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MPA Singapore accepts remote inspection techniques in surveys

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MPA Singapore issued a circular informing that the usage of remote inspection techniques can be accepted for the conduct of surveys onboard Singapore-Registered Ships. When permitted, remote inspection technique may be used to facilitate the required external and internal examinations.

The methods applied for remote inspection technique are to provide the survey results normally obtained for/by the Surveyor. The remote inspection techniques may comprise of the following:

  • Unmanned Robotic Arm
  • Remote Operated Vehicles (ROV)
  • Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)
  • Other means acceptable to the Administration.

For periodical surveys using UAS, if the UAS is not operated by the RO itself, the company engaged to operate the UAS for the inspection is to be approved by the RO for carrying out such services in accordance to the RO’s criteria for approving service providers. Inspections should be carried out in the presence of the Surveyor.

An inspection plan for the use of remote inspection technique, including any confirmatory survey/close-up survey/thickness measurements, is to be submitted to the RO for review and acceptance in advance of the survey. The proposal for usage of UAS in periodical surveys is to be submitted by the RO to the Administration for acceptance.

The results of the surveys by remote inspection techniques when being used towards the crediting of surveys are to be acceptable to the attending Surveyor. Confirmatory surveys/close-up surveys may be carried out by the Surveyor at selected locations to verify the results of the remote inspection technique, if required.

The acceptance of remote inspection techniques does not waive the requirement for thickness gauging where applicable. Thickness gauging by remote inspection techniques can be accepted subject to the same criteria of approval as applied to other Non-Destructive Test (NDT) techniques by the RO. Confirmatory thickness measurements on-site may be requested by the attending Surveyor, if required.

Source:safety4sea

US Navy asks industry’s input for the creation of unmanned ship

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The US Navy is seeking maritime industry's input as it proposed a medium unmanned surface vehicle (MUSV). The objective of this input is to examine if the industry is able to provide a solution within a certain time frame at an affordable cost.

Namely, the US Navy is looking for information which will help in determining the interest, technical and manufacturing capabilities, technical quality of solutions, knowledge, experience level, and qualifications of industry to meet the US Government's needs to develop and build a MUSV.

The MUSV should be 12 meters to 50 meters long, while it should also include extended vessel range and cruising speed, as well as high reliability. The overall specific attributes of the vessel are the following:

  • Endurance of 4,500 nm or more at 16 knots transit speed or higher; calculation should include maintaining a 10% fuel reserve;
  • Sustained speed of 24 knots (Threshold) or more (27+ knots Objective) in calm water;
  • Capable of using Naval Distillate Fuel NATO F-76 (Threshold; Objective is ability to use either F-76 or NATO F-44, also known as JP-5);
  • Capable of remaining sufficiently stable to operate payloads in Sea State 4 (per NATO STANAG 4194) or higher;
  • Capable of surviving in Sea State 5 (per NATO STANAG 4194) or higher;
  • Capable of operating for 60 days (Threshold) or more (90 days Objective) without any manned maintenance, e.g. to shift lubricating oil or fuel oil strainers.

The US Navy also asked a set of questions for respondents, asking to determine what kind of ships could serve as a basis for the MUSV and what subsystems could meet the ship's requirements.

Finally, respondents should include a time line for designing the vessel, along with a time line for its fabrication and testing.

Source:safety4sea

New Lifting Technique Tested for Offshore Installations

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Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC) has tested a unique way of lifting that it says will redefine the boundaries of lifting operations offshore. 

QUAD lifting enables HMC to integrally install and/or remove oversized topsides or jackets, and the method was tested successfully on October 22, 2018 in the Gulf of Mexico. It is suitable for installing topsides on any type of foundation; from jackets to floaters. 

The test involved two dynamically-positioned vessels with four cranes working in parallel: Thialf and Balder, two of the world largest semi-submersible crane vessels, both owned and operated by Heerema. As soon as Sleipnir, the largest semi-submersible crane vessel ever built, is in full operation, the company says it will be ready to perform the ultimate QUAD lift using its two giants with a combined lifting capacity of Thialf’s 14,000mt and Sleipnir’s 20,000mt.

HMC says topsides and jackets can now also be designed in a different way with more freedom for the engineers in terms of layout in relation to weight and dimensions. In addition, the QUAD lifting method offers the possibility to build the topside onshore as a total package including the commissioning. This would result in substantially lower overall project costs.

The new QUAD lifting method underwent a certification process carried out by DNV GL. 

Source:maritime-executive

MEPC Turns Down Soft Rollout for 2020 Sulfur Rule

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On Wednesday, member state representatives of the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) turned down an industry proposal for an "experience-building phase" for the implementation of the 2020 fuel sulfur cap. 

BIMCO, Intercargo, Intertanko, the Marshall Islands, Liberia, Panama, the Bahamas and the United States had proposed a soft rollout for the sulfur rule in order to avoid "unduly penalizing individual ships" for noncompliance when the rule takes effect on January 1, 2020. Despite the powerful coalition behind the plan, MEPC has decided to keep its hard deadline for now, but it expects to take up new proposals regarding fuel quality at an upcoming meeting in May. 

Earlier this week, MPEC rejected a challenge to the associated ban on the carriage of high-sulfur fuels. For a ship without an approved SOx scrubber or another alternative arrangement, the sulfur content of any fuel oil carried for use on board will not be permitted to exceed 0.50 percent after March 1, 2020.

IMO Secretary General Kitack Lim has repeatedly insisted that the sulfur fuel rollout must go forward as planned, despite opposition from some shipowners over the price, availability, compatibility and quality of compliant fuels. 

The 2020 sulfur rule is expected to roil the market for middle distillates as the world's fleet shifts to bunkering with new, blended low sulfur fuel oils. The change will increase competition for diesel, kerosene and jet fuel, driving up their price, while creating an oversupply of high sulfur fuel oil (and a potential HFO price collapse). The White House's decision to back the "experience-building" rollout proposal at MEPC was driven by concern over the sulfur rule's expected effect on fuel prices rather than its impact on shipping. 

A growing number of shipowners are contracting to install scrubbers on their vessels in order to capitalize on the expected price spread between HFO and LSFO in the post-2020 market. Scrubbers may also convey an additional advantage for vessels in tramp trades. Low sulfur fuel oils are a new commodity, and it is still uncertain whether a batch accepted in one port may be chemically compatible with the next. If this fear proves accurate, and mutually-incompatible LSFO batches create new problems with sludge formation, the scrubber-equipped ships burning high sulfur HFO will sail on unaffected. 

Source;maritime-executive

CMA CGM Strengthens Grip on CEVA Logistics

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CMA CGM and CEVA Logistics have signed a new  partnership agreement that ensures CMA CGM's role as a long-term strategic partner and transfers its freight management services to CEVA Logistics.

The agreement entails the removal of the drag along clause in the relationship agreement previously entered into and covers a voluntary public tender offer from CMA CGM, for a value of 30 CHF per share in cash, for the CEVA Logistics shareholders who wish to sell their shares despite the value creation potential from the industrial cooperation with CMA CGM. The public tener will be pre-announced by November 30, 2018 at the latest.

Earlier this month, CEVA Logistics rejected an unsolicited non-binding proposal to acquire the company, saying that the proposal, made by Denmark's DSV, significantly undervalues CEVA's prospects as a standalone company. CMA CGM supported CEVA Logistic's rejection the bid.

CMA CGM has been CEVA Logistics’ reference shareholder since its listing on the SIX stock exchange in May 2018, and signed the new relationship agreement with CEVA on October 24. The aim of the agreement is to accelerate CEVA Logistic's transformation, while preserving its assets and identity, by:

• Bringing CMA CGM’s operational expertise and its experience in corporate transformations to help CEVA achieve its recovery plan faster and more efficiently.

• Creating new commercial opportunities: as a leader in the sea transport sector with an international commercial network, CMA CGM will generate new opportunities for CEVA Logistics.

• Adding value to the commercial complementary business operations between CEVA Logistics’ and CMA CGM’s freight management activities: CMA CGM will transfer its freight management activities to CEVA Logistics, thus strengthening the company and creating economies of scale.

• Supporting CEVA Logistics’ reorganization and development strategy: CMA CGM will support additional investments aiming – among other things- at implementing CEVA Logistics’ digital and IT transformation which will stimulate its commercial success and operational efficiency.

The agreement has received the full support of CEVA Logistics’ board of directors and management. 

Rodolphe Saadé, Chief Executive Officer of CMA CGM, said: “We are convinced of CEVA Logistics’ potential. This industrial cooperation will make it possible to accelerate its required transformation and to make it a more profitable and efficient leader in logistics for the benefit of its clients, its employees and its shareholders. It reconfirms CMA CGM as the reference shareholder as well as its long-term partner.”

Source:maritime-executive

New Oil and Gas Island Approved off Alaska

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The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has approved Hilcorp Alaska's for its Liberty Project oil and gas development and production plan. If developed, the facility would be the first oil and gas production facility in federal waters off Alaska.

Hilcorp proposes to build a nine-acre artificial gravel island in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea, about 20 miles east of Prudhoe Bay and about five miles off the coast in 19 feet of water. The 9.3-acre, gravel island will take an estimated two years to construct.

Liberty is the largest undeveloped, light-oil reservoir on the North Slope, with an estimated 80-150 million barrels of recoverable oil. Peak production of between 60,000 and 70,000 barrels/day is projected within two years of initial production. The field has a life expectancy of 15 to 20 years.

The facility would be similar to the four oil-and-gas-producing artificial islands currently operating in the area’s state waters: Spy Island, Northstar Island, Endicott Island and Oooguruk Island. Artificial islands in the region date back to the mid-1970s. 

Approval conditions include: restricted drilling into the hydrocarbon-bearing zone, which may occur only during times of solid ice conditions and seasonal restrictions on activities and vessel traffic to reduce potential disturbance to Cross Island subsistence whaling activities.

“There are already four other gravel-island facilities off the North Slope, and we consider Hilcorp’s plan to represent a relatively conservative, time-tested approach toward offshore oil and gas development," said Joe Balash, the Department of the Interior’s Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management. "Using input from North Slope communities, tribal organizations, and the public, we have developed a robust set of environmental mitigation measures and safety practices that will be applied to this project.”

Source:maritime-executive

AUV Developed to Track and Map Oil Spills

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The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) has demonstrated a new use for its long-range autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) – detecting and tracking oil spills. 

Working with the U.S. Coast Guard and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), MBARI engineers outfitted an AUV with fluorometers that can detect oil in water. They then tested the system by simulating an oil spill using non-toxic, biodegradable dye. After instruments on the AUV detected the plume, the AUV continued on its path, measuring the concentrations of dye within the plume and recording the areas of highest intensity. When the AUV crossed the outer edge of the plume, it automatically turned around and headed back toward the plume. By doing this repeatedly, it was able to track the plume as it drifted through the water for several hours. 

The Coast Guard is particularly interested in testing AUVs that can find and track oil spills under ice, and the test involved using instruments that allow the AUV to navigate beneath sea ice.

The research was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to Jim Bellingham, director of the Center for Marine Robotics at WHOI. In his previous position as an engineer at MBARI, Bellingham conceptualized and helped design the first AUV. 

The present study builds on a previous MBARI effort to track oil in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, using one of MBARI’s larger Dorado-class AUVs.

Toxic Algae

In August this year, MBARI and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)  tested one of the AUVs for mapping toxic algae blooms. The AUV swam around Lake Erie measuring the amount of microcystin and algae in the water and sent its findings back to shore in real time.

For the last eight years, MBARI’s scientists and engineers have been building long-range AUVs and using them to study microscopic algae and ocean chemistry off the California coast. In 2018, they built a new model that carries a robotic biochemistry lab called a third-generation Environmental Sample Processor (3G ESP). While the AUV moves through the water the 3G ESP collects samples of water, filters them and then processes the samples to detect microscopic organisms or toxins such as microcystin. After analyzing the samples, the 3G ESP can send its findings to scientists on shore via satellite link.

Source:maritime-executive

China Readies for First Import Expo

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China will be holding it's first international import expo in Shanghai between November 5 and 10.

Announced at the May 2017 Belt and Road Forum in Beijing by President Xi Jinping, the expo is part of an attempt to shift the nation's trade strategy from export promotion and trade surpluses to “balanced trade.” In the next five years, China is expecting to import over $10 trillion in products and services. In particular, the strategy aims to obtain high technology equipment to develop high technology industries and a sophisticated service sector in China, and to supply consumption goods and services such as food, tourism and education to meet the demands of China’s growing middle class.

The expo will be held at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), the world's largest single block building and exhibition complex with a total construction area of nearly 1.5 million square meters. Facilities include exhibition halls, a commercial plaza, office buildings and a hotel. The four facilities are linked together by an eight-meter-high elevated Exhibition Boulevard to facilitate pedestrian access around the Center.

China expects 2,800 companies from over 130 countries, including 50 along the Belt and Road, to showcase products to 160,000 domestic and international buyers. 

China has been the world's second largest importer of goods for nine consecutive years and made up 10.2 percent of global imports in 2017. It has announced import tariff cuts on 1,585 industrial products including machinery, spare parts and raw materials from November 1, reports Xinhua, and has removed or reduced tariffs on medicines, autos and consumer products earlier this year.

China has granted "Guest of Honor" status to 12 countries: Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Vietnam and the U.K.

Attending companies include more than 200 businesses on the Fortune Global 500 list as well as smaller companies such as fruit exporters in Southeast Asia and coffee makers in South America. Also planned to attend is U.S. chip manufacturers Qualcomm and Intel, Japanese electronics manufacturers Sony and Panasonic, consumer goods manufacturer Unilever and Lego.

Exhibitors are expected to launch more than 100 new products and technologies at the event. The largest item on display will be a 200 ton milling machine from German manufacturer Waldrich Coburg.

In preparation for the expo, Shanghai has set up a special legal center and a center to deal with disputes concerning intellectual property rights.

Shanghai is China's industrial and commercial hub, and Shanghai port has handled the most containers worldwide for seven consecutive years.

Source:maritime-executive

Verifavia Shipping signs cooperations with two major global ship managers

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Verifavia, the world's leading emissions verification company for the transport sector (aviation and shipping), today WALLEM Ship Management in Hong Kong and ZEABORN Ship Management in Hamburg (for the consolidation of ER Schiffahrt and Rickmers Ship Management), for auditing services for European Union (EU) Reporting and Verification (MRV) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Data Collection System (DCS), as well as certification of associated IT systems.

Through their agreement with ZEABORN Ship Management, Verifavia Shipping will provide EUV verification services as well as the status of their flag. It will also be certified by ZEABORN Ship Management for these regulations. For WALLEM, Verifavia will also provide verification services for EU MRV and IMO DCS across a number of its Liberia and Panama flagged vessels, and Vertex SMMS.
 
IMO DCS and EU MRV verification services, Verifavia leverages its existing in-depth knowledge, expertise, and understanding of these regulations the field of data management. In addition, many owners and operators are more likely than others to have recourse to a third party. It is also a way to diversify the suppliers and limit the extent of the monopoly of IACS members.

Verifavia Shipping remains committed to ensuring that shipowners and operators are able to achieve compliance with the DCS IMO and EU MRV regulations quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. With accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and France's national accreditation body, Cofrac, Verifavia can assess or verify any ship in the world, regardless of country of ownership, State flag, or class. The company's client roster currently includes circa 180 shipping companies spanning 1,700 ships, and 30 ICT providers.

About the EU MRV regulation: According to the EU MRV regulation which came into force on July 1, 2015, shipping companies with more than one thousand tons of fuel and operating in the United States. January 2018 according to their Assessment Monitoring Plans.

About the IMO Data Collection system: The IMO has outlined a roadmap through 2023 which is focused on developing a comprehensive strategy for GHG emissions from shipping. In April 2015, the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) agreed on mandatory fuel requirements. Thereafter, in October 2016 at the 70th meeting, it was decided that these requirements would be adopted by MARPOL Annex VI.

Source:portnews

Rolls-Royce and Sunseeker agree new framework agreement for supply of MTU engines

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Rolls-Royce and British luxury yacht manufacturer Sunseeker International have agreed a new framework agreement for the supply of MTU Series 2000 and 4000 engines for its 86Y, 95Y, 116Y, 131Y range of yachts and for future yacht series. Under the terms of the agreement, new technologies and systems solutions that MTU launch on the market during the contractual period until the end of 2020 are also to be included.

“We intend to continue the successful working relationship we have enjoyed with MTU in the course of the last 18 years,” said Michael Straughan, Chief Operating Officer of Sunseeker International, “and is why we have now signed a new framework agreement. In MTU, we have an exceptional partner for the introduction of innovative technologies and can look forward to a very positive future together.”

MTU UK has been supplying engines to Sunseeker for many years, installed in Sunseeker models from 60FT (approx. 20 metres) to 155FT (approx. 47 metres).

Knut Müller, Head of MTU Marine and Government Business, said: “We are very pleased to have concluded this new agreement and to continue our good cooperation. Over a period of many, many years the company’s founder Robert Braithwaite has had a major impact on the success of Sunseeker, MTU and the yacht building industry and has been instrumental in developing the market. We at MTU are very grateful and privileged to be part of the ‘Sunseeker family’.” MTU presented an award to Sunseeker for 1.8 million bhp of MTU power installed in Sunseeker yachts in the course of the last 18 years.

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