COS Weekly News - 4 December 2009

Friday, 04 December 2009 15:36

COS News – Week ending 04 December 2009

Issue No. 84

COS SUPPORTS GLOBAL MEASURES ON EMISSIONS

In view of the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15), COS has issued a media release in support of global measures being adopted to significantly reduce shipping’s CO2 emissions.

CN AND TCRC TO RESOLVE CONTRACT ISSUES

The strike by locomotive engineers at CN ended on December 2^nd as a result of an agreement to resolve the parties' contractual disagreements through further negotiations and, if necessary, binding arbitration. The union began its strike Nov. 28.

ILWU/BCMEA COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

The BCMEA and ILWU Canada have agreed to commence collective bargaining on January 04, 2010 for the renewal of the longshore collective agreement expiring March 31, 2010.

BUNKER CONVENTION RATIFIED

Transport Canada has ratified the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001 (Bunkers Convention) and issued a Notice to Industry regarding entry into force in Canada on January 2, 2010.

From January 2, 2010 all ships over 1000 gross registered tonnage that are registered in Canada as well as foreign-registered ships entering Canadian ports and terminals will be required to possess a certificate of financial responsibility. Foreign-registered ships with a certificate from another state party to the Convention will be recognized by Canada. Failure to produce a valid certificate may result in enforcement action as set out in the Marine Liability Act (Chapter 21, 2009).

NORTHERN GATEWAY PIPELINE PROJECT – FUNDING AVAILABLE

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (the Agency) is making available $600,000 under its Participant Funding Program to assist groups and individuals to participate in the environmental review of the proposed Northern Gateway Pipeline Project. A Joint Review Panel Agreement outlining the Terms of Reference for the project environmental and regulatory review has been released.

The deadline to submit a funding application is December 18, 2009. Funding applications received by the Agency by this date will be considered. Information on the funding program, the proposed project, and the environmental assessment process is available on the Agency's Web site at www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca , registry number 06-05-21799.

PRINCE RUPERT CITED IN “TOP 10”

Congratulations to Prince Rupert, as it has been identified as one of the “top North American locations for innovative logistics activity”, in Area Development Magazine’s annual LDW (Logistics, Distribution and Warehousing Operations) report. View the Fall 2009 edition of The Current.

CANADIAN PACIFIC TESTING BIODIESEL

CP and Natural Resources Canada have partnered on a biodiesel fuel pilot project that will result in the use of biodiesel in Canadian cold-weather rail service. As part of the five-month test cycle, CP will operate four GE AC4400 Diesel Locomotives with FDL-16 engines in captive service between Calgary and Edmonton. General Electric and Calgary-based fuel supplier 4Refuels are cooperating with CP during this testing phase, which began in early November and will run through the end of March.

NEW COASTAL APPRENTICE PILOTS

The Pacific Pilotage Authority has announced that on November 30, 2009 two Coastal Apprentice Pilots will commence their apprenticeship. Their names are: Captain Trevor Whyte and Captain Ronald Carey.

ACGI SHIPPING INC.

From December 1, 2009 Anglo Canadian Shipping, Greer Shipping, Ocean Marine Agency and International Shipping are operating under a single name and legal entity, ACGI Shipping Inc. There will be no change in management or staff at their five West coast locations. New email addresses will be phased in over the coming months, but in the meantime, current contact details remain. The new email address for the Vancouver office is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

ILWU LOCAL 500 ELECTION RESULTS

Mark Keserich has been officially elected as President, Local 500. Also elected as Business Agents were Rino Voci and Eric Parmar.

QUAYQUIP BV AND POL-E-MAR INC. FORM JOINT VENTURE

A joint venture partnership established to service the North American and Caribbean markets has been announced. QuayQuip PEM will be a provider of port construction solutions including engineered fender and mooring systems as well as heavy structural fabrications, castings and forgings. This joint venture brings together the sales, marketing and project management support culture of Pol-E-Mar with the engineering, design and manufacturing expertise of QuayQuip.

COS SUPPORTS VANCOUVER FOOD BANK

COS will be accepting donations in our lobby for the Vancouver Food Bank between now and December 23rd. The most needed items are canned vegetables/fruit, cereal, baby formula, baby food, canned meat/fish, peanut butter, bags of whole wheat pasta/rice, pasta sauce.

Government News

PM WELCOMES NEW AGREEMENTS WITH CHINA

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada has signed two agreements with China that will result in greater cooperation on climate change and culture.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Climate Change, Canada and China will work together on the long-term global effort to address climate change through mitigation and adaptation. It will strengthen Canada-China cooperation in areas such as energy conservation and efficiency, renewable energy, carbon capture and storage, methane recovery and utilization, and sustainable land management.

The Prime Minister also announced a new protocol to the Canada-China Bilateral Agreement on Maritime Transport that updates provisions of the 1997 bilateral agreement. Notably, it adds a new article to encourage dialogue between the maritime authorities and maritime stakeholders in Canada and China in areas such as marine policy, inland maritime transport and maritime technology and research. This new Protocol also marks further progress in the Government of Canada's $1 billion Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative, which focuses on ensuring Canada's competitiveness in global commerce, including maritime services, while benefiting local communities by improving the safety, security and environmental sustainability of the transportation system in the long term.

SYSTEMS OUTAGE CONTINGENCY PLAN – HIGHWAY MODE

Please be advised that the new System Outage Contingency Plan – Highway Mode, developed by the Border Commercial Consultative Committee’s System Outage Subcommittee, is now available on the CBSA website. The contingency plan was created as an alternative process to the existing paper process and establishes procedures for the reporting and release of commercial goods in the highway mode when the CBSA is experiencing a full commercial system(s) outage. The Highway System Outage Contingency Plan aligns with current importation practices in that the documentation requirements are based on those normally available/or accessible to carriers, brokers and importers today.

NEW CAED SOFTWARE FOR 2010

Canada Border Services Agency has issued Customs Notice CN 09-023 to announce the release of the 2010 version of the Canadian Automated Export Declaration (CAED) software on December 17, 2009. The 2009 version will expire on January 31, 2010.

Other News

HIJACKED VLCC REACHES SOMALIA

Pirates who pulled off the biggest-ever ship hijacking on Sunday anchored the 300,294dwt ship 30 n-miles south of Hobyo, operator and manager Maran Tankers Management said today. Its crew of 28 remained on the tanker, which was taken while heading from Kuwait to the Gulf of Mexico.

Meanwhile, EU NAVFOR’s commander, UK Rear Admiral Peter Hudson, reportedly told reporters in Nairobi that the latest hijacking means pirates are now holding 11 ships and 264 crew members off the coast of Somalia.

IMO COUNCIL ELECTIONS

The two-yearly elections to the IMO Council took place at Friday’s session of the IMO Assembly, at which ICS is representing the industry. The Council comprises 40 members, in three categories:

Category A: 10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services

Category B: 10 States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade

Category C: 20 other States “whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world”.

Category A attracted 11 nominations, with Liberia being unsuccessful its in bid, while Category B received 10 nominations, the places therefore being filled without voting Category A and B members are therefore unchanged:

Category A Category B

China Argentina

Greece Bangladesh

Italy Brazil

Japan Canada

Norway France

Panama Germany

Republic of Korea India

Russian Federation Netherlands

United Kingdom Spain

United States Sweden

However, Category C attracted 26 nominations for 20 places, and voting was therefore necessary. The result was:

Category C

Australia

Bahamas

Belgium

Chile

Cyprus

Denmark

Egypt

Indonesia

Jamaica

Kenya

Malaysia

Malta

Mexico

Nigeria

Philippines

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

South Africa

Thailand

Turkey

Cook Islands, Iran, Kuwait, Marshall Islands, Pakistan and United Arab Emirates were not elected under Category C.

Belgium has thus returned to the Council, while New Zealand has relinquished its place.

The continued absence of Liberia from the Council (given it is the second largest flag state and financial contributor to IMO) as well that of Marshall Islands (which was surprisingly unelected to Category C) is particularly notable. The Pacific islands are also unrepresented.

ANOTHER LOADED VLCC HIJACKED

The Greek owned and flagged fully loaded VLCC Maran Centaurus 300,300 DWT was successfully hijacked last weekend by Somali pirates 600 miles N.E. of the Seychelles and 1000 miles east of Somalia making it the second making it only the second VLCC to be successfully hijacked. The vessel was en route from Jeddah Saudi Arabia to New Orleans at the time of the incident. A day later, the Greek owned Suzmax tanker Sikinos, 150,500 DWT successfully repelled an attack in the same area.

maran_centaurus

Maran Centaurus

On Thursday this week, 13 pirates were detained after an unsuccessful attack on the “BBC Togo”, 150 miles south of Salalah, Oman. The vessel initially evaded capture thanks to barbed wire perimeter fencing allowing the pirates to be later picked up in an operation involving the Dutch warship Evertsen and HMCS Fredericton.

US ABANDONS 100% CONTAINER SCANNING – AT LEAST FOR NOW

THE US will delay implementation of a law passed two years ago for mandatory 100% scanning of import containers at port of origin from July 2012. The target date has been moved back to 2014 due in part to the prospect of U.S. trading partners implementing a reciprocal requirement. The EU has previously warned that compliance with the 100% rule would require massive investment in and redesign of many terminals.

ICTSI WINS MANZANILLO CONTAINER CONCESSION

Manila based International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) has won the concession to develop a new dedicated container terminal in the port of Manzanillo, Mexico. This will be the port’s second such terminal, the first having been operated by SSA Mexico for several years. ICTSI won the tender on the basis of investing $197m in the port. Total investment will eventually reach $565m and add 2m TEU of capacity to Mexico’s Pacific coast. The development covers an area of 77 hectares with an eventual 1,080 meters of berth to be completed in three phases. The first phase will involve 42 hectares with 270 meters of quay length and is to be completed within three years. The ICTSI reach into Latin American includes existing operations in Suape, Brazil and Guyaquil, Ecuador with additional aspirations in Montevideo in Uruguay, La Plata in Argentina and Buenaventura in Colombia.

mexican_ports

Primary ports - Mexico

Meanwhile, Cuba is courting PSA International (Singapore) to take the lead in a new container terminal project in the port of Mariel, 30 miles west of Havana.

Market Update

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) closed in London on Thursday marginally softer at 4062 points compared to 4119 points last week and 4661 points the week previously.

Cape Size Panamax Supramax

Index 6640 3830 2368

Last week 6699 4036 2461

Spot time charter $70,700/day $30,800/day $24,800/day

Last week $70,600/day $32,500/day $25,700/day

Asian dry bulk ship owners are expressing guarded optimism for 2010, tempered of course by the reality that there are still 3000 new bulkers on order. China will remain the primary driver of the dry bulk market thanks to insatiable demand for raw materials. Strong demand for steel is also expected next year as the construction and automotive sectors recover in the developed economies.

TANKERS: There is some better news this week thanks to a record number of tankers having been removed from trading to be utilized for storage of crude oil and oil based products. In the short term at least, this has given a lift to charter rates which are now bouncing along at a healthier level than has been seen since the beginning of the year. A total of 149 tankers (including 30 new builds) were estimated to be acting as storage vessels at the end of November including 37 VLCCs, 17 Suezmaxes and 95 long large product tankers. This represents an increase of around 15% in just one month as the “speculation industry” places bets on cheap daily tanker hire and an increase in the price of oil over the coming months. Back in the real world, VLCC spot rates from the Arabian Gulf to Far East are in the range of $30-40,000/ per day, the highest since early July,

CONTAINERS: Excess global container capacity is now estimated at around 20% with still no recovery in sight before 2013. An estimated 1.3m TEU of vessel capacity is now in layup and some 1.5m TEU of capacity is scheduled for delivery in 2010. Added to this approximately 200,000 TEU of capacity has been taken out of the market through economical steaming hence in aggregate the industry is looking down the barrel of an effective total 3m TEU of excess capacity by the end of 2010.

Upcoming Events

Dec 10 WMCC Olympic Port Planning Meeting @ 08:30

Dec 10 COS Timber Deck Cargo Meeting @ 10:30

Dec 10 CIFFA Christmas Lunch @

Dec 10 VTC Christmas Dinner @ 17:30

Dec 11 COS Board of Directors Meeting @ 11:30

Dec 14 BC Marine Vessel Air Quality Working Group Meeting @ 13:30

Dec 15 COS Ship & Port Operations Committee Meeting @ 12:00

Dec 16 COS Liner Committee Meeting @ 10:00

Dec 16 COS Customs Working Group Meeting @ 12:00

Dec 17 COS Navigation Services Committee Meeting @ 10:30

Dec 17 COS Owners Committee Meeting @ 12:00

Dec 24 Christmas Eve – COS Offices Close @ 12:00

Dec 25 Statutory Holiday – Christmas Day – COS Office Closed

Dec 28 Boxing Day Holiday – COS Office Closed

Dec 31 New Year’s Eve – COS Offices Close @ 12:00

Jan 1 New Year’s Day – COS Offices Closed

Ship of the Week

hms_astute
HMS ASTUTE – Nuclear Powered Attack Submarine

Keel laid 2001

First dive 2007

Final delivery 2009

Builder BAE Systems Marine, Barrow Shipyard

Crew: 110 (including 12 officers)

Displacement: 7,800t (dived)

Speed: 29 knots (dived)

Length: 97m

Beam: 10.4m

Draught” 10m

Armaments: Submarine-Launched Cruise Missile

Tomahawk Block III, range 1400 miles at 550 mph

hms_astute2

Astute has six 533 mm torpedo tubes, and is equipped with Spearfish torpedoes and mines. There is capacity for a total of 36 torpedoes and missiles. The Spearfish torpedo from BAE Systems is wire-guided with an active / passive homing head, range is 65km at 60kts. Astute can also carry mini-submersibles for landing of special forces and is said to be capable of monitoring cell phone calls whilst submerged off shore.

Nuclear power is provided by a Rolls-Royce PWR 2 pressurised water reactor. The long-life core fitted on the PWR 2 means that refuelling will not be necessary in the service life of the vessel.

Sisters HMS Ambush Keel laid 2003

HMS Artful Keel laid 2005

HMS Audacious Keel laid 2008

Fleet home port: Faslane, Scotland

Royal Navy active submarines fleet list