Originating from an offshore design platform, Ulstein Group presents their Discovery Series concept, which includes three different vessels in the exploration, cruising and coastal patrolling categories.
“70 per cent of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans. 80 per cent of the ocean is deeper than 3,000 metres. Norway alone administers an ocean area whose surface is six times greater than the mainland,” says Tore Ulstein, deputy CEO of Ulstein Group.
Manuel Román from ERM presents the ESIA report to the Nicaragua Canal Project Commission. Image: El 19 Digital
On 31st May, 2015, the HKND Group received the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report, completed by the British company Environmental Resources Management (ERM) for the Interoceanic Nicaragua Canal Project and presented to the Government of Nicaragua in the Capital City of Managua.
Xu Changbao, General Manager of HKND’s Nicaragua Office, received the ESIA report from Manuel Román (senior consultant of ERM) and handed it over to the President of the Nicaragua Canal Commission (Manuel Coronel) and the Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources of Nicaragua (Juana Argeñal).
At its 68th session the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the International Maritime Organization adopted the Polar code
The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) met for its 68th session from 11 to 15 May 2015.
The MEPC adopted the environmental requirements of the Polar Code and associated MARPOL amendments to make the Code mandatory; adopted amendments to MARPOL related to tanks for oil residues; designated an extension to the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA); and furthered its work on implementation of air pollution and energy efficiency measures and the Ballast Water Management Convention.
Norwegian shipbuilder Fjellstrand has built the world’s first electric car ferry for Norled
The world’s first electric car and passenger ferry powered by batteries – the MF Ampere – has entered service in Norway.
The vessel’s owner Norled has started operating the electric car ferry on a route across Sognefjord between Lavik and Oppedal. The fully electric ferry travels six kilometers across the fjord 34 times a day, with each trip taking around 20 minutes.
The ferry, which is 80 meters long and 20 meters wide, is driven by two electric motors, each with an output of 450 kilowatts. It is made exclusively of light aluminum, which makes it only half as heavy as a conventional ferry, despite its ten ton batteries and a capacity for 360 passengers and 120 vehicles.
The IMO and Bangladeshi Government has agreed to collaborate to improve ship recycling standards
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh have signed a landmark agreement to work together to improve safety and environmental ship recycling standards in the country.
A Memorandum of Understanding formalizing the cooperation between the two was signed by Mr Nicolaos Charalambous, Director, Technical Cooperation Division, IMO and Mr Md. Ashadul Islam, Additional Secretary, Economic Relations Division of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Bangladesh, on 10 April 2014.
Environmental scientists have questioned the effects of the Nicaragua Canal. Image courtesy of South China Morning Post
A consortium of environmental scientists has expressed strong concern about the impact of the controversial Central American Nicaragua Canal. The path of the Nicaragua Canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans will cut through Lake Cocibolca (aka Lake Nicaragua), Central America’s main freshwater reservoir and the largest tropical freshwater lake of the Americas; this plan will force the relocation of indigenous populations and impact a fragile ecosystem, including species at risk of extinction, according to Rice University environmental engineer Pedro Alvarez and other members of the consortium.
Alvarez is co-corresponding author of an article that includes 21 co-authors from 18 institutions in the United States and Central and South America who gathered at a multidisciplinary international workshop in Managua, Nicaragua, last November to discuss the project. The paper, titled “Scientists Raise Alarms About Fast Tracking of Transoceanic Canal Through Nicaragua,” has been published by the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology.
BIMCO has developed a maritime environmental and efficiency management guide
BIMCO has launched a new, multi-part guidance resource to support ship owners and operators in improving their environmental performance and the efficiency of their ships.
The BIMCO Guide to Maritime Environmental & Efficiency Management, developed in partnership with maritime efficiency specialists Fathom, and supported by ClassNK, provides a resource to facilitate compliance with environmental regulations and assist owners and operators in the development of an environmental and efficiency management system. This first-of-a-kind, comprehensive resource allows ship owners and operators to develop an all-encompassing environmental and efficiency management system.
Marine vessels are a significant source of greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions, including CO2, NOX, SOX, particulate matter, and black carbon, which impact local air quality, human health, and the global climate. Since the record low Arctic sea ice extent recorded in September 2012, policy attention has increasingly focused on strategies for addressing shipping activity in the Arctic and the associated environmental impacts.
South Asia still the preferred end of life location says NGO Shipbreaking Platform. Photo: NGO Shipbreaking Platform
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has released a complete list of all ship owners and their ships sold for breaking last year.
Out of a total of 1026 ships dismantled globally in 2014, 641 – representing 74% of the total gross tonnage (GT) scrapped – were sold to substandard facilities in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh where ships are dismantled directly on tidal beaches. None of the South Asian yards comply with international standards for safe and environmentally sound ship recycling.
End-of-life ships contain toxic materials such as asbestos, heavy metals, PCBs, oil residues and organic waste within their structures – these pollutants can not be contained or safely removed on a tidal beach. The demolition of the largest movable man-made structures is hazardous and must be conducted in a controlled manner using adequate infrastructure such as cranes as well as necessary health and safety provisions – in 2014 the Platform reported 23 deaths and 66 severe injuries due to accidents such as explosions, workers crushed under steel plates and falling from heights on the South Asian beaches.
Norway is set to launch a green coastal shipping programme
Minister of Trade and Industry Monica Mæland and State Secretary for Climate and Environment Lars Andreas Lunde have signed a declaration of cooperation with key players in the Norwegian coastal shipping industry. This declaration aims to ensure that Norway has the world’s most environmentally friendly fleet of coastal vessels.
In the future, LNG and battery power are projected to comprise a considerable share of the fuel used by the global fleet. Norway already has a leading position in this field and has a good environmental and business starting point to more broadly implement these new technologies. DNV GL has now taken the initiative to launch a Green Coastal Shipping programme, a joint effort by industry and authorities to ensure that in the future Norway will have one of the world’s most environmentally friendly and efficient coastal shipping industries.
Ships trading in designated emission control areas will have to use on board fuel oil with a sulphur content of no more than 0.10% from 1 January 2015, against the limit of 1.00% in effect up until 31 December 2014.
The stricter rules come into effect under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution form ships (MARPOL) Annex VI (Regulations for the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships), specifically under regulation 14, which covers emissions of Sulphur Oxides (SOx) and particulate matter from ships. These requirements were adopted in October 2008 by consensus and entered into force in July 2010.
A new study says that Alang shipbreaking workers continue to work in appalling conditions. Photo courtesy of The Hindu Business Line
The working and living conditions at the Alang shipbreaking yards in India, remain alarmingly poor, argues a new study published in the Economic & Political Weekly, a well known Indian Social Science journal. The research was commissioned and financed by the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC) and was coordinated by Dr Geetanjoy Sahu from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). TISS’ findings are based on intensive field work in Alang from April 2013 to May 2014 including interviews with 300 shipbreaking workers as well as stakeholders from the industry, trade unions and authorities.
The study finds that the “costs to workers’ health and the environment are alarming” while the profit margins for both the yard owners and the contractors providing the labour force are extremely high. Dr Sahu reports that the approximately 35,000 unorganised migrant workers at the Alang shipbreaking yards continue to live in shanty dwellings without adequate facilities for drinking water, sanitation and electricity. The authorities have set up only 12 showers and six toilets. As a result, “workers are forced to defecate in the open”.
