NORWAY – WORLDWIDE – Anyone who has seen the detritus gathered around the corners of wharves and docks, or seen the miles of discarded nylon gill nets which can kill fish and other creatures as they drift the oceans, will welcome a new global project to prevent and reduce marine plastic litter from shipping and fisheries. It has been launched by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) together with the Food…

WORLDWIDE – As part of a series of initiatives aimed at bringing greater transparency to fuel costs resulting from the new IMO 2020 low-sulphur regulation, maritime advisory, statistics and research group Drewry has published its first low-sulphur reference bunker index tracker. Drewry says that in recent months, both shippers and forwarders have expressed confusion and concern over the timing and transparency of the new charges being introduced by carriers as…

EUROPE – Freight forwarding and supply chain group CEVA Logistics has been awarded a multi-year contract to provide the central and northern European regional logistics services to Ideal Standard, Belgium-headquartered bathroom solutions group, and a familiar name all over Europe. Within the framework of the new collaboration, CEVA will operate a 17,375m2 regional distribution centre located in Bielany Wroclawskie in south western Poland capable of handling up to 150,000 pallets…

CHINA – UK – Lloyd’s Register (LR) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s biggest shipbuilding group, China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), to jointly study, research and develop marine equipment and technology. The MoU, which has been signed at the start of Marintec 2019, will include research into zero-emission vessel projects, trends and applications for meeting the IMO’s 2050 decarbonisation target. The partners will look to jointly establish…

DENMARK – SINGAPORE – It seems since its acquisition by DP World in August last year Aarhus headquartered short sea cargo and container feeder specialist Unifeeder has not allowed the grass to grow under its feet. With a plethora of new services, including some emanating from its parent company’s port terminals, the company has now itself acquired a 77% stake in The Feedertech Group, a Singapore based feeder and short…

INDIA – UK – WORLDWIDE – It is ten years to the day since we published an article deploring the terrible practices employed by ship breakers on third world beaches such as Alang in India, and over twelve years since the Indian Supreme Court made an order regarding how the problems of this deadly trade could be controlled. Now it seems someone may actually be taking notice. Last week the…

SPAIN – WORLDWIDE – This week sees the start of COP25 in Madrid, the UN Climate Change Conference which runs until December 13. With fisheries and aquaculture supporting 10-12% of the global population, marine ecosystems and coastal areas are at the very top of the agenda, and this naturally brings ocean shipping into the debate from the start of the discussions. One major line to sign up to the world’s…

WORLDWIDE – There can surely be nobody associated with the ocean shipping sector who remains unaware of the incoming mandatory sulphur cap which will come into force in less than a month at the start of the New Year. Now however a genuine concern as arisen prompted by members of the maritime professionals’ union, Nautilus International which may leave crew member open to prosecution. The Union has been told by…

UK – WORLDWIDE – What is traditionally a UK only event goes global this year as the 2020 everywoman in Transport & Logistics Awards will include an International Inspiration Award, awarded to a woman working outside of the UK and Ireland who is a role model for women in her community. There will also be a whiff of nostalgia as these, the thirteenth occasion of the awards which set out…

UK – WORLDWIDE – Thomas Miller, which manages such maritime insurance luminaries as the UK P&I Club and TT Club, also numbers some perhaps lesser known names within its portfolio of companies, one of which is the International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC), which specialises in indemnity insurance for professionals associated with the transport and logistics industry. Appropriately ITIC uses the slogan ‘…because everyone makes mistakes’ and this week it has…