Tag: China

Ship Pollution Response Organization (SPRO) regulations Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has announced the introduction of agency services covering Ship Pollution Response Organization (SPRO) regulations for vessels calling at ports in China.The provision of the service follows new requirements introduced by the Chinese Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) that all vessels calling Chinese ports must have a valid contract with a licensed SPRO in China.The rules apply to any ship carrying polluting and hazardous cargoes in bulk or any other vessel above 10,000 gt and came into effect from January 1, 2012, with a grace period until March 1 at ports where the MSA has yet to approve SPROs. The requirements do not apply to Hong Kong or Macau.Having concluded agreements with local SPRO service companies, WSS is able to provide its customers with contracts with licensed suppliers at all ports in China, delivering certainty that they are in compliance with the regulations."Through the five WSS offices along the coastline of China, we aim to offer to our clients a global standard of service and peace of mind that they are compliant with the oil pollution response regulation. As with all agency services provided by WSS, our aim is to eliminate the ...

M.V. Aquilato has been delivered in China Lloyd's Register supervised the design appraisal, build and sea trials, verifying the performance of a new, modified 57,000 dwt ship based on a SDARI design. The M.V. Aquila, first in a new series of supramax bulk carrier designs, optimised to burn less fuel oil has been delivered in China on the eve of the Lunar New Year holidays.The efficiency improvements have been achieved by carrying out a number of straightforward - but effective - changes including: de-rating the main engine, a new propeller design which has been optimised for the de-rated engine, and fitting a mewis duct. The daily main engine consumption at a speed of 14 knots at ballast draft, which would have been about 29.4 tonnes, is now about 26 tonnes and the daily main engine consumption at a speed of 13.5 knots at design draft, which would have been about 29.8 tonnes daily, is now about 26.30 tonnes. The engine's output has been reduced by nearly 1,000 KW to 8,500 KW.Commenting on the delivery, Meng Cheng Jun, President of the Jiangsu Hantong Group, said that: "This vessel is the fifty-fifth vessel to be delivered since the establishment of our Hantong ...

Claiming that she ship was being salvaged and had not caused any pollution. China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has denied that an offshore oilfield vessel that capsized during construction on January 14 had sunk, saying on Wednesday that the ship was being salvaged and had not caused any pollution.The ship, worth 740 million yuan ($117 million), and constructed by Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Company (WSIC), which provides oilfield services to CNOOC, was reported to have sunk during a test voyage in the harbor of Nantong, Jiangsu Province, according to the Xinhua News Agency.But Liu Zhengguo, a spokesman with the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC), the parent company of WSIC, denied the report."The ship tilted in shallow water near the dock after water poured in, but it did not sink," said Liu.Liu further claimed that the accident did not result in any casualties or pollution."Unlike sinking, which might be caused by hitting rocks and seriously damage the hull structure, this accident may have been caused by faulty operation, and the hull structure of the ship can be repaired after it is salvaged," Wang Guoqiang, an industry insider, told the Global Times yesterday.An anonymous staff member with CSIC told the Global Times ...

A workship worth an investment of 740 million yuan sunk during construction A workship worth an investment of 740 million yuan ($117 million) by a leading Chinese oil field service provider has sunk during construction at a dock in east China.The cause of the accident is being investigated and no environmental pollution was incurred, the China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL) said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Wednesday.The high-powered deep-water anchor-handling tug supply vessel bilged while under construction at a dock in Nantong city, Jiangsu province, on January 14, according to the statement.Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Company Ltd, the builder of the ship, should take responsibility for losses caused by the accident according to contracts, it said.The COSL is a listed subsidiary of the China National Offshore Oil Corp(CNOOC), the country's biggest offshore oil producer.The CNOOC has been under public scrutiny after a string of oil leaks in 2011. A gas leak was found in a sub-sea gas pipeline of the CNOOC's Zhuhai Hengqin gas processing terminal in the South China Sea in December, forcing the company to shut down some platforms. No injuries or environmental pollution were reported.Oil spills occurred in the CNOOC's Penglai 19-3 oil field, ...

The intermediary service is available on a per call basis Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS), the world's leading maritime services provider, yesterday announced the launch of an intermediary service for ships calling at ports in China. The move is in response to new pollution prevention and control regulations introduced by Chinese regulators and the service is already fully operational.The Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Ships directive, issued by China's Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) requires full compliance from shipowners and managers by 1 March 2012. From this date, all ships carrying polluting or hazardous cargoes, or those over 10,000gt, have to enter into a contract with an approved Ship Pollution Response Organisation (SPRO) before entering port. From 1 January, these regulations have already been implemented in all major coastal sea ports except Ningbo and Zhoushan where they are likely to be applied following Chinese New Year which falls on 23 January.The new ISS service eliminates the need for shipowners to manage contracts and multiple transactions with SPROs at their various ports of call in China. Instead, based on the MSA's list of approved vendors, ISS will manage the entire process, often in tandem with its other agency and crew logistics ...

The ship arrival was momentous Onboard the Berge Everest was around 350,000 tonnes of iron ore, according to industry sources, enough to make the steel for more than three Golden Gate bridges. After unloading its cargo at the port of Dalian, the vessel has started its journey home to Brazil, it emerged last week.The ship's arrival was momentous, because of both its scale and the scale of the gamble by Vale, the world's biggest iron ore producer, and the wider shipping industry. Brazilian miner Vale is bringing about a sea change in the shipping industry with its $8bn (5bn) roll-out of an unprecedented fleet of 35 massive iron ore carriers, including the Berge Everest.Classed as very large ore carriers (VLOCs), the biggest of the "Valemax" fleet boasts a 400,000 dead weight tonnage (dwt) - the amount a ship can safely carry - which far exceeds the 364,000dwt of the previous record holder.Vale's new fleet underscores a much wider trend to boost the capacity of carriers of dry bulk commodities such as iron and coal.Capesize ships - megaships so-called because they were too big to travel through the Panama or Suez Canals so went via Cape Horn or the Cape of ...

Terminal and marine facilities for bulk liquid chemicals, petroleum products and gases Odfjell SE has made an agreement to enter into a joint venture via its subsidiary Odfjell Terminals Asia Pte Ltd (Singapore), with Tianjin Economic-Technology Development Area (TEDA) via its subsidiary Nangang Port Company to develop a terminal and marine facilities for bulk liquid chemicals, petroleum products and gases in the Nangang Industrial Zone (Tianjin) in China. The initial phase of the joint venture will consist of three deep sea berths and have a total storage capacity of about 150,000 cubic meters.The joint venture company will be named Odfjell Terminals Nangang (Tianjin), whereby Odfjell will hold 49% ownership and hold the operational management. The initial total investment is estimated to be about USD 160 million. The first phase will start operations during the second quarter of 2014. The Nangang Industrial Zone is located about 120 km from Beijing and will become the major petrochemical complex in the Western Bohai Bay areaSource: Odfjell SE

China's coastline is at risk of oil spills and pollution from offshore drilling Maritime safety officials warn that China's coastline is increasingly at risk of oil spills and pollution from the booming offshore drilling and more frequent oil shipping.As oil resources on land gradually decrease, the energy-thirsty nation is looking increasingly to the ocean for oil, and the Bohai Sea and South China Sea are now packed with drilling platforms, Zhai Jiugang, head of the duty office of China Maritime Search & Rescue Center, said at a news conference in Beijing on Tuesday.For example, 15,900-square-kilometer Bohai Bay is dotted with more than 100 offshore platforms, he said."Some platforms were built in 1980s. The aging equipment will increase the risk of oil leaking," he said.Meanwhile, with China importing more than 200 million tons of oil annually in recent years, the coastal waters are busy with large tankers. At least 400 tankers of various sizes and 40,000 cargo ships sail in coastal waters and inland river ports each day, he added.Major oil spills have been increasing in recent years.Last year, an oil spill that started on June 4 in the Penglai 19-3 oilfield polluted 6,200 square kilometers of Bohai Bay - an ...

UK P&I Club - Updated information Updated information was posted this week on the UK P&I Club website providing information and contact details on over 120 level one oil spill response contractors. Listings for filing agents and nine OSRO consortia are also available. All lists are published in English and Chinese.Since 1 January 2012 ships visiting China are required to contract with an approved oil spill response contractor. Advice and information on complying with the various regulations is collated and updated in the dedicated China oil pollution area of this website.The Club continues to update this section as further information becomes available. In addition to these updates there are a number of resources to give overall guidance and support to Members.The recent Circular 15/11 provides a useful summary of the requirements and a number of annexes containing guidance on contracting requirements for various ships sizes and types, specimen authorisation letters for appointing local agents and a recommended form for contracting with spill response organisations (SPROs).A broad overview and explanation of the regulations was published in the Club's Legal Briefing - Chinese marine pollution laws . This Legal Briefing reviews the Regulation's key provisions of interest to Members and provides summary ...

Accusations that three Chinese ships had intruded into waters of South China Sea China on Monday rejected accusations by Manila that three Chinese ships had intruded into waters claimed by the Philippines.China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan have conflicting claims in the Spratleys, an area believed to contain huge deposits of oil and gas in the South China Sea.Manila last week expressed "serious concerns" to China after it said two Chinese vessels and a Chinese navy warship were spotted last month in disputed waters claimed by the Philippines.Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin called those accusations groundless at a regular Foreign Ministry briefing on Monday, saying "China has indisputable sovereignty" over the area.He also said he hoped the Philippines would "not provoke trouble and make disturbances" and do more to protect peace and stability in the region.Source: ABS- CBN News