Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 16/01/2019
1. New View of Future Shipping
For all the fear crew have about their jobs being lost to automation, a new 170-page report from the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) and the World Maritime University (WMU) suggests that the global seafarer workforce will actually double in size by 2040. The report entitled Transport 2040: Automation Technology Employment – the Future of Work investigates how the global transport industry will change as a result of automation and advanced technologies. According to the report, world seaborne trade will reach 60,000 bn ton-miles by 2020, 74,000 bn ton-miles by 2030.
http://bit.ly/2FzBKBj
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2. Asian Piracy Data
ReCAAP ISC has released its 2018 annual report highlighting that reported piracy incidents in Asia decreased 25 percent year-on-year last year. There were 76 incidents of piracy and armed robbery reported in Asia between January to December 2018, comprising 62 actual incidents and 14 attempted incidents. This represents a decrease of 25 percent in the total number of incidents and a 31 percent decrease in actual incidents compared to 2017. It also represents the lowest number of incidents since ReCAAP ISC began keeping records in 2007.
http://bit.ly/2sqZrUA
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3. Chemical Expansion for Antwerp
London-based chemicals company Ineos has chosen Port of Antwerp in Belgium as the location for location for a previously announced EUR3bn ($3.4bn) investment in two new petrochemical plants. The company revealed plans last year to develop a propane dehydrogenation unit and an ethane cracker in Northwest Europe. The new petrochemical complex will be co-located with Ineos’ existing sites in Europe making polymers and will be connected by pipeline to a number of Ineos ethylene and propylene derivative units in the region.
http://bit.ly/2Mft4Ba
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4. Horror of Livestock Grounding
The Lebanese-flagged livestock carrier Wardeh has gone aground near the port of Mersin, Turkey. The vessel dragged anchor in heavy weather and found bottom a few hundred meters from shore. The vessel had been anchored in the harbor for many months, and Turkish media reports suggest that she was awaiting new work after failed negotiations for a sale. Two crewmembers are on board, and Turkish Coast Guard teams are working to safely evacuate them.
http://bit.ly/2Rxhtnc
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5. Cleaning Scrubber Path
Ian Adams, formerly the head of the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA), has been tapped by an influential pro-scrubber body to become the group’s executive director. Adams has wasted little time to lambast much of the negative press surrounding the deployment of exhaust gas cleaning systems, slamming mounting criticism of open-loop scrubbers as “loose speculation”. The Clean Shipping Alliance (CSA) 2020 was formed last September and features big shipping names such as Carnival, Oldendorff, Cargill, and Trafigura.
http://bit.ly/2TSORkW
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6. Torrid Tales of Navy Failure
According to a new report, the U.S. Navy’s public assessment of the USS Fitzgerald collision did not disclose the full extent of the deficiencies on board the ill-fated destroyer. In the early hours of June 17, 2017, the Fitzgerald collided with the merchant vessel ACX Crystal in heavy traffic on the approaches to Tokyo. Fitzgerald’s bridge team did not did not maintain a proper lookout, nor did they broadcast AIS, properly tune their radar or follow VTS lanes. They also failed to communicate effectively with other vessels or with their own ship’s Combat Information Center (CIC).
http://bit.ly/2CnoPiv
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7. Claims at a Glance
The Swedish Club has launched its new edition of Claims at a Glance, a whistle-stop tour of cases and statistics taken from its experiences in Loss Prevention over the last three years. Claims at a Glance offers the Club’s own perspective on some of the real-life cases it has recently dealt with and provides updates on some of the Club’s key Loss Prevention publications from the last three years. It makes interesting reading: in the time period studied the report finds that a pilot is on board ship during 30% of all collisions; 66% of all contacts and 58% of all groundings.
http://bit.ly/2TSCAwR
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8. Maintaining Human Rights at Sea
The U.K.-based charity Human Rights at Sea has published the presentations made at the Second International Maritime Human Rights Conference (IMHR 2018) in October last year. “Human rights and dignity must be a high priority for the maritime sector,” said Nusrat Ghani, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, opening the conference.
http://bit.ly/2RJoSiD
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9. Do All Possible to Avoid No Deal
Following the heavy defeat in the British parliament for the Prime Minister Teresa May’s Brexit deal the British Ports Association (BPA) has urged the government to do “whatever is necessary to avoid a disorderly withdrawal from the EU”. “The ports industry notes developments in Parliament this evening and some in our sector will have real concern about the increasing possibility of a ‘no deal’ Brexit outcome. We would urge the Government to clarify its alternative plans immediately and do whatever is necessary to avoid a disorderly withdrawal from the EU,” Richard Ballantyne, chief executive of BPA said.
http://bit.ly/2CnW31l
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10. Changing Tides of Trade
The maritime world changes not only with the tides: as the world economy picks up and then hits a lean spell, so those floating on global waters find themselves in periods of calm and then strong economic winds. We can always call any 12 months the ‘year of this and that’ but in 2018 the overall impression is that it was a year of increasing regulations. Yet there are signs that 2019 might be more promising for the global shipping industry. although that will depend on where you are in the world and what maritime sectors you are in.
http://bit.ly/2VYz6Lk
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Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com
