The Suez Canal, owing to the peculiarity of its construction, has always been prone to accidents. During the past twenty years, however, its incident rate has hovered around 1 in 1100 crossings. The last upgrade…
Browsing Category Musings Maritime
The Seedy Side of the Sea
The sea is best known for not only facilitating global trade but also effortlessly channelling its major chunk through a complex web of interfaces, better known as ports, scattered all over the continental coastline. The…
Maritime Security – Challenges and Response
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when the concept of maritime security was closely tied to the traditional use of naval military power for the protection of one’s coast and maritime interests. For…
Promoting Peace and Partnerships at Sea
The sea has historically and traditionally been a medium of contrasts. Its seemingly placid surface yields easily to an undulating intensity, and it doesn’t take long for gale force winds to develop into destructive storms….
Inching towards a Blue Economy
Pakistan’s policy makers have often faced criticism for turning a blind eye to the bounties the sea has to offer. The emergence of the port of Gwadar has, to be sure, not only generated…
World Maritime Day 2018
The World Maritime Day has an added significance this year (2018) as it marks the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention which established the organisation. The IMO had conceived it to promote…
Pakistan’s Coastal Pollution Dilemma
The subjects of Climate Change and Environmental Degradation continue to make headlines around the world, yet we in Pakistan remain blissfully unaware of its ramifications. To most of us Climate Change is an alien concept,…
World Maritime Day 2017 – Connecting Ships, Ports and People
The World Maritime Day is being formally celebrated by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) on 28 September 2017. The IMO, for those who may not be aware, is the principal organ of the United Nations…
Intricacies of the Maritime Domain
Abstract From an historical perspective, activities at sea can be characterised by coastal trade, transoceanic passages, piracy, subjugation, profiteering and colonisation, a subsidiary objective being the gaining of ascendency on land. The maritime field has…
Suez and Panama Canals – Feats of Human Ingenuity
During the heydays of the British Empire, when it was entrenching itself ever so firmly in the heart of the Indian Ocean, it could not have failed to appreciate the strategic and economic advantages that…
