MSC plan to cut CO2 Emission with Biofuels

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. has decided to start using biofuels in its vessel starting from Rotterdam,Netherlands.

With it successful trials with biofuel blends earlier this year MSC has now decided to use blended biofuel for its vessels .

MSC started with 10% blended biofuels thereby increasing it to 30% with successful trails thereby cutting CO2 emission by 15-20 % & improving air quality..

MSC is hopeful to increase use of blended biofuel in future thereby reducing CO2 norms by 80-90 %.
which they will communicate from time to time..

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GMS Offers Valuable Service for Retired Vessels

Being as controversial as it is, the practice of shipbreaking is relinquishing its role to more productive means of retiring used vessels. One of these means is ship recycling. One of the most prominent companies in this industry is GMS LeaderShip, a company with a global office disposition that conducts cash buys of ships in order to recycle them or sell them to other companies that do.

So far, GMS has negotiated the recycling of about 2,000 vessels, making them the premier company in the industry worldwide. They operate out of offices ranging from Bangledesh, India, Pakistan, Turkey, and Shanghai to Dubai and Romania. GMS stands out due to its exceptional Corporate Social Responsibility Standards (CSR). It has exhibited these many times over through its deals with other companies and its innovative solutions to ship recycling.

GMS has achieved numerous milestones over the last three years. These include: negotiating more than 100 ship buying deals over the last nine years, delivered 300 ships in one year, developed a Green Ship Recycling Program, and delivered 24 vessels in one month. For more information on GMS’ accomplishments, visit the following site: http://www.gmsinc.net/gms/aboutus.php.

In the coming years, GMS will be a significant partner for companies who want to exercise CRS and engage in disposal of vessels in a way that will not be harmful to the environment or the people who work to dispose of them or recycle them.

Source: http://globalseafreight.com/gms-offers-valuable-service-for-retired-vessels/

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Peak Season Surcharge for All Imports to Vostochniy, Russia

The shipping industry experienced a flux of increased freight rates.  This is due to the year before showing exceptionally low freight rates where shipping companies lost billions of dollars due to overcapacity.  The consequence of this was a 2012 that saw many companies looking for ways to increase their rates to meet costs on ocean freight.

This phenomenon has manifested itself in many companies increasing previously implemented or implementing peak-season surcharges.  One of the most recent to adopt this measure is MCC Transport.

MCC Transport is a regional specialist handling all Intra-Asia containerized cargo for the A.P. Moller – Maersk Group in addition to providing feeder services for a wide range of regional and global shipping lines.  Their rates, going into effect on 15 July 2013 for all dry cargo imports, will be as indicated in the following table:

TYPE	PEAK SEASON SURCHARGE
	20’	40’	40’HC	45’
DRY	USD 50	USD 50	USD 50	USD 50

Source: http://globalseafreight.com/peak-season-surcharge-for-all-imports-to-vostochniy-russia/

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UPS Takes Proactive Steps On Fire Protection

UPS has placed an order for 1,821 fire resistant shipping containers capable of containing a fire with temperatures as high as 1,200F for more than 4 hr. to use on its aircraft. Deliveries start in September and will be complete by early 2014, the airline says.

The unit load devices (ULDs) are built with MACROLite, a fiber-reinforced plastic composite similar to the material used in ballistic body armor, says UPS. The airline performed burn testing of the materials with the FAA and witnessed by the NTSB.

“That timeframe would give a flight crew ample time to land safely in the event of an in-flight fire,” the airline says.

The announcement comes as the United Arab Emirates’ air accident investigation department is set to publish a final report on July 24 into the Sept. 3, 2010 crash of UPS Flight 6, a Boeing 747-400 freighter that crashed after a cargo fire erupted 22 min. after departure from Dubai on a trip to Cologne.

Although the aircraft returned to Dubai, the pilots, with smoke in the cockpit and multiple failures including the captain’s oxygen system, were not able to land and both were killed. The aircraft crashed approximately 28 min. after the first fire bell warning went off in the cockpit.

The cargo suspected of causing an uncontained fire on the main cargo deck included “lithium and lithium derivative batteries,” according to an interim report. “The wider systemic risks associated with cargo fires and the carriage of hazardous air cargo will be addressed in the accident final report’s safety recommendations,” the report states.

The fire resistant ULDs are part of a broader safety overhaul of the cargo carrier’s fleet based on recommendations from the UPS Independent Pilots Association (IPA) safety task force, organized after the accident.

Other improvements include purchasing 575 fire-containment cargo pallet covers that can withstand 1,200F temperatures for 4 hr.; installing quick-donning, full-face oxygen masks across the entire fleet by the end of 2014, and completing the installation of emergency vision assurance systems (EVAS) in the 747-400 fleet. With EVAS, pilots press their oxygen masks into an inflatable pouch on the panel, allowing them to see the flight instruments and a portion of the forward windscreen despite having smoke in the cockpit.

According to Aviation Week’s Fleet database, UPS has a fleet of 235 aircraft, including leased-in aircraft, with 13 747-400s.

Source: http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_07_23_2013_p0-599998.xml

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