Reducing emissions by hard sail 
MOL and Oshima Shipbuilding have jointly obtained an “approval in principle (AIP)” from Nippon Kaiji Kyokai for the design of a hard sail system. The system converts wind energy into propulsive force with a telescopic hard sail and is a fundamental technology of the “Wind... more
HL opting out of the Arctic route too
After the French shipping company CMA CGM’s recent announcement that it would not sail the Northwest Passage for environmental reasons, the issue is once again being hotly debated in the container shipping industry. Jörg Erdmann, senior director sustainability at... more
Liverpool region to benefit from Brexit?
The shipping heritage of the Liverpool city region (LCR) could provide a major boost to the UK’s economic prospects post-Brexit, according to a major new report. Working with Maritime UK and the centre for economics and business Research (CEBR), Mersey Maritime commissioned the... more
Drewry forecasts further drop in global container volumes
The decline of the container market continued during the last three months, said the London (UK)-based maritime consultancy Drewry. The research company downgraded its outlook for world container port throughput for the current year and the rest of the five-year horizon in its... more
Northern Sea Route traffic perks up - in LNG
According to news from the "Independent Barents Observer", the volume of goods shipped along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is expected to reach 29 million t in the course of 2019, says Nikolay Monko, the head of Russia’s Northern Sea Route administration. According... more
K Line goes for artificial intelligence
The Japan-headquartered carrier K Line has reached an agreement with Hiroshima University, the National Institute of Maritime, Port and Aviation Technology (MPAT) and Marubeni Corporation (Marubeni) to jointly work on research and analysis of maritime logistics and shipping... more
Navigare necesse est 
The German maritime industry is complaining about intensifying international competition – probably rightly so. In fact, Rotterdam and Antwerp have outpaced the German ports of Hamburg and Bremen in terms of growth. From a global perspective, however, national shipowners and... more
Eurogate and TIL opt for new cranes in Hamburg and Bremen
The MSC Gate Terminal Bremerhaven has ordered two megamax ship-to-shore (STS) container cranes from Liebherr. The cranes will be due for handover before the end of 2020. They will have an outreach of 73 m (25 container rows), a backreach of 25 m, a span of 30.48 m and a lift... more
PSA lightening up its project Tuas Port
The prime minister of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, recently placed a torch on the grounds of Tuas Port to symbolise the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in the nation’s rich maritime history. With 26 km of deep-water berths (up to 23 m chart datum), and capable of handling... more
Blockchain pilot between Lyon and Marseille
The closure of a blockchain pilot scheme coordinated and part-financed by the Marseille Fos port authority in France has proven the solution’s scope for enhancing intermodal freight movements on the Mediterranean-Rhone-Saone (MeRS) corridor. Focused on export processes... more