Fortnightly maritime news for the industry and PortXL community.

China bets big on 5G

China is planning to spend $150 billion on 5G wireless technology in the next six years — a move to jump-start automated manufacturing and enable Beijing to emerge as a world leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI).

China’s heavy investment in 5G has huge implications as it could sharpen Beijing’s competitive edge, vis-à-vis the U.S., the world’s largest economy.

US Senate passes $1 Billion in Alternative Fuel Infrastructure

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday passed the first-ever climate title in a surface transportation reauthorization bill.

The bill aims to establish a grant program that would be available to states, counties, municipalities, tribes and agencies working to make public charging infrastructure more widely accessible. It also seeks “to foster enhanced, coordinated, public-private or private investment in alternative fuel infrastructure.”

Mid-decade Milestone for US LNG exports

By 2025, the US will have more LNG export capacity than either Australia or Qatar, the current top exporters of LNG. That remarkable achievement – less than 10 years after the first LNG export cargo left Cheniere’s Sabine Pass facility – is being propelled by the development of a second wave of US LNG export facilities. Underpinned by national decarbonisation polices, Europe’s appetite for LNG continues to increase, creating an attractive market for US LNG. Europe accounted for almost 40% of US LNG exports in the first five months of 2019.

Germany turns to Hydrogen

From government officials to utilities and power grid operators, hydrogen is being touted as a cleaner way to break Germany’s dependence on coal. In the past three weeks, the Economy Ministry unveiled 20 labs to research the fuel, and natural gas pipeline owners asked for rules that would allow them to carry more of the lightest element.

China now officially open for foreign Oil & Gas exploration

The Chinese oil and gas sector is now officially open for foreign participation without a requirement to form joint ventures with local companies, but while Chinese media quote oil majors as praising the move, experts say that China needs additional regulatory reforms in order to attract foreign investment.

Wales & Ireland join forces on New Marine Energy Project

Funded by the EU’s Ireland-Wales co-operation programme, the Selkie project will bring together researchers and businesses from both nations to create technologies to help improve the performance of ocean energy devices being developed by Irish and Welsh businesses.

Yilport targets over 2 Million TEU for Taranto

“For the first years Yilport will start handling annually some 200,000 teu with a target of 1 million teu per year in 2025. After that the business plan foresees a complete saturation of the terminal capacity which is almost 2.5 million teus per year before 2030,” stated Sergio Prete. “As for the investments required the new Turkish terminal operator planned to spend €400m during the whole term of the concession which is 49 years”.

Maritime conferences slammed

Organisers of maritime conferences have been sent a stern message to buck up and make their events more relevant and worth people’s time. In an ongoing survey carried on the site 45% of the more than 500 voters to date say they have never been to a shipping conference that proved to be a fantastic use of their time.