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11th April 2019
Is LNG really part of a low carbon shipping future?
While a new study highlights the benefits of LNG as solid move towards a low carbon future for shipping, other experts reassert their claims it is a dead-end.
A study has been published by Sea/LNG and the Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel to demonstrate the emissions reductions of liquid natural gas...
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8th April 2019
Briefing: IMO makes port single window mandatory
Briefing: 06 08/04/2019
The Facilitation Convention encourages use of a "single window" for data, to enable all the information required by public authorities in connection with the arrival, stay and departure of ships, persons and cargo, to be submitted via a single portal, without duplication.
Briefing from IMO: A mandatory requirement for national governments to introduce electronic...
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3rd April 2019
Launching a Greek Accelerator
Greek shipping may be one of the oldest, most family-rooted
and influential markets in the maritime industry.
With so many privately-owned shipowners it has garnered reputations, both good and bad, over the years. One of these reputations is of owners reluctant to adapt to change; looking at new technology with even more scepticism than others in...
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2nd April 2019
Port CDM: The story so far
The final report of the STM Validation project into the work identifying how common messaging during port calls can create efficiencies has been released.
Nine ports in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Nordics have been involved in trialing a standard messaging format, which is being finalised at IALA for global use.
They are part of...
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22nd March 2019
PortCDM proves data sharing saves money and time
An industry wide data-sharing initiative known as PortCDM has demonstrated the efficiencies that can be created when sharing data, but also highlighted the persistent issue of companies not wanting to share information, an issue called data protectionism.
The PortCDM Concept, where CDM stands for Collaborative Decision Making, has been tested for three and a half...
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21st March 2019
Market insight: APAX Partners Potential Takeover of Inmarsat
The following opinion/blog is from Valour Consultancy
On 7th of March 2019, Inmarsat PLC announced its unaudited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2018, resulting in its share price rising from £399 to £453 over a four-day period post announcement, equating to 13.5 per cent increased, on the perception of this “excellent” performance....
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12th March 2019
Di Gilpin: The woman calling for a gale
Di Gilpin is on the way to seeing one of her dreams come true. For the last decade, and maybe longer, she has been a staunch and vocal supporter of the use of wind power in shipping
This is not the voice of a dreamer, environmental campaigner or of an eco-evangelist believing she can save...
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12th March 2019
Can Norway lead the way to decarbonisation?
Norwegian businesses want the country to emulate its successful NOx fund when it comes to industrial decarbonisation, particularly in the offshore and shipping sectors.
The Norwegian NOx fund has been seen by many countries as a successful model in getting shipowners to invest in NOx reduction technologies or practices. It was launched by the Industry...
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25th February 2019
Norway looking to expand UNESCO fjord environmental rules around the country
NEW environmental rules in Norway come into force on March 1st. They apply to vessels, mostly cruise ships, sailing into the country’s five protected fjords, but already the Norwegian parliament has told its maritime directorate to assess the impact of rolling out the rules across the country’s other waters.
Five of Norway’s fjords are heritage...
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25th January 2019
Is this the end of the seafarer and the rise of the e-farer?
The shipping industry is changing, there's no question about this. New technological solutions are emerging in an industry that took more than a century to fully switch from sail to coal, then another hundred to move to oil, and is now having to struggle with the next switch to happen in less than half...
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24th January 2019
STEAMING – a Digital way forward to promote port-to-port efficiency
A Cyprus based project has been launched to demonstrate the commercial next steps following the close of the latest part of an EU-funded sea traffic management (STM) validation project.
STEAM, which stands for Sea Traffic Management in the Eastern Mediterranean brings together commercial companies, research institutes and the Cyprus Shipping Association to develop one key...
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23rd January 2019
The answer is blowin' in the wind
The coming two years could become the key period when wind assist technologies come of age, again.
As climate scientists and political minds continue their chess game around the UNFCCC meetings, technology firms that seek to fuel shipping by another means than from fossilised hydrocarbons are finding they have an societal ear into which they...
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15th January 2019
"Stop wringing your hands about the image of the industry and act"
industry announcement: Increased regulatory requirements, public demand for reducing environmental impacts and transparency provided by the internet and social networks.... all these factors are contributing to the necessity of the maritime industry to re-focus its public image. But how?
“Industry members understand the value proposition of the maritime sector, but communicating that to the public has...
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14th December 2018
Hurtigruten to take its first hybrid ship through the Northwest passage
Hurtigruten, the Norwegian cruise ship and ferry operator, is to send one of its newbuildings through the Arctic North West passage over Canada next year.
Roald Amundsen is one of three confirmed hybrid expedition cruise ships currently under construction at Noway’s Kleven Shipyard in Ulsteinvik. The vessel has four Rolls-Royce four stroke engines and two...
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7th December 2018
Shipping IoT: Putting a brain in a container
A shipping start-up with a unique box of tricks wants to turn each and every container smart, not to track the contents of each box, but to give shippers and shipping lines a chance to build up a true picture of their integrated supply chain.
That’s why they are looking for a shipping line where...
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30th November 2018
Fully Charged: Battery power trials a success for Stena
European Parliament pushing for member states to give tax incentives to encourage green electricity from shore.
SWEDISH shipowner Stena is pushing ahead with battery trials on one of its ro-ro vessels after two months of success. It comes as the European Parliament pushes ahead with plans to remove tax barriers to clean fuel sources.
The ferry...
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30th November 2018
Singapore joins list of ports banning open loop scrubbers
The Port of Singapore has joined a growing list of ports that are taking a cautionary approach to open loop exhaust gas scrubbers.
In a wide ranging speech, Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore chief executive Andrew Tan said that the MPA was working to ensure the waters around Singapore remain clean.
"To protect the marine...
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17th November 2018
Three emission free for The Fjords
The award winning Norwegian tourist boat owner The Fjords is to build a third emission free vessel.
Owned jointly by Norwegian ferry company Fjord 1 and the tourist group Flåm, The Fjords won many accolades for its first two emission free electric vessels, Vision of The Fjords and Future of The Fjords which operate in...
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12th November 2018
Can Ireland, France and UK agree on a new European ECA region to cap sulphur in fuel at 0.1%?
New proposals are emerging to create new emission control areas for sulphur emissions, while the number of ports and local waters refusing to let vessels discharge scrubber wash water overboard seems to be increasing.
In recent days Norway has said it will ban all use of scrubbers in its heritage Fjords on the west of...
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7th November 2018
Cleaning the single window a welcome move says European Shipowners
Europe needs to work harder on its single window for ship reporting if the benefits of digital communication can be realised in shipping.
In a message to the European Commission the European Community Shipowners Association and the World Shipping Council voiced their support for a proposed rewrite of the existing single window directive which has ...
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23rd October 2018
Stop trying to delay environmental rules says leading shipowner
Shipowners around the world need to stop trying to delay environmental regulation and become more engaged with the sustainable developments in society according to Niels Smedegaard, Chief Executive of Danish shipowner DFDS.
Smedegaard was on a panel of experts at a seminar on the future of container shipping at the Copenhagen Business School. He said...
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19th October 2018
Cold-Ironing & cost benefits of the just-in-time approach to port arrival
The IMO recently started promoting the concept of just in time arrival. The concept is not new, having been coined during the last big fuel price hike a few years ago.
But with the push from the IMO backed GloMEEP project the concept of scheduling the time of arrival of a ship at a harbour...
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2nd October 2018
This Norwegian port has invested heavily to offer all visiting ships clean electricity
The south Norway port of Kristiansand is buzzing. It believes it has become the leading harbour in Europe offering shore power to visiting ships.
It may not seem a significant port when compared to the giants of Rotterdam, Hamburg or London Gateway, but perched very close to the southern most tip of the Scandinavian country, ...
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2nd October 2018
Can shipping use data sharing to ease the burden of financial claims?
Researchers claim that a new system aimed at facilitating communication between different port actors can possibly help make financial claims a thing of the past.
The Port CDM Concept is an idea being developed within the STM Validation project and aims to create time stamps and a common communication language between different businesses involved in...
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1st October 2018
Maersk's recent Arctic voyage had the world's tongues wagging
Last week Venta Maersk completed its first voyage, from Asia to the Baltic Sea. Usually a new building delivery voyage is barely noted, especially a small feeder vessel, even one that has significant ice-class because it has been earmarked for service in the Baltic Sea.
But what made the shipping world sit up and watch...
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30th August 2018
So who's the biggest culprit when a ship gets delayed in a port?
GETTING a ship into and out of a port quickly can save millions of dollars a year according to recent research. But who causes the bottles, holdups or delays? Who is to blame for most of the delays?
Earlier this year the Port CDM (collaborative Decision Making) project managers assessed the amount of time large container ...
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25th March 2018
Benefits of LNG in the Baltic
OUTOKUMPU is a Finnish steel maker that, like many European heavy industries, are duty bound to abide by a number of growing environmental rules and structures - such as the emission trading scheme.
The company’s push to cut energy costs and emissions is having a significant impact on the shipping industry that services its needs.
With...
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3rd July 2017
Increased pressure for Arctic HFO ban
MEPC likely to hear of growing support for HFO Arctic ban
The Norwegian Shipowners Association has come out in favour of a total ban of heavy fuel oil in the Arctic. The shipowners' association joins a growing chorus of companies, associations and lobby group NGOs that are pushing for discussions at the IMO to intensify on...
