Tag: WSC

"Neither the IMO Convention, nor any of the Rules of Procedure for individual meetings limits, in any way, Member States' ability to structure their delegations as they consider most appropriate in order to carefully consider the issues before them," said IMO Secretary General.

"Neither the IMO Convention, nor any of the Rules of Procedure for individual meetings limits, in any way, Member States' ability to structure their delegations as they consider most appropriate in order to carefully consider the issues before them," said IMO Secretary General.

The World Shipping Council published its 2017 survey, concerning the number of containers lost at sea per year. The updated survey reveals that the average number of containers lost each year has dropped since 2014 by 48 percent.

BIMCO, IPTA and World Shipping Council (WSC) have jointly submitted a proposal to IMO suggesting issues for consideration at the forthcoming MEPC in developing the greenhouse gas strategy. The document proposes programmes and obligations designed to improve the near-term and long-term efficiency of international shipping in furtherance of the IMO GHG strategy.

  During a series of conferences in Southern Sri Lanka, Friend of the Sea’s director Paolo Bray has exposed the problem of the increasing number of endangered whales being killed by cargo ships strikes. Pigmy blue whales and other whales feed and breed in the area of the Indian Ocean just South of Sri Lanka. The same area is crossed by the most intense cargo ships traffic in the world: over 5000 ships per month. Dead whales are often carried on the bowls of the 300 meters long vessels. More whales are found floating or stranded with evidence of having been struck by cargo ships. In addition the ships form a “wall of noise” which negatively impacts whales feeding and breeding behavior. “An estimated 50 to 100 whales are struck to death each year by these vessels,” explains Dr. Bray. “Pigmy blue whales could be led to extinction in the next few years if the shipping lines continue to ignore their impact.” Friend of the Sea has urged the World Shipping Council and ten shipping companies (NYK, Maersk, Evergreen Marine Corporation, CMA-CGM, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd, APL, Cosco, Hanjin, and CSCL) to immediately engage at slowing down their ships to less than ...

SOLAS amendments on container weighing will become effective July 1st, 2016 On July 1st, 2016, the SOLAS amendments will become effective for packed containers received for transportation (gate-in or off-rail).In November 2014, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted mandatory amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Chapter VI, Part A, Regulation 2 - Cargo information.The SOLAS amendments, effective next year, place a requirement on the shipper of a packed container, regardless of who packed the container, to verify and provide the container's gross verified weight to the ocean carrier and port terminal representative prior to it being loaded onto a ship.A verified container weight is a condition for loading a packed container aboard a vessel for export. The vessel operator and the terminal operator are required to use verified container weights in vessel stowage plans and are prohibited from loading a packed container aboard a vessel for export if the container does not have a verified container weight.World Shipping Council released the following document to provide an outline of what the implementation of the SOLAS amendments requires of the various commercial parties.Source: World Shipping Council

Speaking before a conference on ballast water treatment regulation, World Shipping Council President Chris Koch outlined the conundrum facing the maritime industry caused by the lack of any globally accepted ballast water treatment technology. While there is general, global acceptance of the IMO’s ballast water treatment discharge standard, there is today no globally accepted ballast water treatment technology that meets that standard – meaning that vessel operators could face an enormous capital investment in treatment technology that may be insufficient to meet regulatory obligations. “If the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention enters into force before U.S. type approved technology is commercially available and before the IMO’s equipment type approval guidelines are amended to address their recognized problems, vessel owners would face a legal obligation under the Convention to install IMO type approved technology that may not reliably meet the Convention’s discharge standard and that may not be acceptable in the U.S. trades.” Mr. Koch stated: “These shortcomings should be causing thoughtful governments that have not yet ratified the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention to pause before ratifying, because — what nation wants to be the one that causes the Convention to come into force before these fundamental issues have been ...

The European Commission has been working to rewrite the European Unions advance cargo data reporting requirements

Requirements to take effect July 1, 2016 At the end of 2014, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) that will require every packed export container to have a verified container weight as a condition for loading aboard a vessel. This requirement will become legally binding on July 1, 2016.All parties involved in the international transportation of maritime containers including shippers, freight forwarders, packers, NVOCCs, carriers, and marine terminal operators will need to take measures to ensure that they are prepared to fulfill the new SOLAS regulatory requirement before the implementation date arrives. There currently is more than a year to get ready. That time should not be wasted. All parties should use the time that is available to understand what will be required of them, and to prepare to be able to meet those requirements before July 1, 2016.In order to help promote an understanding of these SOLAS amendments, the World Shipping Council has released a three page synopsis of what the SOLAS requirement containers. That synopsis, along with the text of the SOLAS requirements, can be found by clicking here.Source:World Shipping Council

WSC issues survey results for containers lost at sea The World Shipping Council (WSC) issued its updated survey results on containers lost at sea for six year period from 2008 to 2013. The survey results showed that there were 546 containers lost on average each year.In 2013, the international liner shipping industry carried approximately 120 million containers packed with cargo, with an estimated value of more than $4 trillion. Proper packing, stowage and securing of containers is very important to the safety of a container ship, its cargo and its crew, to shore-based workers and equipment, and to the environment. Even with proper packing of the cargo into the container, proper container weight declaration, and proper stowage and securing aboard ship, a number of factors ranging from severe weather and rough seas to more catastrophic and rare events like ship groundings, structural failures, or collisions can result in containers being lost at sea.Obtaining an accurate assessment of how many containers actually are lost at sea has been a challenge. There have been widely circulated, but unsupported and grossly inaccurate statements that the industry might lose up to 10,000 containers a year at sea. A number of submissions to the International ...