Interferry Urges Proactive Approach to Industry Challenges
More than 250 top-level delegates attended trade association Interferry’s 38th annual conference in Malta to debate the major factors affecting ferry operations around the world. Under a new format mixing presentations with panel discussions and audience input, the event underlined the diversity of political, technical, operational and commercial issues challenging the industry. Among several sessions focused on safety, a former airline pilot confirmed the alarming certainty of human error…
What’s Next?
The maritime industry goes from cycle to cycle, living with and by uncertainty. You could even say that our industry embraces risk. This means that “What’s next?” is always a relevant question – and one that gets some interesting responses. During Nor-Shipping 2011, we discovered that the “what’s next” question really resonates with the industry when we used it to support the theme “Next Generation Shipping” for the event week. The standing-room only audience at the Nor-Shipping…
WMD Sea Law Not Yet Ratified
A United Nations treaty designed to stop the carriage of weapons of mass destruction by sea has not been ratified by a single country, including the United States, despite its being formally agreed a year ago. The shortcoming emerged as world powers this week grappled with enforcing U.N. sanctions on North Korea that include the inspection of seaborne cargo and possible ship searches in international waters. Countries party to U.N. International Maritime Organisation (IMO) laws agreed to the new convention in London last October. The Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) at sea convention makes it illegal for merchant ships to carry WMD and engage in acts of terrorism on the high seas.
