Top Ten Maritime News Stories 09/03/2016

Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 09/03/2016

 

1. Bibby in Big Buyout

V.Group has acquired Bibby Ship Management, part of the Bibby Line Group, which has an established track record for providing high quality, safe and reliable ship management and support services to blue-chip clients. Bibby Ship Management services all types of vessels and has particular strengths in the management of offshore vessels. It also provides extensive crew management solutions, technical support services, marine travel, marine surveying, training and recruitment services.  With 332 personnel in the UK, Isle of Man, Sweden, Ukraine, India, Philippines and Singapore, Bibby Ship Management complements V.Group’s expertise.

http://goo.gl/nsCMor

 

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2. Boxing Clever and with Confidence

French-based CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container shipping firm, expects its volume growth to outperform the market again in 2016 after strong expansion last year helped it cushion a slide in freight rates. CMA CGM, which is in the process of acquiring Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) for $2.4 billion in its biggest-ever deal, has been pursuing economies of scale to ride out a shipping downturn linked to vessel oversupply and faltering economic growth. CMA CGM’s full-year sales were $15.7 billion, down 6.4 percent from 2014, as a 6.3 percent increase in transported volumes was outweighed by the steep fall in freight rates.

http://goo.gl/V9aOj6

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3. Fixing Root Causes of Groundings

The root cause of many groundings and collisions, lost anchors are among the top five reasons for claims costs. A rising number of anchor losses reported over the last several years prompted DNV GL, Gard and The Swedish Club to investigate this issue. Based on an analysis of damage cases involving anchor and anchor chain losses, the project partners have issued a presentation identifying the most frequent technical and operational causes, and some steps crews and operators can take to address them. Officers must be aware of the environmental loads their equipment is designed for – often they are not.

http://goo.gl/wdTBHy

 

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4. Torm Looks for New Home

Copenhagen-based Torm AS is looking at moving its headquarters to the UK as part of a corporate reorganisation programme, which could aid its plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The reorganisation aims “to improve the marketability of the Torm Group, to attract a broader and more diversified international investor base and to facilitate a possible dual listing in the US”, Torm said today. OCM Njord Holdings, the company’s majority shareholder, has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, Torm Plc, in the UK, which will become parent of the Copenhagen-based company and will continue its business as usual.

http://goo.gl/ZJwYbp

 

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5. Somali Gun Haul Found

The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) warship HMAS Darwin has seized over 2 000 small arms, rocket propelled grenades and mortars from a fishing vessel off Oman, and believed to be on its way to Somalia. HMAS Darwin intercepted a fishing vessel approximately 170 nautical miles (313 kilometres) off the coast of Oman to conduct a flag verification boarding. “After assessing the vessel to be stateless, 1 989 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM general purpose machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 60 mm mortar tubes were seized from the vessel headed towards Somalia.

http://goo.gl/64hYZ1

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6. More Plans for Djibouti Bases

China hinted on Tuesday that it was planning more global bases following the setting up of its logistics centre in Djibouti, what the Horn of African country’s government calls a military facility that will be China’s first overseas. China plans to use it to support is anti-piracy operations in the waters off the strife-torn nations of Somalia and Yemen. Beijing has been keen not to call it a military base, but state media increasingly uses this language to refer to it. China’s Defence Ministry said last month building had begun on the base, something China describes as naval "support facilities" in Djibouti, located at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

http://goo.gl/ZsWuNL

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7. Drone Strikes Kill in Somalia

US forces carried out a drone strike on a training camp in Somalia run by the al-Shabab militant group, killing more than 150 fighters, said a Pentagon spokesman. An African security expert tells DW that the international community needs to support the Somali government in strengthening its security forces to combat al-Shabab, as weekend attacks in Baidoa claimed dozens of lives. "The fighters were there training and were training for a large-scale attack. We know they were going to be departing the camp and they posed an imminent threat to the US and (African Union) forces," said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis.

http://goo.gl/RSWFt7

 

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8. Recognising Importance of Crew

Mumbai-based ship management company MMS Maritime India (MMSI) announced that its crew workforce has grown by a quarter in the last year. MMSI said its total crew staff is now 300 with at least 50 new officers and 26 ratings, joining the team which primarily supplies seafarers for the global tanker market. MMSI CEO Dr. Sanjay Bhavnani said the company is growing thanks to having a 90 percent crew retention rate, one of the highest in the industry. “We are expanding because our seafarers are motivated and tanker owners have confidence that MMSI will supply a highly committed, skilled and experienced crew to look after their ship."

http://goo.gl/0rJVUX

 

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9. Massive Losses for Builder

Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering reported net loss of 4.3 billion USD in 2015, due to write down of assets from offshore projects under construction and serious decrease of new orders. The South Korean shipbuilder sales decreased by 23% yoy to 10.76 billion USD with operating loss of 4.57 billion USD. Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering wrote off losses from offshore projects in last quarter of the year due to delays, which seriously weigh down on company’s finance statement. The company also had 0.33 billion USD is loses from assets sales, which were not fully receivables on its balance sheets

http://goo.gl/wiRqGe

 

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10. Broking for Wrong Reasons

Panos Patsadas, MD at Target Maritime Transport, reckons too many young men and women are becoming ship brokers for the wrong reasons. It seems young people are aspiring to be shipbrokers, which is positive. Especially for the majority of the young Greeks, shipbroking seems to be implanted in their minds as the epitome of shipping. But what is it they really want out of shipping? It seems that 9 out of 10 admit they would like to have their own ships one day. The drive is to be become shipowners themselves. It is normal, but with so little every having even been on a ship, are these the goals they should have?

http://goo.gl/g1I0jU

 

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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions  www.seacurus.com