EU Parliament Reject Ship NOx Monitoring

On April 16, the members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted to reject a proposal to monitor nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from shipping.
This is despite the fact that shipping emissions are set to overtake all land-based sources by 2020, according to environmental organization Transport & Environment. The organization says EU governments must not waste this unique opportunity to monitor two of the most harmful air pollutants, NOx and SOx, as part of the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of shipping emissions proposal.

Air pollution from international shipping, of which SOx and NOx emissions are a big part, accounts for about 50,000 premature deaths per year in Europe, says Transport & Environment.
MEPs rejected the Environment Committee’s amendment to add NOx to the MRV requirement to report CO2. The Environment Committee had already excluded sulphur reporting despite the new SOx regulations that enter force in 2015. In addition, MEPs also rejected the chance to monitor ship efficiency, which is a key enabler to improve the sector’s environmental performance.

Aoife O’Leary, Transport & Environment policy officer for shipping, said: “Inexplicably Liberal MEPs rejected their own policy recommendations to include NOx and joined others in seriously undermining emissions monitoring. Given that NOx from shipping in Europe is set to exceed all land-based sources by 2020, it is a serious setback to the health and environment of Europeans.”
O’Leary added: “Shipping emissions monitoring is a clever and cost-effective way to report all air pollutants, including SOx and NOx, at once. But the Parliament’s decision is short sighted, and member states must now ensure that Europe includes these emissions if its monitoring proposal is to be worthwhile.”

Multipurpose Shipping: Positive Outlook After Tough Year

Drewry’s latest Multipurpose Shipping Market Review and Forecaster report anticipates better times ahead for the sector following a tough 2013. Last year cargo demand for multipurpose and heavylift vessels was adversely impacted by determined competition from other shipping sectors.

While cargo demand has risen steadily since the crash of 2009, the multipurpose sector share of those volumes has eroded. Drewry reckons that 2013 was in fact a worse year for ship owners than recession blighted 2009, as its market share dropped to just 8% of dry cargo, although tonnage was actually higher.
The biggest growth in 2013 volumes came, not surprisingly, from minor bulks, consisting primarily of steel and forest products. Global steel production in 2013 exceeded 1.6 billion tonnes, with growth of almost 5% compared to 2012. Whilst some major exporters (South Korea, EU, USA) reported decreased exports over 2012, China and Taiwan continued to show strong growth (18% and 9% respectively) which contributed to an expansion in overall global traffic. By contrast, demand for general cargo, which includes project cargoes, dropped over 30%. Drewry believes this was due to a double hit of increased competition from other shipping sectors and a slowdown in the project market. Drewry estimates that project cargo volumes fell by almost 15% over the year.

However the outlook is more positive. Global steel production is expected to rise at an average annual rate of 5% over the next two years. The outlook for project cargo is more mixed. While the expectation for 2014 remains subdued, there are signs that this sector should begin to pick up further volumes towards the end of the year and grow in 2015/2016.
Drewry forecasts that demand for the multipurpose shipping will grow at an average annual rate of 5% over the coming years. However, we are only expecting modest growth in 2014, as competition from other shipping sectors will continue to eat away at market share. But we expect the sector’s market share to recover through 2015/16.

Susan Oatway, senior consultant at Drewry said:

"We continue to be concerned about competition from container lines, particularly for the project carriers; any delay in the recovery of that sector will also delay recovery in this one. Meanwhile the multipurpose vessel orderbook is very manageable and as long as newbuildings have a unique quality – whether that is eco-friendly engines or extraordinary lift capacity – there is still space to accommodate them. This means that Drewry’s forecast does provide some room for optimism for owners. Demand is expected to continue to grow and has the potential to deliver significantly increased volumes.
Drewry said last year that current market conditions were untenable, but carriers seem to have borne them even longer. With the new vessels that are now trading, capital costs are a significant part of most shipowners’ bottom lines, and that can only be borne for so long. It remains our view that those owners that are able to promote their vessels as the value-added alternative to containers will be the ones to see positive results again sooner rather than later."


More information on Drewry’s outlook for the multipurpose shipping sector can be found in a recently published White Paper which is available for FREE by following this link: http://www.drewry.co.uk/news.php?id=266

New Focus on Oil Spill Response Technology 

Gazprom joins Arctic research study

by Marex

Gazprom Neft has become the first Russian company to join the Arctic Oil Spill Response Technology Joint Industry Program (JIP) run by the world’s largest oil and gas companies.
The four-year JIP was launched in December 2012 to carry out research in several areas, including studying the fate of dispersed oil under ice, dispersant testing under realistic conditions as well as oil spill detection and mapping in low visibility and ice.

The joint research will contribute to industry knowledge, broadening opportunities for testing equipment, conducting large-scale industrial experiments and developing technology and techniques for preventing oil spills in Arctic conditions.

Vadim Yakovlev, First Deputy CEO of Gazprom Neft, said: “Developing oil fields in the Arctic region, including off-shore, requires advanced technological solutions for production, ensuring environmental safety and reducing any environmental impact. The joint research program will enable us to employ international best practice and global expertise in constant improving environmental security systems in the Arctic.”

The program is run by the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) and coordinated by an executive committee of representatives from the participant companies.

Participants in the program include BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Eni, ExxonMobil, NCOC, Shell, Statoil and Total.