Shipping & Logistics Supp

shippinglogistics The Malta Independent on Sunday SEPTEMBER 2018

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Malta Maritime Summit 2018 T 1 - 5 October

he shipping industry sets the pace for globalization. More than 50,000 merchant ships travel the world's seas, transporting 10 billion tons of goods every year. Global trade volume continues to grow as nations move ever closer together. The maritime sector plays an essential part in this process. Efficiency is a major concern as the shipping industry navigates through rough seas. Meanwhile, customer expectations are rising while regulations are getting stricter. To compete successfully shipping companies must face up to these challenges by monitoring and digitalising ships, interconnecting them with their land-based offices and making use of big data.

Smart shipping is the name of the strategy which conquers new dimensions to optimize the use of the available resources. Millions of people work in the maritime sector whether as seafarers, shipbuilding engineers, ship managers or workers. Their commitment and hard work drive the industry and their knowhow will be essential in the future as well. Innovation is the key factor helping the shipping industry sharpen its focus on efficiency and environmental protection. By introducing sophisticated technical solutions and adopting sustainable strategies the maritime sector sets the stage for the 21st century.

The Malta Maritime Summit has been an indispensable event for the international maritime industry. However, it is far more than an event not to be missed by stakeholders. It is an exciting experience and an opportunity to meet up with the movers and shakers of the in-

dustry. Lively discussions, inspired by a program of specialists, the Summit covers all crucial topics about the industry's current agenda leaving lasting impressions unlike any other. In 2018, digitalization, Artificial Intelligence (AI), smart shipping, green propulsion, sustainability and efficiency, security and defence, are all crucial factors in determining a company's competitiveness and future success. The Malta Maritime Summit provides a wealth of valuable ideas and food for discussion to the industry's top players, providing stakeholders with ample opportunity to network and keeping abreast of the needs of the maritime sector. This platform for stakeholders analysis the European Union’s and international maritime strategy and their impact on the industry.

Malta is one of the world's most important maritime hubs and offers the perfect location for the industry's foremost event. This is where the entire value chain is routed and where all key players meet to share experiences and gain inspiration to drive their business forward.

“This event is part of our ambitious plan to establish and promote a sustainable and integrated maritime sector here in Malta. I am strongly of the opinion that maritime activity can both drive and support a growing economy. Efforts to promote investment, growth and improvement in the maritime sectors are to be applauded and encouraged. As we all know, from a business perspective, this is a difficult time to be in shipping. The Malta maritime summit’s mission is to promote safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and sustainable shipping. This may be done through the development and adoption of the highest practicable standards of maritime safety and security, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of pollution from ships. Why is it so important for shipping to be regulated globally? Because global regulations apply equally to all participants. They do not allow anyone to gain an advantage either by cutting corners or by imposing unilateral requirements. They create a level playing field. And, perhaps most impor-

tantly, they ensure that ships have to comply with the same rules and technical standards wherever in the world they operate and regardless of which flag they fly. New technologies have already brought significant changes in the way ships are designed, constructed and operated, impacting personnel, both on board and ashore. In the future, I expect technology will create a more interconnected and efficient industry, more closely integrated with the whole global supply chain. But technological advances present challenges as well as opportunities, so their introduction into the regulatory framework needs to be considered carefully. We need to balance the benefits against safety and security concerns, the impact on the environment and on international trade, the potential costs to the industry and, not least, their impact on personnel, both on board and ashore. Responding to climate change will continue to be a vital strategic direction. This is one of the greatest challenges of our era and one which we have been tackling for some time. If we are to thrive in the future we need to change and adapt to the present.” Mr. John A. Gauci-Maistre, CEO of GM Conferences & Exhibitions Ltd For more information http://maltamaritimesummit.com

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More than

9,000 registered vessels

More than

77 million tonnes in registered vessels

63% increase in

merchant ship registrations over the past 5 years

Malta’s maritime flag is a great source of pride for Government and for our country – constant growth and achievement have become synonymous with the sector, which is one of the pillars of our economy – Minister Ian Borg

More than

800

97%

increase in registered superyacht super registrations yachts over the past 5 years We have achieved a lot in the maritime sector, but we will not sit on our laurels.

We must strive on to continue promoting Malta as a maritime hub, pushing forward the superyacht service sector – Minister Ian Borg

Largest maritime flag in Europe; sixth in the

world

More than

4,500 years of maritime history

Our country has a long and proud maritime history, spanning over more than 4,500 years.

Situated in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea gives us a geographically strategic advantage, and our natural harbours enhance our potential as a maritime nation. Today we are on the eve of the Malta Maritime Summit, a forum which makes space for healthy discussions among stakeholders from all over the world. Our goal is to continue growing holistically and in synergy with our fellow maritime states – Minister Ian Borg

Government is committed to continue fostering training and professional development for all employees and students within the industry. Our country has achieved a stellar reputation in its active support of maritime education. This is evident in the great number of students from around the world who choose to follow their studies in Malta-based institutions such as IMLI– Minister Ian Borg As a Ministry we pride ourselves in our active involvement in the International Maritime Organisation, where Malta has been elected on the Council 11 consecutive times – Minister Ian Borg

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PLO - A Commitment to Excellent Service Economic, punctual and effective.

Port Logistics Operations have left no stone unturned to deliver fast, efficient and value for money services to their clients.

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hrough meticulous research of specific client needs, capacity requirements and the right equipment, Port Logistics Operations has become a leader in the local and offshore waters conveyance operations.

Port Logistics Operations provides an array of conveyance services. These include delivery of provisions, transportation of lubrication oil in drums, affecting crew changes and personnel transfers, deliver ship spare parts, transport medical supplies and personnel, deliver port services, provide garbage disposal, as well as support services for the movie industry, transfers of mooring masters and cargo samplings. With a fleet that is the largest in

Malta, Port Logistics Operations has what it takes to provide an excellent, round the clock service. Apart from having local certification, PLO's larger vessels are classed and insured to sail in international waters.

Through a well-thought expansion in its personnel and an extensive upgrade in its infrastructure, Port Logistics Operations is well equipped to deliver.

In the past months, PLO has also invested €1 million in the oil response vessel MV Moor, €100,000 in equipment to contain any potential oil spills, as well as a further investment of €10,000 in the training of personnel. The organisation now has the required capacity to handle oil spills through a solid investment in its people and in its response infrastructure.

Port Logistics Operations official, Capt. Noel Galea, emphasised the organisation’s pursuit of excellence: “Our commitment is to intensify our endeavours to raise the bar continually and challenge ourselves to do better. We are confident that this will keep us in sync with industry needs and the success of its clients.”

As we celebrate the REDISCOVERY OF THE ENDEAVOUR let’s acknowledge its complicated legacy Researchers, including Australian maritime archaeologists, believe they have found Captain Cook’s historic ship HMB Endeavour in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island. NATALI PEARSON reports

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he discovery is the culmination of decades of work by the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project and the Australian National Maritime Museum to locate and positively identify the vessel, which had been missing from the historical record for over two centuries. Plans are now under way to raise funds to excavate and conduct scientific testing in 2019.

As the first European seafaring vessel to reach the east coast of Australia, the Endeavour – much like James Cook himself – has become part of Australia’s national mythology. Unlike Cook, who famously met his end on Hawaiian shores, the fate of the Endeavour had long been unknown. The discovery has therefore resolved a long-standing maritime mystery.

In a serendipitous twist, it coincides with two significant dates: the 250th anniversary of the Endeavour’s departure from England in 1768 on its now (in)famous voyage south, and the 240th anniversary of the ship’s scuttling in 1778 during the American War of Independence.

Identifying the Endeavour’s location has been a 25-year processs. Archaeologists initially identified 13 potential candidates in the harbour. Over time, the number of possible sites was narrowed to five.

This month, a joint diving team has worked to measure and inspect these sites, drawing upon knowledge of Endeavour’s size to identify a likely candidate. Excavation and timber analysis is expected to provide final confirmation.

Those expecting an entire ship to be recovered will be disappointed, as very little of it remains.

Endeavour, then known as Earl of Pembroke, leaving Whitby Harbour in 1768. Painting by Thomas Luny, c. 1790. (Some think Luny painted another ship after Endeavour became famous.)

But this is a controversial vessel, and celebrations of its discovery will be tempered by reflection about its complicity in the British colonisation of Indigenous Australian land. While Endeavour played an instrumental role in advancing science and exploration, its arrival in what is now known as Botany Bay in 1770 also precipitated the occupation of territory that its Aboriginal owners never ceded.

A ship by any other name …

Although Endeavour’s early days are well known, it has taken many years for researchers to piece together the rest of its story. One problem has been the many names the vessel was known by during its lifetime.

Built in 1764 in Whitby, England, as a collier (coal carrier), the vessel was originally named Earl of Pembroke. Its flat-bottomed hull and box-like shape, designed to transport bulk cargo, later proved helpful when navigating the treacherous coral reefs of the southern seas.

In 1768, Earl of Pembroke was sold into the service of the Royal Navy and the Royal Society. It underwent a major refit to accommodate a larger crew and sufficient provisions for a long voyage. In keeping with the ambitious spirit of the era, the vessel was renamed His Majesty’s Bark (HMB) Endeavour (bark being a nautical term to describe a ship with three masts or more).

Endeavour departed England in 1768 under the command of then-Lieutenant Cook. Ostensibly sailing to the South Pacific to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus, Cook was also under orders to search for the fabled southern continent. So it was that a coal carrier and a rare astronomical event changed the history of the Australian continent and its people.

Mysterious ends

Endeavour’s voyage across the Pacific Ocean.

Following Endeavour’s circumnavigation of the globe (1768-1771), the vessel was used as a store ship before the Royal Navy sold it in 1775. Here, the ship’s fate become mysterious.

Many believed it had been renamed La Liberté and put to use as a French whaling ship before succumbing to rotting

timbers in Newport Harbour in 1793.

Others rejected this theory, suggesting instead that Endeavour had spent her final days on the river Thames.

A breakthrough came in 1997. Australian researchers suggested the Endeavour had in fact been renamed Lord Sandwich. The theory gained weight following an archival discovery by Kathy Abbass, director of the Rhode Island project, in 2016, which indicated that Lord Sandwich had been used as a troop transport and prison ship during the American War of Independence before being scuttled in Newport Harbour in 1778.

Lord Sandwich was one of a number of transport ships deliberately sunk by the British in an attempt to prevent the French fleet from approaching the shore.

Finding a shipwreck is not impossible, but finding the one you’re looking for is hard. Rhode Island volunteers have been searching for this vessel since 1993, slowly narrowing down the search area and eliminating potential contenders as they explore the often-murky waters of Newport Harbour.

They were joined in their efforts by the Australian National Maritime Museum in 1999 and, in more recent years, by the Silentworld Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation with a particular interest in Australasian maritime archaeology.

Museums around the world are already turning their attention to the significant Cook anniversaries on the horizon and the complex legacy of these expeditions.

These interpretive endeavours will only be heightened by the planned excavation of the ship’s remains in the near future.

Shipwrecks are a productive starting point for thinking about how we make meaning from the past because of the firm hold they have on the public imagination.

They conjure images of lost treasure, pirates and, especially in the case of Endeavour, bold adventures to distant lands.

But as we celebrate the spirit of exploration that saw a humble coal carrier circumnavigate the globe – and the same spirit of exploration that has led to its discovery centuries later – we must also make space for the unsettling stories that will resurface as a result of this discovery.

Natali Pearson is Deputy Director, Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, University of Sydney This article was originally published on The Conversation.

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Express Trailers Formally Enters Manufacturing Industry

EXPRESS TRAILERS ENGINEERING LTD SET UP

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xpress Trailers has just launched its latest venture, Express Trailers Engineering Ltd. The company was launched with an event at its premises during which it also celebrated its 15 years of professional collaboration with the world leader in proprietary sideloaders Hammar Maskin.

After 15 years, Express Trailers Engineering Ltd is now Hammar’s authorized partner in the Southern European region and

the only recognised and accredited Hammar equipment rebuilder in the world, recognised for its highest engineering and tradesmanship quality standards.

“We can safely say that with the setting up of Express Trailers Engineering Ltd, we are taking our company Express Trailers back to its roots when its eight founding brothers, started building the company with their own hands through their ‘can do’ attitude, their talent and propensity

for mechanics and engineering and their sense of resourcefulness,” said Franco Azzopardi, Chairman and CEO of Express Trailers in his inauguration speech.

“In fact, Express Trailers Engineering Ltd will be operating under the leadership of Noel Vella, who is a family member and who succeeds his father Sebastian Vella, a veteran mechanic and tradesman, a tool-maker in the industry and one of the founding brothers.

Express Engineering Launch Noel Vella will be leading a dedicated team of 25 tradesmen who will be focused on the work commissioned to us by HAMMAR namely the rebuilding and reconditioning of side-loaders as well as on the servicing of Express Trailers’ heavy equipment, added Franco Azzopardi.

Hammar Maskin produces

proprietary side-loading equipment for trailers made of high tensile and lightweight steel that gives a huge advantage to all logistics operators handling containers single-handedly, be it cargo, mobile offices for construction and other sites as well as military mobile barracks and hospitals.

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Careers at Sea – MaritimeMT There is a great variety of careers waiting for the right candidate in the maritime industry. A career at sea opens many doors; the potential for career growth is immense. Moreover, success also depends on specialised training that will help the right candidate develop a raft of practical and technical skills.

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t MaritimeMT, we build on the experience of our Master Mariners to provide a portfolio of courses that can service the needs of the Maltese Maritime sector and the industry in general. Our new holistic curriculum is being developed with the needs of employers in mind. On the other hand, we also work to understand the needs of those already in employment: people who wish to further and better their career prospect, as well as entrants to the industry who need mentoring. These new entrants need to muster an understanding of the wide spectrum of jobs available. MaritimeMT assists them in choosing their career path.

In terms of seafaring, there are three main operational departments on board ships: the deck department, staffed by navigating officers; the engineering department, staffed by marine engineering and marine electro-technical officers.

Added to this is the catering or hotel department, which handles all the catering and domestic services.

However, the maritime sector expands into further clusters.

These include specialised trades and/or skills, such as nautical architecture, offshore skilled jobs on vessels servicing the oil and gas sector, the evergrowing windfarm and solar farm sectors, fishing and aquaculture, biomarine technology and the pharmaceutical industry, legal services, logistics, the military and much more. Shore side careers are just as important for the continuous development and sustainability of the industry as those on board ships.

The Maritime career spectrum is very diversified and there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution. The nature of the operations and services of a vessel will determine certain aspects of a person’s seafaring professional development. MaritimeMT can assist with your career development. We offer the obligatory and ancillary STCW certified courses leading to certificates in Maritime Safety, Medical, Fire Fighting, Navigation and Radio Communications, Petrochemical Tanker Certifications, as well as courses covering interiors and hospitatlity certification, which are highly sought after in the lucrative Superyacht sector.

MaritimeMT also offers courses that follow the Commercial Vessels Regulations of Malta (CVR). These are a set of regulations that govern the commercial operations of vessels within the 12NM territory of Malta. Applications are currently open for enrolment to the next intake of participants of the MATE/MASTER Combined Certification. In the coming weeks MaritimeMT will also be launching the rest of the CVR Certification Courses, including General Purpose

Hands, Boatman, Boatmaster and Engine Driver.

From captains and bosuns to engineers, chefs, stewards, artists, hairdressers and beauty therapists: there are thousands of job opportunities, either at sea

or shoreside, for people with the right skills and attributes.

For a complete list of courses please visit www.martimemt.com or contact us on courses@maritimemt.com.

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