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A winterised Swedish giant
The Swedish-flagged fleet grew by five per cent when Stena Arctica entered the Swedish ship registry. The 117,100-DWT tanker is not only the largest vessel flying the Swedish flag; it is also the first vessel that Stena Bulk has put under its native flag. To top it, Stena Arctica and her Russian sister SCF Baltica are the largest tankers in the world, built to the highest ice class.
Mærsk and IBM in liaison
to build RFID standard
Identifying the real wave in Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for the maritime industry has been tough until now. Early adopters have had a plethora of choices and methodologies from the tags at the business end, through the middleware to the integration of data into their supply chain management processes. Freight forwarders and Third party logistics companies (3PLs) in particular have looked anxiously at the variety of solutions and hoped for an early form up on one or two standards.
Too much too fast
for Baltic Rim countries 
Undoubtedly, the Baltic Rim countries of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are among the fastest growing economies in the world. As such, they are vital to the future prosperity of the Baltic Sea region.
It all began in the early 1990s and culminated with membership of the European Community in 2004.
Ormen Lange will be produced through 24 subsea wells connected to four seabed templates.
Shtokman dwarfs all offshore developments
Some Norwegians, led by Norway’s leftist Government, believe that cooperation between the Russian gas giant Gazprom and the state-controlled Norwegian oil and gas companies Statoil and Hydro to develop the Shtokman natural gas field in the Barents sea, ought to be a marriage made in heaven.
Others disagree, pointing out that the Norwegian companies do not have the financial resources or the marketing clout that Gazprom is looking for.
A peek into an onboard
technology revolution
The introduction of digital technology on ships has started a revolution in onboard technology. The integrated navigation systems of today improve safety as the computer takes care of many pure routine tasks and relieves the pressure on the navigator.
Another advantage is the built-in self-diagnostics of a computerised system. Navigational data is acquired from many different and totally independent sources, processed and compared by the system.
Maritime eProcurement:
necessary to achieve critical mass
This year the maritime eProcurement market may have notched up USD one billion in total sales since it began. However, between the theory and practice of successful web-based supply and purchasing lies the tricky detail of standards and the location and ownership of the trading platform that brings buyer and vendor together. Marine e-commerce has had to scramble from the wreckage of the dot.coms and the dedicated portals. Conservative managements among both buyers and sellers have still not forgotten the froth and the failures. However could e-commerce’s hour finally have come? SSG investigates.
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 The Great Belt bridge.
Photo: Bent Mikkelsen
VTS – the eye watching
over the Great Belt
The traffic in and out of the Baltic Sea is often dubbed a mystery trade, at least according to the daily press, both printed and electronic media. Every time something happens, the word is: Old Russian single hull oil tanker ready for the breakers! Nothing could be more wrong. As most of the traffic passes through the Danish waters, the Danish authorities know every ship by name, size and destination. In fact, the traffic is monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) station in Korsør.
Electronic charts should make
all the difference
For obvious reasons all vessels are required to carry charts covering the area of operation. Today it is hard to imagine navigation without electronic aids, but in the days of only inaccurate paper charts vessels grounded in bad weather. Nowadays we do it more in style, aided by vast arrays of electronic gadgetry, ships are still wrecked because of bad navigation.
Clever software for shipping
Skudeneshavn-based UniSea has had some considerable success in developing user friendly, Lotus Notes orientated software solutions for shipping. They began in 1997 and have faced up to fierce competition, mainly thanks to some innovative solutions. The company has 12 employees and an established working relationship with Karmøy Skipsconsult and Karmøy Skipsconsult Management, making a total of 24 employees. UniSea aso has an agency office in Denmark through Nordtech Marine and in Greece through World Link Services, securing a presence in important shipping centres.
Fighting oil pollution
with the help of simulators
Kotka, Tallinn and St Petersburg have launched a trilateral cooperation in maritime safety and oil pollution contingency, prevention and response in the Gulf of Finland area.
By 2010, there will be some 6,000 oil tankers with a total of 200 million tons of oil and oil products sailing in the Gulf of Finland. 2005 already was a record-breaking year, as a total of 120 million tons was transported. This increase is caused by the expanding transports of oil from Russian ports and terminals to the EU and worldwide. Several new terminals have been opened with new ones to come.
Teamwork training in Tallinn
The Estonian Maritime Academy, the South Kymenlaakso Vocational Institute and Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy (St Petersburg) are participating in the international collective project for fuel, oil and chemical pollution abatement in the Gulf of Finland.
Ignacy Krasicki – Under Polish flag for just one voyage
In the beginning of the sixties, warships of the National Government of China frequently disturbed the merchant shipping of the People’s Republic of China. Many ships from Communist China were seized by National China warships and brought to the ports of Taiwan.
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2006
You can't legislate 
