Irresponsible shipowners have been a danger to ... - Grimaldi Group

XXXXXXXXXXX ediTorial
Contents
2 Guido Grimaldi, an innovator
4 A generous man and
a kind father
7 “Grande Togo” christened,
“Eurocargo Genova” delivered
8 Siim Kalls at AET
9 New era in Ancona‑Greece
maritime links
10 New Livorno‑Catania ‑Malta
service launched
Irish Minister of Defence
visits the “Grande Senegal”
11 Grimaldi receives the
Ford Q1 certification
12 Honda recognises ACL
Beninese Minister visits
the m/v Grande Benin
13 News
14 Agent List
15 Schedules
- Mediterranean Short Sea Network
- Finnlines (Baltic & North Sea)
- Atlantic Network
- ACL
- Euro Med Network
Gr imaldi
NE WS
Direttore Responsabile / Editor in Chief
Luciano Bosso
Progetto grafico /Graphic design
Marco Di Lorenzo
Pubblicazione trimestrale
Quarterly publication
Reg. Trib. Napoli n. 5150 del 26/9/2000
Stampa / Print: ROSSI srl - Nola (Napoli)
Circulation 34,500 copies
Printed on 1st October 2010
GRIMALDI GROUP
Via Marchese Campodisola, 13
6 GNE WS80133
NAPOLI (Italy)
Grimaldi News can be seen on
line on www.grimaldi.napoli.it
Time for Europe to act
Irresponsible shipowners have been a danger to life, limb and property ever since man
first took to the sea in ships, but rarely can the dangers posed by the sub-standard owner
and his sub-standard vessel have been so various or threatening as they are today.
As world trade has expanded, so too has the world fleet. The boom that came before the
crash provided an opportunity for fleet replacement and many far-sighted, responsible owners
took the opportunity offered by surging profits to order new ships and despatch older
vessels to the breakers’ yard.
Yet many did not. Even now, the world’s oceans are full of vessels in excess of 30 years of
age, or even 40, which is surely well past any reasonable retirement age. While the age of
a ship may not correlate exactly with its quality, it is also true that, as vessels age, necessary
maintenance becomes more critical and more costly. Some owners are simply not
prepared for the investment, whether in money, time or organisation, that keeping their ship
safe entails.
And yet the need to focus on the structural integrity of the fleet has never been more acute.
As shipowners, we have a responsibility to our crews, who trust us to maintain, at a very
minimum, the standards of training and vessel quality required under international regulation.
This need is pressing at a time when attracting bright young people to our industry
is increasingly difficult. For those of us who carry passengers, there is a similar need to
ensure we meet our customers’ expectation that our ships are state-of-the-art in every way.
As citizens, we also have a responsibility to the marine environment, and to the children
and grandchildren who will inherit the seas we leave behind. Of all the transport modes,
shipping may be the most environmentally friendly, but that does not mean we have done
all that we can do.
As we debate new emissions standards and work to develop and implement energy efficiencies
both onboard and ashore, the continuing employment of old, sub-standard tonnage
is both an affront to those of us fighting to make a difference, and paying the cost,
and a blow to our chances of reducing shipping’s impact on the environment.
At Grimaldi, we have been fighting the good fight for some time, working to cut energy use
across the company, collaborating on research projects to develop new, environmentally
beneficial technologies, and ordering state-of-the-art new ships to replace older vessels.
As a result, the 87 ships in the Grimaldi fleet have an average age of just 9.3 years, below
the average age of the european (about ten years) and world fleet (12 years). With 21 ships
delivered over the last five years and 17 more to come, that will drop further, improving the
company’s performance and reinforcing its reputation as a careful steward of our customers,
our seafarers and the environment in which we operate.
Yet there is only so much that we and other responsible shipowners and operators can do
to make a difference if others continue to operate old and sub-standard tonnage with impunity.
That is why we are calling for European regulation that would mandate the scrapping
of all vessels over 30 years of age, effectively driving them from our ports and waters.
Such regulation, strictly enforced with the assistance of classification societies, flag states
and port states, will not only improve standards of safety and remove a significant threat to
the environment but help rebalance markets in which the supply of ships far outstrips demand,
endangering the economic survival of many sound companies. The benefits of such
a policy are many, the down side negligible. The time to act is now.