New quality standard and ngo for dry bulk sector launched
Supported by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and Bimco, DryBMS is escribed as a simple set of best practices and key performance indicators intended to raise the bar on safety, environmental and operational excellence. The standard is a product of extensive collaboration with many stakeholders within the dry bulk sector, said RightShip ceo Steen Lund. The rapid delivery of the initial consultation document means that we are a step closer to providing consistent, meaningful safety expectations for the dry bulk industry. This is an important step, not only for the industry, but for the sector as a whole,” commented Dimitrios Fafalios, chairman of Intercargo. We are all collaborating in a scheme that is being developed by the industry and for the industry, which will deliver a truly robust standard with the buy-in of those that the industry relies upon to implement and support it.
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77 pc of shipping businesses used charter flights
Research conducted by ATPI Marine Energy among participants at the CrewConnect 2020 virtual event showed that 90percent of shipping businesses were rethinking the way crew changes were conducted. In terms of the logistics around crew change there was a huge shift towards the use of charter flights, something rarely seen in the movement of seafarers prior to 2020. Some 77 percent of shipping business representatives surveyed said that they had made used of charter flights in 2020 for crew change. Looking into plans for 2021 over a third of respondents were considering the use of charter flights either independently or through industry collaborations. During the height of the first wave of the pandemic in 2020, ATPI Marine & Energy worked hand-in-hand with industry associations to operate charter flights to reduce the number of seafarers stranded at sea for long periods of time, outside contracts,” said Jochem Hemink, head of sales shipping Europe and Asia at ATPI Marine & Energy. Significant repatriation efforts at a previously unthinkable scale are now part of the day to day fabric of our industry when it comes to ensuring crew can safely join vessels and return home again. For shipping businesses this means changing how crew rotations are planned and tackled, ever increasing costs, and developing new areas of expertise. Not surprisingly the survey also found costs for crew change had increased since March 2020. Of those survey 32 percent expect crew change to costs 20 – 40 percent more this year, while 28 percent believe costs will increase by 10 – 20 percent.
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Container cargo rollovers at major ports increase 75percent in December
Average rollover rates at ports surveyed by Ocean Insights increased to 37 percent in December and in some ports went past the 50 percent mark. The level of rollovers is calculated on the basis of percentage of cargo from a line that left port on a different vessel than originally scheduled. The figures from Ocean Insights illustrate the impact the collapse in demand in the first half of last year followed by a 30 percent surge in demand in the second half of 2020, and a resulting shortage of containers that has left shippers scrambled for equipment to ship their goods in. Of the 20 global ports for which Ocean Insights collates data, 75 percent saw an increase in the levels of rollover cargo in December compared to the previous month, said Ocean Insights coo Josh Brazil. Major transhipment facilities such as Port Klang in Malaysia and Colombo in Sri Lanka recorded 50 percent or more of cargo delayed, with the world’s largest transhipment hub in Singapore and leading primary ports such as Shanghai and Busan rolling over more than a third of their containers, last month. At the top end Port Klang in Malaysia saw a 9 percent increase in rollovers to 55 percent, and Gioia Tauro in Italy saw some 62 percent of cargoes rolled over in December.
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Philippines expands temporary crew change ban to 33 countries
According to the Philippine Port Authority (PPA) Pakistan, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Oman, and the People’s Republic of China are the most recent countries to be added to the list which bars foreign seafarers from disembarking the Philippines. The temporary ban was put in place to combat the spread of the new variant of Covid-19 found in the UK and South Africa. All vessels coming from the mentioned countries within 14 days from January 1 to 15 shall be disallowed to conduct any kind of crew change activity in any of the 6 crew change facilities in the country, namely: PPA’s Manila South Harbor, Port Capinpin in Bataan, Batangas Port, and Sasa Wharf in Davao as well as CPA’s Port of Cebu and SBMA’s Port of Subic,” PPA said. While the temporary ban only applies until the 15 January 2021, its expansion just days from the deadline would put an expectation the deadline could be extended. For Filipino national seafarers arriving from the 33 listed countries in the last 14 days disembarkation is not prohibited, however, is only allowed in the Port of Manila with transfer by shipping agents to dedicated facilities for a strict 14-day quarantine.
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China merchants port handles record high container volume
In the first quarter of 2020, the container throughput volume of China Merchants Port was down by 5.6 percent compared with the same period of last year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Container cargo volumes started to rebound from the second quarter and achieved 122m teu as the end of 2020, an increase of 7.8 percent year-on-year. The company’s mainland China ports posted 85.76m teu container volume, Hong Kong and Taiwai posted 7.14m teu and overseas terminals posted 28.78m teu. Operated by China Merchants Port, Shenzhen west port area, Zhanjiang port, Shantou China Merchants Port all reported growth in container volumes for 2020. The bulk cargo throughput of China Merchants Port was 450m tons in 2020.