Tag: Mediterranean Sea

Spanish ferry operator Baleària announced the launch of its newest LNG-fueled ferry 'Marie Curie' at the Italian shipyards Cantiere Navale Visentini. The vessel is one of the company's two LNG-powered ferries to operate in the Mediterranean from 2019. In the meantime, construction is underway for its twin 'Hypatia de Alejandría', which will be performing sea tests when it will be completed.

A new maritime traffic and navigation support centre was launched in Izmir, Turkey, aiming to allow local authorities to monitor maritime traffic in the area and therefore boost safety, security, and protection of the marine environment, in over 7000 kilometres of coastline around the Mediterranean basin​.

A study, published in Nature Communications, reports that of 49 World Heritage Sites located on low-lying Mediterranean coasts and 37 of them face the risk of damage from floods and 42 of them face the risk from coastal erosion due to the constant sea-level rise. Flood risk may rise by 50% and erosion by 13% across the Mediterranean, with risks at some individual sites considerably higher.

U.S. Maritime Advisory 2018-014 informs of a continued GPS interference by vessels and aircraft operating in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea It is causing the alternation of GPS signals and affects the navigation and communication of vessels. GPS interference is causing the loss or the alternation of GPS signals affecting bridge navigation, GPS-based timing and communications equipment.   

Energy Minister of Israel announced the launching of its second bid round to grant exploration licenses for natural gas and oil in Israel’s economic waters in the Eastern Mediterranean. The bid round will follow the earlier round which began in 2016 and granted 6 licenses, some are expected to commence drilling in the upcoming months.

Travel Leaders Group conducted a survey among 1,000 North American travel advisors, revealing that Scotland and the Netherlands moved up among the top five upcoming European destinations. As for the international cruise category, the Caribbean remained at the top spot.

REMPEC, the IMO-administered marine pollution emergency response centre in the Mediterranean, has concluded a study to evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing a SECA in the Mediterranean region. It found that additional costs will be needed, but health and environmental benefits would be significant.

During a MEPC 73 meeting at IMO headquarters, France presented the results of its impact assessment of a possible ECA in the Mediterranean. The findings revealed that a combined ECA which addresses sulphur and nitrogen oxides at the same time has the greatest positive effect in terms of reduced emissions.

Three European Commission co-funded initiatives: Poseidon Med II, CYnergy and Elemed, are leading the uptake of alternative fuels in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Poseidon Med II aims to promote LNG, CYnergy wants to promote self-sufficiency in energy and Elemed aims for the uptake of zero emissions, zero noise and zero impact.

At a meeting of the EU-funded SAFEMED IV project in Jordan, the IMO-administered pollution emergency response centre in the Mediterranean (REMPEC) has agreed to coordinate its 2019 technical assistance activities with EMSA, to achieve a more sustainable shipping in the region.