SHIP MANAGEMENT INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 102

CREW TRAVEL

March/April 2023 | Issue 102

STRAIGHT TALK

An important first step to better seafarer medical care

Following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the crew change crisis it caused, as well as ongoing disruption of global supply chains since, seafarer health and wellbeing have been increasingly in focus.

“While port restrictions and reduced shore leave has led to an increased use of telemedical services onboard, as well as an evolution in the quality of telemedical health services as a result of the pandemic, there remains an ongoing concern regarding access to in-person and emergency medical care,” the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) pointed out mid last year.

Concern is greatest over emergency situations on board, it noted, where seafarers often find themselves having to act as ‘first responders’, but find they

lack relevant and easy-to-use medical guidance to hand.

“Seafarers, shipowners and operators, unions such as the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the ILO have argued that existing medical advice available onboard, such as the WHO’s International Medical Guide for Ships (Third Edition, 2007), is impractical and outdated for contemporary circumstances,” said the ICS, “perceived as too bulky and academic in nature, making it difficult to use by seafarers onboard, particularly those who are less comfortable with the English language.”

Hence the ICS has just published a new ‘International Medical Guide for Seafarers and Fishers (First edition)’, authored by Dr Sue Stannard.

Written in simple English, the Guide avoids the use of colloquialisms, has pictorial representation and highlighted quick actions, and contains pull cards that can easily be brought to the scene of an incident. It is intended to be user-friendly and prescribes the most up-to-date internationally available medicines (see also p.14).

More still needs to be done in terms of medical assistance for seafarers, including on mental health, say experts, as well as greater ‘first responder’ training. Such matters may be mandated in an updated STCW Convention. Until that happens, the ICS publication is an important first step and merits its place in the Master’s cabin or hospital aboard ship. l

EU agrees to recognise training and certification of Filipino seafarers

The European Commission at end-March announced its decision to continue to recognise the certificates of Filipino seafarers, confirming the compliance of the Philippines with the requirements of the STCW Convention.

Shipping bodies including ECSA (European Community Shipowners’ Associations), ICS (International Chamber of Shipping) and the Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) have warmly welcomed the positive development, pointing out that Filipino seafarers play a central role in global shipping and in keeping trade moving.

The decision follows the response by authorities of the Philippines to a report by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) that explored the deficiencies in the country’s standards of training and certification.

Filipino seafarers represent 14% of the global workforce in the sector and are instrumental in keeping global shipping running. Industry partners remain committed to work with the industry, seafarers’ representatives and the Filipino authorities to build continuity and sustainability in the Filipino system. For this purpose, ECSA and ICS along with other industry partners and the government of the Philippines have started working together in January under the newly established International Advisory Committee on Global Maritime Affairs (IACGMA).

“European shipowners welcome the recognition of the training and the certification system of the Philippines. We congratulate the country for their commitment and their in-depth response to the shortcomings identified by the Commission,” said ECSA Secretary General Sotiris Raptis.

“This is a positive development as Filipino seafarers play a central role in European shipping and in keeping European trade moving. By engaging with the authorities of the Philippines together with our industry partners, ECSA strives to facilitate a productive dialogue between the country and the EU on matters

of key importance such as seafarers’ qualifications, training, and certification.”

Guy Platten, ICS Secretary General added: “As a major seafaring nation, Filipino seafarers are a vital and valued part of the seafarer workforce. This decision made by the European Commission is a testament to the Philippines’ hard work to make sure seafarer training complies with regulations.

“The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is delighted to be convening partners to ensure these standards are maintained globally. In January 2023 a new advisory committee was launched to give expert advice on major maritime issues affecting Filipino seafarers, the IACGMA, which is supported by the Philippines government and in collaboration with ECSA and industry partners. By all of us working together on these issues, we can tackle the challenges ahead for our workforce. Maintaining seafarer training standards globally ensures a brighter future for our seafarers.”

The CSC noted the contribution of ECSA and ICS in creation of IACGMA, adding that “the European Commission intends to provide, in the following months, the Philippines with technical assistance to further improve its education, training and certification system for seafarers, ensuring standards are maintained as per global regulations.” l

Shipping needs to ‘close the gap between digitisation and digitalisation’ says OTG

Speaking at the CMA Shipping conference in late March, the CEO of Ocean Technologies Group (OTG) Thomas Zanzinger outlined why he thought many maritime businesses were not capitalising on the opportunities that digitalisation affords them.

He pointed out that digitising the analogue information in a business is only the first step and that companies need to rethink and redesign their business processes to really take advantage of digital tools and new technologies.

With data increasingly used in global markets to benchmark businesses against their competitors, it’s never been more important to understand your information.

Zanzinger explained that the growth in connectivity and proliferation of application programme interfaces (APIs) is connecting previously disparate data sets and warned the conference audience that even if they were not on top of their data, then there is a good chance others will be, which could lead to financial and reputational consequences for their businesses.

He added that consumer pressure and investor relations around decarbonisation has already begun to shape financial considerations in the supply chain, citing Xeneta’s Carbon Emission Index as just one example.

As the focus on Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) grows, shipping companies must adopt data-gathering processes that can build a positive picture of their operations, giving confidence to financiers, governments, consumers and their own employees.

Zanzinger stated that this may be a challenge for shipping but also presents an opportunity to innovate, an essential component of staying competitive. He also encouraged companies to focus on their core competence and leverage proven existing solutions rather than seeking to build their own.

In closing the gap between digitisation and digitalisation, he believes that companies can break down siloes, leverage automation and drive continuous improvement by connecting people, data and processes to improve performance and demonstrate operational excellence. l

PHILIPPINE TRANSMARINE CARRIERS

Demand for fossil fuels in the future means more emphasis on carbon capture

When you talk to the energy producers in the Middle East, there is definitely an upswing, not a downswing, in their dedication to the extraction and processing of fossil fuels, which means shipping must question whether a fossil-free, carbon zero future is what is in front of it, according to Mark O’Neil, President and CEO of the Columbia Group.

Speaking at the 17th Annual Capital Link International Shipping Forum in New York, Mr O’Neil said the decarbonisation proposition just didn’t stand up to scrutiny “when you also look at the geopolitical situation that we currently face, where you have relations between the US and China, Europe, India and Russia coming ever more into the fore. Do we really believe that this is an environment in which the Green Revolution can, or should, take place?”

Suggesting that the shipping industry could be accused of jumping onto the decarbonisation bandwagon for all the wrong reasons when the vast majority of the world is not ready to go to a carbon free fuel source in the near future, Mr O’Neil said the narrative should not be one of decarbonisation or net zero “because that suggests no carbon”, but it should be about carbon capture and better fuel optimisation.

“If we can find the technology to capture that carbon then there is a future for fossil fuels. We need to look at the wider picture because we are in danger of going down

the green revolution route for the wrong reasons bearing in mind that our vessel investments are long-term and the industry is crying out for flexibility of fuels,” he said. He told delegates: “We need to be ready for all fuel types because we just don’t know what is out there, and we don’t know what is coming but the problem is that we have assets with a 20 year lifespan. But I firmly believe that the future will be about fossil fuels being the dominant fuel, possibly alongside a carbon capture mechanism that still allows fossil fuels to be burnt in a more environmentally friendly way,” he said.

In a separate move, the shareholders of Tsakos Columbia Shipmanagement (TCM) S.A., have announced the end of their successful Joint Venture. The Columbia Group decided to sell its shares in TCM to the existing Tsakos shareholders. Following this decision, the Tsakos Group has now acquired full ownership of TCM. This leaves both companies free to pursue their own business development strategies.

The decision marks the end of a 12-year successful joint venture from which both shareholders have considerably benefited. The two Groups will continue to cooperate on many existing and future projects.

In a common statement the two Groups stated: “We have enjoyed our collaboration and our continued friendship and future cooperation will not be affected by this decision.” l

CSM conducting trial of Starlink satellite internet service

Leaders in innovation, the ship management arm of the Columbia Group, Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM), is conducting a trial of the new Starlink satellite internet service on a number of vessels.

The Starlink service, provided by a constellation of lowearth orbit (LEO) satellites operated by SpaceX, is designed to deliver reliable and high-speed internet connectivity to ships and vessels across all sectors of the maritime industry.

Columbia Group CEO, Mark O’Neil said: “We are delighted to be trialing this technology to keep our ships better connected. Starlink has the potential to revolutionise the maritime industry by providing reliable and affordable internet connectivity to ships, even in the most remote parts of the world. This can help improve crew welfare, reduce costs, and enhance safety and security, making it a gamechanger for the industry.

“Columbia is committed to our excellent crew and as part of our ICARE philosophy, we focus on different aspects of crew welfare, connectivity being one of them, so we are very pleased to be adopting this new technology among our fleet.”

Starlink is expected to also help cruise companies reduce costs associated with traditional satellite internet services, and provide better connection services for crew members, as well as add a new level of guest experience, enabling them to enjoy high-speed connectivity while at sea.

It can also enhance safety and security by offering a reliable connectivity in remote areas, enabling better communication with stakeholders, emergency services and authorities, as well as enable real time data exchange and communication.

Real time data exchange is important so that a vessel can become a connected EDGE endpoint integrated into the owners or ship managers operations. Ships are not anymore, the remote, disconnected endpoint that may or may not be able to send and receive data.

Starlink can facilitate remote monitoring of vessel performance and maintenance needs, allowing for proactive maintenance scheduling and reducing the risk of unplanned downtime. This can help improve vessel availability and reliability, as well as reduce costs associated with maintenance and repairs.

CSM is widely exploring Starlink in conjunction with a SD WAN (Software defined wide area network) in order to combine proven satellite internet technology as well as cellular 5G near shore connectivity into a unified communication package that will enhance every aspect of maritime operations. l

Mark O’Neil

Updated ICS Medical Guide vital for today’s vessels and shipmanagers

When a medical emergency occurs on board a vessel, the immediate help – often rendered by a fellow seafarer who is not a medical professional – is crucial. For this reason, all merchant ships (over 500GT) are required to carry a medical guide on board. But what does a ship owner or shipmanager do when the latest international medical guide is more than 15 years out of date?

Realizing the situation, International Chamber of Shipping tapped a team of medical experts more than a year ago and began creating a new, easy-to-use, practical guide to address shortfalls in the current medical guides in circulation, which were found to be out of date (the most commonly carried international medical guide dates to 2007), not practical enough, or, in the case of national guides, written for seafarers in particular regions of the world.

The result: In March, ICS published the landmark book, International Medical Guide for Seafarers and Fishers, First Edition, in collaboration with the International Transport Workers’ Federation and the International Maritime Health Association. The guide’s content includes the latest medical knowledge on all injuries, illnesses, and health issues experienced on ships and fishing vessels.

The guide includes chapters devoted to: injuries and traumas, such as head trauma; eye injuries; neck and spinal damage; wounds and bleeding; burns and bites; pain management; moving an injured person; and treating mental health issues.

The guide’s easy-to-use format is designed for nonmedical professionals and includes 3D visual aids, tables, charts, and assessments to help crew follow procedures correctly. For example, 10 individual action cards that can be carried in the ship’s medical bag to the incident scene include the recommended method for assessing an illness or injury, presented in a fixed sequence known as ABCDE: A for airway; B for breathing; C for circulation; D for disability; and E for exposure. Treatments and warnings are presented in color-coded charts.

In developing the guide, ICS emphasised the importance of presenting the information in language that can be understood internationally due to the many nationalities that make up modern seafaring. Says Dr. Robert Verbist,

president of the International Maritime Health Association, who served as a member of the guide’s technical review team: “This guide was reviewed by a very international group of maritime medical specialists to ensure the language and terminology are international. Anything being done to improve the health care of seafarers must be done in an international context.”

Intended to accelerate the provision of medical care at the place where it happens, the ICS medical guide is anticipated to gain widespread adoption on vessels. ICS also hopes to see the guide become the textbook for medical training. Vessels that don’t have a doctor are required to have a seafarer on board who has received the required STCW certification and is designated to take charge of medical care. “If they have the guide when learning, they will already be familiar with it when a medical emergency occurs on the vessel,” says Natalie Shaw, MBE, director of employment affairs at International Chamber of Shipping l

The International Medical Guide for Seafarers and Fishers, First Edition, is priced at £225 and is available in print and digital ebook versions. More information can be found on the ICS Publications website: https://publications.ics-shipping.org

Managing unplanned refits

By Chloe Townley, Senior Account Executive, ITIC

When it comes to unplanned refits, such as emergency dry docking due to damage, the responsibilities of the ship manager are often not recorded in much detail in SHIPMAN 2009 or agreed in advance. What are the potential pitfalls a ship manager needs to look out for in this situation?

The majority of the issues faced by a ship manager for an unscheduled refit come down to the fact that the fee, scope of work or procedure for agreeing to the budget were not properly agreed in advance of the work. Whilst under SHIPMAN 2009, the ship manager can act in their absolute discretion to perform their management services (including for example requirements of Class), if the costs go over-budget for any reason, this is typically where the relationship between the parties deteriorates. The ship owner will look to put the blame on the ship manager, alleging the costs were unnecessarily incurred/high due to some alleged failing of the ship manager, even if the repairs were unavoidable. This is especially true where ship owners find themselves with a shortage of funds for unplanned works.

In reality, the ship manager should only face a claim if the costs over-run causing a loss (i.e. were unavoidable) and were due to their negligent management of the budget (or failure to properly supervise the refit), but there are steps a ship manager can take to try and minimise exposure, regardless of whether the cost was avoidable or not.

ITIC has seen a case where the refit budget overran and the ship owner brought a claim for EUR 900,000 against the ship manager. There was no formal agreement in place for the management of the refits. The majority of the overspend was due to the works required by the classification society and therefore the ship owner had not suffered a loss due the alleged negligence as they

had to pay the costs to ensure the ship remained in class regardless. To conclude the matter, at the minimum cost, ITIC settled the claim at a fraction of the amount claimed.

Although the ship owner’s allegations lacked merit, the situation may have been avoided or minimised if the obligations had been clear from the outset. It is worth noting the urgency of the required works may too need to be taken into account – if the work to keep Class could have been done at a later date in a cheaper location, a ship manager could be criticised for arranging it sooner, costing more. In this situation, the ship owner’s prior approval should be sought.

Protecting yourself as a ship manager should involve agreeing the initial budget at the outset of the project with the ship owner, and the process for subsequent revisions to the budget, i.e. each month to set out the revised budget and request ship owners to pay funds in advance. It is important that the ship manager adheres to any process agreed to demonstrate competent management of the budget and refit.

Additionally, it is worth agreeing with the ship owner the fee for the refit, including specifics such as how many visits the superintendent will make to the ship. Additional days will then carry a fee in excess to the contracted number. Without this, if the work is more complex than anticipated requiring excess visits, the ship owner can dispute that the ship manager is entitled to charge more.

Taking care to formally agree details with the budget and scope of work included in the fee, as well as careful record keeping, clear and timely and frequent communication both with the yard and the ship owner, could go a long way in minimising allegations of negligence on the part of the ship manager for cost overruns. l

Let’s flood the internet with positive images

of shipping InterManager Outlook

Secretary General Capt Kuba Szymanski urges the maritime community to take part in InterManager’s #shippositive competition

Shipping has long complained about negative perceptions and a general focus on all that is bad.

InterManager is attempting to address this by running our own global “positivity campaign” across social media. Let’s flood the internet with positive images of shipping!

I’ve been involved in the shipping industry for my whole working life and can honestly say that shipping has consumed me. I’m proud of my industry and, while I acknowledge that we sometimes make mistakes, I believe that shipping has much to be proud of.

Using social media to spread the word, I’m urging members of all aspects of the maritime community –including seafarers, shore workers, and their families – to post a positive image of shipping alongside the hashtags #shippositive #intermanager

To add some extra excitement we’ve made the campaign into a competition with five brand new iPads which will be awarded to the five photographs our judges decide best demonstrate a positive image of shipping. The judges are drawn from across the international shipping community and include: Associate Professor Lars Lippuner, Director Warsash Maritime School; Christina Liviakis, Director of Business Development, American Ship Repair and President WISTA USA; Bjorn Jebsen, ship and crew manager and former InterManager President; and Jean Pontila, Second Officer sailing with Jebsen PTC Maritime, alongside me (InterManager Secretary General Capt Kuba Szymanski).

The campaign is up and running now. Please join in and also encourage your colleagues to. All you have to do is to share a photograph which you feel illustrates a positive image of the shipping industry or life at sea. Post your image on either Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or TikTok using the competition hashtag #shippositive as well as #intermanager.

The photo can show anything positive about shipping, such as how great a life at sea can be, happy colleagues, workplace satisfaction, an enjoyable meal, fabulous scenery, awe-inspiring weather, wildlife . . . whatever you think illustrates the positive reasons you enjoy being in shipping.

Of course there are some rules – in particular entrants must ensure they take their photos carefully and don’t breach any of their employer’s regulations regarding confidentiality or social media. Full details are available on the InterManager website: www.intermanager.org

By demonstrating shipping’s positive side, particularly the camaraderie and opportunities of a life at sea, I believe we can reach out to the next generation and show them the myriad of opportunities available in shipping. We have to fight for the talented men and women of tomorrow against strong competition from shore-based industries like IT so it’s important to show young people that we can offer exciting, interesting, and rewarding careers.

InterManager’s #shippositive competition runs to June 30th and the iPad winners will be announced during London International Shipping Week (#LISW23) in September. l

Grow Maritime stresses importance of ESG

Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) awareness and challenges have been gaining growing prominence at a global level in recent years. Within an evolving regulatory framework, all corporations need to adapt and comply accordingly, points out Cyprus-based Grow Maritime, a consultancy specialising in ESG matters that was formed late last year.

Grow Maritime employs an accelerated approach to initially assess organisations’ current sustainability framework and maturity level with regards to ESG policies, and subsequently proposes services that respond directly to their requirements. It has developed an easily accessible tool to analyse and rate an organization’s sustainable practices and helps to jointly assess the status quo of sustainability readiness, identify gaps as well as opportunities, and develop appropriate responses to key challenges.

There are various ways a company can structure its sustainability governance, the company says, with key considerations including the Board’s composition, roles and responsibilities, as well as related policies that need to be introduced. “A top-down approach to sustainability and good governance is extremely important to ensure leadership buy-in, but is not effective if it is not supported bottom-up by a culture that revolves around ESG initiatives.”

Companies should therefore educate their employees to understand the importance of sustainability, states Grow Maritime, and be in a position to understand global developments, principles and practices. They must “develop, report and communicate ESG policies to stakeholders, implement and evaluate action plans, and secure that compliance is achieved within applicable regulations.” l

Dispatches

Wind power sets sail again

Wind or wind-assisted propulsion has always retained its allure for leisure craft, a smattering of boutique cruisehips, and traditional wooden cargo boats, like dhows, still used in certain parts of the world. But for well over a century it has no longer been seen as an attractive proposition for large commercial vessels. Until now, that is.

With decarbonisation top of the shipping’s industry’s agenda and the clock ticking on various emission-reduction deadline, still no clear and obvious alternative to diesel propulsion has presented itself, while those first movers exploring carbonlowering pathways such as LNG and methanol require deep pockets. By contrast, harnessing free-to-use wind energy increasingly seems a low hanging fruit.

According to the International Windship Association (IWSA), - which now numbers over 100 full members, including leading class societies, global trading houses (e.g. Cargill) and shipping majors (including MOL, “K’ Line and Louis Dreyfus Armateurs) –some 22 large commercial ships totalling 1.9m DWT were sailing with wind energy systems installed by the end of last year, a total it predicts will swell to 50 units of over 3m DWT by end 2023. If this rate of growth were to continue, it’s clear that the number of wind-assisted ships could soon become very sizeable indeed - EU research has forecast that up to 10,700

wind-assisted propulsion installations could be in place by 2030 covering 50% of the bulker market and up to 65% of tankers.

Wind can never be the sole form of propulsion on a commercial ship, concedes ISWA, but when retrofitted as an auxiliary system can deliver up to 20% of a vessel’s propulsive needs, thereby decreasing emissions by the same amount. On newbuilds, however, wind technology can act as the primary source of propulsion generating 50% or more of the power needed, it claims, with engines reduced to an auxiliary role.

Various different types of wind system exist that can be characterised as follows: sails normally of rigid hard-shell or ‘wing’ (i.e. as in aircraft) design, either rig- or square-mounted on rotatable masts to catch the wind; towing kites; ventilated foil systems; and rotor-type sails.

Rotors on the spin

All types work by either harnessing the ‘push’ force of the wind directly, or acting like an aeroplane wing to increase the pressure between their upwind and downwind sides, thereby generating a ‘pull’ effect; rotor-type sails - also called Flettner rotors after the initial designer of the concept back in the 1920s - are a variation of the latter in that they utilise the ‘Magnus effect’ where wind hitting a rotating vertical cylinder onboard a

moving ship creates the pressure differential and forward pull.

Finland’s Norsepower is already enjoying considerable success with its proprietary Rotor Sail design, with multiple units already installed on various different types of large commercial vessel operated by reference clients including Bore, Sea-Cargo, Scandlines, Vale, CLdN, Nippon Marine, and Socatra. Claimed to offer 5-20% fuel savings, the systems are described highly automized in order to reduce crew workload and increase efficiency; they also can be tilt-lowered to cope with low air draft situations such as bridges.

Norsepower recently successfully completely several rounds of fundraising to ramp up production of its system, as we as securing landmark newbuild contracts with Brazil’s Vale and IIENO Lines of Japan to install systems on newbuild Capesize bulker and Very Large Gas Carrier vessels respectively.

UK-based company Anemoi also produces its own foldable Anemoi Rotor Sails, and last October secured an agreement with Chinese shipyard major COSCO Heavy Industries for installation or retrofit of these systems aboard vessels built or drydocked at the group’s nine yards. Berge Bulk of Singapore also signed up last year to have four rotors apiece retrofitted on a 388,000 DWT Valemax and 210,000 DWT Newcastlemax bulk carrier.

Sails hoisted

Berge Bulk is also to start trialling another wind-assisted system – WindWings - this year, as will Mitsubishi Corp aboard its vessel Pyxis Ocean, chartered by Cargill. Designed by UK naval acrhitects BAR Technologies and produced by Yara Marine Technologies, an arm of clean tech giant Yara International, the system is described as combining dynamic multi-element wings, deck-fitted but able to be stowed away at the press of button, with advanced route optimization to harness the power of the wind and reduce fuel consumption by around 1.5 tonnes per WindWing per day.

But perhaps the most ambitious wing sail project is that of car carrier giant Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW) to produce a primarily wind-powered large RoRo vessel, Orcelle Wind, the first of its new Oceanbird concept for an armada of new windpowered vessels.

Orcelle Wind will be a 220 metre-long Pure Car Truck Carrier with 7,000 units, also able to carry breakbulk and other RoRo cargo. WW believes that sailing at speeds of 10-12 knots, the design will be able to emit 90% less emissions than conventional vessels if all emissions-influencing factors onboard are aligned, to which end it is working with a team of

Neoliner 136

Anemoi Rotor Sails

Orcelle Wind

technology partners to have a prototype ready by later 2026 or early 2027 at latest – ahead of its ambition is to introduce the automotive industry’s first zero-carbon end-to-end supply chain by 2030.

Meanwhile, Wallenius has a rival in the France’s Neoline consortium that is also chasing wind power for use on RoRo vessels. Leading yard Chantiers de l’Atlantique has come up with a Solid Sail foldable rigging system design consisting of a traditional triangular main sail and jib, a version of which is to be installed on twin 76-metre masts aboard a 136-metre RoRo ‘Neoliner’ prototype vessel, early construction of which is reported underway at RMK Marine shipyard in Turkey for planned 2025 delivery. Interestingly, Chantiers’ Solid Sail design with a total 3,000 square metre of rigid sail was preferred over the 4,200 square metre of flexible sail initially envisaged for the duplex rig on the grounds of improved performance.

Two vessels are planned, intended to operate between Saint-Nazaire, France, and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon in Newfoundland, Baltimore, Maryland, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The company lists Renault Group, Beneteau Group, Manitou Group, Michelin, Jas Hennessy & Co, Clarins, Longchamp or Rémy Cointreau as being among its first customers, with French liner giant CMA CGM is also among investors in the project.

French design house Zephyr & Boree has meanwhile come up with an innovative design for a wind-assisted containership, something of novelty given the constraints of available deck space on boxships to mount wind technology systems.

Kites flying high

Elsewhere, France’s Louis-Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) plans to install Seawing kite technology developed by the

company Airseas (see also box), a subsidiary of aircraft manufacturer Airbus, on its 2004-built Ville de Bordeaux ro-ro cargo ship that is used to transport elements of the giant A380 aircraft between different Airbus manufacturing sites. LDA has already tested a reducedscale model of the Seawing on one of its vessels in 2018 and says it now hopes to achieve fuel economies in the order of 20% with the full-scale version.

“K” Line and energy group J-Power have also decided to install Seawing aboard an 88,000 DWT coal carrier being chartered by the Japanese utility (pictured below), again with expected fuel savings of 20-plus percent.

Finally, examples of a ventilated foil system include Netherlands-based Econowind’s sail type that features an oval-shaped rigid column body that can pivot around its vertical axis similar to other hard sails. The system can be retrofitted as a permanent installation or supplied in Flatrack or containerized unit versions that can quickly be placed and removed.

In short, a host of new designs for wind-assisted propulsion are now either under trial or finding their way onto the water. It remains to be seen how effective each will prove but one thing seems clear, as Neoline CEO Jean Zanuttini puts it, that “wind propulsion for commercial ships is becoming more and more of a pragmatic solution to an increasingly complex energy issue. Wind is certainly intermittent, but it is more predictable than the prices and availability of many other energies. This is an unprecedented opportunity to do our part in the energy transition and to pick up the thread of history of maritime transport under sail.” l

IMO regulations ‘should include wind propulsion’

Last year marked a “pivotal milestone” for wind propulsion, believes Stephanie Lesage (pictured right), General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Airseas, with over one million DWT of cargo having been transported on vessels using wind propulsion technologies.

Introduction of IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulation at the beginning of this year further presses the case for wind power, she contends, with emissions regulations now a strategic priority for not only vessel owners but also – for the first time – charterers.”

For this reason, regulators like the IMO should begin looking not only at fuel but at propulsion energy as a whole, she urges, and recognise the role that these technologies have to play.”

“Converting wind into electricity, then fuel, then transporting it and using it for fuel is far less efficient than simply capturing wind in the first place,” she concludes. “Wind propulsion may not be a total power solution, but when we consider buying propulsion – not just fuel – the case for inclusion in shipping’s future is obvious.” l

How I Work

Silver Jubilee celebration

On the occasion of Executive Ship Management’s 25th anniversary, founding partners CEO B.S. Teeka and Deputy CEO Ms. Sikha Singh speak exclusively with SMI in this special interview.

“Ours is a story of sheer perseverance and consistent focus on developing a superior quality service in the shipping industry starting with ship management from Day One,” says Executive Ship Management (ESM) Founder and CEO B.S. Teeka on the eve of the company’s concluding Silver Jubilee gala celebrations. “Our backward integration as a ship manager produced an unprecedented package with ancillary services needed to run a ship efficiently, keeping in mind the evolving requirements of the industry.”

The CEO also pays tribute to the “business-friendly environment of meritocracy” in Singapore which has allowed ESM as a small enterprise to grow and flourish, “enabling us to concentrate on what we can do, rather than getting bogged down

in unrelated bureaucratic red tapes, as exists in most other developing Asian countries.”

The company started out with a 3,000 DWT mini bulk carrier, providing crew, technical and even commercial management, he relates, which allowed it to become “extra savvy commercially to run a shipping business from end to end.

“Looking back, after 25 years with 200 odd ships and with 50 years of lifetime spent between the two of us partners, the challenges we faced taught us to understand the industry from a holistic point of view.”

A marine engineer by training himself and partner Ms. Singh a specialist in mass communications, Mr Teeka describes the duo as “selftaught entrepreneurs and accidental business owners. “We brought

in diverse and eclectic mixture of experiences - technical expertise, power of good communication, creative and critical thinking and, overall, a die-hard pursuit of professionalism to make our unique brand of management.

“Passion for learning, going the extra mile and caring for the people that we work with and work for are our basic premise of doing business. These guiding principles of business have made our partnerships with leading business houses including BP, Shell, Shoei Kisen, CIDO and many others, along with our top management and employees, last for over 20-plus years and counting!”

In short, the CEO describes ESM as a ship manager “who understands and empathises with every pain point of a ship owner and take steps or advise to address them effectively.”

He adds: “What we have also understood and learnt is that besides your sharp professional and technical knowledge, what makes a business sustainable is a moral and ethical compass at the core. For a familyrun business like ours, quality and reputation outweigh our profit interest at any given time.”

The company was able to follow its own instincts in this respect as it never became over-leveraged with investors or external shareholders to answer to. Rather the company has always been

self-reliant and here Mr Teeka pays tribute to ESM’s in-house professional teams and employees “who trusted our intentions and aspirations, more probably than our business acumen,” he quips, “and worked hard to achieve what we are today.”

SIMS training institute

Given that lack of outside investment the company’s achievements in pursuit of necessary growth have been “nothing short of extraordinary”, he feels, particularly the USD30m investment in building the SIMS (Samundra Institute of Maritime Studies) training school and campus, complete with a full-scale replica ship bridge and engine room, in Lonavala, just north of Mumbai. Similarly, the company had developed its own integrated software programme Phoenix, a technological tool assisting a ship manager to record, process and collate entire data and information at the click of mouse, he continues, as well as Arc Marine Engineering, a ship repair service in Singapore and Adhart, a commercial management entity. All have been created in order to provide “a unique value chain proposition to those ship owners looking for a comprehensive package of services with extra benefits of economies of scale.”

Ms. Singh takes up the story, elaborating on the previously mentioned ‘backward integration’ process by which the ship manager shares in the ecosystem of the owner in order to provide real value-added services. Manager and owner “operate under the same value system and business ethics and above all, benefit from knowledge sharing and complementing each other’s strength,” she says. Likewise, “ESM benefits from the quality training from SIMS, while SIMS’ reservoir of knowledge is the result

of the learning from running a ship from ESM.”

Strategic directions that the group of companies collectively and individually pursue, she says, include embracing a culture of innovation and digitalisation; selecting, nurturing and retaining diverse human capital; sustaining operational excellence and a safety culture; and strengthening customer trust.

“In 2012, ESM was inducted into the Palladium Balanced Scorecard (BSC) Hall of Fame for the breakthrough results achieved by using the BSC system - a Harvard origin management tool, a rare achievement for a ship management company,” she relates.

“In fact, our entire group of companies use BSC as its management tool displaying a strong and transparent corporate governance. It has assisted a singleton ship manager, ESM, evolve into an ensemble of eminent companies, providing its own unique set of maritime services such as professional maritime training, premier ship management services, high-end offshore solutions, international chartering, commercial management, integrated software

solutions, supply, and repair of marine assets, within a span of decade and a half.”

Passion for learning, going the extra mile and caring for the people that we work with and work for are our basic premise of doing business

Quality and sustainability remain the Group’s watchwords. “Our investment in technology, professional training and nurturing human capital as well as our involvement in the community and industry are manifestation of that inherent policy and guidelines,” she says. “Today, the ESM presence is felt across 12 cities around the world, with more on the way towards the progress of the organisation, the community, and each employee who are associated with this

We are proud that 80% of officers on board the ESM-managed fleet are SIMS alumni

Ms. Sikha Singh, Deputy CEO

B.S. Teeka, CEO

growth—all together and not at the cost of one another.”

Returning to the subject of SIMS, Ms. Singh points out that the maritime institute has seen the graduation of over 4,000 cadets since its inception in 2005. “We are proud that 80% officers on board ESM fleet are occupied by the SIMS alumni,” she notes, with many more “joining as Technical and Marine superintendents at our shore offices in Singapore and India.”

In addition, Arc Marine Engineering provides an extra edge to selected SIMS marine engineers, exposing them to the ship repair industry in Singapore. “With this invaluable experience and training, when these junior engineers later step into an ESM ship their value addition is much higher – almost equivalent to a senior engineer on board,” she says.

Likewise, the company’s Phoenix software has brought “high-end computer technology to the daily operation of a ship manager as never before,” she adds. “Overall, the synergy has brought immense contribution to services finally offered to the clients. ‘ESM Live’ is another cutting-edge technology, through which the ship shore communication has been brought closer to real time and decision making is made easy with sensors and analytics.”

Workforce welfare

As regards ESG activities, the CEO says that Executive’s key priorities are “to protect the environment by

reducing emissions, enhance the skills and wellbeing of our people as well as increasing diversity in the seafarer pool, and last but not least, to ensure transparency and ethical governance from top management.”

“Long before it was even called for, the Executive Group had recognised the importance of crew welfare with their family being a core component of it. We designed our strategies for the people, from the people. By keeping up an accessible and interactive feedback system via our superintendents, senior officers onboard, and our in-house counsellors, it has helped us craft measures to enhance wellbeing.

“All along, our policies and measures are geared towards implementing all-rounded support from the shore offices in addressing seafarer’s concerns when it comes to their health, career, family and more.”

Apart from a group of medical doctors, ESM has appointed inhouse professional psychologists

and counsellors who are available 24/7 to ensure both seafarers and shore employees receive full physical and mental health support.

Another major successful initiative has been the Maritime Wellness Ambassador Training programme - developing a pool of seafarers well trained to recognise the need of mental health counselling and assistance amongst the seafarers on board. The programme was curated in-house with professional guidance as an added support for seafarers’ mental wellbeing that equips seafarers onboard to provide psychological first aid and ensure timely intervention.

The Group has also established a seafarer-shore engagement platform, OnExecutive, that allows employees and their families to share experiences through physical and virtual events, while constantlyworking to improve quality and bandwidth of onboard internet access for better connectivity.

Cadet classroom (left) on SIMS campus in Lonavala (above)

‘ESM Live’ vessel monitoring system

Community engagement

In addition, ESM tries to instil the importance of social responsibility and ‘giving back’ in its workforce by encouraging community engagement activities. “Our Patna office has been consistently recognised by the local seafarer association for its extraordinary support to the community,” notes Mr. Teeka approvingly. Generally, when it comes to ESG policies, he adds, the same company philosophy underlies them all: “Be a conscious and proactive player.”

Indeed, to celebrate ESM’s Silver Jubilee it has launched and participated in a whole slew of community, health and fitness activities that started a whole year before the actual Founding Day anniversary on May 05, 2023.

“For the community, we have seen overwhelming enthusiasm from our offices across the globe in contributing directly and indirectly to their local communities through blood donation drives, environmental restoration, tree plantations, providing manpower and fundraising for welfare charities and organisations, and more,” says Sikha Singh.

“In February this year, a brand-new ICU and recovery ward at the Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital in Mumbai called Executive Intensive Care Complex was inaugurated. Built with the donation of USD 2 million for its full construction and equipment cost, the advent of which is projected to benefit thousands of underprivileged cancer patients whose treatments will be free or highly subsidised.”

On a personal level, what is it that motivates the ESM’s two leaders and

gives them the energy to keep the group forward and allows them to manage their busy schedules?

“Being passionate about what we do keeps us motivated each day and we work around keeping our body and mind active,” replies B.S. Teeka. “We are pretty conscious about our health and physical fitness through various regular activities and appropriate diet. Everything in moderation - from food to a wide range of exercises ranging from outdoor hiking, cycling, golfing, yoga, Pilates, swimming, are our favourite activities depending on time and place.

“We encourage the same for our entire workforce. Employees are advised to maintain their appropriate BMI (Body Mass Index) and participate in all types of company activities ranging from walks, beach cleaning, kayaking, hikes, tree plantation, cricket competition, that our employees organise and conduct round the year.

“As we speak today, I am on my way to hike the 4,100-metre-high Kota Kinabalu and Sikha has already adventured to the Arctic at the beginning of this year, after completing an Antarctic call two years back.

Also, as grandparents of a three-year-plus and one-year-old we do have very fulfilling regular babysitting jobs!”

Future focus

Going forward, ESM faces plenty of challenges, such as the advancement of new technologies onboard ships, increasing gender diversity in the seafarer pool and the overarching environmental concerns facing the shipping industry, notes Ms. Singh.

“But where challenges abound, opportunities are aplenty,” she says, noting that the Group already addressed the looming manpower problem by establishing SIMS, while on the environmental front ESM, SIMS and Arc Marine have anticipated the need to reduce clients’ GHG emissions by jointly working on implementation of the diagnostic tool Ship Energy Efficiency Monitoring System (SEEMS).

The company has also expanded the types of managed ships,” she adds, “which include new technology vessels like Dual Fuel Vessels, LNG vessels, and vessels whose main engine is fitted with an exhaust gas recirculation system. There are also software upgradations to the in-house fleet management system, Phoenix, where more functions are incorporated into the system allowing for paperless documentations and modules to monitor EEXI and CII ratings.”

Nevertheless, the ESM CEO and Deputy CEO share their concern that the number of seafarers across the world is not increasing proportionate to the requirement of the industry, with the Ukraine war having merely exacerbated the problem. This needs to be addressed by “all stakeholders taking the responsibility of contributing towards a steady growth of that workforce,” they believe.

After all, when a ship budget is cut “the first casualty is almost always the training cost”, suggesting training is not a priority, while at the same time the majority of “accidents costing millions in our seas and oceans” are attributed to human error. Haven’t we failed to ‘join up the dots properly’, they muse. l

ESM Patna tree-planting initiative

Executive Intensive Care Complex

ESM ‘family’ in Singapore

P&I and Law

Global inflationary trends influence cargo crime

The latest Annual Cargo Theft Report for 2022 from partners TT Club, TAPA EMEA and BSI SCREEN

Intelligence shows an overall decline in global incidents over the previous year but with increasing emphasis on basic goods, food and beverages, fuel and auto parts linked to the inflationary effect on the value of such items. Theft of high value electronics remains constant.

The salient conclusions of this year’s report are:

• Consistent level of theft from facilities

• Increase in container and trailer theft

• Global reduction in hijackings

• Easing of international losses from unsecured parking and from areas adjacent to port facilities

• Inflationary trends effect black market demand for more basic goods

• Food and beverages, auto parts and fuel all increasingly targeted

• High-end electronics remain a frequent target

The over-arching trend is for criminals to adapt to inflation and lessened port congestion and evolve more fraudulent methods of targeting specific goods.

“Our report explores these themes in more detail by way of case studies that look at how social unrest in Latin America, particularly Chile, Peru and Brazil, has provided a weakness exploited by thieves,” points out Mike Yarwood, MD Loss Prevention at TT. “Also, how in South Asia crime involving fraudulent practices, like fictitious pickups to target cargo, are manifest.”

Of the increases in various types of commodities stolen, as illustrated above, TAPA EMEA identified a significant year-onyear rise in the number of fuel thefts recorded in the region, one of the most prominent trends recorded. “This is clearly driven by the impact of the war in Ukraine on global oil prices and the

cost-of-living crisis affecting consumers in many countries,” said Thorsten Neumann, President & CEO of TAPA EMEA.

“We gathered intelligence on fuel losses in 28 countries across EMEA, but mostly in Germany and the United Kingdom, which accounted for 72%,” he added. “Higher value fuel crimes also signalled the involvement of bigger organised crime groups, notably thefts from fuel depots.”

Consistent with past publications, advice on steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk of theft are offered in the report. “In particular, we are keen to give guidance on how operators can combat the practice of fictious pick-ups and the threat of insider influence in cargo crime,” said David Fairnie, BSI’s Principal Consultant on Supply Chain Security.

“Our guidelines are extensive and they can help to reduce risk and enhance the overall security and resilience of the supply chain,” he concluded. “However, it’s important to recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Each organization must develop a tailored risk management plan based on its specific risks and circumstances.”

The full 2022 Cargo Theft Report is available for download free of charge on the TT Club website. l

Headwinds hamper Poseidon Principles

The Poseidon Principles provide a platform for financing shipping’s sustainable future, but the technical guidance underpinning the initiative remains under scrutiny, writes James Clayton, Director, Campbell Johnston Clark.

In July 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) will consider revising the UN agency’s strategy on greenhouse gas emissions from ships. Moving on from a current target to reduce CO2 emissions from ships by at least 50% by 2050, based on 2008 levels, influential administrations seek to accelerate towards net-zero or even zero by 2050.

The modification would also apply to the ‘decarbonisation trajectory’ observed by The Poseidon Principles – launched in 2019 as a framework for financial institutions to assess the alignment of their shipping portfolios with IMO goals for GHG emissions.

By the end of 2022, 30 shipping banks representing around $200bn of available ship finance (two thirds of the market) had signed up to The Poseidon Principles. Signatories include a standardized loan covenant clause in each new finance agreement, requiring shipowners to provide specific data to their financiers. To measure and manage progress, lenders and lessors will apply a principle of ‘climate alignment’ to all credit

products where a vessel or vessels fall under the purview of the IMO. They also commit to sharing ‘climate alignment’ scores on an annual basis.

Banks are already actively evaluating the environmental credentials of owners before investing in newbuilds and retrofitting older vessels. Société General’s global head of maritime industries, Paul Taylor, told January’s Marine Money Ship Finance Forum, in London, that every shipping client is rated for commitment to net zero and quality of reporting on sustainability issues.

With IMO rules themselves evolving, aligning also requires the ability to adapt. The Poseidon Principles were updated in September 2022 to anticipate an MEPC shift towards a Net Zero 2050 target for ships. However, headwinds are expected at the coming MEPC for a proposed switch from ‘tank-to-wake’ accountability on GHG emissions from ships to a broader ‘wellto-wake’ evaluation that takes account of the entire fuel value chain - a change already anticipated by another revision made to the Poseidon Principles last year.

James Clayton

Aspiration and accountability

While the true ambition of shipping’s environmental aspirations may once more grab headlines post-MEPC, the way climate alignment is assessed will also continue to test a set of Principles tied to the data types, sources, service providers and technical guidance established by the IMO.

Classification Societies and other Recognized Organizations are obliged to derive carbon intensity performance for Poseidon Principles participants in an unbiased way so that signatories can assess and report climate alignment. In practice, portfolios are assessed for carbon intensity based on IMO’s approach of establishing a Carbon Intensity Indicator for each ship to measure efficiency in transporting goods/passengers by grams of CO2 emitted per carrying capacity and nautical mile.

IMO’s CII became mandatory under MARPOL Annex VI from January 1, 2023, rating existing ships on an A-E scale which reflects CO2 emissions against transport miles. In theory, the IMO approach would reward owners on the favoured ‘decarbonization trajectory’ with a better CII rating, with lower carbon performers outperforming other ships of their type/size to and proving attractive to charterers. Similarly, a portfolio financed under the Poseidon Principles would be distinguished by a high volume of aligned ships, high loan values associated with aligned ships, or a combination of these factors.

Real world impacts

In fact, the scheme’s own assessment mechanism has exposed the way shipping’s aspirations for sustainability can be quickly thwarted by real world events. The recently published Poseidon Principles Annual Disclosure Report for 2021, for example, indicated only seven of the 28 signatory institutions as meeting their aims on alignment, with an average score of 9.7% above target an increase over the 7% achieved in 2021.

The poor alignment scores were reputed to have been strongly driven by the impact of Covid-19 on the cruise industry. During lockdown, many cruise operators put their ships in warm lay-up and powered them using conventional carbon-based fuels. With transport miles limited, or sometimes zero during a lay-up, carbon intensity performance necessarily deteriorated, even though the cruise ships were generating far fewer emissions in absolute terms.

Where cruise ships were declared separately for 2021, they were on average 46% above alignment, while cargo vessel portfolios that were reported separately were nearly aligned at just 0.8% above target.

Waiting for answers

Even though the CII is now in force, owners from different industry segments continue to highlight perceived shortcomings. A leading bulk carrier owner has pointed out that, since ships burn more fuel laden than in ballast, a ship sailing continuously unladen could achieve A-band performance where the same ship sailing laden for fewer days would create equivalent emissions but achieve a C-rating. Clearly not anticipated in reality, the scenario nonetheless highlights the system’s vulnerability to manipulation: a ship waiting to load and possessing a tender notice to enter port might take the opportunity to clock up miles in ballast to boost its CII rating.

Again, as a calendar-based system, a ship’s CII rating might be penalised arbitrarily due to days in port within the limits of a given year, where a rolling format could accommodate a standard deviation.

The methodology underlying the CII is subject to review, even though the instrument is now in force. Last year, relevant committee work limited a review of the way carbon emissions were estimated to ro-ro vessels. In doing so, however, notice was also given that correction factors to address adverse weather and waiting times would be reviewed in 2025.

MEPC’s intersessional working group on greenhouse gasses has already had sight of a World Shipping Council (WSC) commentary on the IMO Data Collection System (DCS) used to derive the CII. In one passage, it proposes “disaggregating reporting of fuel use when ships are underway and at rest, for different fuel consumers (main propulsion engines, auxiliary engines and boilers) and to index emissions to cargo carried in preference to nominal capacity”. In another, it advocates “recognizing that when quantifying cargo carried it is essential to recognize the fundamental differences between ship types and, by extension, the vital importance of using appropriate cargounits for each ship type.”

The Poseidon Principles Technical Guidance is expected to evolve as and when the IMO creates new policies, or if the Poseidon Principles Association decides to interpret the IMO’s Initial Strategy differently. However, other questions are also in play which challenge the basis for decisions being made at IMO and, by extension, for The Poseidon Principles. Some wonder whether CO2 emissions can truly be considered the sole gauge of environmental impact in the shipping context.

Poseidon Principles Chairman Michael Parker has already suggested that entry into force of IMO’s longawaited convention on ship recycling would logically prompt additional action points for signatories. l

Classification Impact of new EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime carbon pricing schemes

Recently confirmed carbon pricing for ships calling European Union ports offers significant competitive advantage to owners and charterers that understand the incentives, explains Lloyd’s Register in this contributed analysis.

Exposure to carbon pricing may seem like a threat to some ship owners and charterers. The aim, after all, is to encourage a switch to green fuels that will likely be more expensive than fossil fuels, accompanied by costly changes to operations. But these incentives and penalties can also offer wide scope for profit to those that understand them fully.

The two EU carbon-pricing schemes that shipping will soon be subject to are a case in point. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions from ships ≥5000GT in 2024 reported under the EU’s Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system will also be included in the regional Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Those vessels in scope of the ETS will need to buy EU Allowances (EUA) to cover half of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to and from EU, Norwegian and Icelandic (EEA) ports, and all emissions for intraEEA voyages and while at berth at EEA ports. In 2025, 40% of the CO2 emissions from voyages and at berth stays in 2024 will be subject to the ETS, ramping up to 100% in 2027.

Just as the ETS phase-in ends there is a financial double-hit for shipowners. In 2026, the MRV will also require the reporting of CH4 (Methane) and N2O (Nitrous Oxide) emissions from ships, with EUAs to be paid on 100% of the CO2 equivalent of those emissions, in addition to CO2, within the ETS from 2027.

The other mechanism is FuelEU Maritime, which will come into effect in 2025. The regulation sets targets for reducing the yearly average GHG intensity of the energy used by a ship (or, crucially, by a fleet or pool of ships). The required GHG intensity reduction starts small, at -2% in 2025 (compared to a 2020 baseline), reaching -6% in 2030 and -14.5% in 2035, through to -80% by 2050. A penalty or reward is then calculated based on the extent of under- or over-performance against the vessel or fleet’s target for the year, and the cost of low-carbon fuel that would have been needed to meet the target.

At first glance, it is easy to believe that the ETS, covering 100% of in-scope 2026 emissions by 2027, will have the bigger impact of the two mechanisms. FuelEU Maritime, by contrast, covers only a small percentage of emissions even as late as 2035. But analysis by Lloyd’s Register reveals that by that stage, the financial impact of FuelEU Maritime could already have overtaken the EU ETS. By 2050, the cost in FuelEU penalties could be six to eight times greater than the cost of buying EUAs.

“I think ETS is easier to understand,” says Luke Shu, Technical Manager - Maritime Commercial Markets at Lloyd’s Register. “If you emit one tonne of CO2, then you buy one allowance and you pay for that. Whereas FuelEU Maritime is entirely technical. The

easiest way to see the impact is to model the compliance costs next to each other.”

Modelling compliance costs

The results are clear. For a large handy bulk carrier emitting 9,725 tonnes of CO2 equivalents (CO2e) on voyages to and from the EU, and 1,399 CO2e tonnes on intra-EU voyages or at berth in EU ports, the cost of EUAs in 2026 would be €0.58 million, while the FuelEU Maritime penalty would be €0.20 million if the ship keeps using the same fossil fuel. But by 2035, the FuelEU Maritime penalty would be €0.71 million, while the EUA price would stay similar assuming the carbon market is stable. Looking to 2050, the FuelEU Maritime penalty reaches €3.60 million, six times the EUA spend needed to cover emissions.

Although EU ETS foresees providing the right to shipping companies to pass on the financial cost under certain conditions to commercial operators or charterers, a significant amount of work remains to be done.

Most of the current commercial contracts are not yet ready to cover the multitude of scenarios of ‘who pays what’, so for both charterers and shipping companies starting with a sound understanding of regulatory impact and an understanding who owns operational exposure is fundamental prior to any updates to their commercial and risk management framework.

While EUA costs can be reduced by operating vessels more efficiently, exposure to FuelEU Maritime penalties can only be reduced significantly by changing fuel technologies. Further, Shu notes that FuelEU Maritime effectively rewards early adopters by decreasing the surplus for over-achieving compliance over time, while multiplying the penalty for failing to meet the target. Understanding the relative significance of each measure, and the optimal means and timing of compliance, is an important first step in successfully navigating carbon pricing. There are other opportunities too for those that grasp the full implications of the EU measures. One example is the

potential to offset an entire fleet or pool’s penalties with just a few over-performing vessels. This opportunity arises from the EU’s decision to allow vessels with emissions verified by the same verifier to be pooled together. This can be done regardless of shipping companies, meaning it applies to the company’s fleets or to pools of vessels owned/chartered by several companies.

The ability to pool emissions penalties and surpluses has important consequences. For example, a pool of ten boxships could avoid around €277 million in FuelEU Maritime penalties in five years (2030-2034) if they are joined by a single vessel fuelled with e-methanol. That saving far outweighs the likely cost of building the methanol-fuelled containership.

The pooling option in FuelEU Maritime means that companies investing in a zero-emission capable ship would be in a very strong bargaining position when offering to pool with other non-compliant vessels. However, depending on the type of charter party agreement the vessels were under, and especially where charterers are responsible for buying the fuel, care will be needed. The regulation does not define whether it is the owner or charterer who owns the surplus associated with a vessel, meaning that parties entering into such arrangements will need to be sure that they understand the implications to maximise their advantage.

Knowledge is power

“Whoever has more knowledge in such a negotiation will win the battle,” says Shu. “If you are an owner without that knowledge, you may just think that a long-term charter is good. But if you sign the contract without looking into all the clauses, you may find that all the FuelEU Maritime compliance surpluses go to the charterer.”

The pooling elements of the FuelEU Maritime regulation have yet to be finalised, and some of these potential opportunities and challenges are likely to change once the draft is settled. But they highlight some of the new commercial considerations that are likely to come into play as carbon pricing becomes a reality for both ship owners and charterers.

For operators and charterers looking to develop their response to carbon pricing and other market-based measures, Lloyd’s Register’s Advisory Team can offer expert support, leveraging its industry know-how and regulatory insight to identify cost-effective compliance solutions and commercial opportunities. l

Luke Shu

Crew Management

So what motivates a seafarer to pursue a career at sea?

Access to shore leave and being able to communicate with your family and friends while at sea remain key to making a seafaring career more attractive, according to a high-level panel of industry experts.

And while the debate over the first two years of Covid was driven and shaped by the effects that the pandemic had on the seafarers’ ability to do their job effectively and travel home to see their loved ones, according to Mark Nestlehutt, President Executive Director of the Seamen’s Church Institute, what the seafarers were really pushing for most, was universal internet access to all vessels.

“And think that is something that was campaigned for, but pretty dismissively they just wanted to ask, “Well they only want to be able to stream Netflix videos while they are at sea,” he told delegates attending the recent Connecticut Maritime Association Shipping 2023 conference in Stamford.

“But really if you think about the mental health concerns that were exacerbated because of Covid, what we really want is the access to these resources, so the seafarer does have access to mental health support while at sea, and that also requires universal internet access,” he said.

This point was taken up by Mark O’Neil President and CEO of the Columbia Group, who said that the Covid pandemic helped to develop the whole seafarer welfare cause. “What seafarers wanted through Covid, was identification. The most important point they said, is that as an industry, you get it, you understand us, and you understand the trials and tribulations that we have day in, day out. They wanted better communication,” he said.

Mr O’Neil told delegates that he gave his mobile number to every one of Columbia’s 15,000 seafarers, and I get 10 to 15 WhatsApp messages during the week, which I answer. “They need to be able to communicate even to the CEO of the business, and that is really important. They want to know that they are not invisible. The press releases that came out right at the start of Covid was that the seafarers were an invisible workforce. They certainly don’t feel invisible anymore,” he said.

“I think all of the shipping industry has really rallied around that. Wifi is a given. No more can we deny seafarers access to Wifi. They need to be able to communicate with their families. And that is a good thing too when we talk about some of the recruitment issues going down the line. We have to provide our seafarers with the basic welfare packages we provide our employers in the office,” he said.

These include mental health support as well as retirement investment opportunities, and medical health support. Mark O’Neil again: “They will want all of these things that we take for granted. They will want a properly equipped

gym, and a good diet that is not just burgers and chips. And they want tailored diets, so they can get fit and send nice photos back to their loved ones of what they are doing and their various fitness challenges. And they will want all of the benefits as I said, that would wrap around a normal shoreside job. So, I think gone are the days where you distinguish between shoreside and shipside. This is a taskforce, and they want proper human resource management, not just a crewing department that sends them from one ship to the next. They want human resource management, which we as an industry have learnt a lot about over the last three, four, five years. No more a personnel department or a crewing department, but a proper human resource that involves career planning, that involves mentoring, and involves training.”

According to Martin Bennell, Managing Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa and the America at the recruitment specialists Faststream, a survey of seafarers it recently undertook showed that 27% of seafaring crews professionals felt valued by their employer. “Only 27%. So, that is not good enough, nowhere near good enough. And as you said, everything is covered, but as Mark O’Neil mentioned, they want to feel valued and liked in the office, and what is missing, what we haven’t discussed is pension and performance bonus, and actually they want to feel like they are a member of staff as well. So, that is high on the list. A total of 41% actually went for the performance bonus, actually more than Wifi,” he said.

An important factor that has been evident, according to Heidi Heseltine, Founder of the Diversity Study Group, revolves around the duration of contracts at sea, linking also with family friendly policies. “When you look at the make-up and demographic of the contractual side of things, the contracts are not really

family-friendly, particularly when you add in the fact that people quite often feel disconnected from the family because they don’t have the right internet connection. And I think that is one of the things we have really been seeing.

“And also, coming back to that career development as well that we have already highlighted, it is also transitioning from sea to shore. So, seafarers are probably not going to want to sail for their entire life. So, what are the opportunities for me to move ashore? Where is the progression? So, there has been a lot of that reported as well,” she added.

“I think pay, like for most of us, is one of the lesser incentives,” added Mr O’Neil.

“Once you achieve a certain level that is competitive, it is much more sophisticated than that. One of the biggest positive moves we did over the last year or two, was that we put £1.5 million of our own money into a charity to set up sanctuaries in Poland and Romania for the wives and the children of our crew suffered during the war. Not just for Ukrainian seafarers, but for Russians as well.

“This was, and is an unlimited commitment, and we have an army of 320 psychologists working in the Ukraine for traumatised children. That was the right thing to do, and as a result the number of crew, not just Ukrainian crew or Russian crew that come to us, but crew of all nationalities, has been terrific. So, we have got to remember these crew are people, and emotions drive what these people do, and having a strong culture, and having a strong family, and doing the right thing, and being seen as the good employer matters. It matters to all of us. I think we distinguish too much between crew and people ashore. We are all people,” he said.

Beth Wilson-Jordan, Vice President/Senior Associate CMA/Flagship Management, then changed the subject matter to cover what she said was the elephant in the room, namely the cultures that need to change regarding sexual assault at sea.

Heidi Heseltine, was the first to respond: “So, in terms of elephant in the room, I do think it is

culture, particularly onboard ships, and we are seeing some really interesting work being done to actually understand that a little bit more, and to collect the data. I think there is understandably an immediate reaction in terms of trying to draw up processes to offer protection and to encourage people to speak up. But of course, behind that, there has to be a culture that supports it, and I think we are all acknowledging it on this panel.

“You must have a culture that encourages people to speak up, but the action when something happens that is taken to build the trust. And I think at the moment part of the elephant in the room is the trust doesn’t exist yet to really get people to be opening up, because there has been incidences where it is a case of, “Well, I said this to someone” and they were told. “Oh, it’s just the way that person works onboard the ship.” And this is whether we are looking at males, females, and the LGBTQ+ community. It is across the board, and I don’t think we have started to even scratch the surface to really unearth exactly what it is we need to be addressing and doing it thoroughly. The great news is there is some really good work that is starting to be done on it,” she said.

Mark O’Neil added: “It wasn’t too long ago, when I was a lawyer, that I was advising a shipping client on policies they needed to have. I said, look, you need a harassment policy,” and they replied, why do I need a harassment policy? That is surely going to encourage people to file claims for harassment. But as I replied, that is the wrong way of looking at it. It’s quite the reverse, and it’s going to show you as a modern company and educate people as to what harassment is.

“So, I think it is education, education, education, and we have got some terrific models. We have got many different internet learning capabilities out there now that keep crew very connected and able to have tailored training on all of this. It is education, it is training, it is lifelong learning. All of these things are really, really important shoreside and shipside,” he stressed. l

From any position to any position

more: navtor.com/auto-routeing

The new integrated Auto Routeing module in NavStation prepares a route suggestion in seconds. It provides an overview for distance and duration and can be used as a foundation for further detailed route planning.

Weather and currents key to voyage planning Navigation

One way of reducing a vessel’s emissions footprint, including reducing the carbon intensity indicator (CII), is to optimise and plan a voyage taking into account the weather patterns and currents to be encountered en route, while still maintaining safety.

And that is particularly so in current times where the incidence and severity of extreme weather has been increased by the effects of climate change, most experts would agree.

Claimed to be the largest independent weather service provider, Weathernews Inc (WNI) has developed various platforms to help achieve the optimum voyage length to allow fuel savings and thus cut emissions.

For example, WNI’s all in one platform - Sea Navigator - allows the operators to monitor the fleet’s status; plan a voyage by using a CII simulator, a voyage planner and a sea margin calculator; monitor the voyage its optimisation by using the onboard logbooks and analyse the voyage by using an emissions dashboard, thus giving a performance evaluation and highlighting any charterparty warranty issues.

Last October, WNI announced that it had upgraded its optimum sea routeing and performance monitoring services to include CII and CO2 environmental content in the ship performance models. Time spent in port should be

also monitored for the CII and other emissions facets.

Using AIS (Automatic Identification System), voyage data AIS can be used by vessel owners, managers and operators/ charterers to monitor and optimise performance. This could involve voyage briefings with the Master if necessary.

By using cloud technology and software tools, data can be collected and analysed, either prior to a voyage, or following its completion. Statistical or engineering models can be produced for each voyage.

Jesse Vecchione, WNI’s Head of Regional Sales and Marketing for the Americas stressed that safety was “number one” when deciding upon the correct route.

He revealed that WNI is developing a system whereby if the company’s weather data proves to be totally inaccurate, then the company will pay up. Vecchione likened it to an insurance scheme. This initiative should be introduced by the end of this year.

WNI also has an agreement in place with NAVTOR whereby route planning meteorological data can be overlayed on its electronic map system/ECDISNavStation. Both vessel Masters and operators can also be contacted through NAVTOR’s communications systems.

Due to the push for new shipboard environmental compliance, vessels’ data can be displayed online in real time,

which could mark the beginning of the end of charterparty warranty clauses, Vecchione added.

Worldwide weather data is run every six hours and WNI has specialist centres in Oklahoma, Japan, Athens and Copenhagen.

To date, the company has around 10,000 vessels on its books and caters for owners, managers and operators/ charterers among others. Many of the vessels act as weather ships by communicating real time data back to WNI on a regular basis for analysis.

Vecchione also said that collaboration between shipping’s stakeholders was vital to monitor emissions and thus go some way towards decarbonisation, which will face significant challenges, due to the complexity involved, while at the same time maintaining safety while at sea.

Achieving decarbonisation goals requires innovation and investment in new technologies and fuels, alongside

Jesse Vecchione

regulatory support and the willingness of stakeholders to work together towards a common goal, he stressed.

Climate change impact

Addressing the subject of climate change, Vecchione told SMI: “At WNI, we recognize that climate change is a real and pressing issue that is affecting the shipping industry in a significant way. We have observed trends that show longer distances and travel times due to the more frequent and

extreme weather events that have been occurring.

“Traditional optimization techniques based on deterministic forecasting are no longer sufficient to achieve real optimization due to the unpredictability of the weather phenomena and the dynamically changing weather patterns.

“In response to this challenge, we have adopted probabilistic forecasting techniques to properly adapt our services and ensure customer

satisfaction and safety despite the impacts of climate change.

“This approach involves incorporating human expertise and insight into our automated routing processes, ensuring that we have a human in the loop concept to complement our automated systems. By doing so, we can help our customers make informed decisions based on more accurate weather data and mitigate the risks associated with climate change.” l

Avoiding weather-related confusion in charterparties

Based on a longer article by Capt. Milind J Karkhanis, Master Mariner and Maritime Arbitrator, which first appeared first in the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) Bulletin and the Nautical Institute’s magazine Seaways earlier this year.

Meteorology is a contemporary natural science element, which is anything but perfect. It keeps evolving as Mother Nature undergoes changes due to various reasons, including its abuse by mankind - land reclamation, deforestation, emission of harmful gases, biodiversity loss, etc.

Over the years, meteorologists have come up with theories which a few of them stood to be adjusted or even debunked, with the advent of time. The Admiralty Weather Bureau, the World Meteorology Organization etc. have come up with updated data at different times.

Charterparties invariably contain an express clause that provides the vessel’s warranted performance in terms of its speed and performance within certain good weather condition limits related to the wind and state of the sea, in terms of the sea wave and the swell wave heights. Both are subject to careful distinction, as they survive jointly in open waters. To quantify these limits, it is a common practice to make reference to meteorological tables such as the Douglas scale and/or the Beaufort scale.

However, to avoid conflicting claims as to whether a vessel’s speed and performance complies with the charterparty performance

warranty clause and the good weather condition limits, it is essential that the wordings stated therein are unambiguous, in particular, if any such reference is made to obsolete Douglas scales.

Rather than getting mired in meteorological tables / guides, given their record of getting revised or some even becoming outdated with time, moving forward, while drafting the charterparty performance warranty clause, would it not impose certain uniformity in its interpretation, if the parties keep it simple by directly mentioning the sea wave height and the swell wave height, while stating the good weather condition limits? l

Instilling confidence and resilience Training

The virtues of the new Blue Board Leadership Programme at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) are explained by Anne-Christine Ahrenkiel

Executives in the maritime and logistics sectors must deal with the often-severe impact of complex global issues. Anne-Christine Ahrenkiel, who is in the executive management team of major ferry and logistics group DFDS, is among those who have found participating in the new Blue Board Leadership Programme to be valuable in enhancing their approach to determining the right pathways through ever-changing scenarios.

“I was keen to take a Board education and get some academic inspiration – and when I saw the curriculum of the Blue Board programme, the ‘Blue twist’ appealed even more, especially with its focus on geopolitics and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles,” says Ms Ahrenkiel.

Ms Ahrenkiel already can claim much success in her chosen field – since 2019 she has been EVP and Chief People Officer of the Copenhagen-listed group, which has some 12.000 employees and was voted the world’s leading ferry operator for 2022 at the World Travel Awards for the 12th consecutive year. She previously worked for Maersk and also has senior business experience in other sectors such as media & entertainment, IT and government.

The Blue Board Leadership Programme initiated its sessions in late 2022 and early 2023, drawing on expertise from CBS Executive Fonden, which designs and runs senior executive and board governance educational programmes, and the Blue MBA Alumni Association, whose members have graduated at various times over the past two decades from

How does a company cope with such matters as rapidly evolving legislation and regulation, and with the exacting question of setting policy over present and future green fuels?

Ms Ahrenkiel explains: “As a European transportation service provider, we have a lot to deal with to react to geopolitical trends such as Brexit and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Topping that is the whole ESG agenda which is driven by expectations of employees, financial investors, and EU legislation. Lots to deal with – so every day demands a careful assessment of what is most critical and by when, while asking oneself how it will impact the company over the next five to 10 years.”

Ms Ahrenkiel stresses the importance of the ESG element, and says that a good place for a company to begin proving it is not just paying lip-service to a slogan – what is

company, and be explicit about how the company gradually is dealing with it, for instance through a five or 10-year action plan which describes a long term vision but also sets out intermediate steps.”

While adherence to ESG principles is a must, “it is important to allow oneself to make assumptions about how to interpret relevant new legislation,” she adds. “If not – and if trying to deal with all legislation in great detail at once - it will overtake any other activity of a company. Hence, one needs to a certain degree to take an assumptions-based and risk management-based approach.”

Reflecting on her participation in the eight-day session (in two modules) in the Danish capital of the Blue Board Leadership Programme, Ms Ahrenkiel remarked on the high quality of the CBS professors, and of the external faculty members “who were very good at elucidating the academic approach into real-life examples.”

She adds: “the ‘Blue twist’ I have been describing here is relevant also outside the shipping industry and might even make this programme somewhat of an early front runner compared to other similar programmes.” l

Danica’s decade of achievement

On his company’s 10th anniversary, Danica Crewing Specialists’ Founder and CEO

Henrik Jensen explains why ‘the days of very cheap crew are over’.

When Danish master mariner Henrik Jensen started Danica Crewing Specialists 10 years ago this April, his motivation was a very simple one.

“Having a seafaring background on bulk carriers, container ships, ferries and eventually captaining offshore vessels before coming ashore as marine superintendent and moving to be manning director in shipping companies, I fully understand that to have the proper crew onboard is very important for the whole success of a shipping company.

“In 2013 I had a vision to do something about this,” he continues. “I saw that there were few companies concentrating on quality crew supply specifically for Eastern European seafarers, and I thought there was a need for a new provider of talent that was not involved in technical matters but would support shipping companies that didn’t have their own manning agencies.”

Working for Nordic Hamburg Shipmanagement at the time, he already had manning contacts in Ukraine and this led to Hamburg-headquartered Danica opening its first overseas office in Odessa (now Odesa) in 2013. The company today has in total some 1,500 crew employed, of which about 1,200 are Ukrainians. Events of the past year and more have clearly had a dramatic effect on Danica’s operations, with the company’s staff in Odesa having had to work in shelters for long periods, and many now having been relocated to a new office in Limassol, Cyprus that opened last year. Likewise, the company has been highly active in helping take care of the welfare of its Ukrainian seafarers and their families and relatives. Henrik Jensen adds “I am impressed how our staff continued to work under these difficult circumstances. Apart from a temporary shortage of Ukrainian seafarers last spring, our Ukrainian operations continued without major interruptions.”

This year Danica has opened a new office in India and is

currently opening one in the Philippines. “We’re in the process of developing from an Eastern European crewing company into an international one,” says Jensen.

The reason for this geographical diversification is not simply because of problems surrounding Ukrainian crews at present, he continues, but rather to a globalisation and increased transparency of the crewing market in general, linked to the growing role of internet-based recruitment and salary comparison information.

“The competition for good talent is much stronger and more difficult today,” he says. “What the shipping industry in the future has to realise is that, while for a long time it was easy to find ratings at very inexpensive rates from countries like the Philippines, for lower ranks like these in particular the living standards shoreside have become much higher. The days of very cheap crew are over.”

Meanwhile, on the officer side Jensen sees that competition from shore-based industries like IT is also creaming off the top talent. “Before a good way to have a high income, in Easter Europe in particular, was to go to sea, but in future this will be a challenge. In India perhaps not, because there are so many people.”

One way that Danica plans to stay ahead of the competition is in making greater use of the internet and social media itself, to target quality seafaring talent. Here it will be employing algorithms to reach out not only to those actively seeking employment, he adds, but to those whose profiles suggest they might be open to doing so.

In short, the war in Ukraine may have accelerated Danica’s move towards true internationalisation and greater use of digitalisation, but these are trends in the wider shipping industry that the company would have adopted anyway as it moves into its second decade. l

Use of behavioural science can improve seafarers’ green performance

UK-based software company Signol is using behavioural science to cut fuel consumption, operating costs and emissions. In recent months it has concluded pilot projects with both BSM (Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement) Deutschland and Hawaiian Islands freight transporter Young Brothers with encouraging results, yielding fuel savings of upwards of five percent.

Under Signol’s programme enrolled Masters receive personalised goals, motivational reports on their performance and impromptu notifications via email, as well as having access to the Signol web app, where they can review and reflect upon their own individual performance.

The vast majority of Masters involved in the Young Brothers trial improved their performance, with the most significant gains coming from those toward the bottom of the historic performance bell curve.

In the BSM pilot, Signol says it delivered individualised carbon-saving targets to 30 Masters and Chief Engineers across 23 BSMD-managed vessels. Calculated on the seafarer’s prior performance from analysis of operational data, Signol provided personal milestones and achievements via its app and direct emails, nudging participants toward fuel-efficient behaviours and letting them review their voyages and send feedback related to their performance outcomes.

Harriet Johnson, Head of Maritime at Signol, says: “As a former mariner myself, I recognise that the behaviour of seafarers on board vessels is an important and often overlooked component of vessel performance. Vessel optimisation teams throughout the industry have rightly focused initially on the performance of the steel through the water yet can sometimes forget the importance of engaging with and motivating the crew to be proactive around efficiency and carbon emission reduction initiatives.

“Signol offers a friendly, positive and engaging user experience unlike anything previously seen in the industry,” she adds, “which is why we are seeing significant fuel savings from re-energised and enthusiastic mariners.”

BSMD says that the test of Signol’s app onboard its managed vessels not only improved crew decisions with regards to fuel consumption, but also aimed to boost seafarers’ morale and wellbeing due to ongoing communication and personal interaction.

Harriet Johnson adds: “The partnership with BSM Deutschland has shown the significant potential of Signol’s software solution in shipping. At this critical time for the maritime industry, these results are evidence that decarbonisation need not be capital-intensive and slow-moving. We look forward to a continued partnership with BSM as it helps the sector navigate toward a sustainable future.” l

Use of the app also aims to boost seafareers’ morale and wellbeing due to ongoing communication and personal interaction

Harriet Johnson

CREW TRAVEL

ROUND TABLE DEBATE

In the latest of our series of round table debates we focus on the changing face of crew travel at a time when established patterns of air transport and crew repatriation have been disrupted by the global pandemic and ensuing supply chain disruption, as well as considerations of decarbonisation.

Panellists included:

Konstantinos Oikonomou, CEO, Marine Tours Group; Melanie Quinn, Head of Sales and Customer Relations, Clyde Travel; Mark Taylor, Global Operations Director, Global Marine Travel; Nikos Gazelidis, Chief Commercial Officer, ATPI Marine Division & MD - Operations, Greece & Cyprus; Thorsten Kirkegaard Winther, Vice President BCD Travel; George Kyvernitis, Managing Partner, Kyvernitis Travel; Sverre Husby, Global Solutions Director, G Travel International. Moderated by Sean Moloney, CEO of Elaborate Communications.

Sean Moloney

Welcome, everybody. First question, what are the challenges and opportunities facing the crew travel sector at the moment against a backdrop of the industry emerging from the ravages of the COVID pandemic and the continuing impact of the Russia/Ukraine war?

Nikos Gazelidis

The challenges started even before COVID. The sector was being impacted by ongoing changes in the regulatory environment, environmental concerns and there was so-called digitalisation coming in for three or four years before COVID. Some of those challenges were delayed, and some of the others really enforced, during COVID. So now the sector is trying to get back into normality where everything is different now. But the real challenge that still exists is the status of a seafarer and I don’t think that during COVID we managed to change that. And on top of that there are challenges in terms of shortage of crew and with the Russia invasion this has deteriorated. Increased cost of operation, not only the air travel but the overall. In the future, the opportunity with those challenges is to have leaner crewing operations.

Sean Moloney

Could you give an idea though, Nikos, on how that situation has changed from the seafarers’

perspective and from the crew manager’s perspective and how that is impacting on you as the challenge?

Nikos Gazelidis

Yes, the priorities now for ship companies and ship managers on seafarer wellbeing have been raised significantly. Even before COVID priorities were more into efficiency savings but now more than ever seafarer wellbeing is on top. Decarbonisation is coming close as well so we don’t look at the fewer parameters but rather more complex parameters that will affect the cost. But definitely it’s the seafarer challenge that needs to be tackled because we need to embrace these people and to incentivise these people. The contracts need to be more appealing and, of course, to attract new nationalities because experience has shown that the existing ones are not enough.

George Kyvernitis

I think Nikos covered pretty much most of it. If I was to pinpoint the stragglers and the increasing costs in the entire chain that would be something that would stand out for me. Obviously, the war was something that increased the cost and created part of the shortage. I think the shortage has a lot to do with the growth of each sector

and the way segmentation in the shipping industry has grown. We see new ships coming in, like the LNGs, which require a different specialisation.

And then there was the crisis that we saw coming in with Russia and Ukraine - we personally faced a lot of difficulties. We had to disembark people with both nationalities being on the same ship so that created some turbulence and we had to repatriate seafarers and provide shelter for those families. So it was quite challenging, I think the scope of my work changed during that time. But let’s not forget that wherever there are challenges there are also opportunities. I think safety and security in this industry is becoming the new norm and we need to provide high quality services and prioritise these aspects.

Melanie Quinn

I don’t disagree with either George or Nikos’ comments but I would add that the shortages in human resources are not limited to the shipping industry. The travel industry has suffered in the same way and it’s still recovering and we saw the chaos postpandemic during peaks at airports and airlines alike. So I think that’s probably the biggest challenge for crew movements, getting the capacity back and getting the people back into travel to service that part of the sector.

In terms of opportunities, we’re fortunate on this panel because we operated throughout the pandemic and continue to be specialists in crew movements. Whereas perhaps other agencies who have a more diverse portfolio of customer haven’t fared as well or have as much experience resources as this group of people. At Clyde Travel Management we’ve got an employee retention rate of 93% and I don’t think there’s many Travel Management Companies (TMCs) out there that have that retention rate post pandemic.

Mark Taylor

I agree with everything people have said so far. We’re part of a larger group, V.Ships, which is actually a ship management company so we have the benefit of seeing both sides of

the coin from a TMC site perspective as well. So one of the biggest challenges, as Nikos said as well, is actual crew retention, which at the moment is a huge problem. Not only retaining the existing crew but also attracting new talents as well, and so obviously the investment that comes from ship management companies in training and ideas like loyalty schemes is huge at the moment. And welfare come on top of that and is something that’s being accelerated by the whole coming out of COVID as well.

Among opportunities, the cruise industry is really alight at the moment, with a lot of newbuilds coming on and a lot of new companies setting up as well. Obviously, there’s bigger opportunities with the cruise ships because they’re a lot more crew.

Sean Moloney

Konstantinos, can I bring you in and get your views, have you got anything that you want to add into what’s been said already?

Konstantinos Oikonomou

I would say that the challenge we all faced during COVID is almost over, we are back to normality as regards to restrictions at least. The markets are opening, China included. That is the good news. At the same time, I think there are quite a few challenges as regards to cost. And the infrastructure that the airline industry has in the market at the moment, including all the new travellers out there, corporate and leisure, has increased the demand for travel, and this drives up costs.

I would definitely agree that our own internal challenges that have affected the service level. The sustainability of that service level brings its own challenges in relation to crew travel services as there is a shortage of personnel, and we need time to attract people, to train people. Technology is definitely going to play an important role there.

Sean Moloney Sverre, let me bring you in and then I’ll bring in Torsten. Do you think the failure to reach global consensus during Covid that seafarers

Konstantinos

MelanieQuinn

MarkTaylor

are key workers was an opportunity lost?

Sverre Husby

It was an opportunity lost definitely but also there was a lost opportunity during Covid for TMCs to find a way to ease the cooperation between us. Last year and the year before we talked about it but no one ever took up the gauntlet of actually starting to work towards it. But there are new challenges coming up. Today we also see a renewed capacity problem for airlines and a challenge that might impact a lot of us sitting here is that Amsterdam has decided to reduce the flights operating in and out of Schiphol by 25%, which will definitely limit one of the major European hubs for seafarers as Schiphol offers important connections to places like the Philippines and South America.

Thorsten Kirkegaard Winther

With the reduction of capacity another issue that we are facing is the rise in corporate travel. Not everything aboard a vessel can be run on video conference and we still need to bring people from A to B. During Covid we were looking into the abyss and saying how can we utilise the time to maybe bring new technology to play in the industry. And

I think we have done that and what we do see now is actually a significant need for technology, integrating current system with the technologies that we utilised for travel bookings.

And there is an appetite out there from the crewing companies, absolutely. We see clients going up to a 70% online adoption rate for crew travel. I’m not saying that we should not offer the expertise but we see the need to ring-fence the travel ecosystem with online/offline and 24 hours service. But the rampup in online adoption rate for crew travel has been impressive and this has unlocked the potential in the industry which is really nice to see.

Sverre Husby

On the question of online adoption for crewing, I guess that basically means some of the smaller clients will do more of the booking themselves. But in our market, not only in the Nordics but also in Poland and the UK, our clients are actually asking us to do more, take on more services so they can reduce the cost of their operation. So we are now providing several other services for especially the crew companies and the ship owners that we didn’t earlier. They basically pay us to do part of what their

own crew department did earlier.

Thorsten Kirkegaard Winther

A good point as well but I think what we potentially do is actually integrating the crew technologies and taking already existing information like crew data, home airport, embarkation port etc. and bringing that into the flow. We see a significant reduction in time consumed in the logistic task that is being performed around it.

Sean Moloney

Let me bring in some of the earlier speakers, Nikos and Mel, on this whole movement towards digitalisation and AI technology, chatbots and how the industry is going to be adapting.

Nikos Gazelidis

System integration is already happening. And we need to have even more to that, not only on the crew management systems but also in other systems. For the moment the crewing departments of shipping companies are working in silos so we need to enhance this coordination between the manning, the port agent and of course with the shipping companies. This will create efficiencies and enhance

the communication between companies even if they have adopted integration or not.

But this only addresses a part of the cost issue. In the future our role will be to manage the travel patterns of the shipping companies more than just managing travel. What we’ve seen, especially after COVID is that the level of complexity and the constant re-bookings of travel makes us wonder if shipping companies have the resources to do it themselves. And whether they have the right level of communication data analysis in order to predict the ETA, the exact ETA or not of vessels. There are tools that we can work with together in order to make the shipping company more proactive, for instance following ship patterns to anticipate ticket demands for different nationalities and therefore obtain reduced ticket prices. I believe that in the future we can contribute more as a crew travel sector to the shipping community as long as they are open for this.

Melanie Quinn

I think Nikos makes a good point about predictive AI, the algorithms to not just help with the mapping of the routes and the schedules of the vessels but to help with budgeting as well. Increasingly we’re

being asked to provide an indication of what the costs will be over the coming years. Having seen costs rise by over 40% last year it’s hard to say, nobody knows how long the Russia-Ukraine war is going to continue.

IATA is probably the best indication but costs are predicted to continue to rise but by how much, we just don’t know. I think the kind of predictive technologies mentioned would be useful but, as Nikos has pointed out, there has to be an open collaboration between the customer and the TMC to make that happen.

At Clyde, for the moment we’ve digitalised as much as we can influence so workflow management for crew movements is all digitalised within our own technology. We have digitalised invoicing so that it’s touchless. But those are the areas that have been open to improving the efficiencies and that’s the challenge going forward, to keep up that pace and make sure that we can optimise the opportunities that digitalisation present.

Sean Moloney

Mark, let me bring you in as part of V.Group because the way big management groups are now operating it’s all about offering more to existing clients as well as

trying to get more new ones. But how do you square that with rising costs?

Mark Taylor

As the parent group looks at it, it’s all about offering additional services, looking at the full spectrum, whether we’re doing full ship management or, technical management. For us, there is a lot of investment in how do you offer optimum services and how do you sell catering, as in onboard catering or do full bunkering services etc. There’s even the aspect of if a ship is half-way across the Atlantic, how do they order spares while they’re on the move and not having to send out a superintendent to fix a part. So think we’re at the dawn of a huge change as far as concerns digitalisation, which at the moment is just being dragged kicking and screaming basically.

You need to optimise, as Nick said as well, and that means your crew planning. I don’t think you’ll get to the point where you can type into an AI and a chatbot will do a full crew change for you but there may be elements that can be automated, for example leisure vessels for the cruise industry, at least they’re on fixed schedules.

Sean Moloney

George let me bring you in, and then Kostas as well, on this whole issue of costs, how easy or difficult it is to stick to budgets and the impact of the airlines as well.

George Kyvernitis

I think the word budget is everyone’s nightmare these days. I don’t think I’ve seen, at least for the last year, a budget that’s been maintained among the lines that’s been discussed in the past. Obviously - and this is a personal opinion - looking at costs how the entire supply chain of operations within crew transportation has changed, there’s no way back for me. I think we’re going to be seeing costs that will stay at these levels if not increase even more.

Obviously technology is something that will be all the talk for the years to come but let’s not forget that for a crew change to take place efficiently and as seamlessly as we want it to happen, it’s very difficult as there are so many obstacles to that. And the adoption rate of technology for the airlines to make their content available is one of the biggest ones. So for me, as mentioned by Nikos and Mark, I think collaboration is extremely important. Being able to understand what the needs of the shipping company are and TMCs becoming the advisor on how to better create efficiency within the budget streams.

Sean Moloney Kostas, can I please get your closing comments on this?

Konstantinos Oikonomou

I believe that the budget and cost is a very technical discussion. At the moment we are definitely seeing a scale-down as regards prices from specific destinations that clearly has to do with supply, new aircraft coming in. But for 2023 I do believe that demand is what’s going to drive cost and prices. We are professionals, there are ways to address cost

and budget for a shipping company. And I believe that with a reasonable deviation a budget can be set up for 2023. It wasn’t my thought for 2022, things were quite unbalanced then. But I think that for 2023 and onwards things are balancing and we can definitely help certain companies address their budget and average cost.

Again, my primary concern comes from the supply side, unfortunately for two-and-ahalf years the majority of the travellers were crew travelling or shipping related travellers. Airlines cover quite a few reports and analyses on the trends, on the level of fares that these travellers and their companies are willing to pay. And I think that they have established and will establish specific pricing policies for them. This is a true challenge because we don’t know what we’re going to see in front of us from the supply side.

Sean Moloney Nikos, can I get your closing comments too?

Nikos Gazelidis

I’m not going to pick a fight with airlines because we can’t really influence. An industry that represents only four percent of the total airline business it’s difficult to influence. We, of course, need to follow what’s going to happen and somehere we can do more is towards improving the efficiency of the crew change cycle. I think this is important also to help with the decarbonisation because the need will increase. And to end with a happy note, the transfer to luxury tourism is expected to grow very fast so crews in the three mega yachts which is part of our business will be good in the next coming years. And, of course, mercantile will continue to grow.

Sean Moloney

That seems a positive note on which to end. Thank you all very much for your time and for a most stimulating debate. l

Sverre Husby

George Kyverniti

ThorstenKirkegaar

Nikos Gazelidi

SCANDINAVIA: Powered by partnerships

Scandinavian countries have long been known as environmental leaders, thanks to their technical prowess and keen desire to preserve the region’s pristine environment. But also, no doubt, partly to their societal values of egalitarianism and transparency that have encouraged the sharing of information and fostered joint endeavours.

With shipping now facing one of its greatest ever challenges in the form of decarbonisation, many believe that the industry as a whole now needs to adopt such a co-operative spirit. Knut ØrbeckNilssen, Maritime CEO at Norway-based class society DNV, has coined the phrase that “collaboration is the true fuel of the future”, while ‘#PartnerShip’ has been chosen as the theme of this year’s NorShipping event taking place in Oslo in early June.

A good example of intra-Norwegian collaboration to achieve high-tech environmental results comes in the form of the Yara Birkeland, the world’s first

autonomous emission-free containership, now coming up to the end of its first year of commercial service, carrying shipments of fertilizer across across the fjord from Yara’s Porsgrunn plant to Brevik port.

Yara International worked with various Norwegian partners on the design and development of the battery-driven ship, including Marin Teknikk, Kongsberg Maritime and shipbuilder Vard, while the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment’s Enova provided funding of NOK133.5m ($14.2m) for construction of the new electric ship.

Yara is involved in a host of other projects, including the pre-ordering of 15 floating bunker terminals from fellow Norwegian company Azane Fuel Solutions to establish what it says will be the world’s first carbon-free fuel bunkering network delivering green ammonia in Scandinavia.

Other examples of longstanding environmental pioneers in the region include the likes of Sweden’s Stena and Denmark’s Maersk and DFDS.

into a slew of dual-fuel 16,000 TEU large containerships able to run on green methanol as well as conventional low sulphur fuel. Under construction by Hyundai Heavy Industries, the first vessel is due for delivery in early 2024. The company says the vessels will operate the on carbon neutral e-methanol or sustainable bio-methanol as soon as possible, to which end Maersk has entered into a number of partnerships and collaborations with fuel producers in order to ensure ramp-up of proper carbon neutral methanol production at scale. The vessels’ methanol propulsion system has been developed in collaboration with engine and equipment makers MAN ES, Himsen (Hyundai) and Alfa Laval, representing a significant step-up in size of the technology, which was previously limited to container carriers of around 2,000 TEU.

Equinor, Grieg Star, Kværner and Wärtsila – was nominated for the 2023 Thor Heyerdahl International Maritime Environmental Award.

Norway-headquartered Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW) is another environmental frontrunner, not least with its ‘Orcelle Wind’ project to build a sail-mounted RoRo ship as the first of its Oceanbird range of wind-powered cargo vessels, adjudged winner of the above-mentioned Heyerdahl Award (see also Cover Story). Mercedes Benz joined the project in February, WW’s CCO Pia Synnerman remarking at the time: “To succeed in zero emissions, we need partnerships. I am glad that MercedesBenz will join us on this journey.”

Rune Ekornesvåg, Sales Director Ship Design in Kongsberg Maritime, commented that the company was excited to work on a project that incorporates so many energy-saving and clean technologies in one vessel. Kongsberg Maritime’s cooperation with Tärntank began in 2013, when it designed four LNG-powered chemical tanker vessels for the company, later followed by a contract for two more vessels in 2019. Tärntank is a leading tanker operator in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, with 10 icestrengthened vessels.

Part of Sweden-based Stena Group with its long track record of innovation, Stena Bulk is currently blazing a trail in the use of methanol as a marine fuel in a tie-up with global methanol producer Proman. The joint venture company Proman Stena Bulk took delivery of its fourth methanol-fuelled tanker, the 49,990 DWT Stena Prosperous built in China, last December and the quartet of vessels are now all actively trading and bunkering fully on the low-emission future fuel, helping drive its wider adoption by the marine industry.

Erik Hånell, President and CEO of Stena Bulk, comments: “These vessels are truly pioneering and meet the highest standards of safety, sustainability and efficiency, laying down a marker for what is already possible today through progressive partnerships like ours with Proman.”

Maersk, of course, has been the industry’s highest-profile proponent of the fuel, back in August 2021 ordering the first eight of what has since turned

Separately, the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, also Copenhagen-based, is involved in a wide range of alternative fuel projects, covering areas such as fuel cell power solutions, biofuels, ammonia safety, green corridor pre-feasibility studies, and vessel emission reduction technologies. Earlier this year it released a freely available ‘ESG Playbook for Shipping’, co-developed with Boston Consulting Group and piloted by the Navigator Gas fleet, advising companies on the shaping and implementation of ‘focused, actionable and ambitious’ Environmental, Social and Governance strategies.

Meanwhile, leading pan-European ferry operator DFDS is another long-time environmental pioneer. It is currently working with English Channel ports to establish the UK’s first ‘green corridor’ between Dover and Calais, Dunkerque and Boulogne, and in 2019 was a founder partner of the ZEEDS (Zero Emission Energy Distribution at Sea) initiative to investigate the setting up of a series of offshore platforms to make zero emission fuels available to the shipping industry. ZEEDS - whose other partners are fellow Scandinavian companies Aker Solutions,

WW CEO Lasse Kristoffersen has likewise explained how Nor-Shipping’s theme of #PartnerShip was a major reason for WW deciding to become Lead Partner this year, the event providing a physical environment for “global stakeholders to meet, exchange ideas, build understanding and form the partnerships that we need to help shipping evolve.”

In another example of intraScandinavian collaboration on cuttingedge emissions reduction work, Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime announced in March that it is to supply design, engineering, and equipment for three MGO/Biofuel and methanol-ready tanker ships being built for Danish tanker operator Tärntank.

The highly advanced, low emission 15,000dwt tanker vessels will feature wind assist technology plus Tärntank’s own battery-powered Hybrid Solution®.

Kongsberg Maritime is also working in a joint development project (JDP) with Singapore-based Berg Bulk to advance maritime decarbonisation by exploring concepts for a clean energy bulker fleet. Berge Bulk, which operates over 80 vessels, has been testing a number of technologies including different wind-assisted propulsion systems to meet its aim of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025 at the latest and to have a zero-carbon ocean-going dry bulk carrier by 2030.

Finally, at government level Norway is also co-operating with Singapore and the IMO on assisting with maritime decarbonisation worldwide. The collaboration will be achieved by integrating the IMONorway GreenVoyage2050 Project, established in May 2019 to help developing countries decarbonise, with the IMO-MPA NextGEN Connect initiative, established in April 2022, designed to help the setting up of alternative fuel bunkering facilities.l

Yara Birkeland vessel

Ferries serve as innovation testbed

Norway’s position as one of the countries spearheading global shipping’s advance towards decarbonisation has been underlined by a couple of recent developments in the domestic ferry sector.

At end March, Norway began operating Norled’s new liquid hydrogen-powered ferry MF Hydra.

‘Today will be a historic day, both for Norled and for Norway as a leading shipping nation as we are witnessing the world’s first ship sailing on liquid hydrogen,” commented ferry company CEO Heidi Wolden.

“There are only two parties in the world that use liquid hydrogen as a fuel,” added CTO Erlend Hovland. “These are Norled with the MF Hydra, and then the space industry using it as fuel for launches.” Inaugural passengers would enjoy “a zero-emission journey between Hjelmeland and Nesvik,” he said.

More than 20 years of innovation in the Norwegian ferry sector preceded the latest landmark event. In 2000, MF Glutra became the first car ferry in the world to run off liquified natural gas (LNG), and then in 2015 Norled launched the world’s first battery-operated, propeller-driven ferry, the MF Ampere. This led to a veritable electric ferry ‘revolution’ in Norway with the country today having around 70 such vessels in operation.

Norled began carriying out extensive system tests on Hydra at quayside in Hjelmeland from the start of the year onwards, followed by sea trials, resulting in final approvals from the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA). The vessel is classed by DNV.

“MF Hydra confirms Norway’s world-leading position in the development of new green maritime solutions,” commented Ada Jakobsen, CEO of Maritime CleanTech, the Norwegian-based business cluster that works closely with the maritime industry and encourages the use of new zero-emission technology. “By putting the world’s first hydrogen ferry into operation on a Norwegian ferry connection, we are once again showing how purchasing power and good public-private partnerships can be used to develop new and ground-breaking technology.”

NMA had been closely involved in the project from an early stage, as it was when the first battery-operated car ferry was to be put into operation. “The fact that we work together, businesses and authorities, to facilitate new technology development will give Norway a competitive

advantage and may provide the basis for new jobs, while also making it even more exciting to work in the maritime industry,” said Norway’s Director General of Shipping and Navigation, Knut Arild Hareide.

Meanwhile, the same month leading hydrogen fuel cell supplier PowerCell was awarded a contract to deliver hydrogen fuel cells to two ships operating on Norway’s longest ferry connection operated by Torghatten Nord. The order, valued at €19.2 million, was described as the world’s largest hydrogen project to date in the marine industry.

PowerCell will work with Norwegian systems developer and integrator SEAM, which will be responsible for the delivery of propulsion, control, and safety systems. Final delivery of the fuel cells, which will enable the ferries to produce approximately 6 MW of power each, is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of 2024

The ferries, to be predominantly powered by green hydrogen, are expected to reduce their combined CO2 emissions by 26,500 tonnes per year, corresponding to the amount of CO2 emissions produced by 13,000 diesel cars per year.

The PowerCell announcement comes as part of a Norwegian government initiative that aims to see all ferries crossing the Vestfjorden between Lofoten and Bodø in Northern Norway being emission-free. With a long and demanding crossing of up to four hours, green hydrogen

was deemed the most viable solution to supply the power these vessels require. The ferries – each with a capacity of 599 passengers and 120 cars - are scheduled to operate from October 2025 as part of a replacement programme for similar sized and operable fossil energy-powered ferries.

Richard Berkling, CEO of PowerCell, commented: “This is a ground-breaking project not just for PowerCell or Norway, but for the entire marine industry, and one that we are very happy and proud to be part of. Norway led the development in the introduction of liquefied natural gas in the marine industry and now the country is taking an important step to establish green hydrogen as a clean energy source for our hard to abate sector. Our solutions are perfectly suited for demanding applications where operational reliability, high power density and compact format are important parameters.

“The transition to electrification and emission-free energy is accelerating and is supported by supranational initiatives such as the EU’s Green Deal and the large-scale investments to reach the Paris Agreement. In Norway alone, there are roughly 800 ferry lines and ferries are a segment where we can expect great interest in hydrogenelectric solutions. Starting next year, the maritime sector will be included in the EU Emissions Trading System, which will increase the demand for net zero, hydrogenpowered solutions.” l

Optimarin looks to China

Norwegian-based ballast water treatment system (BWTS) supplier Optimarin is concentrating on the retrofit market ahead of the IMO’s installation cut-off date at end 2024. It aims to sell around 700 retrofit systems over the next two years, backed by a fast-track delivery model to meet the IMO deadline.

Tore Andersen, EVP Sales & Marketing, said many ships had gained retrofit extensions to 2024, which will put a strain on the shipyards. He also thought it possibe the cut-off date could slip into 2025.

Looking ahead, Optimarin is also seeking to establish a Chinese manufacturing base to tap into the market at a regional level. Partnerships with Chinese suppliers are being pursued to focus on high-quality production of BWTS components at reasonable cost, although Optimarin will keep its ‘dual-supplier strategy’ in place to mitigate the risks of potential delivery issues.

For newbuildings, the company’s Optimarin Ballast System, which can be delivered as a compact skid-mounted

solution, comes with a full documentation package and verified compliance with the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention, as well as with US Coast Guard type approval.

Asian shipyards have secured 70% - 80% of orders for various types of vessels, with scheduled deliveries between 2025-27 in a newbuilding boom. They will have to be delivered with IMO-compliant BWTS to meet the new regulatory requirements.

Optimarin also operates a 24/7 after-sales service worldwide with spare parts available. Each BWTS has a 2.5-year service interval, while on board maintenance can also be performed by the crew, due to its simple construction.

OptiLink, a cloud-based digital application, developed in co-operation with Kongsberg, enables real-time BWTS monitoring, data generation for improved planning of ballasting operations and remote connectivity for online software updates of the system, as well as data-sharing for compliance. l

Oslofjord prepares for emission-free future

Emission-free Oslofjord is an environmental collaboration between the ports of Oslo, Drammen, Moss, Borg, Larvik, Grenland, Kristiansand and Arendal, which hopes to set a blueprint for the reduction of shipping emissions across Northern Europe ports, as this contributed article by Port of Oslo explains.

“The ports in Oslofjord all have ambitious climate and environmental targets,” says Ingvar M. Mathisen, Port Director for Port of Oslo and Chair of Norske Havner (Ports of Norway). “We must shift cargo transport from road to the more environmentally friendly energy efficient seaway.”

The city of Oslo aims to reduce 95 % of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, he continues. The Port of Oslo aim to reduce the emissions by 85% in 2030. “We will achieve this goal through cooperation and dialogue among the ports in Oslofjord and the most important European hub ports.”

Shipping in Oslofjord has already cut emissions by 85% compared to 2009, he continues. Renewable energy sources power international ferries. Local ferries have been electrified for several years. Within five to 10 years, the last dieselpowered ships will be retired. “The zeroemission vision is within reach.”

On the origins of the project, Mathisen explains that the ports in Oslofjord have been inspired by the experience of the two American mega ports, Los Angeles and Long Beach, which have always competed intensely to be the biggest and best on the US West Coast. Theirs has been a story of cooperation and joint environmental solutions and this lesson helped create

the vision of port collaboration for Emission-free Oslofjord, whose goal is emission-free shipping from the wideopen sea lanes to Kristiansand in the south to the narrower passages into Oslo in the north.

On a study trip to Los Angeles in 2017, Heidi Neilson, Head of Planning and Environment at Port of Oslo, saw how the two rival and neighbouring ports work together in two critical areas - environment and safety – both ports choosing cooperation, standard regulations and guidelines, instead of competition.

These US mega ports are powerful and can influence shipping companies to meet environmental challenges. Billions

of dollars in investment ensured that as early as 2014, shore power was available for large container ships calling at ports in San Pedro Bay.

As Neilson’s research trip ended and her flight home took off from the runway at LAX, she got a clear view of the port facilities. From the air, it was impossible to tell where the Port of Long Beach ends, and the Port of Los Angeles begins. And so the Oslofjord vision took shape.

Common standard

The next chapter in the story began with a conversation with shipping companies. “What can we contribute for you to convert the container ships to shore power,” Neilson asked the container shipping companies that regularly call in the Port of Oslo. The answer: All Oslofjord ports must offer a common standard for shore power facilities.

That response led to the birth of the Emission-free Oslofjord project. Three years after the visit to Los Angeles, port directors for the eight largest ports in Oslofjord signed an agreement to cooperate on the environment.

In meeting its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2030, it is hoped Emission-free Oslofjord will spread knowledge about the potential for reduced emissions from maritime transport and enable decisionmakers to choose green solutions, at the same time forming a model for European port cooperation.

With support from financing body Enova, Oslofjord ports have already established, or are in the process of building, several shore power solutions based on a common standard.

“The port collaboration Emissionfree Oslofjord will help simplify the transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels for shipping companies and other customers,” underscores Neilson.

“We want to break down barriers to the green shift by offering common solutions and share a common environmental policy.”

Meanwhile, new legislative proposals from the EU require all container ships over 5,000 GT to connect to shore power at European ports by 2030, including feeder ships transporting containers between Europe and Oslofjord.

Therefore in autumn 2022, Neilson and her colleagues from Emission-free Oslofjord began to visit central ports in the Netherlands and Belgium, to spread the word about the Norwegian initiative with a view to encouraging cross-border ports to choose cooperation, standard regulations, and common guidelines.

Their message, she says, was simple and as follows: “Our solution for shore power is tested and ready to use.

Together, we can establish a seamless and effective charging infrastructure for feeder ships in Northern Europe well before 2030.”

Leading ports in northern Europe have welcomed the message: this year the Oslofjord project hopes to formalise a common environmental commitment with the ports of Hamburg, Rotterdam, and Antwerp. The agreement will set timelines for establishing shore power infrastructure in all ports – by 2025 in the Oslofjord and 2030 at the latest for the European ports – as well as help reduce the technical and financial barriers to shore power and renewable fuels.

Existing initiatives

International ferries, local ferries, and cement ships already use shore power in some Oslofjord ports and now the goal

is to connect the first container ship to shore power at one of the ports in 2024. By 2025, it is hoped that 10 container ships might have been converted in order to access to shore power - a process that the Port of Oslo says will cost around $50,000 per ship thanks to an innovative collaboration it has taken with a shore power provider to cut the normal conversion cost by some 75%.

The Oslo region already boasts an impressive list on pioneering environmental initiatives, which include retail giant ASKO’s electric sea drones shuttling between Moss and Horten as ASKO phases out the transport of goods by truck through the Oslofjord tunnel, battery-powered, autonomous container ship Yara Birkeland transporting fertilizer between Herøya and Brevik, and BuksérogBerging (BB) next year introducing an electric tugboat in Oslo harbour powerful enough to tow the largest cruise and container ships. The next step in the evolutionary history of emission-free shipping in Oslofjord is a joint investment in renewable fuels for ships and land transport. The ports grouping will also facilitate at least one green corridor in Oslofjord in 2025, the same year that it hopes to see the first containership operating on compressed hydrogen, sailing from Rotterdam to Oslo.

“When that vessel docks and connects to shore power, the first green corridor in Oslofjord will be a reality,” concludes Nielsen. l

Shore power installation

Ingvar M. Mathisen

Heidi Neilson

Scandinavian maritime growing on many fronts

Jan Hetland, Norwegian company Telenor Satellite’s Director Data Services, explains how demand for connectivity is ramping up in key maritime sectors.

The Norwegian offshore oil and gas sector is currently experiencing a new lease of life as the Ukrainian conflict leaves many countries facing energy shortages. When coupled with the rising number of offshore wind projects, we are looking at a flourishing industry with a growing need for connectivity.

These offshore energy sites are becoming more complex and much bigger with a need to comply with increasingly strict regulatory controls requiring intelligent and uncompromised communications to support the high levels of digitalisation now in use. Tracking, reporting and real time monitoring by

staff, both onboard and onshore, place far greater demands on high-speed connectivity than previously but also ensure that the vessel suffers far less down time.

The Internet of Things has enabled the transfer of information between sea and shore, allowing for remote upgrades to equipment and crew to be alerted of potentially hazardous conditions, meanwhile operational data can be collected offshore for analysis onshore.

When considering the hard-to-reach nature of these sites and the harsh environments that they are operating in, it’s easy to appreciate that critical systems are not limited to the offshore

facilities themselves but also to the myriad support vessels working with them, whether Offshore Supply Vessels, Crew Transfer Vessels or Floatels. They each place high demands on communications systems to ensure the smooth running of key operations such as navigation and weather forecasts.

Another dynamic sector for Norway in particular is fishing. Vessels are in operation 24/7, often remaining at sea for a month or more, with crews working up to 12 hours a day. For those working in the Barents Sea or even further north, conditions are icy, dark, cold and windy. This is an area where it is extremely difficult for satellite companies to operate, but in fact Telenor Satellite is one of the very few whose satellites are ideally situated to provide reliable and constant VSAT connectivity up to 79 degrees north.

Again, there are strict regulations and mandatory reporting requirements which need to be transmitted back to shore but equally important is the safety and wellbeing of crew who need access to emergency assistance as well as links to home.

Expedition cruising, one of the fastest growing cruise sectors, is also taking off in Scandinavia with well-travelled guests looking for more adventure. These are sophisticated passengers who take for granted that there will be good connectivity onboard.

The complexity of these ships and the sheer quantity of people add to the requirement for communications links that can process large amounts of data both operationally and for

the benefit of guests. Combine that with the more challenging environments of the Arctic and it’s easy to understand why highquality connectivity is vital for this sector too.

In short, the changing shape of today’s vessels, with increased digitalisation and IoT, has made the requirement for extensive and high-powered communications a must-have rather than a nice-to-have for all maritime operations. l

GIBRALTAR Special Report

As Gibraltar has come out of the pandemic, we have seen our Port and Maritime Services returning to business as usual. I am sure you know that Gibraltar is a port of choice, largely in part to its geographical position as a gateway to the Mediterranean but also because of the level of service provided.

Apart from being a port of choice, Gibraltar is also recognised as a centre of excellence as borne out during the pandemic when cruise ships were able to pay technical calls when so many other ports were closed, where yachts could find safe harbour and stock up on provisions and fuel, where crew changes could still continue albeit with strict protocols in place and where maritime operations continued with little interruption.

Very few other ports around the world were able to offer all of these services during that period and this just goes to show that while being small, Gibraltar is big when it comes to meeting unprecedented global challenges.

This goes to the heart of what Gibraltar’s maritime industry is about. It is dynamic, evolutionary and able to adapt very quickly to what is required.

Introductory address by the Minister for Business, Tourism and The Port for Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar, The Hon. Vijay Daryanani

In February 2023 His Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar hosted ‘Gibraltar Maritime Day’ in London. This allowed us to engage with organisations and individuals with an interest in learning about and doing business with key maritime entities in Gibraltar.

We are not only about efficient and well-regulated bunker deliveries in a controlled environment, with a world leading regulatory regime. The services on offer at the port go beyond bunkering and include a host of other services delivered in an integrated, time efficient and safe manner. From Commercial ship to Ship transfers, to underwater services, to ship repair facilities and services, to ship agency services, and many other services on offer.

But Gibraltar’s maritime offering is not only the port, rather it’s about how we bring together solutions and services in an integrated way, in a unique location and how we build on our success to further develop a maritime hub.

We are so much more than the biggest bunkering port in the Mediterranean, we have a thriving and well-respected legal fraternity and a University which is developing at fast pace and with huge pride and excellent regulatory conditions steeped in good governance and approach.

Gibraltar’s intention is to grow and we will keep on engaging with all stakeholders to achieve this. l

Gibraltar’s maritime industry is dynamic, evolutionary and able to adapt very quickly to what is required

Maritime centre of excellence

Over the past year the Gibraltar maritime authorities have been wrestling with continued fallout from the accident that occurred in the last August when the 35,362 DWT bulk carrier OS 35 clipped an empty 162,000 cbm LNG carrier while exiting the port. The 1999-built bulker sustained more serious damage than her captain at first thought and upon instructions from the Gibraltar Port Authority (GPA), was beached off Catalan Bay.

All 24 crew were safely evacuated, a boom immediately placed around the vessel to contain pollution, and preparations made for salvage’. But the vessel has suffered further damage in adverse weather conditions and at presstime the wreck remained visible, awaiting removal by appointed salvage company Koole Contractors, an operation due to be completed by end-May. The ship’s master was meanwhile under detention by the Gibraltar authorities awaiting trial.

Heavy weather occurred around in early April causing the wreck to shift on the seabed and the further leaking of oil residues occurred. But within a matter of days the Captain of the Port reported that the heavy swell had subsided enough to enable the safe redeployment of the boom around the OS 35, and that there had been no further reports of free-floating residues. The monitoring and cleaning of remaining residues along Gibraltar’s coastline was said to be ongoing, with beach users warned to exercise caution and report any sightings of oiled wildlife.

The GPA has remained understandably reticent to comment further while wreck removal and clean-up works are still ongoing but others have been quick to praise the Authority’s efforts.

Tyrone Payas, MD of ship agent GAC (Global Agency Company) Gibraltar, comments: “An accident is obviously not good for any port and although the maritime industry in general was badly affected, do believe that the rapid response and commitment shown by everyone involved and headed by the GPA was incredibly well handled. No doubt that lessons have been learnt and I do expect the GPA to put additional measures in place for this not to happen again.”

Ernest Morillo, Branch Manager of fellow agent Aflaship Gibraltar, concurs, saying: “As in any accident lessons are always learnt, but I believe the handling was impeccable and I am sure some positives would have come from it for the future.”

Meanwhile, the Gibraltar Maritime Administration continues to focus on a partnership approach to registering ships and yachts on the Gibraltar Ship Registry, stressing the many benefits its registers and Gibraltar as a jurisdiction has to offer to owners and the wider shipping industry thanks to its wide range of stakeholders involved in the business of ship and mortgage registration.

“In terms of the upcoming period, the GMA will continue to look at further developing its systems and technology with the aim of further enhancing the quality of service we provide,” says Dylan Cocklan, Maritime Administrator. “This includes enhancing our online services via our new website. We will also continue to consider new initiatives and schemes which are aimed at making our ship and yacht register more competitive.”

Latest figures show the Registry numbered 153 ships, 881 yachts and 334 small ships at end 2022.

On the subject of the maritime cluster as a whole, GAC’s Payas believes Gibraltar has “great potential to expand in

Ernesto Morillo Tyrone Payas

many sectors” but he feels “investment in infrastructure has been lacking for many years. If we are to prosper, GPA and the Government of Gibraltar (GoG) need to realise that investment is needed and some port tariffs require modification in order to attract vessels to call at our port.

“Port investment is needed to create additional footprint,” he continues. “This will allow for service provider to establish a base whilst at the same time create berth availability for vessels. Furthermore, we should make better use of the Eastern anchorage by attracting clients with reduced competitive port charge in order to carry out certain activities i.e. afloat repairs/maintenance, underwater cleaning/inspection etc.”

Alfaship’s Morillo takes a more sanguine view. “I would say one of the strengths of the Gibraltar cluster is the ability to carry out multiple services to a ship at Anchorage. There is a clear indication that certain services are growing and are being requested more frequently than before.

“Obviously there is always room for improvement,” he continues, “but in my opinion we are managing well with the resources available.”

Regarding bunker suppliers in the port, and on implications of the last December’s decision by the IMO that the Mediterranean will become an Emissions Control Area from 2025 onwards, Morillo points out that “Gibraltar is already enforcing the low emission protocol for all European

ports” and therefore ECA status should not have any significant impact. “Gibraltar has always been very proactive towards innovative way of helping decarbonisation of the shipping industry,” he adds, “and GPA and service providers have been working together in this common cause.”

Payas feels that Gibraltar benefit from having another bunker supplier, however, and that the GPA/GoG “should be encouraging other suppliers to set up in Gibraltar. I do understand that the storage facility at Gibraltar is limited, however, GPA should work with new players and find a way forward.”

On the thorny issue of Russian sanctions, Payas adds that these “have affected the market in general and continue to do so. We have seen a considerable drop in vessels calling at Gibraltar which obviously affects the bunker and local service provider/supply market. Screening is very strict and probably greater than any other EU country,” he notes.

Morillo elaborates that currently no vessel carrying Russian cargo, related to Russia or with a last/next port of call in Russia can enter Gibraltar under any circumstances.

“Unfortunately, this has affected directly the numbers of ships calling Gibraltar for bunkering or any other service for that matter,” he says, but adds: “We understand the position of the GPA/GoG and will support them in this critical scenario.” l

Maritime Week Gibraltar 2023

This year’s third edition of the biennial Maritime Week Gibraltar will once again provide a global showcase for one of the most efficient, secure, and professionally managed ports in the world. The event, created and organised by Petrospot, is jointly hosted by HM Government of Gibraltar (HMGoG), the GPA, GMA and University of Gibraltar Maritime Academy.

The Week starts on Monday 26 June with an Evening Opening Reception hosted by HMGoG, followed by the event’s Flagship Conference on Tuesday 27 June, finishing with an Evening Reception.

Some of the conference presentations will serve as short introductions to more in-depth breakout sessions that will take place on Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 June. These include a full day of training and an Introduction to Shipping & Bunkering on Wednesday; and a brand-new Alternative Fuels Course from ship.energy on Thursday. l

Gibdock moves ahead under new ownership

Under new ownership by the UK’s Balaena Group for one year this May, shiprepair and conversion specialist Gibdock enjoys a full workload and continues to be an integral member of the Gibraltar maritime cluster.

“Like for everyone else business was difficult during Covid, but over the last 18 months things have been very busy,” Managing Director Richard Beards tells SMI in an exclusive interview. “Now we’re back to pre-Covid levels and even surpassing those. Dock occupancy over the last year has been 85-100% and we’re still fully booked through until early summer.”

The yard has three drydocks, the largest a panamaxsize one measuring 272m x 38m, the second 184m x 29m, and the third a covered drydock measuring 154m x 29m which is predominantly used for superyacht business. All are supported by 10 cranes. In addition, Gibdock has the best part of 1km of wharf frontage in the same industrial area of the port, meaning it is able to carry out work afloat, in drydock or a mixture of the two.

Recent reference projects have included a installing a complex coating system on three Navigator Gas tankers,

involving application of a silicone paint as well as antifouling, as well work on the Norwegian-flagged cable layer Nexans Skagerrack that involved the yard’s heaviest ever crane lift of over 200 tonnes. In addition. there was the drydocking of Solstad’s Normand Samson offshore support vessel, which Beards describes as a welcome return of Offshore vessel business that had dried up during the pandemic.

Much of the retrofit work is now driven by environmental regulations. “A lot of the work Gibdock undertakes is driven by environmental standards and aspirations of our clients,” says Beards. “I think on pretty much every vessel we drydock we’ve seen the installation of a Ballast Water Treatment System, and currently we’re undertaking two scrubber installations.” Also, there’s been LNG fuel system retrofit work for Balearia Ferry.

“There’s been a good blend of defence work, ferries, container, tanker-type vessels, superyachts and offshore,” he notes. “We try to keep a blend across these different markets.”

Like all other local maritime businesses Gibraltar was briefly impacted by the temporary closure of the port

Richard Beards

immediately following the OS 35 accident last year, but otherwise has not been specifically impacted, says Beards. “We did have a level of involvement when the accident first happened, and have also assisted salvor Koole Contractors, but it’s really been ‘behind the scenes’ minor involvement.”

Gibdock forms a key player in the local maritime cluster, which in turn is an integral contributor to Gibraltar’s economy at large, continues Beards, who this September will mark his 25 years at the yard. “It’s not just the business itself but the trickle-down effect on hotel stays, restaurants, flights and the like,” he points out, Gibraltar being involved in such a lot of husbandry work as a major hub for crew changes and ship supply.

Indeed, the yard has for some time operated a four-year apprenticeship scheme together with the Gibraltar Government, designed to boost local skills and employment.

Island Utility Platforms

To this end the yard’s buyout by The Balaena Group, which also incorporates Balaena Offshore Utilities as well as now Gibdock, is seen as a very positive and exciting step. The latter company has come up with the concept of producing Island Utility Platforms (IUPs) – floating platforms powered by renewables that will supply services such as fresh water, wastewater and energy solutions to small islands and coastal communities lacking the necessary onshore infrastructure. Each platform will be of bespoke design according to the user’s needs.

Balaena judged Gibdock’s skills base and strategic location to be a perfect fit for its new business and has moved its operational headquarters to the yard ahead of starting IUP production there.

Beards views Balaena’s expertise in renewables and platforms as potentially opening an exciting new era for the yard.

Once underway, steady platform design and production work will help smooth out the inevitable “peaks and troughs”of shiprepair business, the MDs says. Construction will be carried out at the yard’s steelwork area and it is envisaged that Gibdock will then send travelling teams or riding squads to complete and carry out maintenance of the platforms at, or on route to, their final destinations.

Gibdock is already involved in construction work on a new tank storage farm in the North Mole part of the port, for local bunker supplier Gib Oil, a subsidiary of World Fuels Services. Gibdock is responsible for fabrication of the tanks in its steelwork fabrication area and then floating them over to the tank farm location for installation, thereby increasing Gib Oil’s land-based storage capacity and ability to serve marine and other clients.

The work underscores “just what Gibdock means to the shipping cohort of Gibraltar,” concludes Beards, “and in turn what that means to Gibraltar plc.” l

The Governor of Gibraltar visits Gibdock

Q&A with Gibraltar law firm Hassans

Q) What advantages does Gibraltar offer in terms of legal jurisdiction and/or the legal framework on offer?

A) The Gibraltar Ship Register is a Category 1 register so is open to all types of ships irrespective of size (with some exceptions for fishing vessels, ships propelled by nuclear power and ships not classed with one of the recognised Classification Societies). The accessibility of registering a vessel in Gibraltar has been expanded to reflect the same eligibility requirements as the UK’s ship registry, meaning owners from a wide range of nationalities are able to register their vessels in Gibraltar. The Registry was established in its present form in 1997 and since then has seen steady growth. It has also achieved ‘White List’ status under the Paris MoU on Port State Control. Additionally, as a British Overseas Territory, Gibraltar forms part of the Red Ensign Group.

Gibraltar is exempted from the payment of VAT, therefore, Gibraltar flagged ships are able to navigate EU waters free from the payment of VAT within an 18 month-temporary admission timeframe.

Gibraltar also provides a favourable tax climate for shipping companies as Gibraltar has a territorial based tax system and therefore only income derived and accrued in Gibraltar is subject to tax through a corporate tax rate of 12.5%.

HullWiper by SCAMP

Now available in Gibraltar and Algeciras

Q) The OS 35 accident and wreck removal have loomed large over the local maritime scene in recent months. What observations are you able to offer?

A) The response of the Gibraltar Port Authority and Emergency Services to this collision, including stabilising the wreck, and implementation of effective oil pollution prevention measures, together with a plan for the orderly removal of the wreck and the cargo on board is yet another striking example of Gibraltar’s ability to effectively meet the requirements of all applicable international maritime conventions and obligations to the highest standards and in a timely manner.

Q) Are disputes relating to bunker fuel quantity and/ or quality common in Gibraltar and if so, how are these resolved?

A) Such disputes are not common. We are not aware of any disputes over quality having to be resolved, whether in or out of court. As regards disputes as to quantity, we understand that there have occasionally been some, but of a very low level and that these have

Hullwiper by SCAMP, is a hull cleaning machine which utilises High Pressure Water Jet cleaning system, which preserves vessel’s top coating and proactively removes marine fouling ranging from slime to calcareous growth, which is automatically recollected by means of a filtered inbuilt recovery system.

The ROV is powered by a 37Kw electric motor converting it into hydraulic power to operate the ROV to allow an in-depth hull cleaning on all areas required. The ROV can also carry out photographic and video inspections of vessel’s hull and marine fouling condition, providing instant photographic and video imagery onsite.

Remotely operated

Collects fouling

Yvonne Chu Tania Rahmany

Caroline Lane Lewis Baglietto

been commercially resolved. It is possible that in other cases, the bunker suppliers’ terms require any disputes to be determined in a jurisdiction outside Gibraltar or by arbitration. We consider that the rarity and low level of any such disputes in relation to bunkers supplied in Gibraltar is largely due to the highly regulated bunkering regulatory regime which the Gibraltar Port Authority has put in place.

Q) Is there any more that HM Government of Gibraltar could or should be doing to attract new maritime business to Gibraltar and to support the existing cluster?

A) Due to the ongoing nature of the Brexit negotiations, the extent of Gibraltar’s future relationship with the EU remains uncertain. This uncertainty impacts

Gibraltar’s ability to make significant changes to the maritime sector at present.

The use of renewable fuels and availability of onshore energy for cruise liners and superyachts is something that is gaining popularity in other jurisdictions and would be an important investment into the sustainability of Gibraltar’s maritime offering. This is something the Government is already actively pursuing.

Q) Are there any other points that you would like to bring to the attention of SMI readers?

A) We would like to emphasise that the Gibraltar Maritime Administration (GMA) is extremely user friendly and have a very quick turnaround time, with an approximate 24- to 48-hour turnaround time when registering a vessel or requesting a report. l

ICS marks new era of collaboration with China

A delegation from the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) led by Chairman Emanuele Grimaldi met with Mr Feng Bo, the Executive Vice President of COSCO Shipping, representing China Shipowners’ Association (CSA), to pave the way forward for a closer working relationship between the ICS and China. Mr Feng Bo was accompanied by new ICS Board Director of China and Chairman of COSCO Bulk Mr Gu Jinsong, EVP of CSA Mr Zhang Shouguo, and other representatives from CSA. The ICS Chairman also met with high-ranking Shanghai officials, including Mr Chen Jining (pictured), Member of the Chinese Communist Party Political Bureau and Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Shanghai Standing Committee. Mr Grimaldi said the meetings would help ICS “gain a deeper understanding of China’s great shipping industry, and I look forward to our close collaboration with the CSA going forwards.” The ICS welcomed the CSA to full membership on 1 January 2023 in a move reconfirming its role as the voice of the global shipping industry. l

APMT to complete Maasvlakte II expansion

Officials of the Port of Rotterdam Authority and APM Terminals, part of A.P. Moller - Maersk, signed an agreement for a €1 billionplus expansion of the Maasvlakte II container terminal in Rotterdam. The project involves a site of approximately 47.5 hectares with 1,000 metres of deep-sea quay. The Port of Rotterdam Authority is now constructing the new quay walls, which will be completed by mid-2024. The expansion will increase the terminal’s capacity by about 2 million TEU and the new section is expected to be operational in the second half of 2026. APM Terminals opened at Maasvlakte II in 2015 as a fully automated facility with zero carbon emissions. The additional section of the terminal will also operate with net-zero emissions and be fully automated and prepared for shore power installation. It will completes the last remaining vacant site for APM Terminals in the Amaliahaven area of the port. l

IRI senior team visits Korea

Senior leaders from International Registries, Inc. and its affiliates (IRI) visited the Korean maritime community in early April, underscoring their continued commitment to the local maritime market. IRI President, Bill Gallagher and Chief Commercial Officer, Theo Xenakoudis joined Annie Ng, Head of Asia in Seoul this week to meet with Korean ship owners, operators and shipyards in Busan. “We have strong relationships with Korea’s maritime community thanks to our long-term commitment to providing local support and representation,” said Mr. Gallagher. “Capt. Young Kim has been a key figure in our success. He has built a highly experienced, capable, and clientfocused team, which has strengthened our position in the market. This success allowed us to expand representation to Busan and bring on additional technical resources.” IRI’s commitment to serving the market through local representation resulted in the registration of 500 Korean owned vessels over the last 15 years. Today, the Registry supports the Korean maritime community from full-service flag State offices in Seoul and Busan. l

Intermodal South America bounces back

The three-day Intermodal South America event in late February/early March this year ended with a record attendance of 40,238, more than double the 20,100 who attended last year, the first intermodal show since two years of Covid lockdowns, and 33% more than the previous record of 30,000 back in 2019. Several logistics conferences, such as Interlog Summit, were held simultaneously, helping boost numbers. Brazil’s new Minister for Shipping and Ports, Márcio França, and Transport Minister Renan Filho, officially opened the 27th edition of the trade show, said to be the biggest logistics gathering in the world. “Brazil today invests less than 2% of its GDP in infrastructure, which is very little given our size,” said the Minister. “A new tax reform will help favour the development of the sector and this year alone, we will have the investment of resources proportional to four years for the transport sector.” Shipping companies exhibiting at the event included MSC, Norsul, Log in, BBC Chartering, Wilson Sons plus ONE and Svitzer. “It was great to see the numbers returning to Intermodal,” Mark Juzwiak, Director for Institutional Relations in Brazil at Svitzer’s parent group Maersk, told SMI. l

Tuas passes one million TEU mark

PSA Singapore officials, workers, customers and trade unions celebrated the one millionth TEU handled at Tuas Port, just six months after the official opening ceremony for Phase One of the new port on 1 September 2022. Commemorating this milestone, Regional CEO Southeast Asia Ong Kim Pong said: “With five operational berths at Tuas, we now operate one of the world’s most advanced and automated ports. Such achievements are made possible by the strong partnership and commitment of our team and the Unions. “Besides developing Tuas Port into an extensive and well-connected Maritime Hub, we will be developing an adjacent cargo hub – the Tuas Port+ Hub – offering container freight station (CFS), warehousing and flow centre services in the immediate future.” The Tuas development is intended to become heart of Singapore’s marine ecosystem. When fully completed in the 2040s, Tuas Port will have a handling capacity of 65 million TEUs annually, close to double the volumes being handled in Singapore today. l

DP World taps into cricket fervour

DP World has signed a long-term partnership with Delhi Capitals as Global Logistics Partner of the popular cricket franchise. The new agreement is part of DP World’s growing global portfolio of cricket partnerships. The company is the title partner of the DP World ILT20 in the UAE, the DP World Lions and the DP World Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, as well as of the DP World Asia Cup that took place in the UAE in 2022. Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened format of traditional cricket that has grown rapidly in popularity in recent years. The 2022 T20 season was viewed by over 400 million fans across the globe, making it one of the largest sporting events in the world. Rizwan Soomar, CEO & MD India Subcontinent & Sub-Saharan Africa, DP World, said: “Over the years, cricket has transformed itself, with ever evolving formats unlocking enormous potential for players across the world and making the game engaging and exciting for a diverse set of audiences. Similarly, DP World is relentlessly focused on innovation, constantly seeking out new opportunities to revolutionise global trade and open opportunities for our customers to grow.” l

Analysis Product Tankers could be in for a bumpy ride ahead

By Ian Cochran

Product Tankers are designed to carry clean petroleum products (CPP). According to the refinery distillation processes, CPP are light (e.g. gasoline and naphtha) and middle distillates (diesel and jet fuel) products.

The vessels’ main characteristics include epoxycoated cargo tanks that protect the cargo from contamination, while facilitating ease of tank cleaning between one loaded grade to the next.

In size, they range from intermediates (10,000 dwt to 19,999 dwt) up to Suezmax (LR3s of up to 160,000 dwt). The intermediates are often operated in regional pools.

The next size category is the most numerous and are the worldwide workhorses of the products tanker marketcoated Handymax tankers.

These include medium range tankers (MRs of between 35,000 dwt - 55,000 dwt), which are sometimes split into MR1s and MR2s by tonnage.

MRs typically operate in the Atlantic and the Pacific basins and are often chartered to carry gasoline to the US (Gulf and East Coasts) from Caribbean and European refineries, as well as diesel from US Gulf to Europe and the Mediterranean.

Moving up the tonnage list, we come to the coated Long Range 1 Panamax tankers (LR1s), which were originally designed to lift the maximum cargo that could transit the Panama Canal. Since the canal’s expansion, their cargoes have increased to up to around 70,000 tonnes per ship, thus creating more earning power. They have become increasingly important, due to the recent significant refining capacity expansion in the Middle East, India and China, which has led to a rise in petroleum product exports from the areas, both to Western and Eastern destinations. They are deemed to be ideal for both long haul and shorter haul trades.

Another category that has become popular down the years is the coated Long Range 2 Aframax size range (LR2s).

These are of between 80,000 dwt and 120,000 dwt. LR2s often iship naphtha from the Middle East or from Europe to Japan and South Korea, mainly for use in petrochemical production plants as feedstock. They also lift jet fuel from Middle East and India to the West.

In addition, there are a handful of coated Suezmax tankers (LR3s), which are used to lift large jet fuel cargoes from the Middle East refineries.

In general, the product tanker market has firmed thus far this year, according to figures produced by Genoabased shipbroker Banchero Costa.

For example, during the first two months of this year, 12-month timecharters were averaging $35,100 per day for LR1s (+148% year-on-year), $28,638 for MR2s (+119% y-o-y) and $24,300 per day for MR1s (+107% y-o-y).

Proving their popularity, 18 MR2s were ordered during the period, 14 of which were contracted in February alone.

The average newbuilding price per ship has risen to $45.25 million, while a five-year-old vessel commanded an average of $41 million, a rise of 23% y-o-y. Two MRs were recycled during the period.

The only other orders reported during the period in the product carrier sector were for two LR2s.

Russian price cap

In a move which could turn the market upside down, effective 5th February, the Price Cap Coalition, involving the G7, the European Union and Australia, set caps on the price of seaborne Russian oil products.

For example, high value Russian exports, such as diesel and gasoline, were capped at $100 per barrel, while lower value products, such as fuel oil were capped at $45 per barrel. By 10th March, the cap had been in place for just over a month and the changes in trade flows were stark, Gibson Shipbrokers noted in a report.

Until the cap came into place, Europe had remained Russia’s primary market for refined product exports; however, in the space of a month, a major change was observed.

Unsurprisingly, exports to Europe dropped to almost zero, as Africa and East of Suez emerged as Russia’s largest buyers, followed by non-EU/exempt markets in the Mediterranean (ie Turkey).

Despite the need to find new markets for over 1 million barrels per day of clean products, early signs indicated that Russia had been relatively successful, as volumes for February were higher than the average for the whole of last year. By the second week of March, Gibson had tracked over 120 MRs and Handies involved in Russian refined product exports and at least 21 LR2s. More vessels were signalling Russian load ports as destinations.

Much of the cargoes heading East was destined for the Middle East, most notably unfinished products and blending components.

This could lead to the region becoming a blending hub, in which Russian cargoes are transformed into on spec products for re-export worldwide.

As a result, traditional Western export markets could see Middle East derived gasoline competing with US and European supplies, maybe even into the US, despite the origin of the components.

Looking ahead, the trends which have emerged are likely to become established for the foreseeable future. The refined products price cap has created additional inefficiencies in the products trade, which are unlikely to be reversed anytime soon, if ever, Gibson concluded. l

Investment surge in ultra-luxury cruise segment

By David Tinsley

While newbuild ordering among the volume players in the cruise market has been at a virtual standstill since the onset of the pandemic, the ultra-luxury and expedition-type segments of the business have generated a raft of new investments, with further projects under discussion.

Recovery is clearly taking place across-the-board, but the major operators have been financially badly hit by the protracted Covid-induced hiatus, and are as yet seeing through an earlier implemented, unprecedented level of newbuild contracts rather than entering into new commitments with shipbuilders. By contrast, many of the latest orders for small, bespoke vessels emanate from organisations and individuals entirely new to the cruise scene.

Well before Covid-19, investment in the adventure, exploration and polar cruise categories, and in the so-called yacht-style cruise vessel sector, generally ships under 200 passenger-capacity, had been growing rapidly. Subsequent new initiatives in the latter area especially have assumed particular importance for shipbuilders seeking to ensure high value-added production continuity in the years ahead.

Realising orders placed some years ago, ever-larger vessels

continue to be introduced by the major operators, accentuating the role and perception of such tonnage as floating resorts with ever-more extensive and innovative passenger facilities. However, developments in the field of comparatively small cruise ships are closely allied to sectors of society where the requirement is for vacations in which the voyage experience and/or the highest standards of luxury are paramount, and which encompass itineraries entirely different from those of the mainstream cruise market.

These 5- to 6-star smaller ships provide more space per passenger, command some of the highest ticket prices in the industry, and generally cater to what are described as ‘high net worth’ individuals, looking to more specialised, exotic and longer itineraries and onboard services offering culinary excellence and often geared to wellness, fitness and personal healing. The target market segment appears to be growing, seemingly insulated from the economic and geopolitical events affecting most of the populace. Significantly also, demand emanates not only from an older demographic, but also from well-heeled Millennials around the world.

A number of companies, including Silversea Cruises, Crystal Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, Ponant Cruises and

Lindblad Expeditions, are well established in the sector, offering itineraries throughout the world.

A recent entrant to the market is the US hotel group Marriott International, which has made its debut in the ultra-luxury segment through a new entity named The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection. The brand’s first vessel, the 298 passenger-capacity Evrima, made her debut in November 2022. The company is a collaboration between Marriott’s Ritz-Carlton Group, Oaktree Capital Management and The Yacht Portfolio, an investment group owned by entrepreneur Douglas Prothero, who is also CEO of the new venture.

The 190-metre Evrima was originally ordered at the Hijos de J.Barreras yard in Vigo in January 2018, but the construction project suffered many delays and in March 2021 the newbuild was transferred around Finisterre for completion by Astilleros de Santander.

The ship can accommodate 298 passengers in 149 suites, and her restricted draught facilitates access to destinations that cannot be reached by most cruise ships. In fact, one of the tenets of the new venture is that no two journeys will be alike, as the vessel roams from region to region around the world while offering individual cruise voyages typically of seven to 10 days duration.

From the outset, the interests behind The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection envisaged an initial three-ship flotilla. Larger than Evrima, the second and third vessels, Ilma and Luminara, have been contracted from Chantiers de l’Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire, for respective deliveries in September 2024 and 2025. Each will incorporate 228 suites for up to 456 guests, and will provide nearly one staff member for every passenger, constituting one of the highest staff to guest ratios in the luxury cruising category.

Canadian international hotel and resort company Four Seasons is also entering the top end of the cruise market, having ordered a 207-metre, 14-deck ship in Italy that will have just 95 suites and a one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio. The contract award to Fincantieri calls for delivery towards the end of 2025, with prospective operation under the banner of Four Seasons Yachts. Tillberg Design of Sweden has been appointed lead architect for the vessel’s interiors and exteriors, with a distinctive feature being an exceptionally large funnel amidships.

Four Seasons Yachts will be led by cruise industry veteran Larry Pimental, whose career spans Azamara, SeaDream, Cunard and Seabourn. The hotel group’s partner for what is planned as a three-ship fleet is the Malta-registered company Marc Henry Cruise Holdings.

Italy’s shipbuilding industry again showed its mettle in luxury passenger vessel construction by landing the debut order from a further new joint venture market entrant. Under the code name Project Sama, the 183-metre newbuild of about 23,000gt has been booked from the T.Mariotti Shipyard at Genoa to the account of the Neptune Company, a partnership between hotel and resort group Aman and Cruise Saudi, in which Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund(PIF) has a stake.

The vessel will have just 50 suites, and is expected to be ready for service in 2026. The exterior profile and guest accommodation spaces have been developed by the Dutch consultancy SINOT Yacht Architecture & Design, and dual-fuel propulsion system has been specified.

Mariotti is a well established producer of bespoke cruise ships in the medium and smaller ranges. The Genoese yard’s 2022 output included the 170-metre Seabourn Venture, the first of two expedition-type, PC6 polar-class cruise vessels for

Project Sama. ultra-luxury, yacht-type cruise vessel code-named Project Sama. (credit: Aman Group)

Distinctive form: 95-suite newbuild for Four Seasons Yachts. (credit: Tillberg Design)

Seabourn Cruise Line, part of the Carnival Corporation. Sister Seabourn Pursuit is due this year.

In response to the Norwegian Government having mandated a ban on fossil fuel-powered ships from its World Heritage-designated fjords starting in 2026, a newly-formed cruise venture has implemented a project for an emission-free newbuild designed to take up to 250 passengers into the most environmentally-sensitive waters. Under the Northern Xplorer initiative of Rolf Andre Sandvik, a letter of intent has been signed with the northern Portuguese yard West Sea, at Viana do Castelo, for a fully-electric vessel designed by Multi Maritime of Norway and incorporating battery and fuel cell plant and technology developed by ABB. West Sea is no stranger to the sector, its portfolio having included three 200-passenger polar expedition-type ships.

Giving new dimension to the current enthusiasm for investment in yacht-grade, ultra-luxury cruising, a letter of intent was signed during January this year for the construction by Chantiers de l’Atlantique of two 120-passenger, sail-equipped vessels. The Orient Express Silenseas project is of both substantial commercial and technological significance, denoting a diversification by the French hotel and

resort group Accor and providing a reference for Chantiers de l’Atlantique’s innovative SolidSail system. In a hybrid powering arrangement, the three sail rigs will complement a dual-fuel propulsion plant.

As a joint undertaking of Accor and the shipbuilder, Orient Express is looking to a March 2026 handover date for the envisaged first, seminal vessel, with a sister to come from Saint-Nazaire the following year.

Ultra-luxury vessels accommodating 100 to 400 guests thereby constitute a

growing niche market segment, and one that is a source of business for shipmanagement specialists. Among the latter, the Columbia Group’s Hamburgbased Columbia Cruise Services has constantly developed its offering, embracing full husbandry or individual or combinations of services including technical management, crewing, marine and port operations management, and hotel management, currently spanning an extensive fleet mainly in the 155-2,200 passenger-capacity range. l

Alternative Viewpoint

Driven to distraction

By Michael Grey, MBE, is an internationally respected maritime commentator

Most people will be familiar with the sad case in 2022 of the big container ship Ever Forward, which failed to make a turn as she transited Chesapeake Bay en route to the open sea, plunging into the glutinous mud of the shallows, where she obstinately stayed for more than a month.

The primary cause, said the authorities, was the pilot’s intense focus upon his mobile phone, with its use almost constant after the vessel left the berth. This distraction from his main task of navigation was understandably criticised and the authority reacted by banning the use of these devices on the bridge of ships under way in pilotage waters.

This policy was not unreasonably objected to by pilots around the world, who, while not condoning the preoccupation of the Ever Forward’s pilot, pointed out that their smart phones were an important operational tool with many justifiable uses in pilotage waters. These devices were useful in their interaction with tugs, agents and others, while almost instant navigational information would pop up on their screens, more quickly than any reliance on VHF channels.

At the same time there is a widespread recognition of the attention-grabbing facility of the mobile phone, with several severe grounding accidents now attributed to their inappropriate use aboard ship. Nevertheless, discipline in their use and a strict attention to navigation at critical parts of the passage, it has been suggested, represented more practical advice for professionals than any blanket ban.

Distraction, in the dynamic world of ship operation, comes in many forms. There have been accidents caused where people handling ships have been just overwhelmed by ‘too much going on’ at the critical moment. Distracted and pre-occupied people are more likely to make mistakes.

A recent inquiry into the sinking last year of two tugs berthed in the Tasmanian port of Devonport by an out-of-control cement carrier, concluded that a failure to successfully transfer manoeuvring controls from the wheelhouse to the bridge wing left the master powerless

at the crucial moment, as his ship surged forward. Inadequate Bridge Resource Management was identified in the inquiry, but this oversight in a simple switch was surely contributed to by too few people, trying to do too much, in too short a time.

People as old as this writer will remember when the bridge of a ship in pilotage waters was a place of cathedral-like calm, the silence broken only by helm orders and their acknowledgment, and the quiet conversation between pilot and master. But then came the noisy arrival of VHF and hand-held radios and the age of the electronic alarms, noise levels rising exponentially with the distraction of too many alarms sounding in most modern bridges, with engine room alarms being duplicated on the bridge. These require investigation and cancelling, often when other more important evolutions are taking place, with the problems exacerbated by the ‘lean manning’ common aboard most vessels, with the bridge ‘team’ reduced to the absolute minimum.

Then, of course, one cannot ignore the ‘external’ distractions of endless communication from ashore, with those firing off their important messages having little idea of the current circumstances of the recipients. It was a few years ago that a container ship master expressed his concerns that his primary role of operating his ship was being increasingly subordinated to dealing with the endless and often pointless demands for reports from ashore, all issued with a peremptory urgency and requiring action. That, along with burgeoning bureaucracy, was conspiring to keep him in his office for hours on end, when he should be around his ship, mentoring his less experienced officers and ensuring that his ship was both safe and efficient. He felt that his job was becoming unbalanced, weighted in favour of responding to external distractions at the expense of the real needs of his ship.

Now, with the amazing improvements of global communications effectively making a ship into a ‘branch office’ on-call 24/7, his situation is unlikely to have improved. l

A Portuguese yard is set to realise the Norwegian-designed Northern Xplorer. (credit: Sverre Hjornevik/Multi Maritime).

Orient Express Silenseas, an all-French initiative using SolidSail technology. (credit: Orient Express)

Digitisation

How to harness AI’s potential for smarter and greener ports

By Grant Ingram, Innovez One CEO for the UK and EMEA

Used wisely, artificial intelligence can help ports decarbonise and reduce ships’ emissions in the critical first and last mile of their journey yet the algorithms delivering on this are fundamentally different to that of chatbots that have grabbed global headlines in recent months.

The launch of ChatGPT, a chatbot that uses deep learning to simulate human conversation, has fuelled reactions ranging from awe about its creativity, to derision about some of its blatant mistakes. Sure enough, algorithms can answer questions, write songs, and do homework, but for many who have engaged with the chatbot, the experience has highlighted an uncomfortable reality: AI is not always foolproof.

For the maritime sector, this raises a fundamental question as AI-powered solutions are promised for a range of

applications: how can we use AI in such safety-critical settings as ships and ports? With maritime operations, there is no room for mistakes. Unlike conversation algorithms, we can’t experiment with maritime efficiency and safety.

Reconciling ambition and safety

Yet, failing to seize the immense potential of AI in the maritime sector would be a mistake. In particular, machine learning, a subset of AI which enables software to learn from data without being explicitly programmed, is already demonstrating its ability to improve the efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of port operations. This is an opportunity that ports must seize, and one that comes precisely at a time when they face unprecedented pressure to decarbonise, play

new roles in the sustainable supply chains of the future, and continue to improve commercially in an unpredictable market.

Meanwhile, current experience tells us that AI can be successfully applied to sectors where safety and accuracy are also critical, such as healthcare, finance, e-commerce and agriculture.

Therefore, the key question isn’t whether we should use AI in maritime, but how we can make the right choices to ensure that AI-powered solutions are adapted to our sector, and most importantly, reliable. The reality is that not all AI is the same, and there are ‘horses for courses’. Algorithms vary enormously depending on how they are trained, and on the type, quantity and quality of data that they are fed.

AI’s maritime track record

Machine learning is already generating a wave of change in ports around the world, helping automate and optimize tug and pilotage operations from Portsmouth to Tanjung Priok and Singapore. In practice, our MarineM algorithm ‘learns’ from these ports’ past experience to predict the duration of each job, based on which it assigns resources in the most efficient way possible.

In technical terms, we input data on different features of a ship’s visit, such as the vessel’s location, destination berth and the type of jobs required, together with other port-specific parameters like tidal restrictions. We then use regression algorithms to get MarineM to predict the duration of each job.

As a second step, the algorithm uses the predicted duration of all jobs to deploy resources in the most efficient way given multiple constraints, such as the need to assign pilots to specific vessel types and sizes depending on their licence, the types and number of tugboats required for each job, and the shuttles needed to take the pilots to the correct boarding grounds.

This is crucial to ensure that all the moving pieces fall into place seamlessly to welcome ships exactly when they arrive in port – which has tangible impacts on idling times for visiting ships, congestion, and the port’s overall emissions. For example, in Tanjung Priok, MarineM reduced the overall distance travelled during tug and pilot operations by 20% and slashed average waiting times for visiting ships from 2.4 hours to 30.6 minutes.

Training secrets

So what makes port management AI different from an occasionally temperamental chatbot? Fundamentally, it goes down to how they are developed and trained. While conversations delivered by a chatbot, and the vast amounts of text used to train it, are inherently subjective, with ports operations we can be objective. In other words, there are right and wrong answers, and we can teach the algorithm what a good answer looks like using clear parameters and a carefully curated dataset.

In practice, we do this with regression algorithms, where we get MarineM to predict the duration of a job, and then check this prediction against the real duration of the movement. Knowing whether its initial prediction was right or wrong, and by what margin, helps the algorithm ‘learn’ from its mistakes and improve its accuracy.

On the scheduling stage, we also define what a good solution is, as one that minimises time and the number of resources used. The algorithm then faces a ‘reality check’ where its suggested scheduling is assessed against actual results. Did the pilots get on board on time? Did they also get to the next ship on time? Answers to these questions help the algorithm fine-tune its solutions moving forward, while the clear framework also guarantees that MarineM will not come up with unrealistic or off-track solutions.

This process of continuous learning also means that the algorithm will continue to sharpen its accuracy with time, as new data comes in. The other implication is that the solutions offered will be unique and tailored to each port, as the algorithm has been trained on their specific dataset and learnt about their particular operations and constraints.

More smart tasks

We can imagine a future where the power of AI will be expanded to more areas of port operations. Machine learning has the potential to help optimise berth management, ensuring that ships are allocated to the right berth at the right time – solving complex puzzles with multiple variables such as the vessel size and type, tidal restrictions, the availability of cranes, and the need for offshore power, for instance. Getting this allocation right is going to become even more important moving forward, as vessels will be powered by different types of fuels and clean technologies, making their needs for port services more specific. Other potential applications of AI include the monitoring of port congestion. Algorithms could be trained to assess and predict levels of port congestion from aerial images, which could help ports identify critical situations, and take early action to ease congestion.

Models could also help predict actual vessel arrival times more accurately, which would support key initiatives such as just-in-time arrivals. Combined with congestion predictions, this could be used to advise ships to slow down and delay their arrivals, which would help reduce congestion and potentially their emissions – supporting more sustainable and smarter shipping.

Around the globe, AI is already revolutionising the way we work, create and trade. It can help solve one of the most pressing issue of our times: decarbonising supply chains. There is no need for fear: AI can transform ports for the better, and we know how to use - and trainit wisely. l

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Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 36 Price from £40,000 rolex.com

Get excited about this highly customisable, internet-ready home arcade machine, Including 300 preloaded games, or what’s more you can add your own! This machine featuring arcade-quality hardware, comes with two sets of controls and a trackball. This piece of kit is extremely expandable and customisable with a 12-month warranty. It also comes with easily accessible tech support. The standard size of the machine is 169cm x 55cm x 76cm with a 24” monitor, Wi-Fi, HDMI and USB.

Witness the future of luxury travel destinations, where enhanced nature meets responsible design, advanced technology and inspirational architecture. Neom, which partly stands for ‘new’ and ‘the future’ is a destination in Saudi Arabia, intended for unforgettable experiences for inhabitants and travellers alike.

Sindalah, as this one is named, is one of three areas being developed, featuring outstanding beauty. Be amazed by activities under and above the water, spectacular golfing, with offerings that are diverse. Taking high-end tourism to new levels, the resort will include a beach club, yacht club, spa, luxury retail outlets, hotels and a large marina. Visitors can expect only the best where the weather is always good. Another three amazing resorts are also in the planning. This has got to be seen to be believed.

Sindalah Island neom.com/en-us/regions/sindalah

» Immersion, comfort

The Emperor XT is the ultimate work environment for people who strive for performance and productivity spending long hours in front of the computer. Combining elegance and ergonomics with its signature Emperor scorpion shape and outline, an industrial steel structure, tilting capabilities, integrated sound system and lighting, a configuration with up to 6 monitors, the Emperor is the future of high-end home and office work environments. You can build your own with endless possibilities

Emperor XT

From $4,950 mwelab.com

» Milk machine

Kitchen tech can often fall into the category of cool, and generally unhelpful. However, this milk machine is extremely useful, by eliminating the need for expensive milk alternatives, as with this you can make your own. This healthy, planet-friendly alternative to traditional dairy or store-bought milks, is super useful, designed to work with a variety of ingredients enabling users to create plant-based, tasty, nutritious nut milk everyone is growing to love! Making milk in minutes, such as almond, oat, cashew, walnut, coconut or rice for starters! A perfect solution for making hot and cold milk-based beverages and smoothies.

Nutr Milk Machine

£139.00

thenutr.com

The first new Bentley Blower in 90 years has been created with the delivery of Car Zero - the prototype car for the Blower Continuation Series. Consisting of an exclusive run of 12 pre-sold cars designed from the drawings and tooling used for the original Blowers built and raced by Sir Henry ‘Tim’ Birkin in the late 1920s, the 1,846 parts have been designed and hand-crafted to create the new Blower Car Zero; a dedicated test and development prototype, subjected to months of durability and performance testing. Finished in gloss black, with an interior in Oxblood red leather from Bridge of Weir, Car Zero is a presold sniff at just under 2 million pounds.

Bentley Blower Car Zero

£1.8 million bentleymotors.com

» NEOM

» Arcade retro

Nocturn Live

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxon, England

14-18 June 2023

Witness world class acts within the grounds of one of Britain’s iconic attractions Blenheim Palace, which this year welcomes the 125 million-selling international pop superstar, Lionel Richie. The Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning singer, who was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is a true music icon famed for a vast array of seminal hit songs including Endless Love, Lady, All Night Long, Stuck on You, Hello, Say You, Say Me, Dancing On The Ceiling, Three Times a Lady, Still, and Easy. Joining Lionel in this year’s line-up, pioneering dance music DJ and Pete Tong will bring his globally acclaimed Ibiza Classics show to the quintessentially British countryside. Featuring the 65-piece Essential Orchestra the evening will mix worlds of classical and clubbing. Gregory Porter and Emeli Sande will also be performing. Held annually, Nocturn is certainly topping the bill this year. Visit blenheimpalace.com/whats-on/events/nocturn

868 4th Ave., San Diego, California, USA

Adding something of architectural interest and following a recent facelift to the tune of $26 million, The Balboa Theatre, built in 1924 is named after Spanish explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the first European to discover the Pacific Ocean. Falling into disrepair its major restoration began in 2002. This elegant Vaudeville theatre has now been fully restored complete with its one-of-a-kind, fully operational interior waterfalls. The replica theatre sign, depicting Vasco’s ship, was created using original colours and stencils. It has been said that the beauty of the City of San Diego is summed-up, within this single, masterpiece of a design.

The Natural Order of Money

Chelsea Green Publishing

By Roy Sebag

Referring to the intrinsic relationship between people, money and nature, the book begins by asking: Why do we in our modern society expect food as if it were a given? What makes cooperation between the farmer and other members of society possible, and what, in the long run, renders it sustainable? The Natural Order of Money tries to challenge traditional thinking about the economy and how it works. The author’s proposed solution affirms the importance of the farmer and the food he harvests and argues that only a natural money can serve to assure ecological accountability and sustainable prosperity. In a time of uncertainty plagued by wealth inequality, inflation and environmental stress, this book looks at financial elitism and re-establishes society in our shared home of nature, by giving readers the compass to find ‘true north’ in a sea of economic confusion.

We Don’t Recognise What We Don’t See - Rirkrit Tiravanija

STPI Creative Workshop & Gallery

41 Robertson Quay, Singapore, 238236

Hugo Boss prize-winning contemporary artist, Rirkrit Tiravanija, is pleased to present his solo exhibition in Singapore, to mark his 21st Anniversary.

Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the show amplifies STPI’s core values of collaboration and innovation, bringing to the fore a renewed focus on the diverse creative exchanges that take place between artists, curators, and the Workshop’s expert team. The exhibition consists of 40 artworks in a compelling series that explores themes of extinction, humankind’s destruction of the natural world, and our impending demise as a civilisation, designed to engage the mind and senses. Catch this formidable exhibition until 4 June 2023. stpi.com.sg.

Editorial credit: saiko3p / Shutterstock.com

9 Seymour St, London W1H 7BA

kolrestaurant.com

Home to the award-winning cuisine of Chef Santiago Lastra, KOL is a restaurant and Mezcaleria, (taken from the ancient Aztec Nahuatl language meaning ‘cooked agave’), with bold menus that celebrate Santiago’s homeland of Mexico. Rich in cultural tastes, aromas, and textures with meticulously sourced seasonal British produce, his cuisine is a contrast of elegance and balance that uniquely interprets Britain through a Mexican lens, melding the diverse landscapes and seas of both. The cuisine is celebrated by a wine list that boasts 100% biodynamic and organic wine from Central and Eastern Europe. Just five minutes from London’s Marble Arch, with a main dining room at ground floor level, The Chef’s Table and Mezcaleria downstairs. The restaurant features a central show kitchen where guests can observe, in décor inspired by the streets of Mexico. Make reservations on 020 3829 6883, email: contact@kolrestaurant.com

Editorial credit: Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com

The Balboa Theatre

Editorial credit: f11photo / Shutterstock.com

Price: £65,405

Electric motor/s: Two permanent magnet synchronous motors, four wheel drive

Drive battery: 77.4kWh

Lithium-ion

Power: 429bhp (483bhp on overboost)

And there are so many neat finishing touches – the huge glove tray (formerly a mere box), the crystal ball gear selection that pivots round on start up, the slot to drop your mobile into to charge it (and the audible warning if you leave it there) to name a few.

Two large screens stretch two thirds of the way across the dash and are clear, responsive and easy to use.

There’s a rotary selector, shortcut buttons and dedicated controls for climate control.

The front seats have a wide range of adjustment, including side bolsters which close in to grip you better when you hit warp factor via the boost button on the steering wheel.

To access all of the available kilowatts, it will unleash the full 483bhp

Torque: 516lb ft

Top speed: 146mph 0-62mph: 4.0sec

Emissions: 0g/km

Range: 289 miles

for a maximum of 10 seconds at a time. It’ll hit 62mph in just 4 seconds, 11.5seconds to hit 110mph.

The GV60 Sport Plus tops out at 146mph and doesn’t feel it would have issues getting there... Some have referred to it as ‘giggle inducing and I wouldn’t disagree...

The rear has good leg room and decent head room, and the seatback has the ability to be be reclined quite a long way.

The absence of a centre tunnel allows for a floating centre console that leaves storage room beneath.

GV60 behaves like a good EV should and the steering wheel paddles let you vary the amount of brake regeneration through five levels, from frictionless coasting to one-pedal driving. l

GENESIS GV60 SPORT PLUS AWD DUAL MOTOR