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HHLA and Hyperloop Transportation Technologies establish joint venture

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Transporting containers at high speed through a tube to and from the Port of Hamburg – that is the joint vision of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) and the US-based research and development company Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), HHLA said in a press release.

Both companies want to work together on making this idea a reality and have established a joint venture to achieve this. The collaboration was announced in Hamburg on Wednesday, 5 December 2018 by Angela Titzrath, Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board, and Dirk Ahlborn, founder and CEO of HTT, at a joint event.

The goal of the joint venture is to develop and later market a Hyperloop transport system for shipping containers. Initially, the construction of a transfer station for testing purposes at a HHLA terminal in Hamburg and the development of a transport capsule for standard shipping containers are planned.

Behind the concept of the Hyperloop is the idea of transporting people and goods at high speed through a tube. With the help of magnetic levitation technology, the transport capsules used in the system will be sent through a tunnel, in which there is a partial air vacuum, at speeds reaching or even exceeding 1000 km/h. A test track for transporting people and goods is currently under construction in Toulouse, France. The first test journeys in Europe are set to take place here next year.

Source:portnews

Watch: Celebrity Edge from Design to Inauguration

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Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai inaugurated Celebrity Cruises' newest vessel, Celebrity Edge, on Tuesday at Port Everglades’ Terminal 25 (T25) in Florida. 

The 2,900-passenger vessel is the line's first new ship in six years and first new ship series in more than a decade. She is the first of four vessels from Celebrity Cruises’ Edge Class and will be joined by her sister ship, Celebrity Apex, in 2020. The next two ships will follow in 2021 and 2022.

Yousafzai, who is now a college student at Oxford University, is the inspirational co-founder of Malala Fund, which advocates for a world where every girl can learn and lead by investing in local education activists, holding global leaders accountable and amplifying girls’ voices around the world.

She discussed those issues before the ship’s crew and guests in a one-on-one interview with Celebrity’s President and CEO, Lisa Lutoff-Perlo. From girls’ education to the power of diversity, both share a profound passion and commitment to these important issues. Lutoff-Perlo said: “I am so very proud to have Malala Yousafzai as godmother of Celebrity Edge. Malala embodies our commitment to opening the world through education and gender equality. Seeing her aboard our ship sends a powerful message to our crew who represent over 70 diverse nationalities, and our guests who we sail all over the world.” She continued, “The ceremony today was both touching and symbolic of what Celebrity Cruises stands for. I am grateful to Malala, her family and Malala Fund for embracing today’s events and look forward to continuing our work together around the world.”

Celebrity is proud to partner with Malala Fund and support them in their mission to see the 130 million out of school girls around the world get 12 years of free, safe, quality education. "I'm fighting to ensure millions of girls stuck in situations of poverty or war that they didn't create can learn what they need to choose a future for themselves. But to continue making progress for girls' education, we need support from leaders in every sector. I am so grateful to Celebrity Cruises for their generous support and investment in the potential of girls everywhere,” said Yousafzai.

The brand chose to forego the traditional champagne bottle at the launch, and instead smashed a custom-made 18-liter bottle of Badoit French mineral water across the ship’s bow. 

Celebrity Edge will begin her inaugural season sailing alternating seven-night eastern and western Caribbean itineraries before transporting guests to the stunning vistas of the Mediterranean with a range of seven- to 11-night sailings from cities like Barcelona and Rome in 2019. Sailing round-trip from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Celebrity Edge will make her first maiden voyage on December 9, 2018.

Ship Specifications

Double Occupancy: 2,918
Crew: 1,320
Guest Decks: 14
Staterooms: 1,467
Tonnage: 129,500
Length: 1,004 feet
Beam: 128 feet
Draft: 27 feet
Cruising Speed: 22 knots

Source:maritime-executive

Petrobras Investigation Extends to Top Oil Trading Houses

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Brazilian prosecutors are now investigating alleged acts of corruption involving three top commodity trading houses in connection with the sprawling Petrobras "Lava Jato" bribery scandal.

According to Brazil's federal police, leading independent oil traders Vitol, Glencore and Trafigura may have made bribery payments to Petrobras officials totaling more than $15 million. In exchange, the Petrobras employees allegedly arranged for fuel trades and storage tank rentals at non-market rates. The trades affected covered a wide range of petroleum products, including fuel oils, vacuum gas oil, bunkers and asphalt. Two Petrobras employees connected with the scheme are still actively employed, one at a position in Houston and another in Rio de Janiero, Federal Police chief Philippe Pace told Brazilian media.

The inquiry extends to additional, unnamed firms. Prosecutors have reportedly issued 11 arrest warrants, six subpoenas, 26 search warrants and dozens of court orders in connection with this 57th phase of the long-running investigation. Notably, some of the enforcement actions are intended to stop allegedly ongoing corrupt activity by unspecified parties. 

"Fixers"

Last month, non-profit investigative group Global Witness alleged that the three trading firms had associations with known "bribe fixers" who have previously been accused of corrupt acts in connection with the "Lava Jato" scandal. Court documents obtained by Global Witness detailed the alleged arrangements for bribe payments for a $2 billion Trafigura oil deal, including communications from Jorge Luz, Brazil's "Deacon of Bribes," who is serving a lengthly prison sentence for his involvement in other Petrobras kickback schemes.

Separately, according to Brazilian police documents, a half-owned Vitol subsidiary paid large amounts to a firm owned by alleged money launderer Nelson Martins Ribeiro. In turn, Ribeiro's firm appears to have transferred the funds to Paolo Roberto Costa, then-head of Petrobras' oil-trading Supply Department. Costa is a central figure in the Lava Jato investigation, and has already pleaded guilty to taking tens of millions of dollars in bribes related to refinery construction deals. 

To date, the long-running Lava Jato inquiry has concentrated on Petrobras' large construction contracts, and allegations regarding the firm's oil-trading activities are only now emerging. The three named commodity houses did tens of billions of dollars in business with Brazil's state petroleum company over the period in question, leaving considerable room for an investigation. 

Glencore also faces a separate U.S. inquiry into alleged bribery and money-laundering in Venezuela, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Charges have not yet been filed in the American investigation. 

Source:maritime-executive

Addressing the Cyber Security Training Gap

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Lloyd’s Register (LR), one of the world’s leading providers of professional services for engineering and technology, announced today that it is partnering with AXELOS RESILIA® Frontline to offer its customers engaging cyber awareness training for all their employees. 

The new addition to the LR Cyber Resilience portfolio will provide an effective solution to the ‘human factor’ and addresses the need for sustained behavioral change to build an organization’s resilience to the growing threat of cyber-attack.  

More effective employee training is the key factor in reducing the occurrence of cyber-attack and the costs of dealing with breaches after they occur. The human factor is well known – upwards of 90 percent of all successful cyber-attacks happen because of human error, regardless of the role or responsibility of the individual. 

Organizational response and resilience to the growing number of cyber-attacks is as much about people and their behaviors as about technology or compliance. Yet all too many organizations either do no cyber awareness learning or continue to rely on annual, ‘tick-box’ training that has little effectiveness. A different approach is required, one that moves from passive, corporate training to collaborative and active learning. Without it, the damage to an organization’s reputation, value and operational capabilities can be catastrophic.

JP Cavanna, Group Head of Cyber Security Business Development at LR said: “Cyber attackers target people not systems. Any organizations’ ability to mitigate and better manage their cyber risks must include ‘effective’ awareness training as part of a coherent risk strategy that includes technical control management, threat assessment and vulnerability management, incident response and strong governance, risk and compliance. The addition of the RESILIA Frontline cyber-awareness training to Lloyd’s Register’s cyber offering is a critical part of our mission to provide a world-class cyber risk management portfolio to our customers.” 

LR’s Cyber Security Product Manager, Elisa Cassi, commented: “In the marine industry there is not enough being done to address cyber awareness training and digital skills for seafarers and other staff. You could deploy technologies, a firewall, an intrusion prevention system to prevent a breach from happening, but what you cannot do is prevent people who are not trained opening the door to the attacker. ”

”Through this partnership LR and AXELOS are transforming cyber security training from what is seen as a mundane box-checking exercise to an innovative approach that helps employees grasp some basic concepts and more importantly, change their habits,” she added.

Nick Wilding, General Manager, Cyber Resilience at AXELOS said: “We are delighted to be working with LR in tackling the critical human factor in the cyber risks we all face. Our RESILIA Frontline awareness training has been designed with leading information security experts and behavioral psychologists to offer short, story-based, engaging training designed to develop and sustain more resilient behaviors across the workforce. Cyber attackers target people not systems and it can only take one person to make an innocent mistake. Building a more vigilant and engaged workforce and resilient culture is critical to our ability to better manage these risks.”

Source:maritime-executive

In an Industry First, CMA CGM Offers Guaranteed Online Rates

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Number-four ocean carrier CMA CGM has launched what it describes as the first online rate service offering "guaranteed prices within seconds" for container shipping on major trade lanes. The quote service, which for now only covers U.S.-China routes, is hosted on the Freightos platform. 

CMA CGM suggests that the tool gives customers rapid pricing in the same convenient manner they would expect for booking air travel or shopping online. The French carrier is the first line to list its services on Freightos. 

“This partnership raises the bar for ourselves, and the industry, with this important step into the digital era, selling directly to shippers," said Mathieu Freidberg, CMA CGM's SVP for commercial agencies. 

Freightos already offers rate estimates and booking services to the public based on quotes from freight forwarders. Other marketplace platforms also offer online booking services for dozens of major ocean carriers. The new CMA CGM product differs from pre-existing tools in that it offers instant, guaranteed prices from the ocean carrier directly to the small shipper. 

Customer centricity

CMA CGM recently signed a new agreement with CEVA Logistics, which will see it acquire more shares of CEVA on the open market and sell its own $100 million logistics business to CEVA. Top CMA CGM executive Nicolas Sartini, who oversaw APL's turnaround after CMA CGM acquired it in 2016, will also join CEVA as chief operating officer. 

Sartini recently said that forwarders should not interpret CMA CGM's moves into customer-facing services as a threat. “We are not going after the cargo carried by the forwarders, because the forwarders are 50 percent of our business today and we need their support. We are just answering the specific requirements of certain customers,” he said, speaking at the TPM Asia conference in October. 

Source:maritime-executive

Simec Atlantis nets €1m grant

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Simec Atlantis Energy has been awarded a €1m EU grant to support its tidal turbine R&D with Spanish supply chain partner Asturfeito SAU.

The agreement for the funding support is with the European Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) via the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and its Sustainable Blue Economy call for proposals.

The money will be used by Atlantis and Asturfeito in a two-year project, starting January 2019, focusing on reducing the levelised cost of energy (LCOE) for Atlantis’ technology.

On 30 October 2018, Atlantis announced its plans to enhance the existing 6MW MeyGen project, off the Scottish coast. The grant will support the innovations required to take the MeyGen project enhancement forward with a specific focus on the turbine upgrades needed to use the subsea hub and shared export cable. 

Simec Atlantis director of turbine and engineering services Drew Blaxland said: “The AR1500 turbine installed at the MeyGen project, in 2017, marked the first commercial scale turbine installed in a tidal array.“

Following this successful deployment and record breaking operation of the AR1500 turbine we now look to the future and where opportunities to reduce the LCOE exist. This grant agreement and support from the Sustainable Blue Economy call allows us to accelerate one of our key LCOE cost reduction initiatives.

Asturfeito SAU general manager Ricardo Rodrigue said: “This project represents a great opportunity for Asturfeito to enter a promising renewable energy sector partnering with key player Simec Atlantis. By providing our experience in subsea, oil and gas and offshore wind from the design stage, and using our capability to manufacture, integrate and test complex assemblies, we can support the development of cost effective turbines.

Source:renews

Crew internet access enhanced on drilling rigs

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Crew on offshore drilling rigs can access internet and emails through wifi to counter the loneliness of working in remote locations.

Seadrill is installing Speedcast International’s Crew Wi-Fi service on 12 offshore drilling rigs to enhance welfare and communications for crew and subcontractors.

This provides dedicated internet bandwidth to crew and removes an administrative burden from Seadrill as it is fully managed by Speedcast.

With this service, Seadrill does not need to administer payment plans or manage bandwidth. Crew can use allocated bandwidth for contacting family and friends, browsing websites, using social media and streaming media content. They would then pay directly with a credit card or using PayPal through a self-service portal.

Crew Wi-Fi was initially installed on four Seadrill drilling rigs and is scheduled to be installed on eight more before the end of this year.

Seadrill head of partner management Ian Lamplough said Speedcast Crew Wi-Fi would be deployed on more rigs in the future.

With Speedcast taking care of the administration and setup, it frees up our operational resources while still giving our crews the personal access they need and expect while working offshore,” he said.

Source:osjonline

Saudi shipyard contract drives project to the next stage

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An Asian engineering group has won a contract to construct a new shipbuilding complex which will require new tugs for ship handling.

Power Construction Corp of China (PowerChina) secured a contract to build the marine facilities of the King Salman International Complex. The shipyard will be built on the Middle East Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia and operated by International Maritime Industries (IMI) from 2020.

It will cover an area of 4.5 km by 2.5 km and will construct very large crude carriers (VLCCs), offshore drilling rigs, production platforms and other vessel types. There will also be shiprepair and offshore engineering facilities.

According to IMI chief operating officer Yi Seong Kang, the shipbuilding complex will be the largest full-service maritime facility in the Middle East and will compete with the largest shipyards in Asia for construction orders.

The shipyard operator IMI will require services from a fleet of tugs, which Mr Kang told Tug Technology & Business in June this year, would be owned by the Saudi Government’s port authority.

He said the shipyard will build these tugs, expected to be at least four, for the port authority and lease them when they are required. Tugs will need to be powerful enough to manoeuvre the VLCCs Bahri plans to build at the facility and maintain through their lifetime.

These tugs will also be expected to handle offshore drilling rigs as they are either brought into the facility or built there, and merchant ships of all sizes.

IMI is a joint venture owned 50.1% by Saudi Aramco, 19.9% by Saudi shipping group Bahri, 20% by drilling rig builder Lamprell and 10% by Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Source:osjonline

New report explores future maritime trends through digitalization

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Danish Ship Finance and incubation firm Rainmaking issued their Next Generation Maritime Trend Report providing perspectives on the future of the maritime industry in digital innovation through current trends of global startups. The findings are part of the ‘digital 2030 vision’ for the shipping industry, highlighting that some of the basic mechanisms for value creation in the industry could be redefined within the next 10-15 years.

The report namely highlights that startups are teams trying to identify repeatable and scalable business models to solve problems in maritime value chains. They offer new technology, talent, and business innovation that is not available to traditional companies. Because of this, they can be a great source of partnership for the corporates, but also provide learnings of what models work in a specific industry or segment.

The report argues that the chances of digital disruption engulfing the shipping industry increase. While digitalisation threatens to fundamentally disrupt vital parts of business models, it could also help unlock enormous untapped potential. Namely, the role of the vessel and the shipowner are expected to change, driven by the general rise of new technologies which are expected to redefine significant parts of the industry. Additionally, the introduction of new technologies develops new business models with an increasingly competitive environment in shipping and logistics industry.

The report emphasizes on three key points:

  • Industry innovation, outlining a look at the global startup scene to understand how the industry may innovate in the years to come through new technologies
  • Industry transformation, exploring how new business models will begin to transform value creation in the shipping industry.
  • Industry redefined, weaving these elements together to formulate how value creation across the supply chain may be redefined.

"Majority of startups in maritime are enablers, rather than disrupters of traditional shipping players’ business models. This means that the doors for collaborations are open and this can benefit both sides. It will allow corporations to enter new markets, and startups to develop their products and scale. It’s a win-win."

Source:safety4sea

Nexans Wins USD 113 mln Subsea Contract in Philippines

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French cable company Nexans said that  it has been awarded a full turnkey contract worth over  EUR 100 million (USD 113 mln)  for the manufacturing, delivery and installation of 350 kV HVDC submarine cable in the Philippines.

Nexans has been awarded a full turnkey contract for the submarine link of the Mindanao-Visayas Interconnection Project (MVIP) launched by National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

To optimise the delivery of the submarine cabling system for the MVIP to connect the three power grids of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao into one unified national grid, Nexans will leverage on its global manufacturing footprint.

The 350 kV submarine MI cable will be manufactured in Nexans' Nippon High Voltage Cable Corporation plant in Futtsu, Japan as well as in Nexans Norway plant in Halden. The installation and protection works at water depths up to 650 m will be performed by Nexans' own specialised cable laying vessel C/S Nexans Skagerrak.

"Nexans is delighted to once again be trusted by National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), building on a number of projects the Group has successfully completed in the region," said Vincent Dessale, Senior Executive Vice President Nexans Subsea and Land Systems Business Group.

"Leveraging on Nexans' cutting-edge submarine cabling technology and our teams' deep water installation know-how, we look forward to contributing to the construction of a single national grid, which will provide a more reliable electricity transmission to the Philippine people," Vincent added.

With the completion of the MVIP, expected by 2020, NGCP aims to ensure a more stable and secure supply of power in the country and maximise the use of available local energy resources.

Source:marinelink