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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
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European Commission News

18 Mar 2024

Liquid Hydrogen SOV Concept Unveiled

(Image: Louis Dreyfus Armateurs)

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) has unveiled a concept for a first-of-its kind service operations vessel (SOV) that runs on liquid hydrogen.The French-headquartered company said it has been working alongside Norwegian naval architecture firm Salt Ship Design as well as main equipment suppliers, fuel providers, class and flag authorities, and others to produce the concept—with support from the European Commission.The groundbreaking SOV, currently in the concept design phase, would be able to operate 95% of the time with zero carbon emissions, only releasing water during standard operations.

13 Feb 2024

OPINION: Seeing the Ship as a System Changes Everything

image credit ABB Marine and Ports

Shipping must engage with the decarbonization realities that lie ahead by changing the way it crafts maritime legislation to reflect its place in the interconnected, interdependent world economy, says Eero Lehtovaara, ABB Marine & Ports.ABB Marine & Ports Head of Regulatory & Public Affairs, Eero Lehtovaara has carved out an unusual - and possibly unique - role in the maritime industry over recent years, as a ‘stakeholder’ simultaneously mindful of the perspectives of owners, seafarers…

07 Feb 2024

Denmark Primed to Become European CO2 Hub

© Dzmitry / Adobe Stock

With its new CCS-strategy, the European Commission has outlined a common direction for the capture, utilization, and storage of CO2 in the EU. The strategy highlights Denmark as a pioneer in the field, and Danish Shipping predicts that Denmark could play a central role.The strategy, named the "Industrial Carbon Management Strategy," sets the framework for the ambition to build an internal market for CO2, benefiting both the climate and employment. All measures are aimed at achieving…

07 Feb 2024

WSC Calls for Strengthened Commitment on Renewable Fuels

© EvrenKalinbacak / Adobe Stock

The European Commission's recommendation for the EU's 2040 climate targets, calling for a 90% net GHG emission reduction, are ambitious and critically important, especially following updates suggesting that EU 2030 goals may not be met, says the World Shipping Council (WSC).The climate targets point to the importance of providing renewable marine fuels for maritime sector decarbonization. Committing the EU to production of zero-GHG fuel pathways is essential, not least because European Member States account for one-fifth of global shipping energy sales…

06 Feb 2024

European Shipowners Welcome EU Climate Target Proposal

© donvictori0 / Adobe Stock

The European Commission has published its proposal for a 2040 climate target: greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 90% by 2040 at the latest, receiving positive feedback from European shipowners.The shipowners welcome the strong commitment of the Commission to address “barriers to the deployment of low- and zero-emissions fuels including e-fuels and advanced biofuels” in shipping and to give the sector “priority access to these fuels over sectors that have access to other…

04 Feb 2024

No New Import Bans in Next EU Russia Sanctions Package

The European Commission will not add any new import bans in its next package of sanctions on Russia, EU diplomats said, as a 13th package proposal takes its final shape.The Commission and European Union member states want to quickly pass a new set of measures to mark the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.Despite calls from some EU countries to ban more Russian exports like aluminium, the Commission will propose a package it hopes will cause minimal…

17 Jan 2024

EDF Backed EUROGUARD Project Sets Sail in Estonia

(Photo: Baltic Workboats)

The European Defense Fund (EDF)backed EUROGUARD project has officially kicked off in Estonia as Europe seeks to bolter its sea defense capabilities.The project's primary objective is to develop a modular and semi-autonomous surface vessel platform equipped with a remote control system. The initiative aims to enhance Europe's maritime defense capabilities while promoting cooperation and innovation in the field.The collaborative venture involves 23 companies and research institutions from 10 EU member states…

30 Nov 2023

Phase II of IMO’s Maritime Technology Cooperation Centre Project Announced

Source: IMO

The IMO and the European Commission (EC) have announced a second phase of the Global Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres Network (GMN) project, with funding from the EU.The aim of the second phase is to upscale the work of the five regional centres, with a particular emphasis on pilot demonstrations aimed at achieving quantifiable reductions in GHG emissions.The GMN Phase II project follows the successful Phase I which established the five Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCCs), in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific.

28 Nov 2023

Report Highlights EU Live Animal Transport Issues

Source: Eurogroup for Animals

A new report provides insights into animal welfare issues during transport within and from the EU.Around 44 million farmed animals a year are transported, including unweaned calves and lambs on journeys from Europe lasting up to three weeks.Inadequate and misleading official records are masking the true horror and scale of the EU’s long-distance trade in farmed animals, say the international NGOs Eurogroup for Animals and Compassion in World Farming, on release of the report.

17 Nov 2023

EU to Ban Sale of Tankers to Russia to Curb Shadow Fleet Growth

Credit: alexyz3d/AdobeStock

The European Commission is proposing to ban the sale of tankers for crude oil and petroleum products to Russia to prevent Moscow bypassing western sanctions on Russian oil with a shadow fleet of ships, a proposal by the Commission showed. The proposal, discussed on Friday by ambassadors of EU governments, also says that sales of tankers to a third country should include contractual clauses that ships cannot be re-sold to Russia or used to carry Russian crude oil or petroleum products that avoid western price caps - in the case of crude oil of $60 per barrel.

15 Nov 2023

Russian Oil Tankers Not Targeted in EU Sanctions Proposal -EU Diplomats

© Igor Groshev / Adobe Stock

Russian oil tankers are not targeted in the European Commission's proposal for tightening the implementation of a price cap on the country's crude oil, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.The Financial Times reported earlier on Wednesday that Denmark will be tasked with inspecting and potentially blocking Russian oil tankers sailing through its waters under new European Union plans as a way of enforcing a $60 per barrel price cap on Moscow's crude.The FT said that Denmark would target tankers carrying Russian oil that did not have Western insurance…

09 Nov 2023

Cyprus Outlines Plan for Maritime Corridor to Get Aid to Gaza

© f8grapher / Adobe Stock

The president of Cyprus outlined a proposal on Thursday to open a maritime corridor to help deliver more aid to Gaza, a plan which he said could be operational quickly but which diplomats said faced challenges.Under the plan presented by President Nikos Christodoulides at a humanitarian conference in Paris, aid would be sent by sea to Gaza from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, the closet European Union member state about 370 km (230 miles) away."We hope immediately to implement it…

26 Oct 2023

Europe's Offshore Wind Power Goal Hits New Snag: Security

Nysted wind farm - Credit: Plenz - Own work - CC BY 3.0 DEED via Wikimedia Commons

As Europe turns to renewable sources to diversify energy supplies away from Russian oil and gas, a peaceful marine scene conceals a billion-dollar security headache.Rising above the Baltic Sea less than 10 km (6 miles) off the coast of Denmark, 161 wind turbines spin slowly. They supply around 4% of the country's power, sent to shore through two cable connections.The turbines have no barriers or surveillance."Our technicians are only here until five o'clock in the afternoon, then they go home…

10 Oct 2023

Israel Highlights Fragility of New Trade Corridors

© svarshik / Adobe Stock

A new and deadly chapter of the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict is a reality check for an ambitious trade route. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), championed by Washington last month on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi and dubbed a Western rival to China’s Belt and Road, had much to prove anyway. The latest conflict presses pause on any grand financial visions involving the neighbourhood.IMEC’s chief backers waxed lyrical about the potential of the trade route involving railways, ports and green energy. U.S.

10 Oct 2023

Cargo Shipping to Lose EU Antitrust Exemption from 2024

© tiero / Adobe Stock

Cargo shipping companies will from next year no longer enjoy a decades-long exemption from EU rules against anti-competitive agreements because this derogation does not boost competition any more, EU antitrust regulators said on Tuesday.First adopted in 2009, the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation (CBER) allows liner shipping operators with a combined market share below 30% to team up to provide joint cargo transport services as long as they do not fix prices or share markets between themselves.The European Commission said it would let the exemption, extended in 2014 and 2020, to lapse in Ap

20 Sep 2023

Europe’s Ports See First Signs of Business Leakage

© Sascha Burkard / Adobe Stock

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.

15 Sep 2023

EU Does Not Extend Ban on Ukraine Grains Imports to Neighboring EU Countries

© dechevm / Adobe Stock

The European Commission said on Friday that it would not extend a ban on imports of Ukrainian grains into Ukraine's five EU neighbors due to expire on Friday."It has concluded that thanks to the work of the Coordination Platform and to the temporary measures introduced on 2 May 2023, the market distortions in the 5 Member States bordering Ukraine have disappeared," the European Commission said in a statement.Restrictions imposed by the European Union in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria…

14 Sep 2023

Maersk Sets Up Green Methanol Company

© A.P. Moller - Maersk. All rights reserved.

Maersk has teamed up with its majority owner to form a new company to produce "green methanol", the shipping company said on Thursday, as it held a naming ceremony for the world's first container vessel powered by the low-carbon fuel.Green methanol, produced either from biomass or captured carbon and hydrogen from renewable power, can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from container ships by 60% to 95% compared with conventional fossil fuels.With more than 100 container vessels capable of sailing on methanol on order…

14 Sep 2023

Historic Moment: World's First Green Methanol-Powered Container Vessel Named in Denmark

© A.P. Moller - Maersk. All rights reserved.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, on Thursday named the world’s first-ever container vessel sailing on green methanol.At a ceremony in Copenhagen on September 14, where the Maersk-owned vessel arrived from Ulsan in South Korea, Von Der Leyen acted as the ship's godmother and named the vessel 'Laura Maersk'.The Danish-flagged 172-meter-long vessel has been described as a key milestone for A.P. Moller-Maersk’s plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions in 2040 across the entire business.To meet its 2040 target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions in time…

14 Jul 2023

UN Scrambles to Save Black Sea Grain Deal Ahead of Monday Deadline

© glebzter / Adobe Stock

The European Commission is helping the United Nations and Turkey try to extend a deal allowing the Black Sea export of Ukraine grain and is open to "explore all solutions," a European Union spokesperson said on Thursday, ahead of the deal's possible expiration on Monday.The U.N. and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Moscow's invasion and blockade of Ukrainian ports. Ukraine and…

13 Jul 2023

UN Asks Putin to Extend Black Sea Grain Deal in Return for SWIFT Access

© Elena / Adobe Stock

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia's agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters.Russia has threatened to ditch the grain deal, which expires on Monday, because several demands to dispatch its own grain and fertilizer abroad have not been met. The last two ships…

03 Jul 2023

EU Weighs Concession to Russian Bank over Black Sea Grain Deal

© Elena / Adobe Stock

The European Union is considering a proposal for the Russian Agricultural Bank to set up a subsidiary to reconnect to the global financial network as a sop to Moscow, the Financial Times said on Monday.With the bank under sanctions, the move aims to safeguard the Black Sea grain deal that allows Ukraine to export food to global markets, the newspaper said.The European Commission had no comment while the Kremlin on Monday, in response to a question about the report, said it had…

28 Jun 2023

LNG Bunker Carrier Paolina Cosulich Launched

Image courtesy Fratelli Cosulich

Fratelli Cosulich Bunkers (S) Pte Ltd. christened and launched its second Small Scale LNG carrier - the Paolina Cosulich - at the CIMC SOE shipyard in China.The event  was attended by Diana Mok - Managing Director at Fratelli Cosulich Bunkers (S) Pte Ltd, acting as the godmother of the vessel. Paolina Cosulich will sail under the Italian flag with Captain Vincenzo Scotto at the helm. The 5,300 DWT vessel can carry 8,200 m3 of LNG and 500 m3 of MGO and will be fitted with Wartsila's Dual Fuel technology.Boil off management techniques will be used by the LNG subcooling plant…

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