IMO pledges to continue work on GHG emissions

IMO notes that, to date, it is the only organization to have adopted energy-efficiency measures that are legally binding across an entire global industry and apply to all countries. Mandatory energy efficiency standards for new ships, and mandatory operational measures to reduce emissions from existing ships, entered into force under an existing international convention (MARPOL Annex VI) in 2013. By 2025, all new ships will be 30% more energy efficient than those built last year.

“This is more than a target, it is a legal requirement, and demonstrates that IMO is the correct and only forum to identify solutions and an appropriate pathway for international shipping to de-carbonize with the rest of the globe,” says IMO.

Continuing efforts will include:

  • development of a global data collection system for ship’s fuel consumption to be discussed in detail at the next meeting of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee in 2016,
  • further consideration of a total-sector reduction target for GHG emissions from international shipping as proposed by the Marshall Islands in 2015, and
  • continued investigation of additional mechanisms for ships to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

During COP21, IMO provided an update of its work to address GHG emissions from bunker fuels used for international shipping.

Specifically, IMO reported on its work on guidelines to support the uniform implementation of the regulations on energy-efficiency for ships; and on its efforts with regard to technical co-operation and capacity-building to ensure effective implementation and enforcement of the new regulations worldwide and, activities to support  technical cooperation and transfer of technology for improving the energy efficiency of ships.

With what is now “a clear imperative for IMO’s Member States to rise to the challenge set by the Paris Agreement,” Secretary-General Sekimizu says, “I now encourage Governments to bring the spirit of the Paris Agreement to IMO and come forward with new, creative proposals and to approach them in a constructive and cooperative manner.”

Mr. Sekimizu says that the challenge set by the Paris Agreement also extends to ship designers and marine engineers to develop the technological solutions, to those who operate and manage ships, to seafarers and those who educate them and, importantly, to the business of shipping, which needs to ensure that investment in innovative low carbon technologies is properly incentivised.

 

Blount Boats building Chicago tour boat

DECEMBER 14, 2016—This past summer, Blount Boats, Inc., Warren, RI, signed a contract to build a 100 ft x 35 ft steel passenger tour boat for Shoreline Sightseeing Co., Chicago, IL.  The

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First 18,000 TEU box ship is on its way to U.S.A.

The vessel will later call at the Port of Oakland on December, 31.

CMA CGM  Group Chairman and CEO Jacques R.Saadé made the decision to deploy an 18,000-TEU capacity vessel to the U.S.

CMA CGM will be the first carrier to call at a U.S. port with vessels of this size. It says it reflects its faith in the long-term growth potential of the U.S. economy and its commitment to increasing its U.S. market share.

A pioneer in deploying large-capacity vessels to the U.S., the CMA CGM Group has been working closely with the Ports of Los Angeles and Oakland to ensure there is sufficient infrastructure to support an 18,000 TEU vessel.  It says it looks forward to working with other ports throughout the U.S. as they begin similar assessments of their infrastructure.

CMA CGM  offers 23 shipping lines connecting the U.S. to the rest of the world and employs more than 800 people in the U.S. through its subsidiary CMA CGM (America) LLC.

The U.K. flagged CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin will be deployed on the Pearl River Express, a service connecting the main China ports, including Xiamen, Nansha and Yantian, with the U.S. West Coast ports.

The 399.2 m x 54 m vessel was delivered December 4 by shipbuilder Shanghai Jiangnan Changxing Heavy Industry Co., Ltd.

NASSCO launches first SEA-Vista ECO tanker

SEA-Vista is a partnership between SEACOR Holdings Inc. and private equity firm Avista Capital Partners. Its ships will be operated by SEACOR subsidiary Seabulk Tankers, Inc.

The Independence is a 610-foot, 50,000 deadweight-ton, and LNG-conversion-ready Jones Act product tanker with a 330,000 barrel cargo capacity. Construction on the ship began in November 2014.

As part of the ceremony, the ship’s sponsor, Mrs. Allison Moran, CEO of RaceTrac Petroleum, christened the ship with a traditional champagne bottle break over the ship’s hull. Mrs. Jayne Rathburn, former CEO/owner of US Joiner, pulled the trigger to release the ship into the San Diego Bay.

“General Dynamics NASSCO shipbuilders are revolutionizing the future of American shipping with the concept and construction of innovative, cost-saving, and environmentally-sound vessels,” said Kevin Graney, vice president and general manager for General Dynamics NASSCO. “When delivered, these ECO Class, Jones Act-qualified tankers will be among the most fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly tankers anywhere in the world.”

“We are pleased to complete this important milestone for the first in a series of three fuel-efficient, ECO Jones Act product tankers that will be delivering into the SEA-Vista fleet and operated by Seabulk Tankers, Inc,” said Daniel J. Thorogood, president and chief operating officer for Seabulk Tankers, Inc.

For its commercial work, NASSCO partners with South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), for access to state-of-the-art ship design and shipbuilding technologies.

 

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Two indicted in “magic pipe” case

Oceanfleet Shipping Limited is a Greek shipping company that operates the 29,513 dwt Liberian-flag general cargo ship M/V Ocean Hope.

The two engineering officers indicted are the vessel’s Chief Engineer, Rustico Yabut Ignacio, 65, of the Philippines; and the Second Engineer, Cassius Flores Samson, 51, of the Philippines.

According to the indictment, in 2015 Samson bypassed pollution prevention equipment with an unauthorized hose connection, or “magic pipe,” to discharge oil sludge generated by the M/V Ocean Hope directly into the sea. Samson also ordered crew members on numerous other occasions to pump oily mixtures from the vessel’s bilges into the sea using the ship’s general service pump rather than processing these mixtures through the vessel’s pollution prevention equipment.

To hide the illegal discharges, Ignacio and Samson allegedly maintained a fictitious oil record book that failed to record the disposal, transfer, or overboard discharge of oil from the vessel. The oil record book also contained false entries stating that pollution prevention equipment had been used when it had not.

The indictment further alleges Ignacio and Samson ordered subordinate crew members to lie to the U.S. Coast Guard during an inspection in Wilmington, NC. The crew members were allegedly instructed to deny knowledge of the connection of the pipe used discharge sludge and to tell the Coast Guard that Oily Water Separator had been used as required under international law to process oily mixtures before discharge when they knew it had not.

Both engineering officers were charged with violating the federal Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to record overboard discharges in the vessel’s oil record book, conspiracy for their agreement to violate federal law, obstruction of justice for presenting false documents intended to deceive the Coast Guard and witness tampering for ordering subordinate crewmembers to mislead and lie to the Coast Guard.

Samson was also charged with false statements and obstruction of justice for lying to Coast Guard inspectors about the discharges.
The U.S. Coast Guard, Sector North Carolina, investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Banumathi Rangarajan with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina and Trial Attorneys Shane N. Waller and Brendan Selby with the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section are prosecuting the case.announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Shipping not in COP21 agreement: Now what?

Be that as it may, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) says it “greatly welcomes” the agreement and that “the shipping industry remains committed to ambitious CO2 emission reduction across the entire world merchant fleet, reducing CO2 per tonne-km by at least 50% before 2050 compared to 2007.”

Despite the absence of an explicit reference to shipping, ICS says that the message from the world’s governments is clear.

“I am sure IMO Member States will now proceed with new momentum to help the industry deliver ever greater CO2 reductions, as the world moves towards total decarbonization by the end of the century” said ICS Secretary General, Peter Hinchliffe.

ICS will engage meaningfully in discussions at IMO, expected to begin in earnest at a critical meeting in April 2016, about the possibility of agreeing a CO2 reduction target for shipping. ICS is also pushing for IMO to finalize a global CO2 data collection system for ships, which ICS would like to see mandatory as soon as possible, prior to IMO deciding on the necessity of additional actions such as a developing a Market Based Measure.

ICS says that dramatic CO2 reductions from shipping will only be guaranteed if further regulation continues to be led by IMO.

ICS notes that, as a result of the Paris Agreement, developing nations such as China and India have accepted responsibility to curb their emissions alongside developed economies, however, the agreement retains the principle of “differentiation” that allows different parties to offer different levels of commitment to reducing CO2.

“CO2 is a global problem and shipping is a global industry” said Peter Hinchliffe. “IMO is the only forum which can take account of the UN principle of ‘differentiation’ while requiring all ships to apply the same CO2 reduction measures, regardless of their flag state. Unilateral or regional regulation would be disastrous for shipping and disastrous for global CO2 reduction, whereas IMO is already helping shipping to deliver substantial CO2 reductions on a global basis.”

ICS says that the complexity and scale of the Paris Agreement means that many of those involved may be disappointed by certain aspects, including the absence of explicit text referring to international shipping. At the start of the negotiation, ICS had hoped there might have been an acknowledgment of the importance of IMO continuing to develop further CO2 reduction measures, applicable to all internationally trading ships, and implemented and enforced in a uniform and global manner.

“Time finally ran out to agree a compromise on international transport acceptable to all nations, but nothing is really lost. No text is probably preferable to some of the well intentioned words being proposed at the very end of the conference which few people understood and which could have actually greatly complicated further progress at IMO” said Mr. Hinchliffe. “The Member States at IMO are the same nations that were present in Paris, but with officials that have a deep level of maritime expertise. Intensive work at IMO will continue with the global shipping industry’s full support.”

The European Community Shipowners Association also welcomed the agreement.

“Following the adoption in 2011 of measures to increase the energy efficiency of the industry, the agreed next step is a global data collection system of CO2 emissions”, said Patrick Verhoeven, Secretary General of ECSA, “The governments in IMO will resume discussions on such a system in April next year, with the aim of ascertaining the real contribution of international shipping to global CO2 emissions. We strongly encourage all parties to ensure that these discussions lead to the establishment, as soon as possible, of a mandatory data collection system.”

Once the data collection system is in place, the IMO will be able to decide on steps ahead.

“Together with our partners in the International Chamber of Shipping, we are ready to positively contribute to this process” said Mr. Verhoeven. “We hope that the European Parliament as well as civil society will join us in supporting Member States and the Commission to seek a global partnership in the IMO, as no regional solution could ever guarantee global emission reductions nor a global level playing field for shipping. The EU has adopted regulation that is meant to facilitate and precipitate a global solution for CO2 emissions from ships. It is now time to translate these commitments into a global agreement.”

Chesapeake Shipbuilding adds to leadership team

With more than 20 years of engineering and maritime experience, Mr. McGee will oversee vessel design from preliminary conceptual design to complete Coast Guard and regulatory approvals.

Chesapeake Shipbuilding currently has on staff five naval architects and two engineers.

“McGee’s experience in various positions with the U.S. Coast Guard, including Hull Division Chief at the Marine Safety Center and former Officer in Charge, Marine Inspection, is a valuable asset we look forward to having on our team,” said Charles A. Robertson, President and CEO. “His rock solid reputation in the maritime industry will be critical for the retention and expansion of our customer base.”

Mr. McGee holds a bachelor’s degree in naval architecture and marine engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a master’s of science in both naval architecture and marine engineering as well as aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan.

Chesapeake Shipbuilding designs and builds steel and aluminum commercial vessels primarily between 100 and 400 feet. The shipyard has upgraded its production capacity significantly in recent years, by acquiring additional land, building two new hull fabrication buildings and investing in additional automated equipment.

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Indian shipyards get their subsidies back

The industry was hit hard by the ending in 2007 of a subsidy scheme that had helped Indian shipyards edge up from the tenth place in the world shipbuilding league table (0.4% market share) in 2006, to fifth position (1.1% market share) in 2009. Since then, India has plunged to eleventh position (0.6% market share).

A plan for Indian yards to build three of nine LNG carriers required by state owned GAIL to import LNG from the U.S. has gone nowhere and yards have put all their focus on the defense sector.

India has been struggling to come up with a replacement for the previous scheme since 2008. Wednesday, the Cabinet approved a ten year, $600 million scheme

According to Indian business publication Mint, the financial assistance (it.s no longer called subsidy) to shipbuilders – both state-owned and private – will be for 10 years.

“The quantum of aid will come down by three percentage points every three years, starting with 20% for the first three years, 17% for the next three years, 14% for the next three years and 11% in the 10th year,” according to Mint.

The assistance will be given on the contract price or fair price, whichever is lower. The shipbuilding policy approved by the cabinet also includes granting tax incentives and infrastructure status for the shipbuilding and ship repair industry.

It further grants a so-called right of first refusal for Indian shipyards for government purchases, whereby local shipbuilders can take up state-funded contracts by matching the lowest price quoted by an overseas entity in a public auction.

The assistance will be given for all types of ships, though smaller boats and fishing vessels are not included in the scheme.
Both state-owned and private yards will get the assistance only after they construct and hand over to the ship to the buyer.

Bollinger promotes Brent Blackburn

 

“Brent has been a key contributor to Bollinger’s success in leading our proposal and estimating efforts on the major governments programs the company has pursued over the years,” said President and CEO Ben Bordelon.

“His leadership and management skills will assist in guiding the continuous success of our engineering department.”Mr. Blackburn has over 16 years of experience in the U.S. shipbuilding and maritime industry.  He joined Bollinger in 2004 working in various key engineering, estimating, and proposal roles mainly focusing on the company’s government programs.  

Mr. Blackburn’s career began as a Project Engineer in Bollinger’s engineering group and he has risen steadily through the engineering and technical design departments.  In 2014, he was promoted to Technical Manager, a position that solidified and proved his abilities, skills, and overall knowledge in managing projects and priorities.