Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 07/09/2017
1. Box Collusion Investigation
Almost six months after US authorities raided a Box Club meeting in San Francisco, there is no indication of how the linked investigation is progressing on suspected collusion among the world’s leading containerlines. The Department of Justice, one of the agencies involved, is following protocol by declining to comment on a probe that is in progress.
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2. Florida Set for Battering
Hurricane Irma has strengthened into a Category 5 storm as Florida authorities called up the National Guard and began selective evacuations. The Sunshine State is bracing for a big hit ahead of the storm’s expected weekend landfall on the US mainland. Oil and product tankers, container ships and cargo vessels scheduled to arrive in Port Everglades near week’s end may delay or divert depending on the storm.
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3. Maersk Embracing Blockchain
The blockchain revolution has made its way to marine insurance. Maersk has teamed up with Microsoft consultants, a data security firm, and insurers – to launch the world’s first blockchain platform for marine insurance. The blockchain platform connects clients, brokers, insurers and third parties to distributed common ledgers that capture data about identities, risk and exposures, and integrates this information with insurance contracts.
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4. Great Leap in Autonomy
The next great leaps for international maritime productivity are poised to be the introduction of autonomous/remotely operated vessels, and the multitude of maritime and supply chain efficiencies brought about by the promised but long-delayed implementation of IMO’s eNavigation concept. Unfortunately, both opportunities rely upon a resilient electronic positioning and navigation architecture that IMO first called for in 2008, but which still does not exist.
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5. Energy Demand Plateau
Rapid decarbonisation of the energy supply and increased electrification will lead to a plateau in energy demand from 2030. In DNV GL’s Energy Transition Outlook report, 2017, it finds that increased focus on renewable energy sources will make up nearly half of global energy supply by 2050. This will cut CO2 emissions in half. Renewable sources, such as wind and solar photovoltaics, are predicted to drive renewable energy expansion.
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6. Dry Bulk Heating Up
Shipbrokers are reporting a flurry of activity in the S&P dry bulk segment over the past week. Allied Shipbroking said that “on the dry bulk side, there was an explosion of activity this past week, with a large number of vessels changing hands. A number of these were units that were concluded earlier in the month and only now came to light, though given the volume these were still only a small percentage of the trades witnessed.
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7. Connection to Builders
A new memorandum of understanding signed between Inmarsat and Samsung Heavy Industries hints at a future where shipbuilders take more interest in the lifecycle of their products. The Korean shipyard has signed an agreement with the UK-based satellite service provider to utilise Inmarsat’s Fleet Xpress service to cover remote machine diagnostics and other services in newbuildings in a new service that it is calling Smart Ship.
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8. Big COSCO Deal Done
China’s Cosco Shipping Lines Group has signed a time charter agreement with Singaporean owner Pacific International Lines (PIL) for twelve containerships. Under the deal, Cosco Shipping will lease a 6,500 TEU containership with shore supply and five 4,250 TEU containerships from PIL. On the other hand, PIL will charter in six 5,500 TEU boxships from Cosco. After an “arm’s length negotiation” the rental price has been set at USD 1.1 per TEU per day.
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9. Ferry Looks to Gas
K Line Kinkai and K Line have agreed to work on a joint study to develop Japan’s first environmentally-friendly LNG-fueled ferry. K Line Kinkai has already been studying the development of a ferry fueled by LNG, and the latest collaboration with K Line will accelerate the study in order to make the LNG-fuelled ferry commercially viable in Japan. The study includes specifications, engine types and related technical verifications for LNG handling.
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10. Qatar Acts on Access
In the face of the ongoing political upheaval in the region, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani has inaugurated a new shipping hub, the Hamad Port in Umm Al Houl. The port, located 40km south of Doha, is the largest of its kind in the Middle East and has the capacity to handle all types of vessels, including large containerships. The USD 7.4 billion port will have an annual capacity of 7.5 million shipping containers.
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
Best regards,
S Jones
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