Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 20/12/2016
1. Unilateral Emissions Action
The European Parliament’s Environment Committee decision last week to take regional action over ship emissions with respect to emissions trading, unless the International Maritime Organization (IMO) acts first, has a been met with a mixed response. Specifically, the Committee decided to include shipping emissions in the European Union’s (EU’s) Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from 2023 if the IMO does not have a comparable system operating for global shipping from 2021. The Danish Shipowners’ Association says it "regrets that MEPs chose regionalism over global progress".
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2. Port Closed for Air Pollution
China’s Tianjin Port has suspended all operations until December 21, due to an air pollution red alert issued by the city government. Most regions of North China are suffering heavy air pollution. The Central Meteorological Observatory warns that Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, and Shaanxi will experience severe haze and the pollution will peak from Monday to Wednesday. The airports in Tianjin and Beijing also delaying or cancelling many flights due to extremely low visibility caused by the pollution. Port authorities have stopped all loading and discharging of bulk cargoes, heavy port congestion and berthing delays were expected.
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3. Thousands of Jobs Beckon
The UK shipping industry will create thousands of jobs for young people if Government increases funding for seafarer training, the UK Chamber of Shipping and Nautilus have said. The industry trains around 800 new cadets each year, but this could increase to 1200 under a new industry proposal that would see shipowners commit to employing cadets after their training is completed. Major employers including Shell and Carnival have already committed to the scheme and there are calls for the Government to double seafarer training funding from ÂŁ15m to ÂŁ30m.
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4. DNV GL Heads to Greece
DNV GL is making waves on the Greek shipping market, as the strategy set forth a year ago, to make Greece its third “home” market, besides its two main ones, i.e. Norway and Germany, has started to pay dividends. Already, during 2016, the leading classification society has managed to increase its market share in the local market, receiving very positive feedback in the process of doing so from the local shipping community. In a press event held in Piraeus, company executives noted that the number of Greek-owned ships classed with DNV GL has risen by almost 7% from 704 to 748 in the space of 12 months.
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5. Skuld’s Positive Bottom Line
Leading marine insurance provider Skuld has reported a positive bottom-line result of US$16 million for the first nine months of the 2016/17 reporting year, according to a news release. “Strong financial markets contributed to a positive income on investments,” said Ståle Hansen, Skuld president and CEO. “Skuld experienced a few large claims earlier in the year which caused a small loss on the technical result. However, it was an improvement compared with the technical result at the half year. The positive contribution to the contingency reserve brings the reserve’s total to US$364 million.”
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6. K Line Thanks Navy
The Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd, shipping agent of the vehicles carrier, "MV Hyperion Highway" has extended its gratitude and thanks to the Sri Lanka Navy for taking prompt action to rescue the ship from the grip of the protesters who created panic at the Port of Hambantota, the Navy said in a statement. In a letter, the Chairman of the shipping agent ABC Shipping (Pvt) Ltd. extended appreciation to the Sri Lanka Navy and its Commander for securing the release of the vessel from the elements that restrained the ship at the port and particularly, for respecting the universal maritime rights and practices.
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7. Seaspan Purchases Hanjin Vessels
Hong Kong-based Seaspan Corporation has purchased four Panamax containerships from the bankrupt South Korean container carrier Hanjin Shipping through a bank sale, according to reports from brokers. The vessels were sold by a consortium of banks led by the Export Import Bank of Korea and Germany’s HSH Nordbank. The four boxships, "Hanjin Kingston", "Hanjin Gdynia", "Hanjin Atlanta" and "Hanjin Monaco", have the same capacity of 4,275 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). The vessels were built by South Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries between 2008 and 2009. Each vessel was sold for USD 5.6 million.
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8. Catastrophic View on Cover
“Unacceptable.” “Poor.” “Failed.” Such was the assessment of several reinsurance companies on the state of catastrophe modelling for the marine cargo line. The pointed criticism came following the Port of Tianjin explosions, and the fact that it was the second time in three years that the cargo industry had been “surprised”. Superstorm Sandy was the other occasion, delivering a hefty $3 billion in marine loss. The reinsurance companies were unequivocal on the cargo market’s need to markedly increase its investment in understanding lines of risk in ports.
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9. Builder Files for Bankruptcy
Brazilian shipbuilding company Engevix Construcoes Oceanicas (Ecovix) announced on Friday that it and five subsidiaries have filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors, according to Reuters. The Rio de Janeiro-based company, itself a subsidiary of Engevix Engeharia SA, is struggling under $2.4bn in debt during a downturn in the market for new ships. Bankruptcy proceedings will proceed at a federal commercial court in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Earlier this week it was revealed that Ecovix laid off 3,200 workers. Parent company Engevix is one of the many contractors embroiled in the Petrobras bribery scandal.
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10. Drone Delivers to Ship
Drone delivery firm Flirtey and a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine professor successfully sent a drone from shore to an off-coast vessel, and back again, Food Logistics reported last week. The event reportedly marked the first "ship-to-store" delivery within the U.S., as a Federal Aviation Administration rule earlier this year slowed testing within the U.S. The effort proved the value of drones during hurricanes or similar infrastructure shutdowns. Food, water, medicine, and even blood samples can be successfully sent to or from victims in need, particularly those along coastlines or other hard to reach locations.
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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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