chrisc, Author at SHIP IP LTD

Mobile Alabama port enhancements — New 57 arce vehicle processing center opened in the port of Mobile (AIT)

A new $60 million vehicle processing center with a ro-ro terminal has opened in the port of Mobile, Alabama. The new facility, which will be operated by a partnership between an Argentine and Chilean company, is part of an ongoing effort by the Alabama State Port Authority (ASPA) to expand and improve operations in the port.

Known as the AutoMOBILE International Processing Center, the ro-ro terminal and automotive rail ramp facility opened 17 months after a concession agreement was signed with Terminal Zarate, S.A., a Grupo Murchison company, headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Neltume Ports, headquartered in Santiago, Chile.

The new 57-acre terminal is located on the ASPA’s main port multimodal complex. The facility, which is expected to have an annual throughput of 150,000 vehicles, offers storage for up to 7,000 vehicles. It has 1,500 feet of berth space which will initially be maintained with a 40-foot draft. According to the managers of the facility, this makes the terminal capable of handling all the pure car and truck carrying transport vessels currently in service.

During the dedication ceremony, the port also highlighted that the facility has access to five Class I railroads and a rail ferry service with connections throughout North America, as well as access to major U.S. interstate and highway systems. The operators said the appeal of the location on the Gulf Coast is its easy access both for long haul carriers using the Panama Canal and short sea transport to Mexico and Central America.

The opening of the new facility is part of a broader effort to expand operations in the Port of Mobile. In the spring of 2020, the Alabama Port Authority completed its 400-foot container dock extension at the APM Terminals Mobile facility, permitting it for the first time to simultaneously handled two container ships at the newly expanded berth. The berth extension now enables two 8,000-10,000 TEU vessels to be handled at the same time. The quay extension was part of a $50 million Phase 3 expansion that increased terminal capacity at the 10-year-old APM Terminals Mobile intermodal container complex at the Port of Mobile.

In May 2021, work began on the next major project, which is construction of a deeper and wider Mobile Ship Channel and improvements to the lower harbor turning basin. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers executed two construction contracts for a multi-phase, $365.7 million construction program designed to deepen the existing Bar, Bay and River Channels Bar, by five feet to a project depth of 50 feet, with additional depths for wave allowances, advanced maintenance, and allowable over depth for dredging. The project also includes widening the Bay Channel by 100 feet for three nautical miles to accommodate two-way vessel traffic and other safety improvements.

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https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/new-vehicle-terminal-opens-as-part-of-mobile-alabama-port-enhancement

X-Press Pearl environmental damage oil leak — X-Press Pearl remains in the same position off Colombo, Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Ports Authority)

Sri Lanka officials conducted a briefing to detail the scope of the environmental damage resulting from the fire and sinking of the containership X-Press Pearl last month. Government representatives and the shipping line continue to refute reports of additional pollution and possible oil leaks from the vessel, which remains partially submerged off Colombo. At the same time, additional international aid is being sent to help the country deal with what has been called the worst environmental disaster in the history of Sri Lanka.

Seeking to address reports that appeared in international media and on the Internet of oil leaking from the vessel, the government officials said divers have continued to inspect the hull and found no breaches in the bunker tanks. They suggested the light sheen and discoloration seen trailing from the vessel is not bunker fuel but possibly oil from the destroyed containers and other debris that fell into the ocean.

A team of international experts from the UK is assisting Sri Lanka and performing tests on the sheen seen drifting away from the vessel to determine its composition. According to the International Tanker Owners’ Pollution Federation, which has two representatives in Sri Lanka assisting, no oil pollution has been reported onshore.

After reviewing the manifests from the vessel’s cargo, they are now reporting that it was carrying 193 different items. In addition to the highlighted nitric acid, other chemicals including methanol and sodium hydroxide were among the contents of the containers. More than 800 of the containers were transporting either plastic or polythene, contributing to the reports of widespread plastic pollution in the ocean and washing up.

“The pollutants of particular concern are nurdles (a small plastic pellet used as a raw material in plastic manufacturing), as they have the potential to spread over vast distances, and recovery of these small plastic pellets can be difficult and protracted,” reported ITOPF. They estimate that the extent of the debris has already spread more than 80 miles along the coastline.

Beach cleaning efforts to clear nurdles (ITOPF)

Environmental officials said more than 50 containers of material have been recovered along the beaches. They estimated that each container holds more than 60 tons of debris. At the same time, Sri Lanka’s Central Environmental Authority has instructed the salvage company that the next step should be to recover containers that fell overboard to stop additional pollution.

“A large portion of the plastic that had washed ashore due to the sinking of the ship has now been collected,” Minister of Environment Mahinda Amaraweera said during the briefing. “We do not know how many more were eaten by fish in the ocean. According to the information I have, plastic pallets piled up on the beach have been collected and stored in containers for destruction,” he said.

More distrusting though are the growing reports of fish, turtles, and a dolphin washing up on shore having died after consuming the plastic pellets. As a result, a ban remains in effect for all fishing along the coastline in the affected region.

Seeking to provide immediate aid to the families whose livelihoods were impacted by the emergency, Chargé d’affaires Martin Kelly at the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka announced $100,000 in immediate assistance. He said it would be distributed through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s implementing partners.

The Minister of Environment predicted that the damage to the environment will last for 20 years. “I say that the damage caused by the sinking of the X-Press Pearl cannot be measured in dollars. This caused a great deal of environmental damage and all those involved in this destruction should be legally punished.”

Sri Lanka is continuing to investigate the disaster, centering on when the chemical leak was discovered. Port and harbor officials contend that they were not properly notified by the ship and its agents. There have also been acquisitions that emails between the containership’s captain and the agent were deleted, causing the Sri Lanka police to order recovery of any missing emails. At the same time, they are continuing to review information from the vessel’s recovered VDR device.

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https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/x-press-pearl-pollution-spreads-but-reports-of-oil-leaks-are-refuted

BAL Container Line, a privately owned China-based carrier, has become the latest entrant into the Transpacific and Asia-Europe lanes, attracted by the unprecedented hike in freight rates.

BAL completed its maiden Transpacific voyage when its chartered 2,190TEU vessel, Queen Esther, arrived in Los Angeles on 10 June, after departing from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on 26 May.

BAL has scheduled more transpacific sailings in the next weeks with chartered feeders departing from different ports in China and arriving at the Port of Los Angeles.

Based in Qingdao in China’s Shandong province, BAL was incorporated in August 2012 and is a subsidiary of Shandong Lcang International Logistics, which is owned by Chinese businessman Xu Xin. BAL commercially manages five group-owned feeder vessels that are chartered out to other operators.

Prior to venturing into the Transpacific and Asia-Europe lanes, BAL offered shipping services by purchasing slots on Emirates Shipping Line’s GALEX service, which serves the East Asia-Persian Gulf route and Sinokor Merchant Marine’s CSC service, which serves the China-India route.

In May, the intra-Asia line, BAL did an one-off Asia-Europe service, with A Daisen sailing from Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan to Rotterdam. Another one-off Asia-Europe sailing was launched on 5 June, when the 1,206TEU BAL Peace commenced its voyage from Ningbo-Zhoushan and Da Chan Bay and is scheduled to arrive in Zeebrugge and Rotterdam on 5 and 8 July, respectively.

“Currently, Asia-Europe container shipping market is challenging to shippers, who are facing high freight costs and an equipment shortage. We decided to use our own ships to increase the capacity of China-Europe routes, and solve our customers’ difficulties,” said Xu in an interview on Chinese television.

Soaring freight rates on the Transpacific and Asia-Europe rates have recently lured liner operators such as Wan Hai Lines and China United Lines, which were primarily intra-Asia carriers, to start solo services on these trades.

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BAL Container Line ventures into long-haul lanes

From Shekou to Seattle, Amsterdam to Auckland, containerships are backing up like never before in the 65-year history of the industry as the liner industry grapples with the enormous strain brought by Covid-19 and exceptional consumer behaviour.

Data provided to Splash today from Seaexplorer, a container shipping platform created by logistics giant Kuehne+Nagel, shows the global carrier snarl-up with supply chains under enormous stress.

While much has been written about the ongoing port congestion issues in the US and the fallout from a recent outbreak of Covid-19 at ports in South China, the map (see below) supplied by Seaexplorer clearly shows the global phenomenon of liner congestion in 2021. Red dots represent clusters of ships while orange ones mark out ports that are congested or suffering from disrupting operations.

As it stands today, there are more than 300 containerships waiting for berth spaces to open up around the world.

Global deepsea liner networks are stretched thinner than any time in the past

Commenting via LinkedIn, Otto Schacht, executive vice president for sea logistics at Kuehne + Nagel, noted: “Shippers better increase inventories, supply chains are too tight, just in time does not work in these times, consumer demand will remain strong.”

“In terms of capacity this is highly likely to be severely skewed towards larger vessels waiting in line and therefore even more in capacity terms,” commented Lars Jensen, CEO of Danish liner consultancy, Vespucci Maritime.

“The global deepsea liner networks are stretched thinner than any time in the past, with port congestion and network disruptions tying up vessels and boxes all over the world,” Alan Murphy, CEO of Sea-Intelligence, told Splash today.

In the past, there would be plenty of buffer in the system, otherwise known as overcapacity, to handle most of these disruptions, but with the networks stretched thin, every additional disruption is adding to the backlog.

“As we’re now heading into the peak season with no buffers, we should expect this to last at least through the year,” Murphy warned today.

Looking at the map today, Simon Heaney, senior manager, container research at UK consultants Drewry, said that bottlenecks and delays at ports around the world are the symptom of the wider breakdown in the supply chain infrastructure, all related to the pandemic that spurred changes in consumption habits and reduced inland productivity.

“It is very clearly a global problem as the map shows, and as such is going to take time to be resolved,” Heaney said, suggesting that there are “big philosophical questions” the industry and its customers need to address about how to best avoid a repeat of this calamitous scenario.

With dwell times increasing dramatically off South China this week, the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI), a global reference point for spot box rates, leapt again to new highs today, climbing another 91 points to 3,704 points, 247% up year-on-year.

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More than 300 liners waiting for berth space, container congestion mapped globally

The chief mate, Bosko Markovic, on the MSC Gayane when it was arrested in Philadelphia in 2019 with a record haul of cocaine worth $1.3bn has been sentenced to seven years in US prison. Markovic was promised $1m to lead the smuggling effort onboard. He was responsible for recruiting some of the seven crew members who have also been found guilty of taking part in the operation.

Markovic was recruited in the Balkans to oversee the smuggling operation, like some of the other crewmembers involved in the job. None of the convicted men have named the suppliers of the cocaine.

The crew used burner phones to communicate with the drug suppliers in South America and coordinated the loading of the drugs from speedboats that approached the container vessel several times under cover of night. The drugs were hidden in shipping containers.

“His role was necessary,” said assistant US attorney Jerome Maiatico. “A smuggling scheme of this magnitude would likely not have been possible without the chief officer in on the scheme.”

Splash reported in April on sentences announced for co-conspirators.

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Chief mate gets seven years in jail for smuggling $1.3bn worth of cocaine on MSC ship

The principle goods highway to the world’s consumers is jammed. In the wake of a Covid-19 outbreak at Yantian Port in eastern Shenzhen on May 25, vessels have backed up in the South China Sea, while others have sought alternatives in western Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Nansha to the south of Guangzhou. However, the Pearl River is now packed with anchored giant boxships waiting for berths to open up as the below enlargeable image taken by MarineTraffic at 4pm local time today clearly shows (green dots represent ships at anchor).

Liners are also increasingly taking the decision to avoid the area as a whole as Covid outbreaks spread to Nansha and Shekou in western Shenzhen. Newly enforced lockdown measures in the area are also limiting the availability of truck drivers.

By way of an example Maersk, the world’s largest liner, now advises that 64 vessels have omitted Yantian and Shekou, up from 40 vessels listed just two days ago.

The situation has now surpassed March’s Suez Canal blockage in terms of container disruption with median dwell times for containers at Yantian now pushing 18 days according to data from project44.

“From port handling in Yantian alone, the sheer number of containers (not vessels) impacted now exceed the number of containers impacted in Suez,” Lars Jensen, CEO of advisory Vespucci Maritime, wrote in an update on LinkedIn today.

Jensen warned: “Add to this ripples such as problems in recent weeks getting new empty containers into South China. Then you will have a pile of cargo in backlog coming out of Yantian once everything re-opens given rise to a surge on the destination side with some timelag. You will have a pile of reefer cargo already on vessels inbound for Yantian but which is now being discharged in other ports increasing the risk that other ports will run out of reefer plugs (as we also saw in early 2020).”

Like the Suez blockage, shippers have been warned to brace for extended ripple effects from the Yantian closure over the summer months.

Yantian handled 13.3m teu in 2020. It is responsible for more than one-third of Guangdong’s foreign trade and a quarter of China’s trade with the US.

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Pearl River Delta jammed

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has called on all stakeholders including shipowners, and recognized organizations to provide input to the Experience Building Phase (EBP) designed to see just how the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (BWM Convention) is working.

The BWM Convention is a treaty adopted by the IMO to help prevent the spread of potentially harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens through ships’ ballast water. Principally, since 8 September 2017, all ships have had to manage their ballast water so that aquatic organisms and pathogens are removed or rendered harmless before the ballast water is released into a new location. This will help prevent the spread of invasive species as well as potentially harmful pathogens.

Following entry in to force of the BWM Convention, the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) immediately launched an Experience-Building-Phase (EBP) to monitor the implementation. This data-gathering and analysis process is designed to identify aspects of the Convention’s implementation that are working as required, and to further enhance the aspects that are not working. To build a complete and realistic picture, the process requires the input of all stakeholders to identify where challenges may have occurred that were not initially envisaged. The analysis covers a wide range of issues from operation of systems and the role of the crew through to testing and sampling.

The IMO has commissioned the World Maritime University (WMU) to supervise the data gathering and analysis as required by the exercise, and they are inviting BIMCO members to submit data and information that will be treated in the strictest confidence. This provides BIMCO members a unique opportunity to express any concerns with the way the Convention is being implemented.

At present, shipowners are invited to submit their reports to the flag State who duly submit the report. However, this new initiative will see the WMU, on behalf of the IMO Secretariat, collecting complementary data for the EBP. As such, BIMCO members are now able to submit more detailed “complementary data” directly to WMU if preferred, rather than using the stakeholder interface via the flag State.

BIMCO members willing to share information with the WMU rather than via the flag State as part are invited to firstly contact the WMU for further details by emailing EBP21@wmu.se. The deadline for all input is 22 October 2021.

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White House readies supply chain disruptions task force

Maritime software and communications start-up SnakeWays has signed East African based Coastal International Shipping Line (CISL) to its ship-to-shore communications service, SnakeBox.

CISL will deploy the SnakeBox on board the company vessels to manage communication services over satellite and cellular networks. The SnakeBox will also host the advanced SnakeMail application as an upgrade to the vessels’ current email service.

The vessels will have the SnakeSwitch function enabled on the SnakeBox to intelligently manage routing between cellular and satellite networks based on availability, price and quota. SnakeMail will be available to officers and crew via the ship’s business network and the inbuilt Wi-Fi of the SnakeBox. The SnakeBox manages different access rules depending on the ship-to-shore network connection and the different user on board.

“We needed to upgrade our vessel connectivity and from the outset we were impressed with the capabilities of the SnakeWays team and the way they have adapted state-of the-art technology to meet the specific requirements of the modern ship manager,” said Spyridon Tzamtzis, technical director of CISL. “Particularly important to us was the ease of deployment on board with minimal disruption to the existing IT network of the vessels. “

Peter Schulze, CEO of SnakeWays commented: “The extension of our customer base to four continents within a year of SnakeWays commercial launch is a very significant milestone for the company. It validates our concept of an independent, free-standing communication platform that hosts critical communications applications such as SnakeMail and SnakeSwitch. Based on smartphone technology the SnakeBox is a light, cool-running, alternative to the traditional shipboard setup of a “Smart Box” twinned with a PC based email application. ”

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https://thedigitalship.com/news/maritime-satellite-communications/item/7343-east-african-shipping-company-signs-up-to-snakeways-communications-service

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has called on all stakeholders including shipowners, and recognized organizations to provide input to the Experience Building Phase (EBP) designed to see just how the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (BWM Convention) is working.

The BWM Convention is a treaty adopted by the IMO to help prevent the spread of potentially harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens through ships’ ballast water. Principally, since 8 September 2017, all ships have had to manage their ballast water so that aquatic organisms and pathogens are removed or rendered harmless before the ballast water is released into a new location. This will help prevent the spread of invasive species as well as potentially harmful pathogens.

Following entry in to force of the BWM Convention, the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) immediately launched an Experience-Building-Phase (EBP) to monitor the implementation. This data-gathering and analysis process is designed to identify aspects of the Convention’s implementation that are working as required, and to further enhance the aspects that are not working. To build a complete and realistic picture, the process requires the input of all stakeholders to identify where challenges may have occurred that were not initially envisaged. The analysis covers a wide range of issues from operation of systems and the role of the crew through to testing and sampling.

The IMO has commissioned the World Maritime University (WMU) to supervise the data gathering and analysis as required by the exercise, and they are inviting BIMCO members to submit data and information that will be treated in the strictest confidence. This provides BIMCO members a unique opportunity to express any concerns with the way the Convention is being implemented.

At present, shipowners are invited to submit their reports to the flag State who duly submit the report. However, this new initiative will see the WMU, on behalf of the IMO Secretariat, collecting complementary data for the EBP. As such, BIMCO members are now able to submit more detailed “complementary data” directly to WMU if preferred, rather than using the stakeholder interface via the flag State.

BIMCO members willing to share information with the WMU rather than via the flag State as part are invited to firstly contact the WMU for further details by emailing EBP21@wmu.se. The deadline for all input is 22 October 2021.

SOURCE READ THE FULL ARTICLE

https://www.bimco.org/news/environment-protection/20210608-bwm

Shipping and maritime companies hoping to attract Generation Z (Gen Z) talent should develop personalised and interactive eLearning programmes featuring video content and bold colours, according to education industry research and experts.

In an FE News blog on Gen Z (those born after 1996), Sam Blyth from learning management systems (LMS) developer Instructure wrote that new technology was making it easier to create engaging, interactive experiences for learners. She added that students can control their learning journey by “deciding how, where and when to engage with course material, and to learn in a way that suits them best”.

OneLearn Global, a digital eLearning provider to the maritime sector, has applied this and other findings – such as more than half (59 per cent) of Gen Z preferring to learn by watching videos, according to a Pearson study – to its personalised next-gen LMS, which features interactive and video content.

The company also uses green throughout its LMS to appeal to the eco-friendly sensibilities of Gen Z. A blog by marketing and PR agency Zen Media talks about how green “means nature and all things organic and natural”. It also describes green as one of the easiest colours on the eye, communicating safety, harmony, growth, luck, wealth, optimism and stress relief.

These findings are in line with a Barnes & Noble College report about Gen Z using on-demand interactive learning tools and videos alongside traditional approaches to education, such as reading a textbook or listening to a teacher in class. Moreover, they benefit from watching recorded lectures and other online content, going through digital study guides or carrying out web-based research.

According to the Barnes & Noble report, Gen Z wants engaging, interactive learning experiences, to be challenged and to be empowered to make their own decisions. As digital natives, they also “expect technology to play an instrumental role in their educational experience”.

The upshot is that maritime and shipping companies should invest in digital technology and online learning tools to attract Gen Z students to the industry, according to Nigel Cleave, senior advisor at OneLearn Global.

“Younger generations brought up in a digital world are used to consuming content – be it educational or recreational – online and through mobile phones or tablets. Using technology to study a particular subject or watch a lecture is second nature to them, which is why it’s so important for the shipping industry to provide training or learning and development through digital and web-based channels.”

Mr Cleave added that educational tools for Gen Z learners in the maritime sector should be engaging, interactive, mentally and visually stimulating, intuitive and available 24/7.

“Anyone with Wi-Fi or broadband has instant access to masses of data and content, so people’s attention spans are naturally shorter than they once were,” he said.

“Younger generations want quick, bitesize training programmes, lasting no more than 20 minutes, that entertain and engage them. And they expect to take those courses whenever they choose on multiple devices, meaning eLearning has to be available to those maritime learners or industry employees looking to upskill, whether they are ashore or at sea.”

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https://thedigitalship.com/news/maritime-software/item/7346-tech-driven-maritime-training-key-to-attracting-gen-z

New Vehicle Terminal Opens as part of Mobile Alabama Port Enhancement

X-Press Pearl Pollution Spreads but Reports of Oil Leaks are Refuted

BAL Container Line ventures into long-haul lanes

More than 300 liners waiting for berth space, container congestion mapped globally

Chief mate gets seven years in jail for smuggling $1.3bn worth of cocaine on MSC ship

Pearl River Delta jammed

White House readies supply chain disruptions task force

East African shipping company signs up to SnakeWays communications service

BIMCO MEMBERS INVITED TO SHARE EXPERIENCES IN BALLAST WATER MANAGEMENT

Tech-driven maritime training key to attracting Gen Z

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