by Canadian Sailings | May 16, 2018 | Environment, Government and Regulation, Ocean, Ocean Carriers
By Alexander Whiteman
MEPs (Members of the European Parliament) have told the International Maritime Organization there can be no exceptions or exemptions in the fight against climate change and are demanding immediate action to cut shipping emissions. In an open letter to EU member states and the IMO, MEPS from Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden say that despite shipping creating emissions equal to all of those created in the Netherlands, it remains the only sector not included in the European commitment to the Paris Agreement. (more…)
by Canadian Sailings | May 16, 2018 | Environment, Ocean, Ocean Carriers
By Mike Wackett
With just over 18 months until the IMO’s 0.5 per cent sulphur cap regulations come into force, major container lines are undecided on their future fuel strategy. Come 1 January 2020, ships not powered by LNG must either use more-expensive low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO), or be fitted with an exhaust gas cleaning system (known as scrubbers) in order to continue burning heavy fuel oil (HFO). (more…)
by Canadian Sailings | May 16, 2018 | Environment, Government and Regulation, Ocean, Ocean Carriers
By Alexander Whiteman
So what is the truth about shipping emissions?
The IMO has decided to cut 2008 levels of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by at least 50 per cent by 2050 – but not all in the industry are convinced. A recent comment piece in Splash 24/7, by First International Chairman Paul Slater, questioned shipping’s role in climate change, calling the IMO’s proposed plan “fatuous, unrealistic and unnecessary”. He wrote: “The CO2 issue has been grossly overstated…It has been shown that [shipping’s] CO2 is absorbed by seawater without damaging results”. He also claimed to The Loadstar that there was no evidence that polar ice was melting. (more…)
by Canadian Sailings | Feb 25, 2018 | Bruce Striegler, Business and Economy, Ocean, Ocean Carriers, Other
By R. Bruce Striegler
Viterra Inc.’s Vancouver Cascadia and Pacific Terminals
Viterra operates six port facilities in its network, shipping grains, oilseeds and pulses to customers in over fifty countries. This includes the Cascadia and Pacific Terminals at the Port of Vancouver. The Cascadia terminal handles wheat, durum, canola, barley and rye, with a storage capacity of 280,000 tonnes. Over the past several years, Viterra invested more than $100 million in the Pacific Terminal, which opened in 2016 and tripled the terminal’s annual handling capacity to more than six million tonnes. Originally constructed in the 1920s, the Pacific Terminal is comprised of the original National Harbours Board facility and the original Alberta Pacific Grain Co. Viterra assumed ownership in 2007.
(more…)
by Canadian Sailings | Feb 4, 2018 | Business and Economy, Ocean, Other, Ports and Terminals
By Brian Dunn
Although the town of Sept-Îles has a population of only 25,000, it punches above its weight in maritime shipping and is one of the bigger terminal operations for Quebec Stevedoring Co. Ltd. (QSL) which has 30 port facilities, stretching from St. John’s in the east to Chicago in the west.
It’s not only mining that drives QSL, although it accounts for the bulk of its business in Sept-Îles, according to QSL CEO Robert Bellisle who noted the company will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2018.
(more…)
by Canadian Sailings | Feb 4, 2018 | Business and Economy, Mark Cardwell, Ocean, Other, Ports and Terminals, St. Lawrence, Seaway and Great Lakes
By Mark Cardwell
The port of Sept-Îles is quickly becoming a popular international cruise ship destination in Eastern Canada. Eight years after its inaugural cruise season, when it welcomed three ships with 5,000 passengers, the port was visited eight times by five different ships carrying a total of 8,000 passengers during the 2017 sailing season.
The last and most notable visit was an unexpected stopover by the Queen Mary 2. The 350-metre-long ship was scheduled to make its inaugural visit to Sept-Îles on Sept. 28, 2018. However, the Cunard-owned transatlantic ocean liner made an unscheduled stop on October 2, and berthed there from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The 8-hour stop was booked just two weeks earlier to replace a visit to the port of Gaspé that Cunard cancelled over the speed limit that Canada imposed in a section of the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to protect endangered right whales.
(more…)
