International Report – Page 3 – Pacific Maritime Magazine

Asia-Pacific Countries Prepare to Tackle Marine Plastic Litter

The International Maritime Organization announced Sept. 20 that the first regional task force meeting for Asia-Pacific countries in a major international project to help reduce marine plastic litter from maritime transport and the fishing sector has been held in Busan, South Korea. The meeting brought together 20 participants from 10 countries, according to the IMO. The countries discussed potential joint regional activities where lead partner and partnering countries would establish bilateral and multilateral twinning activities based on the problems and commonalities identified to address the global issue of sea-based marine plastic litter. The Regional Task Force meeting was sponsored by the…

New TT Club CFO Takes Over

EeLain Ong has taken over as chief financial officer for international freight transport and logistics insurer TT Club, the London-based firm confirmed in August. Ong’s appointment was announced in April. She then shadowed outgoing CFO Julian Chowdhury for the months prior to his retirement. As CFO of the specialist mutual insurer, Ong’s challenges, according to the company, will include achieving business plan profit targets via operational efficiencies focused on simplifying and automating processes along the insurance value chain. “TT is fortunate to have in EeLain someone of vast and varied experience so suited to the Club’s structure and nature of…

Panama Canal Expecting a Record Setting 2022-2023 Cruise Season

On Oct. 4, the Panama Canal announced the transit of Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Spirit, marking the start of the waterway’s 2022-2023 cruise season, during which the Canal is expected to facilitate more than 200 cruise ship transits over the next few months. Forty-four of the transits are expected to involve Neopanamax passenger vessels, which is 17 more than it anticipated in the 2019-2020 season that was cut short by the pandemic, and includes two transits by the Norwegian Encore, the sister ship of the Norwegian Bliss, the largest cruise ship to traverse the waterway. “We anticipate a record number…

CMA CGM Orders Biogas-Powered Ships to Serve French West Indies

During a recent trip to Martinique and Guadeloupe, CMA CGM Group Chairman and Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Rodolphe Saadé announced the rollout of seven new container ships powered by biogas to enhance and modernize services to the French West Indies. Set for delivery in 2024, the seven new container ships—four 7,300 TEU vessels and three 7,900 TEU vessels, each with 1,385 reefer plugs—will serve Guadeloupe and Martinique, significantly increasing services to the two islands, while also maintaining the same service standards, reliability and regularity, according to the French container shipping company. The vessels are slated to replace smaller ships that sail…

Yang Ming Names New 11,000 TEU Vessel

Container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport has added a new 11,000 TEU container vessel named YM Throne to its fleet. The vessel is chartered from Shoei Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. and was built by Imabari Shipbuilding Co. The naming ceremony for YM Throne took place at Imabari Hiroshima Shipyard in Mihara, Japan on Aug. 5, while Yang Ming’s attendees joined the ceremony remotely from their Taipei office. Hsieh-Lung Yeh, Director-General of the Maritime and Port Bureau, MOTC officially named the ship, while Shu-Chu Li, wife of Director-General of the Maritime and Port Bureau, MOTC performed the ceremonial cord-cutting. “To further…

Western Baltic Engineering Reveals Plans for 1st Electric Pusher

Lithuanian ship designer Western Baltic Engineering (WBE) is unveiling new designs for what it believes is the first ever electric pusher vessel for use on Europe’s inland waterways called the Electric Eel. In an announcement, WBE said the first electric pusher is due to be built next year for the Lithuanian Inland Waterways Authority, a public body operating under Lithuanian Government Ministry of Transport and Communications. “We are so excited to unveil this electric pusher design,” WBE’s Head of Sales & Marketing, Eglė Mikalauskienė, said. “The Electric Eel has huge potential to help cut carbon emissions on inland waterways across…

BASF, Samsung Collaborating on Carbon Capture, Storage for Maritime Vessels

South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) has reached an agreement with German multinational chemical company BASF for a collaborative feasibility assessment of capturing CO2 onboard maritime vessels using BASF technology for flue gas applications. The companies announced the agreement on Sept. 9. The scope of the collaboration includes a marinization study as well as engineering design and construction of the carbon capture unit. BASF will support with its expertise on floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) and with its own technology, contributing to sustainability by substantial energy savings compared with conventional technologies. SHI is to evaluate the feasibility of installing…

Shipping Industry Removing Indian Ocean High-Risk Area Designation

After more than a decade of counter-piracy operations, the shipping industry is removing the designated High-Risk Area (HRA) in the Indian Ocean. Notification of the removal, which would go into effect Jan. 1, 2023 was forwarded in an Aug. 22 submission the International Maritime Organization for the next meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee, which is scheduled to start Oct. 31. “The removal of the HRA reflects a significantly improved piracy situation in the region, largely due to concerted counter-piracy efforts by many regional and international stakeholders,” the International Maritime Organization explained in a statement. No piracy attacks against merchant…

Simplified Panama Canal Toll Structure Approved

The Cabinet Council of the Republic of Panama said on July 13 that it has approved a new Panama Canal tolls structure recommended by the canal’s Board of Directors, following a formal consultation and public hearing process. With this approval, the Panama Canal will assume a simplified, value-based pricing structure, reducing the number of tariffs from 430 to less than 60. “The proposal aims to strengthen the tolls structure in a way that is consistent with the value provided by the Canal transit service while providing greater visibility and predictability to customers,” Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez Morales explained. The…

New Port of Singapore Chief Executive Appointed

The Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, Quah Ley Hoon, is stepping down on Sept. 5 and will be replaced by Teo Eng Dih, who’s currently Singapore’s Deputy Secretary (Policy) of the Ministry of Defense. According to an Aug. 4 news release from the country’s Ministry of Transport, Teo will be appointed as chief executive (designate) of the port authority from Aug. 8 to Sept. 4 and take over as Chief Executive on Sept. 5. As Deputy Secretary (Policy) for the Ministry of Defense, Teo has been responsible for the ministry’s defense policy and diplomacy and…