Tag Archives: Shipping

Shipping must review LNG use, as methane’s role in climate change is revealed

Posted on August 18, 2021 by | 1 comment

It seems polluting gases come from every burned fuel. Now we find that LNG, a fuel that is reputedly cleaner than heavy diesel oil for ships, is likely to create ‘leaked methane’ around the cylinders, allowing it to escape to the open air.

Apparently there are two types of LNG engines: one with ‘tight’ cylinders, and one with ‘loose’ cylinders. The ones with loose cylinders are much cheaper to install, but also leak the methane most. It’s thought that carriers will tend to install the cheaper ones.

By Nick Savvides 06/08/2021

https://theloadstar.com/shipping-must-review-lng-use-as-methane-role-in-climate-change-is-revealed/

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Sustainability

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Unintended consequences -UK customs and Brexit

Posted on June 13, 2021 by | 1 comment

Today’s news brings more info on unintended consequences of Brexit. I submit this could be fairly serious in thelong run, and make customs essentially unenforceable from EU to the UK.

Apparently it takes customs a long time to process the forms required to import from the EU. MNow EU shippers could use a broker to file the forms. The charge for that is small. But if the broker in the UK files the forms, they are also making themselves liable for nonpayment of the customs duty. Often this duty is quite large. And the UK customs (HMRC) cannot go after the EU cargo owner– the law isn’t in effect there. So who do they go after? The local UK brokerage.

Brokers in the UK simply cannot afford this risk, so they will quit brokering cargo from the UK. And the HMRC will have nowhere to go to collect duties.

I’m not sure what can be done to unwind this, either. Brexit will untimately break the agreements on duties that were in place, in favor of self-determination. So the UK will have to ‘self-determine’ how to collect duties. Do we go back to customs patrols and ship searches? You can bet there will be plenty of cheating by failure to file forms, on the part of EU cargo owners, perhaps even smuggling. The nightmares of the 19th century are before us.

Serious threat to UK customs duty revenue as backlog of declarations grows – The Loadstar

By Alex Whiteman, Brexit reporter 07/06/2021

Serious threat to UK customs duty revenue as backlog of declarations grows – The Loadstar

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Supply Chains

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Can green shipping scheme learn to ‘herd cats’?

Posted on October 10, 2020 by | 1 comment

This article provides a valuable perspective on sustainability. There seems to be, despite all odds, a rising tide of concern about the environment and sustainability behavior for maritime firms. Investors and insurers are starting to pay close attention to how ocean carriers and ships themselves are matching up to green standards. They want disclosure and frequent reporting of consistent, meaningful measures, not greenwashing.

So the odd news release isn’t enough. A company needs a sustainability charter and plan with measures of their progress in greening their business. It’s costly if you actually have to do concrete things, like replacing ships, installing scrubbers, and taking care of seafarers. Some companies are far ahead of others on this path. And it seems that now those firms will attract the investment they need, whereas others will need to work much harder to get it, at potentially higher rates.

It’s good for sustainability, and for the global environment. Economic pressure is what gets sustainability done.

Greg Miller, Senior Editor Thursday, October 8, 2020

Can green shipping scheme lick ‘herding cats’ dilemma? – FreightWaves

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Sustainability

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