Europe’s new regulation requiring shipping companies to pre-alert customs authorities of goods entering or leaving the EU, Switzerland and Norway by means of an advance cargo declaration (ACD), has come into effect as from January 1.
According to Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS), which offers compliance services, all shipping lines are required to establish computer networks connecting them with customs offices in the EU. These import control systems have been individually adopted by EU member states.
“Carriers failing to comply will run the risk of being penalised by individual member states in accordance with their national legislation,” says WSS. As a result of ACD shipping companies have begun introducing a number of surcharges aimed at covering the additional costs of compliance. Among these, Maersk Line says it will introduce a US$ 25 per bill of lading (BoL) Cargo Data Declaration fee but has delayed its introduction until 14 January. CMA CGM is raising $25 per BoL, while European feeder line Unifeeder is charging $23 per BoL.
MSC To Commence A West African Feeder Service Next Month
MSC said last week it will be commencing a West African feeder service connecting ports in Liberia and Sierra Leone to Cote d’Ivoire, as from early February.
The service will have a port rotation of San Pedro (Cote d’Ivoire), Monrovia (Liberia), Freetown (Sierra Leone), and San Pedro, using a single container vessel.
The feeder service will connect San Pedro with MSC’s services to Europe via transhipments at Valencia and Las Palmas. Initially OBT Shipping will act as the MSC agent for Liberia and Sierra Leone but MSC intends opening its own offices in both countries at a later stage.
……As Safmarine Warns Of Scammers Using Its Name
Safmarine has said that it has received reports from its Portuguese and Cameroon colleagues of a fraud involving a fake company calling itself Safmarine Shipping Lines SA.
The fake company has been sending chain messages out to importers regarding shipments and is also using a fake website www.safmarineshippingline.com .
“The matter is being dealt with by our legal department,” says Safmarine, and asks that if anyone receives communications from this company to kindly alert the local country Safmarine representative.
24 Kuwait Stowaways Caught By UK Border Agents
At least 24 Kuwaiti nationals have been caught by the UK Border Agency at the Port of Harwich attempting to sneak into the country in the back of a lorry.
The stowaways, 23 men and one 17-year-old boy, were caught in the early hours of the morning when they arrived on a ferry from the Hook of Holland.
Brian Hill, UK Border Agency assistant director at Harwich, said:“When officers opened the doors of the trailer they found the stowaways hiding inside in amongst the mixed load of goods.
“This is the biggest single detection of clandestines at Harwich that I can recall.
“As well as carrying out visual searches of freight and vehicles, our officers use carbon dioxide probes, heartbeat detectors and sniffer dogs to detect the presence of people hiding in lorries.
“The UK Border Agency works hard to combat illegal immigration and we will take action to remove anyone found to have no legal right to be in the country.”
The driver of the vehicle has been arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and is currently being questioned by the UK Border Agency.
The 23 men are due to be transferred to Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre for their cases to be dealt with. The 17-year-old will be passed into the care of Essex Social Services.
Cocaine Found Aboard Cruise Ship
Weeks after three Royal Caribbean employees were charged with trying to smuggle cocaine and heroin on board a Baltimore-bound cruise ship, officials found more drugs hidden on the same vessel.
More heroin and cocaine — worth around $94,000 — were found on Saturday in a locker in an area largely limited to employees of the luxury cruise ship Enchantment of the Seas, said Steve Sapp, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which carried out the inspection with immigration and customs officials.
The ship had returned that day from a 12-night trip to ports in the Caribbean, including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands, the cruise company said in a statement.
Less than a month ago, on Dec. 18, customs agents received a tip from the Enchantment’s security officer that one of the ship’s employees possessed drugs. Agents searched Gavin Excell, 35, when the ship docked in Baltimore, and found heroin and cocaine hidden in his waistband and shoes, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
Two other cruise ship employees — John Swart Garth and Kishurn Neptune, both 27 — were also arrested, and the three face charges of conspiring to import drugs into the country.
That incident, Sapp said, led to greater scrutiny of the Enchantment, which travels between Baltimore and locations in the Caribbean.
“If we already encountered an incident where drugs were discovered on the ship, we’re more than likely going to take another look at the vessel further down the road,” Sapp said.
The drugs found Saturday were sniffed out by a dog trained to detect narcotics, and were found hidden in a room accessible to any of the ship’s hundreds of employees, Sapp said. No arrests have been made in connection with the latest find.
“It could be just about anybody,” Sapp said. “It would be really difficult for us to bring in everyone for an interview.”
The drugs were found wrapped in silver duct tape, similar in appearance to the packages of drugs found in December. While officials will not run checks on all of the cruise ship’s employees to determine who was responsible for the drugs, Sapp said the customs agency will help Royal Caribbean determine which employees fit the profile of someone likely to smuggle drugs.
“We know that there’s got to be someone on that crew who is bringing drugs on board for someone,” Sapp said. “They might be coming from a source nation, they might have relatives or relations with someone who may be involved in narcotics smuggling.”
Officials from Royal Caribbean said in a statement that the company is cooperating with the investigation and has a “strict zero tolerance policy regarding illegal drugs on its ships.”
The latest Baltimore drug find comes on the heels of a Jan. 4 search by customs officials of an MSC Cruises ship docked in Fort Lauderdale. In that case, officials found small quantities of prescription drugs, marijuana, LSD, and other drugs, according to a news report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Last summer, President Barack Obama signed a law requiring cruise lines to report certain crimes occurring onboard their ships to federal authorities, as well as train some employees in evidence preservation and crime prevention.
The new provisions and recent drug finds indicate a greater federal emphasis on ensuring cruise lines are maintaining safety and operating legally, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic, an industry publication.
“It does seem like there is a newly aggressive policy to really keep an eye on the cruise ships,” Brown said. The recent drug finds, she said, are “a black eye for the cruise industry and I will be very confident that the cruise lines are going to crack way down
WISTA Speaker; Suzanne Williams Speaks on Piracy
In recognition of the International Maritime Organization’s “Year of Piracy”, WISTA USA is pleased to announce that world renowned piracy negotiator,
Renowned Piracy Mediator and Speaker of WINSTA, Suzanne Williams, will be the keynote speaker at its sixth annual WISTA USA luncheon which comes up on March 21st at the Connecticut Maritime Association’s Shipping 2011 conference.
“We are pleased that Ms. Williams will be sharing her experiences with us at the luncheon”, stated WISTA USA President and Blank Rome LLP Partner Jeanne Grasso. “Sue was the recipient of the 2010 International WISTA Personality of the Year Award presented to her in Athens in September, and contributes greatly to the war against piracy. Her efforts in combating this “scourge of the seas” are admirable as our industry searches for solutions to this difficult challenge.”
Ms. Williams retired in 2008 from the London Metropolitan Police after 32 years service. For the last five years of her law enforcement career she was head of the internationally esteemed Hostage Crisis Negotiation Unit based at New Scotland Yard, in London. At the highest level, Sue has been an active contributor to the UK government’s crisis response process in critical incidents such as abduction, hi-hackings, sieges and kidnap. Many of these incidents evolved in the media spotlight whilst others progressed covertly. All of them involved a danger to life.
Sue has been a qualified Hostage Negotiator since 1991, since then she has completed intensive training with many agencies including the FBI and most European police forces. Sue’s sustained involvement with preventing maritime violence began in 1992, when she investigated the death of Captain John Bashforth who, it was alleged had been murdered by his own mutinous crew, whilst sailing through the Malacca Straits. Her investigation determined he was murdered by pirates. The knowledge and experience gained during that investigation began an 18 year commitment to matters of piracy, concern for seafarers and promotion of worldwide awareness of the growing problem. She has travelled to ‘pirate hotspots’ with the International Maritime Organisation and conducted regional workshops on detection and intelligence gathering.
Fear For Crew Aboard Danish Ship MV Leopard
The crew of the Danish cargo ship “Leopard” captured by Somali pirates off Oman may have perished, the Maritime Bulletin says.
Reports by the news bulletin say that military sailors from a Turkish ship patrolling the Gulf of Aden spotted the cargo ship but found no people on board.
Two sailors from the Leopard, the captain included, were Danish nationals, the other four – Filipinos.
Leopard is owned by a small company named “Shipcraft” which hauls dangerous, military and nuclear cargoes.
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