Free to Download - SCLG

More documents

Recommendations

Info

INTERNATIONAL News and 120-year-old giant clams. “If the Chinese crew are under any illusions that this is a minor incident, I’m sure that when they get off the boat and see what the world has to say they’ll understand a bit more clearly just how serious this is,” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said in a media statement. Full Investigation Australian Greens party leader Bob Brown called for a royal commission into the grounding of the coal ship after it strayed from a designated shipping area. There will be a full investigation, the Prime Minister had said following the spill. If there is a need to also look at other measures for the future, including a wider use of pilotage and the wider use of the vessel tracking system that applies in the northern parts of the Reef, then the government will he had said. Two tugs were in place stabilizing the carrier, according Maritime Safety Queensland General Manager Patrick Quirk. The Pacifi c Responder, a salvage and response vessel assisted with the oil transfer. Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that the government would carefully consider changing the rules for shipping through the Great Barrier Reef. He had announced that the government would consider extending a range of piloting and ship monitoring conditions that were put in place four years ago. “Changes were made back in 2006, I’m advised, by the previous government which took the pre-existing arrangements for pilotage and pre-existing arrangement for vessel tracking from the northern stretch of the Barrier Reef to include the Torres Strait. They did not at that stage extend that to the Southern Barrier Reef where of course this problem occurred with the Chinese vessel,” he said. The captain of the Shen Neng 1 that ran aground and leaked oil on the Great Barrier Reef has provoked anger by claiming the spill was not serious. Captain Wang Jichang complained that rescuers working to stop the stranded coal-carrier breaking up and spewing more oil, were using up its food and drinking water. After speaking to captain Wang, Brisbane’s Chinese Consul-General Ren Gongping told the media that the leakage was not serious as the captain could not see any oil on the water. Long term damage Peter Harrison, from Southern Cross University, has been studying oil pollution and other stress effects on corals on the Great Barrier Reef for more than 30 years. He said the dispersants being used to break up the slick and the oil that’s already leaked are a toxic combination that may cause long term damage. “Some of the oil products if they have become embedded into the reef structure could create some long term pollution and therefore reduce the effectiveness of coral spawning over the next year or so.” He said tidal and wave action will spread the oil and could drive it into the sediment and the surrounding reef. That may reduce the coral’s long term ability to reproduce. Following the spillage, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has fl agged an overhaul of measures to protect the Great Barrier Reef from environmental disasters. He was open to the idea of putting more pilots on cargo ships travelling near the World Heritage-listed reef. He said, he would also look at whether there’s a case to tighten laws to better protect an asset of global importance. Existing penalties allowed for fi nes of up to $5.5 million in such circumstances, and jail time of up to three years if a captain was found to be negligent, he announced. “My view is that the law must be fully and absolutely applied in these circumstances. Australians take the Great Barrier Reef very, very seriously,” he said. The Government would be “looking at the laws for the future” as a priority, and that he was also open to the idea of putting more pilots on large cargo vessels plying reef waters, the PM said. “Let’s see what the experts have to advise”. Maritime authorities say they’ve stemmed the oil leak but still fear the badly-damaged Shen Neng 1 could break up if the weather turns bad. Equipment was being fl own to the area so teams could begin pumping about 950 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 100 tonnes of diesel oil off the vessel and onto another ship. Oil had already been transferred within the ship from damaged tanks into secure ones. Authorities were still considering whether to try to offl oad 65,000 tonnes of coal, Premier Anna Bligh said. “If it is possible to refl oat the ship with the coal on board, that’s how it will be managed. But the calculations are still being undertaken by the salvage team,” she said. There was nothing illegal about its intended route, although it was not considered a preferred route. But the vessel strayed off course and ended up grounded in a restricted part of the marine park. “Navigating a ship through these waters is not rocket science,” Quirk said. “Any competent crew should be able to do that and we were just totally stunned to fi nd where she had gone aground.” The grounding happened outside the coverage area of a vessel tracking system, which would have alerted authorities about the ship straying off course, Quirk added. Asked if he’d support an expansion of the tracking system he said: “There’ll be a number of recommendations to Government and we’ll be very forceful in upping our risk management of this area.” Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has called for a royal commission into the grounding, saying there’s emerging evidence of ships laden with toxic cargos taking short cuts through reef areas. 52 Link May 2010
News INTERNATIONAL West-to-East VLCC trade picks up West-to-East VLCC (very large crude carrier) trade is gaining momentum contributing to almost 16.8 per cent of overall VLCC demand in 2009, compared to 13 per cent the previous year. VLCCs saw 39 per cent increase in demand in West Africa and India trading and 35 per cent gain in Americas and Asia trades, offsetting the losses on other major trades, US-based analyst McQuilling reported. The popularity of the West-to-East trades that gained momentum through 2009 has provided signifi cant tonne-mile demand for an otherwise over-supplied VLCC market, said the report published last week. According to analysts, the crude oil trades in particular from West Africa and the Americas to India and the Far East, have seen year-on-year growth that took off in the fourth quarter and prompted a rally in the spot freight rates that has yet to fi zzle out. “As these trades continue to consume a greater portion of the fl eet, losses on other major trades are largely being offset by this long-haul’s emergence.” “With updated data refl ecting actual tonne-mile demand through 2009, we were able to validate our commentary regarding changing VLCC trading patterns,” it added. The traditional “front-haul” TD1, moving crude between Arab Gulf and US Gulf, lost more than 28 per cent of its demand since 2008, slipping from a 16.4 per cent share of total VLCC business to 12.2 per cent in 2009. Besides, the TD4 trade from West Africa and the US lost 28 per cent of its demand, emphasizing the detrimental impact of the US recession on domestic liquid fuels imports. In contrast to these losses, VLCCs, the report said, saw an increase in West Africa and India trades, Americas and Asia trades, and West Africa and Asia trading (12 per cent). These traditional “back-haul” West-to- East trades combined to take a 16.8 per cent share of VLCC demand in 2009, up from a 13.3 per cent share in 2008. “These results lead us to question the industry’s definition of the ‘front-haul/backhaul’, highlighting that TD1 now commands a lesser share of VLCC demand than the West- to-East trades at 12.2 per cent versus 16.8 per cent. To be fair, most of North America was mired in recession last year while economies in the East continued to grow,” it said. Although the hard demand data for 2010 is not yet available, the analysts said they can attest to the West-to-East trade’s growing resilience given current spot fi xture records. “We track VLCC fi xtures on these routes up 92 per cent year-to-date from the same period last year. This points to the growing demand for liquid fuels in China and India, along with expansions to Reliance’s refi neries whose Jamnagar complex now boasts the world’s largest capacity at 1.24 million barrels per day,” it added. May 2010 Link 53
Page 2 and 3: EDITOR’S NOTE EDITORIAL Group Man
Page 4 and 5: SCLG INFO SCLG MEMBERSHIP Corporate
Page 6 and 7: GCC News RMM Global FZCO at DAFZA a
Page 8 and 9: GCC News Khalifa port operations to
Page 10 and 11: GCC News World’s largest airport
Page 12 and 13: COVER STORY Transportation that the
Page 14 and 15: Transportation COVERSTORY switching
Page 16 and 17: COVER STORY Transportation assumpti
Page 18 and 19: TRANSPORT Bridging the divide Despi
Page 20 and 21: TRANSPORT Bridging the divide To ma
Page 22 and 23: MANAGEMENT Information Technology E
Page 24 and 25: OVERVIEW Connecting people Taking s
Page 26 and 27: Connecting people OVERVIEW UAE’s
Page 28 and 29: OVERVIEW Connecting people for rail
Page 30 and 31: INNER VIEW Destination DP World por
Page 32 and 33: IN FOCUS Expert Talk Transforming y
Page 34 and 35: IN FOCUS Expert Talk Automating man
Page 36 and 37: IN FOCUS Expert Talk Coordinating w
Page 38 and 39: REAL REPORT Consumerism 4PLs introd
Page 40 and 41: Consumerism REAL REPORT The fundame
Page 42 and 43: REAL REPORT Consumerism being made
Page 44 and 45: INTERNATIONAL News JAL to suspend f
Page 46 and 47: INTERNATIONAL News Container shippi
Page 50 and 51: INTERNATIONAL News Airlines boost c
Page 52: THE LIGHTER SIDE Obama’s rules }C

Free to Download - SCLG

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?