Seacurus Bulletin: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 09/06/2016
1. Port State Top Performers
The Paris MoU has released its new performance lists for flags and Recognized Organizations citing Sweden as top performer followed by the United Kingdom, France, Denmark and Norway. The White, Grey and Black List is based on inspections and detentions over a three-year rolling period for flags. The new list has 43 flags on the White list, 19 on the Grey List and 11 on the Black list.
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2. Banks Rid Bad Loans
German state-owned lender HSH Nordbank is preparing to sell up to $3.7 billion worth of non-performing loans as part of its bailout programme, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. The European Commission approved a bailout of the ship financier in March and HSH recently asked investment bank UBS to find buyers for the loans which were extended to shipping and aircraft companies and for real estate and renewable energy projects.
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3. ReCAAP Cites Piracy Drop
ReCAAP’s May report claims only eight incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia for the month, down 65 percent from May last year. For the year to date, only 38 incidents were reported – the lowest count for January to May since 2011 and down by half over the same period in 2015, when 87 total incidents were recorded. One hijacking and attempted cargo theft occurred in the region for the month.
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4. Two Seafarers Die
Two Ukrainian seafarers were found dead on Wednesday after a Malta-flagged ship was taken to a shipyard in Istanbul for maintenance. The bodies of Oleksiy Voytsov, 34, and Sergi Kravchenko, 33, were found in their rooms after they missed their shift, according to a written statement released by the Desan shipyard. “While feeling sorrow over the fact that this incident took place inside our shipyard, we do not have any information,” the statement said.
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5. New Fuels Heralded
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has issued a report on methanol and ethanol, saying they are good potential alternatives for reducing both the emissions and carbon footprint of ship operations. As they are sulphur-free, use of methanol and ethanol fuels would ensure compliance with the European Commission Sulphur Directive. Investment costs for both methanol and ethanol retrofit and new build solutions are estimated to have dropped.
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6. Emissions Measures Failing
Market-based measures to tackle CO2 emissions are “highly controversial” and the majority of the industry is still not really convinced that they work or deliver genuine CO2 reductions, Simon Bennett, a director at the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), said. “Frankly, there are lots of smoke and mirrors with things like the Clean Development Mechanism, which is arguably just a means for rich countries to pay others to import their emissions,” Bennett said.
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7. Ripping Up Rule Book
Prepare to say goodbye to everything you thought you knew about shipping – that was the conclusion from the morning session of the TradeWinds Shipowners Forum, held at Posidonia. “Shipping cycles are a thing of the past,” Christopher Wiernicki, chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) told delegates.
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8. Yards Raise Mega Cash
The world’s three biggest shipyards plan to raise a combined $7.3 billion selling assets as part of a restructuring following losses last year. Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. and Samsung Heavy Industries Co. have submitted their fund-raising plans to their creditors, including state-run Korea Development Bank and KEB Hana Bank, South Korea’s government said in a statement Wednesday.
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9. Brazil Weighs In
Container terminals in Brazil are hashing out pricing policies, which could range from $8.60 as a minimum. The cost is to enable shipper compliance with an international container weight rule that enters force July 1. Brazil’s Directorate of Ports and Coasts, which is responsible for enforcing the verified gross mass amendment of the IMO’s SOLAS, convention, has released its guidance for the rule, taking away any earlier hope the terminals would not charge.
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10. Panama Canal Lifts Restrictions
Officials running the Panama Canal have said they have lifted restrictions on the depth of ships passing through that had been imposed since April because of low water levels caused by severe drought. The start of the tropical rainy season had brought the water back up, meaning the ships’ maximum draft — the distance from the waterline to the bottom of the hull — was restored to the usual 12.04 metres, the Panama Canal Authority said.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
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S Jones
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