Vancouver: Maritime’s New Home Address
The Vancouver International Maritime Centre (VIMC) is on a mission to grow the city and port into one of the world’s premiere maritime centers. Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently spoke with Kaity Arsoniadis-Stein, Executive Director of the newly re-established VIMC, for her insights on the pace and direction of the initiative. Let’s start out easily. Why Vancouver? Why now? Why Vancouver? Projections and studies indicate that global trade will increase and shift to the Pacific due to the demand of resources by China and India.
e-Compliance: Revolutionizing the Efficiency of Compliance for Maritime Regs
Commercial seaborne shipping is regulated by international, EU and national authorities and is subject to a number of commercially oriented constraints. The long history and large number of organizations associated with regulation has led to a high level of complexity in managing the development of regulations, their implementation by transport operators, and their enforcement by authorities. The complexity of the situation is further aggravated by the long lifetime of ships, the different phases of ship operations…
EU Force Has Serious Ship Shortage
The European Union's 60,000 strong rapid reaction force due to be operational from 2003 lacks ships and aircraft and may not be ready to carry out its designated tasks until 2010, Reuters reported. The force, whose mandate includes readiness to evacuate Europeans from trouble spots as far as 10,000 km (6,100 miles) from Brussels and intervene militarily up to 4,000 km (2,450 miles) away, was so ill-equipped that it might not be able to carry out its tasks until 2010. "The year 2003 is very unrealistic. It is more like closer to 2010," Michael Clarke, a professor at the Center for Defense Studies at Kings College in London. "It is not at all impossible that this is the case," Swedish Defense Minister Bjorn von Sydow was quoted as saying.
