Rena: captain had been drinking?

An investigation will consider whether the captain of a stricken cargo ship had been drinking when the vessel ran aground off Tauranga, Transport Minister Steven Joyce says.

The Liberian-flagged Rena was carrying about 1700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and about 70 tonnes of marine diesel when it struck the Astrolabe Reef at top speed on October 5.
The course the ship should be steering is about three miles to the north of astrolabe reef and there are no obstacles in the way.

He said he would have seen the two flashes of a lighthouse and two white flashes every so many seconds to indicate Mortiti Island.

One possible factor - the ship is believed to not have been equipped with an electronic course plotter, which would have alerted the crew if she strayed from her intended route.

"Our understanding is on the bridge they have radar and they got a GPS that gives them their position and traditional paper charts on the chart table [the equipment] has been enough since World War II and it's kept the port safe."

The ship is put on automatic pilot and a watch keeper monitors the position of the ship and maintains its planned trip.

"He's looking out for the radar. He's looking out through the windows to look for anything that would impede a safe passage."

Lees said an alarm would be sounded when the auto pilot could not keep on course anymore.

But, the reef would not show on the radar because it is too low and there would be no proximity alarms to indicate danger.

Equator: tanker with $100 million in crude departs

Equator, Liberian-flagged oil tanker, departed the northeastern port of Marsa al-Hariga, [ Marsa el Hariga oil terminal in Tobruk ] carrying one million barrels of high quality light sweet crude oil, Serir/Mesla blend, crude oil, from the rebel-controlled Arabian Gulf Oil Co. The shipment, of over $100 million in oil, marks the first sale of oil by the rebel government since the uprising. back

Eleni P: Pittas bulker hijacked

The Liberian-flagged MV Eleni P was headed to India when pirates seized it 250 nautical miles off the coast of Oman Wednesday morning May 12.
1339 9128025 ELENI P A8SI2 Bulker 72119 1997 Liberia

Registered Owner 1 : ELENI SHIPPING LIMITED

Management Company 1 : EUROBULK LTD.
Euroseas' operations are managed by Eurobulk Ltd., an ISO 9001:2000 certified affiliated ship management company


Ship owning interests of the Pittas family of Athens, Greece, which has been in the shipping business over the past 135 years.



Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas- in foto with professor Harilaos Psaraftis- commented: We are happy to pay a dividend of $0.29 per share which is $0.05 per share or 21% above our target minimum dividend of $0.24.

Euroseas Ltd. (NASDAQ: ESEA), an owner and operator of drybulk and container carrier vessels and a provider of seaborne transportation for drybulk and containerized cargoes, announced today that it has declared a dividend of $0.29 per common share for the third quarter of 2007. The dividend is payable on November 28, 2007 to all shareholders of record as of November 5, 2007. This dividend marks an increase of 16% from the prior quarter's dividend of $0.25 per share.

Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas commented: We are happy to pay a dividend of $0.29 per share which is $0.05 per share or 21% above our target minimum dividend of $0.24. This dividend continues our policy of paying significant dividends out of earnings and reflects the further strengthening of the dry markets, the prime driver of our growth. Our focus remains to continue investing on accretive acquisitions to further enhance our returns.

About Euroseas Ltd.

Euroseas Ltd. was formed on May 5, 2005 under the laws of the Republic of the Marshall Islands to consolidate the ship owning interests of the Pittas family of Athens, Greece, which has been in the shipping business over the past 135 years. Euroseas trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker ESEA since January 31, 2007.

Euroseas operates in the dry cargo, drybulk and container shipping markets. Euroseas' operations are managed by Eurobulk Ltd., an ISO 9001:2000 certified affiliated ship management company, which is responsible for the day-to-day commercial and technical management and operations of the vessels. Euroseas employs its vessels on spot and period charters and through pool arrangements.

After the delivery to its fleet of the recently acquired panamax drybulk carrier, M/V Trust Jakarta (to be renamed M/V Ioanna P), the Company will have a fleet of 15 vessels, including 3 Panamax drybulk carriers, 2 Handysize drybulk carriers, 2 Intermediate container ship, 5 Handysize container ships, 2 Feeder container ships and a multipurpose dry cargo vessel.