News

Scrubber Lobby Hits Back at Open-loop Scrubber bans
by Ship Bunker
Tuesday, January 29, 2019

EGCSA calls on ports to conduct in-depth research before making any move.

Citizen Explorers Quickly Book 2019 Titanic Missions
by The Maritime Executive
Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Citizen explorers seeking an adventurous, scientific and meaningful experience are rapidly booking 2019 once-in-a-lifetime missions to the RMS Titanic in the OceanGate submersible, Titan.

The 10-day missions to the Titanic, resting at more than 3,800 meters (~12,500 feet) below the ocean surface, are a unique journey that fewer than 200 people in the world have ever done.

“People are seeking meaningful adventure experiences and they want to make a difference,” shared Stockton Rush, CEO, OceanGate. "It's a travesty to just go, look and come back up. Our expedition allows Mission Specialists to explore as part of a team that is doing something incredibly rare and valuable, and also play an active role on the sub and ship throughout the mission.”

During the six-week expedition, the company plans to collect the first ever 4K resolution images and video of the wreck site and debris field while simultaneously capturing laser data to create the first ever 3D virtual model of the historic wreck.

“We couldn’t do the survey work we are doing without the support of the Mission Specialists,” said Mark Bauman, CEO, Virtual Wonders. “There is speculation that the shipwreck is experiencing an accelerating rate of decay, but without current data scientists don’t really know. The expedition will allow us to create a high-definition 3D model so scientists can better predict how long the wreck will be there.”

The less adventurous companions of Mission Specialists, can now join the expeditionary trips minus the deep dive experience to the Titanic. Companions get to join at 50 percent of the Mission Specialist expedition support fee. Companion spaces are extremely limited, and booking early is encouraged. During the 10-day missions, companions may participate in the other trip activities. With only a few openings remaining in the 2019 expedition season, OceanGate also began taking bookings for the 2020 season.

The company further announced that beginning February 15, 2019, the mission support fee to participate in the Titanic Survey Expedition will change from $105,129 to $125,000. Those booking before the price change will be able to lock in the original mission support fee.

The 2019 missions mark the first manned exploration of the world’s most iconic shipwreck since 2005. The missions run June through August. To learn more and apply to become a Mission Specialist, visit titanicsurveyexpedition.com.

U.S. Imposes Financial Sanctions on PDVSA
by The Maritime Executive
Tuesday, January 29, 2019

The Trump administration has imposed new financial sanctions on Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA as part of a pressure campaign to oust the government of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. 

The new measures have the potential to affect the pattern of petroleum shipping in the Caribbean and beyond, as the U.S. trades in significant quantities of oil and refined products with Venezuela. About five percent of America's oil imports (500,000 bpd) comes from PDVSA; in the other direction, PDVSA imports American light crude and naphtha for use in diluting its own extra-heavy grades.   

The new sanctions are less punitive than the restrictions on trade with Iran's oil sector, but they will create difficulties for the Venezuelan government, which relies heavily on oil revenue. Under the new sanctions regime, American firms may still import oil from PDVSA, but they cannot pay for it - at least, not immediately. 

Instead, any payments to PDVSA must be held in "blocked accounts," which can only be released to Maduro's political opposition. Parliamentary leader Juan Guaidó recently declared that Maduro's presidency is illegitimate, and he has claimed the title of "interim president," promising to hold new elections once Maduro steps down. Guaidó has the support of the Trump administration and the Organization of American States, both of which have recognized him as Venezuela's legitimate leader. 

“If the people in Venezuela want to continue to sell us oil, as long as that money goes into blocked accounts, we’ll continue to take it. Otherwise we will not be buying it," Mnuchin said during a White House news briefing. “The path to sanctions relief for PDVSA is through the expeditious transfer of control to the interim president or a subsequent democratically elected government."

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a longtime opponent of the Maduro government, hailed the imposition of new sanctions on PDVSA. "The natural resources of  Venezuela belong to its people. But the Maduro crime family steals it and uses the cash from oil exports to buy the 'loyalty' of top military elites," Rubio said. "The money for oil will now go to [the people] through the legitimate government of Juan Guaidó."

Hapag-Lloyd Declares General Average for Yantian Express
by The Maritime Executive
Tuesday, January 29, 2019

The fire aboard the container ship Yantian Express has prompted Hapag-Lloyd to declare general average, marking the second time in a year that a container ship fire has led to the apportionment of damage costs among a voyage's cargo owners. 

“In conjunction with declaring general average, the owners will appoint average adjusters, responsible for coordinating the collection of general average securities and all documentation required from parties with interest in cargo, containers, vessel, and fuel," Hapag-Lloyd said in a customer advisory. “Cargo interests (or their insurance companies) should plan to contact the average adjusters directly once they are appointed.”

The details of the general average costs will be determined after a damage assessment at Freeport, Bahamas, the planned port of refuge. The Yantian Express was originally bound for Halifax, but she has diverted for salvage purposes. Hapag-Lloyd says that she is under way using her own propulsion system, with a tug escort standing by. 

Under general average, the sacrifices made to save a vessel and its cargo are shared among all parties with interest in the voyage - the shipowner, the cargo owners and others. It is reserved for extreme events where there is a danger to both the vessel and the cargo unless steps that result in collateral damage are taken. The costs of cargo damage and vessel damage caused by firefighting efforts are allowable under general average, but heat damage, smoke damage and payments to salvors are excluded. 

Typically, cargo owners are required to pay an assessed general average expense before they are allowed to retrieve their cargo. Last year, when the container ship Maersk Honam suffered a severe fire in all bays forward of her accommodations block, shippers were required to pay both a general average bond and a separate salvage bond before recovering their containers. 

The cargo fire aboard the Yantian Express broke out on January 3 as she transited off Canada's eastern seaboard. Efforts to extinguish the fire were launched immediately, but these initial operations had to be suspended due to deteriorating weather. All crew safely evacuated from the Yantian Express onto the Smit Nicobar on January 6, and five returned to the Express to rejoin the firefighting effort on January 9. Hapag-Lloyd reports that the fire is now under control, but the full extent of the damage has not yet been determined. 

Containerships Conducts First LNG Bunkering
by The Maritime Executive
Tuesday, January 29, 2019

CMA CGM Group subsidiary Containerships conducted its first LNG bunkering on January 24 in the Port of Rotterdam.

The operation was performed by ship-to-ship transfer from Shell’s specialized LNG bunkering vessel Cardissa. 234 metric tons of LNG were bunkered onto Containerships Nord, the first LNG-powered vessel of the CMA CGM Group’s fleet. The 1,400-TEU vessel joined the CMA CGM Group’s fleet on December 12 and is the first of an order for four LNG-powered container ships. The 1,400 TEU vessel was built at Wenchong Shipyard, China, and three sister vessels are scheduled for delivery in the first half of 2019.

Containerships aims to create a complete, LNG based door-to-door supply chain in Europe with investment in both LNG-fueled ships and trucks. CMA CGM, is also committed to LNG-technology and has sublet Containerships Nord for its trade lanes. Collectively, the companies have 13 newbuilds powered by LNG on their order books to be delivered between 2018 and 2020. This includes CMA CGM's nine 22,000-TEU vessels on order with China State Shipbuilding Corporation. 

Between 2005 and 2015 CMA CGM reduced its CO2 emissions per container transported by 50 percent, but in just one year, in 2017, the Group reduced its CO2 emissions per container transported by 10 percent. In 2018, CMA CGM was among the top one percent of the most eco-responsible companies in the sector, according to the rating agency Ecovadis.

LNG bunker demand from the shipping sector is expected to be between 20 to 30 million tons annually by 2030, up from less than one million currently. Industry body SEA\LNG has highlighted the central role of LNG, not only in complying with the 2020 global sulfur cap, but for its potential to help achieve the IMO’s target for a 40 percent reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 and total emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050.

Earlier this month, SEA\LNG released an independent study revealing a strong investment case for LNG as a marine fuel in the container shipping market. The study, commissioned from independent simulation and analytics expert Opsiana, analyses the case of a newbuild 14,000 TEU container vessel operating on an Asia-US West Coast liner routing and compares six fuel pricing scenarios. The study indicates that LNG provides a greater ROI than alternative compliance solutions, including the installation of scrubbers, across five out of six of the fuel scenarios explored. 

LNG emits zero sulfur oxides (SOx) and virtually zero particulate matter (PM). Compared to existing heavy marine fuel oils, LNG emits 90 percent less nitrogen oxides (NOx). Through the use of best practices and appropriate technologies to minimize methane leakage, realistic reductions of GHG by 10-20 percent compared with conventional fuels can be achieved.

Bulk supply infrastructure for LNG already exists along the main shipping lanes, and LNG bunkering capacity is growing rapidly with at least 23 bunker vessels expected to be in service by 2020. 

China’s Crackdown on Pollution a Boon to World’s Shipbuilders
by Bloomberg
Monday, January 28, 2019
By Kyunghee Park (Bloomberg) — The world’s biggest shipbuilder sees China’s cleanup of its smoggy skies lifting prices of the vessels this year. As China prioritizes dealing with the smog that has famously blanketed Beijing and other big cities, the world’s second-biggest economy is increasingly turning to liquefied natural gas as a replacement for coal for heating […]

Davie Shipbuilding Questions Government Over Second Supply Ship
by The Maritime Executive
Monday, January 28, 2019

Canada's Davie Shipbuilding has issued a statement calling on the government to make “decisions based on facts and evidence” in relation to the Royal Canadian Navy's temporary supply ships.

The government awarded Davie Shipbuilding a $700 million contract to convert a container ship into a temporary supply vessel and lease it to the navy for at least five years. The ship, Asterix, was formally accepted by the Department of National Defence in January 2018.

Davie has offered to convert and lease another ship for $500 million, but last Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told an audience in Quebec City that the Canadian Armed Forces did an assessment and concluded that there was no need for the second supply ship, Obelix, proposed by Davie Shipbuilding.

Seaspan Shipyards started construction on the first Joint Support Ship, as the permanent supply vessels are known, in June 2018, and Royal Canadian Navy commander Vice-Admiral Ron Lloyd has also indicated that he is comfortable with one interim support ship given that the latest schedule calls for the first Joint Support Ship to be delivered in 2022-23. 

Davie Shipbuilding's statement says that, based on media reports, Trudeau's assessment was conducted in 2014, when the delivery date for the Joint Support Ships was still 2019. The statement notes that on May 30, 2018, the Acting Vice Chief of Defence Staff told a Parliamentary Committee, "We never really looked at the need for or validated the need for a second interim AOR [auxiliary oiler replenishment ship]." 

Additionally, the requirement for a second supply ship for the Royal Canadian Navy was studied by both the Senate and House of Commons permanent defence committees in 2017, and both committees unanimously concluded that Canada should procure a second interim supply ship from Davie to meet the operational requirements of the navy.

“Given the statement from the Acting Vice Chief of Defence Staff, two parliamentary reports and documents provided by the Department of National Defence which confirm that the Joint Supply Ships will not achieve full operational capabilities until 2025, there clearly remains a need for Obelix,” says the Davie statement.

The yard calls on the Prime Minister to conduct an independent third-party analysis of the utilization rate of Asterix and the exact time the Joint Support Ships will be delivered from the Vancouver shipyard will achieve Full Operational Capability. This analysis should be concluded in an expedited timeframe (30 days) so that we can get on with providing the women and men of the Royal Canadian Navy the equipment it needs to carry out the job the government asks them to do, both in Canada and abroad.”

Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. Awarded IDIQ Contract Through SeaPort-NxG
by The Maritime Executive
Monday, January 28, 2019

Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) is pleased to announce that it was awarded a five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite quantity contract through the U.S. Navy’s most recent contract vehicle, SeaPort-NxG. Through this contract, BHGI will have the ability to bid on various task orders throughout the entire contract period.

Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) is a full-service naval architecture, marine engineering and consulting firm located in Bristol, RI. BHGI has been in business for more than twenty-five years and produced numerous designs, to which hundreds of vessels have been built. BHGI specializes in commercial vessel design and consulting and has experience with tugs, barges, Articulated Tug/Barge Units (ATB), passenger vessels, workboats, dredges and floating dry docks. To learn more, visit http://bristolharborgroup.com.

U.S. Ports Want $4 Billion to Enhance Security
by The Maritime Executive
Monday, January 28, 2019

In the latest report in its “The State of Freight” infrastructure series, U.S. member ports of the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) identified nearly $4 billion in crucial port and supply chain security needs over the next 10 years. 

The AAPA says that money is needed to ensure America's port facilities are properly equipped to address new and evolving security challenges. The report recommends refocusing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Port Security Grant Program to better meet the security infrastructure needs of publicly-owned commercial seaports and related maritime operations. This includes funding an estimated $2.62 billion in maintenance and upgrades to port security equipment and systems, and another $1.27 billion for investments to tackle cybersecurity, active shooter, drone mitigation, resiliency and other evolving security threats. 

Currently, the U.S. government invests $100 million annually in the Port Security Grant Program. Since the grant program was initially authorized after 9/11, America’s population has increased about 15 percent, with a pronounced population shift to metropolitan areas, and in many cases near port authority freight and passenger facilities. By the end of 2017, container volumes through these facilities had increased 71 percent and total foreign trade tonnage had increased 37 percent, while cruise passenger traffic nearly doubled. 

In the survey used to prepare the report, 85 percent of AAPA U.S. member ports say they anticipate direct cyber or physical threats to their ports to increase over the next 10 years. Conversely, 10 years ago, cybersecurity, active shooter, drones, increasing energy exports or other soft targets were not highly anticipated threats. The 2017 APM Maersk cyber attack illustrated how an incident can start outside the U.S. and have a cascading impact on ports and terminal operations across the globe. 

78 percent of ports anticipate using future port security grant funding on cyber security, and 90 percent report that future funding would be used for upgrading technology, such as cameras and other surveillance tools. 

In addition, soft targets such as active shooters “keep port security staff up at night,” said multiple port security directors. 86 percent of ports would use future security funding to enhance physical security, and 65 percent would use it for training to better prepare port and local first responders to respond effectively to soft target threats such as an active shooter.

AAPA President and CEO Kurt Nagle said: “In The State of Freight IV, we took a deep-dive to better understand the future security challenges of U.S. ports, the communities that surround them and the supply chains that serve them. Not only did we find that Port Security Grant Program appropriations need to increase four-fold to $400 million a year, but the ratio of grant funds going to ports needs to at least double to 50 percent to properly mitigate for security threats.

“Protecting our nation’s seaports against terrorism and other security threats helps ensure safe and reliable goods movement, which is critical to our economy. However, in recent years, nearly two-thirds of Port Security Grant Program funding has been spent on training and equipping first responders and on improving response capabilities. What’s needed now is a shift to more investments in maritime domain awareness, including prevention and protection measures.”

The report is available here.

TTS Group ASA Wins Hurtigruten Contract
by The Maritime Executive
Monday, January 28, 2019

TTS Group ASA has been rewarded a contract for sideloading systems for Norway-based expedition cruise operator Hurtigruten. TTS Group has also won a contract for ships equipment to another buyer. Total value of the orders is approximately MNOK 38.

Hurtigruten, the world’s largest and most sustainable expedition cruise line, is expected to install the advanced TTS sideloading systems on six different ships during 2019-2021.