Seacurus Daily: Top Ten Maritime News Stories 08/02/2019
1. Giant Growth for NY and NJ
Port of New York and New Jersey has reported 7 percent growth in 2018, surpassing the 7 million TEU mark for first time in its history, helping maintain its position as busiest port on U.S. East Coast. During 2018, the Port of New York and New Jersey handled 7,179,788 TEUs. The port said cargo growth was bolstered by an 8.2 percent increase in imported goods including clothing, furniture, electronics and other everyday products over the previous record for imports set in 2017. The Port handled one-third of all containers on the East Coast of North America, increasing its market share of 2.8 percent over last year.
http://bit.ly/2SiuP6W
———————————————————————————
2. Warning Letters on Sulphur
The Maritime Authorities of the Paris MoU and the Tokyo MoU on Port State Control will start issuing a letter of warning from 1st January 2019 on the sulphur content of marine fuels during inspections in order to increase awareness of and to encourage timely compliance with the new requirements.
IMO’s 2020 sulphur cap is expected to enter into force on 1 January 2020, mandating that ships’ fuel contains no more than 0.5% m/m of sulphur. The implementation of the global 2020 sulphur cap will have considerable implications on ship operators, the fuel oil supply chain and the industry as a whole.
http://bit.ly/2Gg8Qay
———————————————————————————
3. Europe Aligns with IMO
The European Commission adopted a proposal to revise the EU system for monitoring, reporting and verification (EU MRV) of CO2 emissions from maritime transport. The system will be revised in order for the EU to take “appropriate account” of the global data collection system for fuel consumption of ships established by the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Specifically, the proposal aims to facilitate the harmonious implementation of the two systems while preserving the objectives of the current EU legislation.
http://bit.ly/2BjtuCz
———————————————————————————
4. Offshore Safety Review
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) published 29 Safety Flashes covering a total of 136 incidents through 2018. Delivered regularly throughout the year, IMCA’s Safety Flash system seeks to improve safety performance in the offshore industry, by sharing lessons learned. The data of reported incidents in 2018 show several trends: 10% were ‘near misses’, 10% were the result of equipment failure; In 7% of cases, people suffered hand or finger injuries; 8 involved fires: Two of these were laundry fires, and three fires related to the inappropriate management of Lithium-ion batteries.
http://bit.ly/2RLJ0fU
———————————————————————————
5. South Africa Modernises Dock
A new, R98m ($7.2m) floating caisson is to be fabricated for the 74-year-old Sturrock Dry Dock operated by Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) in the Port of Cape Town which will enable one of the biggest drydock facilities in the Southern Hemisphere to double its productivity. The new caisson forms part of a multimillion-rand overhaul taking place at the port’s ship repair facilities under South Africa’s Operation Phakisa programme, through which shipbuilding and ship repair have been identified as a strategic competence for the port.
http://bit.ly/2Bo9a2Y
———————————————————————————
6. Cruise Ship Passengers Robbed
Two French tourists were violently attacked and robbed while their cruise ship was docked in Antigua last week. According to the Antigua Observer, 70-year-old Jacques Colbert and 62-year-old Christiane Marcelle Drouth had arrived on an MSC Cruises vessel and were sightseeing. The two accused attackers-who were identified as 20-year-old Joel Richards and 19-year-old Anderson Garcia-allegedly stabbed Colbert in the abdomen and ran off with Drouth’s black leather handbag, which contained an umbrella, Drouth’s cruise ship receipt, a notebook and an address book.
http://bit.ly/2DYexYo
———————————————————————————
7. Fallen Crane Removed
On January 28, an STS crane fell onto the container vessel ‘Ever Summit’ as the ship docked at the port of Vancouver’s global container terminal. Now the crane is being removed and the vessel will depart from Canada tomorrow morning. Specifically, the vessel is set to voyage and complete its discharge of boxes on February 6, 2018. After the incident, two floating cranes were deployed to move it. Around that time, ship operations were paused at the Global Container Terminals Vanterm facility, but rail and truck-gate operations was continuing. Remarkably no one was injured in the ensuing accident.
http://bit.ly/2WOVnLS
———————————————————————————
8. Fire Ship Investigation
The fire-hit Yantian Express containership has arrived at Port of Freeport, Bahamas and berthed on 4 February, going through fire inspection and decontamination. The Hapag-Lloyd containership Yantian Express suffered a cargo fire while transiting the Atlantic from Canada on 3 January. Alliance partner Ocean Network Express (ONE) said in an advisory to customers developments of the situation on Yantian Express are being closely monitored, and further details on the discharging operations and cargo arrangement will be advised once determined.
http://bit.ly/2GieRDA
———————————————————————————
9. Hello Captain Peter
At this year’s Fruit Logistica in Berlin, Maersk is introducing Captain Peter, a virtual assistant on the company’s Remote Container Management (RCM) platform. Currently being tested by a group of select customers, technical improvements are being put in place to simplify the processes integrated into the Remote Container Management (RCM) platform. In the first half of 2019, Maersk will release the new platform with a revamped design and new product features which will be enhanced by this new virtual assistant, Captain Peter.
http://bit.ly/2WQhBwT
———————————————————————————
10. Britannia in Singapore
Britannia P&I Club has been granted an underwriting license for its Singapore branch. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) granted the underwriting license and the branch will be managed by Tindall Riley (Britannia) Singapore (TR(B)S) and is headed by John O’Flaherty as chief executive. Britannia is beefing up its presence in the Asian market and received an underwriting license in Hong Kong. The Singapore office will look after members in the Asean area as well as India and Australasia.
http://bit.ly/2tagVVF
———————————————————————————
Daily news feed from Seacurus Ltd – providers of MLC crew insurance solutions www.seacurus.com