Month: March 2021

Amid an alarming trend of containers lost overboard, the Swedish P&I Club has published a 32 page guide offering guidance on planning and loading the containers. According to the Club’s statistics, the main reason for containers being lost overboard is related to container vessels navigating in heavy weather, combined with crew failure to reduce speed and/or alter course to avoid it or alleviate its effect. The reasons can often be attributed to a series of multiple failures, rather than a single cause, but raising awareness of these issues to both ship and shore staff will serve to prevent accidents from happening.

The guide also notes that other common factors are
– Containers not being correctly stuffed or declared by the shipper;
Continue reading “Key loss prevention tips for containers lost overboard published in new guide”

A new white paper from the Sustainable Shipping Initiative sets out 13 sustainability issues and principles surrounding low and zero carbon marine fuels which are under consideration as part of shipping’s energy transition.

The paper, defining sustainability criteria for zero and low carbon marine fuels, says attention must be paid to the lifecycle sustainability of bunker fuels, and its principles are intended to feed into the development of industry standards and third-party certification schemes ‘to assure and facilitate the selection of – and demand for – sustainable marine fuels’.

The sustainability principles and criteria are intended to be used by stakeholders across the shipping value chain ranging from shipowners; fuel producers and suppliers; Continue reading “Sustainable Shipping Initiative publishes white paper for the use of new marine fuels”

The leading worldwide professional body for marine surveying, the International Institute of Marine Surveying, has launched a standalone professional qualification in marine corrosion. The qualification comprises 10 modules and is offered separately from the Institute’s two award-winning professional qualifications in marine surveying.

The course that supports the qualification is entitled ‘Marine Corrosion and Prevention in Small Vessels, Ships and Offshore Structures‘.

The programme has been written primarily with marine surveyors in mind, those whose job it is to inspect, understand and report on corrosion and is pitched at education level 4/5.

Who should study for this qualification?

The professional qualification in marine corrosion is intended for marine surveyors of yachts and small craft, ships and offshore structures. It is also relevant for design engineers, material specifiers, other professional engineers and students of marine science and engineering.

IIMS Chief Executive Officer, Mike Schwarz, said, “IIMS has made a significant investment to bring the Professional Qualification in Marine Corrosion to market. This is one of the most important new initiatives from the Institute since the award-winning IIMS Diploma in marine surveying was launched 20 years ago. Corrosion remains the one aspect of marine surveying where knowledge is vital. It is apparent that many people still have an insufficient depth of knowledge about corrosion and I expect this Professional Qualification will appeal to many.”

More information and a detailed Prospectus are available at http://bit.ly/39PG3qG.

Leading Classification Society ClassNK has released “Guidelines for Remote Surveys Ver. 2.0” including a class notation requirement for the ship with advance preparation for remote surveys.

ClassNK has been working on the advancement of surveys using digital technology in line with its R&D roadmap and Digital Grand Design 2030, and published the guide. Incorporating outcomes of investigation and examination for providing the standards in the application of remote surveys to ensure reliability equivalent to conventional witness surveys with transparency, the guidelines have described the types of surveys that can be applied, the types and amounts of information required for remote surveys, and the requirements for the use of ICT.

In the Ver. 2.0, ClassNK has made revision for the clarification of selection of equipment and communication infrastructure, and the class Continue reading “ClassNK updates its Guidelines for Remote Surveys”

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has published the latest flag state performance table (2020/2021) which finds that many of the largest flag states, including the Marshall Islands, Hong Kong (China), Singapore as well as the Bahamas and Cyprus, continue to perform to an exceptionally high standard, with traditional flags and open registers performing equally well.

ICS Secretary General, Guy Platten, says: “The flag state performance table clearly indicates that distinctions between ‘traditional’ flags and open registers are no longer meaningful. Alongside several European registers, and flags such as Japan, we have seen many open registers amongst the very top performers”. Continue reading “Latest flag state performance table published by International Chamber of Shipping”

RightShip and INTERCARGO have announced the launch of an important new quality standard for the dry bulk sector, DryBMS. The standard will be governed by a new NGO to be established later this year and will support the improvement of safety in the dry bulk segment.

Both organisations have strongly and consistently advocated the need for significant improvements to dry bulk safety standards. In August 2020 both organisations combined their expertise to create a single framework for the whole industry. Supported by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and BIMCO, DryBMS now exists as a simple set of best practices and key performance indicators and raises the bar on safety, environmental and operational excellence.

Continue reading “New quality standard DryBMS to be launched for the dry bulk sector”

After a highly volatile 2020, leading shipbroker Simpson Spence Young (SSY) looks at the next 12 months and highlights areas of particular interest in their 2021 Outlook Report. The report looks at various drivers of the shipping markets, including how the developing emissions regulations may affect commercial fleets and shipping investments.

Contributions come from a range of senior research and broking experts and cover dry bulk, tanker and gas freight markets; shipping investments, CO2 emissions, FFAs, metals and energy derivatives. Together, they give a taste of what to look out for in 2021. Continue reading “Simpson Spence Young publishes its 2021 Outlook Report”

In the midst of digital technology continuously changing the landscape of the international shipping industry and how ships are operated, market leading developers of smart water quality monitoring technology, Rivertrace Limited, has published a new white paper on digitalisation. If offers expert insight into the evolution of smart water quality monitoring technology and electronic reporting methods.

Entitled ‘Maritime Industry 2.0: The Future is Digital’, the white paper explores key milestones passed in the shipping industry’s digital transformation journey to-date and examines how traditional, manual methods for monitoring and record keeping are evolving towards the greater use of electronic documentation, supported by digital monitoring equipment. Continue reading “New digitalisation white paper published by Rivertrace”