Organisations representing the main maritime logistics industry stakeholders, as well as EU national maritime authorities, met on February 8 in Paris to discuss about the EU Consortia Block Exemption Regulation. The associations attempted to assess the validity of the BER, which provides the liner shipping industry an exemption from normal competition rules.
The European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (EASAC) says technologies and techniques for removing CO2 from the atmosphere are becoming even more significant with the failure to reverse the growth in global emissions. However, it re-emphasizes that mitigation must remain the highest priority, including the rapid development of viable CCS technology..
The international environmental community gathered, on February 19 in Brussels, to discuss their commitment to fight climate change and find solutions on ocean preservation. The two panels to begin discussions will be ‘Climate change and impact on Ocean biodiversity’ and ‘How to conciliate Ocean energy with Marine conservation’.
Port of Hamburg, Germany’s largest universal port, handled 135.1 million tonnes of seaborne cargoes during 2018, falling 1% in comparison to 2017. Yet, the railborne seaport-hinterland transport accounted for an overall of 46.8 million tonnes, increasing by 2.7% and 2.44 million TEU, equal to 4.7%.
A no-deal Brexit could be a serious challenge in Rotterdam, Europe’s largest port, which handles around 40 million tonnes of goods to and from Britain every year, Reuters stated. A no-deal Brexit could result to a crucial traffic jam at the Port of Rotterdam.
ECSA and WSC have welcomed the agreement reached by the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission in their ‘trilogue discussions’ on the European Maritime Single Window environment proposal last week. The agreement not only harmonises the data that must be reported but also the way that it should be transmitted.
The Romanian presidency reached a provisional agreement on a plan to keep the EU rules in line with international rules, while in the meantime make the centralised mechanism for the recognition of seafarers more efficient and effective. The agreement is based on EU’s regulatory framework on seafarers’ training and certification.
Polar Vortex, a pattern of high-altitude winds in the Arctic, weakened resulting to frigid air over North America and Europe in the second half of January 2019. Although the Arctic ice sea extent remained below average, temperatures in the far north were closer to average than in past years. Specifically, Arctic sea ice extent for January averaged 13.56 million square kilometers (5.24 million square miles). This was 860.000 square kilometres less in comparison to 1981 to 2010 long-term average sea ice extent, and 500.000 square kilometres above the record low for the month set in January 2018.
Ecoslops announced the agreement of the EIB for a financing of a maximum of 18 million euros. The financing will be used for both Marseille and Antwerp projects as well as for corporate R&D needs, up to 50% of the investment amount, in addition to traditional bank financing. Ecoslops is trying to promote a lower consumption of primary fossil energy and reduce CO2 emissions.
The British government has terminated a contract with Seaborne Freight to provide extra ferries in the event of a no-deal Brexit that would see Britain leave the EU on 29 March, without a transition period to minimize economic disruption. The contract was terminated after Irish firm Arklow Shipping decided to step back from the deal.
