Norwegian Shipowners Association News

Satellite communications solutions firm Marlink has signed a strategic agreement with NORMA Cyber to strengthen the cybersecurity intelligence and resilience of its maritime customer base.The Norwegian Maritime Cyber Resilience Centre (NORMA Cyber) is a joint venture between risk insurance provider Den Norske Krigsforsikring for Skib (DNK) and the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association. NORMA Cyber provides centralized cybersecurity services to Norwegian shipowners and other entities and aims to be the leading hub for operational cyber security efforts within the national maritime sector.

Norwegian shipowners have laid out plans to make the country's fleet entirely climate neutral by 2050, surpassing the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) target to halve shipping emissions within the same timeframe.The Norwegian Shipowners' Association on Tuesday revealed its member shipping companies have adopted four goals to reduce their environmental footprint. Members will first cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 50% per transported unit by 2030, compared to 2008. From 2030, members will only order vessels with zero emission technology.

30 companies and institutional investors have signed up to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) Sustainable Ocean Principles committing to take action to secure a healthy and productive ocean.UNGC is a special initiative of the UN Secretary-General, the United Nations Global Compact works with companies everywhere to align their operations and strategies with ten universal principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment and anti-corruption.The signatories to the principles include the container ship and supply vessel operator A.P. Møller – Mærsk, food and beverage company PepsiCo, and Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages one of the world’s largest funds with over US$ 1 trillion in assets.

The Norwegian Shipowners' Association (NGA) reached an agreement with Industri Energi and SAFE in the Mid-Term Settlement for employees on mobile offshore units, drilling and catering on permanently placed facilities on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, after mediation at the national Mediator’s Office several hours past deadline.The result involves a general wage growth of 3,6%. A strike among under 1600 rig workers is thus prevented."For the sake of the competitive situation and jobs on the Norwegian Continental Shelf, it is essential that we have avoided conflict and feel both parties have had to give and take," said the head negotiator for the NSA, Jakob Korsgaard, CEO of Maersk Drilling Norway.The mediations turned out to be very demanding, NGA said in a statement.

The United States and its allies may need to to start escorting commercial vessels to prevent further attacks in Gulf oil shipping lanes, Gulf sources and experts said.Even then, the conventional naval and air capabilities of Western and Gulf powers tasked with policing vital commercial waters may be of limited use against the asymmetric warfare tactics suspected in recent operations, including naval mines.Six tankers have been hit in the past month in two attacks near the Strait of Hormuz…

Set against the background of increasing cyber threats to the maritime industry, e-Navigation specialist NAVTOR has moved to demonstrate the integrity of its innovative NavBox solution with ‘cyber secure’ certification (IEC 61162-460 Gateway) from DNV GL. NavBox, which automates the distribution and updates of digital charts, publications and other navigational data, now guarantees both complete regulatory compliance and security for an increasingly digitized generation of shipowners…

Ships plying their trade across the world’s oceans are subject to stringent environmental, safety and security rules, which apply throughout their voyage. The comprehensive regulatory framework developed by International Maritime Organization (IMO) for international shipping has been highlighted during a United Nations oceans conference in New York, United States (4-17 September).A press release from IMO said that  the conference is taking the first steps towards developing a legally binding international instrument on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction - known as ‘BBNJ’.IMO regulations are enforced through a well-established system of flag, coastal and port State control.

International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is representing shipowners at the start of a major negotiation to agree a new legal instrument for the protection of the ocean under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) – which will apply to ‘high seas’ areas ‘beyond national jurisdiction’.Addressing government negotiators in New York today (5 September), ICS Chairman, Esben Poulsson, highlighted the need to ensure that this UN initiative will not “unwittingly” impact on the effective future governance of global shipping, potentially interfering with principles such as freedom of navigation, or otherwise cutting across the work of shipping’s global regulator…

Norwegian drilling rigs workers will end their industrial action after the union representing 1,600 striking employees reached a deal with the group acting for their employers, the parties said on Thursday.The strike began on July 10 after the Safe union and the Norwegian Shipowners' Association could not come to an agreement over wages and pension conditions. The industrial action led to the shutdown of one Shell-operated field."The strike is over ... All workers will go back to work today…

Hundreds of workers on Norwegian offshore oil and gas rigs went on strike on Tuesday after rejecting a proposed wage deal, leading to the shutdown of one Shell-operated field and helping send Brent crude prices higher.One union said hundreds more workers would join the strike on Sunday if an agreement over union demands for a wage increase and pension rights was not reached.Royal Dutch Shell said that due to the strike it was temporarily closing production at its Knarr field, which has a daily output of 23…

Some 2,250 workers on Norwegian offshore oil drilling rigs and in drilling and catering services on oil producing platforms could go on strike this summer after rejecting a proposed wage deal, the Safe labor union said on Thursday.Industri Energi, the largest labor union representing drilling workers, last month agreed to a deal, while the smaller Safe said it would ask its members to vote on the offer made by the Norwegian Shipowners' Association.A strike could hit oil companies' exploration efforts later this summer, although a mandatory round of mediation must be held before any conflict is

As the severity of the offshore energy downturn has increased and the likelihood of older vessels returning to work begins to diminish, owners have slowly come round to the importance of scrapping these vessels. According to VesselsValue, U.S. owners might be leading the way.According to VesselsValue, an online valuation and market intelligence service for the maritime and offshore sectors, in this current period of downturn, critics of offshore shipowners will say that owners have been guilty of not scrapping older tonnage in order to maintain a young and advanced fleet.

The Clean Arctic Alliance has applauded progress by International Maritime Organization member states towards banning use of the world’s dirtiest fuel – heavy fuel oil – from Arctic shipping. It also called for Member States to make every effort to adopt and rapidly implement a ban by 2021, as proposed by eight IMO Member States and supported by other countries during the meeting. Plans to develop a ban on heavy fuel oil (HFO) from Arctic shipping, along with an assessment of the impact of such a ban, were agreed upon during the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC72), which closed today in London.

The cost of renting offshore supply vessels (OSVs), servicing oil and gas firms, will continue to rise as many ships that were mothballed up during the downturn will not return to the market, the chief executive of Norway's DOF said on Wednesday. A number of offshore vessel companies went bankrupt after oil prices plunged between 2014 and 2016, or were forced to merge with competitors to survive as oil companies cut spending for exploration and new developments. But the rates for hiring specialized vessels, which include platform supply (PSV), diving support (DSV) and anchor-handling vessels (AHTS), have increased in the last year. While the North Sea has been leading the increase in demand for OSVs…

Oil companies should be prepared to pay higher rates for renting offshore service vessels, in order to secure the long-term survival of a key part of the industry's supply chain, the Norwegian Shipowners' Association said on Thursday. Energy firms sharply curtailed investments in the wake of the 2014 oil price crash, idling many service vessels and driving down market rates to unsustainable levels, Chief Executive Harald Solberg of the Norwegian lobby group said. At the peak last year…

Global shipping should set a goal of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Norway's government and shipowners' association said on Thursday before talks by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London next week. Norway's fleet is worth about $45 billion, the fifth most valuable in the world behind Japan, Greece, China and the United States. Norway's shipping includes offshore, gas, chemicals, car vessels, dry bulk, crude, crude products and containers. The IMO, which says international shipping represents about 2.2 percent of world carbon dioxide emissions, will meet from April 9-13 to develop a strategy to combat climate change. Shipping was not included in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Key figures from Maersk Group, Statoil and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development have signed up to discuss future ocean business opportunities, demands and strategies at Opening Oceans Conference 2018 (OOC). The event, Nor-Shipping’s first outside its Norwegian home, will see c-level executives gather in Copenhagen on May 2nd and 3rd  to examine how to responsibly realise the huge potential of the ocean, gaining the understanding, partners and tools to equip businesses for the way ahead.

Global maritime event week Nor-Shipping is making its first move outside Norway, with a new initiative to help maritime and ocean industry players realize the almost limitless business potential of the ocean space. Nor-Shipping’s Opening Oceans Conference, taking place in Copenhagen from May 2-3, 2018, will bring businesses together to illustrate and discuss key opportunities, equip delegates with the tools to tackle them, and facilitate fresh collaborations. Timed to coincide with Danish Maritime Days…

In the European Shipowners’ seminar on CO2 reductions in the shipping industry one message was clear: in order to achieve CO2 reductions across the world merchant fleet, a combination of different measures is needed. “In our seminar this week, we discussed with our stakeholders and European decision-makers different measures that enable to minimise the environmental impact of the shipping sector. In one analysis, the measures were divided in categories including the Technical and operational measures, Alternative fuels and Logistics related to the speed management of a vessel”, explained Tor Christian Sletner, the Chairman of European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA)’s Air Emissions Working Group and Director, Head of Environment of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.

Access to capital for cash-hungry Norwegian offshore shipowners is expected to tighten further as lower activity and falling profits continue in 2016, the Norwegian Shipowners' Association said in its yearly outlook report on Tuesday. Since mid-2014, the price of crude has tumbled 66 percent, leading oil firms to cut investments to preserve cash and hence rent fewer drilling rigs, supply vessels, seismic ships and other equipment used in the search for oil and gas. In 2016, only 15 percent of the firms questioned by the association consider the access to capital as good…

Access to capital for cash-hungry Norwegian offshore shipowners is expected to tighten further as lower activity and falling profits continue in 2016, the Norwegian Shipowners' Association said in its yearly outlook report on Tuesday. Since mid-2014, the price of crude has tumbled 66 percent, leading oil firms to cut investments to preserve cash and hence rent fewer drilling rigs, supply vessels, seismic ships and other equipment used in the search for oil and gas. In 2016, only 15 percent of the firms questioned by the association consider the access to capital as good, compared to 25 percent of questioned firms last year and 50 percent in 2014. One out of every third company now considers the access to capital to be very tight, against less than 10 percent last year, the report said.

Norwegian companies that provide supply ships and drilling rigs to the global oil industry face a bleak year ahead as contracts disappear and financing options dwindle in the face of weak global crude prices. They could increasingly be forced to sell or write down the value of assets, cut jobs and tap shareholders for cash to weather the downturn, according to industry experts. This would herald more pain for Norway, where the overall oil sector accounts for about a fifth of the economy and unemployment is rising, especially in the oil capital Stavanger and its environs on the west coast. Oil firms like Statoil, which offshore shipping companies rely on for business, have slashed costs and projects to cope with a 60-percent plunge in crude prices since June last year.

Close to 1,000 maritime exhibitors showed off the breadth and diversity of the shipping industry at this week’s Nor-Shipping, the bi-annual event that opened in Oslo on 1 June. About 35,000 delegates from 70 countries are expected to attend more than 100 events during the weeklong event that celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The speakers said that innovation and investment are key to boosting the maritime industry to new levels. A mix of geopolitics, regulatory pressure, innovation and business issues were discussed at the NorShipping. They also discussed important issues for shipping now and in the near future. Engineering experts at Nor-Shipping have called for more open-source systems to be used on vessels if shipping is to realize the efficiency goals for which it is striving.