Upgrade Equipment News

South Carolina Ports Authority (SCPA) and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) were awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA) grant program to upgrade the engines of 12 rubber-tired gantry (RTG) cranes.The EPA awarded the grant to DHEC, in partnership with SCPA. The funding will equip the Port’s RTG cranes with hybrid battery/genset engine systems, replacing the existing hi-power diesel engines.The new engines will reduce emissions of particulate matter, air toxins and nitrogen oxides up to 96% while reducing annual fuel consumption by over 100,000 gallons.SCPA Chief Operating Officer Barbara Melvin said S.C.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) recently confirmed that global refiners and shippers must comply with new regulations to reduce the sulfur content in marine bunker fuels by January 2020—five years earlier than many expected. As a result, both the global refining and shipping industries will experience rapid change and significant cost and operational impacts, according to new analysis from IHS Markit, the leading global source of critical information and insight. “While the IMO is taking positive action to address the environmental impacts of air pollution from ships, the rapid change creates significant disruption for both the refining and shipping industries,” said Kurt Barrow, vice president of downstream research at IHS Markit.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has delivered nine Kalmar Gloria reachstackers to the Italian ro-ro and container shipping line Messina Group. The order includes a Kalmar Complete Care maintenance contract, which brings several advantages, such as financial predictability, operational excellence and the option to upgrade equipment after a fixed period. It was booked in Cargotec's 2016 third-quarter order intake, with delivery taking place in January 2017. Messina Group operates a fleet of eight specialised ro-ro container vessels with a total capacity of over 65,000 TEU. The company's operations are concentrated at its terminal in Genoa, southern Italy, which covers an area of over 250,000 m2 and has excellent road and rail connections.

The Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF) says that the use of mega ships and alliances remain the main problems within the shipping sector. The popular belief is that larger ships and alliances are good for competition because of the benefits they give, but the reality is that there are added costs due to the negative externalities they impose on others, says Chris Welsh, general secretary of GSF. The restriction of competition can make other approaches necessary for regulatory policy or competition to address the competition concerns raised by the mega ships and alliances, he  said. Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) has warned that the insurance industry is facing an increasing risk of billion-dollar losses from mega-ships as demand for larger container vessels continues unabated.

The newbuild “arms race” for mega containerships may not deliver the hoped-for cost benefits, according to shipping consultancy Drewry, whose study on these increasingly massive vessels found new operational and financial impacts on lines, terminal operators, ports and other supply chain stakeholders. The results of Drewry’s simulation study show that the economies of scale – a key feature of the liner industry – may be running out as vessel size increases up to and beyond 18,000 teu.

Philippine generals on Wednesday asked Congress to almost triple annual defence spending over the next five years to upgrade equipment amid an escalating marine dispute with giant neighbour China. The Philippines currently is in the middle of a 998 billion pesos ($21.95 billion) 15-year plan to modernize its armed forces in the face of rising tensions in the South China Sea. "The gaps between our needed defence articles and the levels of our current inventory are too wide to ignore," Brigadier-General Guillermo Molina told a national defence panel hearing at the House of Representatives. This year, Congress set aside 115.8 billion pesos, or less than 1 percent of GDP, for defence. Next year, the government has requested 129.1 billion pesos.

New regulations on the carriage of biofuels could limit the trading flexibility of product tankers from next January, according to Rivertrace Engineering, Managing Director, Mike Coomber. This is because oil discharge monitoring equipment on board most existing vessels is not geared up to handle biofuels. From next January, Coomber warns that vessels without up-to-date type-approved equipment will not even make it on to charterers’ shortlists because they will no longer be eligible to carry biofuel cargoes. The regulations are embodied in IMO Resolution MEPC.108(49) as amended by MEPC.240(65).

The Marine Well Containment Company (MWCC) announced today that its membership has grown to 10 members at the conclusion of the company’s formation period. The MWCC member companies are now Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Apache, Anadarko, BHP Billiton, Statoil and Hess. These 10 companies operated approximately 70 percent of deepwater wells drilled in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico between 2007 through 2009. Marty Massey, chief executive officer of MWCC, said, “Our membership includes companies that are active in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Headquarters has designated the Group/Marine Safety Office Miami Command Center to be the first to be redesigned to meet the Coast Guard’s expanded mission under the Department of Homeland Security together with its traditional missions. The Science and Technology branch of DHS joined with the Coast Guard to build a prototype integrated maritime surveillance system covering Port Everglades, Miami and part of Biscayne Bay and offshore approaches. The $8 million, 24-month pilot program will integrate existing facilities and upgrade equipment to detect, track, and identify vessel traffic around ports, in between the ports and over the horizon.