Katharina Stanzel News

The Council of Members of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO) has agreed that international shipping should strive to achieve net zero CO2 emissions by 2050. This doubles the level of ambition set in the International Maritime Organization’s Initial Strategy for GHG Emissions Reductions from International Shipping (IMO GHG Strategy), which currently calls for international shipping to reduce its emissions by 50% by 2050.INTERTANKO, which represents the majority of independent tanker owners and operators worldwide…

By majority vote, the Members of the European Parliament have agreed to include shipping in the European Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) Directive as of 2023, unless there is a comparable system agreed under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) by the end of 2021. “INTERTANKO and its Members consider the EU Parliament’s ambition as totally counter-productive,” said INTERTANKO Technical Director Dragos Rauta. The EU Parliament’s move could be perceived as “urging” IMO to accelerate its rule development. However, the IMO Roadmap, adopted in October 2016, already clearly defines tasks and timelines for the development of regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships.

The low demand on the high volume trade lanes is surely increasing the pressure on earnings which is already felt in the container shipping industry. This was one of the views that, BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, Peter Sand shared with the participants at the Maritime Cyprus 2015 Conference as he played an active part as a panellist on the session that focused on the future of the shipping market. “Volume growth on the vital trade lane from Asia to Europe and Asia to US West Coast were down by 4.2% and 2.0% respectively. Whereas demand growth was positive on Asia to US East Coast and on Intra-Asian trade lanes”. Next year the imports into the US East Coast will be even more in the limelight, as the third set of locks in the Panama Canal opens up for business in 2016.

Is the lack of demand for containerships a manageable challenge? The low demand on the high volume trade lanes is increasing the pressure on earnings which is already felt in the container shipping industry, says shipping association BIMCO. This was one of the views that BIMCO’s Chief Shipping Analyst, Peter Sand, shared with the participants at the Maritime Cyprus 2015 Conference as he played an active part as a panelist on the session that focused on the future of the shipping market.

INTERTANKO issued a press statement today stating its approval for the recently completed European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) Sulphur Inspection Guidance supporting the implementation of Council Directive 1999/32/EC. EMSA’s guidance aims to support a harmonized approach for the inspection of ships regarding the sulphur content of marine fuels, ascertaining their compliance, identifying non-compliances and applying control procedures for the enforcement of Council Directive 1999/32/EC.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has agreed to consider introducing measures to improve controls of bunkers delivered to ships. After six submissions to the IMO over four years, to which INTERTANKO made a major contribution, persistence with another submission has resulted in progress to assure the quality of fuel delivered to ships. A correspondence group will develop guidelines for states to ensure fuel quality compliance with MARPOL Annex VI. It will also consider the adequacy of the current legal framework for assuring the quality of fuel. “We welcome this decision,” said INTERTANKO’s Managing Director Katharina Stanzel. “However this is only the beginning as we believe that control of compliance should be transparent along the entire supply chain.

The Ship Inspection Report (SIRE) programme developed by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) intended that tanker inspection reports should be shared by all OCIMF members. They are not. The cost of inspections should be shared by both parties. They are not. And to make matters worse, ship operators often have to pay the costs of luxury travel for inspectors. INTERTANKO's Chairman, Graham Westgarth of GasLog Ltd, who had been re-elected for a third two-year term as Chairman of the Association…

Intertanko welcomes the agreement reached this week by the IMO’s Member States in revising the implementation schedule for the Ballast Water Management Convention and urges all Governments to adhere to this new schedule. The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) governing body, the Assembly, adopted a Resolution  in London that pins the application dates of the Ballast Water Management Convention to the entry into force date. This in effect makes all vessels constructed before the entry into force date ‘existing’ vessels, and allows for the installation of a ballast water management system (BWMS) on such vessels at the first renewal survey following entry into force. At present 38 countries representing 30.3% of the world’s registered tonnage have ratified the Convention.

In line with the Intertanko-led joint proposal last year, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has agreed to a rescheduling of the International Ballast Water Management Convention implementation dates, which will smooth the installation scheduling for ships installing ballast water management systems (BWMS), a trial period for port state control and new guidance on BWMS type approvals. At its 65th session, the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 65) of IMO approved a draft Assembly resolution which recommends that ships not be required to install a BWMS until its first renewal survey after entry into force of the BWM Convention.

Tanker owners continue to be deeply concerned that the current tanker market is seriously jeopardizing the sustainability of the tanker industry. Speaking recently to Intertanko’s Council in London, the Secretary General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), Koji Sekimizu, pointed out just how much the tanker industry contributes to the world economy. “Without the tanker industry, the world cannot survive - this is fact and reality,” he emphasized. Intertanko’s Managing Director Katharina Stanzel, went on to say, “The sustainability of the tanker industry is a balancing act between economics, tanker safety, the environment, and the demands of our global society which depends on the safe transportation of liquid energy for its way of life.

The controversial move was agreed at last week’s INTERTANKO Council meeting in Singapore and negotiating an acceptable outcome could be one of the first tasks to be undertaken by the association’s newly voted-in Managing Director Katharina Stanzel when she takes over as head of the secretariat on July 1st. Joe Angelo, INTERTANKO’s outgoing Managing Director, said “We will look into the issue of making the area a war zone. By making it a war zone, it gives the owner the option of whether he wants to go through the zone or not. If it is a war risk area they have to go through it and deal with the issues associated with that. There is a big difference.”  According to Sean Moloney of SMI.

In shipping, there’s little that one can count on from year to year. The word “change” comes to mind immediately. Another constant is a steady hand at the helm at the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (INTERTANKO), the voice of the world’s collective tanker market. So, when Joe Angelo replaced long time (10+ years) INTERTANKO stalwart Peter Swift as INTERTANKO Managing Director less than 4 months ago, industry watched closely for any changes in course. But INTERTANKO's new MD is anything but an unknown quantity and he clearly hit the ground running. In April, MarPro caught up with him at his Arlington, VA offices for a SITREP on the world of tankers.