Seacurus Daily Top Ten News Stories 24/09/2014

Seacurus Daily Top Ten News Stories 24/09/2014

 

1. Shipping Acts on Greenhouse Gases

The total greenhouse gas emissions from the global maritime transport industry are estimated to have been cut by over 20% from 2007 to 2012, the Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) told a United Nations summit on climate change today. The global maritime shipping industry, which transports an estimated 90% of all world trade, is thought to have produced only about 2.2% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions during 2012 compared to 2.8% in 2007. The estimates are contained in a comprehensive study of the shipping industry’s Green House Gas emissions prepared by the IMO.
http://goo.gl/fLpyZz

 

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2. Port and Starboard Confusion

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has attributed the grounding of the general cargo ship Bosphorus to team pilotage failures as a result of the helmsman confusing port and starboard.  The vessel grounded at Lytton Rocks Reach in the Brisbane River in October 2013 after the ship’s helmsman unintentionally put the helm the wrong way. By the time that the Brisbane Marine Pilot on board the ship realized that the helm had gone the wrong way, it was too late to prevent the ship from grounding in the narrow section of the river. There were no reported injuries, damage or pollution as a result of the grounding.

http://goo.gl/LhC8HC

 

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3. Confidence in Shipping Slips

Shipping adviser Moore Stephens has reported a fall in shipping confidence between May and August, with few expecting new investment or improvements in bulk and box freight rates over the next 12 months. Average confidence on a scale of 1 to 10 decreased from 6.3, to 6.1 in August. While the decrease is something of a return to the mean, the results still compare favourably with the 5.9 recorded in August of last year. While charterer confidence rose and owner confidence increased to 6.2 from 6.1, confidence among managers fell from 6.5 to 6.2, brokers from 6.0 to 5.3, and uncategorised respondents tumbled from 6.7 to 5.9.

http://goo.gl/2DrtNc

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4. Crude Shift from West to East

Canada’s largest oil and gas producer, Suncor Energy Inc, is shipping its first ever tanker of Western Canadian heavy crude from Canada’s East Coast to Europe, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Suncor spokeswoman Sneh Seetal confirmed Reuters shipping data that shows the aframax tanker Minerva Gloria was set to pick up a cargo of crude oil from the port of Sorel-Tracy on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Seetal declined to comment on where in Europe the crude cargo is going, citing commercial confidentiality. According to Reuters data it will be discharged in the Mediterranean.
http://goo.gl/46Lpy3

 

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5. Maersk Looking to Buy Back Shares

Danish shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk which announced a maiden $1 billion (609.87 million pounds) share buyback last month, could be placed to hand back even more cash to investors, funded by asset sales and strong cash flows, analysts said. Speaking ahead of a day of investor and strategy meetings, analysts estimated the group could increase its distribution of cash to shareholders as much as ten times. The Danish shipping and oil group announced its first share buyback programme in its 110-year history in August. It said it would buy $1 billion of its shares in the 12 months from Sept. 1 and would consider more in the future.
http://goo.gl/9NBl2i

 

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6. Insurers Pre-empting Arctic Losses

Insurers are warning that better precautions should be taken to avoid an Arctic disaster before it happens even as traffic into the isolated region keeps increasing. Speaking at the IUMI 2014 Hong Kong Conference, Norwegian Hull Club, Bergen, and board member of Norway based search and rescue research project SARiNOR Stein Are Hansen, gave an insight into some of the risks facing ships in the Arctic.While activity in the Arctic is growing rapidly, with some 71 transits last year, there is still a lack of resources to cope with search and rescue operations (SAR), and environmental cleanups.

http://goo.gl/kUJ3Z8

 

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7. Somali Pirates Free Journalist

Somali pirates have freed a German-American journalist two and a half years after he was kidnapped in the semi-autonomous Puntland, officials have said. Ahmed Muse Nur, a governor in the region, said Michael Scott Moore was handed to authorities on Tuesday. The AFP news agency quoted an unnamed Somali pirate source as saying that a ransom was paid for his release. The 45-year-old Moore had worked for Der Spiegel in Berlin before he travelled to Somalia to write a book on piracy. According to security sources, about 40 foreign nationals, most of them fishermen unable to pay ransoms, are still being held by pirates in the area.

http://goo.gl/LcNGX9

 

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8. Stubborn Port Blaze Burns On

A ‘stubborn’ wharf fire has closed Container Terminals at Port of Los Angeles. Despite the fire being about 90% contained, the port said three terminals at the Port of Long Beach have temporarily discontinued operations due to smoke from the fire at the neighboring Port of Los Angeles. The Port of Long Beach says the affected terminals will reassess the situation and consider reopening when appropriate and safe to do so. At least two large cargo ships were moved to a safe location as a precaution. The LAFD says that over 170 firefighters, working quickly by air, land, and sea, contained the bulk of the fire in just under two hours.

http://goo.gl/7f25GZ

 

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9. New Improvements to Box Service

The improved East-West service itinerary that sprung out of the vessel sharing agreement between container shipping giants Maersk Line and MSC, known as the 2M, has been released. The companies intend to operate six services on the Asia-north Europe trade lane, five between Asia and the Mediterranean, three from North America to north Europe, two from North America to the Mediterranean, four from Asia to the North American west coast and two between Asia and the North American east coast. According to MSC the proposed VSA will increase the number of port pairs, provide more direct ports of call and enhanced transit times.

http://goo.gl/tJplHD

 

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10. NGOs Work Together On Stress and Distress

March on Stress and Human Rights at Sea have joined forces to provide expert psychological support options to personnel in the maritime industry. The collaboration will see both organizations working together in order to help build resilience and support the psychological wellbeing of maritime personnel. This includes working together to provide a bespoke package of Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) for the maritime industry. TRiM is a peer-support system which seeks to build resilience by keeping employees functioning after traumatic events by providing support and education to those who require it.

http://goo.gl/mVU95Z

 

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