Category Archives: High Seas

The Ever Ace, the world's largest container ship, docked at the UK port of Felixstowe in Suffolk on Sunday morning.

The giant vessel is part of a newer class of container ship than the Ever Given, which memorably blocked the Suez Canal for six days in March. The Ever Ace is an Evergreen A-class, which can hold up to 23,992 cargo units. This is up from the 20,124 cargo units that the Ever Given, which is an Evergreen G-class ship, can carry.

Eleven other mega container ships are being built in the make of the Ever Ace, three of which could become operational this year. The Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine, which owns the Ever Ace, did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

According to American Bureau of Shipping records, the two ships are the same length, but the Ever Ace is wider and deeper. The Ever Given is 192.9 feet wide, slightly narrower than the Ever Ace's 201.7 feet. The Ever Given has a draught, or depth, of 52.4 feet in comparison with the Ever Ace's 54.1 feet.

The Ever Ace is now taking a two-day break at the Suffolk port and is set to depart for Rotterdam on Wednesday, per the BBC. It then is set to traverse the Suez Canal, which accounts for about 12% of the world's seaborne cargo trade.

This is the same route the Ever Given took when it got stuck, throwing the global supply chain into chaos that lasted weeks even after the ship was freed. A logjam of more than 400 ships formed, even after some vessels opted to abandon the Suez Canal and reroute, taking a massive detour around the southern tip of Africa.

It took almost a week of dredging and digging to get the massive Ever Given unstuck from the Suez, a costly endeavor that prompted the Egyptian authorities to seize the Ever Given on April 13 and hold it for months.

The Ever Given finally ported at Rotterdam on July 29 with more than 20,000 containers on board, a full 106 days after it first got lodged in the waterway and after the ship's owner, the Japanese company Shoei Kisen Kaisha, arrived at an undisclosed compensation agreement with the Suez Canal Authority.

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World's biggest container ship, the Ever Ace, is hitting the high seas - Insider

With International Talk Like A Pirate Day coming up, our friends at the Emirates Literature Foundation have shared some of their favourite books about pirates

Pirates have been sailing through our imaginations for the better part of the last century, having been cast as both heroes and villains across all sorts of swashbuckling sagas set on the high seas.

So with International Talk Like A Pirate Day coming up, our friends at the Emirates Literature Foundation thought it would be fun to look back at some of their favourite books about pirates.

Do pirates make good babysitters? Find out in this wildly hilarious romp set over the course of one night as a brother and sister meet their surprising new babysitter: Long John McRon. From flying ships to doughnut feasts, and even the titular magical stew, Gaimans almost-lyrical rhymes leap off the page where theyre brought to life by Riddells gorgeous illustrations. Fun to read aloud and follow along, Pirate Strew is perfect for pirate fans both young and old.

Dive headfirst into this thrilling graphic novel that draws on a real, historical figure: Anne Bonny, a fearsome female pirate. The story begins with Annie on the run, following a planned heist that was foiled by a man looking to end piracy once and for all thus threatening the livelihood of Anne and all her friends. So its up to her to convince her crew to not only renew their belief in her but to also work together and trust in each other, ensuring the oceans remain free to be sailed by anyone. Wells art is charming and great for those looking to get into graphic novels and comics, while Maggs writing is packed with humour and heart.

Long before Treasure Island, there was Joseph Flint and John Silver. This prequel to the Robert Louis Stevenson classic follows these two iconic characters as they slowly grow into the men that fans know and love. Drakes writing cleverly tracks how former merchant navy-man John Silver became the legendary pirate Long John Silver, and how he forged his firm alliance with Joseph Flint, a naval officer with plans of mutiny, only to see it devolve into deadly rivalry over a woman theyre both interested in. Its a modern look at a timeless classic, with all the hallmarks of what made Treasure Island such a gripping read.

Travel back to the 1600s as best-selling nonfiction writer Eric Jay Dolin takes readers through the Golden Age of American piracy when ships bearing skulls and crossbones sailed on the coast of North America. Facts take on the highs and lows of fictional storytelling, as Dolin deftly recounts how American colonists first sided with the pirates against the English Crown, only to eventually turn against them, while also painting larger than life portraits of some of the key figures involved including Blackbeard, Captain Kidd and more. History comes alive through Dolins words, drawing straight lines to the present.

If you enjoyed this cannon of pirate reads from Nivea Serrao, Web Content Manager at the Emirates Literature Foundation, dont forget to check out her other recommendation on the Foundation blog. Keep up to date with Emirates LitFest news on the Foundations YouTube channel and its podcast Best of the Emirates LitFest. And keep your eyes peeled on your favourite podcast player for the launch of Season 3 of its other podcast, the Boundless Book Club.

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What's On The Bookshelf: Shiver me timbers! It's books about pirates - What's On

Panaji, Sep 15 (IANS) The Goa government will write to the union ministries including the Home Affairs, Environment and Shipping, urging them to act against those responsible for spilling oil in the high seas, which has resulted in oily tar balls being washed ashore along the western coast of India, including Goa.

"Action should be taken against those who create pollution in the high seas. It is a west coast problem, which impacts the entire stretch," Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

Sawant's comments come days after tar balls -- greasy blobs of thick weathered oil -- layered several beaches in Goa, resulting in dark, ugly streaks on the beach sand.

Sawant said that he was going to write about the issue to the Union Home Ministry, Union Environment Ministry and the Shipping Ministry.

Sawant also said that the beaches which have been polluted with the tar balls will be cleared in time.

"The beaches will be cleaned regularly," Sawant said.

The emergence of tar balls on Goa's beaches is a seasonal phenomenon, which occurs during the monsoon season. According to marine scientists the semi-solid tar bars are created when oil discharged in the sea mixes with the salty water and undergoes a weathering process, which leads to formation of tar balls. The Goa government has previously claimed that the tar ball phenomenon originates due to oil spillage at Bombay High, an offshore oil drilling platform off the coast of Maharashtra.

Tourism industry stakeholders in the state have repeatedly urged the Goa government to take up the matter with the central authorities in order to ensure permanent solution to the menace to beaches, which are a top draw as far as the tourism industry in the state is concerned.

--IANS

maya/skp/

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Tar balls on beaches, Goa to write to Centre on marine pollution - Sify

The first time humanity noticed that wed become an existential threat to ourselves, nuclear war was the potential armageddon casting its shadow over the world. It was the reason Greenpeace came into existence 50 years ago today. The self-imposed risk of annihilation was justified by the Mad doctrine the claim that, because nuclear weapons were so terrible, no one would ever use them for fear of mutually assured destruction. Todays superpowers are still negotiating treaties to try to dodge that fate.

Unlike bombs and missiles, climate changes weapons of mass destruction are genuinely invisible, and so easy and cheap to manufacture that everyones doing it. Most worryingly, theyre already airborne. Weve been launching them in greater and greater volumes for several centuries, and weve finally arrived at the moment when the first wave hits.

All of these factors make the climate talks taking place in Glasgow in November fraught and complex, and absolutely urgent. Just hoping that everyone will be sensible enough not to destroy the only known habitable planet doesnt seem to be working this time.

In 2019, Chinas annual emissions exceeded those of all developed countries combined, as their coal addiction proves hard to shake. Meanwhile, the USAs puny renewables industry is only a third as big as Chinas, and their per capita emissions are still twice as big. So everyone has a good reason to call everyone else a hypocrite, ignore the threat and destroy themselves. Yes, Mad.

The glacial pace of the international talks can be incredibly frustrating, but glacial pace is a lot faster than it used to be, and is accelerating all the time. Our leaders will move as quickly as we push them, and more and more people are putting their shoulders to the wheel. Politicians are all talking the talk, weve got more targets than a rifle ranges performance management review, now we need to force concrete action. Is it realistic to think that ordinary people can make politicians change entire industries in a just transition? Yes, it is. Weve tested it.

Greenpeace led the campaign to drive coal out of the UK. It provided more than 30 per cent of our energy supply when we started, less than 3 per cent now, and our last coal plant is scheduled to close in 2024. We were business partners in Britains first offshore wind farm, the best clean energy technology for a windy island, and it's now providing tens of thousands of jobs. Last year we helped push the government into a 2030 phase-out for petrol and diesel cars, and were still exposing and blocking the worst ideas from the oil and gas industry.

If theres one thing we need to stop burning even faster than fossil fuels, its forests. Humans and our livestock now account for more than 95 per cent of the mammals on our planet. Millions of cows and acres of cattle feed have replaced large chunks of the Amazon and the wildlife that lived there, while oil palms are wreaking the same destruction in Indonesia.

Greenpeace has been at the forefront of tackling the drivers of deforestation, especially for globally traded agricultural commodities like palm oil and soya beans. The soy moratorium we painstakingly constructed cut deforestation in Brazil by a huge amount from 2006 until the arrival of President Jair Bolsonaro, the Trump of the tropics. And our work on forests is where we learned about the importance of the Indigenous peoples who own, occupy, or use a quarter of the worlds surface area and safeguard 80 per cent of Earths remaining biodiversity. The Bolsonaro government is driving them from their forest homes, and without their protection, we lose the forests, then the climate, and then risk our own homes.

Some 50 years after our first voyage, Greenpeace is still an amphibious organisation. After successful campaigns against nuclear weapons testing, whaling, and the dumping of radioactive and toxic waste at sea, our oceans team are currently campaigning to protect the high seas from being emptied by industrial fishing, and from the creeping contamination of waste plastic.

But we need many more people to get involved in order to get a lot more done, and do it faster. If we want to have any chance of keeping global heating aligned with the Paris Agreement on climate, then we need to cut emissions by half this decade. And if we want to prevent the loss of more than a million species, we must halt biodiversity loss now, not in 2050.

A tall order. As economist John Maynard Keynes said: The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as escaping from old ones. Escaping old ideas is difficult. But many of yesterdays eternal truths must be discarded if we are to avoid a frightening tomorrow. And the threat which sank the Glasgow talks last year Covid may be the thing that saves them this year.

The pandemics silver lining, the elusive positive impact that everyone has been searching for, was not the fleeting glimpse of clean air and birdsong some of us enjoyed, unsupported by any structural change. That was just a postcard from a vanishing past. The lasting positive impact of the pandemic will, perhaps, be a reset of the role of the state.

Last year UK government expenditure amounted to more than 50 per cent of gross domestic product, a disaster by orthodox economic thinking. But everyone understood that in such an emergency we needed rapid, government-led action that would have achieved even more with greater international cooperation. Its an interesting idea. Lets hope it takes hold in time for the Glasgow talks. The future is rapidly slipping into the present.

John Sauven is executive director of Greenpeace, a post he has held since 2008.

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50 years after Greenpeace began, the climate crisis is now our biggest threat and we cant fight it alone - The Independent

(Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Ida unleashed such furious winds and waves that almost two weeks later oil drillers, power suppliers and refiners are still picking up the pieces. They wont be done any time soon.

The damage to offshore platforms, pipelines and even heli-pads was so severe that two out of every three barrels of crude normally pumped from the U.S. sector of the Gulf of Mexico are unavailable. The ripple effects are still playing out as refiners and brokers scour the globe for replacements and the Gulfs biggest oil producer, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, tells some customers it cant honor supply commitments.

It will be weeks -- maybe longer -- before normal conditions can be restored off the Louisiana coast and in the warren of oil-processing and chemical plants that occupies a 100-mile (160-kilometer) corridor from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. Recovery efforts may be hindered by Tropical Storm Nicholas, which gained power Monday as it headed toward the coast of Texas, likely bringing flooding rains to Houston and Louisiana.

Whats different is this is lasting longer, Bert Winders, 63, a Baker Hughes Co. health and safety director, said in reference to how Idas disruption compared with previous hurricanes. Its just demanding on people. Three to five days, they can deal with. But when you start talking two, three, even four weeks, thats really tough on a family.

The recovery efforts are being closely watched around the world in large part because of the unprecedented scale and duration of the oil outages. Within days of the hurricane, traders were seizing on arbitrage opportunities created by the disappearance of some U.S. Gulf grades of oil such as Mars blend. For example, crude from Russias Ural Mountains is a popular alternative to Mars because they share similar characteristics.

Idas drawn-out aftermath offers a chastening glimpse of what may be in store as climate change fuels ever-more furious storms along low-lying coastal regions dotted with heavy industry and vital fuel-making facilities.

Typically, when tropical storms and hurricanes menace the oil-producing region of the Gulf, drillers batten down hatches, shut off the subsea wells funneling oil up to platforms and evacuate crews. When the skies clear, they often can chopper inspection teams back out in a matter of hours or days and resume production shortly thereafter.

When Louisiana was battered by Hurricane Laura last year, offshore crude output bounced back quickly.

Direct Hit

After Ida, that wasnt remotely possible. The monster storms direct hit on Port Fourchon a few hours before sundown on Aug. 29 completely disabled the primary jumping-off point for helicopters and vessels that service hundreds of offshore platforms and rigs.

Even the lone road connecting Port Fourchon to the rest of the state -- Louisiana Highway 1 -- was knocked out of commission by Idas massive wall of sea water and the tons of sand it swept ahead.

When Port of Fourchon is out of service, it breaks a link in the chain, said Winders, a Louisiana native whos been working in the oil industry for four decades.

Into Darkness

At the height of the disaster, more than a million homes and businesses were cast into darkness as Idas 150 mile-per-hour (240 kph) winds destroyed most of the transmission infrastructure in southeast Louisiana.

But by late Friday, there were still almost 200,000 without power or air conditioning -- a telling illustration of the extent of the destruction. As for Port Fourchon, the area isnt expected to get full electricity restored until the end of this month, according to utility company Entergy Corp.

Out on the high seas, drilling has returned to just 29% of pre-Ida levels. There were four rigs operating in the U.S. sector of the Gulf as of Friday, well below the 14 plying the waters before the storm, according to data from Baker Hughes, which has been tracking drilling activity since 1944.

Hobbled Refineries

Shell is gearing up to reopen many of the Gulf pipelines that carry crude to shore in the next week, according to a person familiar with the operations, a key step to potentially restoring offshore crude output. Still, a crucial conduit for Mars oil and other grades will remain shut as damage assessments continue, the person said. The company declined to comment.

Further inland, the crippling effects of the cyclone are still being assessed. A New Orleans-area refinery owned by Phillips 66 suffered so much damage and flooding that the company may not even restart it, depending on how expensive itll cost to repair.

Shells Norco refining and chemical complex north of New Orleans may remain shut for several more weeks because of extensive damage.

Meanwhile, Marathon Petroleum Corp. managed to resume fuel production at its massive Garyville facility on Friday, although five other Louisiana refineries with combined daily capacity to process one million barrels remain shut.

2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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Here's why US oil supplies took such big hit from Ida - Midland Reporter-Telegram

Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 2 remained hoisted over Itbayat in the northern part of Batanes on Sunday morning as Typhoon Kiko (international name: Chanthu) brings heavy to intense and at times torrential rains over the province, PAGASA said in its early morning bulletin.

This area have damaging gale-force to storm-force winds prevailing or expected within 24 hours. Damage to structures and vegetation will be light to moderate.

TCWS No. 1 meanwhile was raised overthe northern portion of Babuyan Islands (Babuyan Island, Calayan Island, Panuitan Island) and the rest of Batanes. Strong winds are prevailing or are expected within 36 hours in these areas, which may cause very light damage to structures and vegetation.

All other TCWS previously raised over other areas were lifted.

Rainfall

Heavy to intense rainfall, at times torrential, will pour over Batanes in the next 24 hours.

The Babuyan Islands meanwhile will likely have moderate to heavy with at times intense rains.

PAGASA said flooding may occur (scattered to widespread, including flash floods), as well as rain-induced landslides especially in areas prone to these hazards.

Kiko will continue enhancing the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat).

Monsoon rains will thus be experienced inIlocos Region, Cordillera Administrative Region, and the western section of Central Luzon in the next 24 hours.

The Southwest Monsoon will also bring over the next 24 hours occasional gusts, strong breezes and near gale-strength windsover the coastal and upland or mountain areas of Northern Luzon that are not under TCWS, Central Luzon, Metro Manila, Calabarzon, and Mimaropa.

Low-lying coastal localities of Batanes may have flooding due to high waves reaching the coast.

Coastal waters

The seaboards of Batanes and Babuyan Islands will have rough to high seas (up to 6 meters) in the next 24 hours.

"Sea travel is risky for all types of sea vessels over these waters. Mariners are advised to remain in port or take shelter in port until winds and waves subside," PAGASA said.

A gale warning was raised overthe northern and western seaboards of Luzon that are not under any TCWS and the eastern seaboard of Cagayan, due to Kiko's enhancing of the Southwest Monsoon.

Location, track

At 4 a.m., Kiko's eye was located at245 km north of Itbayat, Batanes or over the sea east of central Taiwan.

The typhoon hasmaximum sustained winds of 175 km/h near the center, gustiness of up to 215 km/h, and central pressure of 940 hPa.

Kiko slightly weakened and was moving northward at 15 km/h.

From its eye, strong winds or higher than that category extend outward up to 480 km.

Kiko is expected to head generally northward over the sea east of Taiwan and the East China Sea.

The typhoon is expected to exit the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Sunday afternoon or evening.

Kiko is also seen to continue to weaken but will remain a typhoon.

PAGASA advised the public and disaster risk reduction and management offices concerned to take the necessary precautions.

The next weather bulletin will be issued at 11 a.m.KG, GMA News

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Signal No. 2 up over Itbayat, Batanes as Kiko brings heavy to intense rains - GMA News Online

They are the great forgotten of the migratory crisis in Europe: they neither reached the Old Continent nor did they add to the regrettable lists of drowned in the middle of the sea. Almost 35,000 people, according to the UN, have been victims since 2019 of border expulsions on the high seas, one of the most common practices that the European Union, through the Libyan coast guards, applies in the central Mediterranean to prevent migrants reach community soil and shoot the number of arrivals. In the first five months of 2021 alone, more than 13,000 migrants have been returned by the Libyan Coast Guard to that Maghreb country. This means that the figures for forced returns have already been exceeded compared to all of 2019 (9,225) and 2020 (11,891). The UN, through the International Organization for Migration, together with humanitarian NGOs, have been demanding that the European authorities end this practice for months because, among other reasons, Libya is not a safe country.

For the UN, the danger is not only in the outward journey, but also in the return of migrants to countries like Libya. Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Fundamental Rights, criticized in mid-May in a harsh report that the EU, Frontex and countries such as Malta and Italy leave migrants at the mercy of the Libyan coast guard and return them to the Maghreb country. , where his life is in serious danger. The EU, through funds [econmicos] for Africa, it trains, arms and finances the Libyan coast guard that forcibly returns the migrants it intercepts in the middle of the sea, said Sara Prestianni, an expert on migration and asylum with the Euro-Mediterranean Rights Network, in a telephone conversation weeks ago. Humans. Prestianni even added to more than 70,000 the number of people returned to Libya since 2017.

The central Mediterranean route, which connects Tunisia and Libya with Malta and Italy, is the deadliest to the EU. NGO ships, coast guards, merchants and military ships sail there. Frontex planes fly over its waters in search of the mafias that traffic every year with the desperation of tens of thousands of people who embark on a dangerous journey. Since last January, 920 people have lost their lives in these waters, the vast majority from sub-Saharan Africa, although 2021 is the first year since 2014 that records deaths of people from Southeast Asia, according to the UN Refugee Agency (Acnur ).

After fleeing the war in Syria, the famine in Sudan, the terrorism in Somalia, the Taliban advance in Afghanistan or the despair itself in Libya; after crossing the Sahara desert and falling under the control of the mafias; After risking their lives and sometimes that of their children in an overflowing dinghy and without food, water or life jackets, 30,116 people have encountered the Libyan Coast Guard since 2019, sometimes at gunpoint, and they have been forced to return to that hell they thought they had left behind. No one should be returned to Libya after being rescued at sea. Under the international law of the sea, those rescued must be landed in a safe place, and Libya is not, the UN declared days ago.

Lisa Macheiner, who until last month worked in Libya with the NGO Doctors Without Borders, narrates over the phone from Tunisia how during 2021 she has noticed an increase in the return of migrants to detention centers in the Maghreb country. Interceptions at sea increase [Mediterrneo central] and that increases the number of detainees. The structures do not have capacity and there is overcrowding, violence, lack of food and the supplies of medicines are extremely limited , he warns.

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Humanitarian organizations and even the UN reiterate the very poor living conditions in Libya. Macheiner assures first-hand that migrants there have no right to have rights. Most of the detention centers run by the Libyan authorities have a closed regime a real prison, adds the humanitarian worker -; in others, migrants receive only one meal a day in which vegetables and protein are scarce. Pasta with tomato sauce, rice and bread, Macheiner lists. It is very, very basic. And in some centers, there is not always access to drinking water .

The NGO was able to document living conditions in 30 detention centers run by the Libyan authorities on the west coast, near Zwara and Misrata; and on the east coast, around Benghazi. Most of the migrants had limited access to outdoor spaces, while in a dozen of them they only enjoyed some freedom less than half a day. In the same document, it is detailed how in most of these prisons, as Macheiner calls it, there is no ventilation whatsoever and where electricity cuts are the daily bread.

Furthermore, migrants separated men from women, but not adults from children are completely denied access to legal and psychological support, the Internet, television and even newspapers. Most of the inmates are between 19 and 59 years old, as documented by the NGO. The most common is that migrants receive meals between two and three times a day, although in four of the centers visited the authorities only offer one meal a day. In the vast majority, according to documentation based on interviews with workers in the centers, latrines are separated between men and women, but on many occasions they do not work.

Faced with these calamities, Macheiner reveals on the phone a trend that he has observed these months: the Libyan authorities close some detention centers on the coast the most visible and obvious but open others in the interior of the country, which It makes us think, he maintains, in which the problem is hidden. In this way nobody sees so easily what happens there, he adds.

The practices of returning migrants on the high seas in the jargon, pushbacks also happen on the eastern flank of the Mediterranean. The Aegean Sea has been the scene of hot returns to Turkey since the beginning of 2020, with the particularity that in this case the numbers of returnees are not official. Up to five NGOs consulted that document these expulsions practically daily, agree that the number of migrants who have been forced to turn around or left adrift in Turkish waters is around 15,000 in the last year and a half.

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Half-round on the high seas, the formula to prevent the entry of migrants into the EU - Market Research Telecast

Chief Experience Officer with Krouse Travel, Vickie Everhart, shares insight on how cruise lines are testing the waters with COVID-19 safety precautions.

PENNSYLVANIA, USA As travel continues, cruise lines are testing the waters on some COVID-19 policies for passengers on board.

Travel does have some new rules and restrictions that we didn't have before but it's still something you can do, you can enjoy and do it safely, you just have to be well prepared, Everhart said.

Vickie Everhart, Chief Experience Officer with Krouse Travel has been on over 60 cruises and her most recent was a simulation cruise, testing the waters on COVID-19 cruise safety precautions.

This cruise was more of a practice and we saw that in action, were someone coming on a regular cruise starting on Sept. 5, it will look very similar; you wont see the CDC people, you wont have changes of how they are doing things Monday to Wednesday because everything was already tested out," Everhart said.

She says a lot has changed on board cruise ships and unvaccinated passengers will not have access to all that the ship offers.

One example of an area that you could not go to if you were unvaccinated was the casino," she said. "So far, some people who like to cruise, the casino is a really big part to that and if they are unvaccinated and able to sail on that particular ship, they might not be able to go to the casino so there are a lot of conversations that we as travel professionals will be having with our clients who are considering cruising."

Everhart says it was clear that the crew and CDC on board prepared the ship to keep the passengers as safe and healthy as possible.

For example, in a restaurant you might see tables with cards saying reserved, and they just would not be used and thats part of the social distancing," she explained. "As soon as someone sat down, someone from the staff would come over and flip that card saying that it needed to be cleaned. So as soon as someone got up, a team rolled in and they took care of cleaning everything."

And if youre looking to sail on the high seas soon, Everhart shared advice on how to stay safe and healthy while on board.

First, she recommends being vaccinated so that you can take advantage of all a cruise has to offer. Second, she says to obey all the new rules, to make the experience seamless. And third, be prepared for things to change.

"Thats one thing about travel in general right now is that you have to remain flexible because there are a lot of changes outside of our control and we dont know when they are coming, Everhart said.

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How to stay safe and healthy while sailing on the high seas | Travel Smart - FOX43.com

JS OUMI conducted joint training with cutter USCGC Munro (WMSL-755) in the East China Sea on Aug. 26, 2021. JMSDF Photo

KUALA LUMPUR The U.S. Coast Guards status as a military service coupled with its law enforcement roles allows it to effectively contribute to both the military and maritime law enforcement requirements of the Indo-Pacific region, according to the commander of U.S. Coast Guard units operating in the region.

As a military service of the United States, the Coast Guard can integrate seamlessly into defense operations alongside the U.S. Navy and other U.S. military services, and is fully interoperable with U.S. allies, Vice Admiral Michael McAllister, Commander Pacific Area and Commander, Coast Guard Defense Force West, said in a Sept. 3 media call.

But at the same time, its law enforcement and regulatory roles align well with both navies and coast guards in the Pacific region, and Coast Guard missions match the needs of Indo-Pacific nations.

McAllister pointed out the ongoing deployment of USCGC Munro (WMSL-755) under U.S. 7th Fleet, in which it has conducted engagements with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, Japan Coast Guard, Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

We did some joint patrols, a search-and-rescue exercise, and small boat operations with the Japan Coast Guard, and just recently with the Philippine Coast Guard and the Philippine fisheries agency we did a joint patrol, we did exercises in our ability to enforce Exclusive Economic Zones and so forth, McCallister said, adding that the recent engagement between Munro and the JMSDF was one of cooperative patrolling coincident with other operations.

He added that while Munro is deployed, it conducts operations as directed by 7th Fleet and is part of the integrated naval force, as articulated in the U.S. tri-service maritime strategy.

But I would offer she is not a duplication or replication of United States Navy capability. We do unique engagements with navies, coast guards, and maritime security agents throughout the region, he said.

On Aug. 24 to 25, Munro participated in a cooperative two-day deployment with the Japan Coast Guard patrol vessel JCG Aso (PL41) in the East China Sea, where it conducted crew exchanges; two-ship communication, formation, maneuvering and navigation exercises; joint and cooperative maritime presence; maritime law enforcement training and exercises; and several variations of large ship and small boat operations.

On Aug. 26 Munro conducted both a replenishment and training exercise called ILEX21-3 with the JMSDF replenishment oiler JS Oumi (AOE426) in the East China Sea.

This is the first time that a JMSDF supply ship has replenished a U.S. Coast Guard patrol vessel and also the Japan-U.S. ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) has been applied to the U.S. Coast Guard, so I believe that we have further improved interoperability between JMSDF and USCG, Capt. Yoshifuku Toshihiko, the commanding officer of Oumi, said in a JMSDF news release.

McAllister said the U.S. Coast Guard sees Japan as amongst its most valued partnerships. And thats both from a maritime perspective through the Maritime Defense Force and from missions that align really well with the Coast Guard to the Japan Coast Guard, he said, adding that the Coast Guard receives great support on the North Pacific Guard enforcement initiative both on the operational side and for logistics capability.

An MH-60S Knight Hawk Helicopter assigned to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 21 conducts touch and go drills aboard U.S. Coast Guard Legend-class cutter USCGC Munro (WMSL-755) during exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2020 on Aug. 25, 2020. US Navy Photo

Munro participated in at-sea engagements with the Philippines on Aug. 31 in the West Philippine Sea, where it carried out bilateral operations, professional exchanges, search-and-rescue and communications exercises, small boat operations, multi-vessel maneuvering, and maritime domain awareness drills.

McAllister downplayed the exercise location, which was near the disputed Scarborough Shoal, stating that it was not intended to send a message to China. He added that one of the elements the Coast Guard is working on is capacity and capability building for the Philippine Coast Guard and maritime enforcement agencies to conduct sustained operations in waters beyond their littorals.

And so, Im not going to say that activity near the Scarborough Shoals was necessarily intended to send a message; but when you think about the Philippines claim for their waters, that opportunity to get them out further from shore, do maritime awareness, and when appropriate enforce laws and treaties within their Exclusive Economic Zone, it simply requires that we get them further from shore, McAlliser said.

He also noted the U.S. Coast Guard does cooperate with China on areas of mutual interest between the two countries, though there is not much cooperative activity in the South China Sea. But both countries continue to cooperate in the North Pacific, specifically as it relates to high seas fishing and the enforcement of various treaties and conventions for which both the U.S. and China are signatories.

And we have enjoyed that relationship for a number of decades now, and it has been successful. We have largely eliminated the use of high seas drift nets, as an example, on the high seas, which had a very significant impact on a lot of migratory fish species, he said.

In a July media call this year, U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said National Security Cutter USCGC Bertholf (WMSL750) was deploying to the North Pacific and would cooperate under the North Pacific Coast Guard Forum comprising of Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the United States. Schultz also stated that the Coast Guard was still in the midst renegotiating a Memorandum of Agreement with China on shipriders, law enforcement who operate from naval ships, which had expired more than a year ago.

USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750), left, moves in formation with the Philippine Coast Guard vessels Batangas, center, and Kalanggaman during an exercise on May 14, 2019. US Coast Guard

Asked about Chinas new regulations for ships entering Chinas territorial waters which require ships provide notice and their maritime authorities with detailed information on the ship including its current position, next port-of-call and estimated time of arrival McAllister said that based on media reports, the requirements for ships on innocent passage to the South China Sea seem to run directly counter to international agreements and norms. If our reading is correct, these are very concerning, and thats because they begin to build foundations for instability and potential conflicts if those are enforced, he said.

McAllister also provided an update on Coast Guard operations in the Pacific Islands since the July commissioning in Guam of Coast Guard Fast Response Cutters Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139), Oliver Henry (WPC 1140) and Frederick Hatch (WPC 1143), and the re-designation of Coast Guard Sector Guam to Coast Guard Forces Micronesia Sector Guam. Since then, the Coast Guard has launched the most recent wave of what it calls Operation Blue Pacific, which is a multi-mission, multi-location effort in coordination with key partners amongst Pacific Island nations to include using various Coast Guard cutters to detect, deter and suppress illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing.

We carry that out often times through shiprider agreements; we counter transnational shipment of illegal narcotics. We conduct port security assessments; and we provide what we call maritime domain awareness through long-range aircraft sorties, he said.

During a July media call, Schultz said operations in that region will be enhanced with the replacement of HC-130Hs operating at Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point in Hawaii because the new HC-130Js having longer range, more endurance and better sensor capabilities. They can also fly directly to Guam without refueling, in contrast to the HC-130H. Forward deployments to Guam would be in relation to specific tasking and missions rather than a regular, rotational, presence, as has already been the case in the past.

McAllister also remarked on the impact of COVID-19 has had on Coast Guard activities and engagement, saying it has limited the face-to-face and human engagement that the service and its partners have found valuable. Mitigations efforts through virtual engagements were used to bridge that gap.

But time will tell as to whether weve been effective in doing that. I would say theres certainly from my perspective as a regional commander, Im looking forward to when travel restrictions begin to be eased and I can go and look people eye-to-eye and kind of re-form those critical partnerships, he said.

McAllister added that COVID also made putting ships to sea and keeping them at sea difficult.

Getting a crew ready for sea including quarantines, vaccinations, and other measures to ensure that theyre protected has been difficult, he said. And then staying at sea for months at a time in order to carry out our missions has taken a toll on our crews. And so, were hopeful that our partnerships allow us to emerge from COVID as quick as possible.

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US Coast Guard Continues to Expand Presence in the Western Pacific - USNI News - USNI News

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