Category: News

Authorities of the Department of the Treasury of the United States met yesterday with representatives of the Panama Maritime Authority, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the lawyers’ association. Panama asked its consuls, located in different diplomatic representations in the world, not to receive any payment for taxes and fees from the vessels coming from or from companies of the… Read more →

Mr. Mark Riggio, President of the Ballastwater Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (BEMA) talks about the current challenges toward BWMC implementation, highlighting that the deadline for a BWTS installation expires, thus the sooner they start planning, the better. As explained, more than 80% of the world’s fleet by tonnage flies the flag of an Administration signatory to the Convention. That means for… Read more →

  Environmental compliance has always been under review and close monitoring in shipping, thus the industry has introduced numerous of regulations aiming to reduce pollution globally and in specific areas (ECAs, US ports, EU ports, Arctic zones, MARPOL Special Areas etc.). But what happens when economic cost is an obstacle to organizations’ ecological decisions? There is no doubt that an… Read more →

  By Sam Chambers The maritime authorities of the Paris and the Tokyo Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control have started issuing letters of warning from the start of this year on the sulphur content of marine fuels during inspections in order to increase awareness of and to encourage timely compliance with the new 0.5% requirements set to kick… Read more →

  By Dennis L. Bryant. The article discusses the recently enacted Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018 (VIDA). The Act greatly reforms the process for regulation of ballast water discharges into waters of the United States. It not only brings the US Ballast Water Management (BWM) regulatory scheme into closer alignment with the international standard, but it also largely eliminates… Read more →

y Sam Chambers China Classification Society (CCS) had a banner 2018 with more than 10m gt of ships joining the Beijing-headquartered company. Clarksons Research’s latest World Fleet Monitor with data taken from January 1 this year shows the huge growth saw CCS leapfrog France’s Bureau Veritas (BV) to become the world’s fifth largest ship classification society. In September last year… Read more →

By: Sam Chambers Two old foes have traded places in the ship registry league. Liberia has returned to second spot behind Panama, overhauling the Marshall Islands, according to the latest data from Clarksons Research World Fleet Monitor. The senior management behind International Registries, Inc, which administer the Marshall Islands were in charge of the Liberian flag until the turn of… Read more →

A worldwide law enforcement effort designed to tackle criminal maritime pollution backed by Interpol and Europol has resulted in the discovery of hundreds of offences and exposed serious cases of contamination across the globe. INTERPOL has issued a news release stating that a month-long international law enforcement operation involving 58 nations revealed more than 500 maritime pollution incidents, including illegal… Read more →

. I like to party on New Year’s Eve. This year, though, my celebrations will be somewhat muted. That’s because when midnight strikes on December 31, it won’t just usher in 2019; it’ll also mean the end of open access to port state control data collected by the Paris MoU. The decision to do this poses a serious threat to… Read more →

The IMO has launched a new international effort to combat the negative environmental impacts of biofouling.  The GloFouling Partnerships project is a collaboration between the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the IMO. It will push the implementation of the IMO Guidelines for the control and management of ships’ biofouling, which provide a globally-consistent approach… Read more →