COS Weekly Newsletter - Friday, 25 February 2022

DP World and the Prince Rupert Port Authority have entered into a two-year agreement to assess the feasibility of an innovative new container terminal project in Prince Rupert. The potential project would add up to 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of annual capacity to the Port of Prince Rupert, significantly increasing Canadian trade capacity with critical Asia-Pacific markets, with considerable potential employment and economic impacts that will bolster the western Canadian economy.

As illustrated by the Fairview Terminal Expansion and this proposal for a second terminal, competitive, balanced, and resilient Canadian supply chains continue to be a priority for DP World and the Prince Rupert Port Authority. Once the study period is complete, both partners will finalize a definitive project development plan that will be subject to regulatory review and authorization. The partners are committed to incorporating Indigenous knowledge and feedback into its planning and development process and continuing to entrench Indigenous economic interests in the Port of Prince Rupert’s ongoing development.

Ocean Group has announced that it has entered into a 10-year agreement with the Port of Vancouver to provide port towing services at the two Roberts Bank terminals, Deltaport and Westshore Terminals. Starting July 19, Ocean Group will mobilize two DAMEN ASD Tug 2813 tugs equipped with fire fighting systems and IMO Tier III engines, starting July 19. In addition to being proud partners of the port in the ECHO program, Ocean Group meets the highest environmental standards for motorization in Canada. Ocean Group began operations in the Port of Vancouver in March 2020 with two tugs. Since then, the company has significantly increased the number of its tugs present in this territory with the arrival of new state-of-the-art tugs, and then with the acquisition of Samson Tugboats. Starting next July, Ocean Group will have eight (8) port tugs in the Vancouver area to serve its customers.

The Board of Directors of Trans Mountain Corporation has announced that Ian Anderson will retire from his position as President and CEO of Trans Mountain Corporation on April 1, 2022.  As the Board Chair William Downe said, “Ian led a Project that continues to progress while setting new standards for major pipeline project execution, including unprecedented levels of involvement from Indigenous Peoples and communities. Ian’s passion and commitment to Indigenous reconciliation in this country has transformed many communities that his work touched." The Board of Directors has started a process to select a replacement.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has completed its farm income forecast for 2021 and 2022, and the results show that Canadian farm income reached record levels in 2021. Despite COVID-19, the drought in Western Canada, the floods in British Columbia and other trade disruptions, the overall agriculture sector saw growth in 2021 and is expected to continue to perform well in 2022. While every farm faces unique circumstances and will have experienced the last year differently, this continued growth of overall farm income shows that the sector is resilient in the face of significant disruptions. Net Cash Income (NCI) for 2021 is forecast to have grown by 49 percent, from $17.8 billion in 2020 to $26.6 billion in 2021, mainly due to higher commodity prices. This represents a new record, exceeding the mark established in 2020.

Looking ahead to 2022, Net Cash Income is forecast to decline 25.8 per cent to $19.7 billion due to the impact of the 2021 Western Canada drought on supply going to market in the first half of the year. While this might be viewed as a substantial decrease, it is relative to the record levels of 2021; the forecast for 2022 would still be the second-strongest year on record. Average net worth of farms in Canada is also forecast to remain strong for 2022.

The US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced nearly $450 million in new grant funding for port-related projects through the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP)—by far the largest investment in the program ever. These grants can help ports expand capacity and improve the movement of goods through our supply chains. This funding is made possible by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is nearly double last year’s investment in PIDP for states and port authorities. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will invest $17 billion in ports and waterways.  PIDP grants are awarded on a competitive basis to support projects that will improve the movement of goods to, through and around ports. Furthermore, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law calls upon applicants to explore ways to include projects that will improve goods movement while also strengthening resilience, reducing emissions, and advancing environmental justice.

 

Russian forces captured Zmiinyi (Snake) Island during the first day of its invasion of Ukraine. The island located in the Black Sea near Danube Delta plays an important role in delimiting Ukranian territorial waters. The attacks on Ukraine's coast threatens loss of key naval bases as well as critical shipbuilding capacity.

Yesterday, the Turkish-owned bulk carrier Yasa Jupiter was also hit by a missile off the coast of Odessa, sustaining slight damage and becoming the first confirmed merchant ship casualty of war following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Since then two other ships have been hit by missiles in the Black Sea: the Moldova-flagged chemical tanker Millennial Spirit and the Panama-flagged bulk carrier Namura Queen.  The Merchant Marine Directorate of the Panama Maritime Authority  (AMP) has urged all Panamanian-flagged ships to avoid transiting through Ukrainian and Russian waters in the Black Sea (located between Eastern Europe and Western Asia) and the Azov Sea. (located northeast of the Crimean peninsula, between Russia and Ukraine). The US Department of Transport has indicated that one of the risks vessels may experience is GPS interference, AIS spoofing, and/or other communications jamming when navigating in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

On February 24th, it was indicated that NATO had more than 120 allied ships "from the high north to the Mediterranean and more than 100 jets on high alert," however, there are currently no NATO naval assets providing reinforcement in the Black Seas itself.

Salvage crews boarded the Felicity Ace merchant ship that caught fire with a cargo of luxury Porsche , Bentley, Lamborghini, Audi and Volkswagen vehicles, and the ship is now under tow to a safe location off the Portuguese Azores archipelago.  The 60,000-ton Panama-flagged ship carrying about 4,000 of the world’s most-expensive car models, including electric vehicles, caught fire off Portugal’s Azores islands last week and burned intensely for days. Two large firefighting capable tugboats from Gibraltar sprayed the ship’s exterior to cool it down and weaken the blaze. The cause of the fire is still unknown and insurance exports are estimating losses of US$155 million. The 22-member crew was rescued without injury after abandoning the burning ship.

Dutch marine biofuels supplier GoodFuels has opened its office in Singapore to serve the demand for sustainable marine biofuel in the Asia-Pacific region. The Singapore office will be GoodFuels’ second office in addition to being its first outside of Europe. Its advanced biofuels come from feedstocks that are 100 percent waste or residue, and reduce GHG emissions from a ship by up to 90 percent. GoodFuels will source and deliver its biofuels directly to one of the world’s most important shipping hubs, offering “drop-in” conventional tanks to cut carbon emissions without requiring any alterations to the fuel infrastructure or marine engines.

Shanghai Port will become China’s first port with Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunkering service capability, now that the first comprehensive local regulations on the Lin-gang Special Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone have been approved. The regulations will be put into force on March 1, 2022 and Shanghai Port will witness the first order for LNG bunkering business in mid March. Enterprises administered by the Lin-gang Special Area can pilot new types of fuel-bunkering business on international navigation ships after winning approval.

The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonization (GCMD) and Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping have partnered to boost the shipping industry’s decarbonization agenda. Through this partnership, the two centers will share best practices and knowledge and explore opportunities for low- and zero-carbon technologies by combining their research capabilities to identify opportunities and deliver pilot projects. This partnership can also add value in identifying and creating green corridors to meaningfully scale pilots and demonstrations.

Finnish technology company Wärtsilä, Swedish ferry company Stena Line, and Canadian supplier of methanol Methanex Corporation have marked almost seven years of the successful operation of the methanol-fuelled ferry Stena Germanica. This is the first ship in the world to run on methanol as a marine fuel, signifying a major milestone in the continued shift towards a more sustainable future for commercial shipping in line with the industry’s decarbonization efforts.

Stena Germanica was converted to be capable of running on methanol fuel at Remontowa Shipyard in Poland in early 2015. The 240-metre long ferry, with a capacity for 1,500 passengers and 300 cars, was retrofitted with a first-of-its-kind fuel-flexible Wärtsilä 4-stroke engine that can run on methanol or traditional marine fuels.

The ferry began the world’s first methanol-powered sailings between Gothenburg, Sweden and Kiel, Germany in late March 2015.