
Hong Kong plans to amend eight regulations under the Merchant Shipping (Safety) Ordinance, the Merchant Shipping (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Ordinance, and the Merchant Shipping (Local Vessels) Ordinance.
It intends to incorporate the latest requirements under three conventions of the United Nations’ IMO:
– the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code);
– the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships;
– the International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti- Fouling Systems on Ships. Continue reading “New rules on ship safety and pollution proposed by Hong Kong”



Singapore has secured the top spot once again in the Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development Index Report. It is the ninth consecutive year that the report, published jointly by Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, and global maritime data provider, the Baltic Exchange, has Singapore ranked number one shipping centre.

The West P&I Club has noted a number of recent container fire incidents related to containers which were declared as miscellaneous items but actually contained charcoal/carbon. This is a commodity liable to spontaneous combustion. These containers were below deck and when fires broke out there was considerable damage caused to the vessel and other cargo by the fire and the water used to extinguish the fire.


The Waterways Ombudsman annual report detailed 63 enquiries, 51 of which were directly about the Canal & River Trust, one about the