Veolia Strategy At Sea Over France-Corsica Ferry Stalemate
Veolia Environnement, a global leader in water and waste management, has a little local difficulty: an ailing France-Corsica ferry operator that weighs on its shares, gives its CEO nightmares and puts the brakes on its strategic plans. At the end of 2012, new Chief Executive Antoine Frerot decided to get out of transport to focus Veolia on its higher-margin water, waste andenergy businesses, and agreed with state-owned Caisse des Depots (CDC) that it would gradually stake over Veolia's stake in their joint venture Transdev, which runs trains, buses and taxis in about 20 countries. CDC had one condition - that Veolia keep Transdev's 66 percent stake in Societe Nationale Corse Mediterranee (SNCM), a loss-making ferry operator that once had a monopoly on France-Corsica routes.
IBIA to Engage in LNG Issues
The International Bunker Industry Association's (IBIA) board has taken a formal decision to “become more closely engaged in LNG matters”. The move was announced at last week's IBIA's Annual Convention, held in Barcelona, by its acting chief executive Trevor Harrison. He told delegates that the association would become more involved in the ongoing discussions on LNG as a fuel at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The potential of LNG as a fuel for merchant ships received considerable attention. Several speakers referred to the issue while addressing industry concerns about the 2015 implementation of the 0.1% sulphur content cap in bunkers used within Emission Control Areas (ECAs). In addition one session was entirely devoted to the prospects for widespread use of LNG.
