WORLDWIDE – MISC Berhad, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), Lloyd’s Register (LR) and MAN Energy Solutions have announced that they will work together on a joint development project for an ammonia-fuelled tanker to support shipping’s drive towards a decarbonised future. The creation of the alliance has been motivated by the partners’ shared belief that the maritime industry needs leadership and greater collaboration if shipping is to meet the International Maritime Organisation’s…

US – NETHERLANDS – ITALY – Maria Christina ‘Meta’ Ullings, the former Senior Vice President of Cargo Sales and Marketing for Martinair and a Dutch national, has been extradited from Italy to the US to face charges for her alleged role in a long-running worldwide conspiracy to fix prices of air cargo. The decision however has sent waves of dissent amongst many in the logistics industry who feel it has…

DJIBOUTI – UK – DUBAI – If the court battle between DP World, the international ports and logistics operator, and the government of Djibouti over the Doraleh container terminal was a test match series, by now the latter’s captain and selectors would have been dismissed, their supporters quit and quite possibly many fans suicidal. This however, is not about a game of cricket. Having both formulated and signed a contract…

EUROPE – WORLDWIDE – The row over the EU Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER), the device whereby shipping lines are allowed to exchange information and to co-operate so that they can provide ‘consortia services’ to and from EU ports, continues to brew, with global container carriers firmly in the centre of the controversy. In November the International Transport Forum called in a report for the CBER to be allowed to…

AUSTRALIA – It appears that, whilst dock workers in New South Wales press on in the effort to support those stricken by the horrendous bush fires sweeping the region, 4,000 kilometres to the west members of the same workers’ grouping, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), have gone on strike in a dispute over working agreements. From the night of Sunday January 12 around two hundred MUA registered wharfies at…

UK – WORLDWIDE – We start the appointments and departures this week with the sad news of the demise of a stalwart of the UK maritime and logistics insurance industry with the recent death of Peter Lole, who carved out a niche in the industry and was, by all accounts, universally liked by those throughout the shipping sector who had dealings with him. We make no apologies in publishing one…

AUSTRALIA – This week’s short pieces of freight and logistics news bring an announcement that a three-year project to design, manufacture and test the country’s first yellow submarine will begin next month. The fully reconfigurable Australian Research Experimental Submarine (ARES) will be used for hydrodynamic and crew efficiency testing of future submarine designs. A full business case is still being finalised ahead of the kick-off meeting in Adelaide, South Australia,…

NETHERLANDS – EUROPE – CANADA – A row is brewing over the so called ‘Dockers’ Clause’, an amendment to the internationally agreed contracts between unions and maritime employers which set out all aspects of work to be undertaken with regard to the loading and crewing of ships. The amended clause (Article 4, Non-Seafarers Work) which applies to all International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) approved agreements, was signed in February 2018…

BELGIUM – EUROPE – WORLDWIDE – European Shipping Week will take place this year between the 17th – 21st February and the list of Flagship Conference speakers is a who’s who of some of the big hitters in the shipping industry and associated sectors. The Conference, to be held on 20 February 2020, will feature a range of speakers from the European institutions, national governments, the wider shipping community and…

FRANCE – Rather than being a revolutionary way to press one’s shirts, ‘cold ironing’ is in fact a sensible way to eliminate auxiliary engine emissions from vessels whilst on berth, thereby improving air quality and reducing noise pollution. This week the Port of Dunkirk saw a new such service inaugurated, with the call of the CMA CGM container ship APL Singapura. The visit of the 13,892 TEU box ship to…