Hedegaard News

Weather intelligence and decision support services provider StormGeo said it has appointed Kim Hedegaard Sørensen as the new Chief Operating Officer for its shipping division effective immediately.Sørensen has an extensive portfolio of global C-level leadership positions in shipping and transportation, including CEO of Nordics Nagel-Group, Blue Water Shipping, and TransAtlantic Industrial Shipping. He also brings with him 17 years’ experience with Danish integrated shipping and container logistics company A.P.

The new NKT cable-laying vessel was named NKT Victoria at a ceremony at the power cable plant in Karlskrona, Sweden. The act was carried out by the regional Governor of Blekinge and marks the starting point of a new era of NKT turnkey high-voltage offshore cable system capabilities. NKT took delivery of the new vessel on April 10, 2017. NKT Victoria lays high-voltage offshore cables with high precision based on e.g. DP3 (Dynamic Positioning) capability and a remotely operated vehicle using cameras and sonar. If not incorporated in the power cable itself, fiber optic cables for monitoring purposes can be placed simultaneously. NKT Victoria uses a power-from-shore solution together with onboard energy storage systems, reducing fuel and CO2 consumption.

If no further action is taken and global temperature increases by 3.5°C, climate damages in the EU could amount to at least $260 billion (€190 billion), a net welfare loss of 1.8% of its current GDP. Several weather-related extremes could roughly double their average frequency. As a consequence, heat-related deaths could reach about 200 000, the cost of river flood damages could exceed $13.6 billion (€10 billion) and 8,000 km2 of forest could burn in southern Europe. The number of people affected by droughts could increase by a factor of seven and coastal damage…

Trident Alliance, the shipping industry initiative for enforcement of maritime sulphur regulations, is on track for launch after its exploratory meeting in Copenhagen last week. At a full-day meeting on May 28, hosted by Maersk Maritime Technology and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) in Copenhagen, representatives from a dozen shipping companies, including some of the world’s largest, negotiated the basis for the new Trident Alliance. At the meeting, the companies agreed that the Trident Alliance will be a coalition of shipping owners and operators who share a common interest in robust enforcement of maritime sulphur regulation and are willing to collaborate to help bring it about.

President Barack Obama's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. power plants, due to be announced on Monday, will win muted applause abroad with some hopes it could help a U.N. deal to fight climate change in 2015. Emerging economies including China and India are likely to be lukewarm because they have often said that Obama's plans for emissions cuts until 2020 - even if fully implemented - are far short of the curbs they say are needed by the rich. But the U.S. plan to limit emissions by existing power plants could put pressure on other nations in U.N. talks on a deal meant to be agreed at a summit in Paris in late 2015. Obama's plan will be a "good signal" for Paris by showing that "one of the world's biggest emitters is taking the future of the planet and its people seriously…

The second and last Environment Council meeting under the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU took place in Brusse today, December 13, chaired by Minister of Environment of Lithuania Valentinas Mazuronis. The Commission was represented by Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik and Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard. The Council discussed the state of play in the ongoing legislative work in the field of environment. In the morning session ministers exchanged views on the Regulation on the Monitoring…

Emissions monitoring systems manufacturer, Parker Procal, welcomes EU move to monitor, report & verify emissions. The EU announced recently that it will start measuring shipping emissions from 2013 as a first step towards delivering a global solution for cutting the sector's climate change impact. EU Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard and Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas made the announcement at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Parker Procal, a manufacturer of in-situ, multi component Continuous Emissions Monitoring systems (CEMS), welcomes the EU decision to create a global system for monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions.