COS Weekly Newsletter - 08 February 2019
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Three CP Rail employees die after train loses control Cargo ship Marathassa acquitted of all charges relating to 2015 oil spill Canadian canola runs into Chinese delays after Huawei arrest B.C. Ferries to alter schedule for All Native Tournament International Sailors' Society Canada is seeking your input Government intends to amalgamate Oshawa and Hamilton port authorities Bill C-55 Update LNG export project to go ahead to go ahead in Sabine, Texas Shipping Act revisions and new commissioners revitalise FMC Senator Grassley urges Trump administration to lift tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Hapag-Lloyd to convert 15,000 TEU vessel to LNG Panalpina shareholders reject $4 billion takeover offer NYK Tests Biofuel on Dry Bulk Carrier Feb 8 - Megastar |
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COS Weekly Newsletter
Passing of Caroline Simister
We are sad to advise that Caroline Simister passed away on Wednesday, February 6th after a courageous battle with cancer. She was the Chamber of Shipping Office Manager from October 2000 to October 2012 when she left suddenly after being given a terminal prognosis. Her strength and determination certainly helped exceed all expectations. For those of you who remember Caroline, she was instrumental in organizing our events and supporting the Vancouver Grain Exchange secretariat over the years and earned a great deal of respect from many in the industry for her hard work, sense humour, and candid approach to everything. Our condolences go out to her family. We have been advised that a celebration of life will be held in a few months time.
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Three CP Rail employees die after train loses control
Three Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. employees are dead after a freight train lost control and plunged about 200 feet off a bridge into the Kicking Horse River between Lake Louise, AB, and Field, BC, early Monday morning. Before the crash, the crew notified the dispatching centre that the train was out of control. The train had three locomotives and 112 cars. Investigators with TSB are investigating the cause of the derailment.
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Cargo ship Marathassa acquitted of all charges relating to 2015 oil spill
The cargo ship Marathassa, which spilled 2,700 litres of fuel oil into English Bay in 2015, has been dismissed on all charges. In April 2015, a ring of oil was seen around the hull while it was anchored in the Vancouver bay. Most of the fuel was recovered or dissipated within 48 hours of the spill, however, there was an environmental impact on the shores of English Bay and four migratory birds were smeared with patches of oil. The Marathassa was accused of: discharging a pollutant into the waters; discharging a substance that was harmful to migratory birds; and, failing to implement its shipboard pollution emergency plan by failing to take samples of oil in the water and by failing to assist with the oil containment. The judge concluded that the ship did discharge the pollutant but the incident was caused by two unforeseeable shipbuilder defects in the high-level alarms and a valve on the newly built vessel. Both had been tested on a weekly basis with no concerns arising from the tests. The Marathassa had also implemented its emergency plan by taking samples of oil in the water and helping with containment.
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Canadian canola runs into Chinese delays after Huawei arrest
A political dispute between China and Canada over the arrest of a Huawei executive is slowing canola shipments through Chinese ports. Shipments are taking longer to clear Chinese customs and obtain GMO permits needed to import genetically modified crops, including canola. China buys some $2.5 billion of Canadian canola per year, and the delays have caused some importers to hesitate to buy from their biggest supplier. Canola futures prices have stayed firm since the arrest, but brokers say worries about China have caused prices for canola to miss out on a boost in sales of other oils.
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B.C. Ferries to alter schedule for All Native Tournament
BC Ferries is ramping up its service on its northern routes for the Mid Coast Connector, Inside Passage and Haida Gwaii routes for the next three weeks, in preparation for the All Native Basketball Tournament. The tournament is entering its 60th year is a big draw for Indigenous communities across British Columbia. As many team and fans will use the ferry system to travel to and from Prince Rupert ferries are expected to be filled to capacity. The schedule will return to normal on Thursday, February 21.
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International Sailors' Society Canada is seeking your input
The International Sailors' Society Canada is seeking your input on why visiting seamen are often unable to go to shore. They have put together a survey in order to assess whether the rumours they hear are in fact a reality. With your input, they will be able to establish facts and work with the various parties to ensure that all seaman have access to shore leave and obtain some relief from the stresses of life at sea. The link to the survey is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/697JHSH.
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Government
Government intends to amalgamate Oshawa and Hamilton port authorities
The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, has announced that the Government of Canada's intends to amalgamate the Oshawa and Hamilton port authorities to form a new entity. Aligning with the Transportation 2030 vision, the amalgamation seeks to improve port efficiencies and planning in the region. The Oshawa and Hamilton port authorities carry similar commodities including steel, project cargo and bulk cargo such as fertilizers, asphalt and grain. Cargo handled at both ports produces over $6 billion in economic activity and 4500 direct and indirect jobs. An official certificate of intent will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part I on February 9, 2019. Interested parties will have until March 11, 2019 to submit comments.
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Bill C-55 Update
The Senate Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans held its first day of study of Bill C-55, an act to amend the Oceans Act and the Canada Petroleum Resources Act, on Tuesday. The provisions in the bill are meant to create a network of marine protected areas (MPAs) in Canada, and improve the process of designating them, helping to speed a process which can currently take up to 10 years. The bill focuses on conservation and sustainability, however, industry has concerns about insufficient consultation and uninformed decision making that will have a wide-reaching affect on the marine industry.
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US News
LNG export project to go ahead to go ahead in Sabine, Texas
ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum have announced that they will proceed with development of the $10 billion Golden Pass LNG export project located in Sabine Pass, Texas. Qatar Petroleum will invest more than $8 billion and ExxonMobil more than $2 billion in the project. The decision to self-financing the project reflects Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil’s confidence in LNG demand growth over the longer term. The Department of Energy has authorized 23.05 billion cubic feet per day (235 billion cubic meters per year or 177 MTPA (million tons per annum) of LNG) of natural gas primarily spread across 10 large-scale export projects in Louisiana, Texas, Maryland, Georgia, and the Gulf of Mexico. Once completed, Golden Pass will be the seventh large scale LNG export project in the United States and be capable of exporting more than 2 billion cubic feet per day of U.S. LNG to any county.
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Shipping Act revisions and new commissioners revitalise FMC
The FMC has been reinvigorated by the addition of two commissioners and new laws enacted late last year. In December, President Trump signed into law the Federal Maritime Commission Authorization Act of 2017, representing the first meaningful revision to US maritime competition legislation in 20 years. These amendments were made in response to pressure from terminal and tug operators that lobbied Congress over their concerns about the bargaining power of the global alliances. While the changes are regarded as evolutionary rather than revolutionary, sending a strong message to ocean carrier vessel-sharing agreements that they must not abuse their dominant position during collective bargaining negotiations.
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Senator Grassley urges Trump administration to lift tariffs on Steel and Aluminum
Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has called on the Trump administration to lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico before Congress begins considering legislation to implement the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal. He believes that before Congress considers legislation to implement USMCA, the administration should lift tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from our top two trading partners and secure the elimination of retaliatory tariffs that stand to wipe out gains our farmers have made over the past 2½ decades," Grassley said.
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International News
Hapag-Lloyd to convert 15,000 TEU vessel to LNG
Hapag-Lloyd will retrofit its 15,000 TEU ship Sajir to operate on LNG. When complete, the engine system will be able to function using either LNG or low-sulphur fuel oil. The plan is to operate the vessel using LNG, but to also be able to use low-sulphur fuel oil as a backup. This will be the world’s first retrofit to a containership of this size to LNG propulsion.
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Panalpina shareholders reject $4 billion takeover offer
Panalpina’s shareholders have rejected a $4 billion takeover bid by Danish forwarder DSV, despite the bid being considered “hopelessly overvalued”. The Ernst Goehner Foundation, Panalpina’s largest shareholder with 46 percent of the total share capital voiced that it does not support the current non-binding proposal from DSV and wants the company to pursue an independent growth strategy that includes its own mergers and acquisitions. Despite the lack of support from The Ernst Goehner Foundation, Panalpina has suggested that the DSV deal may still have some life.
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NYK Tests Biofuel on Dry Bulk Carrier
NYK has conducted a trial use of biofuel in Europe on its 179,288 dwt dry bulk carrier Frontier Sky in collaboration with BHP and GoodFuels. The trial took place on January 30 after the biofuel was bunkered at the port of Rotterdam, Netherlands. The biofuel is considered to be carbon-neutral and have significantly lower emission of sulphur oxides compared to conventional fossil fuel. It was made from waste oils such as used cooking oil.
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Upcoming Events
Canada Energy Exports - Oil & Gas Summit 2019From: 2019-03-04 08:00:00At: Vancouver Convention Centre East Building |
Pacific Regional Canadian Marine Advisory Council MeetingFrom: 2019-03-07 09:00:00At: BCIT Downtown Campus |
For details on any of the events noted above, visit our Events page.
Ship of the Week
Feb 8 - Megastar
The Finnish Geospatial Research Institute has announced that together with Aalto University they will team up with Fleetrange and the Tallink Group as part of a research project carried out under a program of and funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). The goal is to develop techniques for autonomous navigation for ships with focus on safety, using a combination of different sensors, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The technology will combine data from visual images, environmental sound recordings, radar and lidar ranging, satellite navigation, and vessel transponders. These sensors will be installed on Tallink’s Megastar ferry and the data processing will be performed using innovative artificial intelligence and machine learning software. The goal is to automatically identify and recognize objects, such as navigation aids and other vessels and boats around the ship and provide improved situational awareness information through sensor fusion. The objective of the ESA-funded research project is to improve European know-how in the field of autonomous transports and to study how European space-based positioning and navigation infrastructure, such as Galileo and EGNOS, can contribute to enhancing scientific innovation and consequently business opportunities in this field.
