Recent Media Reports News

China on Friday denied reports it has been illicitly selling oil products to North Korea after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not happy that China had allowed oil to reach the isolated nation. Trump said on Twitter the previous day that China had been "caught" allowing oil into North Korea and that would prevent "a friendly solution" to the crisis over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes that it conducts in defiance of heavy U.N. Security Council sanctions. "I have been soft on China because the only thing more important to me than trade is war…

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretary-General Kitack Lim issued a statement refuting a report recently published by U.K.-based InfluenceMap that accuses shipping industry organizations of lobbying to obstruct environmental regulations at the IMO. “Recent media reports have questioned the transparent, inclusive approach adopted by all stakeholders with an interest in addressing the threat of climate change through the IMO, the global regulator of shipping, and the body most able to deliver uniform, global solutions in the spirit of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

Speculation has been mounting on possible taking over the Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line). According to a FT report, analysts and investors have been baffled by the recent activities of Effissimo, Singapore-based fund had increased its stake in K Line to 37 per cent by early August from 6.2 per cent about a year ago. K Line could be targeted for takeover by Effissimo Capital Management, the firm’s largest shareholder as of early August, according to recent media reports. Effissimo, which even by industry standards is unusually opaque, declined to comment on its investment strategy. There has been roumours that Maersk Line taking over the Japanese shipping line. There was a Japanese article on this last month but the magazine.

As Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, Temasek, readied is to sell Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), the market has been rife with merger talk with Hong Kong's Orient Overseas International Ltd (OOIL) and Hamburg's Hapag-Lloyd being leading candidates. NOL was in merger talks with Hapag-Lloyd back in 2008, but investors became gun-shy when the market crashed later that year. Japan's NYK and MOL have also been mentioned as suitors. Some say a bid for NOL would make sense now, following the APL Logistics divestment, because MOL or NYK could buy the Singapore line without overlap with its substantial logistics operations. However, responding to media reports, NOL says there is yet no decision made to enter into any agreement to sell the company.

Two Singapore-registered vessels have been detained in Indonesia the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said. The sole Singaporean who was caught along with those ships is a marine surveyor and he returned to Singapore on March 16. MPA also said it was assisting Indonesia in the investigations of the two separate incidents. Recent media reports had quoted that four Singapore-registered vessels and four Singaporeans were detained. Indonesia said it had detained a total of four Singapore-registered ships in two incidents in early March, each of which involved boats that allegedly did not have proper papers. MPA clarified that only two vessels are Singapore-registered and only one person detained is a Singaporean marine surveyor.

As the U.S. Navy remains ever vigilant, taking the fight to the enemy, recent media reports have highlighted potential risk from information carelessly or inadvertently shared on social media. There has also been a steady stream of reporting on criminal and other malevolent cyber actors who seek information using hoax emails, also known as phishing, to gain access to finances or other sensitive information. Safety and security are always the highest priority for the Navy and therefore the recent reports on social media risks and new or recycled phishing scams do not necessarily mean there is an increased threat. The Navy, however, can never let its guard down.

Several recent media reports state that the existence of the Big Bang allegedly has been proven by BICEP, a telescope stationed at the South Pole. In 2011, Mammoet replaced the bearing of this monumental instrument, which now appears to have found ‘waves of gravity’ that were rippling through space right after the Big Bang. The waves were predicted by Albert Einstein nearly a hundred years ago, but never found until now. According to scientists, this is a landmark discovery that adds to our understanding of how the universe was born.

Newly opened Red Sea Gateway Terminal (RSGT), Jeddah Islamic Port’s flagship terminal, received the world’s largest containership vessel CSCL Star on its first Red Sea call on Tuesday (21st June 2011). With a declared capacity of 14,100 TEU, the CSCL STAR is one of the world’s largest container ships. Built by Samsung Heavy Industries, and delivered in January 2011, it has a length of 366 metres, and a width of 51.2 metres, or 20 rows of containers across the deck. The vessel boasts a gross tonnage of 150,853, and a draught of 14.5 metres, making CSCL Star the largest container vessel ever to call in the Jeddah Port. The arrival of CSCL Star…

European Union officials said the shipping sector should have to live up to similar greenhouse gas emission targets as aircraft and automobiles, according to an AP report. Joe Borg, the EU's fisheries and maritime affairs commissioner, said ships should be included in pollution cutting programs as part of a more environmentally friendly maritime policy the bloc intends to develop in the years ahead. Borg said EU officials were already in discussions with the shipping industry to see how they could reduce carbon dioxide emissions from ships. These include looking at cleaner fuels and encouraging ships to use electricity while they are in port, rather than keeping their engines running on oil and other fuels while idle.

Recent media reports have highlighted the potential for the Washington State Ferries to be a potential terrorist target. At this time, there is no specific, credible intelligence information indicating an attack is planned against the ferry system. However, the Coast Guard, FBI, Washington State Ferries and Washington State Patrol continue to closely coordinate on identifying threats and addressing potential vulnerabilities in the Washington ferry system and the rest of the maritime transportation sector. Ferry passengers can be assured that behind the scenes, those partner agencies are working around the clock investigating reports…