Agostino News

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) has reiterated its support for an emissions trading scheme (ETS) as instrument for greening the shipping sector, but expresses its serious concern about first signs of carbon and business leakage due to the limited scope of the current legislation.For ESPO, the principle to consider calls to some transhipment ports neighbouring the EU as a “port of call” in the counting of the ETS charges is only a partial solution to the problem. ESPO agrees with the identification of Tanger Med and East Port Said as major neighbouring transhipments ports.

The United States on Tuesday sanctioned a network of oil trading firms, individuals and vessels that have helped Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA sell crude mainly to Asia despite Washington's sanctions on the South American nation.The measure targets a network that the U.S. Treasury Department says helped the administration of President Nicolas Maduro, whose 2018 re-election Washington called a sham, broker the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars in Venezuelan oil."Those facilitating the illegitimate Maduro regime's attempts to circumvent United States sanctions contribute to the corruption that consumes Venezuela," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a news release.The Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control…

Eamonn O’Reilly was unanimously re-elected as Chairman following a vote of European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO)'s General Assembly in Brussels. E. O’Reilly has been chairing the organisation during the last two years.The General Assembly also re-elected Annaleena Mäkilä and elected Zeno d’Agostino as Vice-Chairs. Ms Mäkilä is currently Managing Director of the Finnish ports Association and has been Vice Chair since 2014.d’Agostino is President of Assoporti, the Italian Association of Ports and President of the Port Network Authority of the Eastern Adriatic Sea. Z. d’Agostino replaces Bernard Mazuel (UPF-France) who has been Vice Chair for the last four years.Upon his election…

Seatronics do Brazil, an Acteon company, appoint Thiago Montanari as sales manager. Montanari is based in Rio de Janeiro and will report directly to Seatronics vice president, Fabio D’Agostino. Montanari has six years of experience in the offshore industry, working extensively in the Caspian (Kasakhstan), Mediterranean, Adriatic and Caribbean (Cuba) seas, as well as in Angola, Patagonia and Libya. Montanari will be responsible for maturing existing relationships while growing and developing global business opportunities with existing and potential clients.

The first of three Military Sealift Command (MSC) ships set to carry Army cargo to Iraq this month began loading here April 3. The cargo belongs to the Third Infantry Division’s Second Brigade Combat Team and Combat Aviation Brigade of Ft. Stewart/Hunter Army Airfield, Ga., which will deploy to Iraq later this year. Container ship MV American Tern, a privately owned, U.S.-flagged ship under long-term charter to MSC, is currently using three shipboard cranes to load 550 pieces of cargo consisting mostly of 20-foot containers. In addition, MSC’s large, medium-speed, roll-on/roll-off ships USNS Watson (T-AKR 310), and USNS Charlton (T-AKR 314) will load thousands of pieces of military equipment, including helicopters, Humvees, tanks and trucks.

The Homeland Security Industries Association (HSIA), kicked off its formation today by presenting seven position statements that recommend how government and industry can work together on critical homeland security areas. The HSIA position statements address airport security; port and maritime security; protection against bio-terrorism and chemical agent attacks, radiological and nuclear security; critical infrastructure protection and physical security; information technology security; security equipment and information sharing security; and best business practices. HSIA is a non-profit organization founded by Washington attorney Bruce Aitken, Co-chair of Aitken, Irvin, Berlin & Vrooman, LLP, who serves as its President.