NOKA Shipping Exposed, Fined & Banned for Concealing Hazardous Materials:

Noka Shipping has been sentenced and fined a total of $900,000 in sentence fees, fines and community service payments this week after failing to inform the US Coast Guard of the hazardous materials present on board the M/V Florin and concealing its pollution discharges. Their guilty plea to the violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships also led to all Noka owned or managed vessels to be barred from all U.S Ports and waters for 5 years. 

Ignacia S. Moreno, from the Department of Justice said of the crime “senior officers allowed hazardous conditions to prevail aboard the M/V Florin and maintained false records that concealed the deliberate discharge of oily waste into the ocean in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships”.

It was argued in the joint factual statement that between the months of June and September 2010 the vessel’s senior engineering officers had oily bilge waste pumped directly into the sea through the fixed piping system and fire main pump, completely bypassing the pollution prevention equipment.

The $900,000 fine is split into a $750,000 criminal fine, and a $150,000 community service payment to go to the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, with specific use in the Flower Garden and Stetson Banks National Marine Sanctuary in Texas. Jose Angel Moreno, a U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas said of the crime “It is more than disheartening to see companies knowingly and purposely dumping oil-contaminated waste into those resources; it violates the law. We take those violations seriously and shipping companies will be held accountable.”

Failure to account for hazardous materials on board vessels is now taken very seriously across the world, and in this case it has cost Noka greatly.

Source: Lucion Marine. 13 June 2011

http://www.greenpassport.net/noka-shipping-exposed-fined-and-banned-for-concealing-pollution/

Foranes Shipbreaking: Shipbreaking in Denmark

The Company

Fornaes Aps

was founded in 1993 and has, since then, scrapped well over 1000 ships and vessels - we lost count somewhere during the years. Major part of them has been fishing vessels of various sizes, but there were also freighters, supply vessels, ferries and a military vessel among them.

Most of our vessels come from Scandinavia, UK, Germany and The Netherlands.

Shipbreaking and environment

are not 2 incompatible concepts.

Fornaes holds all necessary environmental approvals for scrapping ships and handling of toxic waste from them.

All metals are recycled, and waste is destroyed or deposited according to environmental legislation.

Our stock

counts today more than 50.000 m² of outdoor stockyard and aprx. 7.800 m² in warehouses on the Grenaa harbour area.

If you plan to pay us a visit, and take a look at the goods, which you are very welcome to do, please have in mind, that it takes quite some time to get around everything.

We purchase

ships and vessels for demolition constantly, so if you want to have a vessel (or more) scrapped, please feel free to contact us. You will find all contact details under "Contact".

When we make an offer for a ship, we do not only pay by the tonnes. Type, age and number of machinery and equipment onboard is taken under consideration as well.

Occasionally we also buy used equipment, so you are welcome to contact us, if you have something you would like to sell.

We sell

just about any kind of equipment you can place onboard a vessel, and we keep lists of many things, but it is impossible to list everything. You find our updated lists under "Marine Equipment" - If you are looking for something not listed here, send us an email, fax or call us. We might have it anyway.

On some of the lists you will also find items from our Norwegian associate Fosen Gjenvinning. These items are marked with a "Fos" in the ref. no.

Fosen Gjenvinning is a scrapyard in Norway, with whom we have close relations. You may contact Fosen directly, you will find contact details on the "Contact" page, or Fornaes, as you prefer.

Address:

Fornaes Shipbreaking

Soendre Kajgade 21

DK-8500 Grenaa

Denmark

Contact:

Tel: +45 86 32 63 93; Fax: +45 86 32 72 73

Email: foranes@foranes.dk

Source:

http://www.fornaes.dk/index.php

Ship recycling demands new legislation claims Environment Commissioner:

The ship recycling market requires “specific legal instruments” to provide incentives for positive operators, European environment commissioner Janez Potočnik has said.

Speaking at the launch of the “Broken” photo exhibition, Brussels, he said: “The ship recycling market is global and very competitive. When sub-standard yards are closed in one country, they immediately reopen somewhere else. It’s a profitable job – and someone, somewhere is always prepared to do it, whatever the cost in human and environmental terms.

“This will mean developing specific legal instruments. Because our current legislative instruments are designed to control movements of wastes, but can’t easily be applied to ships. Ships move, they can change flags, they’re a kind of moving target.”

He added that “encouragement and incentives” must be provided to help ship-owners take more responsibility for recycling of vessels.

Potočnik said: “Recycling is essential to efficient use of resources, but recycling itself must not itself come with a high environmental price. The incentives to recycle must not be only economic, the recuperation of valuable materials, they must also be for the wider public and environmental benefit.”

The announcement comes just days after the HMS Invincible was sold to Turkish recycling firm Leyal Ship Recycling.

Source: MRW. By Philip Reynolds. 14 February 2011.  

http://www.mrw.co.uk/news/ship-recycling-demands-new-legislation-claims-environment-commissioner/8611259.article

Rising freight rates show shipping industry recovery:

In a noticeable rebound in the global shipping industry and its repercussion on India, the benchmark Baltic Dry Index, which measures prevailing freight rates has jumped 23 per cent so far this month. After hitting a 1-year low of 1,253 on August 2, the index closed at 1,541 on Friday.

The steep fall in the index came following China’s slow progress in procuring the major steelmaking raw material, iron ore, from the leading supplying countries, including Australia and Brazil. Consequently, the freight rate of iron from these two origins slumped to the multi year record low level of $8 a tonne. The scenario has slightly recovered, said an analyst with a leading brokerage firm.

With the re-entry of Chinese traders for procuring raw materials, the freight rate for iron ore has rapidly recovered and gone up to $12-13 a tonne since the beginning of this month, depending upon the size of ship. China has started silently building inventory of raw material for use in post-monsoon manufacturing of finished goods.

According to Shreyas Shipping Chief Financial Officer Vinay Kshirsagar, India was not affected by the slowdown in cargo ship demand globally due to China’s slow pick-up of iron ore. The Indian shipping industry recorded an increase of over 20% in business in the last financial year and in the 1^st quarter of the current one, which is expected to continue, he added.

With almost 90% of India’s trade by volume (70% in terms of value) conducted by sea and with the largest merchant shipping fleet in the developing world, India’s maritime sector is set to grow to a size of $80 billion by 2020. The expected volume handled in 2020 would be approximately 1.7 billion tonnes.

Aiming to capture the large part of growth opportunity in the Indian maritime sector, Informa Exhibitions India, a part of UK-based Informa Plc, is organising INMEX India 2011, South Asia’s largest maritime event at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, between September 29 and October 1.

Around 500 companies from 42 countries, including Holland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Korea, Singapore and China are expected to take part in the event.

The products and solutions showcased at the event are broadly classified for dredging, marine equipment, marine offshore technology, ocean engineering, port equipment, port technology, ship repair, shipbuilding and underwater robotics, to name a few.

The Indian shipping industry will continue to remain immune to the global economic slowdown due to exporters’ dependence on low-size ships. As exporters focus on prompt delivery of goods to importers, shipowners are booked at least for the next one year to meet the global demand for manufactured goods.

While demand drivers like trade growth and geographical balance of trade (which determines the length of haul required) are very positive, the supply drivers like new ship building orders, scrapping of existing tonnage, etc, also indicate a good future for the Indian shipping and logistics sector. This is further given a boost by the privatisation of ports and the strong thrust on infrastructure, said Nicky Mason, managing director, Informa India.

Source: Business Standard. By Dilip Kumar Jha. 29 August 2011

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/rising-freight-rates-show-shipping-industry-recovery/447363/

Green Shiprecycling: Hazardous Waste Identification, Testing & Quantification

Hazardous Waste Identification & Testing:

Some of commonly found hazardous wastes based on type of ships listed are:

• Asbestos
• Lead
• Tin, Cadmium, Organotins (TBTs), Arsenic, Zinc
• PCBs, PBBs
• Unidentified chemicals, oils
• Mercury
• Radioactive substances
• Acids, Thinners, Solvents Paints

Hazardous Waste Quantification & Inspection:

Based on the type of ship and various documents available on board like insulation plan & others, quantification is then done of various hazardous wastes present in various locations of ship like:

1. Engine room, machinery rooms including -

• Steam supply & exhaust piping & hangers
• Relief and safety valves
• Water pipes & hangers
• HP turbine insulation
• Boilers, Heaters, Tanks etc

2. Accommodation areas including -

• Sanitary & Commissary spaces
• Interior decks
• Air conditioning ducts
• Cable transits
• External & internal bulkheads

3. Brake linings

4. Refrigerant & other gases sealed like -

• R12 /22
• Halon
• CO2
• Acetylene
• Propane
• Butane
• Oxygen & others based on type of ships

5. Chemicals in machinery on ship

6. Last cargo residues

Source: Netpeckers.

http://www.netpeckers.co.in