shipping

World losing battle against piracy:

Somali FM

The world is losing the battle against piracy, the Somali transitional government's foreign minister warned on Monday in Dubai as he and other officials emphasised that the solution to piracy lies on land.

"The race between the pirates and the world is being won by the pirates," Mohammed Abdulahi Omar Asharq told a counter-piracy conference in Dubai.

"Consequently the status quo view that manages acts of piracy is no longer a viable strategy. It is equally clear that piracy can only be uprooted on land, where it grows and persists," Asharq said, appealing for international aid.

"The world has so far only responded with containment. This is not productive, or effective, or practical, or morally defensible," he said.

The Beluga Nomination Ship which was attacked North of the Seychelles on January 22 with 12 crew members on board made a smooth sail into the Kenyan port of Mombasa on April 18. At least one crew member was killed by pirates and two others managed to escape in a lifeboat. The German Cargo Ship was freed four days ago after unspecified amount of ransom was paid to the Somalia pirates. The Antigua and Barbudan flagged ship was headed to South Africa with a consignment of yachts at the time of hijacking. AFP

"The international community must make the urgent and necessary investment in the Somali security forces to build up the capability of the state and to establish its national authority.

"Without this twin strategy of military authority and political reform and reconciliation," which Asharq said the transitional government is also pursuing, "we cannot end the consequences of the civil war in Somalia." "And unless we do so, we will not resolve the causes of piracy." Augustine Mahiga, the UN secretary general's special representative for Somalia, also emphasised that the solution to Somali piracy must be on land.

"Piracy is one of the consequences of a prolonged, two-decade political crisis in Somalia," Mahiga said.

"The approach to it must first and foremost be political. It has been underscored this afternoon that there cannot be a military solution," he said.

"When we address root causes in Somalia, we don't have to wait for peace to come full-fledged," he said, noting that "we can begin to address some key areas of development in areas of relative stability such as Puntland and Somaliland."

United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said that "any actions taken in the field of countering piracy would not be effective unless essential changes in security and stability on land in Somalia are made."

And Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, the chairman of giant ports operator DP World, which co-sponsored the conference with the UAE foreign ministry, also said that a prosperous and peaceful Somalia is the long-term solution to the problem of pirates based there.

"The current international focus is in finding near-term, offshore solutions for the piracy menace," Sulayem said. But "it is increasingly clear that the community of nations needs to be thinking also long-term, and on shore.

"This is because stable, prosperous economies are the only effective, enduring solution to piracy, which feeds on the lack of opportunity to make honest money, the lack of structure, the lack of security, and the lack of hope for a stable future," he added.

While the solution is ultimately a stable Somalia, there remain serious challenges to establishing peace in a country that has been torn by decades of civil war, since the 1991 overthrow of president Mohamed Siad Barre.

Fighting continues in Somalia, with the fundamentalist Shebab insurgent movement controlling large swathes of the country, though it has lost ground in recent weeks to an offensive by African Union and pro-government forces.

Mahiga also noted that a lack of dialogue between various Somali political actors, and bickering among political leadership, remains problematic.

International naval forces including those from the United States, NATO, the European Union and a number of other countries have since 2008 been tasked with hunting the pirates, but have clearly not ended the problem.

The two-day conference in Dubai opened just days after maritime watchdog the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said that worldwide pirate attacks in the first three months of 2011, driven by Somali pirates, were the highest ever at 142.

Piracy has made shipping increasingly perilous off the Horn of Africa, and its costs have been extensive.

Ron Widdows, the president of Neptune Orient Lines and chairman of the World Shipping Council, estimated the yearly cost of piracy to the shipping industry at "3.5 to maybe upwards of eight billion dollars." Dubai , AFP

China Shipping unveils LA Port facility improvements

China Shipping Holding Co. on Monday unveiled $47.6 million worth of improvements as part of its ongoing, multiphase terminal expansion at the Port of Los Angeles.

The latest round of upgrades include a new 925-foot section of wharf, 18 additional acres of backland and four container cranes that will increase the amount of cargo processing at the shipping terminal.

An access bridge was also built, connecting the China Shipping and Yang Ming terminals as a way to improve truck access between the two facilities.

"The completion of this critical phase allows for the berthing of two ships simultaneously and positively positions China Shipping and the port for considerable growth opportunities," said Li Shaode, chairman of the China Shipping.

The entire $206.5 million China Shipping expansion project, set for completion in 2014, calls for building 2,500 feet of new wharf and doubling the entire terminal's size to 142 acres, port officials said.

When completed, the expanded terminal is expected to handle up to 1.5 million cargo containers annually, generating 8,400 jobs throughout the region.

Additionally, the project is expected to result in a 52 percent reduction in smog-forming nitrogen oxides, more than 70 percent less particulate matter and a 95 percent reduction in sulfur oxides, which come from ship exhaust fumes, according to the project's environmental impact report. China Shipping "is a global company that has made a major financial investment in Los Angeles to significantly grow its business using the cleanest technology available," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

China Shipping opened a 75-acre terminal at the Port of Los Angeles in June 2004, but the terminal operator ran into a series of legal hurdles that prevented any kind of meaningful expansion.

A coalition of homeowners and businesses had complained that the project's initial environmental review was incomplete. To make up for that, port officials took a second look at work already completed on the terminal, along with the proposed expansion plan.

The Los Angeles City Council approved a $22.2 million settlement with China Shipping in 2005 to cover the costs of a two-year delay in opening the company's terminal. The port also agreed in 2003 to pay for $50 million worth of environmental improvements in the Harbour Area as part of a settlement with community groups.

After six years of delays and litigation, China Shipping's expansion plan was approved in December 2008 by the Board of Harbour Commissioners, the five-member civilian panel that oversees the Port of Los Angeles.

"Its partnerships like this one with China Shipping that allow the port to grow smartly and efficiently while creating jobs and opportunity throughout the region," said Geraldine Knatz, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles.

"This expansion enables China Shipping to continue its remarkable growth and better serve its customers around the world," she said. dailybreeze.com

Rough seas for shipping industry emissions agreement

Depending on how it's spun, recent shipping industry meetings on controlling greenhouse gas emissions through market-based trading schemes either made "steady progress" or no progress at all.

The International Maritime Organization characterized the meetings of the third inter-sessional meeting of the Working Group on Greenhouse Gas Emissions that ended early this month in London as making steady progress.

The meeting was attended by more than 200 experts. A major topic centred on the "compelling need and purpose" of developing market-based measures (MBMs) as potential mechanisms to reduce GHG emissions from international shipping. The Working Group was also tasked with evaluating a feasibility study and impact assessment by an Expert Group of several possible measures proposed by governments and observer organizations.

The Expert Group study also assessed the impact of proposed MBMs on, among others, international trade, the maritime sector of developing countries least developed countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), as well as corresponding environmental benefits.

Following the completion of that study, IMO said some of the proposed MBMs "have been combined or further developed by their respective proponents."

In addition the meetings this month featured an "extensive exchange of views" on the desirability of MBMs in relation to what they might provide: certainty in emission reductions or carbon price; revenues for mitigation, adaptation and capacity building activities in developing countries; and incentives for technological and operational improvements in shipping.

The upshot is that all of these views and advice will be pushed along the bureaucratic pipeline to determine next steps, including "further in-depth examination of the impact of MBMs on developing countries."

MBM proposals on the table range from a contribution or levy on all CO2 emissions from international shipping or only from those ships not meeting the requirements of the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) via emission trading systems, to schemes based on a ship's actual efficiency, both by design and operation, based on the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan.

The EEDI and SEEMP are technical and operational measures aimed at reduction of GHG emissions from ships. They have been circulated for voluntary use by IMO and for further discussions on making them mandatory under the MARPOL international shipping convention.

Lost in the shuffle of the alphabet soup diplomatic discussion is an apparent split between developed countries that are calling for various options-including emissions trading schemes, global levies or fuel efficiency trading credits and developing nations that contend they should have less responsibility for cutting emissions. Steady progress or impasse? It seems unlikely that a set of concrete MBMs that nations agree upon is possible by the time the Working Group must report its conclusions in July. triplepundit.com

NC study looks at pros, cons of shipping industry

A wide-ranging study of the maritime business in North Carolina will examine how shipping goods by sea can create more jobs and encourage economic development.

The StarNews of Wilmington reported Tuesday that the North Carolina Department of Transportation will spend $1.7 million in to gauge the potential for enhancing the state's maritime business.

Results aren't expected until February. But groups already are lining up on both sides of the issue based on a proposed megaport in Brunswick County.

Yes Port NC has come out in favour of the fact-finding mission, while Save the Cape has criticized the state for spending money on the study.

DOT strategic initiatives coordinator Roberto Canales said the 600-acre international port proposed near Southport will be just one aspect of the study. AP

Pirates accused of breaking deal to free Indian crew

The owners of a Panama-registered ship captured off Somalia last year have criticised pirates for failing to release all of the Indian crew with the vessel after a ransom was paid.

An agreement was reached with the pirates last week and an undisclosed ransom was paid to free the ship and sailors, all of whom are Indian nationals, according to the ship's Mumbai-based manager OMCI Ship Management.

Eight crew members were released with the vessel, called Asphalt Venture, but seven were still being held by the pirates.

"The owners of the Asphalt Venture have expressed deep disappointment over the pirates reneging on their word," OMCI said in a statement released on Sunday.

"The vessel is in Somali waters. The owners appeal to the pirates to honour their word and immediately release the six officers and one crew member.

"All owners of other ships hijacked by pirates which are still captive in Somalia will lose faith in the negotiation process unless those taken from the Asphalt Venture are returned immediately and allowed to sail with their fellow seafarers."

The MT Asphalt Venture was sailing from South Africa to the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was captured off the Tanzanian coast on September 28 last year. The vessel, a bitumen-asphalt tanker built in 1991, is owned by United Arab Emirates company Bitumen Invest and managed by OMCI Ship Management in Mumbai.

Global watchdog the International Maritime Bureau has said that world-wide pirate attacks in the first three months of this year were at the highest ever at 142.

A total of 97 attacks were recorded off lawless Somalia in the first quarter, up from 35 in the same period last year. AFP