BusinessNews

Hafnia Joins BW, Forming Top Product Tanker Player

By MarEx 2019-01-18 19:57:25

BW Tankers has completed its merger with product tanker operator Hafnia, acquiring Hafnia's assets, operations and name. Going forward, BW Tankers will be the surviving legal entity, but it will change its name to Hafnia. It will be managed by a mix of both companies' executive leadership, with commercial management located in Copenhagen (the former Hafnia's home base) and financial and technical management in Singapore (the home of BW Group). According to Hafnia, the combined firm is now the world's...

EIA: Sulfur Cap Effects Will Diminish Over Time

By MarEx 2019-01-16 19:36:03

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) has predicted that the effects of the sulfur cap on crude oil and petroleum product markets will be most acute in 2020 and will diminish over time. Set to go into effect January 1, 2020, the new IMO regulations limit the sulfur content in marine fuels used by ocean-going vessels to 0.5 percent by weight, a reduction from the previous limit of 3.5 percent. The change in fuel specification is expected to put upward...

Cyber Joins Business Interruption as Leading Global Risk

By MarEx 2019-01-15 21:01:55

In the wake of mega data breaches and privacy scandals, major IT outages and the introduction of tighter data protection rules in the European Union and other countries, cyber risk is now a core concern for businesses in 2019 and beyond. According to the Allianz Risk Barometer 2019, Cyber incidents (37 percent of responses) jointly leads with business interruption (37 percent of responses) as the top business risks globally. climate change (#8 with 13 percent of responses) and shortage of...

Wärtsilä Appoints Torsten Buessow to Lead Transas Division

By MarEx 2019-01-11 11:00:38

The technology group Wärtsilä has announced the appointment of former DNV GL executive Torsten Buessow as director of Wärtsilä's Transas business unit. He replaces outgoing leader Frank Coles, who departed Wärtsilä in October to take on the role of CEO at Wallem Group. Torsten joins Wärtsilä from DNV GL, where he worked for more than a decade, first as a VP of the company’s maritime software business unit and then as a VP of Fleet Performance Management, its maritime digital business unit. Before...

Harley Franco Cedes Control at Harley Marine

By MarEx 2019-01-10 19:52:00

Harley Franco has relinquished operational control of Harley Marine, the Seattle-based marine towing conglomerate he founded, handing off his management duties to the company's second-in-command. Effective today, Harley Marine board member and COO Matthew Godden has been appointed interim president, with authority over all personnel, financial transactions and operations, according to an internal memo to employees. Franco, who is still the company's CEO, will no longer be involved in day-to-day operations. Godden was one of two company directors who voted to oust Franco...

Planning Ahead for the Chinese New Year

By Dachser Intelligent Logistics 2019-01-10 15:20:07

By now, anyone doing business in the Asia markets is well into planning how the continuity of trade will work during the Chinese New Year (CNY) when virtually all business in China, including factories, closes down from one to four weeks. In 2019, CNY will begin on February 5. All suppliers will start to wind down operations one to two weeks in advance of the holiday. Mass production ceases, even for sample orders, far earlier than many buyers anticipate. Customarily, the Chinese...

ABS Opens New World Headquarters

By MarEx 2019-01-08 11:40:59

On Tuesday, ABS held the ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new global headquarters outside Houston, Texas. Anchoring the new CityPlace 2 development, the building is located at 1701 City Place Drive in the municipality of Spring, Texas, across the road from ExxonMobil's 380-acre Houston campus. The new ABS headquarters is a 10-story, 330,000-sq-ft building housing employees from ABS and its affiliated companies. “This is a significant milestone in our 157-year history and reaffirms our commitment to provide industry-leading safety and practical technology solutions for marine...

IN THE KNOW Podcast 7: Planning for Real-World Cyber Threats

By MarEx 2019-01-06 19:04:00

In this edition of "In The Know," the Maritime Executive Magazine podcast, we explore the serious liabilities that cyberattacks create for maritime companies of all types and sizes, from small family enterprises up to the largest conglomerates. To gain insight into the nature of these real-world threats to business, we spoke with three American experts: Gary Kessler, professor of cybersecurity and chair of the department of security studies and international affairs at Embry-Riddle; Andrew Lee, a partner at law firm Jones...

Blockchain and Cryptocurrency: 2018 in Review

By Sean M. Holt 2019-01-03 01:20:00

“What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust, allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party.” - Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin is dead…again. According to 99bitcoins.com’s “Bitcoin Obituaries”, Bitcoin has died 337 times since 2010 (91 times in 2018, alone). Despite the clickbait, this year has seen great strides for blockchain and distributed ledger technologies (DLT), particularly for the transportation and logistics...

A Force Awakens

By Sean M. Holt 2018-12-25 18:31:20

In a remote corner of the developing world, a third-party logistics (3PL) driver accepts the terms of a digital smart contract through a mobile app on his smart phone to pick up a refrigerated container of perishable flowers. Upon pickup, the driver scans QR codes on the documentation and a container connected to Internet of Things (IoT)-related sensor data – temperature, pallet-tracking, returnable packaging – thus accepting transfer of custody. The event is time-stamped with a network confirmation as the...