Oil from the "Tycoon" has again started washing up at Christmas Island's Flying Fish Cove. The ship remained lodged on the rocks because heavy seas have prevented it from being cut into pieces and removed. It started leaking oil into the sea after the wreck on Jan 8, but much of it washed out to sea, and the environmental impact of the incident appeared to be limited. Oil has been appearing in the harbour at a steady rate since the "Tycoon" first hit the rocks. There are tide marks of black oil along the sand, a lot of the rocks are covered in oil, and there are trees that have an oil slick on them and they are actually dripping oil. Heavy seas continue to lash the ship.

The "Queen Mary 2", expected to arrive in Durban on Jan 28, 2012, in the morning, was delayed by severe weather and was now expected on Jan 29 at about 6 a.m. LT. The delay was the result of extremely high winds in Cape Town. The length of stay of the vessel in Durban too will depend on weather conditions and Cyclone Funso presently off Mozambique.

On the basis of subsection 45 (51) of the Maritime Safety Act, and of Regulation No. 265 of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications of 23 December 2003 “Procedure for Icebreaking Activities”, and according to application No. 5-1/5 of 27 January 2012 by the Harbour Master of the Port of Pärnu in regard to ice conditions in Pärnu Bay and the Gulf of Riga, the Director General of the Estonian Maritime Administration has issued a directive establishing 31 January 2012 as the date for the beginning of the winter navigation season in Pärnu Bay. As of 06 February 2012, the ships entering and leaving the port of Pärnu and needing icebreaker assistance are required to have ice class 1C (Lloyd’s Register), or an equivalent ice class given by other classification societies, and main engine output no less than 1600 kW. Tugs and barges will not receive icebreaker assistance. This information will be published in Notices to Mariners, on the MA website, and transmitted via NAVTEX. (www.vta.ee) Icebreaking activities will be carried out by a multi-purpose vessel EVA 316.

Evacuated tube solar collectors will be installed on roofs of three buildings of the Freeport of Riga Authority until autumn 2012, in summer they will provide hot water, but in autumn and spring – additional preheating of heating system with solar energy. It is envisaged in the project to use new generation direct flow evacuated tube solar collector panels with parabolic mirrors. These panels have been certified with Solar Keymark certificate, they are manufactured in the European Union, their warranty term is 10 years. The project is implemented within the frameworks of the Climate change financial instrument (CCFI) program. Total sum of the project is 147 thousand lats – of them 85% are covered by CCFI, but 15% are co-financing of the Freeport of Riga Authority. Term planned for implementation of the project is until the end of June 2012. Total investments of the project will pay off within 7 to 8 years, but since co-financing of the Freeport is only 15% of the total amount, investment of the Freeport of Riga Authority will pay off already within 2 to 3 years. Viesturs Silenieks, Deputy Chairman of the Board at the Freeport of Riga Authority, representative of Ministry of the Environment, notes: “Of course, economic effect of implementation of such projects is very significant, but, to my mind, the most important is introduction of the “green thinking” in life. Solar collectors are future energy – its resources are inexhaustible and its use does not affect the quality of environment in any way. Autonomous natural gas heating system is used in the buildings included in the project, which is a modern solution from many aspects – natural gas is used rationally because its consumption according to the temperature outside and the necessity is adjusted automatically, and natural gas is one of fuel types that creates the least CO2 emissions in the atmosphere. Additionally installing solar collectors, consumption of natural gas decreases by 35%, thus also the amount of emissions. It should be noted that the Freeport of Riga Authority has always subjected its management to high environmental protection standards – this project is another proof of our “green thinking”. Solar collectors with total surface area of 136.8 square meters will be installed on the central office building in Kronvalda Park and on two buildings at 3 Meldru Street where the Harbor Master Service is located. In summer the produced hot water will provide all needs of these buildings, including operation of showers established in employee dressing rooms in the complex at Meldru Street. “Energotaupošas sistēmas un tehnoloģijas” Ltd was the winner of the tender announced for implementation of this project. Valdis Šakars, Director of the company, informs: “All buildings included in the project are technically suitable for installation of solar panels, because they have vast flat roofs. The project envisages use of solar energy also for preheating of return liquid of heating system, thus solar energy is used both for heating and as primary energy source for hot water supply. In this case, thermal energy created by the gas will be used only to heat the difference up to the necessary temperature of heating circuit that is diverted to heating elements. Taking into account geographic location and climate of Latvia, more than one third part of the total annual consumption of thermal energy is expected to be ensured with solar energy in the buildings included in the project.”