Poor Management News

The Australian Government has recalled the livestock carrier Bahijah after it diverted from the Red Sea over a week into its voyage to the Middle East.The Bahijah loaded cattle and sheep in Fremantle, Western Australia, and departed for the Middle East on January 5, 2024. The vessel has an Israeli company name painted in large letters along the side of the hull.At the time of departure, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) said it was satisfied that the arrangements for the transport of the livestock were appropriate to ensure their health and welfare.

The Norwegian Central Bank  has decided to exclude ship owners Evergreen Marine Corporation, Precious Shipping, Korea Line Corporation and Thorensen Thai Agencies from the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG). The exclusion is based on the companies’ poor management of their end-of-life ships and the sale of these for dirty and dangerous shipbreaking on the beaches of Gadani, Pakistan and Chittagong, Bangladesh. The Norwegian Council on Ethics directs the Norwegian Central Bank, which manages the Government Pension Fund Global, on which companies should be excluded from investments in the fund, based on human rights and humanitarian violations, corruption and environmental degradation records.

Another massive reduction in the Korean shipbuilding workforce may come as most shipyards are still struggling with falling orders and mounting losses, reports Yonhap quoting industry sources. Hyundai Heavy Industries plans for large layoffs amid a prolonged recession in the global shipbuilding sector and the government’s move to restructure the ailing industry. Over the past few weeks, the troubled world’s No. 1 shipbuilder is rumored to be planning an additional cut of 3,000 employees -- most likely from its production line -- in the form of voluntary retirement programs. The firm already cut around 60 executives in April and around 1,500 office workers last year.

China's National Audit Office has found irregularities at 11 state-owned conglomerates ranging from misrepresentation of assets to illegal property development, highlighting the challenges the government faces in overhauling the public sector. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the parent of PetroChina Co Ltd , China Resources (Holdings) Co Ltd, the parent of 10 companies listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong, and defence contractor China South Industries Group Corp, were among the firms whose 2012 audit reports were released on Friday. China has been moving to overhaul its state-owned sector following last year's decision to diversify ownership to give equal political and legal status to state and private companies.

Ain’t love grand? There’s the courtship phase: the wine, the roses, the proposal; the blood tests come back approved by the credit committee . . . finally the borrower and the lender fund the deal and tie the knot forever, walking off into the sunset in vessel finance ecstasy. Or, so the happy ending should go. But for some, there will be a time when the relationship with their vessel’s lender hits the proverbial rocks. The relationship might, in certain circumstances be salvageable, but in others, it will end in an abandoned ship . . . foreclosure. More often than not, this breakup is usually caused by the borrower’s failure to pay as agreed due to any number of financial or other misfortunes that may have befallen him (or her).

The UK P&I Club recently completed a series of three short articles which provide a user friendly guide to the mystery surrounding electronic chart display and information systems (ECDIS). These have now been consolidated into a 16-page booklet "ECDIS - Navigational and claims issues" that is available in hard copy from the Club or as a .pdf file from the club's website. While the booklet is not really intended for navigators, it should, the Club believes, be of great value to…

China will implement its first ever market access regulations for shipbuilding manufacturers from Oct. 1 this year, in order to halt production of low-quality vessels. Jin Zhuanglong, vice minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, said the shipbuilding sector, which had grown rapidly in recent years, urgently needed order and organization, according to a report on http://english.people.com.cn. China's shipbuilding firms ranked third in the world in 2006 for the 12th straight year, according to Jin. In 2006, the country's shipbuilding manufacturers yielded output of 14.52 billion deadweight tons…

Strikes, and poor management and infrastructure at Bangladesh's Chittagong port are costing shippers thousands of dollars and hampering the country's external trade. Chittagong, which handles 80 percent of the struggling country's external trade, is facing major problems, a top shipping executive said. Bad management, poor infrastructure, and shortage of handling equipment are the major operational problems facing the port, the officials said. Also, frequent political and labor strikes have impeded the functionality of the port. He said the stay-time for vessels had ballooned because of the strikes, which regularly bring the country to a standstill. The port's 16 berths handled 1,469 ships in calendar 1999, up from 1,352 the previous year.

Development of marine engineering related industries, including shipbuilding and repairing, is an important sector the maritime industry in Sabah and Sarawak can exploit further, according to a report in the Daily Express, an East Malaysia newspaper. EMMC 2005 Organising Chairman, Tan Sri Halim Mohammad, according to the news report said a concerted and coordinated approach could be taken to first rehabilitate and rejuvenate some of the existing yards that have potential but have fallen behind due to poor management or inadequate capitalisation. "Shipbuilding and repairing facilities with proven track records, like a few in Sarawak, must be supported to re-equip themselves with new technology and acquire new expertise," he added.