1/x Self-righting boats existed, but they were small, made out of wood, and usually sail or oar-driven. This all changed with the revolutionary "Insulinde". She was the world's first large steel self-righting motor lifeboat. 2/x In 1921, the Dutch lifeboat service suffered major tragedies. The motor lifeboat Brandaris and the steam lifeboat President van Heel capsized or sank, resulting in the loss of fourteen rescuers. These disasters created an urgent need for safer vessels.

1/x An older thread, which I wrote in Dutch, but now translated: A bit of a difficult thread about CHARTERERS. I can’t add many photos or graphs either, because it’s actually very dry material (yeah, I know, I’m selling it well😅). So I’ll just throw in some random photos😆. 2/x What is a charterer? Especially with the Houthi attacks on merchant ships, people sometimes talk about links to Israel, the UK, or the US and then mix up the terms “shipowner” and “charterer”, even though they are not the same person.

1/x I received a question about what the "Baltic Dry Index" is. First, I have to explain what the Baltic Exchange is. It is one of the world’s oldest and most respected institutions in global shipping and maritime trade.

https://twitter.com/BartGonnissen/status/2064968347964367083

2/x The story begins in 1744 at the Virginia and Baltick Coffee House on Threadneedle Street in the City of London, near the Royal Exchange. Merchants, shipowners, brokers, and charterers gathered there to exchange news, negotiate deals, and arrange the chartering of ships.

1/x If you've been following the shipping news, you might have heard of the Drewry World Container Index and/or the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index. What are they? A small 🧵 2/x Container shipping is one of the most volatile industries globally. Freight rates (how much you pay to ship a container) can fluctuate dramatically due to changes in supply and demand, fuel prices, geopolitical events, as well as seasonal peaks and economic cycles.

1/x Back to D-Day. The Allies were planning to try to land about 150.000 troops on the 5 beaches of Normandy on June 6. But you need to get to the beach first 2/x The Germans were lacking gun batteries in Normandy as they had concentrated them around Pas de Calais. Their defense strategy leaned heavily on massive minefields to stop any Allied assault before it even reached the French coast.

1/x So, a lot of replies that look like "But the ship had a Malagasy flag, so it wasn't stateless (no nationality)." Let me try to explain. The relationship between the flag and the registry can be somewhat complicated. One country can have several registries.

https://twitter.com/BartGonnissen/status/2061709993657721136

2/x The full explanation of the relationship flag/registry can be found in a thread I wrote a few months ago, so read it if you're interested, but I'm not going to repeat the whole story here. I'm going to focus on MT Tagor.

https://x.com/BartGonnissen/status/2008917375089795149?s=20

1/x On June 2, 1944, just four days before the Normandy landings, what was occurring on that day? Well, the planners of Operation Neptune (the naval side of D-Day) faced a major problem: how to guide the first waves of landing craft accurately to their beaches in the dark? 2/x The solution was Operation Gambit, a high-risk mission using X-class midget submarines to act as human navigation beacons. On the evening of June 2, two X-craft slipped out of their base in Britain.

1/x Some more D-Day history. Another person who was crucial to the success of not only D-Day, but also the landings in North Africa, Italy, and the Pacific. Andrew Higgins. 2/x Higgins was an American businessman and boatbuilder. In 1926, he designed the Eureka boat, a shallow-draft craft for use by oil drillers and trappers in operations along the Gulf coast and in the lower Mississippi River.

1/x So, in 5 days, we remember D-day, and I would like to talk about the nautical charts and tidal info that were used and which were critical in a successful operation. I would like to talk about 1 critical person, Hugo van Kuyck. 2/x Hugo van Kuyck was born on December 1, 1902, in Antwerp, Belgium. From a young age, Hugo was fascinated by the sea. At age 15, he designed and built his first sailboat, Zwaluw 1 (Swallow 1), followed by Zwaluw II. (photo of Zwaluw 1)

1/x I regularly get asked: “How many containers are typically lost at sea?” Overall, it’s not as bad as people think. In 2024, 576 containers were lost, out of roughly 250 million transported by sea each year. 2/x 2024 saw an increase in containers lost due to ships rerouting in response to attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea. These disruptions led to a significant rerouting of vessels, with a 191 percent increase in transits around the Cape of Good Hope.

1/x I'm about to leave for a holiday, so my timeline might be a bit quieter. However, I want to share the story of the MSC Napoli. I previously wrote a thread about it in Dutch, but I find it to be an interesting case. 2/x The MSC Napoli was a container ship with a capacity of 4,418 TEU and 276 m long. It operated on the South Africa–Europe route and called at the European ports of Felixstowe, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, and Sines.

1/x You might have heard of it, the ISM code or International Safety Management Code. Seafarers have a love-hate relationship with it as well. Where does it come from, and what does it do? 2/x As usual in shipping, it all stems from disaster, and this time it was the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster in March 1987. A roll-on/roll-off passenger ferry capsized shortly after leaving Zeebrugge, Belgium, due to the bow doors being left open. It resulted in 193 deaths.

1/x You've probably encountered these AI videos of ships dumping garbage in the sea. Not true, of course, but how is garbage regulated at sea? a small 🧵 2/x MARPOL, formally known as the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, is the primary international treaty established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to prevent marine pollution by vessels.

1/x OK. This time, we’ll look at how we actually calculate a tide in practice. First, a quick recap. What we know so far:
a. Tides are caused by tidal forces from celestial bodies.

https://twitter.com/BartGonnissen/status/2045750610109042904

2/x b. The shape of continents, seabed, etc., makes every tide completely different and unique from place to place, just like a fingerprint.
c. Every movement of Moon and Sun (Moon’s rotation, Earth’s rotation, Moon’s orbit, Sun’s orbit, etc.) is a small part of the total tide.

1/x Back to fun stuff: I'm going to try to explain the tides. Where do they come from, and how do we calculate them? I might have to split it into several threads because it's actually a lot and can be complicated. 2/x The first topic is the origin of tides. Most people say that tides are caused by the Moon's gravity, which attracts water towards it. This is why we experience high water (HW) on the side of the Earth facing the Moon. Yay! Cool and all, but why then 2x HW per day...?

1/x I notice many people confusing "transit passage" and "innocent passage" regarding the Strait of Hormuz. There also appears to be uncertainty about what qualifies as an "international strait." Let's clarify the differences. 🧵 2/x Those two terms stem from UNCLOS 1958 and UNCLOS 1982. If you want a history of how UNCLOS came to be, check the link below:

https://x.com/BartGonnissen/status/2006704772393697602?s=20

1/x I guess I have to deal with the Bosphorus Strait and the Dardanelles and their status as well, so here goes: They're essential strategic waterways that links the Black Sea with the world’s oceans. The Bosphorus also separates Asian Türkiye or Anatolia from European Türkiye. 2/x After WW1, the Armistice of Mudros (October 30, 1918 ended hostilities between Ottoman Turkey and the Allies. The Mudros document's 25 articles gave the Allied Powers the right to use the Dardanelles and Istanbul Straits freely and occupy fortifications on their shores.

1/x The comparison between the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz is crooked, as the Strait of Hormuz is defined in UNCLOS82 as an international strait with the right of "transit passage" (not "innocent passage", that's UNCLOS58). But what about Suez? A small🧵 2/x The big difference is, of course, that the Canal is man-made and not a natural strait. It is also located entirely within Egyptian territory. It is fully subject to Egyptian sovereignty and jurisdiction, just like any other part of Egyptian land or inland waters.

1/x Today a small explanation about the "Worldscale Rate" (WS) as (oil) tankers have been in the news a lot the last month. A small 🧵 2/x In the tanker market (crude oil, refined products, and other liquid bulk), voyage charters (also called spot charters) dominate. On a voyage charter, vessels are hired to carry cargo from a load port(s) to a discharge port(s) at an agreed freight rate.

1/x Imagine an oil tanker runs aground near your shores and the resultant oil spill creates around $22million in damages (in 1967) but because of a law, dating back to 1851, the ship owner liability is limited to $50. 2/x This was the case with the Torrey Canyon where the US Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 said"...the owner's liability shall not "exceed the amount or value of the interest of such owner in such vessel after the incident, and her freight then pending."

1/x In June 1967, during the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt, Egyptian forces blocked the Suez Canal by sinking ships, laying mines, and filling it with debris to prevent Israeli use. A northbound convoy of 15 cargo vessels became trapped. 2/x Fourteen anchored in the wide Great Bitter Lake, while the American SS Observer was isolated in Lake Timsah. These ships from eight nations would remain stranded for eight years, coated in desert sand and known as the Yellow Fleet.