Your final maritime news for the year 2021 about the industry and the PortXL community.
P&O Ferries to use digital twins for performance monitoring
P&O Ferries and We4Sea have signed a cooperation agreement to roll-out the We4Sea digital twin performance monitoring system for the P&O Ferries chartered fleet, with the aim of reducing fuel consumption and emissions. We4Sea’s technology uses a digital twin-based analysis as part of its online software platform, building a digital sister ship with all of the same relevant technical characteristics as the real vessel. This model is enriched with other real-life data sources, such as vessel speed, draught, weather conditions, wave heights, currents, and wind to create a Big Data pool for analysis.
Finland backs Wärtsilä Zero Emissions R&D project with €20m
Wärtsilä has launched a new Zero Emission Marine research, development and innovation project in collaboration with nearly 200 partner organisations and the support of Business Finland, which has granted the project €20 million in funding. The four-year co-operation project aims to support the creation of a zero-emission ecosystem backed by sustainable technology systems, with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the marine sector by 60% by 2030. All products from the ecosystem will be carbon-neutral or carbon-negative by 2050.
Maersk enters strategic logistics partnership with Unilever
The four-year agreement will see the development and management of Unilever’s International Control Tower Solution – an operational management solution which will consolidate the execution of its global ocean and air transport, with the aim of enhancing visibility, increasing efficiency and driving reductions in emissions across its operations. Maersk will be providing operational management of international ocean and air transport, underpinned by Maersk’s digital supply chain platform NeoNav.
Captain and first officer of the Wakashio sentenced
The captain and first officer of the Wakashio bulk carrier which smashed into a coral reef off Mauritius, unleashing the Indian Ocean archipelago’s worst environmental disaster, will be released imminently after their 20-month sentence was commuted yesterday. The vessel’s captain and first officer were found guilty of “endangering safe navigation”
EIB backs Genoa’s €600m modernisation plan
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide €300m financing for the Italian seaport, which will use the funds to construct a new breakwater, restore quays, upgrade rail infrastructure, and invest in cold ironing. The Port Authority of the Western Ligurian Sea, which manages the Port of Genoa, has secured €600m, including half a billion from the Recovery and Resilience Facility Complementary Fund and €100m from the Port Infrastructure Fund.
LNG shipping’s wild ride: Record, plunge, new record, new plunge
Shippers of containerized goods were caught off guard this year. Never before had container spot rates risen so far, so fast. But shippers of liquid and dry bulk commodities know such cost swings all too well. When bulk commodity transport demand exceeds supply, shipping spot rates can keep rising until cargo shippers’ profit margins are erased. The spectacular rise and fall of liquefied natural gas shipping rates is the latest example.
2021: Ballast Water Treatment Technology reveals industry in limbo
The industry is in a state of limbo, says Ballast Water Treatment Technology editor Craig Jallal. With less than 1,000 days until the D-2 deadline, several of their stories forecast a compliance landscape that is likely to be fragmented at best. Meanwhile, in the US, while more BWMSs are being type-approved denoting progress, VIDA seems to have stalled
