Italian shipping company Grimaldi Group and its Spanish counterpart Armas Trasmediterránea Group have reached a definitive agreement for the sale of ships and port terminals.
The agreement signed on 19 July in Madrid provides for the acquisition by Trasmed GLE, the new Spanish company of the Grimaldi Group, of five ferries for the transport of passengers and freight and other assets.
The offices of the new shipping company will be located in Valencia.
In addition, the agreement covers the Valencia terminal, various warehouses and offices in Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Mahón and Ibiza, as well as the rights to operate on the shipping lines dedicated to the transport of passengers and freight between mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, notably on the routes from Barcelona to Mahón (Menorca), Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza, and from Valencia to Mahón, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza.
The vessels acquired by Trasmed GLE to serve these lines are the Ciudad de Palma, Ciudad de Granada, Ciudad de Mahón, Volcán del Teide and Volcán de Tijarafe; they will be joined by the Grimaldi Group-owned Euroferry Egnazia.
The operation also provides for the hiring of Armas Trasmediterránea’s personnel, which implies the preservation of jobs, according to Grimaldi.
Italian investment bank Mediobanca assisted the Grimaldi Group by insuring a loan of approximately €160 million for the new Spanish company Trasmed GLE.
Having a fleet of over 130 ships, Grimaldi now extends its services to the Balearic Islands, also exploiting the synergies with its other shipping lines connecting Barcelona with Sardinia (Porto Torres), Civitavecchia, Savona and Livorno, and Valencia with Cagliari, Salerno, Savona and Livorno.
The Swiss cruise line Viking Cruises has announced that its cruise vessel Viking Mars was lowered into the sea from the Fincantieri Ancona shipyard in Italy.
After the keel-laying ceremony in February 2021, the 228.2 meter-long vessel Viking Mars underwent another milestone in the construction phase.
French gas and technology company Air Liquide has announced that it will become the main partner of the Energy Observer, “the world’s first hydrogen vessel”, for the next four years.
As disclosed, the two partners have been working since the launch of the laboratory ship in April 2017, and before its departure for a zero-emission world tour.
The new stage of collaboration is featuring a technological support component that is in line with the sustainable development objectives of the Air Liquide Group.
Furthermore, the company said it will support the Energy Observer Foundation to enable L’Odyssée to continue its mission to raise awareness and educate.
The company’s employees, who have developed expertise across the entire hydrogen value chain, may be called upon to collaborate on research and development projects conducted in the form of a partnership, Air Liquide noted.
“Through the collaboration of our teams with Energy Observer’s, and the testing of hydrogen technologies in extreme environments, we will be able to accelerate the development of hydrogen-based solutions and their large-scale applications, in particular in the maritime sector,”Matthieu Giard, Vice-President, Member of the Executive Committee, said.
“It is by acting now, as we prepare for the future and develop new models of sustainable mobility, that we will be able to have a positive impact on tomorrow’s society.”
“Its ambitions, its investments in low-carbon hydrogen and in storage technologies are examples of progress that show that the hydrogen society is “on the move,”Victorien Erussard, Chairman of Energy Observer, commented.
The Energy Observer project was born in 2013 to create the first self-sufficient vessel capable of drawing its energy from nature while emitting zero emissions.
The key characteristic of Energy Observer is its energy mix, including three sources of renewable energies as well as a complete hydrogen production chain on board the ship using seawater electrolysis. the company revealed.
Crude oil tanker STI ELYSEES suffered engine failure around noon Jul 16 in Beykoz area, Istanbul, while transiting Bosphorus in northern direction in ballast, en route from Le Havre to Novorossiysk. The ship dropped anchor, crew managed to restart engine and resume transit, with two SAR tugs at her side. She completed transit and was anchored at Kumkoy anchorage, Istanbul, Black sea.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) marks a turbulent 10-year period of action on cutting greenhouse gas emissions from shipping with the latest measures being adopted at IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 76).
Decarbonization has become one of the greatest challenges for the shipping industry. The industry players are trying to find solutions to reach decarbonization goals and be a part of the global fight against climate change.
One of the key steps of the journey started on 15 July 2011, when MARPOL Annex VI Parties adopted mandatory energy efficiency regulations for ships – Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) for new ships, Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) for all ships.
The MEPC developed operational and technical measures and IMO agreed to include a new chapter on “energy efficiency” in MARPOL Annex VI.
Since their adoption, further amendments have been added to strengthen the EEDI requirements, particularly for certain ship types.
Chief Engineer of bulk carrier NORD SUNDA, 49-year old Filipino national, passed away on Jul 16 in hospital in Le Havre, presumably because of covid. 5 other crew who were hospitalized, recovered and will be repatriated to Manila on Jul 18. 6 other crew who were positive tested, have been repatriated to Manila on Jul 13.
… NORD SUNDA had to call Le Havre France on Jun 30, being in medical emergency. The ship was en route from Buchanan Liberia to Dunkirk France with cargo of iron ore. 16 crew tested positive, 5 of them in need of hospitalization. Bulk carrier was diverted to Le Havre, where she berthed at around noon Jun 30. Full initial story https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2021/34373/mass-crew-sickness-5-hospitalized/
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The ship reached Dunkirk on Jul 11, left on Jul 14, bound for Ust Luga, Russia, Baltic sea. As of 0530 UTC Jul 18, she was adrift in Baltic off Estonia since around 0100 UTC, reason unknown, probably waiting. Or as probably, one vaccinated crew was replaced with another, also vaccinated, crew.
An abandoned tanker on Jul 18 was reported sank or sinking off Aden port, Yemen. According to local reports, tanker is under the name of DIA, but no data found in available ships databases. She’s anchored off Aden for some 7 years, apparently abandoned and unmanned. Tanker belongs to local businessman. Below is video of distressed tanker, posted on youtube. Oil leak is reported, oil stains already tarnished nearby coast. Authorities are trying to prevent further spread and cleanse the area.
New FleetMon Vessel Safety Risk Reports Available: https://www.fleetmon.com/services/vessel-risk-rating/
Aggregates carrier SHI XIANG 156, deployed in dredging works in Pulau Indah waters, Port Klang, Malaysia, caught fire shortly after midday Jul 19. Eleven crew were evacuated, all reported to escape safe. Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency MMEA coordinated firefighting. Fire was taken under control and understood, extinguished, on some 6-7 hours.
Last Thursday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) gathered trade ministers from around the world to deliberate on new rules aimed at reducing government subsidies to the fishing industry. These subsidies are blamed for the decline of fish stocks globally, threatening the livelihoods of artisanal fishermen along with destruction of fragile ocean ecosystems.
Although trade negotiations on fish subsidies are one potent way to curb marine ecosystems destruction, marine protected areas are becoming a dominant strategy in ocean conservation, especially in low-income countries. In fact, in a place like Africa where people highly depend on natural resources, their protection is paramount in poverty alleviation.
This was the inspiration behind the Nairobi Convention. It is a partnership of ten countries in Western Indian Ocean (WIO) with programs domiciled within UNEP (the United Nations Environment Programme), and it aims to guide actions towards healthy coastal and marine environments. The region, stretching from Somalia in the north and South Africa in the south, is home to 244 million people. Its combined economic value is estimated at about $20 billion per year. In addition, three of the 64 Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs) globally, as categorized by the University of Rhode Island and NOAA – the Somali Current LME, the Agulhas Current and the Arabian Sea LMEs – are found within the broader WIO border. Together, the LMEs are responsible for 95 percent of the productivity of world’s oceans. This immense wealth is the reason WIO countries are on overdrive in the creation of marine protected areas.
How effective are MPAs in protecting threatened coastal habitats? A report released last Friday by WIOMSA (Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association) and UNEP attempts to tackle this question.
MPAs are generally small, consisting of a median area of less than five square kilometers. Also, the vast majority of these are found close to the coast, meaning that deep-water habitats are heavily under-represented.
So far, WIO countries have declared 143 MPAs – an area covering 550,000 square kilometers, representing seven percent of the total area of all coastal states’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the region. Approximately 63 percent of this overall size was brought under protection since the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in 2015.
For instance, in 2019 Seychelles brought 30 percent of its EEZ under protection, safeguarding the habitats of 2,600 species. South Africa declared 20 new MPAs in the same year. Buoyed by Seychelles Marine Spatial Plan and South Africa’s “Operation Phakisa”- which are framed as the wider Blue Economy framework-, both countries have balanced economic exploitation of Ocean resources and the need for conservation. Although the two countries have managed to exceed the 10 percent target for EEZ protection, at the regional level only seven percent is under protection.
The report also details how establishment of MPAs has evolved with Madagascar pioneering an innovative approach called Locally Managed Marine Areas (LMMAs). Such enables coastal communities to collaborate with government and other stakeholders to protect coastal resources. This is a big leap in conservation management fostering inclusivity of the indigenous coastal communities. One such initiative is the MIHARI Network, which comprises 196 community associations and NGOs and manages 14,000 square kilometers of marine areas around the Madagascar coastline. Its efforts increase local communities’ lobbying at the government level and promise to address coastal poverty.
One major highlight of the report is that since the turn of this century, the objectives of MPAs have evolved from initially focusing on conserving inshore fish stocks, as strictly no-take zones, to covering much larger offshore areas, with diverse zoning schemes that permit multiple uses.
Meanwhile, despite the stellar progress thus far attained in protecting coastal and marine habitats in the WIO region, multiple challenges abound. Many MPAs in the area lack human resources, skills, equipment, and institutional commitment to fulfil their functions. They also suffer from serious decline in conservation funding, a situation that was further exacerbated by COVID-19. The lockdown measures affected tourism revenues, which MPAs in the WIO region depend on to finance operations.
Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR and oil and gas contractor Technip Energies have signed an agreement to study the use of floating wind turbines to power offshore oil and gas operations in the Caspian Sea. If realized, the pilot project would be the first deployment of offshore wind technology in Azerbaijan.
At present, upstream operations in the Caspian Sea mainly use electricity generated from natural gas. Among the main objectives of the pilot project is to determine the prospects for the supply of sustainable energy to the country’s upstream sector, reducing natural gas consumption and increasing gas exports.
“The energy efficiency is in focus of many energy companies and is an important part of SOCAR’s strategic plans. In line with the development trends of technology, we are already entering this area. Our goal is to reduce operating costs, increase energy efficiency and ensure the sustainability of operations at SOCAR,” said Rovnag Abdullayev, SOCAR president.
Technip Energies is a young company with a long history. In February, French-American oil and gas services contractor TechnipFMC spun off its “green” energy and petrochemical engineering services as an independent entity, Technip Energies. The new firm is focused on the energy transition, with emphasis on LNG, hydrogen and ethylene production; it also holds large contracts for petchem plant construction and upgrading, including a recently-completed petchem project for SOCAR.
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