Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 02/11/2016
1. IMO Sketchy Details
“More details to follow" were the first words on the IMO’s Twitter page Thursday afternoon after it imposed a global 0.5% sulfur emission limit on the shipping industry from 2020. Industry will be needing a lot of those details over the next three years. It is not entirely clear where shipowners are supposed to buy their new 0.5% sulfur fuels from. Global bunker demand is around 240 million mt/year, and shifting the majority of that from fuel oil to a gasoil-based fuel would put some strain on the world’s middle distillate supplies. Also will shipowners pay any attention to the new rules outside of the busier shipping lanes of the world?
———————————————————————————
2. Hanjin Bidders Circle
Bidders for Hanjin Shipping Co.’s Asia-US route up for sale will start a due diligence process this week, with the asset sale by the country’s ailing shipper expected to be completed by next month, industry sources said. Last week, Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., the Korea Shipping Association, Korea Line Corp., local private equity fund Hahn & Co. and an unidentified investor submitted their preliminary bids for Hanjin Shipping’s lucrative asset. The asset sale includes vessels that operate on its Asia-US route. Final bids are due by Nov. 7.
———————————————————————————
3. Maritime Salaries Benchmarked
The Maritime HR Association has just published its tenth annual salary survey – allowing members to benchmark their shore based roles around the globe. The HR Consulting team at Spinnaker Global have spent the last few months receiving, checking and reviewing thousands of lines of salary data provided by 96 shipping companies. This year’s report encompasses more than 26,000 maritime professionals in 119 countries – up 24% and 29% respectively on last year. The Association grows year on year, and so too does the salary survey – making 2016 the biggest Maritime Salary Survey to date.
https://goo.gl/rhRbdd
https://goo.gl/rhRbdd
———————————————————————————
4. Government Shipping Scheme
South Korea has announced plans to establish a state-backed ship financing company with an initial capital of 1 trillion won ($871.73 million) to help improve the financial health of Korean shipping companies. The government would provide financing of 6.5 trillion won ($5.67 billion) in total so that local shipping firms could acquire new vessels, said a government statement. The measures were announced to support struggling local shipbuilding and shipping industries following the collapse of Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd (117930.KS), which applied for court receivership in August.
———————————————————————————
5. Ferry Safety Developments
Interferry has unveiled a strategic plan promising to put safety issues at the heart of its work as the voice of the worldwide ferry industry. The pledge came at the global trade association’s 41st annual conference in Manila – a venue chosen to spotlight the challenges of domestic ferry safety in developing nations.
The plan signals Interferry’s overriding ambition to help lift ferry safety in all parts of the world to the very high standard already in place in North America and Europe, where casualties in recent decades have been extremely rare.
The plan signals Interferry’s overriding ambition to help lift ferry safety in all parts of the world to the very high standard already in place in North America and Europe, where casualties in recent decades have been extremely rare.
———————————————————————————
6. Africa’s Blue in the Red
Global economic experts have previously estimated the economic value of the blue economy for Africa at over one trillion US dollars. If they are right, this should translate to hundreds of thousands of job opportunities for young African men and women. Although exports and imports are processed through Africa’s oceans, seas and waterways, the continent is not receiving the requisite benefits, including the jobs. Members of the African Union Commission’s executive council met for an Extraordinary Summit on Maritime Security, Safety and Development on October 13, in Lomé, Togo, in an attempt to fix this dilemma.
———————————————————————————
7. Vessels Shifting Routes
Container lines face “huge” headaches as they seek routes to deploy vessels made redundant on the Asia-Europe trade lane by the accelerating arrival of the latest generation of mega-ships, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants. Ocean carriers have been “cascading” ships from the Asia-Europe trade since the launch of Maersk Line’s E-class ships 10 years ago that “hyper-inflated” the maximum ship size overnight from 9,200 twenty-foot-equivalent units to 15,500 TEUs, the London-based consultant said. However, the lines’ stock of ready-to-cascade Asia-Europe vessels is almost empty.
———————————————————————————
8. Concerns Over Lifeboat Safety
Norsafe, global expert in lifeboat manufacture and training, says it’s concerned about the recent spate of lifeboat drill accidents which have seriously injured or led to fatalities among crew. A report in April 2016 by academics at the Seafarers International Research Centre found that tight vessel schedules often did not allow sufficient time for drills and crew were often too frightened to take part as they had not been properly trained in using the equipment. “Skimping on training to save money is not an option and can cost lives.”
———————————————————————————
9. Spanish Navy Drug Crew
Six members of the Spanish Navy were acting "more like pirates" when they allegedly used a naval tall ship to smuggle 31 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to New York City. A military judge in Spain indicted the six sailors and the civilian cook on the “Juan Sebastián de Elcano" – a four-masted topsail, schooner used for training since 1927 – for purportedly "having taken advantage of the absence of a customs check of the ship when it docked at international ports […] to allegedly participate in cocaine trafficking from Cartagena to New York, where they were to receive payment from the local supplier for the smuggled drugs".
———————————————————————————
10. Connectivity is Crucial
With smart shipping there is one key factor that is crucial for all of this to occur. The connectivity. It is it obvious that we assume that connectivity has improved to make this possible? It used to be that in a simple way, you could have two out of the three choices of good, fast and cheap service. If you wanted a good service that was fast, it would not be cheap. In the same vein, if you wanted a fast and cheap service it would not be very good quality. Or a cheap and good service would not be very fast. Smart ships deserve better, smart seafarers will demand the best
———————————————————————————
Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
Best regards,
S Jones
Seacurus Ltd
Registered in England No. 5201529
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority
A Barbican Group company
Telephone: +44 191 4690859
Facsimile: +44 191 4067577
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.seacurus.com
Registered Office: Suite 3, Level 3,
Baltic Place West, Baltic Place,
South Shore Road,
Gateshead,
NE8 3BA,
United Kingdom
This message, and any associated files, are intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it was addresses and may contain information that is confidential, subject to copyright or constitutes a trade secret. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any dissemination, copying or distribution of this message, or files associated with this message, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately.
