NEWS\\\ Keeping shipping Ebola-free


Shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC Group is calling for more eduction in the industry on reducing the risk of exposure to Ebola and minimising its impact on global transport. Angola, along with Nigeria, was officially Ebola-free in mid-November, but GAC Angola’s health and safety manager Jose Lourenco has been conducting Ebola training and awareness classes. This includes advice on signs of infection, protection measures


and a demonstration


of the company’s Ebola personal protective equipment kit. In Nigeria, GAC is adopting


a similar approach and hand sanitizers have been installed for use by staff and visitors.


Port authorities have restricted the movement


not directly involved with the crude export


of personnel operations into


all terminals and those who are allowed entry are first screened for


Ebola symptoms. It is compulsory that well-kitted quarantine officers board all export vessels for checks prior to other shore personnel, all of whom are screened ashore before boarding.


Sulphurous fog still envelops British waters


There is still a serious lack of clarity on the surcharges that shipping operators intend to impose when new sulphur emission rules come into force on 1 January next year, says the Global Shippers Forum. GSF secretary general Chris Welsh said in mid-November that not many operators had published their intended rates aſter the Emission Control Area (ECA) comes into force, particularly the deep-sea operators. Short-sea lines and ferry companies had been a little more forthcoming, he added. “The difficulty is that shippers


are now negotiating contracts for 2015, or shortly will be, and for budgeting reasons they’ll need to know their likely exposure,” he told FBJ.


One problem was that many of


the shipping lines were “looking over their shoulders” at each other. GSF says it recognises the


challenges to the shipping industry including marine gas oil which meets the 0.15 sulphur content, or the use of alternative fuels such as LNG and methanol or abatement technology such as scrubbers. However, says Welsh: “The fact that there are a range of options for managing the new low sulphur limits means that the impact on costs will be very different from one shipping line to another. For example, fuel costs for new-built vessels capable of using alternative fuels will be substantially different to a carrier using abatement equipment or higher grade marine gas oil.” GSF has stated that as the low


sulphur requirements are limited to


specific geographical areas,


and as there are various options for managing the new sulphur requirements, shippers will require greater transparency from


carriers in order to substantiate extra freight charges and bunker surcharges levied by shipping lines to recover additional costs. The GSF has developed a series


of questions for shippers to use in their negotiations with carriers. Welsh concluded: “It is


extremely important that individual carriers are open and transparent with their customers about the additional costs incurred resulting from the new sulphur limits, and they fully justify the additional freight charges and surcharges being levied. Broad industry surcharge guidelines set by some carrier groups are wholly inappropriate.”


Stena Line said on 20 November that it had become the first


operator in the world to run a large ferry on methanol - the


240m long Stena Germanica on its Kiel-Gothenburg route.


ESC blames ‘unacceptable’ surcharges on new alliances


The European Shippers’ Council has described the latest round of congestion surcharges imposed by lines as “unacceptable”. ESC says it sees no reason to impose them and urges ship owners to minimise surcharges and bring all costs into a single negotiable freight rate wherever possible. Over the last few weeks,


congestion surcharges have been introduced in Oman, the Philippines, India, the US, Hong Kong and the Netherlands, among others. ESC adds that, according


to the shipping operators this mechanism is necessary due to the new organization of the ship- owner in alliances, vessel sharing agreements, slot exchanges and


other rationalisation. But these new forms of organisation have been presented to competition authorities and others as a means to improve service quality, not to increase revenue by creating new surcharges, it says. The ESC urges ship owners


to solve the problems rather to impose surcharges.


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