The main theme of 2019 for container shipping will be the sharing of the higher costs that are expected in various forms towards the end of the year, as the starting line for the IMO 2020 sulphur cap is getting near. These increased costs will come either because of purchase of fuels, or because of investments in scrubbers that will enable the carriage and consumption of HSFO after 1 March and 1 January deadlines.
BIMCO suggested that the Fourth IMO Greenhouse Gas Study should not include unrealistically high gross domestic product growth projections to predict future transport demand and the emissions of the shipping industry. The proposal has been made to the workshop preparing for the study, which is meeting in London 12-14 March.
Texas COLT, a proposed joint venture among Enbridge, Kinder Morgan, and Oiltanking, announced that it has submitted an application with the US Maritime Administration to construct and operate a deepwater crude oil export port located off the coast of Freeport, Texas. The submission with MARAD starts the application process for Texas COLT which is expected to be in-service by 2022.
A little after BIMCO published the new guidelines to improve cyber security, secureworld provides further insight on how ships can be hacked. Namely, modern ships are floating computer networks and have more and more systems that can be compromised. The most characteristic example are cruise ships. On these ships Wi-Fi works most of the time, increasing the risk of cyber attacks.
BIMCO informed that a sub-committee under the IMO has forwarded three documents for adoption in June. This development made one step closer to the adoption of a standardised system for electronic navigation. This year’s Navigation, Communication, Search and Rescue sub-committee (NCSR 6) took place from 15-25 January in London.
An annual report from the International Maritime Bureau showed that attacks in West Africa increased piracy numbers in 2018. Speaking about this situation, Jakob P. Larsen, BIMCO Head of Maritime Security, said that unless there is international naval support and close cooperation between international navies and local law enforcement, the numbers will not go down in any significant way.
According to BIMCO’s Dry Bulk Terminals Vetting Report 2018, the best performing port is Szczecin in Poland. The report gathered data from 144 ships covering 381 terminals. 97% of the reports were rated as average or better, giving an average rating of 3.6 out of five.
2019 kicked off with the data collection on fuel oil consumption, alternative mechanisms to comply with the 2020 Sulphur cap, the EU Ship Recycling Regulation, the IMSBC Code 2017 amendment as well as amendments designating North Sea and Baltic Sea as ECAs. With many more regulations and developments still yet to come, nations from all across the globe, ship operators and crew are going through a key period because of ten major issues that will have significant impact over the next ten years in the shipping industry.
The result of the ongoing trade talks between China and the US, seems doubtful that the levels of frontloading seen at the end of 2018 will continue into 2019, according to BIMCO. Were the negotiations to fail, it would increase the possibility of tariffs to be increased in March, affecting the container shipping industry.
There have been flare-ups in the maritime cyber security era over the last two years, when major cyber incidents begun striking industry’s operations. Theft of credentials is said to have increased significantly, with phishing and malware being the most popular cyber threats.
