European Community Shipowners Association News

The board of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), representing 80% of the world’s merchant fleet, on Wednesday appointed Emanuele Grimaldi, President and Managing Director of Grimaldi Euromed SpA, as Chairman of the Board.Grimaldi, a former president of both Confitarma and European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA), was formally voted in as chair by the ICS Board of Directors, following the announcement of his nomination last year. Alongside ICS Secretary General…

On January 14, 2022 the European Parliament’s Rapporteur, MEP Peter Liese, published his draft report on a proposal to revise the Emissions Trading System (ETS) Directive¹ which forms part of the ‘Fit for 55’ package of climate and energy reforms published on July 14, 2021. The draft report includes a number of ambitious amendments to emissions trading for the maritime sector – the Maritime ETS – which, if agreed, will put more pressure on the maritime industry to switch to cleaner fuels sooner than originally planned.

The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced Tuesday that it will postpone increasing canal transit fees following calls from the shipping industry to reconsider the rate hikes amid a spate of global supply chain disruptions.The higher rates for the canal's transit reservation system were scheduled to take effect on Thursday but will now start on June 1, allowing the maritime industry more time to prepare for the adjusted booking fees, ACP said. The proposed changes represent a minimum cost increase per transit reservation of $20…

European Community Shipowners' Association (ECSA)  welcomes the good progress that has been made at last week’s meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) on some key environmental issues.Major developments were the adoption of the ban from 1 March 2020 on carriage of non-compliant fuel and the compromise reached on collecting data from the world fleet on fuel oil non-availability and quality without any delay in the implementation of the 2020 sulphur rules.A fixed implementation date is retained, which is important in order to give governments the possibility to ensure a level playing field, while at the same time the safety concerns are being addressed.

Members of the European Parliament and other stakeholders have been briefed on the Initial International Maritime Organization (IMO)  Strategy on Reduction of GHG emissions from ships, adopted in April, and the follow-up actions that may be taken to implement the initial strategy including consideration of candidate short term measures. IMO’s Edmund Hughes outlined the key elements of the initial strategy, which sets a clear commitment to a complete phase-out of GHG emissions from international shipping as soon as possible in this century, a specific linkage to the Paris Agreement and a series of significant levels of ambition including at least a 50% cut in total annual GHG emissions from the sector by 2050 compared to 2008.

European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) and the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) call for easing the administrative burden shipping crew and companies are facing today. The Reporting Formalities Directive, that aimed to simplify and rationalise reporting formalities for ships in European ports as of June 2016, has unfortunately not helped in easing the situation. Crews and companies face a worse situation today than before. Rather than having a single European window, diverging national solutions were developed and even at Member States’ level there is very often no single solution in place. Such led to an increase of the administrative workload and the risk of seafarer fatigue, to the detriment of job satisfaction and smoothness of operations.

Greece is considered to be the world’s first ship-owning country in terms of tonnage. The Greeks are known to control 17.7% of world fleet and gaining share except in crude tankers. Even recession in the dry bulk market has not had much effect on the Greek-owned fleet with the fleet size touching 5,226 vessels last year with a total DWT of 334 million. For debt-laden Greece, shipping – a key element of Greek economic activity since ancient times – is considered a knight in shining armor at this crucial juncture. Most Greek shipping companies are family owned businesses which have been in shipping for many decades, even over a hundred years.

The European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) has reiterated their support for International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as the proper leader of efforts to reduce shipping’ s greenhouse gas emissions at the start of the COP 21 Climate Change Conference in Paris. “We fully support the idea that shipping has to contribute to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions” commented Patrick Verhoeven, ECSA Secretary General, adding: “EU Member States gave a vote of confidence to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in its ability to address as soon as possible and in an effective manner greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping. We believe this is the right approach as it would be the logical continuation of steps already taken at EU level.

Crowley Maritime Corp. announced its membership in the Trident Alliance, a coalition of shipping owners and operators that share a common interest in robust enforcement of existing maritime sulphur regulations. In joining, Crowley said it has signed a statement of commitment, certifying that the company agrees to comply with sulfur regulations and support the robust and transparent enforcement of these regulations. Because sulphur-restricting regulations have resulted in increased fuel costs for shipping companies…

The European Community Shipowners' Association (ECSA) presented the results of a recent update of the Oxford Economics study on the economic value of the EU shipping industry, which highlights the industry’s important contribution to the EU economy based on new and more reliable data. According to the study, for every €1 million the European shipping industry contributes to GDP itself, it creates another €1.6 million elsewhere in the European economy. In terms of employment, the industry provided jobs to an estimated 2.2 million people both on board vessels and ashore in the wider maritime cluster. The industry directly employs more workers than the aviation sector, while, between 2004 and 2013, direct employment grew by 25%.

Johan Roos is Interferry’s executive director of European Union and IMO affairs based in Brussels, Belgium. He took up the newly created regulatory affairs post in September 2011 after previously serving as director of sustainability with Sweden’s Stena Rederi AB. He holds a masters degree in environmental sciences from the University of Gothenburg. In 2000, he left classification society DNV to join ferry operator Stena Line to develop internal environmental management systems and for many years, he was in charge of sustainability issues for all of the Stena group’s shipping activities.

Carnival Corporation & plc announced that David Dingle has been appointed chairman of Carnival UK and David Noyes, currently executive vice president operations, has been promoted to the CEO role, with operating responsibility for the UK-based brands P&O Cruises and Cunard Line. Dingle and Noyes will take up their new roles on October 1, and will both report to Carnival Corporation & plc president and CEO Arnold Donald. “This moves allows us to strengthen further our overall leadership in the critically important UK marketplace, while also promoting from within to leverage the skills, experience and capabilities of our executive team,” Donald said.

Just last month, the Secretary General of the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA) opined that the sixth negotiations round of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) should include concessions from the American side on maritime transportation issues. Specifically, he called for European access to the “feedering” of international cargo in U.S. domestic trades and access to the American dredging and offshore sectors. They didn’t ask for anyone’s first born child, but I suppose that there’s still time to issue that edict before the end of the summer. EU and US negotiators met in mid-July for the sixth Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations.

Twenty WISTA USA (Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association) members travel to Paris for the AGM. This annual gathering of WISTA members in locations around the world is augmented by industry leaders who participate in the three-day event as both speakers and delegates. This year a record 283 attended the event from 34 countries. The conference was kicked off by Peter Hinchliffe, Secretary General for the International Chamber of Shipping. Mr. Hinchliffe stressed the need for the international regulatory community to look for rational approaches to effecting change.

Maritime challenges key theme. The Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) conference program held in Paris October 3-5 illuminated the many challenges facing the maritime industry today. This annual gathering of WISTA members in locations around the world is augmented by industry leaders who participate in the three day event as both speakers and delegates. This year a record 283 attended the event from 34 countries. The event was hosted by WISTA France under the chairmanship of its President, Beatrice Witvoet.

The Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA) conference program scheduled to be held in Paris October 3-5 will focus on issues facing shipping today. In addition to hosting its annual meeting and conference, WISTA has also created a new feature, the “Women’s Sea Congress” which will address women for innovation and modernity in shipping and the maritime economy. This annual gathering of WISTA members is augmented by industry leaders who participate in the three day event as both speakers and delegates, as the event is open to the maritime community. The first day will be led by Peter Hinchliffe, Secretary General for the International Chamber of Shipping.

The International Bunker Industry Association's (IBIA) board has taken a formal decision to “become more closely engaged in LNG matters”. The move was announced at last week's IBIA's Annual Convention, held in Barcelona, by its acting chief executive Trevor Harrison. He told delegates that the association would become more involved in the ongoing discussions on LNG as a fuel at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The potential of LNG as a fuel for merchant ships received considerable attention. Several speakers referred to the issue while addressing industry concerns about the 2015 implementation of the 0.1% sulphur content cap in bunkers used within Emission Control Areas (ECAs). In addition one session was entirely devoted to the prospects for widespread use of LNG.

Interferry is opening a Brussels office with a full-time specialist for European Union and IMO activities in a bid to strengthen the ferry industry’s voice on maritime policy and regulations. Start-up funding for the initiative has been guaranteed by five major European members of the worldwide trade association – Brittany Ferries, DFDS, Grimaldi Group, P&O Ferries and Stena Line. Johan Roos, director of sustainability at Sweden’s Stena group since 2006, will join Interferry as executive director of EU and IMO affairs in September, working from an office within the Brussels HQ of the European Community Shipowners’ Association (ECSA).

A Nigerian dockers' union said on Thursday it had ordered a strike at Lagos' Apapa port after three men died, bringing the port to a standstill when it is struggling to clear the worst congestion for 25 years. The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) said it had asked its members to stop work following an incident in which three men died after inhaling poisonous fumes on Wednesday. "We received a report yesterday that two of our members died at the Apapa port after inhaling dangerous gas while working on a vessel," union officer Tony Anyanwu said. Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) spokesman Babatunde Sanni said he was not aware of the deaths or any walkout by workers.