The Maritime Executive

Articles posted by the international team of staff writers at The Maritime Executive.

Container Ship Capsizes Near Ho Chi Minh City

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-20 16:54:33

A container ship carrying 285 containers capsized on the Long Tau River, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in the early hours of Saturday morning. The 17 crew of the 132-meter (433-foot), 657 TEUs VietSun Integrity of the vessel are reported safe. Local media reports indicate that the pilot notified the local VTS center of an issue occurred with a container just before midnight on October 18. The vessel listed quickly after that and sank about two hours later. Local authorities...

White Smoke Coming from Golden Ray

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-20 16:24:45

White smoke is coming from the car carrier Golden Ray currently being salvaged in St. Simons Sound, Georgia. The Unified Command says that response officials are investigating with the use of overflights and surface-level salvage teams. Water has been sprayed on the vessel in order to contain the smoke. The 20,000dwt vessel partially capsized on September 8 in St. Simons Sound, Georgia while heading out to sea with 4,200 vehicles on board. The pilot on the Golden Ray, Captain Jonathan...

Shell Offers Critical Cylinder Oil Guidance for IMO2020

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-20 11:46:39

Shell Marine has published a new White Paper that offers ship owners and operators the critical guidance they need on cylinder oils and engine care to transition successfully through the IMO global cap on fuel sulphur content from January 1, 2020. ‘IMO 2020 Ready’ from Shell Marine sets out the commercial, operational and technical challenges faced by customers before, during and after the regulatory deadline. The publication gives in-depth guidance on the cylinder oils best suited to support...

Hudson Shipping Lines Hardens Its Anti-Scrubber Stance

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-20 01:03:45

Hudson Shipping Lines has stated its stance against scrubber systems and agreed to provide support to the Environmental Protection Alliance (EPA) and its campaign to ban the use of scrubber systems in the shipping industry. Hudson has previously announced its intentions to not utilize vessels with open or closed loop exhaust scrubbers installed following the implementation of the IMO2020 sulfur cap on January 1, 2020. Hudson says it is disappointed in its peers who have chosen to use the scrubber...

Total’s First LNG Bunker Vessel Launched

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-20 00:03:53

Total has launched its first large LNG bunker vessel, following a long-term charter contract between Total and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) in February 2018. After delivery in 2020, the bunker vessel will operate in Northern Europe, where she will supply LNG to commercial vessels, including 300,000 tons per year for CMA CGM’s nine ultra-large newbuild container ships in Europe-Asia trade, for a period of at least 10 years. Built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding at their shipyard near Shanghai, the 18,600 cubic...

Labor Reforms Signal End of Kafala System in Qatar

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-19 22:42:18

Qatar has announced reforms aimed at ending the kafala system and therefore upholding the rights of migrant workers. “Kafala” is an Arabic word which means “sponsorship.” Kafala is unique to the Middle East. The Kafala system allows nationals to employ non-Gulf nationals. The power is entirely in the hands of the employer/sponsor known as the kafeel. The kafeel can dictate the conditions and terms of work, including the accommodation of the work migrant. The subjugation of the Kafala system has...

MSC Rules Out Northern Sea Route

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-19 22:24:23

MSC has announced it will not use the Northern Sea Route between Europe and Asia for container shipping. The announcement follows similar ones made by Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM. MSC says is convinced that the 21 million containers it moves each year can be transported around the world without passing through this Arctic route. Instead, the company will focus on improving environmental performance on existing global trade routes. “As a responsible company with a longstanding nautical heritage and passion...

file photo of panting sheep courtesy of Animals Australia

Livestock Exporter Acts on Transparency

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-19 22:10:00

Livestock exporter RETWA, the largest exporter of sheep from Australia to the Middle East, has acted on the industry's transparency commitment and released some animal welfare data from its most recent voyage. The data has been released prior to the closing of a call for comments by the Australian Department of Agriculture on whether or not to continue a moratorium on the export of sheep from Australia's winter to the Middle East summer next year. RETWA says it fully...

World First: Boskalis Operates Dredger on 100 Percent Biofuel

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-19 20:37:00

Following earlier successful tests with drop-in blends of biofuel and marine gas oil, Boskalis’ Willem van Oranje will be the first dredging vessel in the world to operate on 100 percent biofuel oil. The sulfur-free sustainable residual fuel consists of used cooking oil and contains no fossil fuels. This allows a substantial carbon reduction of 90 percent, says Boskalis. This world first for Boskalis is the result of the “Boskalis on Bio” pilot program launched in 2015 in cooperation with...

Baseline Study Published on Human Rights in Taiwanese Fisheries

By The Maritime Executive 2019-10-19 20:21:07

Human Rights at Sea has published a new baseline study in relation to the Taiwanese coastal and deep water fishing industry is response to ongoing field reporting of systemic human rights abuses for national and migrant crews. The publication titled Awareness and Application of Human Rights in Taiwan’s Fishing Industry is part of the series of baseline studies being undertaken by Human Rights at Sea to quantify and qualify the levels of understanding and application of human rights provisions and...