BIMCO Archives - Page 11 of 15 - SHIP IP LTD

An American offshore services trade group is accusing Swiss-headquartered Geoquip Marine of violating the Jones Act, a U.S. law requiring seaborne cargo shipped between two U.S. points to be carried by American-built, -crewed and -owned vessels.

A report published by the Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA) alleges that Geoquip Marine’s Geoquip Saentis—a Chinese-built, foreign-crewed and Bahamian-flagged vessel—transported subsoil samples from points on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to U.S. ports for testing in support of an offshore wind project.

“U.S. wind power should mean U.S. jobs,” said OMSA president Aaron Smith. “Our report provides a case study of how far too often wind projects are instead creating jobs for Estonians and Romanians, while capable American mariners sit on the shore. We’ve detailed how a foreign company—by their own admission—used a Chinese-built vessel with foreign crew members to transport cargo within U.S. waters. That’s illegal.”

“Lobbyists for the offshore wind industry have claimed their clients will only utilize foreign-flagged vessels when there is not a U.S.-flagged vessel available,” Smith added. “Today’s report shows that’s simply not true. Wind developers will continue to exploit lax enforcement of U.S. laws to utilize Chinese-built and foreign-crewed vessels.”

In response to OMSA’s report, Geoquip Marine said its vessels do not transport cargo or merchandise: “The Geoquip Saentis is an [integrated geotechnical survey vessel], it is dedicated to research and has world-leading drilling technology and an onboard laboratory. It collects seabed data, allowing geotechnical parameters to be derived and supporting environmental research.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/geoquip-marine-accused-jones-act-492192

U.S. oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp were among the top buyers at a federal auction of oil leases in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday that generated more than $190 million – the highest since 2019.

The auction was a boon for federal coffers, but a potential setback for the climate policies of U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration tried to suspend federal lease sales to fight global warming before a court forced them to proceed.

The United States was also among nearly 200 nations that adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact this month in a deal that for the first time asked governments to accelerate cuts in planet-warming emissions by limiting support for fossil fuels.

In the sale, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, an arm of Biden’s Department of Interior, offered 80 million acres accounting for almost all available unleased Gulf of Mexico blocks. About 1.7 million acres were sold.

Chevron was the auction’s biggest spender with $47.1 million, followed by Anadarko, owned by Occidental Petroleum Corp., BP and Royal Dutch Shell.

Exxon rounded out the top five, snapping up nearly a third of the tracts that sold for $14.9 million, making it the biggest buyer by acreage.

One analyst said Exxon’s purchase of 94 shallow water blocks could be preparation for the company’s first carbon capture and storage project, a proposal that Exxon floated in April.

Anadarko, meanwhile, placed the highest single bid in Wednesday’s auction — more than $10 million — for a tract in the deepwater Alaminos Canyon.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/chevron-exxon-among-top-spenders-biden-492205

A surge in container shipping rates poses a threat to the global economic recovery, with small countries dependent on deliveries by sea expected to be hardest hit by a spike in import prices, U.N. agency UNCTAD said on Thursday.

A surge in demand for consumer goods during the pandemic has created major supply bottlenecks around the world, which has impacted the supply of container ships and boxes to transport cargo.

Shipping and port officials expect global supply chain disruptions to extend into 2022.

“The current surge in freight rates will have a profound impact on trade and undermine socioeconomic recovery, especially in developing countries, until maritime shipping operations return to normal,” said UNCTAD Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan.

In its Review of Maritime Transport for 2021, UNCTAD said that the current surge in container freight rates, if sustained, could increase global import price levels by 11% and consumer price levels by 1.5% between now and 2023.

“The impact is expected to be more significant for smaller economies that depend heavily on imported goods for much of their consumption needs,” it said.

UNCTAD said maritime supply chain stakeholders including container lines, ports, inland transport providers, customs and shippers “should work together to share information and make maritime transport more efficient”.

“In the face of these cost pressures and lasting market disruption, it is increasingly important to monitor market behavior and ensure transparency when it comes to setting rates, fees and surcharges,” it said.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/shipping-rate-surge-threatens-global-492211

Ships in Chinese waters are disappearing from tracking systems following the introduction of a new data law in China, frustrating efforts to ease bottlenecks that are snarling the global economy, according to three shipping sources directly impacted.

China’s Personal Information Protection Law, which came into effect on Nov. 1, has added to a raft of new rules designed to increase government control over how domestic and foreign organizations collect and export China’s data.

Although there are no specific guidelines on shipping data in the regulations some domestic providers in China have stopped giving information to foreign companies as a direct consequence of the new rules, the sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The data is relied upon to provide information on cargo volumes and helps optimize logistics by predicting congestion so companies can make key decisions on shipping routes.

MarineTraffic, a top global provider of ship tracking and maritime intelligence, is among those foreign companies now experiencing gaps in vital shipping location data from China, where much of the world’s supply of manufactured goods and some industrial commodities come from.

“If this continues, there will be a big impact in terms of global visibility especially as we come into the busy Christmas period with supply chains already facing huge problems all over the world,” said Anastassis Touros, AIS network team leader at MarineTraffic.

“All of a sudden we do not know when ships are leaving and from where, and we also don’t have the full picture on port congestion which AIS offers us.”

The so-called Automatic Identification System (AIS) provides the locational positions on ships. It is used by other vessels, ports, and many other organisations from banks and traders to search and rescue operations.

From Oct. 28 to Nov. 15 the level of terrestrial shipping data across all Chinese waters was estimated to have dropped 90% according to market intelligence and valuations provider VesselsValue.

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https://www.marinelink.com/news/chinese-data-law-adds-global-shipping-492179

Cargo ship HONG YUN DA 58 issued distress signal and reported sinking due to water ingress, at around 0100 Beijing time Nov 17 some 2 nm off southern coast of Nangan island, Matsu islands, southern East China sea, east of Fuzhou. At 0130 Master reported that the ship is sinking, 11 crew abandoning the ship into life rafts. Joint Taiwan-China SAR operation was launched, with deployment of SAR ships. By 0540, all 11 crew were rescued, 2 by Taiwanese SAR, 9 by Chinese SAR, all are safe. They’ve been already transported to Fuzhou.

New FleetMon Vessel Safety Risk Reports Available: https://www.fleetmon.com/services/vessel-risk-rating/

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https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2021/36157/chinese-cargo-ship-sank-fuzhou-11-crew-rescued/