Category Archives: Shipping

Carbon Capture for ships – current state

Some people think carbon capture onboard is going to be important in meeting emissions goals for ships. There is some entrepreneurship, and some interest by large oil producers and purveyors.

However, many problems remain to be solved. There is essentially no ‘supply chain’ to handle the liquefied carbon product the ships produce onboard from running the carbon capture equipment. Liquid CO2 has a market, but ports are not set up to move it from the ships to storage nor to distribute it into commercial channels.

And it’s not yet clear how much emissions reduction there will be when conventional fuel is burned on ships but the carbon is captured.

Nevertheless, there is activity in this segment. This article explains what’s happening in one case, based on info from classification society DNV.

There are also several links to resources about carbon capture for ship engines.

I’m quite skeptical of carbon capture. It’s nominally a good thing. But the cost of the storage may be large. And how much captured carbon can we reuse?

If the oil companies are back of it, how can it be all good? What are the pitfalls?

Seatrade logo

Barry Parker, New York Freelance Correspondent

September 17, 2024

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/sustainability/onboard-carbon-capture-and-storage-gaining-ground

Loose cable connection destroys bridge?

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Office of Marine Safety released a report on the Dali bridge ‘allision’ (not a collision) that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore MD USA.

We all read with amazement at the destruction of this major bridge, which carries much East Coast auto and truck traffic between New York-Philadelphia and Washington DC. The cost to repair it is estimated at well over a billion dollars.

What caused the accident? The ship owner, ship operator, captain, and many insurance providers will be anxious to find out who can be held financially responsible— who is to blame.

The report indicates there was prior knowledge before the voyage of a loose cable connection which could have been responsible for the ship’s major 440V power system blacking out. That could be a cause of the accident since it would include the steering system and engines.

The team performing the investigation had a wide variety of members including the shipbuilder, classification society, flag-state port authorities, shipowner, and ship managers.

It may take a year to get the final report out. So no decisions are possible for quite a while.

It seems like a potential for a loose cable is something that should have been taken care of immediately if discovered. The accident occurred on 26 March. Why was it not discovered and fixed in prior inspections? I believe fixing it would have been time-consuming, causing quite a bit of lost steaming time. Were prior inspections not rigorous enough to disclose such problems? Or were the possibilities simply ignored? Maybe the lawyers will find out! See the second article below. And the US government is getting into the act (third article).

With the bridge repair costs so high, the stakes are large.

Barry Parker, New York Freelance Correspondent

September 14, 2024

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/accidents/did-a-loose-cable-connection-cause-dali-blackouts-

Sam Chambers September 18, 2024

https://splash247.com/dali-lawsuits-pile-up-in-the-us/

Barry Parker, New York Freelance Correspondent

September 18, 2024

https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/accidents/us-department-of-justice-files-100m-suit-against-dali-shipowner-manager

Your packages will cost more to ship

UPS is adding surcharges to package shipments. The ‘surge fee’ is applied to packages from China and 12 Australasian countries arriving by air.

It should result in a big revenue gain. Shipments from China to the US are up more than 20% from last year. Many of the shipments are de minimis, which means they are small in size and/or weight, and don’t need a special customs handling. The ‘surge fee’ will add 50 cents per pound to these shipments, and all others.

Do you think UPS’ volumes will take a hit? Will shippers go elsewhere? Probably. But the business may not be very profitable, and the least profitable segments will move first.

UPS has also been adding fuel surcharges to package shipments.

At some point, shippers will look elsewhere for a carrier. And meantime, your e-commerce orders will start costing more.

By Ian Putzger  29/08/2024

Surcharges add up for parcel shippers – and there may be more to come