Tag: WSS

Ship owners will need to act now to ensure they comply with new firefighting rules brought into force on 1st January, 2016 for all new buildings warns WSS. New amendments to the safety of life at sea convention (SOLAS), which are now in force have laid down extensive ground rules for fire-fighting on ships designed to carry containers on or above the weather deck and built on or after 1st January, 2016.

Wilhelmsen Ships Service is warning of price, supply and safety risks in the run-up to the global ban on R-22 (chlorodifluoromethane or HCFC) refrigerant. The colourless gas, which has high ozone depletion and global warming potential, is still said to be in use on between 6,000 and 8,000 vessels worldwide.R-22 was outlawed throughout the EU in a process that ran from 2010 to 1st January 2015. It is currently being phased out in the US, where no new or imported R-22 will be permitted from 1 January 2020. As part of the Montreal Protocol (MP), a UN agreement to protect the ozone layer, HCFC use will be phased out in member countries by 2030.“R-22 is a versatile and effective refrigerant gas that has served the shipping industry well, but it is fast approaching the end of the line,” comments Svenn Jacobsen, Technical Product Manager Refrigeration at Wilhelmsen Ships Service.“The compliance deadlines are approaching and this has, quite rightly, impacted tremendously on global production. As availability goes down price and supply risks go up, and this is potentially bad news for the owners of those remaining vessels that still use R-22.”Industry figures indicate that legal global R-22 production this year will ...

Wilhelmsen Maritime Services warns that port workers are under significant risk of the counterfeit products for reefer containers which could contain a "dangerously unstable cocktail of gases.

Andrew Sheriff, a senior Safety Executive in WSS believes focused training on enclosed space operations is vital

WTS and WSS have launched the Unitor XFlow mobile water monitor and the Unitor XFlow water mist lance

Wilhelmsen Ships Service says The design of modern dry bulk carriers is centred around their holds and has evolved to be as efficient as possible in terms of volume of cargo carried. Whether this is coal, grain, iron ore or other bulks, the need is for fast and efficient loading, safe shipping and speedy unloading.But what happens when the voyage is completed and the cargo holds are empty? According to Product Manager, Marine Products at Wilhelmsen Ships Service, Jan Fredrik Bjorge, what comes next is a crucial process that can make the difference between securing the ship's next employment and losing a valuable charter by failing to meet regulatory requirements."Good cargo hold cleaning is vital for dry cargo shipowners and operators. It's a process that can directly affect the bottom line and which relies on the crew having the right tools to do their job safely and efficiently," he says.Bigger fleets, tougher marketsSenior Operations Manager at AS Klaveness Chartering, Dagfinn Asmyhr said: "Unloading speeds at some new terminals are such that the vessel can be handed very quickly. These ports don't want a queue of vessels at anchor, they want them in and out as fast as possible."And despite the ...

Campaign on galley and accommodation cleaning reflects the need to raise awareness among seafarers that risks from infection are greater than from accidents

WSS urges owners to focus on fuel quality issues

Over the course of the last few decades, shipowners and operators have been faced with a tsunami of new regulations and at the same time have needed to make their vessels more efficient as fuel and operating costs have soared.

Innovation is about transforming good ideas into real customer value, says WSS