Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 10/07/2017
1. COSCO Giant Buying Spree
With a protracted deal for Hong Kong’s OOCL now done and dusted, Cosco Shipping is turning its attention to Marseille-based CMA CGM as it makes plain its bid to surpass Maersk to become the world’s largest containerline. State-backed Chinese giant Cosco, along with port group SIPG, have sealed a deal to buy the parent of OOCL at an offer price of HK$78.67 ($10.07) per share. The price represents a 31.1% premium on Friday’s closing price of HK$60.00 and values OOIL at around $6.3bn. Upon completion of the transaction Cosco will hold 90.1% of the Hong Kong line while SIPG will hold 9.9%.
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2. Ballast Water Reprieve
Shipowners have gotten a two-year reprieve on the retrofitting of ballast water treatment systems as the IMO has decided to delay the implementation of the convention. With the imminent entry into force of the international Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention on 8 September 2017, IMO’s MEPC reached an anticipated compromise agreement on pushing back the regulatory enforcement date. Ships constructed after 8 September 2017 must still comply on delivery from the yard, but existing ships in general must comply by the first International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) certificate renewal after 8 September 2019.
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3. Collision Causes Fire
General cargo ship "Tian Sheng 18" lost control and hit chemical tanker "Shuang Long" Hai at a Yangtze River petrochemical terminal in Changzhou, Jiangsu. The chemical tanker started to list after the collision and the incident also damaged the chemical pipes, triggering a fire onboard the vessel. All the 15 crew members onboard the tanker have been evacuated safely with no injuries reported. The fire had been put out by this morning and the ship stabilised, while operations at the terminal remain suspended. Shuang Long Hai is owned by CSIC-IMC Shipping and operated by Nanjing Zhonggang Shipping.
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4. Too Early to Assess Costs
Maersk said it was too early to predict the financial impact of last month’s global Petya cyber attack that hit the shipping giant’s computers and delayed cargoes, but added that normal operations had resumed at its ports. A.P. Moller-Maersk, Danish owner of the world’s biggest container shipping line, operates 76 ports via its APM Terminal division and was one of the many firms hit by the ransomware virus along with Russia’s Rosneft and advertising agency WPP. "Our first priority has not been to look at the financial impact," Robbert van Trooijen, Maersk’s Asia Pacific chief executive told reporters on a call.
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5. MOL Tanker Runs Aground
A chemical tanker owned by Japan’s MOL Chemical Tankers ran aground on the Columbia River near Skamokawa in Washington state on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The 2009-built Argent Cosmos was carrying large tonnages of ethanol (1.63m gallons), monoethylene glycol (6.65m gallons), 458,074 gallons of high-sulfur oil and 99,064 gallons of low-sulfur oil. It ran into difficulty when it lost the use of a fuel pump and subsequently grounded when heading out from a call at Port Westward. A US Coast Guard (USCG) helicopter from Sector Columbia River overview reported no obvious signs of pollution.
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6. Special Bulker Inspections
The China Maritime Safety Administration (MSA) has launched a special inspection on bulk carriers to be carried out by port state and flag state inspections. The campaign will run from June 15 to December 31, 2017, and bulk carriers above 15 years of age and more than 10,000 gross tonnage engaged on international voyages shall be targeted for inspection with priority. The inspection of bulk carriers converted from tankers must undergo PSC inspection at the first port of call after the campaign starts. The inspection will focus on the ship’s structure and ballast tanks.
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7. Boxship Berth Allision
An APL containership hit a berth in Kaohsiung Port when it was leaving the port this morning, leading to damages to the wharf and the ship. According to Kaohsiung Port, the 2,500 teu vessel "APL Jeddah" suddenly lost power when it was guided out of the port, and hit the No.58 wharf of the port. Currently Kaohsiung Port has suspended operations at the wharf, which is severely out of shape after the incident. No casualties were reported from the incident. The vessel suffered damages on its bow and has been towed away from the site for investigation.
An APL containership hit a berth in Kaohsiung Port when it was leaving the port this morning, leading to damages to the wharf and the ship. According to Kaohsiung Port, the 2,500 teu vessel "APL Jeddah" suddenly lost power when it was guided out of the port, and hit the No.58 wharf of the port. Currently Kaohsiung Port has suspended operations at the wharf, which is severely out of shape after the incident. No casualties were reported from the incident. The vessel suffered damages on its bow and has been towed away from the site for investigation.
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8. Suez Back Qatari Ban
Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is committed to the state’s decision to ban all Qatari ships to dock in ports within the Suez Canal’s economic zone, chairman of SCA Mohab Mamish said. In a press statement, Mamish said that all Qatari vessels are banned from harboring at the Suez Canal’s economic zone for national security reasons. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed punitive measures, accusing the gas-rich country of “supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs.”
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Egypt’s Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is committed to the state’s decision to ban all Qatari ships to dock in ports within the Suez Canal’s economic zone, chairman of SCA Mohab Mamish said. In a press statement, Mamish said that all Qatari vessels are banned from harboring at the Suez Canal’s economic zone for national security reasons. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 and imposed punitive measures, accusing the gas-rich country of “supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs.”
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9. Huge Ivory Haul Found
Customs officers in Hong Kong seized 7.2 tons of ivory from a shipping container arriving from Malaysia on July 4. The seizure was made at the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound, and once its weight is confirmed, the haul could become a record seizure – the largest ever recorded in the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) database – narrowly surpassing the 7.138 tons seized in Singapore in 2002. According to a government media release, the consignment was declared as “frozen fish” and the tusks hidden beneath frozen fish cartons.
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10. Slow for Orca Survey
The Port of Vancouver in British Columbia, in what is believed to be a world first, is asking vessels to lower their speed to 11 knots when travelling through the Haro Strait in order to reduce noise levels for endangered killer whales in the area. Haro Strait, between Vancouver and Washington state’s San Juan Island, is an important habitat for the killer whales and their population is believed to be only 78 in the Salish Sea, an intricate system of waterways that includes the southwestern corner of BC and the northwestern corner of Washington. Ship engine noise can disrupt the whales’ ability to hunt, navigate and socialize.
The Port of Vancouver in British Columbia, in what is believed to be a world first, is asking vessels to lower their speed to 11 knots when travelling through the Haro Strait in order to reduce noise levels for endangered killer whales in the area. Haro Strait, between Vancouver and Washington state’s San Juan Island, is an important habitat for the killer whales and their population is believed to be only 78 in the Salish Sea, an intricate system of waterways that includes the southwestern corner of BC and the northwestern corner of Washington. Ship engine noise can disrupt the whales’ ability to hunt, navigate and socialize.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
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