SHIPPING

Pioneer of Indian Register of Shipping visits Dockyard

Indian Register of Shipping Chairman Capt J.C. Anand, made a courtesy call to Colombo Dockyard PLC (CDPLC) on July 11.

During his visit, he unveiled a commemorative plaque of IRS Classed Vada Tharakai II, the 100 Passenger Launch built by CDPLC for the Road Development Authority, which transfers thousands of commuters from the Jaffna peninsula to Delft Island.

He was accompanied to the Shipyard by C. Sri Rama Murthy, P.K. Mishra, D.V.D. Prasad Rao and Lalith Alahakone all of Indian Register of Shipping. Chairman Akihiko Nakauchi, MD and CEO Mangala P.B. Yapa and a host of senior managers of Colombo Dockyard received him and exchanged views for further strengthening of cooperation and sharing of technical expertise between the two organizations.

It was CDPLC who first entrusted IRS with the great responsibility of ‘Plan Approval’ through ‘Survey during construction’ of the Passenger Launch ‘Vada Tharakai II’ and this visit of Capt J.C. Anand to Sri Lanka after IRS achieving full classification membership of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), is yet another courtesy bestowed to Sri Lanka and its fast growing shipping and maritime industry.

For the passenger launch Vada Tharakai II, IRS provided the full gamut of services from total plan approval to continuous inspection during construction from the initial lay up of the keel to delivery, paying attention to achieving the highest standards of safety, quality and reliability.

India, is growing at a rapid pace and has the vision to be a major player in the shipping and maritime sector. Senior stalwarts in the industry in the likes of Capt J.C. Anand charter the course of the industry to achieve the sectoral growth targets in order to meet national developmental goals.

Over the years, CDPLC has been actively contributing to augment and supplement this vision and plans of India, through our active participation in the ship repair and ship building and setting up new industry benchmarks and best practices, increasing competitiveness in the industry between the two countries.

This mutual cooperation between the two countries in the shipping and maritime sector made IRS open up its first overseas office in Sri Lanka in 1998, especially to cater to the increased amount of survey work, on most of the ship repairs and shipbuilding projects generating from Indian ship owners.

Over the past years, IRS has performed countless number of numerous statutory inspections, surveys and certifications and being stationed in Colombo, the yard has immensely benefited by their quick deployment capability.

Our relationship with IRS which started off with Ship repairs, later on moved on to the Shipbuilding arena too.

The first Specification Survey of a Shipbuilding Project was carried out by Venu Gopal on Tug Boats Yard Nos. NC/153 to NC/157 built for Sri Lanka Ports Authority during the years 2000 and 2001, where he assisted the Shipyard in carrying out various surveys and reviews in order to ensure that the shipyard meticulously achieve the requirements identified in the specification.

In 2006 and 2007, IRS played a pivotal role in the building the first Dual Class Vessel in Sri Lanka. This was for the construction of a series of four numbers 80 Ton Bollard Pull Anchor Handing Tug Supply Vessels for Greatship (India) Limited, where two classification societies performed the inspection and survey works, independently on the project.

IRS played yet another important role in the building of the first Passenger Vessel in Sri Lanka in 2007 and 2008. In this project, the IRS played a bigger role in the Design Development, Construction and Commissioning of the Vessel.

The project consisted of construction of a series of two numbers 250 Passenger cum 100 Ton Cargo Vessels namely ‘Arabian Sea’ and ‘Lakshadweep Sea’ for the Government of India. Both these vessels were successfully completed and delivered meeting stringent quality and safety standard requirements applicable for Passenger Vessels and enabled CDPLC to keep intact the confidence placed by the Government of India in awarding this prestigious contract to CDPLC.

Subsequently a number of more IRS dual classed 78 m Multi Purpose Platform Supply Vessels were built. All in all, since 2007, IRS has been involved in the inspection and survey of more than ten large vessels at Colombo Dockyard and through all these projects, has immensely contributed to uplift the standards of our shipbuilding.

With Sri Lanka becoming a dynamic maritime and logistic hub in this region, the Indian Register of Shipping is focusing its fullest attention towards further enhancing their active presence in Colombo.

It was under these developments, that the IRS Committee in Sri Lanka was inaugurated and CDPLC was recognized by the invitation to take-up the chair of the ‘Sri Lanka Committee of IRS’. Colombo Dockyard MD and CEO Mangala P.B. Yapa hence took up the Chairmanship, which is indeed a historical landmark and recognition of the progress Sri Lanka’s shipbuilding and maritime fraternity has achieved over the past decades.

GSF rejects attempt to impose Bunker Levy Charges on shippers

The Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF) announced that it will oppose any steps by the global shipping industry to impose a bunker levy on shippers as the means of raising money to fund an environmental compensation scheme to meet their climate change responsibilities to reduce carbon emissions.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) last week unveiled plans to develop a bunker levy scheme that it said could collect billions of dollars from the maritime industry.

The ICS says it will lobby the IMO to accept such a scheme as a means of heading off regional regulation, including emissions trading schemes.

Commenting on the ICS’s bunker levy plans, GSF Secretary General Chris Welsh said:

“At its inaugural Board meeting in Leipzig Germany on 27th May, the GSF Board said it would welcome and support a voluntary shipping industry initiative to reduce carbon emissions through the IMO, but the shipping industry must take direct responsibility for setting and achieving a clear target for reducing its carbon emissions. Shipowners need to introduce a rigorous scheme targeting operational efficiencies and other measures to reduce shipping carbon emissions.

“Merely passing on shipping carbon costs to their customers via a bunker levy not only removes shipowner accountability but will not reduce carbon emissions.”

“The shipping industry should move quickly in setting up a voluntary carbon reduction scheme and in winning political support for this. The GSF would strongly back such an approach and would join the shipping industry in a campaign to secure the support of governments and member states within IMO,” Welsh said.

Many shippers are taking positive measures to decarbonise their supply chains through Chapter 3 provisions of the Green House Gas Protocol.

GSF members are closely collaborating on a new project to decarbonise the maritime supply chain from the shippers’ perspective.

The outputs from the project will provide a series of tools to allow shippers to take positive steps to reduce their total maritime supply chain carbon emissions.

Thawing Arctic opens new shipping routes on the ‘roof of the world’

An increasing amount of seaborne traffic is moving along a new Siberian coastal route, cutting journey time and boosting trade prospects.

Cold is the new hot in shipping circles as melting sea ice opens up prospects for trade between China and the west to move across the roof of the world.

An increasing amount of seaborne traffic is beginning to move on the so-called Northern Sea Route which traverses the Siberian coast. There are also hopes of opening up more of the North West Passage above Canada. The attraction of the voyage is that it is one-third of the distance of more traditional routes through the Suez Canal. This means less carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions and less fuel. It also means less pirates. Attacks on ships off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden have become so severe that some owners are already using longer sea routes around South Africa to avoid conflict. Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest nickel producer, has just broken new ground by carrying ore from the Arctic port of Dudinka to Rotterdam in Holland.

Two tankers owned by Murmansk Shipping, the Varzuga and Indiga, loaded with 27,000 tonnes of petroleum, recently moved through the ice-thinned passage from Murmansk to Chukotka in the Russian far east.

Sovcomflot, Russia’s major shipowner, took one of its 70,000-dead weight tonnage tankers from Russia to the far east on this route. And another state-owned Russian company, Atomflot, says it is handling more inquiries than ever before for east-to-west voyages transiting the north coast of Siberia.

Atomflot provides the nuclear-powered icebreakers that are currently required by the Russian government to escort the growing number of cargo vessels braving the journey. Meanwhile the Russian authorities are still trying to decide what to do about dumped radioactive materials left along the route.

The Tsivolka Inlet on Novaya Zemyla has been used as a burial ground for nuclear reactors such as the one from the first atomic-powered icebreaker, the Lenin.

The shipowners believe that this route could gradually be open for transit up to four months per year as air and sea temperatures increase. But they also foresee a world ahead when vessels can take a direct east-west route right across the north pole.

Viktor Basargin, Russian regional development minister, has said that cargo shipments via the North Sea Route could rise from its current level of 3m tonnes annually to 30m “in the near future.”

Canadian and American maritime experts say 2 percent of global shipping could be diverted to the Arctic by 2030, rising to 5 percent by 2050.

Already cruise ships are bringing tourists and income to countries such as Greenland. But they are also raising concerns about safety and pollution from oil spills.

(Guardian Co.UK)

Damco scouts for India acquisitions in freight forwarding

The logistics unit of the AP Moller-Maersk Group, is exploring acquisitions opportunities in India so as to expand its freight forwarding business in the country.

The Indian acquisition is on the back of the better economic in the containerised cargo segment, which is growing at 12 to 15 percent annually.

Lars Sorensen, South Asia CEO of Damco, said, “This year, we will be making investments in the warehousing space and also expand our freight forwarding business inorganically.

We will look at a player with an Indian base and with a significant presence in air and ocean freight. As a group, last year our net profit was about $5 billion, so the size of acquisition is not a worry for us,” he said.

Its wholly-owned subsidiary in India, Damco India, operates in supply chain management, freight forwarding, ocean freight forwarding, warehousing and trucking space.

The segments such as retail, heavy engineering, FMCG and automobile garner the maximum revenues to Damco India.

Shipping Corp worried over decline in iron ore exports

New Delhi: The fall in the iron ore exports on the duty surge has affected the miners and also causing worry to the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) about the prospect of bulk sector, which contributes almost 70 percent to its turnover.

Sunil Thapar, Director (Bulk Carrier and Tanker Division) of Shipping Corporation of India, said, “If iron ore trade is reduced, what will I take out from India? I am committed to bring coal to India for Coal India and SAIL.

If iron ore is not available to be taken out, then what do I do? That’s why I am a bit worried about reduction of iron ore export. This is a worrying factor for me.”

From March onwards, the duties on fines and lump shipments have been surged to 20 percent from 5 percent and 15 percent, respectively.