Bahri joins Maritime Anti-Corruption Network to promote collective Anti-Bribery efforts in Maritime Sector

RIYADH: Bahri, a global leader in logistics and transportation, has become an official member of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN), a global business network of over 110 companies working together to tackle corruption in the maritime industry. Bahri’s membership underlines its commitment to contribute to advancing a culture of integrity in the maritime sector.

Bahri’s decision to join MACN supports Saudi Arabia’s ongoing commitment to zero tolerance of corruption at all levels, as directed in its Saudi Vision 2030 program. A party to the

UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), the Kingdom aims to become a frontrunner in the international efforts to prevent and fight corruption. The country is keen on reaching the highest levels of transparency, governance, and accountability through the adoption of leading international standards and practices.

Commenting on the development, Abdullah Aldubaikhi, CEO of Bahri, said: “With transparency being a key pillar of its core values, Bahri has always upheld international standards and best practices across its operations. With our membership in MACN, we are reaffirming our resolve to work with all stakeholders in tackling bribery and corruption as well as promoting free, fair and open competition in the maritime sector. We are confident that the collective efforts of MACN will accelerate the development of a safe and sustainable shipping and trade ecosystem.”

With the membership, Bahri joins the industry-led collective action initiative’s ongoing campaign dedicated to enabling fair trade through the promotion of compliance with anti-corruption laws and the elimination of corrupt practices across the wider supply chain. The members of MACN are committed to ensuring strict compliance with all applicable antitrust and competition laws to facilitate procompetitive, transparent and efficient maritime business globally.

Headquartered in Riyadh with a global network of offices in Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, and India, Bahri is the largest owner and operator of Very Large Crude-oil Carriers (VLCCs) in the world and the largest owner and operator of chemical tankers in the Middle East. Through its five business units – Bahri Oil, Bahri Logistics, Bahri Chemicals, Bahri Dry Bulk and Bahri Ship Management – the company owns and operates an impressive fleet of 90 vessels, including 43 VLCCs, 36 chemical tankers, six multipurpose vessels, and five dry bulk carriers, serving 150 ports worldwide.

 

MSC becomes first major Shipping Line to use 30% Biofuel Blends

GENEVA: MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is pleased to announce that the company is now starting to use biofuel in its vessels calling in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, said a company release.

Following successful trials with biofuel blends earlier this year, MSC has decided to continue bunkering responsibly sourced biofuel blends on a routine basis.

The trials were completed with a minimal 10% blend fuel and following further trials the company is now using much higher 30% blends. “We are pleased to see these trials completed successfully and look forward to now using biofuel on our vessels as a routine matter. When using such blended fuel, we can expect an estimated 15-20% reduction in absolute CO2 emissions,” said Bud Darr, Executive Vice President, Maritime Policy & Government Affairs, MSC Group. “The potential CO2 reduction in the bio component of these fuels could reach 80-90%, which we will monitor and confirm over time”, he continues.

Responsibly sourced biofuels could provide an alternative solution for the shipping sector to meet the 2030 IMO level of ambition for CO2 emissions intensity reduction, as well as to make significant progress toward the 2050 levels of ambition. Using biofuel on container ships could significantly help reduce emissions and improve air quality.

MSC’s decision to use biofuel is complementary to the company’s broader strategic approach to sustainability. 

The company remains committed to implementing concrete plans to modernise its green and efficient fleet via the largest container shipping investment program in the industry.

Rodolphe Saadé initiates an International coalition for the energy of tomorrow December 05 , 2019

MARSEILLE: On the occasion of the French Maritime Economy Conference (Assises de I'Economie de la Mer), Rodolphe Saade, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, a world leader in shipping and logistics, recommended that French President Emmanuel Macron initiate an international coalition for the energy transition of the transportation sector whose priority will be to develop a more competitive and less carbon-intensive energy source.
Rodolphe Saade also announced the choice of Marseille-Fos as a strategic hub in the Mediterranean for the supply of LNG for its future 15,000-TEU vessels.
Finally, he shared with the French President his views of the future of the maritime industry.
An international coalition to develop the energies of tomorrow for the transportation and logistics sectors
Following on the CMA CGM Group's pioneering commitments to emergent alternative energy solutions, Rodolphe Saade stressed the need to improve the cooperation of all those working on near-term solutions to replace fossil fuels in the transportation and logistics sectors.
The French President accepted to actively support this initiative, whose first forum could be held on the occasion of the World Conservation Congress which will be organized in Marseille in June 2020.
Formalized during the French Maritime Economy Conference, the "Eco-Energetic Transition of the Maritime Sector" project, led by the French Maritime Cluster, the ADEME (French Environment & Energy Management Agency), Bureau Veritas and CMA CGM, is a first step towards this future international partnership. The aim is to carry out an inventory of available technologies and new developments in ship propulsion. The data collected will help guide and structure future work.
CMA CGM chooses the Port of Marseille-Fos for the bunkering of its future 15,000-TEU vessels
As the first shipping company in the world to have chosen LNG to power its ultra-large container vessels, CMA CGM is at the heart of the development of a global LNG supply chain. In order to supply LNG to its future 15,000-TEU ships that will operate between Asia and the Mediterranean from 2021, Rodolphe Saade made the choice of Marseille-Fos.
As the leading French Port, Marseille-Fos thus reinforces its attractiveness by offering LNG bunkering solutions for the supply of ultra-large container vessels, following the examples of the major Northern European Ports.
This decision will perpetuate and develop the Marseille-Fos LNG activity, thus creating additional jobs.
By choosing Marseille-Fos, the CMA CGM Group reaffirms its strong commitment to the Marseille region and to the development of an increasingly eco-responsible freight transport offer from the historic cradle of the company.
A Group committed to environmentally-friendlier global economic exchanges Rodolphe Saade also highlighted the Group's long-standing commitment to the emergence of an eco-responsible shipping ecosystem:
•             In 2017, the Group became the first in the world to order LNG-powered 23,000-TEU ultra-large container vessels. The first of these, the CMA CGM JACQUES SAADE, was launched in September 2019 and will make an exceptional call to Marseille in June 2020;
•             CMA CGM was the first shipping company to decide not to use the Northern Sea Route. Since then, many carriers have followed this major decision to protect the Arctic environment and its exceptional biodiversity;
•             For over ten years, the Group has significantly reduced the speed of its vessels.
A strong vision for the future of the maritime industry
Finally, during his speech, Rodolphe Saade shared his vision of the future of the maritime industry, with a focus on:
•             Logistics: In 2019, CMA CGM completed the acquisition of CEVA Logistics, a major global logistics player.
Rodolphe Saade decided to transfer CEVA Logistics' Headquarters to Marseille, near CMA CGM's Global Head Office. More than 200 jobs being created in Marseille.
•             Digitization: The Group has proceeded with its digital transformation in order to differentiate itself from its competitors, to better serve its customers and to improve its performance. CMA CGM is thus carrying out numerous projects in the fields of blockchain, the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.
During his discussions with the French President, Rodolphe Saade, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the CMA CGM Group, declared: "With the choice of liquefied natural gas, the CMA CGM Group is a pioneer in the energy transition of the maritime industry. To meet the challenges ahead, we must go even further and work together: maritime, air and land carriers, logisticians, energy companies and motorists, in Europe and around the world. With the support of the French President, France will launch a major global coalition for the energy of tomorrow."
 

Maersk’s OceanPro accelerates innovation through India based technology Start-Ups

MUMBAI: OceanPro by Maersk, the first of its kind start-up accelerator within the shipping and logistics industry, has announced the graduation of its second cohort of start-ups showcasing the AI, ML led solutions developed by them over the last 120 days. The company also unveiled the Start-Ups that form a part of the third cohort as a continuation of its efforts to drive industry-wide digital transformation propelled by start-up led innovations in India.
OceanPro successfully launched its first set of 7 start-ups last year, that saw approximately 50% conversion to a production scale solution provider. One of the solutions developed from the initial cohorts is now being used in inland tracking by 3 countries and is even scheduled for a wider global roll out. Another Virtual Reality (VR) solution developed also reached 12000+ employees giving them immersive learning experience of a Triple E vessel (one of the largest classes of container ships in the world).
Commenting on the partnership with the thriving start-up ecosystem, Navneet Kapoor, Maersk’s Chief Transformation Officer and Head of its Global Service Centres, said, “I am excited to see start-ups in the OceanPro cohort work on solving problems for our customers and for our teams around the world, at scale. One of the imperatives for OceanPro is to offer meaningful opportunities for the start-ups to accelerate their product development through direct and regular feedback from customers and end users, and I am glad that we can live up to that promise. The benefits for Maersk are real as well and we are committed to further scaling up our partnership with the thriving start-up ecosystem in India and other parts of the world.”
Reflecting on the year long journey with 2 graduating cohorts and launch of the third cohort, Sriram Narayanasami, The OceanPro Accelerator Program Sponsor and Global Commercial Process Head, Maersk, said, “At Maersk, as industry leaders we continue to foster innovation to fuel our transformation. Our OceanPro program supports this journey by leveraging the start-up expertise in building digital solutions that improve Ease of Doing Business for our customers. We thank our start-ups for partnering in solving some important problems in our industry and we continue to be impressed by the depth of expertise that the start-ups bring with them.”
The graduation ceremony of second cohort witnessed the 4 start-ups: Stratforge, Tripz, Linkstreet, and Shipmnts.com showcase solutions for an industry faced with multiple manual interfaces and increasing demand for customization that help improve customer experience. These start-ups co-developed solutions focused on simplifying the customer payment process, optimizing the truck/ container moves, transforming the enterprise learning to make it more customized, effective and engaging, and digitising the document assessment process.
Encouraged by the success of the previous cohorts, the third cohort focuses on e-commerce platforms of Maersk (Maersk.com), optimizing the brand experience and customer journey. The third cohort consists of 4 start-ups – Entropik Tech, Senseforth, Soroco and Ocean Frogs.
Maersk.com is currently among the world’s largest B2B transaction sites with an average hourly revenue of USD 1.45 million, said a company release.

Government orders import of 4000 tonnes onions again December 06 , 2019

NEW DELHI: The Government has placed fresh orders of 4000 tonnes of onions from Turkey which is likely to arrive by second week of next month. This is in addition to the 17,090 MT of Onions already contracted which includes 6090 MT arriving from Egypt and 11,000 MT from Turkey. The Government so far has contracted import over 21,000 tonnes out of 1.2 lakh tonnes approved by the Cabinet.
The Consumer Affairs Department has also directed MMTC to issue three more tenders for import of Onions, out of which two tenders are Country specific namely Turkey and European Union and one is a global tender. Each of these tenders are for 5,000 tonnes.
The Government has provided relaxations in the fresh tenders issued which include permission of consortium bidding, size variation and flexibility to exporters for offering shipment in multiple lots.

Drewry publishes first low-sulphur BAF reference price

LONDON: As part of a series of initiatives aimed at bringing greater transparency to fuel costs resulting from the new IMO 2020 low-sulphur regulation, Drewry is pleased to announce the publication of its first low-sulphur reference bunker index tracker.

In recent months, both shippers and forwarders have expressed confusion and concern over the timing and transparency of the new charges being introduced by carriers as they transition from IFO 380 (intermediate fuel oil) to the new, low-sulphur fuel standard. Drewry’s new low-sulphur BAF index, which will be updated quarterly, provides a simple indexing mechanism to help determine changes in BAF charges during the lifetime of a contract.

“Our new low-sulphur bunker price tracker is intended to standardise, clarify and simplify the adjustment of Bunker Adjustment Factors (BAFs) between shippers and carriers or forwarders,” said Philip Damas, head of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. “By streamlining the process and agreeing common bunker price measurement periods, BAF adjustment periods, fuel prices and index formulae, we hope to bring much needed clarity to the challenges presented by the regulatory change.”

Working with the European Shipper’s Council (ESC), Drewry has already defined and published a simplified BAF indexing mechanism and bunker charge guide to help shippers monitor and control bunker charges, which was drawn up by the ESC-Drewry IMO toolkit reference group, who were tasked with gathering views and best practices on IMO 2020 low-sulphur fuel-related topics.

“As was anticipated, prices for low-sulphur fuel appear to have settled some 35% higher than the old IFO 380 fuel standard,” said Mr Damas. “Although temporary and transitional bunker charges were expected to apply to just spot rates and to contracts of less than three months, it is clear that some shippers with annual ocean freight contracts have been requested by their carriers to start paying the new IMO BAF from 1st December.”

“While uncertainty remains in the market, some carriers may choose to reduce their base rates and charge the ‘full BAF’ in their next contracts,” continued Mr Damas. “We will continue to closely monitor and report future developments.”

Through membership of Drewry’s Benchmarking Club, exporters and importers have access to average contract bunker charges by tradelane, updated by Drewry once a month.

Essar Shipping to install Scrubbers on four Ships

MUMBAI: Essar Shipping is planning to install scrubbers on four out of its 12 owned vessels as part of its preparations for the 2020 sulphur cap.

The ships in question include three minicapes and one VLCC, the company said, while the rest of the fleet will switch over to low-sulphur fuel.

Essar Shipping estimates the installation of scrubbers to be completed by April/May 2020.

“With the installation of scrubbers, the capital expenditure recovery (payback period) may be 18 to 24 months depending on differential of prices between higher sulfur heavy fuel oils  (HSHFO) and LSHFO,” the company explained.

“However, there are some challenges that need to be taken into account. While forecasting in this business, there are numerous variables that come into play, such as, demand and supply of tonnage, number of ships that are currently trading, the number of ships that will be scrapped, the number of ships that would be installed with scrubbers, the number of ships that are being ordered, the commodity cycle of a particular vessel, etc.”

According to the latest estimates from the Exhaust Gas Cleaning System Association (EGCSA), there will be at least 4,000 ships fitted with scrubbers in 2020.

The scrubber installations have gravitated towards the larger vessels and vessels with high installed power where the economics of the investment versus the lower fuel cost are projected to give a high rate of return.

The majority of the installations are open-loop scrubbers that use seawater as the process fluid and discharge the treated and continuously monitored water overboard.