New hydrogen and ammonia fuel partnership announcements are becoming as common as long-term charters and vessel sales, but a new joint study group that debuted Friday is more significant than most.
Twenty-three well-known enterprises – including ABS, DNV and ClassNK – have entered into a memorandum of understanding on a joint study of common issues in the use of ammonia as a marine fuel.
The group includes firms from a range of sectors including energy, mining, power utilities, chemical, terminal, shipping, shipbuilding, manufacturing, bunkering, and classification organizations.
“Ammonia is a fuel with significant potential for marine applications and ABS is committed to supporting its safe adoption by the industry. It offers shipowners and operators a zero-carbon tank-to-wake emissions profile but is not without challenges,” said ABS Chairman, President and CEO Christopher J. Wiernicki. “This kind of cross-industry collaboration is vital if we are to better understand the risks and the enhanced safety requirements created by alternate fuels.”
The 23 founding signatories are a who’s who of the maritime, commodity and energy industries, including ABS, ClassNK, DNV, Equinor, Total (now TotalEnergies), Fortescue, Anglo American, Genco, Jera, K-Line, MAN, Mitsui E&S, Trafigura, Vale, Uniper and Itochu, among others.
The study will examine (1) safety assessments of NH3 fueled vessels; (2) safety assessments of NH3 bunkering; (3) NH3 fuel specifications; and (4) the net CO2 emissions of NH3 production. The working group plans to draw on the expertise of some NH3 producers, international organizations, and port authorities and regulators in potential bunkering countries.
“Ammonia is already a globally traded and transported commodity, but for it to be widely accepted as a marine fuel we need to help demystify the risks and safety measures needed so that they are understood by policymakers and the maritime industry,” said Rasmus Bach Nielsen, the global head of fuel decarbonisation at Trafigura.
The purpose of the study also aims to support the development of ammonia-fueled vessels and the development of a worldwide supply chain for ammonia, led by Itochu and other partners. Itochu has commercial ambitions to develop ammonia bunkering facilities in Japan and in Singapore, one of the world’s primary marine fuel hubs.
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The restart of cruise operations continues to be challenged by COVID-19 despite efforts to create a bubble environment aboard the ships. This week, two cruise ships operating in different parts of the world both reported passengers that tested positive for the virus despite a range of precautions enacted by the cruise lines. However, unlike 2020 when the outbreaks were widespread, the cruise lines’ protocols appear to be working.
Royal Caribbean Group’s Celebrity Cruises confirmed reports that two passengers sharing a cabin aboard the line’s Celebrity Millennium tested positive yesterday as part of routine tests and were placed in isolation. Both passengers are reported to be asymptomatic and under the supervision of the expanded medical team aboard the cruise ship during the last scheduled day of the week-long cruise
The Celebrity Millennium was five days into its much-celebrated return to service highlighted as the first large cruise ship to resume sailing in the western hemisphere and be offered for sale to American travelers. The cruise ship began its first cruise from St. Maarten in the Caribbean on June 5 carrying a reduced capacity of just 600 passengers and an additional 600 in crew.
The protocols established by Celebrity Cruises for the return to service included the requirement that all crew and passengers be fully vaccinated against the virus. In addition, passengers had been required to take a COVID-19 test within 72-hours of their departure from St. Maarten as well as tests before going ashore. Aboard the ship, passengers were not being required to wear face covers or maintain social distances, but crew members were wearing face coverings when interacting with passengers. From the details released, it is unclear if the positive tests are thought to be breakthrough cases of the virus, which rarely occurs among vaccinated individuals, or if this is an instance of inaccurate tests.
Celebrity Cruises reports that contact tracing and testing are in place for any close contacts for the two passengers. Further, all passengers are going to be required to take an antigen test before tomorrow’s scheduled disembarkation in St. Maarten.
Earlier in the week, MSC Cruises also confirmed that two passengers sailing in the Mediterranean aboard the line’s MSC Seaside had tested positive for the virus also during routine tests during the cruise. MSC reported that the passengers, who were not traveling together, along with the traveling companions, were isolated aboard the ship and disembarked at the next port of call in Sicily. MSC Cruises, unlike Celebrity Cruises, is not requiring all passengers to be vaccinated but is conducting testing prior to boarding the ship and mid-week during the cruise. Again, in this instance, the protocols identified the passengers and reduced the risk of transmission on the ship.
The cruise industry is continuing to move forward with additional sailings with more ships scheduled to resume cruising in the coming weeks. Industry executives point to the availability of vaccinations and the fact that science has learned so much more about controlling the virus in the past year. They believe their protocols are effective and said they are prepared to revise procedures if required.
In Singapore, where two cruise ships continued to sail during the recently increased restrictions, the government has announced plans to begin to reduce the limitations on the cruise ships. The cruise lines will be permitted to increase the number of passengers onboard to a maximum of 50 percent of capacity and later in the month they will be permitted to reopening the restaurants for meal service. Singapore has been limiting meals to take out food and meals in cabins similar to restrictions imposed in the city.
Cruise lines operating from U.S. ports, including Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, and MSC Cruises, each announced this week additional restart dates for sailing from ports in Florida, Texas, California, and New York, in addition to the plans for Alaska cruises from Seattle. However, the situation regarding requiring passengers to provide proof of vaccination remains unresolved in Florida and Texas, where the states have banned businesses from requiring vaccine passports. The cruise lines are hoping to find an agreement between the states and the CDC, while at the same time the federal judge hearing Florida’s lawsuit said he would issue a ruling soon on the motion for an injunction to end the CDC’s restrictions on cruising.
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.
Shipping companies, such as Maersk and MSC, are rerouting thier ships from Hamburg as a result of high yard density and exceptional waiting time.
Climate activists of the Extinction Rebellion have been protesting for days, blocking roads and the Köhlbrand Bridge, an important traffic artery in the Port of Hamburg.
As a result, Maersk has decided to exclude Hamburg on the next four voyages and divert into Bremerhaven.
“The Hamburg Eurogate Port operations have been heavily impacted by congestion, go slow actions and protests that are still ongoing and beyond our control,” Maersk said.
MSC also had to divert two of its ships to discharge in Wilhelmshaven.
Extinction Rebellion blocked the bridge for several hours last Wednesday and then again of Friday.
Officials at the Port of Hamburg declined to comment when contacted by Splash.
For shippers, already facing sky-high rates on the Asia-Europe tradelane, the Hamburg disruption adds to pressure being felt from the partial closure of Yantian Port in southern China thanks to an outbreak of Covid-19.
A Maersk representative said that the technical problems with online booking system are not related to cyber attack.
Maersk’s online booking systems are facing technical difficulties in the last few days, but a company’s representative told Container News that the problem has not been caused by a hacking attack.
“This is not related to any cyber-attack but technical challenges that we are working to resolve as soon as possible,” confirmed Maersk’s spokesman.
He went on to add that the customers of the Danish carrier continue to have multiple ways to book with Maersk, including the Maersk App, Electronic data interchange (EDI), partner platforms, such as INTTRA or its customer service function.
Pro-Palestinian protestors, led by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource & Organizing Center (Aroc), have claimed victory in turning a ZIM ship away from the Port of Oakland in California. The organisation’s ‘Block the Boat’ campaign aims to prevent Israeli ship operator Zim Integrated Shipping Services from docking anywhere during an ‘International Week of Action’ that will end on June 9.
ZIM said that delays at Oakland were the reason for the ship’s departure. In a message to Middle East Eye, the carrier said, “Due to operational constraints and long delays in the port of Oakland, and in order to meet schedule departures in the Far East, we will be calling on other US West Coast Ports until further notice.”
According to Aroc, similar protests are planned for ports in Seattle, Los Angeles and New York, as well as Vancouver, Canada.
In May, members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union in Durban, South Africa, responded to a call from the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions and refused to offload cargo from a ZIM ship.
Dockworkers in Livorno, Italy, withheld their service to load a shipment of arms going to Israel.
On May 25, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Northern California District Council also expressed its support of the Palestinians in a written statement.
With white smoke still billowing from its foredeck, the 2,700 teu X-Press Pearl, not yet four months old, started to sink today in waters off Sri Lanka’s west coast.
Salvors had managed to attach a tow to the ship, and at the orders of the country’s president, had commenced to tow the fire-ravaged boxships to deeper waters today.
However, with the engine room flooded, the stern of the ship started to sink and towing efforts were cancelled.
On May 20, the Singapore-flagged X-Press Feeders vessel reported smoke from the cargo hold while at Colombo anchorage, which likely came from poorly packed nitric acid in one container mixing with other chemicals being carried onboard. The next day the vessel reported fire on deck. High winds from a monsoon fanned the flames and Sri Lanka has had to contend with a massive environmental catastrophe as many of the cargoes onboard, including tonnes of micoplastics, have washed up on the island’s shores.
The ship has some 278 tonnes of bunker fuel onboard.
Mediterranean Shipping Co’s (MSC) remarkable secondhand tonnage buying spree is not over. Multiple broking sources link the Aponte family-controlled line with the acquisition of two 18-year-old, 1,102 teu sisterships.
MSC has laid down $14m en bloc for the Contship Hub and the Contship Gem. Contships bought the pair for $5.5m each back in 2016. The vessels were already on charter to MSC.
According to Alphaliner data, this latest swoop takes MSC’s secondhand buying spree to 49 ships since last August.
Meanwhile, Contships has moved for the 957 teu Vega Omikron from German
A giant gantry crane collapsed onto another crane today at Taiwan’s largest port as a containership came in too close to a moored, smaller vessel while coming in to dock.
The accident, caught on video, happened at 11.30 am local time at the Port of Kaohsiung.
One person was injured and two people were trapped in the wreckage as the 8,540 teu OOCL Durban, owned by Japan’s Nissen Kaiun, got its entrance to the port wrong, scraping alongside a smaller Yang Ming boxship and knocking over two gantry cranes which in turn sent a number of container stacks on the quayside tumbling. The trapped workers were freed after 75 minutes and were not injured.
Søren Skou, CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk, has put a dollar figure on what he’d like to see for a carbon tax for shipping.
With the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee set to meet this month, many big names in the industry are weighing in with their preferred methods to get shipping moving on the path to decarbonisation.
For Skou, who oversees the world’s largest containerline, taxing existing bunker fuel is deemed essential for shipping’s green transition with the Dane saying yesterday he favoured a global tax of at least $450 per tonne of fuel oil — which works out at approximately $150 per tonne of CO2 — in the medium term at the current oil price.
Skou did not put a date to this medium term ambition, but he has gone on the record stating that he wants a carbon tax to be in place by as early as 2025.
“Fossil fuels cannot keep being cheaper than green fuels. Action is required now. It is vital to consider all greenhouse gases, not just CO2, on a full life cycle analysis, otherwise we will not be able to truly decarbonise shipping by 2050 in line with the Paris Agreement,” Skou stated in post on social media platform, LinkedIn.
“IMO, in our view, needs to deliver a market-based measure by 2025 that can be implemented in the second half of this decade,” Skou stressed last week, adding: “It needs to be at a reasonable level that actually tries to level the playing field between much more expensive green fuels and fossil fuels but it also has to very, very importantly include all greenhouse gases and it has to consider the full lifecycle of the fuel.”
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