia to conduct border patrol exercises by Leila Salaverria
The Philippines and Malaysia will begin on Tuesday joint border patrol exercises to practice and coordinate procedures that each country will carry out to secure border areas and to combat illegal activities there. The 12th RP-Malaysia Coordinated Border Patrol Operations is expected to strengthen both countries' abilities to address drug trafficking, hijacking, illegal entry of aliens, piracy, smuggling, theft of maritime resources, marine pollution and illegal shipment of arms, among others, according to the Philippine Coast Guard. The PCG, and the Philippine Navy and Air Force are expected to participate in the 10-day bilateral undertaking. The border between the Philippines and Malaysia is located near Tawi-Tawi province in the Philippines and Sandakan, Malaysia will be the site for the drill. PCG spokesperson, Lieutenant Commander Joseph Coyme, said in a statement that the Philippines would be deploying four patrol vessels and five aircraft for the event. The PCG and the Navy would provide two vessels each. As for the aircraft, one would come from the Navy, another from the PCG and three from the Air Force. Malaysia, on the other hand, would deploy seven patrol vessels and an aircraft. © 2006 Inquirer.
Singapore urges regional security cooperation
Singapore - Singapore's defense minister on Monday said the militaries of the Asia-Pacific region should engage in more joint exercises and dialogue in order to react quickly and effectively to terrorism or other threats. Speaking at an annual meeting of Asia-Pacific senior military officers, Defense Minister Teo Chee Hean praised the cooperation already shown by the militaries but said more should be done. "We could, for instance, consider conducting more multilateral activities, including joint exercises, which would help to build capacity and enhance interoperability among the participating armed forces," he said. "This will enable us to react more quickly and effectively and in a more coordinated fashion when we have to work together." The weeklong 8th annual Asia-Pacific Program for Senior Military Officers gathered participants from 27 armed forces from the Asia-Pacific and many European nations. They will exchange views on the security challenges facing the region and discuss ways to enhance mutual understanding and cooperative relationships. Teo said the key issues confronting Southeast Asia were maritime security and terrorism. He noted that the Straits of Malacca carry over 30 percent of the world's trade and half of its oil and said all stakeholders should play their roles to enhance security there. "These are the arteries that connect the economies of Asia with those of Europe and the Middle East. They are critical economic lifelines for many countries," he said. "Any disruption to the maritime traffic traversing these vital sea lanes will have an economic and strategic impact far beyond this region. The Malacca and Singapore Straits are a natural choke point and security threats, whether from pirates or terrorists, can paralyze regional and even global commerce." On terrorism, Teo noted that the region had been "a critical battleground," as many countries had suffered attacks and others had been revealed as potential targets. He said it would be a "long and grueling fight" that was more urgent because of the threat of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. He said the militaries of the region already had solid, cooperative relationships and praised the joint operations that participated in. "The tragic situation in the Middle East is a sobering reminder that we must do all we can to enhance mutual understanding and continued dialogue," Teo said. "More importantly, we must build up a thick web of cooperation and collaboration among our countries and get into the habit of working closely together, so that peace and stability can continue to prevail in our region." © 2006 Associated Press.
SEAEX THAMAL forges greater co-operation
Kuantan - The SEAEX THAMAL excercise between Malaysia and Thailand which ended today had achieved its target of forging greater understanding and co-operation between the maritime agencies of both countries. Region One Navy Commander, First Admiral Jamil Osman said the training had forged closer co-operation between both countries especially on patrolling and sea rescue. "The maritime enforcement agencies of both countries are able to understand the standard operation procedures in case of any eventuality at sea," he told reporters after the closing of the exercise here, Thursday. Also present were the Thai Task Group Commander, Kapt Songphon Srisumang and Eastern Region Marine Police Chief, ACP Mohd Salleh Mat Jani. The training exercise was carried out in waters between Songkhla and Kuantan from July 29, involving 300 members and officers from both sides. The ships involved in the exercise were Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) ships KD Ganyang and KD Handalan and two Marine Police vessels PX5 and PA 5 while Thailand sent two ships. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Storm wreaks pre-dawn havoc in Straits of Malacca by Chong Chee Seong
A two-hour storm wreaked havoc in the Straits of Malacca early this morning, overturning six fishing boats and damaging a kelong. None of the 12 fishermen at the kelong was hurt. The damages were estimated at more than RM200,000. Kelong owner Lee Lian Ta, 65, said 12 fishermen left Parit Jawa fishing village in six boats at midnight for the kelong located about six nautical miles off the coast. He said the storm struck at 4am. "Four boats were refloated within two hours while another two had sunk," he said. Fisherman Lim Choon Chiang, 28, who was in a search party organised by local fishermen, said the storm had abated but the rain continued throughout the day. He said the search was called off at noon. © 2006 NST Online.
Straits no more a war risk zone by Mazwin Nik Anis
Putrajaya - The Straits of Malacca is no longer a war risk zone. The Lloyd’s Market Association’s Joint War Committee (JWC) had on Monday removed the busy waterway from its war risk list that included 50 other countries. The move is a relief to the littoral states of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. The Straits of Malacca was placed in the list for more than a year. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said the London-based association’s JWC removed the Straits from the list on Monday after it was convinced that “significant improvement” in security had been made in the area. “Malaysia welcomes the decision and we are pleased that Straits of Malacca is no longer considered a war risk area,” he told a press conference yesterday. “This is a positive reflection of the co-operation and efforts undertaken by the littoral states to maintain and enhance security in the area for the benefit of all. “On behalf of Malaysia, I would like to thank the JWC for reviewing this categorisation and we reaffirm our commitment to maintain security in the Straits. “We also call upon the international community to assist in the maintenance of the Straits in a manner which is consistent with the spirit of international law and respectful of the role and sovereign rights of the littoral states.” Reuters quoted the association as saying that there was “significant improvement” in the area’s security, which a year ago had been declared vulnerable to “war, strikes, terrorism and related perils”. Chan said the JWC’s decision to put the Malacca Straits in the war risk area list in July last year had brought adverse effect on Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, especially in the field of tourism. “When people talk about war risk zone, it sends a wrong message to the international community. We have since made many attempts to change the committee’s decision, which in our opinion had been made on insufficient basis,” Chan said. He said that the three countries had taken many initiatives to maintain and enhance security in the Straits including coordinated patrols, the “eye in the sky” air surveillance, and the setting-up of Malaysia’s maritime enforcement agency to tackle security issues along its coast. According to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), 12 attacks were reported to have occurred along the Malacca Straits in 2005, compared with 38 in 2004. The IMB said there had not been a single reported incident in the Straits since the first quarter of 2005. © 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.
Straits Of Melaka free from piracy
Lumut - Malaysia has denied that the busy Melaka Straits is infested with pirates as claimed by London-based Llyod's Market Association Joint War Committee (JWC). "Contrary to the (JWC) report, the Melaka Straits is in fact the safest in the world," Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) chief Tan Sri Ilyas Din said when asked to comment on the report Thursday. He condemned the report, saying it had besmirched the world's busiest shipping lane and caused unnecessary fear among the international shipping community. He said JWC reports about piracy in the Melaka Straits were mostly "inaccurate and unclear" and had somewhat undermined naval policing efforts mounted by the Malaysian navy in the area. "Small incidents along the straits are being sensationalised...our efforts in policing the straits have been undermined," he said after witnessing the commissioning of the new generation patrol vessel "KD Pahang" at the RMN Armada base here. He also said that some of the piracy incidents that were reported by the JWC had happened elsewhere and not within the Melaka Straits. He pointed out that the JWC had obtained most of its information and data from the International Maritime Bureau and commercial ships plying the Melaka Straits. "Some of these ships could have provided inaccurate information to JWC. Sometimes, the ship captains spotted small vessels plying the straits and assumed that they were pirates' boats," he said. He added that many ship captains were not familiar with the geography of the Melaka Straits. As such, when they came across incidents involving pirates elsewhere, they assumed that these happened in the Melaka Straits. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Straits’ users should be taxed by Sharidan M. Ali
Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore should team up and start collecting taxes from vessels transiting the Straits of Malacca for navigational and security safety. The littoral states should implement it through the yet-to-beestablished Straits of Malacca Authority, said Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA) maritime security and diplomacy researcher Sumathy Permal. She said the authority should create a pragmatic mechanism similar to the one utilised at the Turkish Straits. “The Montreux Convention has given Turkey the rights beyond its normal boundaries of innocent passage to collect taxes from ships in transit as well as imposing a sanitary inspection requirement,” she said. Sumathy said the move at the Turkish Straits was made as a result of the nation’s worry over the possibility of large-scale accident due to the sharp rise in traffic there. Thus, she said the Turkish Straits Authority now collected taxes and toll for services provided for the navigational safety at the straits. “Similarly, the Straits of Malacca, which is recognised as an important passage for vessels from Europe and the Middle East to the Pacific Ocean and Asia, should apply the same mechanism. “Annually 60,000 vessels transit the Straits and the danger to the environment posed by vessels is high,” she said, adding that the financial gain from the ships passing through the Straits of Malacca was very small compared to the amount of resources needed to fund the safety of navigation. Sumathy pointed out that ships passing through the Straits did not stop at any of the littoral states’ ports or bring economic benefit to their economy, except perhaps Singapore. She said such a collection was justifiable in waterways where a security threat from non-state users had been well acknowledge such as in the case of the Panama Canal. She said this when presenting a paper titled “Burden Sharing in Straits of Malacca: Proposed funding mechanism based on practices in other straits used for international navigation” at a MIMA conference in Kuala Lumpur lastweek. The paper was co-written by MIMA senior fellow Captain Mat Taib Yasin. Sumathy said the littoral states were carrying the financial burden for the maintenance of safety, environmental protection and security in the straits. “More than 70% of the vessels transiting through Straits of Malacca do not call at any of the littoral ports, hence no port dues can be collected,” she said. As the security image at the Straits is being jeopardised by the recent listing in Lloyd’s of London Joint War Committee (JWC), she stressed that it would not be wrong for the littoral states to establish a funding mechanism to collect fees to recover the cost incurred to carry out security initiatives in the straits. Thus, the establishment of the Straits of Malacca Authority will help the littoral states to finance its management by:
. Drawing up fees structure payable by beneficiaries of the Straits;
. Setting fees according to types of vessels and tonnage;
. Calculating fees based on international standards for tonnage management established by the International Convention on Tonnage Management 1969;
. Hiring legal experts to attend to legal matters;
. Setting up a desk for the safety of environment;
. Setting up a security unit consisting of officers from all three littoral states;
. Drawing up an evaluation of the costs of navigational safety measures in SOM namely Sea Surveillance System, Vessel Traffic Monitoring System, Electronic Chart Display and Automatic Identification System;
. Consulting with and making recommendations to the Member States on the execution of the mentioned works in line with each states technical and economic interests; and
. Establishing a uniformed system of traffic regulation of the Strait.
“The burden-sharing concept needs serious consideration from the three states. However there has not been any official request from the government for any action to be taken,” she said. Sumathy said it was the right time now to put a case to the International Maritime Organisation to consider the implementation of the funding proposal. © 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.
Vietnam and Thailand to intensify naval co-operation
Increased joint sea patrols and prompt information exchanges between the naval forces of Vietnam and Thailand in recent years have helped maintain common security and creating favourable conditions for the fishing industries in the two countries, said Senior Lieutenant-General Phung Quang Thanh. General Thanh, who is also Vietnamese Minister of Defence, made the observations while receiving the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Satirapan Keyanon, and his entourage in Hanoi on August 9. He added that the move would help enhance the friendly relations and mutual understandings between the two people, as well as their Navies and armies. Admiral Keyanon informed his host of the results of his meeting with the Commander-in-Chief of the Vietnam People's Navy Vice Admiral Nguyen Van Hien. The two sides agreed to further boost their joint sea patrols and discussed matters of common concern for regional and international peace, stability and prosperity. © NhanDan Online.
World’s largest ship makes maiden visit to Malaysia
The World’s largest container ship, Xin Los Angeles, made its maiden call to Westports in Klang Port near Kuala Lumpur last Sunday. “Xin LA’s arrival at Westports is a testimony of the growing bilateral trade between Malaysia and China” Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak said. Over the past decade, trade between Malaysia and China has been growing, and Malaysia trade with China covers almost all sectors of the economy, he said at a ceremony for welcoming the arrival of the giant ship in Klang Port, some 40 kilometers West of Kuala Lumpur. He expressed hopes that businesses between China Shipping (Group) co and Westports will continue to grow, while giving a boost to tourism to Klang Port as well as Malaysia. The 9,600 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) ship owned by China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL), a subsidiary of China shipping (Group) co made the stopover in Klang port on its way to Europe. Zhang Jianhua, Vice president of China shipping (Group) co, said that Xin Los Angeles is one of the eight container ships of such kind that his company is planning to own. He said that Klang Port is a pivot port in the company’s maritime transport business in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He hoped that the arrival of the ship would further boost his company businesses in Malaysia as well as South East Asia. Westports executive chairman G.Gnana Lingam said business volume at the port could increase between 20 per cent and 25 per cent with the presence of Xin Los Angeles at the terminal. © The Tide Online (Nigeria).
WEEK 3 (13 - 19 August 2006)
Caution urged on security funding for Malacca Strait
Singapore - Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia should be wary of seeking external funding to help patrol the Malacca Strait as it could undermine their sovereignty, a top Asian shipping official said. Mr Teo: Littoral states should continue to work hard to tackle piracy 'We have to be very careful here,' said Teo Siong Seng, president of the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) and a leading member of the Federation of Asean Shipowners Association. 'If a country starts to come out to bear the cost, then what would they ask for in return?' The idea of sharing the financial burden of keeping the strait safe with countries which use the lanes to import oil or export goods - such as China and Japan - was mooted by Malaysia's Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar last week. The three countries bordering the lanes that link Asia to the Middle East and Europe, carrying nearly half the world's trade, have invested heavily in extra security measures such as sea and air patrols in order to curb piracy and crime. Their efforts paid off last week when the Lloyd's Market Association's Joint War Committee decided to lift a war-risk insurance rating it had imposed a year ago, but now they are debating whether to spread those expenses. 'Clearly, this is not a matter of simple dollars and cents, because it involves a user, and if you accept foreign financing, a decision will need to be made on what a user will have to pay,' Mr Teo said. Lauding the move by Lloyds last week, Mr Syed Hamid said: 'Not only littoral states should be responsible for safety and security of the area . . . user states I think must also contribute. We are spending money of our own for their use.' More than 50,000 merchant ships pass through the Malacca Strait every year. The strait also carries about 40 per cent of the world's trade. Mr Teo, who is also the managing director of Singapore's second-largest shipping firm, Pacific International Lines, said bordering states of the Malacca Strait should continue to work hard to tackle the root of the piracy problem. 'We shouldn't let our guard down. We have to keep up the intensity of all our efforts and continue to maintain a dialogue not just with each other but with the global maritime community.' © Reuters
5th CARAT phase wraps up in Brunei by Melinda Larson
Muara, Brunei Darussalam - The Brunei phase of exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) ended here Aug. 11 at the Royal Brunei Navy’s (RBN) headquarters. The commander of the U.S. CARAT task group was the keynote speaker during the closing ceremony, and he told a group of about 100 combined U.S. and RBN forces, including the RBN’s fleet commander, that working together with Brunei is vital to the peace and security of the region. “We live in a very turbulent time, but by working together to enhance our maritime capabilities, we are ensuring that threats to our nations by way of the seas are diminished,” said Capt. Al Collins, commander of Destroyer Squadron 1 and the CARAT Task Group. The two navies, along with the U.S. Coast Guard and Brunei’s marine police patrols and fisheries, practiced protecting the seas together by sharing visit, board, search and seizure (VBSS) techniques during a pierside boarding exercise. Combined VBSS training is a central event of CARAT, a sequential, bilateral series of exercises with six Southeast Asia nations, designed to enhance regional cooperation, promote understanding and develop their operational readiness. The wider region accounts for more than half of the world’s economy, so a stable maritime environment is critical to the flow of trade which is vital to all nations, Collins said. The threat of terrorism and transnational crimes at sea is an ongoing concern. “Our countries understand that the rule of law is important, and we are demonstrating that with our strong support of making law enforcement techniques and procedures a central theme of CARAT,” Collins said. “If we are to win the war on terrorism, which threatens all forms of government and religion, we need to be prepared to defeat terrorists on both the law enforcement and military fronts.” A tactical freeplay with a search and rescue scenario included U.S. Navy P-3C Orion aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 69 and the Royal Brunei Air Force’s maritime patrol aircraft. An anti-air warfare gunnery exercise was also labeled a success during the at-sea phase, Collins said. In addition, the RBN’s drone detachment catapulted an unmanned flying Banshee from the deck of USS Tortuga (LSD 46) for an anti-air warfare exercise to test warship interoperability of both navies. “Through CARAT, we continue to strengthen our interoperability and improve our skills in areas that thwart our enemies and provide protection of the seas,” Collins said. While CARAT is a military exercise, Collins stressed that not all problems require a military solution and that learning how to operate together in an exercise scenario pays dividends during humanitarian missions. “We live in a world where multinational responses to conflicts and humanitarian crises are now routine,” Collins said. “Thanks to CARAT, we have been able to answer that call through years of bilateral training, which have improved our maritime surveillance, information sharing and communication. Additionally, community service projects help forge personal bonds within the ranks of both navies. “The best communication of all is the direct interaction our Sailors have with the citizens of Brunei. Our Sailors and Marines may be from different countries and speak a different language, but we have a lot in common," he added. "All people...hope for a better life and safety for their family. By us working together, we can achieve those objectives of improved security and a better life for the citizens of all countries.” Brunei was the fifth phase in the CARAT series. The U.S. task group previously held exercises with the countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Collins is embarked aboard Tortuga, which operates from Sasebo, Japan, as part of the U.S. 7th Fleet’s Forward Deployed Naval Forces. Collins’ staff is based in San Diego. Besides Tortuga the other CARAT task group ships are USS Hopper (DDG 70), USS Crommelin (FFG 37), USS Salvor (ARS 52) and the USCGC Sherman (WHEC 720). Hopper, Crommelin and Salvor are homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Sherman is homeported in Alameda, Calif. The RBN task group was comprised of the Waspada-class fast attack craft KDB Pejuang (P03) and KDB Seteria (P04), and the Perwira-class coastal patrol craft KDB Perwira (P14) and KDB Pemburu (P15). © Navy NewsStand.
Joint action leads to delisting of Straits as war-risk zone
Putrajaya - Joint action by the littoral states, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, in safeguarding the Straits of Malacca has led Lloyd's of London, to delist the straits as a war-risk zone. Foreign Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid, said the joint plan included co-ordinated patrols, eye-in-the-sky monitoring facilities, installation of early warning system as well as co-operating with straits users. "We did not merely issue statements. We come up with action plans to convince Lloyd's that the straits is safe," Syed Hamid told a function at his ministry here, Tuesday. He said as the result, there was not a single piracy attack reported in the straits for the first quarter of this year. "The littoral states recognised the need to correct the perception that the straits is a very high risk zone for piracy activities. "It is also crucial to clear the confusion among insurance companies between the terrorist and piracy activities that have taken place in the straits which resulted in them imposing higher premiums as they regarded the straits a very dangerous zone," Syed Hamid said. He said the littoral states also felt that responsibility of safeguarding the straits should also be shared by the users such as Japan, US and China. "Japan, for example, has donated a patrol boat," he said. Lloyd's Market Association's Neil Roberts was quoted in a newsreport from London on Monday that the London insurance market's powerful joint war committee had removed a war-risk rating for merchant ships transiting the Straits of Malacca due to an improvement in security. The committee, which comes under the Lloyd's Market Association, imposed the rating in June last year. Since then, the Malaysian government has been lobbying for the removal of the rating which often resulted in higher insurance premiums and relatively poor perception of the security situation in the area. In March this year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak asked Lloyd's to reconsider its decision because the earlier security concerns had been brought under control. Also, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency had been set up in March this year to deal with those concerns in the straits. The Straits of Malacca is one of the key sea lanes in the world with an estimated 50,000 ships passing through it annually. Last week Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy reiterated Malaysia's call to Lloyd's to remove the rating following improved security measures by the littoral states. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Lloyd's removes Malacca Straits from war-risk rating list
The London-based insurance Lloyd's has removed its war risk rating for merchant ships using the Straits of Malacca, local media reported Wednesday. In letter dated Monday to the Malaysian Transport Ministry, the Lloyd's Market Association's Joint War Committee (JWC) said it has decided to delete the Straits of Malacca from its list of 20 areas worldwide deemed security threats to shipping. This lift of war-risk rating is expected to reduce insurance premiums on ships plying one of the world's busiest waterways. Malaysian Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy on Tuesday welcomed Lloyd's move, saying it will help improve the image of Malaysia in the international community and contribute to the tourism and trade sector in this country. In June 2005, Lloyd's decided to put the Straits of Malacca on the list. The three littoral states -- Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore -- had been urging the insurance association to remove the rating, saying it reflected poorly on the region's security situation. Chan said the three countries will continue to safeguard the security of the Straits of Malacca to ensure it will not be labeled with war-risk rating once again in the future. © People's Daily Online (China).
Lloyd's takes Malacca strait off high-risk list by Kang Siew Li, Hamidah Atan and Farrah Naz Karim
London-based insurer Lloyd's has removed the Straits of Malacca from its list of dangerous waterways, a move that should reduce the insurance premiums on ships that ply one of the world's busiest sea lanes. The Malacca strait reportedly carries about 40 per cent of the world's trade, including 80 per cent of the energy supplies of Japan and China. More than 50,000 merchant ships ply this waterway every year. In a letter dated August 7 2006, the Lloyd's Market Association's Joint War Committee (JWC) said it has decided to delete the Malacca strait from its list of 20 areas worldwide that it deemed security threats to shipping. The initial decision in June 2005 to put the Malacca strait on the list - alongside Iraq, Lebanon and Nigeria - caused an outcry from shipowners around the world as it meant increased shipping costs for them as some underwriters impose higher premiums on ships travelling through the strait. The three littoral states - Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore - also called for the strait's removal from the list as it reflects poorly on the region's security situation. The International Shipowners' Association of Malaysia vice-chairman Ooi Lean Hin said the lifting of the war-risk rating on the Malacca strait is positive for shipowners as they will be relieved from paying additional insurance premiums on their ships. "Although insurance premiums are a relatively small portion of our overall operating costs, we have been absorbing the additional costs rather than passing them to our customers. The reduction (in premiums) will ease our burden," he told Business Times. Malaysian Shipowners' Association executive secretary Captain Hasnan Anuar urged the littoral states to "keep up the good work" and maintain the various anti-piracy initiatives introduced over the years. "We also wish to caution all concerned that despite the delisting of Malacca strait, it does not mean that all underwriters will accept and apply this new list," he said. International Maritime Bureau Piracy Reporting Centre head Noel Choong said the Malacca strait has shown an improvement with three attacks in the first six months of 2006 compared to eight for the same period in 2005. However, in July and August 2006, five further incidents have been reported in the Malacca strait. "As such, we hope that the littoral states would continue their activities in patrolling the strait. Any let-up may result in piracy coming back," said Choong. Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak when told of the delisting, said there was no basis for war-risk listing in the first place as piracy had dwindled particularly in areas of the strait which belonged to Malaysia. "I am very, very happy that our efforts have borne fruits," he added. Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Malaysia welcomed the removal, adding that it reflects the tangible actions taken by the littoral states. These include joint patrols in the 900km Malacca strait since July 2004, and the "Eye in the Sky" programme, which augmented the coordinated patrols. Speaking to reporters in Putrajaya yesterday, Syed Hamid pointed out that users of the strait should help offset the cost of ensuring safety and security in the area. "We are spending our own money (for joint maritime patrols and coordinated aerial surveillance of the strait) for their use. User states must also contribute," he added. © The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad.
MISC to launch the Halal Express service
MISC Bhd plans to launch a weekly liner service, The Halal Express Service, which will cover ports from Straits of Malacca to West Asia and other areas with the first sailing planned for September 2006. In a statement, the shipping firm said the services would have a direct call at Port Klang and Jebel Ali in Dubai. “This will provide a fast transit time for sensitive refrigerated cargoes from MISC Logistics Sdn Bhd (MILS) facilities in Port Klang to its distribution facilities in Jebel Ali for West Asian market. “The service will also be supporting the first end-to-end halal supply chain in the region,” it said. The statement said MILS has set up a multi-million ringgit halal hub facilities in Port Klang in line with the plan to turn Malaysia into a regional halal centre for the Asian region. © The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad.
MISC to remain in liner sector
Kuala Lumpur - MISC chairman Hassan Marican has quashed speculation about shedding the liner and logistics business. “There is no plan to exit the liner business or the logistics business,” Marican told reporters after the company AGM yesterday. MISC has been focusing on growing its energy-related businesses in tune with complementing state-owned parent Petronas. MISC is the world’s largest LNG operator and bolstered its crude oil tanker fleet through the acquisition of American Eagle Tankers from Singapore’s NOL. It pulled out of the dry bulk business and has sold a number of older container ships, a move that sparked rumours of a liner sell-off. For the first quarter, to 30 June, turnover rose 4.6% to RM2.7Bn ($733.9M) while profit before exceptional items amounted to RM523.5M, 4.5% lower than for the corresponding quarter. “The decrease was mainly due to softening freight rates in liner and petroleum divisions," MISC said. Lower freight rates, however, "were mitigated" by contributions from heavy engineering, offshore and LNG newbuildings. © Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Limited 1999 - 2006.
Nepline to post profit in 2007
Kuala Lumpur - Nepline Bhd expects to return to profit next year and plans to issue RM170mil in Islamic bonds to expand its fleet. Nepline was finalising the purchase of a double-hulled Aframax tanker of 100,000 deadweight tonnes for about US$45mil, managing director Muhamad Azmi Alwi said in an interview. “We hope to bring in the vessel some time in September. We are discussing with a few foreign charterers and will probably use it to ship crude from the Gulf to China. “With the Aframax alone, we should be able to get US$9mil to US$10mil in revenue next year. This is double our current total revenue,” he added. Nepline, whose clients include Royal Dutch Shell and Petroliam Nasional Bhd, posted revenue of about RM26mil in 2005, but had a net loss of RM7mil due to book losses from the disposal of its land transport business. “This year will be the last year to provide for book loss, and next year we will start clean,” Azmi said. Nepline, which now owns four small single-hulled ships, had also ordered a 7,000-tonne double-hulled tanker from China for US$12mil, and will exercise an option for another vessel by the end of this month, he added. Delivery of the tanker is expected in August 2007, with the second due three or four months later. Azmi said the company would continue with a fleet renewal programme by phasing out its four single-hulled vessels to meet an International Maritime Organisation rule requiring all single-hulled tankers to be phased out by 2010. He said Nepline aimed to have six or seven double-hulled tankers serving the domestic and regional trade. Azmi said he saw charter rates holding firm due to huge demand and high oil prices. Nepline, which took a controlling stake in a biotechnology company in 2005, said that venture was expected to start contributing to revenue next year. This will happen after the company commercialised its technology to extract lecithin from palm oil in the first quarter of 2007. “It will be one of the main contributors to the group. We are working closely with palm oil plantations and we have more or less identified the market for lecithin,” Azmi said. © 1995-2006 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd.
Piracy at some key hot spots worsened
Pirates killed six seafarers in the first half of this year, according to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB). The number of reported piracy attacks worldwide in the first six months of 2006 remained at 127, the same as last year's figure equivalent figure. In its Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships report, the IMB lists a total of 127 attacks on ships. Ships were boarded in 74 instances and 11 ships were hijacked. There were 156 crew taken hostage, 13 were kidnapped and six killed. The IMB warns: "Although the number of attacks overall remains the same, there is a worry that in some key hot spots the situation has deteriorated. Eight attacks have been reported off the eastern coast of Somalia where pirates armed with guns and grenades have attacked ships and fired upon them. The eastern and north-eastern coasts of Somalia continue to be high-risk areas for hijackings. IMB warns that ships not making scheduled calls to ports in these areas should stay at least 200 miles or as far away as practical from the eastern coast of Somalia. Indonesia recorded 33 incidents, the highest number this half year followed by Bangladesh with 22 attacks. Violence and intimidation of crew continues to be a hallmark of these attacks with many of the pirates armed with guns and knives. Malacca Straits has shown an improvement with three attacks as compared with eight for the same period in 2005. However, since the end of June 2006, three further incidents within a two-day period have been reported in the Malacca Straits. IMB director Pottengal Mukundan said "It would appear from the figures that the decline in attacks over the past two years has slowed down. New high risk areas have emerged. It is vital that the Governments in these areas give priority to this crime and resource law enforcements agencies to tackle it. In those areas, such as the Malacca Straits, where the decline continues, we call upon law enforcement agencies to maintain the initiatives which have been successful. If the pressure lets up, we believe the attacks will rise again." - PortsWorld. © The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad.
Piracy still troubling the shipping industry by Robert Wright
When pirates attacked the US cruise ship Seabourn Spirit off Somalia in November last year, the incident, which led to only minor injuries among the 151 mainly American tourists onboard, produced some shocking images. Passengers' photos showed men in the attacking vessels with the grins and confident swagger of characters in a pirate film. But, instead of cutlasses and a galleon, the men had two fast boats, automatic weapons and a grenade launcher. The incident was the best-publicised of several in the past year which have highlighted the serious threat faced by vessels and crews in many parts of the world from robbery, kidnap and even hijacking of vessels. According to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors attacks on ships, there were 276 worldwide last year, with 440 crew members taken hostage and 23 ships hijacked. The attacks include piracy (technically defined only as incidents in international waters) and armed robbery in a country's territorial waters. This week, however, the pirates were back in the news – for a different reason. After more than a year during which the Malacca Strait between the Pacific and Indian oceans had been classified a war-risk zone by insurers, Lloyd's, the insurance market, decided on Monday to suspend the risk premium for most of the strait. The premium is thought to have been imposed partly because of a perceived terrorism risk in the strait, used by more than 50,000 vessels annually. But its suspension has been widely linked to a reduction in pirate attacks following improved security co-operation between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, the three coastal states. Chris Horrocks, secretary-general of the International Shipping Federation, says the current position worldwide is better than in some recent years, particularly 2000, when attacks peaked at more than 450 a year. But piracy can emerge suddenly in any area. "When attacks hit a peak in 2000, at that time Somalia was just a blip on the radar screen," Mr Horrocks says. "Then it becomes a big problem. Piracy tends to be a feature of areas where there is either lawlessness or real economic deprivation and it's very difficult to eradicate." Attacks in some areas have also become more sophisticated. Mr Horrocks compares the shift with a progression from mugging to organised crime. Attackers in the Malacca Strait now often kidnap crew or hijack vessels because they know owners will pay a ransom. The pirates that attacked the Seabourn Spirit, meanwhile, appear to have launched their fast boats from a larger mother ship. The cruise ship's master had thought that, at 100 miles off the coast, he was out of their small boats' range. Yet the shipping industry, Mr Horrocks admits, can do little about the risks except ensure that ships keep a good lookout and press governments to act. Improved intergovernmental co-operation has reduced the Malacca Strait problems, while better international naval patrols have helped to control the Somali problem. "Piracy is a constant concern of the shipping industry," Mr Horrocks says. "If things are somewhat better now, we should be thankful for that. But we should not be in any sense encouraging governments to drop their guard." © The Financial Times Ltd.
Transit toll proposed for Malacca Straits by Frank Kennedy
Ships transiting the Malacca Straits may soon be charged a toll due to the rising security costs incurred by Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia in keeping one of the world's busiest waterways open and relatively safe. Over the past year, these littoral states have increased joint air and sea patrols of the strait in response to the increase in piracy incidents that was peaking just prior to the tsunami of December 2004. It is also likely that their security action was prompted by the decision just over one year ago by Lloyds' Joint War Committee (JWC) to list the Straits as a 'war zone' because of the high incidence and seriousness of the attacks being made on merchant shipping. Last week, and in the wake of the latest report by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) that monitors global piracy incidents, the JWC decided to remove the 'war zone' listing in view of "a significant improvement" in security within the Straits. Statistics show that attacks in the area have now fallen to their lowest level since 1999. Malaysia, which had been a vociferous opponent of the 'war risk' categorisation, had again called for its lifting when the IMB published its latest figures and following the subsequent relaxation by the JWC, welcomed the decision taken. However, Syed Hamid Albar, Malaysian Foreign Minister, said that his country, Singapore and Indonesia had all spent heavily to improve security and that other nations "should now contribute" to the cost of security. While there was strong opposition within the industry for such a toll when it was previously suggested in the 1990s, it appears to be less contentious today with a general acceptance that such a charge to defray the costs of security is reasonable and would certainly be less than 'war risk' surcharges by insurers. However, the practicalities of enforcement remain to be specified and could be difficult. One proposal being studied is the involvement of Flag States in the implementation of charges. Cheah Kong Wai, Director-General of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia, said, "So far, the positive response is a verbal one, where users of the Strait say the littoral states must come up with a mechanism and we will look at it." If such a proposal is implemented, it is likely that China and Japan would be most affected since 80 per cent of their energy supplies pass through the 900-km Strait that links Asia with the Middle East and Europe. This amounts to about 40 per cent of global sea trade that is carried by some 50,000 vessels each year. Notwithstanding the latest decision by the JWC concerning the Malacca Straits, a statement from Lloyds said ships calling at north-east ports on the Indonesian island of Sumatra would still be subject to 'war-risk' surcharges due to ongoing attacks blamed on Aceh separatist rebels. Furthermore, despite the frequency of increased security patrols and the improvement in security, the IMB still warns that piracy has not been eliminated within the Malacca Straits, with four attacks in July and one so far reported this month.
Marlo warns against complacency
The Bahrain-based US Maritime Liaison Office (Marlo) has warned seafarers that despite a recent significant decrease in piracy activities off the coast of Somalia, the risk of attack remains, particularly for commercial vessels calling at Somali ports and for fishing vessels that operate in inshore waters. Commercial vessels transiting the sea lanes off the coast of Somalia should also continue to be vigilant and be ready to report any pirate activity to the IMB's Piracy Reporting Centre. The last pirate attack reported in Somali waters occurred on April 4 this year. Subsequently two vessels, the M/T Lin 1 and the F/V Dong Won 628 were released leaving no hostages in captivity.
Tidewater sells 14 tugs
Tidewater Inc., the world's largest operator of offshore support vessels, has said it has entered into an agreement with Crosby Marine Transportation, LLC to sell 14 of its offshore tugs. Twelve of the tugs currently constitute Tidewater's total domestic fleet. In addition, two tugs scheduled to return from international assignments in the Middle East are included in the transaction. The sale of 10 tugs is expected to close by end-August, with the sale of the other four scheduled to close over the next four months as current charter contracts to which the four tugs are subject expire. The combined sales proceeds of $44.8 million will result in an estimated pre-tax gain of around $34 million and Tidewater says that the sale should have a negligible effect on future earnings capacity. [The writer is a Dubai-based marine consultant]. © Al Nisr Publishing LLC 2006.
WEEK 4 & 5 (20 - 31 August 2006)
Beat piracy with new interactive map
Kuala Lumpur - The International Maritime Bureau has produced an interactive online map showing the nature and location of piracy attacks. The map provides a new resource for ship operators and masters whose vessels must pass through piracy-proine waters, the ICC agency said, announcing the new site yesterday. The map can be accessed directly at http://www.icc-ccs.org/extra/display.php. It is available as either a satellite view, provided by Google, a plain view showing countries and borders, or a combination of both, the IMB said. Viewers can see not only the coastline but also the bays and coves from which pirates could initiate an attack.Reports of piracy incidents will be added to the map within 24 hours of confirmation, the IMB said. Details of each incident can be revealed by the click of a mouse on a red balloon symbol. The site also gives a quick reference to world areas with the highest incidence of reported attacks. "It is not easy to get an immediate picture of the piracy risk of an area by reading lengthy reports full of data and numbers," said IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan. "We hope the map, coupled with the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre alerts, will help seafarers spot the warning signs and better prepare for possible attacks." Interactive maps are currently available for 2005 and 2006. Plain maps showing recorded incidents back to 2001 are available at the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre website, http://www.icc-ccs.org/prc/piracyreport.php. Feedback and suggestions will be welcomed, the IMB says. © Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Limited 1999 - 2006.
China, Singapore, Norway to sign tripartite MOU on maritime research by S. Ramesh
Singapore - China, Singapore and Norway will sign a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding on Maritime Research and Development, and Education and Training, on Monday. The signing will take place during the visit of China's Minister for Communications, Mr Li Shenglin, who will be in Singapore from August 27 to August 30. A statement from the Transport Ministry says Mr Li will call on his Singapore counterpart, Mr Raymond Lim. Minister of State for Transport and Finance, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua will host a dinner for Mr Li. Mr Li will also visit the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and PSA International. © 2006 MCN International Pte Ltd.
China, Singapore pledge cooperation on non-traditional security
Chinese State Councilor Zhou Yongkang said here Thursday that China will further cooperation with Singapore on the non-traditional security field. "The cooperation between China and Singapore in maritime security and combating terrorism, transnational crime, illegal immigration is of positive significance to the public security in the region as well as the two countries," said Zhou. Zhou, also minister of public security, made the remarks while meeting with Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who arrived at Shanghai Monday on a seven-day visit. During the visit, Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and Wong will co-chair the third meeting of the China-Singapore Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation and the eighth meeting of the Joint Steering Committee of the Suzhou Industrial Park, a joint venture between the two governments. Zhou also spoke highly of sound cooperation between the two countries, calling for more efforts to push forward bilateral relations to a new height. Wong Kan Seng, also Singaporean Minister for Home Affairs, highlighted the close cooperation between the public security departments of China and Singapore, hoping the two countries will further exchanges in information sharing on anti-terrorism and fighting transnational crimes. Wong Kan Seng expressed his reassurance for China's peaceful development. "A strong, prosperous and stable China will pose positive influence on the regional and the world at large," he said. © Xinhua.
China, Vietnam set 2008 for border agreement
Beijing - China and its southern neighbor Vietnam have agreed to finish demarking their border by 2008, a state newspaper said on Wednesday, a contentious area that has been the cause of military conflict. Chinese President Hu Jintao, meeting Vietnam's Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh in Beijing, said China was also willing to discuss a disputed maritime area where the two countries' navies have clashed in the past. "Vietnam and China agreed ... to handle the border issue properly and on the basis of friendly consultation so that the demarcation can be completed in 2008," the China Daily said. "China is ready to work with the Vietnamese side to speed up surveying and determining the land boundary, and steadily push for the demarcation of sea territory outside the Beibu Gulf and negotiations on the common development of the area," it added. Beibu Gulf is the Chinese name for the Gulf of Tonkin, an area of sea between northern Vietnam, southern China and the Chinese island province of Hainan. China supported the Vietnamese Communists in their decades-long war against South Vietnam and its U.S. sponsors. But Vietnam has traditionally been wary of its larger Asian neighbor, and in 1979 the two countries fought a brief border war after Vietnam occupied Cambodia and overthrew the murderous Khmer Rouge regime that favored Beijing. Beijing and Hanoi normalized relations in 1991. The two countries continue to quarrel over the Spratly Islands, a string of rocky outcrops in the South China Sea also claimed by Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Another set of islets further north of the Spratly group, the Paracel Islands, were seized by China in 1974 and have been occupied by them ever since despite Vietnamese protests. © Reuters 2006.
Coordinated patrols in Malacca Straits have helped cut down piracy: Teo Chee Hean by Sujadi Siswo
Jakarta - Singapore's Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean says the coordinated air and sea patrols in the Malacca Straits have borne results. The stepped up vigilance has helped to cut down sea robberies and piracy in the regional waterway. Mr Teo made the observation as he witnessed a joint exercise by the Indonesian and Singapore navies. For the first time since Exercise Eagle started more than 30 years ago, Indonesian and Singapore navy personnel staged a dramatic maritime security boarding exercise. The bilateral exercise - which involved six ships and two maritime patrol aircraft - is a clear signal that the two neighbouring nations are determined to work together to keep regional waterways safe. Admiral Slamet Soebijanto, Indonesian Navy Chief, said, "I believe these joint exercises will strengthen the relationship between the two neighbours. It will also provide a deterrent to any countries or individuals who're bent on disturbing the peace in the straits of Malacca and (Singapore) which are international waters." Indonesia has been criticised in some quarters for not doing enough to safeguard the regional waterways, but Defence Minister Teo, who witnessed the exercise, says the situation has improved with coordinated air and sea patrols. He said, "The actions taken by the TNI both at sea and on shore have had an effect on the security of the seas around us. This has helped to reduce the incidence of sea robberies and piracies in our area. And this is for the good of all countries as well as the user states." Each year, one third of global trade and nearly half the world's global oil supply pass through the Malacca Straits. Defence interaction between the armed forces of Indonesia and Singapore dates back more than 30 years and spans a wide range of exercises across the three services. Besides enhancing the professionalism of officers, these joint exercises have also improved the interoperability of the two armed forces. Aside from a long history of close military ties, Singapore and Indonesia are also ironing out a Defence Co-operation Agreement to deepen this mutually beneficial relationship. © 2006 MCN International Pte Ltd.
Global container shipping booms
Munich, Germany - The world's biggest ports are packed with a growing number of container ships, sparking an unprecedented port expansion from Hong Kong to Hamburg, a German newspaper has reported. In Hong Kong, for example, an average of 18 container ships drop anchor every day and the docks behind the harbor walls are filled with 60,000 containers at any given time, Der Speigel said. At any given moment, there are 6 million containers on ships at sea across the world's oceans. Hutchison Port Holdings, the world's largest port operator, runs 251 terminals in 43 ports. It is building a deepwater terminal in Shanghai, new dockage in Malaysia and container facilities in Oman. In addition, it is spending $250 billion upgrading assets in Panama, the August 25 article said. Part of the reason for the boom in maritime shipping is its low-cost: Shipping a bottle of wine from Australia to Germany adds only $0.05 to its final price. © 2006 News World Communications Inc.
Integrating East Asia's forgotten half by Prashanth Parameswaran
The university's East Asian studies program and its interdisciplinary East Asia center provide students with a vast array of academic courses, useful resources on grant programs, and interesting study abroad offers. However, the program's lack of Southeast Asian related material is a source of worry and concern. Taking into account the region's economic, political and strategic clout, clearing this blind spot is an urgent issue that must be quickly addressed by the University. Southeast Asia consists of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia and East Timor, and combined with Northeast Asian countries Japan, China, Taiwan, Mongolia and North and South Korea, make up the broader East Asian region. Southeast Asia contains nearly 10 percent of the world's population and is the fifth largest market for American exports. It has been declared the "second front" against the war on terrorism and hosts the world's most important strategic waterway, the Straits of Malacca, through which a quarter of global maritime trade and oil shipments pass. The massive significance of the region to American policymakers and the world at large alone accords it a prime position in academia, alongside other Asian giants China, Japan and the two Koreas. Yet, while Northeast Asian nations have a domineering influence in the East Asian Studies department, Southeast Asia is often left in the backburner. Foreign Affairs Prof. Brantly Womack, the only listed lecturer at the East Asian Studies Department with any expertise on Southeast Asia, laments that "despite the fact that Southeast Asia has a population larger than the European Union, the region continues to be ignored at the University." More contemporary issues also highlight the urgency with which this oversight needs to be managed. American hegemonic influence in Southeast Asia has been waning in the face of Chinese inroads, provoking a surge of interest by American policymakers in the region. Even more concerning are the results by scholars such as Joshua Kurlantzick of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who attributes Chinese successes to "soft power" strategies which include cultural and language exchange programs and a broader understanding of their Southeast Asian counterparts, which American diplomats and schools lack. Experts have suggested that producing more Southeast Asian regionalists and language specialists in universities might hold the key to offsetting China's "soft power" diplomacy. What better place to produce such experts than this University, which is the second best American public university, which houses one of the top-ten largest Asian populations in the United States? However, integrating Southeast Asian curriculum into the East Asian Studies Program requires a lot of leverage, which the East Asia Center lacks. For one, its stature as a center, and not a department, renders it helpless in applying for curriculum or faculty changes directly to the Dean's Office. Secondly, the little bargaining power that the East Asian Center does have is channeled into filling gaps in the East Asian sphere, rather than the creation of a new Southeast Asian counterpart. "It has made more sense to build on what we do have, instead of what we don't have," says the center's head, Prof. Bradly Reed, who is well aware of the University's shortcomings with regard to Southeast Asia. However, there is still a lot that the University can do to facilitate the integration of Southeast Asian curriculum.The first step must involve the creation of an independent East Asia Department to substitute the East Asia Center. This hopefully will increase the Center's bargaining power and enable it to strengthen its East Asian faculty and curriculum by applying for these changes directly to the Dean's Office. The incorporation of Southeast Asian curriculum has to occur alongside this, since the University needs to meet the ever rising demand for Southeast Asian specialists and linguists. Concrete reforms should include the integration of Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia. Malaysia is a modern Muslim nation while Indonesia houses the world's largest Muslim population -- as well as the introduction of broader international relations and history courses. Given its geopolitical weight and increasing political clout, Southeast Asia deserves significantly more attention than its miniscule presence at the University and the United States. If we continue to ignore the rich culture, history and politics of Southeast Asia, it will only proliferate the regional image of an arrogant, ignorant and hegemonic United States, and cause us to lose the battle against China for regional dominance. © 1995-2006 The Cavalier Daily.
Malaysia, China to strengthen maritime, shipping cooperation
Putrajaya - Malaysia and China Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation in the maritime and shipping sector. Minister of Transport, Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy, signed the MoU on behalf of Malaysia and China was represented by its Minister of Communications, Li Shenglin. Speaking to reporters later, Chan said the MOU was a follow-up to the earlier Maritime Transport Agreement signed with China on Sept 9, 1997. "The MoU is broad and the focus will be on areas we can cooperate in, especially maritime and shipping. "Under the agreement, both countries will endeavour to establish arrangements for the exchange of information and technical know-how in the maritime sector," he said. Chan said maritime agencies and authorities from both countries would discuss ways to widen the scope of cooperation in maritime-related activities. "The possible areas of cooperation are shipping safety and maritime transport security, maritime training and certification and marine technology. "Other areas include maritime policy, shipping cooperation and port management and development," he said. Meanwhile, Li said talks prior to the signing of the MoU were friendly and cordial. "Of course, after this we hope to cooperate in more areas within the maritime sector," he said. © 2006 BERNAMA.
Malaysian Bulk Carriers upbeat
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian Bulk Carriers, the shipping arm of tycoon Robert Kuok Hock Nien, has reported a net profit of RM138M ($38M) on the back of a turnover of RM216M. Net profit for the first half of 2006 was boosted by improved freight rates in the second quarter, the company said. Profit was considerably lower than RM536M achieved for the corresponding period in 2005, but the numbers were inflated then because of capital gains on the sale of ships. The outlook for the rest of the year is seen as positive because of “some success” achieved by the US Federal Reserve in stemming inflation that has let to “a pause in the relentless interest rate hikes.” Shipping is also expected to gain from the continuous high growth rate of the Chinese economy. However, directors have sounded a note of caution drawing attention to uncertainties in the Middle East that could drive oil prices higher. The Malaysian government has a 20% stake in the company, which operates 18 ships including four tankers. Five tankers are on order. © Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Limited 1999 - 2006.
Malaysia's development race puts mangroves at risk by Clarence Fernandez
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's scramble for rich country status threatens its mangroves unless the government puts teeth in its plans to protect the rich wetlands that offer a home to marine life and help block extreme weather. Malaysia's mangrove forests, made up of evergreen trees and shrubs that grow on stilt-like roots in dense thickets, are home to 41 of the world's 69 species of mangrove plants, but they have shrunk about 30 percent in the last 50 years. Although the prime minister has called for the mangroves to be protected, individual state authorities have the final say on the use of the land where mangroves are located, biologist Ong Jin Eong, a former professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia, said. "There's no point in the prime minister saying 'Save the mangroves' and then leaving the states to deal with the matter, because there is no one to stop them doing what they like with the land," Ong added. Conversion to oil palm plantations, development for urban road networks, and illegal encroachment and exploitation are the key threats to mangroves, environmentalists say. And while a managed mangrove forest in Matang in central Perak state supports a fishery worth $100 million a year, mangrove loss hit 84 percent in some state reserves over the quarter century to 2004, the Maritime Institute of Malaysia says. If present trends continued, there would be no mangroves left by 2020, Ong said, referring to a 15-year plan the government unveiled last week to reach its goal of developed country status by 2020. "It could be a new development index," Ong told a meeting of researchers in the Malaysian capital. "If you have no mangroves left then you are a developed country." Mangroves have luxuriant and complicated root systems that form a natural barrier against destructive waves, prompting several Asian nations hit by the December 2004 tsunami disaster to launch programmes to plant mangroves along their coasts. But mangroves remain at risk of arbitrary action by planners and developers because policymakers have persistently proved unable to put a correct valuation on their numerous benefits, environmental economist Lucy Emerton said. Economists traditionally calculated the value of goods and services generated by coastal ecosystems only in terms of market prices, but ignored indirect values, such as weather protection and flood limitation, she said. And aspects such as the premium put on maintaining species and genetic resources for future uses with economic value -- such as drug and agriculture development or tourism prospects -- got left out of conventional models, or wrongly priced, she added. "Treating, counting and managing mangroves as part of development infrastructure provides a more equitable and sustainable base for future coastal development and security," said Emerton, who works for the World Conservation Union, IUCN. Protecting mangrove forests would not hit the availability of land for development since mangrove forests now make up just 1.75 percent of Malaysia's land area, researcher Tan Kim Hooi of think tank the Maritime Institute of Malaysia said in a study. "With proper interventions it is possible to reverse the destruction and degradation of mangroves in Malaysia," he added. Malaysia's junior environment minister said action by state governments, which control about 100,000 hectares of Malaysia's 570,000 hectares of mangroves, was key to save the forests. "What is now urgently needed is a strong commitment from state governments to protect their mangroves," S. Sothinathan said, adding that Malaysia plans to spend 40 million ringgit over the next five years to rehabilitate its mangroves. © 2006 Reuters.
MISC heads race for China LNG deal
Kuala Lumpur - MISC is eyeing a huge LNG shipment with state-owned parent Petronas, said to be in the running for supplying liquefied gas to China’s third LNG plant in Shanghai. “Signs are encouraging,” Malaysia’s deputy prime minister Najib Razak told reporters yesterday. Petronas faces stiff international competition, but the Chinese government is reportedly considering ratifying a 25-year agreement for one of state-owned energy companies to buy LNG from Petronas. Price negotiations are said to be on. Initially the annual capacity for the LNG import terminal in Yangshan will be 3M tonnes. The terminal is scheduled to be operational in the second-half of 2008. Shanghai LNG Co is a joint venture between Shenenergy Group (55%) and CNOOC Gas & Power (45%), a subsidiary of China National Offfshore Oil Corp. MISC is the world’s biggest LNG owner/operator with 21 vessels. © Lloyd's Register - Fairplay Limited 1999 - 2006