In an era of rapidly growing maritime trade, national and international efforts to prevent marine environmental disasters have taken various dimensions, including vessel safety mandates, traffic control measures and increased state inspections and control of ships. The advent of large modern tankers has generated new marine environmental risks. The customary right of access to a place of refuge for vessels in distress is becoming a complex issue of increasingly conflicting values reflecting humanitarian response and environmental conservation. A national ‘Places of Refuge’ policy is an essential component of Canada’s oceans management strategy. A cohesive and robust structure for conflict resolution will help assure the continued progress and development of ocean-based industries and minimize threats to Canada’s oceans and marine environment. The input of ship and port management personnel in the development of a national strategy and risk assessment procedure is vital for credibility and acceptance. The Canadian and international experience of ships in need of assistance and the lessons learned dictate that developing a ‘Places of Refuge’ policy and risk assessment procedure is not only prudent but imperative if Canada is to continue to be a major player in the global marketplace. This dissertation outlines a risk assessment procedure to categorize Canadian ports as places of refuge. This categorization of ports based on defined risk levels allows for the optimum allocation of resources for upgrading the refuge suitability of ports. Twenty-one ports on the east coast are evaluated for their suitability as places of refuge, based on their risk category. The measures suggested in this thesis propose elements of a Canadian national policy and risk assessment procedure for places of refuge which are comprehensive, pragmatic and flexible within the country’s existing command and control infrastructure.

Synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) technology has rapidly progressed over the past few years with a number of commercial systems emerging. Such systems are typically based on an autonomous underwater vehicle platform containing multiple along-track receivers and an integrated inertial navigation system (INS) with Doppler velocity log aiding. While producing excellent images, blurring due to INS integration errors and medium fluctuations continues to limit long range, long run, image quality. This is particularly relevant in mine hunting, the main application for SAS, where it is critical to survey the greatest possible area in the shortest possible time, regardless of sea conditions. This thesis presents the simulation, design, construction, and sea trial results for a prototype "active beacon" and remote controller unit, to investigate the potential of such a device for estimating SAS platform motion and medium fluctuations. The beacon is deployed by hand in the area of interest and acts as an active point source with real-time data uploading and control performed by radio link. Operation is tightly integrated with the operation of the Acoustics Research Group KiwiSAS towed SAS, producing one-way and two-way time of flight (TOF) data for every ping by detecting the sonar chirps, time-stamping their arrival using a GPS receiver, and replying back at a different acoustic frequency after a fixed time delay. The high SNR of this reply signal, combined with the knowledge that it is produced by a single point source, provides advantages over passive point-like targets for SAS image processing. Stationary accuracies of < 2 mm RMS have been measured at ranges of up to 36m. This high accuracy allowed the beacon to be used in a separate study to characterise the medium fluctuation statistics in Lyttelton Harbour, New Zealand, using an indoor dive pool as a control. Probability density functions were fitted to the data then incorporated in SAS simulations to observe their effect on image quality. Results from recent sea trials in Lyttelton Harbour show the beacon TOF data, when used in a narrowband motion compensation (MOCOMP) process, provided improvements to the quality of SAS images centred on frequencies of 30 kHz and 100 kHz. This prototype uses simple matched-filtering algorithms for detection and while performing well under stationary conditions, the fluctuations caused by the narrow sonar transmit beam pattern (BP) and changing superposition of seabed multipath often cause dropouts and inaccurate detections during sea trials. An analysis of the BP effects and how the accuracy and robustness of the detection algorithms can be improved is presented. Overcoming these problems reliably is difficult without dedicated large scale testing facilities to allow conditions to be reproduced consistently.

The western embayment of Lake Ontario, Hamilton Harbour, is one of the most polluted sites in the Laurentian Great Lakes and in recent years has seen a reoccurrence of cyanobacterial blooms. This study uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine the presences of toxic Cyanobacteria in the harbour in order to gain insight into these recurrent blooms. Microscopic analyses of phytoplankton samples collected during the 2009 summer-fall sampling season from two locations within the harbour showed the spatial and seasonal diversity of the contemporary cyanobacterial community. Microcystis colonies relative abundances in relation to total algal numbers were estimated. The lowest and highest relative abundances of Microcystis in the phytoplankton population were 0.6% and 9.7%, respectively, and showed seasonal variability between stations. Fourteen cyanobacterial genera comprising six families and three orders were identified and for which the most abundant filamentous genera during the summer-fall sampling season were Planktothrix, Aphanizomenon and Limnothrix. Potential microcystin producers Microcystis, Planktothrix, Aphanizomenon and Dolichospermum were also present and during the sampling period Microcystis was recorded at both stations on all dates, however, its relative abundance was below 10 % throughout the study period. The composition and abundance of filamentous cyanobacteria were observed to be positively statistically correlated to water quality environmental parameters dissolved nitrates (NO3/NO2), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and conductivity. Redundancy analysis (RDA) found that 53.35% total variance of Aphanizomenon was correlated to low water column NO3/NO2 and conductivity, and higher water column DIC. 58.13% of the relative abundance of Planktothrix was correlated to high concentrations of dissolved nitrates, while 51.69% of total variance of Limnothrix was correlated to higher DIC and lower water column dissolved nitrate concentrations. Information about past cyanobacterial communities was obtained from the sediment core analysis, using paleolimnological and modern molecular methods. The age of the 100.5 cm long sediment core retrieved from the deepest part of Hamilton Harbour was established to be 140 years (1869-2009), using the Constant Rate of Supply (CRS) 210Pb age model. This age was not sufficient to provide information of harbour’s environmental conditions, presence of the blooms, and triggers for their occurrence before European settlement in the area. Results of the HPLC analysis of fossil pigments indicated that the dominant members of the algal community have not changed over the 140 years and that cyanobacteria were regular members of the phytoplankton community. The composition of the major chlorophyll pigments indicated high presence of Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta in the harbour at all times. The main algal groups identified on the basis of marker pigments presence, besides the Chlorophyta and Bacillariophyta, were the Dinophyta and the Cryptophyta. The presence of a scytonemin derivative, compound B, indicated that cyanobacterial blooms were occurring in past, before the first officially recorded blooms in the 1960s. Cyanobacterial pigments presence indicated that Cyanobacteria have been a regular but not dominant feature of Hamilton Harbour phytoplankton in the past. To our knowledge, this study is the first one examining fossil pigments from Hamilton Harbour. Results of the PCR-DGGE molecular analysis of 16S rRNA-V3 gene fragments from sedimentary DNA revealed the presence of thirteen cyanobacterial genotypes. The temporal change in the cyanobacterial community composition was indicated by the increasing number of species over time, from the oldest to the most recent sediment layers. The deepest sediment strata showed the lowest number (two bands) and intensity of bands. The most recent sediment layer had the greatest numbers (11) and intensity of bands. This increased diversity indicated changing environmental conditions in the harbour, primarily nutrient pollution and worsening water quality. Results of the PCR-DGGE molecular analysis of mcyE-AMT gene fragments showed that Microcystis aeruginosa and Planktothrix rubescens were two microcystin producers present in Hamilton Harbour over the last 80 years. The persistent presence and resilience of these two genera indicated a more serious and longer-term issue of toxic blooms than previously recognized. Historical records show that noticeable anthropogenic impact on Lake Ontario environment has been measurable since the 1780s, the first dramatic impact on the Lake Ontario watershed was evident from the mid1880s, the earliest evidence of eutrophication in the lake occurred between 1820 and 1850, while human induced environmental changes in Hamilton Harbour date back ca. 350 years. In the 1960s, cyanobacterial blooms were first officially recognized in the harbour and the lower Great Lakes. The present research is the first report of the mcyE module and AMT domain of microcystin genes being amplified from sediment of North American lakes, and showed that toxic Cyanobacterial have been regular members of Hamilton Harbour phytoplankton community for almost a century. This research considerably deepened the knowledge of the past toxic cyanobacterial blooms in Hamilton Harbour and their possible causes. It also showed that in the absence of historical records, both the PCR-DGGE method and the mcyE-AMT gene may be used for reconstruction of the past toxic blooms not only in the Laurentian Great Lakes, but also in other aquatic regions of the world impacted by toxic cyanobacterial blooms. Also, it demonstrated the utility of the combined molecular and paleolimnological analyses, which might become a useful tool in the determination of the bloom causes factors and in the mitigation of the future production of toxic blooms.

Seaborne container shipping plays a major and important role in the world transportation system and the global supply chain. Shipping lines have designed their product offering to shippers around providing regular calls at designated ports. This works well for most firms that operate on a just-in-time philosophy. The real costs of trade – the transport and other costs of doing business internationally – are important determinants of a country’s ability to participate fully in the world economy. This is an important indicator for port performance in a globalised economy; therefore, any inefficiency that increases costs must be addressed. This means that ports have to ensure very high productivity and efficiency levels so that ships have a quick turnaround. Clark et al., (2002) conclude that a 50% improvement in port efficiency can reduce shipping costs by about 12%. The general question that is studied in this research is: How can the Marine Services within the Port of Durban assist in reducing ship turnaround times? This study seeks to determine what role the marine services plays in ship turnaround. The analysis in this study will be to determine the source of delays and ways to improve on efficiency. The resultant improvement in efficiency should lead to a possible reduction in shipping costs. The Market Demand Strategy employed by Transnet in 2012 must be implemented in such a manner that it must not only address the current infrastructural backlogs but it must also endeavour to alleviate several logistic chain bottlenecks that tend to constrain the economy. When analysing 2010-2011 a worrying trend emerges that the average waiting times for ships at anchor has increased significantly and the time on the berth has also increased significantly despite a reduction in the number of ships calling to the port. This is partly due to the fact that much larger ships now arriving at the port and more crucially are working a larger number of containers per port call. However, there is still concern about the operational efficiency of the terminals in the port (Pier One and Durban Container Terminal). The Marine Operations service times have also increased marginally 1.23% (0.98 hours) but this is due to longer time required for berthing and sailing of larger ships. This study has clearly shown that the Marine Operations within the Port of Durban do not significantly impact on overall ship turnaround time. However, there are areas of improvement that can be implemented to ensure high service levels within the port. By increasing the tug fleet and ensuring adequate human resources, the service offering can immediately be improved. Extremely lengthy anchorage waiting times and high berth occupancy impact negatively on ship-owners, shippers, and the economy at large. The Port Authority must interrogate these areas to understand clearly what is driving these extended times and determine strategies and performance measures to mitigate these. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.

No description available.

Estuda as transformações urbanas e arquitetônicas na cidade de Paranaguá, no litoral do Paraná, durante os séculos XVIII e XIX, analisando desde a ocupação do continente, ainda no século XVII, passando pelas provisões do ouvidor Rafael Pires Pardinho nos anos de 1720, continuando com o desenvolvimento de seu porto, o impacto da economia da erva-mate, as mudanças nas edificações e em seus métodos construtivos, assim como nos códigos de posturas, na chegada da ferrovia, nas preocupações de higiene e salubridade e por fim na mudança do porto para a baía de Paranaguá. A partir da consulta a documentos primários como jornais, leis provinciais, relatórios, manuscritos, relatos de viajantes, fotografias, mapas e aquarelas, compreende como se deu o desenvolvimento da vila e depois cidade de Paranaguá. Também analisa as características de seu Centro Histórico e as leis vigentes neste local atualmente, finalizando com a proposta de um roteiro de visitas para a cidade. / This dissertation studies the urban and architectural transformations occurred in the city of Paranaguá, located on the coast of the Paranaguá state, during the 18th and 19th centuries. It analyses the occupation of the continent, starting from the 17th century, going through Ouvidor Rafael Pires Pardinho\'s provisions during the decade of 1720 and continuing with the development of its harbour, the impact of the erva-mate\'s economy, the changes in the buildings and in the methods of construction, as well as in the codes of practice, the advent of the railway, the preoccupations with hygiene and salubriousness and finally the harbour\'s move to the bay of Paranaguá. These analyses are based mainly on primary documents such as newspapers, provincial laws, reports, manuscripts, travellers\' account, photographs, maps and watercolours, understand how the development of the town and later of the city of Paranaguá occurred and subsequently, to analyse the characteristics of its historical centre and the laws that are still into effect today, offering new proposals and suggesting a visitors\' route.

Les deltas ont débuté leur édification il y a environ 7000 ans suite à la stabilisation du niveau de la mer. Ils offraient durant l’Antiquité une mosaïque d’environnements, plus ou moins protégés, favorables aux activités maritimes. Nous montrons que plusieurs types de ports deltaïques peuvent être identifiés en raison des différents contextes géomorphologiques offerts par les deltas. La mise en relation des résultats bio-sédimentologiques, avec les données archéologiques nous ont permis de détailler l’évolution des environnements portuaires de plusieurs sites antiques situés dans des deltas. La première étude a été menée à l’échelle du delta de la Kouban (Péninsule de Taman, Russie). Un carottage réalisé à l’extrémité orientale de la péninsule et sa comparaison avec d’autres études géoarchéologiques menées récemment dans le delta nous a permis de restituer l’évolution paléogéographique de la péninsule. Nous avons pu confirmer que cette dernière a constituée, suite à la remontée postglaciaire du niveau marin, un large archipel articulé autour de quatre îles. À Tel Akko (Baie de Haifa, Israël), notre étude nous a permis de restituer l’évolution côtière du site depuis l’Âge du Bronze. À Pollentia, cité romaine des Baléares, nous avons été en mesure de démontrer que le port était situé dans une lagune de faible profondeur située en marge distale d’un petit delta côtier. Enfin à Halmyris (Danube, Roumanie) nous avons été en mesure de démontrer que la forteresse romaine, installée sur un promontoire, était protégée des crues tout en bénéficiant d’un accès facilité au fleuve par l’intermédiaire d’un chenal secondaire au sein duquel son port aurait pu être installé. / River deltas began forming around 7000 years BP because of the stabilisation of the mean sea-level. The natural variety of wetland environments on clastic coasts, in particular deltas, explains in major part the important disparities in harbour contexts. The combination of earth sciences with archaeological tools allows us to investigate the environmental evolution of four ancient sites located on deltas. We investigate 7000 years of environmental changes on the Kuban delta (Taman Peninsula, Russia). A coring, from the eastern limit of the peninsula, and its comparison with other geoarchaeological studies undertaken on the delta, allow us to confirm that the Holocene marine transgression created an archipelago of four islands around 6000 years ago in the area of the present-day Taman Peninsula. In Antiquity, natural factors such as delta progradation and the evolution of spits and sand bars have considerably affected the landscape evolution and therefore human occupation of the peninsula. At Tel Akko, (Haifa Bay, Israel), we reconstruct the evolution of the coastal zone of the site since the Bronze Age. We propose different harbour locations over time. At Pollentia, a Roman city of Mallorca, we have been able to demonstrate that the harbour was situated in a shallow lagoon, probably dredged at the time of its foundation. At Halymris (Danube delta, Romania), our research supports the presence of a secondary fluvial-channel located close to the fortress where the harbour may have been installed. The fortress, located at the foot of a promontory, was protected from floods and provided easy access to the main channel of the river.

La défense sur terre est l’affaire de l’armée ; la défense sur mer est celle de la marine. Entre les deux se situe la côte. Confiée au Bas Moyen-Age à l’amiral de France, la défense des côtes françaises va devenir une pierre d’achoppement entre les départements de la guerre et de la marine, la première y voyant une frontière maritime à garantir, la seconde y trouvant d’abord la base d’opérations des flottes commerciales et militaires. Largement écartée de la défense des côtes après la guerre de Sept Ans, la marine va progressivement y recouvrer durant le XIXe siècle un rôle prédominant par l’entremise des préfets maritimes, alors que le dispositif se concentre par économie autour des grands ports. Après la Première Guerre mondiale, elle en reprend la responsabilité nominale, même si un partage coopératif des tâches se dessine de plus en plus avec l’armée de terre, puis également la jeune armée de l’air, jusqu’à ce qu’un type de commandement supérieur, interarmées, n’émerge pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Après un dernier sursaut d’activité durant les débuts de l’OTAN, le dispositif côtier est abandonné une quinzaine d’années plus tard, lors de l’avènement de la dissuasion nucléaire, laissant cependant en place une organisation interministérielle d’action de l’Etat en mer, comprenant un volet de défense. Au travers de la défense des côtes, c’est donc la fusion des deux puis trois logiques d’armées vers une logique interarmées qui est étudiée sur le plan des institutions militaires, des organisations locales et des nécessités techniques ou tactiques, sur la période s’étendant de 1815 à 1973. / Defence on land is the business of the Army ; defence at sea is that of the Navy.. The frontier is on the coastline. Managed during the Late Middle-Age by the Admiral of France, French coastal defence will become a stumbling block between the War and Navy departments, the former seeing a naval border to be guaranteed, the latter first considering operational bases for both the merchant and military fleets. Discarded during the Seven Year War, the Navy increasingly comes back into coastal defence throughout the XIXth Century, especially with the maritime prefects, as those defences now mainly concern the strategic harbour areas. After WWI, the Navy recovers its initial responsibilities, even if a sort of burden sharing is organised with the Army and then the Air Force, until a joint command is organised during WWII. After some renewal during the first years of NATO, the coastal defence disappears some fifteen years later, with the advent of nuclear deterrence, but is transformed into an interagency organisation for the action of the State at sea.. Thus, through coastal defence, we will study how two, then three single service organisations merged into a joint one, considering military institutions, regional organisations, technical and tactical requirements, from 1815 to 1973.

Autrefois abris pour les navires en perdition, les ports sont devenus de véritables places portuaires comprenant des zones industrialo-portuaires. Portes ouvertes sur le monde, les ports sont au centre des échanges commerciaux des Etats et constituent un atout non négligeable dans le commerce extérieur de ceux-ci. Les différentes lois et réformes portuaires ont amené le législateur français et les acteurs portuaires à recentrer les missions de chacun au sein de la place portuaire afin que nos ports réussissent le défi de la concurrence imposée par nos voisins du Bénélux notamment, et répondent également aux contraintes environnementales que l'Europe imposent aux ports. En france, les ports ont toujours étaient considérés comme des services publics avec une dualité qui se traduisait par un service administratif pour les missions régaliennes et un service industriel et commercial pour les missions plus commerciales telles que l'outillage. La vision française du service public portuaire apparaît dès lors dépassée et la France doit s'adapter à une harmonisation de la gestion de ses ports aux normes européennes. La réforme de 2008 a transféré l'outillage à des entreprises privées, permettant aux ports de se réorganiser autour de l'aménagement et la gestion. Il convient de considérer le port comme au centre de la chaîne des transports commerciaux et une gestion intégrée de ces derniers apparaît nécessaire, impliquant un développement de nos ports côté terre, avec des dessertes terrestres, fluviales et ferroviaires qui seront une réponse à la concurrence. La multimodalité des ports est un axe de travail que la France doit mettre en place et est en cours de construction, avec une prise en compte de l'environnement au coeur de chaque projet. La France dispose d'une grande façade littorale jusqu'ici peu ou mal exploitée. La politique portuaire commence à devenir une des priorités des dirigeants nationaux et permettra à la France de (re)trouver sa vocation maritime jusqu'ici trop longtemps ignorée. / In the past shelters for ships in iniquity, harbours true port places consisting of industrialo-port zones became. Doors were opened on the world, harbours are in the middle of the trades of States and constitute a not negligible trump in the foreign trade of these. Different laws and port reforms led the French legislator and the port actors to refocus the missions of each within the port place so that our harbours achieve the challenge of the competition imposed by our neighbours of the Benelux notably, and also answer the environmental pressures which Europe imposes on harbours. In France, harbours always have were considered to be utility with a duality which was translated by an administrative service for regalian missions and an industrial and commercial service for the more commercial missions. The French vision of the port public service appears since then outdated and France owes adapt to a harmonization of the management of its harbours in European norms. The reform of 2008 transferred tools to private firms, allowing the harbours to reorganize itself around development and management. It is necessary to consider the harbour as in the center of the chain of the commercial transport and an integrated management of these last appears necessary, implicating a development of our harbours side earths up, with of the Earth, fluvial and rail services which will be an answer to competition. The multimodality of harours is a working which France must set up and is under way of building, with a catch in count of environmentin the middle of every plan. France disposes big facede coastal region here not much or badly exploited. Port policy begins becoming one of the preferences of the national leaders and will allow in France of (re)to find itsmaritime vocation which for the time being too much for a long time ignored.

Estuda as transformações urbanas e arquitetônicas na cidade de Paranaguá, no litoral do Paraná, durante os séculos XVIII e XIX, analisando desde a ocupação do continente, ainda no século XVII, passando pelas provisões do ouvidor Rafael Pires Pardinho nos anos de 1720, continuando com o desenvolvimento de seu porto, o impacto da economia da erva-mate, as mudanças nas edificações e em seus métodos construtivos, assim como nos códigos de posturas, na chegada da ferrovia, nas preocupações de higiene e salubridade e por fim na mudança do porto para a baía de Paranaguá. A partir da consulta a documentos primários como jornais, leis provinciais, relatórios, manuscritos, relatos de viajantes, fotografias, mapas e aquarelas, compreende como se deu o desenvolvimento da vila e depois cidade de Paranaguá. Também analisa as características de seu Centro Histórico e as leis vigentes neste local atualmente, finalizando com a proposta de um roteiro de visitas para a cidade. / This dissertation studies the urban and architectural transformations occurred in the city of Paranaguá, located on the coast of the Paranaguá state, during the 18th and 19th centuries. It analyses the occupation of the continent, starting from the 17th century, going through Ouvidor Rafael Pires Pardinho\'s provisions during the decade of 1720 and continuing with the development of its harbour, the impact of the erva-mate\'s economy, the changes in the buildings and in the methods of construction, as well as in the codes of practice, the advent of the railway, the preoccupations with hygiene and salubriousness and finally the harbour\'s move to the bay of Paranaguá. These analyses are based mainly on primary documents such as newspapers, provincial laws, reports, manuscripts, travellers\' account, photographs, maps and watercolours, understand how the development of the town and later of the city of Paranaguá occurred and subsequently, to analyse the characteristics of its historical centre and the laws that are still into effect today, offering new proposals and suggesting a visitors\' route.