How many ships are in the Arctic?

How many ships are in the Arctic?  That's a great question isn't it?  We're not aware of an accurate number of vessels sailing above 66 degrees latitude so we embarked on a rather unscientific study of our own.  Querying the Amver database of position reports, we plotted position reports for ships sailing in the Arctic for a 45 day period.  We discovered there were 3,940 reports!  Here is how they looks on a map.



While not inclusive of all vessel traffic in the Arctic, it certainly shows a significant number of ships and routes. More importantly, it should encourage search and rescue authorities to request Amver data when managing search and rescue cases in the Arctic.

If you want to know more about Amver and the Arctic you can read our previous Arctic related posts here and here.

Do your ships sail in Arctic waters? If so you should enroll in the Amver system.

Remembering Coast Guard Veterans

For those of you that may not know, the Amver program is managed by the United States Coast Guard. Having just celebrated Veterans, or Remembrance Day, last week we thought you would enjoy this video presentation of our Coast Guard shipmates in the Veteran's Day parade in New York City. Our friend Peter Mello and the Sea Fever blog alerted us to last years video while our shipmates at the Coast Guard Public Affairs Detachment New York released their latest video.  Have a look!



Can't see the video? Click here.

What is Amver?

Often people ask us to describe the Amver program.  Here is a short video highlighting what we do and some images of the people touched by the Amver system.  Want to learn more?  You can read the Amver fact sheet here.




Can't see the video? Click here.

Amver ship responds to Carnival Splendor fire

The Amver participating container ship Dresden Express was the first vessel on the scene of the Carnival Splendor fire the United States Coast Guard reported yesterday.

Additional Coast Guard cutters and aircraft, along with Mexican naval vessels, are also responding to assist.

The Carnival Splendor was 150 miles off the coast of San Diego.  The crew of the Splendor reported a fire in the aft engine room which they extinguished. 

The Panamanian flagged cruise ship was on a voyage to to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  The latest update from Carnival can be found here.

Photo credit: Fotolia

Related articles

• No smooth sailing: Blaze sets cruise ship adrift (msnbc.msn.com)
• Engine room fire leaves cruise ship stranded (abclocal.go.com)
• Cruise ship disabled by engine fire being taken by tugboats to Ensenada (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

Welcome Wednesday!

It has been a busy time here at Amver.  The 2009 Amver awards should have arrived at your location by now.  Keep in mind these awards are distributed to your ship manager, so they may not have been distributed to your ship yet.  Over 5,000 awards were distributed this year.  Without the help of the entire Amver team- Beverly, Zana, and Vicky, they never would have been completed.  These hard working women deserve a hat tip from everyone.  We hope next year brings even more Amver award recipients. 

How will we reach that lofty goal?  Through the enrollment of more ships like the 31 that enrolled last week.  Please help us welcome these new lifesavers.

•          NAVIOS POLLUX           
•          CMA CGM CENDRILLON      
•          KEA                     
•          ROME TRADER             
•          CYAN PHOENIX            
•          KATSURA                 
•          C WHALE                 
•          MARIPOSA                
•          ORIENT TRANSIT          
•          HEROIC STRIKER          
•          TRITON                  
•          GREAT HEBEI             
•          ATTALLIA                
•          DORO                    
•          HERMANN S               
•          IAN M                   
•          DHL PACIFIC             
•          MARIA PRINCESS          
•          NORD PISCES             
•          TRES HOMBRES            
•          CHANGUINOLA I           
•          SVYATOGOR              
•          TAURUS                  
•          BLUE PACIFIC            
•          CAPE SAKURA             
•          TUJU ARROW              
•          MORNING LAURA           
•          ASIAN TOMORROW          
•          MOL MATRIX              
•          ASIA BRAVE              
•          CSC AUSPICIOUS     

Thank you for helping ensure no call for help goes unanswered.  Your participation helps save lives.

Photo credit: Fotolia    

Amver home page maintenance

The Amver home page will be down for maintenance on Saturday November 6th from 08:00 to 14:00 Eastern Time.

Search and Rescue authorities requiring Amver SURPIC information should contact:
Atlantic Area SAR Coordinator
Portsmouth, Virginia
(757)398-6700 

We apologize for the inconvenience. 

Photo credit: Fotolia

Amver exhibiting at the USCG Innovation Expo

If you are near the Tampa, FL area for the next 3 days come by the Tampa Convention Center and say hello to the Amver staff.  We are exhibiting at the United States Coast Guard Innovation Expo put on by NDIA.  The Expo runs from November 2nd to the 4th.

If you can't make it down to the Expo you can still participate virtually.  The Twitter hash tag is #cginnovate.  Simply plug that into Twitter Search and it will show you everyone that is Tweeting from the event.   Use the same hash tag for Flickr and YouTube to see what else is going on at the Expo.

You can also see the presentations  in real time on Ustream. 
If you're in Tampa, Amver is in booth 911.  See you there!