As the 2020 CSR Project immensely contributed to the welfare of the physically handicapped children who are currently undergoing treatment at the Physiotherapy unit of Lady Ridgeway Hospital, SLANA ExCo decided to continue the donation of children’s wheelchairs in 2021 as well. Together with SLANA funds and contributions from members, we were able to donate 33 children’s wheelchairs to Lady Ridgeway Hospital on 22nd July 2021. These wheelchairs consisted of 24 standard children’s wheelchairs and 9 commode type, special wheelchairs. SLANA wishes to thank all its member companies and the individuals who came forward to sponsor the additional wheelchairs; we look forward to donating more in the near future.

Since January 2021, SLANA has been part of the shipping & logistics industry stakeholders discussion group convened by DGMS to discuss local charges levied by Shipping & NVOCC Agents, Freight Forwarders, and cargo de-consolidators. SLANA ExCo members took part in many discussion meetings and sub-committee meetings leading up to DGMS issuing guidelines on 17th June 2021, for the maximum chargeable Delivery Order Fees for FCL & LCL import shipments. SLANA continues to engage DGMS and Officials of the Ministry of Ports and Shipping in this regard.

SLANA Chairman – Harsha De Silva took part in a panel discussion on the “New Normal in Shipping” which was organized by YoungShip Sri Lanka. The other members of the panel consisted of CASA Chairman – Iqram Cuttilan, SLAVO Chairman – Shamal Perera, SLFFA Chairman – Roshan Silva, Shippers Council Vice Chairman – Imalka Kumarapeli, and the moderator was YoungShip’s patron – Navin Perera. The panel discussion included current shipping trends affecting the imports & exports of Sri Lanka, such as lack of container equipment, space crunch on mainline & feeder vessels, rising freight rates, regulation of local charges including D/O fees, etc.

This panel discussion gave SLANA an ideal opportunity to inform the viewers of the unique operating model of Nvocc Lines active in Sri Lanka, and also the benefits brought by Nvocc Lines to local importers & exporters who cater to trade between Sri Lanka and the Indian Sub-Continent, Middle East-Gulf, and South East Asian Ports including base ports in China. The panelists all shared the same view in terms of accepting the regional competitiveness, agreeing on a common strategy with a long-term plan to assist the local trade. They sighted the dire need to have a joint discussion with all the stakeholders and to plan for the future than arrive at hasty short-term decisions which could result in long-term impacts on the economy of Sri Lanka. This panel discussion was recorded live on 7th August 2021 and was uploaded by YoungShip on YouTube.

The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, Sri Lanka branch held its 27th annual award ceremony on Friday 26th March 2021, at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel. It was ICS’s 19th year conducting independent customer service surveys for shipping line agents and Inland Container Depot Operators. A special feature this year was the inclusion of two awards under a new category for Agents of Non-Vessel Operating Container Carriers. The Sri Lanka Association of NVOCC Agents partnered with ICS Sri Lanka to enable NVOCC Agents to take part in the independent customer service survey. The Customer Survey process involved each NVOCC Agent submitting their laden container import & export volumes for the year 2020. Thereafter the independent survey company “Emetsoft” through their statistical analysis selects the NVOCC Agents eligible to take part in next process. The final process involves the top importers & exporters using an online voting platform to vote for the NVOCC Agent providing the best customer service levels. While over 10 NVOCC Agents took part in this category, the inaugural winners of the ICS-SLANA Awards were “Goodrich Lanka Pvt Ltd” who won the Best Customer Service for Outbound Trade, and “McLarens Logistics Ltd” who won the Best Customer Service for Inbound Trade. SLANA Executive Committee encourages all members to participate in next year’s ICS customer service surveys.

The non-mandatory SIP, prepared by the IMO to assist owners on the use of compliant 0.5% sulphur fuel, can be filled in to help them plan and demonstrate the steps taken by ships when using the low sulphur bunkers from 1 January 2020.

While major owners have publicly announced their plans to comply with IMO 2020 this is not the case for the wider industry.

“We urge all operators to have that implementation plan,” said Ian Adams, executive director of Clean Shipping Alliance (CSA) 2020.

Douglas Raitt, global FOBAS manager at Lloyd’s Register, said: “The shipping industry is extremely ill-prepared. Even this week owners are asking me to help them do the SIP – about three months before 2020. Not possible.”

The elements of the SIP cover a risk assessment and mitigation plan regarding the impact of new fuels, fuel oil system modifications and tank cleaning if needed, fuel oil capacity and segregation capability, and bunkering plans in the lead up to the compliance date.

At present, the world’s fleet consumes a rough estimate of between 180-265m tonnes of bunkers annually, and 90% of the volume is HSFO and 10% is gas oil or distillates. This figure is estimated to change to 96% of volume using the 0.5% compliant fuel, 3% continuing using high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) alongside scrubbers, and less than 1% on alternative fuels including LNG.

Read more: Record keeping vital to explaining IMO 2020 non-compliance

Captain Rahul Choudhuri, managing director at Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) in Asia, noted that a lot of owners that he spoke to are planning to set aside 10% of their fuel needs as HSFO under scrubbers.

The use of scrubbers, however, has raised controversy over the discharge of washwater back into the seas, particularly in open-loop scrubber systems.

Adams of CSA 2020 expresses regret that while the facts are there on the benefits of scrubbers, open-loop ban still exists in some countries such as Singapore, China and Fujairah in the UAE. “There are people who are less than positive on scrubbers, but not necessarily based on scientific reasons,” Adams said.

CSA 2020, which supports the use and effectiveness of exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS) in meeting global emissions reductions targets, is anticipating scrubber installations to increase over the next three to four years beyond 2020, in particular for newbuilds but depending on the price spread between HSFO and the 0.5% compliant fuel.

Valerie Chatterley, industrial chemist and environmental systems & compliance consultant at Carnival Corporation, shared that six studies, including the Koski 2017, Carnival Corp-DNVGL 2019, Japan MLIT 2019, and CE Delft 2019, have all shown that the use of scrubbers are a safe and effective means of complying with IMO 2020.

Despite the alarmist warnings of ships being hijacked in a cyber-attack IEC Telecom warns the real threat comes from staff carelessly downloading a virus by not following procedures.

Nabil Ben Soussia, vice president maritime of IEC Telecom, said that companies need to redefine policies to take into account cyber security.

“Too many companies treat digital security as an after-thought and do not have suitable policies and procedures in place,” warned Ben Soussia, who is speaking at Seatrade ShipTech Middle East, in Dubai on Tuesday.

“There is a lack of awareness of how one silly slip-up, like downloading a virus from the internet or a memory stick, can destroy your working environment.”

One of the concerns in cyber security in the maritime space is allowing the crew on board vessel to access the internet for personal use, something which Ben Soussia sees at essential. “The new generation are hopeless without the internet,” he said “they find everything via google or YouTube.”

He said that it is easy to provide internet access for the crew without compromising cyber security on the vessel. “It’s a case of managing the corporate environment,” Ben Soussia said. “You need to secure critical systems in a closed network with limited and protected access from certain terminals only, strictly implement proper policies and properly train crew.”

Bunker supply specialist Monjasa, which has a strong presence in the Middle East, recently carried out its first ship-to-ship supply of a new bunker fuel with a maximum 0.5% sulphur content. The operation, part of its efforts to help clients comply with the forthcoming IMO 2020 regulations, was completed in Southampton, UK, and included the supply of low sulphur VLSFO and conventional MGO fuels.

The next step for Monjasa is to build on this experience and roll out VLSFO supplies on a global scale. In the Middle East, VLSFO will be sourced in Fujairah, the company reports, and three Monjasa-operated tankers will be making VLSFO available across port areas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah as well as the Gulf of Oman.

Monjasa recently secured five tankers, totalling 37,500dwt, strengthening its position within the supply chain across core markets in the Arabian Gulf, West Africa and the Panama Canal. These five tankers can segregate between two and six different types of oil products onboard. Monjasa took delivery of the first two tankers in Dubai in August and the remainder will be delivered over the next few months. In total, Monjasa now controls some 20 tankers globally of which