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2024 Maritime News Headlines

The maritime news headlines of 2024 must include the MV Dali’s allision with the Francis Scott Bridge Key in Baltimore USA in March, the loss of the 56m Perini Navi super yacht ‘Bayesian’ in August and the recent sinking of two Russian oil tankers in December.

Three very different incidents, with very different outcomes and losses. The MV Dali allision claimed the lives of 6 construction workers, destroyed a key bridge and disrupted trade for several weeks. The settlement is widely predicted to be the biggest insurance loss in maritime history. The sinking of the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 caused no loss of life but will have a huge environmental impact with the loss of an estimated 8,600 tonnes of oil into the Black Sea. The sinking of Bayesian claimed seven lives including one of Britain’s most successful businessman and some of his family and crew.

There are no verifiable statistics for the number of souls lost at sea globally each year but it usually runs into thousands. Some of those who died were crew, some workers, some passengers and some migrants. The sea is a harsh teacher and she demands respect by all who go there. This is so very evident in Edition IV of the Safety & Loss Prevention Briefings Compendium 2024 compiled and recently published by the IIMS (International Institute of Marine Surveying). With over 170 pages of maritime incidents, losses and lessons identified it is a treasure trove of information, you can read the pdf version here.

Boat Chat’s 2024 Reflections

Boat Chat tries to keep a global outlook but has its roots in the small craft marine surveying sector in the UK. 2024 has been a somewhat unusual year in the UK boat market. After an eerily quiet start in Q1, things picked up into Q2 and the summer with surveyors and brokers all reporting strong interest. The General Election came (and thankfully went) with a new Labour government taking the helm. Q3 and Q4 were, for this surveyor at least, very busy and the main reason Boat Chat wasn’t receiving my full attention, sorry about that. As the year draws to a close, business has calmed down somewhat and the normal steady flow of winter insurance surveys has resumed.

Whilst the election result bought some stability, the mood music across the industry remains subdued. Princess Yachts in Plymouth announced its plans to cut about 260 jobs from its workforce citing market conditions and the measures introduced in the Labour government’s first Budget.

The International Boat Building College in Lowestoft has announced it will close its doors this month. Owners Lyn and Mike Tupper said:

The brokers Boat Chat has spoken to are generally reporting 2024 to have been a passable year but by no means exceptional. Pricing of vessels remains key for getting footfall and completing sales. From a surveyor’s perspective the condition and pre-sale preparation of vessels has been a key driver in getting sales across the line. As I have often joked, some of the used cars on offer for less than £10k in my local car dealership get prepared and detailed better than some boats on offer for £75k.

Looking Ahead…

2025 looks set to bring with it continued and probably increased global uncertainty. The war in Ukraine continues to rumble on having passed the 1000th day mark in November. The surge in maritime offensive capability is evident at both ends of the spectrum as the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy expands in size, complexity and capability and small rebel groups continue to dominate the Red Sea with Unmanned Surface Vehicles, missiles, pirate raids and drones. Undersea communications infrastructure in Europe has been targeted and destroyed whilst cyber attacks continue to increase in scale and effect.

And of course the world awaits with baited breath the return of Donald Trump to the White House…

Boat Chat’s 2024 Introspection

This year has been incredibly busy across several fronts for Boat Chat. Alongside the marine surveying day job there has been a lot of progress on the education front marking Yacht & Small Craft Surveying diploma modules of IIMS students, assessing IIMS membership upgrade applications and mentoring newer surveyors. Perhaps the highlight of this work was delivering three days of practical surveying tips and advice to a group of aspiring new marine surveyors at the Boat Building Academy in Lyme Regis.

I was honoured to have been elected as the Deputy Vice President of the IIMS at this year’s AGM. The IIMS is doing a huge amount of work in the global marine surveying space and now has about a thousand surveyor members in over 100 countries. Split almost 50:50 between ‘big ship’ and ‘small craft’ surveyors, the Institute seeks to promote the professionalism, recognition and training of marine surveyors worldwide.

My personal mission remains to ‘Help People Understand Boats Better’ through my YouTube channel, LinkedIn posts and blogs. Subscriber growth has been good this year with the White Hat Marine Surveying YouTube channel growing quickly and recently passing 500 subscribers. One of the videos went viral (for the channel, not by Mr. Beast’s standards) and has so far attracted over 52,000 views.

On LinkedIn I now have over 1300 followers and my posts this year have been viewed over 280,000 times so far.

Subscribers to Boat Chat continue to grow and have also passed 500 across all platforms. So as the year draws to a close, a big THANK YOU to all of you who have accessed the content in its various forms.

Looking ahead the mission remains unchanged and is driven by my motto:

Read the MAIB Safety Digest reports, the IIMS Safety Compendium or the mainstream maritime media on a regular basis and it quickly becomes clear that there is an ongoing need to support people from all walks of life in understanding and interacting with the maritime environment. From advising narrowboat owners and buyers on the many types of corrosion and their implications, to yacht owners on carbon monoxide poisoning to motor boat owners looking to upgrade their battery system. Helping people understand boats better remains at the core of what Boat Chat does and stands for.

Great Kit Ideas

With Christmas fast approaching, it is time to start thinking about new gear for the boat owners or marine surveyors in your life or as a treat for your boat. I have put together several collections on Kit.Co which are all personally recommended items and most of which I own.

From boat safety equipment to books about sailing and the tools and books a marine surveyor needs; there really is something for everyone!

Boaty Terminology

Back Bearing - A bearing taken from your current position looking back to where you have come from. A useful navigation tool to use in your passage planning by aiming for an easily identified mark on the route prior to entering a tricky pilotage section. A back bearing can then be used when there is no obvious mark or leading transit to aim for but the vessel needs to keep clear of danger.

“Steer a course of 120^o on the ship’s compass and keep that northerly cardinal astern at 300^o on your hand compass”.

Big shout out to Rebecca Whitlocke at Antibes Yachting who very kindly wrote on LinkedIn:

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