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An innovative robotic submarine from CSIRO is set to transform environmental monitoring by dramatically reducing the cost of data collection. CSIRO’s Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), Starbug, has won an Australian Engineering Excellence Award at the Australian Institute of Engineers Engineering Excellence Awards 2006.
Developed by the CSIRO ICT Centre at its Queensland laboratory, Starbug is an autonomous, miniature submarine for underwater monitoring and surveying of ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef. Starbug represents a radical new design philosophy which has resulted in a vehicle that is small enough to be operated by one person from the shore, floating platforms or small boats without the need for cranes and other specialised equipment.
Dr Matthew Dunbabin, leader of the team that developed Starbug, says: ‘Our vision is for low-cost platforms like Starbug to be deployed in large numbers to greatly improve data collection rates so that reef research can leap ahead. Starbug is one of the first AUVs in the world designed specifically with vision as the primary sensor for navigation and control.’
One of the great challenges for researchers investigating the Great Barrier Reef is to monitor the reef over large areas. The more data that can be collected, the more scientists can learn about factors that threaten or contribute to the Reef’s health. Currently this research is undertaken by divers, who can only spend limited time under water and who often work from research vessels which are expensive to operate. Existing research submarines are power hungry and expensive to build and operate, and need to be tethered to a vessel so they are not lost.
Starbug is one of the first AUVs in the world designed specifically with vision as the primary sensor for navigation and control. This means it does not need to be tethered and does not need an operator.
‘We chose vision for the navigation system due to its relatively low cost and its suitability for use in clear water, terrain-rich, reef environments. Furthermore, as marine researchers often need to acquire images, the same sensor can be used for navigation and image collection,’ says Dr Dunbabin. ‘We are currently developing systems to allow Starbug to identify marine pests such as crown-of-thorns starfish based on their shape and texture. This will make it possible to accurately monitor population changes and design strategies for managing them.’
CSIRO Press Release
Looking back as the ferry motors across the Suez Canal from Port Said to Port Fouad one can see the blue domes of the historic port authority building and anchored freighters waiting to offload under rows of rusty cranes. One truly gets the impression that one is on the great shipping route connecting the Occident and the Orient. Yet the sleepy, antiquated look of it all makes one wonder if Egypt can really cut it in the fast-paced world of 21st century shipping.
Providing the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia, the Suez Canal currently carries about 7.5 per cent of world shipping trade. Over 18,000 ships passed through the canal in 2005, paying a total of $3.4 billion to traverse the 163-kilometre-long waterway. But it would be tragic if Egypt were relegated to the role of a giant toll booth.
As trade between Europe and Asia grows, ports in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Malta have expanded and upgraded their container terminals in a bid to secure a position as a hub port where Chinese goods destined for eastern Mediterranean markets can be off-loaded and trans-shipped to smaller ports in the region. Egypt’s defiant answer to the competition is Port Said East, a modern port and container terminal located on the eastern branch of the Suez Canal. Developers hope to translate its strategic location into China’s hub port of choice for the eastern Mediterranean region.
The port covers 10 square kilometres while its privately managed container terminal occupies 600,000 square meters with storage space for 40,000 twenty-foot shipping containers has been in operation since October 2004.
It can handle 2.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (teus) per year and, considering that the terminal has been operating for only two years, it is operating remarkably close to capacity
Port Said East is one of three main Egyptian ports for inbound Chinese goods and the biggest port for trans-shipments to Europe. The other two are Damietta port, which handles mainly trans-shipments, and Sokhna port, which is used for import and export owing to its proximity to both Cairo and Chinese factories in the North West Suez Special Economic Zone (SEZ).These three ports account for 90 per cent of Chinese imports to Egypt and 70 per cent of Egyptian exports to China.
It is noticed that Egypt’s import-export shipments are limited by the large trade imbalance in China’s favour, which results in many containers returning to China empty. ‘[Shipping companies] offer lower prices for export to the Far East because it’s better than exporting [containers] empty. The cost of exporting a container to Europe is around $400, but to the Far East it is only about $200; it costs half the price for roughly twice the distance.’
While this discount lowers shipping costs for Egyptian exporters, if the trade imbalance goes uncorrected it could undermine the government’s plan for increasing trade with China as carriers re-route their ships to ensure they return home full. At present, however, there are not many alternatives. According to London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants, 41 per cent of containers returning to Asia from Europe in 2005 were empty. In the US the situation was worse, with 60 per cent of containers leaving the West Coast empty. The US has even begun exporting hay and scrap paper in an attempt to fill these containers.
Egypt is fortunate to be situated on a major sea trade route. Trade between Europe and Asia is booming, and the port infrastructure to secure a piece of the action is already in place. But to cash in on this opportunity Egypt will need to ramp up its production of exports and value-added goods. If not, it could be relegated to collecting canal tolls while the world passes it by.
Most shipping from the Far East to Europe goes through the Suez Canal. As trade volumes have increased, the shipping lines have built ever-larger ships, weighing in at up to 12,000 teus (twenty-foot equivalent units), today’s container ships dwarf the 1,200-teu ‘monsters’ of yesteryear. Some ships, known as post-Suezmax or Capesize vessels, are so large that they cannot even squeeze through the Suez Canal.
While ships over 12,000 teus must travel around the Cape of Good Hope, this hardly puts a dent in the canal’s container traffic. The only ships of this size are supertankers with no reason to stop or exchange cargo in Egypt anyway. The real competition these days is for medium- and large-sized container ships, ranging from 5,000 teus to 12,000 teus.
The Suez Canal has the upper hand over its chief rival, the Panama Canal. It is known that the Panama Canal is much narrower than the Suez Canal and that its maximum ship length is limited by the waterway’s lock system. Most container ships over 5,000 teus are unable to use the Panama Canal, a limitation that is sending an increasing volume of container traffic on the eastern Suez route. As ships get larger and as the size of the vessels that can go through the Panama Canal remains static, it fundamentally means that, at least in the short to medium term, there is going to be an increased tendency for some shipping lines to carry goods from East Asia and the eastern coast of North America through the Suez Canal.
Smaller Egyptian ports are struggling to keep pace with increases in ship size. Only a handful of ports have the facilities for storing and loading bulk freighters, but most lack the necessary capacity to handle the Panamax (5,000 teu or larger) ships used to transport raw materials to Asia.
Said Lamey Tawfik
Ismailia
Egypt
AGR Group, the Norway-based oil technology and services group and Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc., a Houston-based energy services company, have jointly acquired a fuel supply vessel from the Australian Commonwealth Government, the Westralia, previously used by the Royal Australian Navy, with the intent to convert the vessel into a Floating Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO).
The FPSO, to be renamed Shiraz, will be marketed broadly to oil and gas operating companies throughout SE Asia as an early production system or extended production test vessel. Shiraz may be used by operators in the short term to evaluate the longer term production potential of their fields and reduce their dependence on appraisal drilling in the currently tight rig market. It will also allow operators with limited financial capacity to realise early cash flows from their assets at a cost that is a fraction of competing systems.
The 34,000 DWT ex-naval fuel supply vessel was built in 1979 in the Cammel Laird shipyard in the UK. The vessel, which has been maintained to the highest standards by the Royal Australian Navy and is in exceptional condition, will be sailed to a secure shipyard facility in Indonesia where preparations will be made for conversion. An extensive feasibility study is already complete and front-end engineering design for the conversion will commence immediately.
Sverre Skogen, Chief Executive Officer of AGR Group, said:
‘This deal is in line with AGR’s strategy with regards to facilities and field development opportunities, based on new and cooperative business models. Shiraz presents oil companies with a solution that allows discoveries to be put into early production or production-tested without a large upfront capital spend, and I am delighted that AGR Group and its newly-acquired subsidiary Upstream Petroleum will be working with one of the world’s largest offshore installation contractors, Helix, on this exciting project.’
Bart Heijermans, Chief Operating Officer of Helix, said:
‘Shiraz fits our strategy as a developer of marginal fields very well. This acquisition furthers the expansion of our services in the SE Asia region where we already have (i) Helix RDS, our reservoir engineering and well technology consulting business, (ii) a controlling interest in SEATRAC, a well services and intervention company that has become part of our global Well Ops business and (iii) Fraser Diving via our majority ownership in Cal Dive International. We are very pleased to work on this project with AGR Group and its Upstream subsidiary, businesses that are focused on providing value added services for oil and gas producers and good future partners of Helix for the provision of bundled services related to the development of marginal fields.’
Rigzone media release
Another gap in the effective search and rescue coverage along the coast of Africa and out into the Indian and Atlantic Oceans has been filled with the inauguration of a new Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Cape Town, South Africa. The MRCC was commissioned on 16 January 2007 by IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos during an official visit to South Africa. The commissioning of the Centre was preceded by the formal signing of a Multilateral Agreement between the Governments of the Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa on the coordination of maritime search and rescue services in areas adjacent to their coast.
Mr Mitropoulos, who unveiled a plaque at the new MRCC alongside South Africa’s Transport Minister, Mr Jeff Radebe, described the centre as ‘a major step forward for this country and for this region, but also for the maritime and shipping world as a whole and for the international community of seafarers upon whom we all rely so much.’
‘Situated at the hub of one of the world’s busiest trade routes, on the southern tip of the great continent of Africa, this regional Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre will plug one of the remaining gaps in the global search and rescue network and help to put at rest the minds of all those whose work takes them into its area of coverage, whether they be deep sea mariners or the 27,000 or more South Africans employed in the fishing industry,’ he said, adding that, despite its benign name, the Cape of Good Hope frequently exposes seafarers to the extremes of weather and sea conditions. More than 4,000 ships in transit pass by the Cape of Good Hope every year as they navigate South Africa’s coastline of nearly 3000km.
In addressing the staff of the Centre, Secretary-General Mitropoulos, having congratulated them for the humanitarian task they were asked to perform, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, gave them some advice: ‘Never be complacent, never allow routine and boredom to impair your actions and decisions, never underestimate the seriousness of any distress incident you handle and never consider any incident to be the same as others you dealt with in the past – because each has its own peculiarities and special characteristics that demand special attention. Remain focused and, every time you co-ordinate a SAR operation, give your undivided attention to the task in hand. And never forget that you represent the last hope of those seafarers for whom fate has in store the bitter experience of a shipwreck. You will be the first they will thank once rescued and safe on solid ground; and you will have their eternal gratitude and that of their families.’
The Cape Town MRCC is equipped with modern facilities and is manned by properly trained personnel. In addition to its primary function, it will also be able to offer training to personnel from the sub-regional Maritime Rescue Sub-Centres (MRSCs) planned to be located in Angola, Comoros, Madagascar, Mozambique and Namibia. The MRCC, and its subsidiary sub-centres, will cover sea areas extending up to 3,500 nautical miles into the Indian and Atlantic Oceans and to Antarctica in the south.
The regional search and rescue system being put in place around the coasts of Africa is the result of a resolution adopted by the IMO Conference on search and rescue (SAR) and the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), held in October 2000 in Florence, Italy, proposing the establishment of five sub-regional MRCCs in western, southern and eastern parts of Africa, along with 26 sub-centres.
The first MRCC under this initiative, in Mombasa, Kenya, was inaugurated in May 2006, covering the east coast of Africa and out into the Indian Ocean. The Cape Town MRCC covers southern Africa, while three more, in West Africa (in Nigeria, Liberia and Morocco), are currently at the planning stage.
The successful fruition of the project has been based on a broad cooperation between the host Governments, IMO and stakeholders from the international and non-governmental sectors. The contribution of the host countries, which have provided the housing facilities and personnel for the operation of the centres, has underpinned its success.
Private donors (through Inmarsat plc and IMSO) have contributed equipment, while IMO, as project leader within the framework
of its Integrated Technical Co-operation Programme, has collaborated with all parties concerned, coordinated the various responsibilities in the provision of expert advice, training and infrastructure, and provided the overall supervision.
The establishment of MRCCs and MRSCs in areas of the world lacking an adequate SAR infrastructure has been and is being supported by the International SAR Fund (ISAR Fund), a multi-donor trust fund, established in 2004 under the auspices of the IMO Secretary-General.
From an African perspective, the ISAR Fund’s aim is to ensure that a basic communications infrastructure, supported by trained personnel, is in place in order to coordinate search and rescue operations and to assist any persons in distress at sea in the waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans adjacent to the African coast. It is designed to assist countries that do not have sufficient resources to establish an adequate national SAR infrastructure and, by coordinating their services with their neighbours, to fill any gap that may exist in the Global SAR Plan.
IMO Briefing
A new centre aimed at putting Australia at the forefront of research and education on maritime security and oceans governance has opened at the University of Wollongong, NSW.
Known as the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS), the centre’s vision is: ‘To be the acknowledged leader in Australia and internationally in research, education and high level advice on oceans governance and maritime security.’
ANCORS new Principal Research Fellow, Mr Lee Cordner, a former senior RAN officer, told the Australian Maritime Digest ANCORS is a centre of expertise in oceans law and governance, maritime security and marine resource management.
‘ANCORS fulfils an important demand for high level maritime knowledge services in Australia and the region as a leading contributor to the Oceans and Transnational Security Research Strength within the University of Wollongong,’ he said.
‘ANCORS provides multi-disciplinary university based research, education and high level advice on national and international oceans governance and law, maritime security and cooperation and ocean resource management to countries, agencies and clients in the western Pacific, Indian and Southern Ocean regions and beyond, in order to help them achieve sustainable benefits from their marine jurisdictions.’
ANCORS evolved from the Centre for Maritime Policy (CMP), established in 1994 with retired Royal Australian Navy Commodore, later Professor, Sam Bateman as the founding Director.
Professor Martin Tsamenyi succeeded Professor Bateman in July 1999 and continues as the inaugural Director of ANCORS. Professor Bateman remains involved as a Professorial Fellow.
Mr Cordner said the role of ANCORS has been expanded significantly from that of the CMP in recognition of the rapidly changing global environment which includes increasing priority on oceans governance and maritime security.
‘The Centre has a strong reputation for leading edge research, education, training and advisory services with the following core strengths:
• oceans governance, law and policy;
• maritime strategy, security and law including regulation and enforcement;
• international fisheries law and policy; and
• the delimitation of maritime boundaries.
‘Capacity building services include education and training in the law of the sea, maritime security and strategy, international fisheries law and policy, maritime boundary delimitation, regulation of shipping, ecosystem based management and multiple use management of marine resources.’
Mr Cordner said strong partnerships had been developed in the Australian maritime environment including, for example close links with the Royal Australian Navy, the Department of Environment and Heritage, and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Australian Association for Maritime Affairs (AAMA).
‘Much research and advisory work has also been undertaken in the region, for example, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) and for many regional countries,’ he said.
ANCORS has six core research staff working full time in the Centre: Professor Martin Tsamenyi, Dr Robin Warner, Dr Clive Schofield, Dr Chris Rahman, Lee Cordner and Quentin Hanich.
Members of ANCORS’ staff who also have obligations in other areas of the University of Wollongong include: Associate Professor Greg Rose, Associate Professor Ron West and Dr Warwick Gullett.
In addition, ANCORS’ many fellows, associates and higher degree research students provide depth and breadth of expertise across a broad range of maritime-related subject matter.
They are an integral part of ANCORS’ knowledge services capability as they make important contributions to research, advisory and training activities.
ANCORS is supported by a newly established Advisory Board drawn from across the maritime sectors. The Advisory Board is chaired by Vice Admiral David Shackleton AO – former Chief of Navy. The members are: Hon Virginia Chadwick AO – Chair Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA); Rear Admiral Russ Crane CSC RAN – Deputy Chief of Navy; Mr Alistair Graham – Tasmania Conservation Trust; Mr Glenn Hurry – Executive Manager, Fisheries and Forestry Division, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Professor George Kailis – Notre Dame University Australia and M.G. Kailis Group; Mr David Parmeter – Managing Director Teekay Shipping Australia; Ms Donna Petrachenko – First Assistant Secretary, Marine Division, Department of Environment and Heritage; Professor Margaret Sheil – Deputy Vice Chancellor (Research) University of Wollongong; Professor Martin Tsamenyi – Director ANCORS University of Wollongong; and Mr Lionel Woodward AO – former CEO Australian Customs Service. The Executive Secretary is Mr Lee Cordner AM – ANCORS Principal Research Fellow.
Oceans Law and Governance
Maritime Strategy and Security
Marine Resources and Environment
ANCORS three complementary and interrelated Research Programs, encompassing a broad spectrum of the maritime agenda, are summarised in the following diagram:
For further information contact:
Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources and Security (ANCORS)
University of Wollongong
WOLLONGONG NSW 2522 AUSTRALIA
Phone: +61 2 4221 4883
Fax: +61 2 4221 5544
Website: www.ancors.uow.edu.au
Email: myree@uow.edu.au
In June 2006, while addressing an international audience at the Naval War College in Newport, Admiral Mike Mullen, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) called for a new maritime strategy for the US Navy and noted it was time the Navy, ‘redefine sea power for this new era, and explain how we will operate differently, train differently, educate differently and balance our forces differently.’ He propounded a ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept based on an integrated, global partnership of fleets with shared interests of guaranteeing freedom on the seas.
The ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept is being discussed at various levels in seminars and conferences the world over. In fact, senior officers of the US Department of the Navy took the opportunity to expound on the CNO’s concept during the Western Conference Exposition (West 2007) in January 2007. Vice Admiral John G. Morgan, Jr., Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information, Plans and Strategy, and Rear Admiral Michael C. Bachman, Commander, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command gave further details on the ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept that aims to build a network of navies built on ‘partnership’ who will work together to create a force capable of ‘standing watch over all the seas.’
What prompted the CNO to propound the concept of ‘1000 Ship Navy’? There are several reasons that merit attention. But before that it will be useful to argue that the concept per se is not new. For instance, in the fifth century BC, the Athenian League, built around resources and sea power provided by Greece and other independent sea states, voluntarily contributed both fiscal and human resources to defeat the Persian armies that set sail to conquer Greece.
More recently, during the Cold War, the concept of the ‘All-Oceans Alliance’ was propounded in the US, based on the notion of ‘an association of seagoing trading states that could join together to provide mutual security against impingements.’ The alliance was modeled on the Greek-Roman alliance and was targeted against the Soviet Union and its allies. It was built on the premise that open societies and governments could work together against ‘potential totalitarian adversaries’ and represent a collective defence arrangement against any inimical forces that could challenge the common national interest.
There are at least two reasons that have prompted the US naval leadership to propose the ‘1000 Ship Navy.’ First is the fast declining force levels of the US Navy, currently based around a fleet of 276 vessels. This is perhaps the lowest number in several decades and represents a third of the number of ships built annually during the Reagan era. There are also cost overruns in new shipbuilding programs such as the much-touted Littoral Combat Ship. Besides trimming down orders, since 2003 the US Navy has also cut thousands of sailor billets from its rolls.
Secondly, the US Navy’s presence on the oceans is quite thin due to extensive deployments in the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Mediterranean, and East Asia to support its growing commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Latin America, South Korea, and Japan. In 1997 Admiral Jay Johnson, then CNO drew a ‘red line’ at 300 ships for the fleet, noting that any shortfall in force structure would seriously ‘imperil the country’s safety.’ For comparative purposes, in 1988 Jim Webb, the then Secretary of the Navy, resigned over the Reagan administration’s wavering commitment to a 600-ship Navy.
Admiral Mike Mullins, the current CNO, has set a new red line of 313 ships by 2020, entailing strong budgetary support in the order of US $14 billion to $20 billion annually. Separately, according to US analysts, the CNO has ‘prodded the Navy to quit emphasising ship numbers’ an old concept that was developed during the Cold War, aimed at maintaining parity of forces against the Soviet Union. He has also redefined the threats to the US that now arise from failed states or terrorist groups with global networks and reach. The US is also looking for partners to keep order at sea, safe sea lanes and prevent proliferation on WMDs – demonstrated by the Task Force 150 that operates in the Arabian Sea and the Proliferation Security Initiative.
The ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept has witnessed some debate and response in Asia. Japan and Korea are naturally supportive of the concept as it provides a safety mechanism for their long and often vulnerable sea-lanes. Their close relations with the US also drive them to support the concept.
The Philippines, a staunch US ally in the ‘war on terror’, is supportive of the concept and acutely sensitive of its limited maritime capability. General Hermogenes Esperon, the Philippines Armed Forces Chief noted that ‘if all the warships of the Philippine Navy were placed together end-to-end, they would not even cover a kilometer.’
For Indonesia and Malaysia, the ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept is an expansion of the 2004 Regional Maritime Security Initiative (RMSI). The new ‘1000-ship navy’ idea is viewed as an attempt to militarise the regional waters particularly the Straits of Malacca, running against the effort of encouraging regional navies to provide security and safety in the straits.
China is unlikely to support the ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept. It considers the initiative as another US containment strategy, hindering its naval expansion, premised on sea-lane protection. Although the Indian political leadership has endorsed its commitment to cooperate with global navies to protect maritime commerce against disorders at sea, New Delhi will be reluctant to join the US camp, as has been the case with the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). Like China, the ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept prevents it from establishing itself as a strong regional naval power that is primed for blue-water operations.
On paper, perhaps the biggest challenge for the ‘1000 Ship Navy’ concept is inter-operability. Less technologically sophisticated allies may have the political will to support the concept, but not the hardware. However the cynics would argue, and not without some justification, that the ‘1000-ship Navy’ concept seeks to maintain a coalition of allies who jointly underwrite the costs of US naval superiority, unchallenged since the demise of Pax Britannica and more recently, the Soviet Union. In the circumstances, the concept is likely to find only the same few supporters in Asia.
Vijay Sakhuja
Visiting Senior Research Fellow
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Courtesy OpinionAsia (www.opinionasia.org)
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