As an addition to the ECSA position paper issued in October 2013 on the European Commission proposal for a CO2 MRV system on maritime transport, ECSA issued a position paper urging the EU legislators to refrain from extending the scope to ships above 400 GT and from including NOx/others GHG emissions which would respectively result in unnecessary administrative burden on small ships and in impractical monitoring issues in the proposed EU Regulation.
With incidents of maritime piracy declining and greater awareness of new maritime security threats, the shape and governance of various counter-piracy initiatives and institutions will come into question this year.
A number of major dry cargo charterers began to invite owners to incorporate clauses into time charters in order to permit the use of electronic bills of lading instead of their paper equivalent.
Not so long ago, explorers risked their lives and the lives of their crews in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. Now the question is no longer if a route through the Arctic exists but how many ships will use the two routes now open each year along the northern coasts of Canada and Russia. Estimates for the possibility of making truly ice-free transits range from a few years to a few decades, but in the meantime, as evidenced by the hundreds of applications in 2012 and 2013 (495 successful applicants as of September 2013 to transit Russia’s Northern Sea Route, up from zero a mere five years ago), plenty of folks are willing to risk a little ice in pursuit of shorter shipping routes that were the goal of explorers since even before Lord Franklin’s famously lost expedition.
A new report from Lloyd’s Register (LR) and University College London’s Energy Institute, Global Marine Fuel Trends 2030, indicates that, in all scenarios, heavy fuel oil remains the main fuel for deep sea shipping while LNG develops a deep sea bunker market share of 11% by 2030.
Quality and safety of operations, management and treatment of crew and transparency of costs spend are increasing. during 2013 GL and Fraunhofer CML experts conducted a study involving about 100 ship managing companies across the globe to find out what they are doing to improve their operations and what they consider as “best practice” in the industry.
Oceanology International 2014 sees the launch of a new range of Gyrocompass products based on the well proven Motion Reference Unit (MRU) technology from Kongsberg Maritime’s sensor ‘Powerhouse’, Kongsberg Seatex.
The Round Table of international shipping associations has protested against the third consecutive annual increases in Suez Canal tolls, saying carriers are “dismayed” by steep hikes with a short notice period.
The North American Emission Control Area (ECA) proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would require that all vessels travelling within 200 nautical miles of the North American coast run off an ultra-low sulphur content fuel.
Over the coming decades, energy sources will continue to evolve and diversify, driven by changes in technology, consumer needs, and public policies. On the other hand liquid supplies, referring primarily crude oil, are projected to remain the single biggest source of energy and vital to transportation.
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Officer of the Watch 