It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Aliens Created Our Universe in a Lab, Scientist Suggests
Jennifer Leman Mon, April 25, 2022, Photo credit: VICTOR HABBICK VISIONS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY - Getty Images
Avi Loeb, astronomy’s resident bad boy, suggests the universe may have been created in a laboratory.
Our supposed creators, Loeb writes in an op-ed published in Scientific American last year, may have developed the technology needed to construct “baby universes” capable of producing life.
Could our universe have been created in a petri dish? Avi Loeb seems to think so. The Harvard astronomer posits that a higher “class” of civilization may have conjured up our universe in a laboratory far, far away.
“Since our universe has a flat geometry with a zero net energy, an advanced civilization could have developed a technology that created a baby universe out of nothing through quantum tunneling,” Loeb writes in an op-ed published by Scientific American last year.
This theory, he suggests, would unite two seemingly opposite notions: the idea that a higher power might be driving our fate, and the secular concept of quantum gravity (a field of physics that seeks to work gravity into the theory of quantum mechanics—something that, to the bane of physicists everywhere, we haven’t been able to do yet on Earth). Primarily, this theory hinges on a far-off advanced civilization’s ability to meld both quantum mechanics and gravity and subsequently identify and recreate all of the universe’s ingredients. (Sounds like a lot of work, to be honest.)
He also introduces a new way of classifying exactly what makes a civilization advanced—one that veers away from Soviet astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev’s system, which organizes civilizations based on the amount of energy they generate and consume.
According to Kardashev, Type I civilizations—greetings, Earthlings!—are only advanced enough to utilize the starlight that reaches their planet (4×1012 watts), while Type II civilizations have mastered the ability to fully harness their host star’s power (4×1026 watts). Dyson sphere, anyone? Type III civilizations, the final classification in his framework, are able to harness all of the energy within their galaxy (a whopping 4×1037 watts).
Loeb, by contrast, has devised a framework that breaks advanced civilizations down into classes based on their ability to “reproduce the astrophysical conditions that led to its existence.”
Earthlings would fall into class C because, as a “low-level” technological civilization, we would not be able to recreate our current conditions should the sun suddenly die. (He suggests we might even fall into the class D category because we’re actively destroying our only home.) On the other hand, class B civilizations, Loeb writes, are advanced enough to recreate the conditions in which they live, independent of their host star.
A class A civilization, like our proposed creators, would be able to, say, generate large amounts of dark energy and, as Loeb suggests, create “baby universes,” or smaller universes controlled by this higher civilization, that could potentially spawn life. He also suggests that, due to competition, only one advanced civilization at a time would be able to reach this level of sophistication.
It’s a truly, truly bonkers idea, but it is interesting to think about. And it brings up a set of intriguing questions: What makes a civilization truly technologically advanced? Are we an advanced simulation? What might this “laboratory” look like, anyway?
Italian Frigate Intervened to Protect Crew on Bulker from Pirates
Italian forces secured the bulker and escorted the vessel to the anchorage (Italian Navy)
The Italian Navy provided additional details on the boarding that took place aboard a bulker in the Gulf of Guinea reporting that its frigate Luigi Rizzo intervened to stop the incident and provide security. While they did not directly engage the pirates that boarded the Arch Gabriel, they reported taking “a series of actions that dissuaded the pirates from continuing in the illicit activity.”
The crew of the 61,3000 dwt issued an alert on April 3 reporting that they were being boarded in a position approximately 300 nautical miles south of Lago, Nigeria. After alerting the authorities and calling for assistance, the crew immediately took refuge in the vessel's citadel to escape the threat of the pirates on board, the Italian Navy reports.
The frigate Luigi Rizzo is on her third deployment to the Gulf of Guinea as part of the multi-national effort to enhance security for merchant ships in the area. The vessel had departed Italy on February 24 beginning its mission which will last till June patrolling in the Gulf of Guinea. When the Arch Gabriel raised the alarm, the frigate was approximately 280 miles from the bulker and immediately change course to reach the vessel.
According to the report from the Italian Navy once the frigate reached a “useful distance,” and the first light of dawn on April 4, one of their helicopters was dispatched with members of the specialized Marina San Marco Brigade, trained in safety and boarding activities. Arriving in the area, the aircraft acquired radio contact with the crew of the bulker determining that they were safe in the citadel. The helicopter continued to patrol the area around the bulker.
Once securing the area, the Italian Navy searched the bulker and escorted it to the anchorage (Italian Navy)
By midday, the Luigi Rizzo had also arrived in the area. They proceeded to search the area around the bulker verifying the absence of armed personnel on the open decks as well as of suspicious boats in the surrounding area.
“At around 2 pm, an operation was started which saw the insertion of a boarding team on the merchant vessel by helicopter while the frigate Luigi Rizzo guaranteed the necessary safety support,” the Italian Navy writes in their mission summary. “After about an hour, the Navy boarding team completed the search of the merchant ship, took control of it, and having verified the absence of pirates or other hostile personnel on board, freed the crew that had remained in the citadel.”
Members from the brigade remained aboard the Arch Gabriel while the crew repaired damage from the pirates. The frigate also provided an escort as the bulker sailed into an anchorage closer to shore.
The Luigi Rizzo, commissioned in 2017, is a 146-foot long frigate with a complement of approximately 200 sailors operating as part of Operation Gabinia which began in February 2020. She is providing maritime and air patrols in the Gulf of Guinea working with other international and regional forces to improve maritime security in the region.
Luigi Rizzo is on patrol in the Gulf of Guinea till June 2022 (Italian Navy)
First Piracy Boarding in Months Reported in Gulf of Guinea
Yesterday's incident was the first in months in the region (file photo)
The first vessel in more than three months was boarded in the Gulf of Guinea on Sunday, April 3 with analysts suggesting that it was a random event. The vessel and crew are both being reported as safe today.
MDAT-GoG, the monitoring and reporting cooperation between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy issued the first alert to the incident. They placed the ship approximately 300 nautical miles south of Lago, Nigeria reporting that unknown persons had boarded a vessel. Today, they updated saying that the incident had been completed with the crew and vessel safe.
Details remain vague but Dryad pointed out that is marked an apparent break after the significant hiatus in reports. They said that the crew was understood to have made it to the citadel aboard the vessel. “Pirates were reported to have been onboard the vessel for approximately for four hours, during which time they are understood to have attempted to access the citadel,” Dryad wrote in its alert.
The pirates are believed to have left the vessel but it is not known if they left when they were unable to find the crew or if they were frightened away by the increased security patrols and military support in the region.
The vessel is being identified as an eight-year-old bulker, the Arch Gabriel, registered in the Marshall Islands. Her AIS data shows the 61,300 dwt bulker as having been laying off West Africa since mid-March. She had departed Houston in mid-February and was likely waiting for her next contract, meaning that she could have been seen as a target of opportunity having been idle for such a long period.
The most recent incident again highlights that the area of activity has also moved further out from the coast. Dryad points out that it was more than 110 nautical miles outside the Nigerian EEZ.
The security analysts at Dryad in the group’s newly issued annual report point out the dramatic decline in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea that started in 2021. They highlight the Nigerian security effort known as Deep Blue as one contributor saying however that there were likely several elements contributing to the decline including an increased international presence. A Danish frigate that drew attention when it engaged pirates late in 2021, for example, was part of the increased security but the vessel was withdrawn last month after the invasion of Ukraine.
The number of vessels boarded throughout the region fell by more than half according to Dryad’s report with incidents of vessels being boarded and crews kidnapped declining by 60 percent in 2021. Overall, they report that actual and attempted attacks and vessels being fired upon dropped by more than 85 percent.
MDAT-GoG in its tracking highlights mostly incidents of theft from vessels in 2022 and only this one boarding in the past 30 days. At the end of January 2022, pirates fired upon a ferry in Equatorial Guinea but the onboard security forces returned fire and were able to scare away the pirates. There was also an incident in late January further north in a region between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire where a small product tanker was boarded. The pirates reportedly stole oil from the vessel and left, with the last significant incident being at the end of 2021 when pirates killed one crewmember and kidnapped as many as six others from a Chinese-owned fishing vessel operating near Equatorial Guinea.
Experts however warn that despite the decline in activity that extra security measures need to be maintained. The pirate groups remain in the region and can continue to approach opportunistic targets.
South Asian Shipbreaking Soars, But AccidentsPREVENTABLE INCIDENTS Continue
Fatal accidents and injuries continue to characterize shipbreaking in South Asia, where 73 percent of all end-of-life ships were beached for dismantling in the first quarter of this year.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform reports that a total of 13 workers suffered accidents on South Asia's shipbreaking beaches last quarter, where a total of 94 ocean-going commercial ships and floating offshore units ended up for dismantling. The majority were in India, with 44, followed by Bangladesh with 35 and Pakistan with 15 ships.
Over the three months period from January to March, a total of 129 ships were dismantled globally. 15 were demolished in the European Union, 15 in Turkey and two in China.
Data from market intelligence firm SteelMint Research shows the ship recycling market has maintained its strong performance in the subcontinent where buyers, particularly those from Pakistan and India, are offering attractive prices to secure tonnage.
Shipbreaking import prices rose by $10 per light displacement tonnage (ldt) in India to hit $690 per ldt and $5 per ldt in Bangladesh to reach $675 per ldt in mid-April, with prices in Pakistan holding stable at $690 per ldt.
“Offers from recyclers in Pakistan are going strong at present. In fact, these are topping the price charts in the subcontinent, since shortage of stock in the yards is driving buyers to secure tonnage,” said SteelMint in its latest update.
It added that recyclers in India are eager to buy more tonnage, as domestic demand remains strong while inventory levels at the yards are depleting. This has resulted in offers increasing by about $10 per ldt, and Indian yards are competing hard with those from neighboring Pakistan to secure more vessels.
“Overall, as the second quarter of the year gets well underway, there is more positivity and optimism going forward, primarily due to strong showings on commodity prices and a decent demand for tonnage across sub-continent locations,” noted SteelMint.
As more ships head to South Asian beaches for demolition, cases of fatalities, injuries and breach of safety standards and environmental protection remain rampant. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform report shows that Bangladesh led in reported cases of fatalities and accidents, with two deaths and four injuries. One death was reported in India and three injuries in Pakistan.
The group reports that cases of illegal exports of end-of-life floating storage units (FSOs) and floating production storage and offloading units (FPSOs) into South Asia beaches for dismantling are on the rise, a development that is causing severe negative impacts on the environment.
“In terms of decommissioning, these floating units are subject to the same waste legislation as conventional vessels. Unless end-of-life vessels are decommissioned in a sustainable way, they pose a serious health and environmental risk,” said the report.
It adds that around 200 floating structures have been identified as scrapped globally since 2015 with an estimated 40 percent of the assets ended up on South Asian beaches, where they were broken up under conditions that cause damage to the coastal environment and put workers at risk.
Since 2009, around 7,000 ships have been scrapped in South Asia, resulting in at least 430 deaths and 354 injuries.
Survivors Accuse Lebanese Navy of Ramming Migrant Vessel
Survivors from a sunken migrant boat have accused the Lebanese Navy of ramming their vessel while they were trying to escape the country, resulting in an unknown number of fatalities.
The migrants, mostly Syrian and Lebanese men, were attempting to escape Tripoli and head for European shores. With the collapse of the Lebanese economy, a growing number of residents are looking for a way out, including the dangerous option of a seaborne crossing to Cyprus.
The boat was reportedly carrying about 60 people. UN refugee agency UNHCR reported Sunday that 45 people were rescued after the sinking, and six bodies were recovered, including a two-month-old infant; survivors say that at least two people more are missing.
For their part, the Lebanese Navy claimed that the boat was carrying 10-15 times as many people as it was rated to transport, and none of the occupants were wearing life vests. The Lebanese Navy said that the migrant boat's captain caused the collision by swerving to avoid a naval vessel interdiction, and that the boat was overwhelmed by high wave action.
"This tragic event underscores the shockingly high risks that many people are resorting to out of desperation. Shipwrecks, tragic deaths and further suffering could be avoided, but it is crucial that continuous support is mobilized to help Lebanon as living conditions," said UN refugee agency UNHCR in a statement.
According to the UN, about 1,300 refugees attempted to make the crossing to Cyprus in 2020, and at least four boats have tried to cross so far this year. The majority of these migrant vessels are intercepted and returned to Lebanon.
Beleaguered U.K. ferry operator P&O Ferries is reporting that it is set to resume service on its busiest route as the company has received clearance from the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and works to return to full service six weeks after firing its crews and replacing them with agency staffs. While the restoration of service is seen as a key step, the unions are continuing their protests and accusations while asking passengers and freight companies to boycott the company.
The MCA gave clearance on April 22, for the Spirit of Britain, one of the P&O’s ferries on the Dover to Calais route to resume service after the 47,592 gross ton vessel was detained on April 11. The details of the inspection were also released now that the case has been closed and it shows that a total of 23 decencies were detailed including six that were grounds for the detention. While most of the focus has been on crewing issues and training, the inspection also showed issues related to the fast rescue boats which were not properly maintained, inoperative oil filtering equipment, fire doors that were not as required, and issues with fire dampers. The vessel was reinspected and cleared last Friday.
P&O announced today that it will resume service on its busiest route between England and France on Wednesday morning for passengers and cargo. However, a second vessel that operates on the route, the Pride of Kent, remains under detention.
Other routes are also coming back into operation for the company. Over the weekend, P&O announced that both the European Causeway and the European Highlander were back in service between Northern Ireland and Scotland. That route is back to full service while the Norbay, which runs between Liverpool and Dublin, has also been cleared to sail.
The unions however are continuing to call for a boycott of all the routes reiterating their demand that the company reinstate all the fired crewmembers. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) also leveled fresh charges against the company after union inspectors were denied permission to board the vessels at the Port of Dover last week. The RMT now says it has had reports that P&O attempted to reduce the wages of the agency workers that it brought on at already reduced rates versus the fired employees.
P&O is strongly denying the latest union accusations saying it was a misunderstanding with one employee that did not understand the terms of the contract. "There are no plans to change or reduce the wages of any of our agency seafarers,” the company said in a statement. They previously confirmed that the average wage for the agency employees is £5.50 an hour (approximately $7.00 per hour) which is below the UK minimum wage and below the levels that the government has been working to enforce for crews working on all ships servicing UK ports.
There also remain four additional ferries that still require inspection by the MCA before the company will be back to full operation on all of its routes.
China Launches its First Autonomous Container Ship Service
Zhi Fei entered comemrcial services after extensive trials as the first autonomous containership (Bestway)
Chinese officials are reporting that they have put the world’s first autonomous, electric container feeder ship into commercial service after a period of extensive trials. The vessel, which was developed through a broad collaboration of Chinese institutions is reported to be a demonstration ship that will provide significant learning for the future development of the technology.
The vessel, named Zhi Fei (Chinese for Flying Wisdom) commenced its first regular voyage on April 22. The Zhi Fei is reported to be approximately 8,000 dwt with a capacity of 300 TEU. The vessel is 384 feet long with a beam of 57 feet and a depth of approximately 32 feet. Propulsion is reported to be by a DC electric system that gives the feeder ship a top speed of approximately 12 knots and a normal operating speed of 8 knots. The Zhi Fei was built by the Qingdao Shipyard.
The design for the vessel was led by Bestway in cooperation with Shanghai Jiahao Ship Design Institute and the Dalian Maritime University. The initial construction contract was signed at the end of 2019 with work beginning in May 2020. The vessel was launched in April 2021 with the first sea trials in June and testing on the systems began last September. The technical evaluation was completed in March 2022, and the vessel is now operating between Qingdao Port in Shandong Province and Dongjiakou managed by Navigation Brilliance (BRINAV).
Zhi Fei began commercial operations on April 22, 2022 (Bestway)
According to the reports, the ship adopts a full-rotation electric propulsion system based on hybrid technology and integrates large-capacity battery packs and generator sets through DC networking to achieve intelligent energy efficiency optimization. The Chinese are saying that it is the first time that a DC power system has been combined with intelligent operations.
The containership is capable of operating in three different modes, manned driving, remote driving, and unmanned driving. The intelligent systems provide independent route planning, intelligent collision avoidance, and remote-control operations. The vessel employs 5G, satellites, and other multi-network systems.
Information developed from this project and the operation of the ship are contributing to efforts to build similar self-propelled containerships with a larger capacity from 500 to 800 TEU.
Agribusiness Giant Cargill Expects to Have Zero-Carbon Ships by 2030
Agricultural commodities giant Cargill, a founding member of the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, believes that it will have at least some zero-carbon bulkers in operation by the end of this decade.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Cargill Ocean Transportation president Jan Dieleman said that he is "very confident" that the company will have zero-carbon ships in its fleet by 2030 - though the exact number may be difficult to predict. Fuel availability could be a limiting factor, as well as the pace of alternative-fuel R&D.
Cargill's fleet is vast, reflecting the scale of its operations. It currently charters about 120 Capesize bulkers, 180 Panamaxes, 120 Supramaxes, 130 Handysize and 20 coasters, transporting over 220 million tonnes of goods per year. It offers its shipping services to third-party bulk shippers, along with related services like transshipment, barging and warehousing. It also offers shipping for crude oil and other energy cargoes.
The scale of Cargill's decarbonization challenge is roughly comparable to that facing Maersk Line, which operates more than 700 boxships on global trading routes. Maersk has placed an early bet on sustainably-sourced methanol as its future fuel, banking on proven methanol-fueled engine technology and expectations about the scalability of "greener" sources of this industrial commodity.
To start off its decarbonization journey, Maersk has ordered 12 methanol-powered, 16,000 TEU boxships from Hyundai Heavy Industries. While the ships will be able to revert to traditional bunker fuel if needed, the number-two ocean carrier's objective is to run them on low-carbon / zero-carbon sources of methanol. However, the fuel supply challenge for this small fraction of Maersk's fleet provides a cautionary tale. Maersk has had to partner with six different companies - CIMC ENRIC, European Energy, Green Technology Bank, Orsted, Proman, and WasteFuel - to acquire enough methanol from green hydrogen electrolysis and from biological sources to power these 12 ships. Only three of its six suppliers are producing today, and the rest expect to be up and running by the end of 2025.
Greenpeace Activists Chain Themselves to Tanker to Stop Russian Oil
Greenpeace activists set out to block a tanker waiting offshore with a cargo of Russian jetfuel (Greenpeace)
In possibly their most daring protest yet against Russian oil, activists from Greenpeace Norway along with Extinction Rebellion chained themselves to a tanker seeking to prevent it from docking at a Norwegian oil terminal. Previously, other Greenpeace groups have taken to small boats in Denmark and elsewhere primarily in the Baltic also attempting to block tankers transporting Russian oil and to call attention to their demands that Europe stop buying Russian petroleum products. As with the previous demonstrations, the police had to be called in to remove the protestors.
The Hong Kong-registered tanker Ust Luga, 109,985 dwt, arrived in the Oslofjord transporting a cargo from Russia’s Ust-Luga port where she had departed on April 14. According to Greenpeace, the tanker, which is operated by Russian oil company Novatek, was loaded with 95,000 tonnes of jet fuel to be delivered to Esso, the Norwegian subsidiary of ExxonMobil. The protestors highlighted that the oil company is headed by Russian oligarch Leonid Mikhelson, who has close ties to Vladimir Putin.
Activists chained their small boats to the tanker's anchor chain (Greenpeace)
Early this morning, activists from the two groups attempted to paddle their small boats out to the tanker, which was anchored offshore and expected to move to Esso Norway's oil terminal outside Åsgårdstrand, Norway. Several of Greenpeace’s small boats defied the police and were able to get alongside the tanker where they chained their inflatable boat to the anchor chains of the tanker to prevent it from raising anchor and moving to the terminal. Other activists, in kayaks, were holding up signs reading "Oil fuels war."
The police prevented some of the Greenpeace activists from getting out in their boat to the Ust Luga. In addition, activists from Extinction Rebellion were also unsuccessful stopped by the police short of reaching the tanker. The Coast Guard also arrived on the scene to monitor the situation.
The activists released a statement demanding that Norway immediately stop all imports of Russian oil and gas. Greenpeace also sent letters to both Esso and the Norwegian government demanding an immediate halt to all imports and trade in Russian oil and gas.
“I am shocked that Norway operates as a free port for Russian oil, which we know finances Putin's warfare,” said Frode Pleym, leader of Greenpeace Norway. “We have tried to get Esso and the government to take responsibility without success. Now we have no choice but to use civil disobedience to stop the oil tanker.”
Esso released a statement to the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet emphasizing that the company fully complies with all Norwegian sanctions. They said that the oil had been purchased on a contract before the invasion of Ukraine and that the company does not plan to buy additional Russian oil but must complete its existing contracts.
The police permitted the demonstrators to make their point but later at the request of the companies came alongside the tanker. They reported that 20 protestors were arrested for blocking the tanker. The Ust Luga docked at the terminal later in the day where it was expected to offload its cargo.
China's PLA Navy Appoints its First Female Commanding Officer
For the first time, China's navy has appointed a female officer as the commanding officer of one of its surface combatants.
In time for the PLA Navy's 73rd anniversary, state media announced that Wei Huixiao has been named the CO of the Shaoxing, a brand new Type 052D class destroyer. It is the first time that a woman will take command on the front lines of China's assertive maritime policy.
The promotion has been a long time coming for Huixiao. The PLA Navy announced plans to train her for a future post as a commanding officer back in 2018, when she was serving as an "intern captain" aboard the destroyer Zhengzhou. At the time, the PLA Daily reported that she was just "one step away" from becoming the service's first female commanding officer.
Wei did not have a conventional start to her military career in the People's Liberation Army (Navy). She started out at Sun Yat-Sen University, where she completed a PhD in geosciences. She later went to work for a leading Chinese tech company, Huawei, before deciding to join the PLA Navy at the age of 34. She served as deputy chief navigator aboard China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, and she became the first female "deputy captain" in the PLA Navy in 2016.
"I'd like to go to the battlefield, even if I died there. No problem. I'd like to go," she told CGTN in 2019.
Her command, Shaoxing, is the latest generation of Type 052D destroyers (Luyang III-class). The Type 052D is China's answer to the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer: it is a 7,500-tonne multirole surface combatant with flat panel AESA radars, 64 vertical launch missile cells, CIWS cannons and CODAG propulsion.
Shaoxing has been reported as attached to the PLA Eastern Theater Command Navy.
Total Eren Plans Giant Green Ammonia Project on the Strait of Magellan
The proposed H2 Magallanes project, northeast of Punta Arenas on the Strait of Magellan (Total Eren)
French renewable-power company Total Eren (formerly Eren RE) has commissioned an initial engineering study for a mega-scale green hydrogen and green ammonia plant in the Magallanes region of southern Chile.
Under a new contract announced last week, UK-based energy engineering consultancy Wood will provide a conceptual engineering study for Total Eren's H2 Magallanes Project, a giant green hydrogen plant located on the windy Strait of Magellan. The plan calls for development of 10 GW of onshore wind power capacity, a desalination plant to make clean water to feed electrolyzers, 8 GW of electrolysis capacity, and an ammonia plant to turn the hydrogen product into green ammonia.
The scope also includes a new seaport facility. An initial illustration shows that it would have two breakbulk berths for the import of equipment, plus one liquid bulk berth for the transfer of ammonia (and potentially hydrogen) to tankers for transport to overseas markets.
Total Eren secured the land for the project at the end of 2021. If completed, it would go a long ways towards fulfilling Chile's national goal of building out 25 GW of green hydrogen capacity by 2030.
"This highly pioneering and innovative project represents the significant investment needed to realize not only the future of green hydrogen production but the potential of green ammonia, which is vital for ensuring sustainable food production, and an alternative clean fuel source in accelerating the energy transition," said Thomas Grell, President of Renewable Energy & Power at Wood.
Chile has global-scale ambitions for the development of its renewable energy industry. Its vastly different northern and southern climates have some of the best solar-power and wind resources in the world, and its government hopes to leverage this potential to build a mega-scale energy export economy.
Total Eren has been working in Chile since 2019, and is 30 percent owned by French oil and gas company TotalEnergies.
