A range of shipping organizations are putting pressure on the International Maritime Organization to act on air emissions ahead of the marine environmental committee meeting (MEPC 70) in late October. The meeting is scheduled to discuss policy measures for the shipping sector in terms of CO2 reduction and whether or not to postpone the global 0.5 percent sulfur cap planned for 2020.
This week, the world's largest exercise for unmanned vehicles in the marine environment begins in waters off north-west Scotland, according to the United States Navy's Office of Naval Research.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has issued a request for proposals to the four pre-qualified port operators selected to compete for the concession to design, develop, finance, construct, operate and maintain a container terminal located near Corozal, in the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has expanded its fast clearance plan for ocean freight, the Advanced Qualified Unloading Approval (AQUA Lane) program, which started with a pilot test in four ports late last year.
While sensor-laden containers, smart ships and 3D printing have grabbed the headlines, the start-ups making the biggest inroads are those working on something more basic - streamlining the interaction between shippers, freight forwarders and those actually transporting the goods.
Recent events, such as the Hanjin collapse, have shone a spotlight on the deeply interconnected nature of today's container shipping networks and demonstrated how little visibility many shippers have into the whereabouts and status of their cargo as it moves through a complex web of service providers.
Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk plans to separate its businesses into transport and energy divisions in a bid to better tackle the problems facing its struggling businesses.
The Korea Offshore and Shipbuilding Association has released numbers confirming the expectations of many analysts: the number of actively operating shipyards around the world has fallen by more than 40 percent from what it was seven years ago.
Hanjin Shipping has to return chartered-in ships to owners and to sell as much of its own fleet as it can, a South Korean bankruptcy judge said Monday.
Research in the design and development of fully autonomous and unmanned merchant vessels could reduce human error and provide financial savings through crew salaries and the omission of crew accommodation. However, these vessels, monitored from land, will require high-quality and reliable communication systems between the unmanned ship and shore. The communication systems are critical for safety and security and will come at a high cost.