Shipping News - The Maritime Executive

Washington Maritime Blue Picks First Innovation Accelerator Cohort

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-14 18:39:00

After reviewing over 100 applications, Washington Maritime Blue, the Port of Seattle, and WeWork Labs are excited to announce the 11 companies selected to participate in a highly competitive, impact-focused maritime accelerator that will launch in January 2020, with a formal launch event to be held on the evening of January 21. In October, Maritime Blue, the Port, and WeWork Labs announced their plan to launch Washington’s first maritime accelerator to help spur the innovation necessary to build a thriving maritime economy for...

CMA CGM Accelerates Deployment of Biofuel

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-13 19:12:51

The CMA CGM Group has announced a partnership with Shell to supply tens of thousands of tons of marine biofuel to its fleet. The fuel will allow the Group's ships to travel nearly one million kilometers, equivalent to over 80 round-trips between Rotterdam and New York. In 2019, successfully tested the use of a marine biofuel onboard the container ships CMA CGM White shark and CMA CGM Alexander von Humboldt. The fuel used is composed of 80 percent low...

Climate-Change Activists are Targeting the Wrong Industry

By Erik Kravets 2019-12-13 19:02:11

Anger, panic and despair define environmentalism in 2019. Fridays for Future, the school strike that drove more than one million minors to participate in upwards of 2,000 protests in more than 125 countries according to its organizers, pilloried politicians and heaped scorn on businesses. They were both accused of having bloody hands vis-à-vis the imminent climate-death of Planet Earth. Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish national, stoked and channeled the rage of...

Guardians at the Gate

By Paul Benecki 2019-12-13 18:53:13

Class societies provide a vital service by ensuring vessel safety from the design phase through construction and throughout the ship’s lifespan. Thanks to the technical expertise they’ve gathered by performing this function, they’re well-positioned to help shipowners adapt to technological and regulatory change. As trusted third parties, they act as neutral keepers of the industry’s knowledge and provide independent advice on best practices. Today, more than ever, these roles make class critical as shipping undergoes its “big data” revolution and...

MSC Responds to Emissions Concerns

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-13 18:06:30

MSC has reaffirmed its commitment to decarbonization following the release of a report from environmental NGO Transport and Environment that estimates MSC is the eighth-largest single carbon emitter in Europe. MSC has recently started using biofuels and says it is strongly committed to further reducing CO2 emissions. “While continuously increasing its TEU capacity to meet the growing demand, MSC operates a modern, green fleet and is investing heavily in low-carbon technologies and extensive newbuild and retrofit programs to boost...

Crowley’s LNG-Fueled ConRo Ships Named Significant Boat of the Year

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-13 00:21:39

Crowley Maritime Corp. and subsidiary Jensen Maritime, the company’s Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm, were honored with the 2019 Significant Boat of the Year Award during the International Workboat Show in New Orleans last week. This award recognizes the company’s industry-leading combination container/roll on-roll off (ConRo) ships, MV El Coquí and MV Taíno, the first of their kind powered by LNG. Workboat’s recognition of the ConRos as tops among its annual Significant Boats honorees marks the first time...

All 15 Yamal LNG Icebreaking Tankers Operational

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-11 18:23:24

With the LNG tanker Yakov Gakkel now in operation, Yamal LNG has all 15 new Arc7 ice-class LNG tankers specifically built for the project. The Yakov Gakkel, operated by Teekay, loaded the 354th LNG cargo in the port of Sabetta this week. She is bound for China. Like her sister ships, the 299 meter long, 97,000dwt vessel can carry up to 172,600 cubic meters of LNG and can break through two meter ice. The ships have been designed by Aker...

German Shipowners Question E.U. Green Deal

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-11 17:58:38

The European Commission presented The European Green Deal, a roadmap for making the E.U.'s economy sustainable, on Wednesday. The idea is to make the transition just and inclusive for all, but German shipowners have raised concerns about plans to extend European emissions trading system to the maritime sector. The CEO of the German Shipowners’ association (Verband Deutscher Reeder, VDR), Ralf Nagel, says: “Germany’s shipping sector has understood what is at stake now and in future and wants to make...

COP25: Biofuels Offer Short-Term Benefits

By The Maritime Executive 2019-12-11 16:50:59

The Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) has launched the report The Role of Sustainable Biofuels in the Decarbonisation of Shipping at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) currently underway in Madrid. The report indicates that biofuels derived from biomass may be an attractive option for the shipping sector and can be used as a feedstock to produce alcohol fuels such as ethanol and methanol, liquified bio-gas (LBG) or bio-diesel. However, biofuels have also proven to be highly controversial, with questions raised...

Hell on Water

By Charlie Bartlett 2019-12-10 20:43:11

In the early hours of the morning on May 24, an explosion was heard and a fire identified on the South Korean-flagged, 1,585-TEU KMTC Hong Kong as she sat quayside in Laem Chabang, Thailand. The fire spread throughout containers understood to be carrying noxious substances. From across the river, a video was recorded and uploaded to YouTube showing a thick column of smoke becoming a sequence of plumes as devastating explosions...