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Abu Dhabi Ports Acquires Damen Tug Boats for Khalifa Port

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Abu Dhabi Marine Services “Safeen”, the marine services subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, announces the purchase of two new state-of-the-art tugboats from Damen Shipyards Group aimed at supporting the AED 10 billion] expansion of Khalifa Port, Abu Dhabi Ports’ flagship deep-water port.

The purchase of the DAMEN ASD 2411 tugboats was announced at the Abu Dhabi International Boat Show 2018. The contract was signed by Captain Adil Ahmed Banihammad, Acting Chief Marine Services Officer at Safeen, and Pascal Slingerland, Regional Sales Director for Damen Shipyards Group. Delivery of both vessels is due within three months.

Captain Adil Ahmed Banihammad, Acting Chief Marine Services Officer at Abu Dhabi Marine Services – SAFEEN, said: “The extension of our fleet at Khalifa Port with two high-service tugboats is a remarkable milestone for Safeen to address customers’ needs professionally as well as for Khalifa Port, which will be the first port in the GCC able to receive the largest container and shipping vessels in the world. The average size of a vessel has grown by 65 percent due to economies of scale and we recognise the importance of equipping our ports with the right equipment and logistics to adapt to these changing demands.”

Captain Banihammad added: “Khalifa Port is a strategic gateway for trade and freight into Abu Dhabi and throughout the wider region. Our ongoing efforts to develop supportive infrastructure and further enhance overall customer experience here are aligned with international standards and aimed at setting a new benchmark in the region’s maritime industry.”

The two tugs will join the twelve harbour tugs already in service with Safeen, the fleet operating subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports responsible for pilotage, mooring, vessel handing and towage at Abu Dhabi Ports, and will bring a new level of capability. In particular, they will be supporting vessel movements at Khalifa Port’s two container terminals managed by ADT and COSCO Shipping Port Limited (CSPL) as well as EGA’s berth for Bauxite shipped to its smelter in Al Taweelah.
 
“We’re very pleased that Abu Dhabi Ports has opted for our proven ASD Tug 2411 to support the Abu Dhabi Ports container terminals,” says Damen’s Pascal Slingersland. “We are confident that they will be able to handle port operations for all kinds and sizes of vessels safely and effectively, including the world’s largest 400-meter container vessels with 20,000 TEUs capacity.”

Safeen  is a fully owned subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports, and is staffed by more than 200 certified personnel operating a modern fleet and offering a comprehensive and cost-effective range of marine and ancillary quayside services to all vessels that call at the Emirate’s seaports.

Source:marinelink

Pirates Seize Eight Polish Crew, Three Others From Ship Off Nigeria Coast

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Pirates boarded a container ship off the coast of Nigeria, seizing 11 crew including eight from Poland, according the vessel's management firm and Polish state media.

The attackers struck the MV Pomerania Sky, bound for the Nigerian port of Onne, early on Saturday and abducted 11 of the crew, Midocean (IOM) Ltd said in a statement on Sunday. The firm added that nine others remained on board and were unharmed.

"Our priority is securing the earliest release of the eleven crew who have been taken and we are working closely with our partners and the local authorities to achieve that," Midocean said.

"The families of those crew members taken are being kept informed of the situation," said the company. It added the vessel had proceeded to safe waters.

Nigerian police and the navy did not immediately respond to calls and texts seeking comment.

Midocean declined to say where the kidnapped crew members were from, but Polish state media, citing Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, said eight of them were from Poland.

The nationality of the three other abducted crew members was not immediately clear.

Kidnappings and piracy in Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea are common. 

Source:marinelink

US Maritime NOT Prepared for Cyber Attacks

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Almost 80% of large U.S. maritime industry companies surveyed reported that cyberattackers targeted their companies within the past year, according to a new maritime cybersecurity survey.

The inaugural Maritime Cybersecurity Survey from New Orleans-based Jones Walker LLP said that rapidly evolving technologies deployed throughout the U.S. maritime industry to increase efficiencies and competitiveness present significant cybersecurity risks, which the industry is unprepared to shoulder.

38% of all industry respondents reported that cyber attackers targeted their companies within the past year. 10% of survey respondents reported that the data breach was successful, while 28% reported a thwarted attempt.

There is a false sense of preparedness in the U.S. maritime industry, said the survey. 69% of respondents expressed confidence in the maritime industry's overall cybersecurity readiness, yet 64% indicated that their own companies are unprepared to handle the far-reaching business, financial, regulatory, and public relations consequences of a data breach.

Small and mid-size companies are far less prepared than larger companies to respond to a cybersecurity breach. 100% of respondents from large organizations indicated they are prepared to prevent a data breach, while only 6% of small company (1 to 49 employees) respondents and 19% of mid-size company (50 to 400 employees) respondents indicated preparedness.

Small and mid-size companies lack even the most fundamental protections, exposing them to huge potential losses. 92% of small company and 69% of mid-size company respondents confirmed they have no cyber insurance. In contrast, 97% of large company respondents have cyber insurance coverage.

Andrew Lee, Co-Author of the Survey White Paper said: "The U.S. maritime industry is sailing too close to the wind when it comes to cybersecurity. While industry stakeholders are educated and aware of the severe implications of a cyber attack, in many respects they are unprepared for the severe fallout from a major cyber attack."

He added: "Hackers are modern day pirates who have the ability to sink maritime industry sectors that are unprepared for what's coming at them. For many companies – especially smaller and mid-sized companies – there are gaps in implementing fundamental cybersecurity procedures, including crucial training for employees and testing of cybersecurity systems."

Source:marinelink

Ten principles to tackle illegal fishing

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The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) published the 'ten principles for global transparency in the fishing industry', ahead of the Our Ocean conference. These principles aims to tackle illegal fishing and protect human rights in the industry.

The ten principles are simple, low-cost measures, which include publishing licence lists and giving vessels unique numbers.

Namely, the ten principles are the following:

  1. Give all vessels a unique number;
  2. Make vessel tracking data public;
  3. Publish lists of fishing licences and authorisations;
  4. Publish punishments handed out for fisheries crimes;
  5. Ban transferring fish between boats at sea – unless pre-authorised and carefully monitored;
  6. Set up a digital database of vessel information;
  7. Stop the use of flags of convenience for fishing vessels;
  8. Publish details of the true owners of each vessel;
  9. Punish anyone involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing;
  10. Adopt international measures that set clear standards for fishing vessels and the trade in fisheries products.

In addition, EJF’s report and film shows that the global fishing industry lacks transparency, allowing Illegal operators to create confusion around their identities. Vessel identification systems can mitigate this problem, making it hard for anyone involved in an illegal fishing activity to avoid prosecution.

"It is estimated that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing costs the global economy between US$10 – 23.5 billion every year and is a critical factor undermining efforts to achieve sustainable fisheries"….EJF said.

Vulnerable coastal communities that depend on healthy fish stocks for food security and income feel most of the impacts of illegal fishing. In West Africa, a region with a high level of illegal fishing, around 6.7 million people rely upon fisheries for food and livelihoods.

These ten principles aspire to transform the global seafood production sector and enable both governments and businesses to secure legal, sustainable and ethical seafood.

Source:safety4sea

MEPC 73 upholds EEDI targets for Ro-Ro vessels

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IMO's MEPC 73 decided to uphold previously agreed sector-specific Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) targets for Ro-Ro passenger and Ro-Ro freight vessels. The committee tightened EEDI requirements for certain ship types, but confirmed that ferries would be among the categories where it is appropriate to retain the original timeline and reduction rates. These had been set in three phases, requiring improvements of 10% by 2015, 20% by 2020 and 30% by 2025.

Global trade association Interferry has welcomed the decision. After MEPC 71 in July 2017, a correspondence group including Interferry was set up to review the feasibility of the targets. Recommendations were submitted to MEPC 73 following seven rounds of communications.

"Some findings in the correspondence group were not adopted by the MEPC, which I regret to say will undoubtedly create major challenges for certain sizes of container, tanker and bulk vessels. As such, we are pleased to note the IMO’s continued recognition of our particular case, where one size definitely does not fit all – ferries have very specific operational requirements which affect their design criteria,"…commented Interferry regulatory affairs director Johan Roos.

The decision follows another breakthrough in April this year, when MEPC 72 confirmed the immediate application of a 20% correction in its EEDI calculation formula for Ro-Ro and Ro-Pax vessels. Interventions by Interferry – which has IMO consultative status – and various flag states had argued that the universally-applicable targets were problematical even for highly efficient Ro-Ro newbuild designs due to the diversity of such vessels.

"On the wider issue of greenhouse gases, we are also pleased to note that the IMO member states will stick to the historic agreement in April, which set binding improvement targets for the international maritime industry. There is still much to do on developing the detailed improvement plans, but we are all much helped by having targets that are fixed in time and in level of ambition,"…added Mr. Roos.

Source:safety4sea

New partnership seeks to digitize agricultural shipping transactions

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In a bid to increase transparency and efficiency, global agribusiness leaders Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM), Bunge Limited, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) are investigating ways to standardize and digitize global agricultural shipping transactions for the benefit of the entire industry. The companies also seek broad-based industry participation to promote global access and adoption.

"We’re pleased to join the effort to foster modernization and standardization of data and documents in the global agribusiness value chain. By working together to design and implement a digital transformation, we will bring hundreds of years of collective knowledge and experience to simplify processes and reduce errors for the benefit of the entire industry,"…said Juan Luciano, ADM’s Chairman and CEO.

Initially, the partners are focused on technologies to automate grain and oilseed post-trade execution processes, as they represent a highly manual and costly part of the supply chain, with the industry spending significant amounts of money every year moving documents around the globe. Eliminating inefficiencies would lead to shorter document-processing times, reduced wait times and better end-to-end contracting visibility.

We expect an industry-wide initiative of this nature to be able to accelerate improvements in data management and business processes, and bring much-needed automation to the industry. Promising technologies will not only provide synergies and efficiencies for ourselves, we believe they will prove vitally important to serving customers better by laying the foundation to enable greater transparency,

…noted Soren Schroder, Bunge’s CEO.

Longer term, the companies want to drive greater reliability and transparency by replacing other paper-based processes tied to contracts, invoices and payments, with a more modern, digitally based approach. Specific benefits would include:

  • Improved quality and reliability of documents and data, with reduced review time and seamless transfer of transaction data to customers;
  • Greater visibility across supply-chain movements underpinning transactions, leading to reduced costs associated with shipping, storage and wait times;
  • Standardized data using technologies accessible to all players, driving further efficiencies;
  • Compatibility with other applications supporting electronic and digital solutions, providing an end-to-end experience for users; and
  • Increased efficiency and transparency, enabling the industry to better serve its customers and consumers.

"Agriculture has always been a technology industry. Farmers and our customers expect us to deliver innovations that make them more efficient, effective and profitable. We embrace this as an opportunity to better serve the industry and ignite innovation through new products, processes and partnerships,"…stated David MacLennan, Cargill’s Chairman and CEO.

"In January this year, LDC completed the first agricultural commodity transaction through blockchain, which showed the technology’s capacity to generate efficiencies and reduce the time usually spent on manual document and data processing. By working with the industry to adopt standardized data and processes, we can truly harness the full potential of emerging technologies to improve global trade,"…added Ian McIntosh, LDC’s CEO.

Source:safety4sea

 

VLCC terminal to be built at Port of Corpus Christi

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The Port of Corpus Christi entered into an agreement with Carlyle to develop a crude oil export terminal on Harbor Island, to connect the increasing crude oil production in the US with global markets. The terminal will be the first onshore location in the US able of providing export service to fully-laden VLCCs.

VLCC access at the Port of Corpus Christi will open the global markets for US oil producers, pipelines, their supply chains and customers, leading to a $50 billion annual reduction to the national trade deficit.

Carlyle will lead the construction and ongoing operations of the terminal and it will also arrange for a private funding solution for a dredging project to bring fully-laden VLCCs to Harbor Island. The depth at the channel will reach at least 75-foot.

The terminal is expected to be operational in late 2020 and it will include also at least two loading docks on Harbor Island, along withcrude oil tank storage inland across Redfish Bay on land.

The terminal is now subject to agreement on definitive documentation between the parties, satisfactory completion of due diligence and final approval from Carlyle’s investment committee.

Source:safety4sea

Pilot Training Implicated in CMA CGM Centaurus Accident

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The U.K. Maritime Accident Investigation Branch has released its report into CMA CGM Centaurus' heavy contact with quay and shore cranes while arriving at the port of Jebel Ali under pilotage, citing a lack of bridge resource management training.

The accident in May 2017 resulted in the collapse of a shore crane and 10 injuries, including one serious injury, to shore personnel. It occurred because the ship was unable to attain a sufficiently high rate of turn into a basin in preparation for berthing. The pilot was unaware of the ship’s speed, and the ship’s bridge team were uncertain of the maximum speed required to complete the turn safely.

There was no agreed plan for the intended maneuver and therefore no shared mental model between the bridge team and the pilot. Consequently, the pilot was operating in isolation without the support of the bridge team, allowing the pilot’s decision-making to become a single system point of failure.

The pilot’s performance was focused on efficiency, which influenced his decision to turn the ship into the basin without ensuring that the maneuver was conducted at a sufficiently slow speed to enable its safe completion.

Safety lessons

The investigators indicate that the master/pilot exchange carried out on CMA CGM Centaurus lacked structure and detail. There was little further detail as the approach proceeded. By not actively engaging with the bridge team, the pilot effectively signaled that he did not need their assistance. The bridge team and the pilot did not have a shared mental model for the intended maneuver.

By not requiring its newly recruited pilots to undertake bridge resource management (BRM) training, Jebel Ali port authority missed the opportunity to both emphasize its commitment to the effective integration of its pilots with bridge teams and ensure its pilots were trained/refreshed in the principles of BRM. Despite extensive industry guidance, there continues to be a reluctance by masters and pilots to work together in accordance with the principles of BRM.

Many of the factors in this accident can be attributed to a focus on completing acts of pilotage as quickly as possible. The priorities set at senior management level have a significant impact on the safety culture of a port, and there is a need to recognize that time-pressure, in the quest for terminal efficiency or financial reward, can have a negative effect.

Recommendations made by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch

DP World UAE region is recommended to review and improve its management of pilotage and berthing operations in respect of large container ship movements within the port of Jebel Ali.

The International Chamber of Shipping, the International Maritime Pilots’ Association and the International Harbour Masters’ Association are recommended to promote the benefits of adhering to effective bridge resource management procedures during acts of pilotage and to endorse the bridge resource management training for pilots course as an effective means of achieving this.

Source:maritime-executive

Future India – China Container Transshipment Cooperation

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Over the past several years, the BRIC member nations of India and China have experienced vibrant economic growth. While India develops a major transshipment port in their southwestern region, China has helped develop the transshipment terminal at nearby Colombo, Sri Lanka and is assisting the development of the Port of Gwadar at Pakistan. Despite economic rivalry between India and China, there appears to be prospects for the two nations to cooperate on civilian maritime trade transportation.

Introduction

Over the past two decades, India and China have undergone significant economic expansion along with increased trade with other nations. While China developed deep water seaports at several locations to berth the largest container ships afloat, India had until recently delayed such development. When development of a transshipment terminal for mega-size container ships began at Colombo, Sri Lanka, it was thought that Indian exporters would move India’s international trade through that port. However, such a prospect had the potential to politically embarrass India’s national government that has jurisdiction over seaports, railways and airports.

Developing a seaport along India’s coast using domestic Indian resources, to berth the largest container ships afloat reasserted the political credibility of India’s government in such areas as transportation infrastructure development for assisting international trade. Such port development presents the potential to attract new industrial, business and economic development to the immediate vicinity instead of at the port of another nation. While there may be potential competition between the nearby Indian and Sri Lankan transshipment ports, there may also be prospects for India – China cooperation using those ports for competitively priced international ship transportation.

The Cooperation Option

China’s development of their Silk Road initiative includes plans to build a ship canal across the Isthmus of Kra at Thailand, to bypass the Strait of Malacca and reduce sailing distance to/from Europe. By reducing China – India sailing distance, the Kra Canal development provides a basis for China and India to collaborate in international ship transportation to connect with their BRIC partner nations of Brazil and South Africa. South Africa’s economy is currently under-performing and may need to consider selling some of their seaports to China while Brazil is developing seaports to berth mega-size container ships.

International transshipment cooperation could involve smaller container ships sailing from multiple ports of origin located east of Sri Lanka and converging on the nearby Ports of Vizhinjam and Colombo to connect with mega-ships. Combined port cooperation would provide additional space to berth a larger fleet of interlined ships, with increased combined container temporary storage capacity and with the mega-ship berthing at both ports to load export containers or to unload import containers. Such cooperation would have the potential to influence future ship design to reduce per container transportation costs over and above present technology.

Future Ship Development

The future twinning of the Suez Canal provides opportunity to encourage the Suez Canal Commission to consider allowing larger container ships passage through those channels. Combining greater length, depth, beam, height above water, such ships might require innovative bow wave deflector technology to reduce erosion along the canal banks. The 18-meter natural water depth at the nearby transshipment ports in India and Sri Lank could berth larger container ships, as could Port of Tangier and Louisiana International Gulf International Transfer Terminal (LIGTT). International cooperation in container transshipment could fill larger future ships sailing between Colombo/Vizhinjam and Tangier.

Combined China – India trade could sail aboard future larger ships via Cape Town to a Brazilian transshipment port and possibly even into the Gulf of Mexico at LIGTT that is under development near New Orleans. While a future Suez-max container ship could be built to a capacity of 28,000-TEU, cooperation between India and China in international container ship transportation could warrant future development of a Cape-max container ship of up to 35,000-TEU. Transshipment port cooperation could involve such ships being berthed at both Ports of Colombo and Vizhinjam on the same voyages to and from Brazil.

Operational Options

The close proximity of transshipment terminals Ports of Vizhinjam and Colombo allows for cooperation in ship transportation while also accommodating local and regional political sensitivities. Ships may sail between Ports of Gwadar and Colombo to transfer containers destined for markets in Africa, South America, North America and Western Europe. Ships may sail to ports of Vizhinjam or Colombo from ports in Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan and Southern China to transfer containers. While American tariffs could reduce China – America, container transshipment could reduce transportation costs of China-made goods to east coast North America.  

Mega-ships destined for east coast North America and Brazilian ports could load transshipment containers at both Ports of Vizhinjam and Colombo, carrying trade from multiple counties that include India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other nations in the region. Transshipment would likely occur at North and South American terminals. Smaller ships calling at the either of the future companion transshipment terminals to interline with mega-ships and exchange containers, could also sail extended voyages carrying trade between smaller east Asian ports and east coast African ports. Cooperative transshipment would involve many sizes of container ships.

Future Transshipment

At the present time, very few container ports are able to offer 18-meter water depth at quayside. The few include Tangier, Louisiana International Gulf Transfer Terminal (U.S.) and Colombo with Vizhinjam on the horizon and future possibility at Hong Kong after dredging and deepening of the seafloor at quayside. Such seafloor deepening appears possible at Port of Pecem in Brazil, Busan in South Korea, Sydney and Mulgrave in Eastern Canada. The Port of Shanghai may need to consider future deepening of the seafloor. Hong Kong’s advantage is its close proximity to nearby ports of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Canton and Macau.
  
For China – Europe low-priority container trade, Hong Kong could evolve into a transshipment port for a future generation of mega-size container ships that would likely sail the Hong Kong – Tangier and Hong Kong – Brazil services, with future expanded transshipment occurring at Port of Tangier and Port of Pecem. Combining future trade destined for east coast North America from both China and India on a single ship, along with trade from other nations in the region, could warrant the regular operation of a mega-ship of 18,000 to 23,000-TEU on the Asia – Suez Canal – Eastern Canada service.

Conclusions

The credibility of India’s national government depended on India being able to use domestic resources to develop a transshipment port for mega-size container ships along India’s coastline. There is potential for future international cooperation in container transshipment between the two ports that combines, offer the region space to berth fleets of ships at quayside with combined container storage capacity to undertake major transfers of containers. Mega-ships would likely call at both transshipment ports of Vizhinjam and Colombo on the same outbound and inbound overseas voyages. The main benefit of cooperation is to lower per container transportation costs.

Cooperation between the ports of Colombo and Vizhinjam could provide the necessary market for larger container ships, especially if when following the completion of twin navigation channels, Suez Canal were to allow passage to larger container ships of up to 28,000-TEU. Carrying combined container loads on the Asia – Brazil service could warrant future development of container ships of up to 35,000-TEU. China and India along with the surrounding region could benefit greatly through port cooperation and allowing more of a free market to prevail in international ship transportation. 

Source:maritime-executive

Asia-Pacific Offshore Wind Capacity to Rise 20-Fold

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New research from global natural resources consultancy Wood Mackenzie indicates Asia-Pacific's offshore wind capacity will rise 20-fold to 43GW in 2027.

Leading this will be China, which is expected to see offshore wind capacity grow from 2GW last year to 31GW in the next decade.

Next is Taiwan which will account for 20 percent or 8.7GW of offshore wind capacity by 2027, making it the largest offshore wind market in Asia-Pacific excluding China by 2020. Currently, Taiwan relies heavily on coal, gas and nuclear for power. However, the government has pledged to shut down nuclear plants by 2025, thereby leaving a void of 5GW of power capacity to be filled. Offshore wind is expected to fill this gap as more than 5.7GW of projects have been approved and planned for commissioning by 2025.

Driven by declining prices, a few markets in Asia-Pacific have set ambitious offshore wind targets. However, not every market is set for success as a stable domestic offshore supply chain and strong government support are needed to sustain growth in the long term, says Wood Mackenzie. Together with South Korea and Japan, East Asia needs around $37 billion in investments to meet the growth in offshore wind capacity over the next five years.

Future offshore wind prices are projected to be competitive with traditional thermal prices by 2025.

Despite the enormous potential of offshore wind in Asia-Pacific, key challenges around technology maturity and limited regional offshore wind supply chain remain. Advanced offshore technology used in regional leader China still lags behind that of European offshore. For example, leading Chinese offshore turbine supplier Shanghai Electric continues to be reliant on technology licenses from European turbine original equipment manufacturer Siemens-Gamesa Renewable Energy, and regional turbine suppliers still do not offer offshore wind turbines in the >8MW class which are now preferred by leading offshore wind developers.

Outside of China, local turbine suppliers in Korea and Japan are investing in new and larger offshore machines comparable to western turbines. This will take time, as it will require more research and development, testing new demonstration units and establishing developer buy-in. In addition, to support the ambitious growth in offshore wind capacity, a robust supply chain needs to be developed. Maritime infrastructure, establishing a local vessel fleet to install and service offshore wind farms, and upgrades to transmission systems will take time to be built up. 

Source:maritime-executive

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