Daily Briefing April 17 2020
Free to read: Saadé says supply chains must adapt to demand swings | Class to explore uniform approach on survey postponements | Rotterdam warns throughput could fall by 20% | Airports sought to facilitate shipping crew changes
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What to watch | Analysis | Opinion | Markets | In other news
What to watch
Global supply chains will need to be redesigned following the coronavirus pandemic, says CMA CGM chief executive Rodolphe Saadé.
Classification societies will consider a collective approach to postponing statutory and classifications surveys for vessels in response to the coronavirus, a move that could also accelerate the transition to remote surveys.
Rotterdam, the largest container port in Europe, expects full-year throughput to fall by up to one fifth as the coronavirus pandemic takes its toll on economic activity.
Airlines are uniting with shipowners to push governments to pick airports that will offer flights facilitating crew changes, which travel restrictions governments have imposed in response to the coronavirus.
Analysis
While it is unlikely autonomous harbour tugs will be operating in European ports by 2025, a steady stream of technological upgrades is paving the way for remotely controlled towage work, Svitzer Europe managing director Kasper Friis Nilaus tells Lloyd’s List.
Opinion
Tributes have been paid to former National Magazines chief executive Terry Mansfield who passed away last month after contracting coronavirus. He was 81.
Markets
Singapore’s leading shipyards are being forced to halt or suspend some operations as new confirmed coronavirus cases surged among foreign workers housed at dormitories.
Heeding feedback on the ground, Singapore has stepped up enforcing MFM mandates on its licensed players. It has revoked several licences but is still ahead of the pack despite running on a smaller pool of licensed suppliers.
Singapore’s maritime leaders face the constant challenge of having to think outside the box to ensure the sector stays relevant. The ‘just-in-time’ initiative promoted by the MPA incorporates concurrent bunkering — ships can refuel while loading and unloading cargoes.
In other news
Washington state’s Northwest Seaport Alliance has joined other ports along the US Pacific coast in announcing sharply reduced container throughput for March due to blank sailings resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
Chemical tankers company Stolt-Nielsen said the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic have “substantially altered” its outlook for 2020.
The shutdown over the Easter weekend of Mediterranean Shipping Co’s website was a cyber attack, the company has confirmed.
Jera, the world’s largest single liquefied natural gas importer, is coming on board to co-invest in the Barossa field development off Australia’s Northern Territory.
Ships transiting waters of the Middle East Gulf are once again on alert after 11 Iranian military speedboats engaged in “dangerous and provocative actions” near US naval vessels in the region, the US Navy said.