Project Utopia: A floating, sailing micro-nation

"Not an object to travel in, but a place to be"

British design company BMT Nigel Gee revealed details of ‘Project Utopia’ a few weeks ago; developed in partnership with Yacht Island Design, Project Utopia is a futuristic concept that looks more like an oil rig than a yacht. It is actually neither- the best way to describe the Utopia is a 'floating, sailing micro-nation", we think, except that it will probably be moored at different locations for long periods while users fly in and out by helicopter. It will also have enough space within it to cater to large numbers of people- or some very rich individuals and their entourages.

The designers say that the four-legged platform design uses the same principles of any small water-plane area diving support vessel, guaranteeing minimum motion in even the most extreme sea conditions. Said BMT Nigel Gee's Yacht Design Director James Roy, commenting on the concept, “Utopia is not an object to travel in, it is a place to be, an island established for anyone who has the vision to create such a place.” 

The Utopia will measure 100 metres in length and breadth and span over 11 decks, enclosing within it a volume equivalent to that on a present-day cruise liner. The large central structure seen in the graphic will act as a as the conduit for the mooring system and will house a wet dock for access. Each of the four legs will support an azimuth thruster; put together, these will allow the Utopia to 'sail' to a new destination at relatively slow speed, where it will moor for a while. Multiple helicopter pads will allow people to fly back and forth from a nearby coast.

A retractable canopy on the uppermost deck tops up eleven decks of accommodation and service spaces. The “13th Floor,” a staggering 65 metres above the surface of the water, will have an observatory with 360-degree views.The design of the interior of the Utopia is flexible; although it is currently configured like a cruise liner - a mix of retail districts, theatres, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and a casino- it could be redesigned for almost any purpose. 

BMT Nigel Gee said that the design "breaks the traditional naval architectural mould which the market has come to expect and offers a truly unique outlook free from any conventional design constraints." James Roy added, "Our forward thinking approach and unrivalled state of the art engineering experience allows us to work closely with designers, stylists and shipyards, to bring these ideas to life and lead the market into the next generation of naval architecture.”

The concept of a floating island is not new, but initiatives by some designers to come out with ideas to do with 'seasteading'- where larger numbers of people live for long periods on water- are now taking off. Although costs and accessibility issues mean that concepts like the Utopia will remain the preserve of the rich and famous for a while, designers say that a time will soon come when such futuristic concepts will be built for larger masses of less affluent people. 

Somali pirates hunting Indians?

"We will not release Indian crews even if a ransom is paid"

                               Somali pirates captured by India in March

Disturbing news is coming out of East Africa once again; Somali pirates have reportedly released a video that says that are now targeting Indian seafarers in order to force India to release suspected Somali pirates held in Indian prisons. Jama Deparani of the Somalia Report says that the pirates are already searching for Indians among the nearly 300 crewmembers being held hostage on various hijacked ships. In addition, they have threatened to hold back Indian crew in future even after ransoms are paid for their release. 

Somali pirates had kept back seven Indians of the bitumen carrier 'Asphalt Venture' in April this year; releasing the ship and the rest of the hostages after a $ 3.5 million ransom had been paid. The ship was taken in September last year, and the Indian crew have spent well over a year as hostages already. At the time, a pirate representative had said, "We will keep these Indians until the Indians release our colleagues”- a clear reference to retaliatory tactics after the Indian Navy's robust actions against pirate mother ships operating close to the Indian west coast. Over a hundred suspected pirates were detained by the Indian Navy in those operations.

It is clear that the targeting of Indian hostages is set to escalate; Somalis held by India have still not been released, and their Somali brethren are trying to find new ways to pressurise the Indian government. One of the pirates holding the Asphalt Venture's Indian crew in Somalia's Harardheere region has confirmed to Somalia Report that his group is holding the seven men. “We released their vessel after we got a ransom, but the Indian case is different from other hostages. We are hunting Indian crews from any hijacked vessel and we won’t release any Indian crews until the Indian government releases our friends in their jails. We will continue to release any hijacked vessel that pays a ransom, but will not release Indian crews even if a ransom is paid.”

“There are a lot of our friends in Indian jails, including two of my sons and my nephew," says pirate Hassan Jama in the video that was reportedly released to local media in Mudug. "None of the Indian hostages will be released until (the) Indian government releases them.” 

Somalia Report says that an Indian hostage identified as Bazal Sien (perhaps incorrect spelling) is shown on the video pleading for help. “We have been here for six months. The climate is so hot and pirates are threatening kill us if our government does not release their pirate friends", he reportedly says.

Exact figures of Indians held on ships in Somalia are sadly not clear. What is known is that- apart from the seven Indians from the 'Asphalt Venture', the 'Fairchem Bogey' has 21 Indian crew aboard, the 'Savina Caylyn' has 17, the Iceberg 1' has six and the 'Albedo' has two. That totals to at least 53 Indian nationals who are today at great risk in a war of attrition that they have no control over.

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Philippine Government clamps down on oldest and largest maritime school

Courses stopped, 13,000 students hit.

The largest and oldest maritime college in the Philippines has been forced to close down its maritime education programmes for failing to comply with local and international standards. The Philippine State Commission on Higher Education (CHED) asked the 63-year-old Manila based Philippine Maritime Institute (PMI) to discontinue maritime education courses that catered to 3,500 deck and marine engineering graduates annually, prompting severe protests from students who are enrolled at PMI and have now been asked to switch to other colleges. Rattled by these developments, students, teachers and parents hit by the ban will hold protest rallies at CHED later this week.

CHED claimed on its Facebook page yesterday that a Quezon City judge has upheld its decision, denying a PMI petition for a temporary restraining order against the closure of the two courses.

PMI, established in 1948, is the largest maritime institute in the country. Its three campuses had come under CHED fire in recent times for a drop in the quality of education; CHED Director Julito Vitriolo said the closure decision was reached after the school failed to rectify deficiencies pointed out by CHED since 2006, involving shortcomings related to infrastructure and faculty. 

Many, however, see the CHED move as fallout of pressure by the European Maritime Safety Agency- EMSA- that has threatened to withdraw recognition of Philippine STCW certificates, a move that has rattled the MET administration in the country and precipitated a crackdown on maritime colleges. The fear is that thousands of Filipino seafarers would be out of jobs if the EMSA de-recognition threat became a reality. 

“We took action instead of causing problems for future seafarers who might not be accepted because of their qualifications,” Vitriolo commented.

CHED says that the two maritime programmes of PMI Colleges (Degree programs in Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering) would be closed 'in view of the consistent failure of the school to comply with the standards of said programmes in accordance with STCW and CHED requirements'. CHED has reportedly cracked down on tens of other maritime schools across the Philippines. It says that it would close down 'three more substandard maritime schools' soon. 

PMI had reacted angrily to the closure, saying that the CHED order was 'unfair and baseless'. It says that it has addressed "all non-compliances raised in recent audits such as facilities improvement and faculty development, including the installation of two full mission ship's bridge simulators in two of its campuses".

Meanwhile, affected students enrolled at PMI have asked the Commission on Higher Education to reconsider its decision to close the two programmes; Student council official Randy Padilla said in a press conference that CHED should first examine the effects of the closure order on students and teachers. “We were not properly informed of the order, for it was only announced two weeks after enrolment started,” he said, adding that students were confused and frustrated by the late announcement. He said that no assistance had been given by either CHED or PMI for transfers to other institutes after the closure order, adding that the ban will have serious financial and other repercussions on trainees' careers. “Other schools require a one-year residency to graduate, thus the closure will add a semester to a transferree from PMI,” he said. 

Padilla claimed that 13,000 students have been forced to shift programmes or transfer to other schools. Another student council official- engineering student Jovan Hebayan- told the Philippine Inquirer that almost half these students might be forced to drop out of school due to financial difficulties as most of the schools that offer similar courses charge twice as much as PMI.

“Why should we suffer and pay for the lapses of either CHED or PMI management? We must not foot any bill but rather be given consideration by both CHED and PMI management,” he said.

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Six Indian divers die in decompression chamber as ship sinks in Persian Gulf

Mr Mohammad Rastad -Director General of the Port and Maritime Organisation of Bushehr province in Iran- has confirmed that rescue teams have found the bodies of six Indian divers aboard a support vessel that sank in bad weather off the Iranian coast. The bodies are believed to have been found in a decompression chamber bolted on to the deck of the ship; they died after their oxygen ran out. The Iranian ship carrying 73 people sank late last week in the Persian Gulf; Sixty people have been rescued, fifteen of them Indians. Latest reports on the ongoing rescue operation say that bodies of two more divers have been recovered from a depth of 72 metres, with five more divers still missing.

 

The Koosha-1, a dive support vessel, operating in one of the largest natural gas fields in the world in the Gulf, was heading back to port when she sank fifteen miles off the port of Assaloyeh in bad weather. Eight divers- including six Indians- were decompressing aboard after installing an underwater pipeline when the accident occurred; their bodies have now been recovered. The other divers are believed to be dead. Details are still sketchy, but it is believed that the Koosha had aboard Iranian, Ukrainian and Indian divers when she sank. 

Gulfnews reports that the Indian divers were employed by Mumbai's Adsun Offshore, whose officials were quoted as saying that the repatriation of the bodies of the Indian divers was their "top priority at the moment.” The Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Tehran, Mr C.B. George, has said that the Consul General and other officials at Bandar Abbas were rushed to the rescue site immediately after the incident. "They are co-ordinating with the Iranian authorities and the families of the divers,” he said. 

Officials at the rescue site said that the decompression chamber that the divers were trapped in had enough oxygen supply for about two days when the Koosha sank. A spokesperson for Dulam, the company whose dive support vessel ' The Providence' responded to a distress call said, "The distress call was made when weather was very bad. When the emergency took place, we encountered four to five-metre waves and 30 knot wind speeds.” He added that 'The Providence' was twenty hours away from the Koosha when she received the distress call. As many as five vessels, three helicopters and several groups of divers are taking part in the rescue operation.

The "Koosha 1" had left the offshore oil rigs near the underwater South Pars gas field and was heading to Assaloyeh when the tragedy occurred.

Ban 'Flag of Convenience' vessels on the New Zealand coast, says MANA.

"FOCs are disasters waiting to happen"

The MANA Movement- New Zealand's political party launched by political activist John Minto earlier this year- wants Flag of Convenience (FOC) vessels banned from the New Zealand coast. The demand comes in the wake of the country's largest maritime environmental disaster- the Rena grounding and oil spill- that has angered New Zealanders to the extent that the crew were provided police protection after the incident.  The MANA demand comes after the Maritime Union of New Zealand said that cabotage should be reintroduced in the country to prevent such future disasters.

MANA is a Maori led party that nonetheless says it wants to promote policies for all New Zealanders. Minto says the Rena disaster shows that ships registered in countries with lax employment and maritime safety laws should not be allowed to conduct coastal shipping in New Zealand. It wants the Government to enact legislation immediately to 'exclude FOCs operating on the coast of New Zealand'.

"The Rena is registered in the West African capital-of-corruption Liberia to increase profits to the ship owners by avoiding New Zealand regulations," Minto says. Referring to another recent incident of the Korean trawler 'Oyang 70' capsized off the New Zealand coast, killing three crew and investigations revealing widespread torture and abuse of its crew, Minto added, "We have already seen how foreign owned and crewed fishing vessels operating in New Zealand ignore basic health, safety and employment laws and now the Rena disaster has brought the problems off the sea and, literally, onto the shores of Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand)".

He added, "We support the campaign of the Maritime Union of New Zealand to reintroduce cabotage regulations to ensure ships undertaking coastal shipping are owned and crewed by residents of New Zealand.  There would be much less likelihood of such a disaster with local owned and locally crewed ships with decent health and safety standards and decent rates of pay and employment conditions.”

There is mounting criticism and anger in New Zealand against substandard vessels on their coast. Most New Zealanders believe that the poorly regulated global nature of Flag of Convenience ships is the real cause of the Rena disaster. " We have vessels on the New Zealand coast that are not up to scratch," Maritime Union General Secretary Joe Fleetwood said, echoing MENA demands calling for an establishment of  locally owned and crewed shipping in New Zealand waters.

 “Why do we have ships on our coasts that Maritime New Zealand inspections say do not have the proper charts for navigation? Because the National Government of the 1990s deregulated our coastal shipping and the Labour Government of the 2000s did not heed the advice of the Maritime Union, even after all the exposures of sweatshop work practices on these ships in our waters" Minto said.

"It should never have come to this. Flag of Convenience vessels are disasters waiting to happen".