Shipping

CASA brings shipping to University level

Shipping industry gets new boost in maritime education

In marking a landmark evolution in maritime education, Ceylon Association of Ship's Agents (CASA) has succeeded in bringing Commercial Shipping into University level by convincing the Colombo University to conduct a special degree program in 'Transport Economics and Commercial Shipping'.

The inaugural ceremony of the stream of specialist in "Transport Economics and Commercial Shipping" was held recently at the Colombo University, attended by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Kshanika Hirimburegama, Prof Indralal de Silva, Prof Sirimal Abeyratne, Prof Amal Kumarage (University of Moratuwa) who was the Guest Speaker and Dr Athula Ranasinghe among other officials of the University.

CASA was represented by Jayantha Rathnayake (Committee Chairman of Training & Development of Ships' Agency Personnel), Nimal Perera (Executive Committee Member/Committee Convenor) and Dhammika Walgampaya (Secretary General).

A CASA spokesman said this is the first time in Sri Lanka a degree course is conducted covering subjects relating to Commercial Shipping which plays a vital role in the economy of Sri Lanka by shouldering almost 100 percent of international trade of the country.

Professor Amal Kumarage,Professor Indralal de Silva, Professor Kshanika Hirimburegama,Dr.Athula Ranasinghe,Professor Sirimal Abeyratne,Jayantha Rathnayake (CASA) Training and Development Committee Chairman) and Dhammika Walgampaya (CASA/Secretary General). (Inset) Nimal Perera (CASA/Ex Co) addressing the gathering.

CASA has been lobbying this idea with the Colombo University for sometime and finally the Department of Economics of the Faculty of Arts agreed to introduce a stream in 'Transport Economics and Commercial Shipping' under its Economics Special Degree Program. Those who select new course as their field of specialization would have lectures covering subjects relating to Commercial Shipping in their third year and the first half of the final year.

In addition to that, the students would be given practical training for a period of three months, attached to shipping companies.

Resource personnel to cover shipping related subjects are expected to be arranged by CASA and the Colombo University and is expected to sign a MOU in this connection with CASA.

As per CASA, the objective of this move by CASA, is to bring university level professionalism into the field of shipping and at the same time helping universities to produce employable graduates.

Shipping group CMA CGM saved by creditors

Heavily indebted CMA CGM, the world's third-biggest shipping group, has received a lifeline from its creditors in exchange for a management reorganization.

After weeks of intensive discussions, 63 creditor banks agreed at a meeting at the French finance ministry to provide the group with loans worth 500 million dollars (348 million euros), a company spokesman said.

The agreement, to take effect next month, will enable CMA CGM to deal with its obligations and to avoid having to undergo a court-mandated safeguard procedure.

The company is saddled with debt of 5.0 billion dollars. But in exchange for the loans, CMA CGM has agreed to replace its current supervisory board with a board of directors.

CMA CGM, one of the leading private sector employers in the southern French port city of Marseille, is a family-owned business headed by its founder, Jacques Saade.

If Saade in the planned re-shuffle becomes chairman, he will be responsible for company strategy only. Operational responsibilities will be given to chief executive Philippe Soulie, who until July had headed a company that manufactures escalators, according to the spokesman.

CMA CGM, which employs 16,500 people worldwide, is also to get two new directors, Denis Ranque, former chairman of engineering group Thales, and Christian Garin, head of the professional shipping association Armateurs de France.

The group's immediate task is to complete negotiations with South Korean shipbuilders on CMA CGM's request to delay delivery of 49 ships scheduled for delivery by 2012, the spokesman said. AFP

Oceans becoming nosier thanks to pollution

The world's oceans are becoming noisier thanks to pollution, with potentially harmful effects for whales, dolphins and other marine life, US scientists said in a study published Sunday.

Low-frequency sound in the ocean is produced by natural phenomena such as rain, waves and marine life, and by human activities such as sonar systems, shipping and construction.

The sound is absorbed mainly through the viscosity of the water and the presence of certain dissolved chemicals, said the report published in the science journal Nature.

But the concentration of chemicals that absorb sound in the oceans has declined as a result of ocean acidification, in turn caused by rising concentrations of carbon dioxide.

Rising levels of carbon dioxide come from human activity such as shipping, with the number of ships roughly doubling over the past 40 years, the scientists said.

This was in turn increasing the acidity of the ocean, shown by a lowering of its pH levels, they said.

Using model simulations, the scientists found that increases in acidity could reduce seawater sound absorption by as much as 60 percent by 2100 in high latitude oceans. Concern about the negative effect of the sea's increased acidity had previously been concentrated on the reduced rate of calcification, such as in coral reefs.

"However, a less anticipated consequence of ocean acidification is its effect on underwater sound absorption," the authors said.."A decrease in seawater pH lowers sound absorption in the low-frequency range and, as a result, leads to increasing sound transmission."

Future global warming due to an accumulation of greenhouse gases may further decrease the ocean's sound absorption capacity at certain frequencies, the study said.

"High levels of low-frequency sound have a number of behavioural and biological effects on marine life," it added.

This included tissue damage, mass stranding of mammals such as whales and temporary loss of hearing in dolphins associated with military tests using intense mid-frequency sonar, the report said. Marine species had adapted to varying levels of noise but the consequences of the sea's decreased ability to absorb sound were uncertain and required further research, the scientists said. AFP

Dubai World buys into Russian port hub -official

Russian authorities on Monday gave the go-ahead for a unit of the troubled Dubai World conglomerate to buy a 25-percent stake in the management company at a major port on Russia's Pacific coast.

Vostochny is a warm water port and one of the largest transport hubs in eastern Russia - close to Chinese, Japanese and South Korean markets. The Vostochny company is majority owned by Russian steel magnate Alexei Mordashov.

"The purchase by DP World, that is to say Dubai World... of 25 percent in the Vostochny port management company controlled by Alexei Mordashov has been approved," said Igor Artemyev, head of Russia's anti-monopoly commission.

The value of the investment was not disclosed.

Russia has boosted exports to its Asian neighbours since the collapse of the Soviet Union - mainly in the form of oil and gas - but trading volumes are still estimated to be at only a fraction of their potential.

DP World ran into fierce opposition in the United States in 2006 when its purchase of British ports operator P&O would have led it to run key ports including New York and Miami. It later sold P&O's US operations.

Also on Monday, government-owned Dubai World began talks with its lenders over its request to restructure 22 billion dollars (15 billion euros) in debt.

The emirate rocked global markets last month when it requested a six-month freeze on debt payments by the group in order to restructure it.

Dubai's economy grew at a rapid rate over the past years, on the back of a real estate boom, but it was hard hit by the global economic crisis which caused a shortage in available finance for the emirate's ambitious projects. AFP