Top Ten Maritime News Stories 02/06/2017

Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 02/06/2017

1. Paris Climate Deal Trumped
President Donald Trump proclaimed Thursday he was withdrawing the US from the Paris climate accord, a sweeping step that fulfills a campaign promise while acutely dampening global efforts to curb global warming. Speaking from the White House, Trump said he was open to renegotiating aspects of the agreement, which was inked under his predecessor and which all nations except two have signed onto. But he was withering in his criticism of the pact, which he cast as a humiliating defeat for American workers that unfairly advantaged foreign countries. "At what point does America get demeaned, he plaintively asked.
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2. Ballast Water Delay Beckons
The Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention is scheduled to enter into force on September 8, 2017. However, a number of administrations have co-sponsored a proposal to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that could delay the requirements for fitting ballast water treatment systems on existing vessels until 2019, North P&I Club informs.  During the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70) held in October 2016, “extensive exchanges of view” were reported on the proposed timescale for installing ballast water treatment systems. A proposal was left on the table for further discussion.
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3. Computing Greenhouse Gases
Class society DNV GL has published a report assessing the potential for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction from shipping towards 2050, based on a new computational model. The model can evaluate various scenarios for both individual ship segments and the industry as a whole. It can also evaluate the effectiveness of various solutions for reducing GHGs. “Despite the challenges facing our industry, we believe it is technically possible for shipping to achieve substantial GHG reductions, provided a viable strategy is developed and adopted from within the industry itself,” said the Class Society.
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4. Box Scrubber Launched
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems have jointly developed the world’s first rectangular scrubber designed to suit to the space limitations of container ships. The scrubber is based on Mitusbishi’s flue-gas treatment technologies for thermal power plants. The adoption of a rectangular box-shape configuration offers ease of installation in small spaces and SOx emissions treatment for the high-output engines used on large container ships, says the companies.  The new scrubber uses seawater as its cleaning agent, adopting a simple open-loop system. 
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5. Teekay Fleet Bolstered
Teekay Tankers has moved to bolster its fleet with the acquisition of Oslo-listed Tanker Investments (TIL) in a share-for-share merger. Teekay Corporation and Teekay Tankers set up Tanker Investments in 2014 to benefit from cyclical fluctuations in the tanker market. It now has a fleet of 10 suezmax tankers, 6 aframax tankers and 2 LR2 product tankers. Teekay Tankers currently has an 11.3% stake in TIL, and is acquiring all remaining issued and outstanding shares of TIL at an exchange ration of 3.30 Teekay Tankers Class A common shares for each TIL common share.
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6. Getting Top Notch Safety
Top notch safety reduces lost working hours, the costs of damaged equipment and lowers insurance premiums. Automation can also be a solution to other vital terminal operator concerns by reducing operating costs, optimizing efficiency and economic utilization of space, argues Dr Oscar Pernia, Vice President of Terminal Operational Innovation at Navis. “Our industry is ten years behind other industries in using automation. Current terminal automation solutions focus on internal operations, he says. “Terminals are still isolated black boxes in the value chain. We need to consolidate automation not just in equipment" he said.
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7. Addressing Key Performance Indicators
BIMCO’s new Key Performance Indicator (KPI) software, we were given a first hand look to a new interactive method for handling supply chain requirements, benchmarking fleet efficiency and automating the generation of reports for regulatory compliance (presumably, such reports only work only on a general level, rather than being adapted to the specific legal framework of the respective flag state). BIMCO members pay only a setup fee to begin using the KPI software – as an incentive! There is no ongoing cost to use the KPI software, as it is rolled into the BIMCO membership fee.
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8. Eagerly Awaiting More Scrapping
While all shipping markets are eagerly awaiting for more ship scrapping activity moving forward, in order to be able to alleviate the tonnage oversupply and stage a viable and sustainable recovery, things don’t seem to be able to move that way. In its latest weekly report, the world’s leading cash buyer of ships, GMS, said that “negotiations, fixtures and overall local activity ground to a virtual standstill this week with most end buyers focusing their attention on the budgets of Pakistan and Bangladesh, before deciding on whether to / what to offer on future tonnage”.
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9. VLCC Sale Swoop
Euronav has sold one of its oldest VLCC named Ti Topaz for $21m, leading to a capital loss of $21m, an amount similar to the sale price. The 2002-built, 319,430-dwt VLCC is scheduled to be handed over to the new owner during the second quarter, ahead of its third Special Survey which will be performed by the new owner. Euronav said the capital loss will be recorded in this current quarter. “The book loss relates to the value of the ship in our books where assets follow straight line depreciation,” Euronav stated.
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10. Warning on Somali Piracy
Maritime security experts MAST have spoken out on the rising tide of piracy off Somalia. In their latest report they state, “Approaches against merchant vessels by small, fast boats containing armed men indicate that the threat to shipping remains high The series of recent incidents confirm that the Gulf of Aden remains moderate to high (risk). Attacks in the Bab el-Mandeb and recent activity indicate that the risk to merchant shipping from threat elements within Yemen remains moderate to high.” The piracy threat level in the HRA was previous low. This has been raised to moderate.
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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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