Piracy and armed robbery at sea has fallen to its lowest levels since 1995, despite a surge in kidnappings off West Africa, according to a new report from the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

IMB’s global piracy report shows 98 incidents in the first half of 2016, compared with 134 for the same period in 2015. When piracy was at its highest, in 2010 and 2003, IMB recorded 445 attacks a year.

In the first half of 2016, IMB recorded 72 vessels boarded, five hijackings, and a further 12 attempted attacks. Nine ships were fired upon. Sixty-four crew were taken hostage onboard, down from 250 in the same period last year.

“This drop in world piracy is encouraging news. Two main factors are recent improvements around Indonesia, and the continued deterrence of Somali pirates off East Africa,” said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB, whose global Piracy Reporting Centre has supported the shipping industry, authorities and navies for 25 years.

“But ships need to stay vigilant, maintain security and report all attacks, as the threat of piracy remains, particularly off Somalia and in the Gulf of Guinea,” he said.

Nigeria the world’s piracy kidnapping hotspot

Despite global improvements, kidnappings are on the rise, with 44 crew captured for ransom in 2016, 24 of them in Nigeria, up from 10 in the first half of 2015.

“In the Gulf of Guinea, rather than oil tankers being hijacked for their cargo, there is an increasing number of incidents of crew being kidnapped for ransom,” said Captain Mukundan.

The Gulf of Guinea accounted for seven of the world’s 10 kidnapping incidents, with armed gangs boarding vessels 30 to 120 NM from shore. Nigerian attacks are often violent, accounting for eight of the nine vessels fired upon worldwide. IMB says many further assaults go unreported by shipowners.

IMB reported two further kidnap incidents off Sabah, where tugs and barges were targeted. And in early June, a tug and barge was hijacked off Balingian, Sarawak in Malaysia and its palm oil cargo stolen.

Improvements in Indonesia

IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre has been working closely with the Indonesian authorities to improve security at sea and in ports.

Low-level theft to ships at anchor has been brought down by introducing designated anchorages with improved security. This has contributed to a fall in the number of incidents in Indonesia to 24 in the first six months of 2016, compared with 54 in the same period in 2015.

IMB also applauded the Indonesian Navy’s prompt response in recovering a hijacked product tanker, south of Pulau Serutu, off west Kalimantan in May, saying: “This is exactly the type of robust response required in response to such threats.” Nine pirates were apprehended and the crew of the tanker unharmed.

The IMB Piracy Reporting Centre is the world’s only independent office to receive reports of pirate attacks 24-hours-a-day from across the globe. IMB strongly urges all shipmasters and owners to report all actual, attempted and suspected piracy and armed robbery incidents to the local authorities as well as the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre. This first step in the response chain is vital to ensuring that adequate resources are allocated by authorities to tackle piracy. Transparent statistics from an independent, non-political, international organization can act as a catalyst to achieve this goal.

Source: IMB (International Maritime Bureau)

The European Commission’s newly published communication on a European Strategy for low-emission mobility rightly points out that all transport sectors need to contribute towards reducing the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants.

“We believe that shipping obviously must be part of the global solutions to limit the increase in the global temperature as we clearly are also a global contributor to the carbon emissions”, commented ECSA Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven.

“We fully agree with the aim of the EU to secure a robust and mandatory global agreement for the collection and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping in the International Maritime Organisation as mentioned in the Commission’s communication. We also look forward to seeing a proposal to align the EU MRV Regulation with the global system. Finally, we support the Commission in ensuring that IMO timely delivers on the next steps. We believe that a global agreement is both needed and possible”, he added.

Shipping is today one of the most energy-efficient modes of transport. The sector transports approximately 90\% of world trade and is only responsible for 2,2\% of the global CO2 emissions. However, a recent IMO study predicts that shipping’s CO2 emissions may increase between 50 and 250\% in the worst case scenario by 2050 as the traffic increases, unless preventive measures are taken.

The international shipping industry is committed to developing CO2 reductions across the world merchant fleet that are both ambitious and realistic.

“Overall, we welcome the comprehensive approach of the EU strategy, which focuses also on supporting multi-modality, alternative fuels, digitalisation and innovation”, Patrick Verhoeven concluded

source:ECSA

Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (“Navios Partners” or the “Company”) (NYSE:NMM), an international owner and operator of container and dry bulk vessels, announced today the appointment of Mr. Lampros Theodorou to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Theodorou founded Garnet & Associates Inc. in 2014 and has been Director since that time. For almost 20 years, Mr. Theodorou worked at EFG Eurobank S.A., most recently as Deputy General Manager and head of the Shipping Unit. Mr. Theodorou has served as a non-executive director of Paragon Shipping Inc. for the period May 2015 to April 2016. Mr. Theodorou earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Piraeus and a master’s degree in Business Operations from the University of Arkansas.

“We are delighted Mr. Theodorou has joined our board and believe that his deep understanding of shipping and finance will significantly benefit the Company,” said Ms. Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and CEO of Navios Maritime Partners L.P.

Navios Partners has also announced that John Karakadas, a director of Navios Partners’ since October 2007, has resigned. Ms. Frangou commented, “We thank Mr. Karakadas for his valuable contribution and his good service to the Company. We wish him well in his future ventures.”

About Navios Maritime Partners L.P.
Navios Partners (NYSE: NMM) is a publicly traded master limited partnership which owns and operates container and dry cargo vessels. For more information, please visit our website at www.navios-mlp.com.

As we are now over half way through the year, we have taken a quick look at the number and value of all the 2016 built vessels that have been delivered so far vs how many are still yet to be delivered.

So far this year $28.4bn worth of vessels have been delivered however there is still $43.8bn is left on the orderbook.

Please see the attached spreadsheet for a breakdown by each shiptype, showing the total number, size (dwt, teu, cbm) and market value for all 2016 built vessels.

LPG deliveries are on track for the year, with 50\% of the 2016 orderbook having been delivered (worth $3.0bn). However there is still 80\% of the OSV orderbook still undelivered, valued at $5.5bn. Our Valuation Analysts say many of the undelivered vessels in underperforming markets are candidates for slippage: the vessel's delivery date may be pushed back into the next few years.

 Delivered vs Undelivered 2016 Orderbook

 Delivered vs Undelivered 2016 Orderbook data

 

source: Vessel Value

The three shipping companies of the Offen Group, CPO Container, CPO Tanker and CPO Bulker, have decided to implement DNV GL’s e-learning course “Energy Efficiency on Board” across their entire fleet.

(from left to right): André Grabow (DNV GL), Madeleine Engelhardt, Dietmar Thiem, Nicole Ritter (all CPO Container), Jens-C. Ketels (CPO Crewing), Alisa Ban-Rodić (DNV GL), Björn-Hendrik Salecker (CPO Tanker and Bulker)

The E-learning tool, developed by DNV GL’s Maritime Academy, enables users to identify potential savings in a simple way and to implement them in ship operation.

"As a large modern shipping company, we are always interested in innovative concepts and are constantly working to further extend our high quality standards in all areas," says Dietmar Thiem, Technical Director at CPO Container. "With the use of e-learning, we can achieve an increased awareness on board and are able to identify and implement further energy-saving strategies.”

The fleet of the Offen Group currently comprises 67 container ships, 8 bulk carriers and 26 tankers. More than 700 masters, senior engineers and ship officers are being trained with the e-learning tool and made aware about simple ways to improve energy efficiency by changing crew behaviour and optimizing how equipment is used on board.

The individual modules outline a number of ways to increase energy efficiency looking at resistance, propulsion, main and auxiliary engines. The various modules handle practical and theoretical aspects of on-board operations, such as trim and ballast optimization, potential savings with propeller and rudder, as well as options for better route planning.

In collaboration with the Offen Group, DNV GL’s Maritime Academy developed a customized solution in which the basic modules of the e-learning tool were complemented by the actual business processes and software applications used on board CPO vessels. Thus, daily routines are documented in the course content and can be implemented directly by the crew. Integrating the shipping company's own internal systems into the tool made it more user-friendly and acceptable for the crew.

The course explains in a systematic way how and where the individual measures can be implemented, what impact the benefits of the improved processes have on ship operations and what the potential savings can be.

"Besides the technical background and understanding the concepts, good communication and teamwork are also vital for improved energy efficiency," says Dietmar Thiem. "Therefore we are pleased that both parts are included in the training and that our crew will be not only trained in an optimal manner but also required to function as a team."

source: DNV-GL

MONACO, June 28, 2016 – Navios Maritime Partners L.P. (“Navios Partners” or the “Company”) (NYSE: NMM), an international owner and operator of container and dry bulk vessels, announced today the appointment of Mr. Lampros Theodorou to its Board of Directors.

Mr. Theodorou founded Garnet & Associates Inc. in 2014 and has been Director since that time. For almost 20 years, Mr. Theodorou worked at EFG Eurobank S.A., most recently as Deputy General Manager and head of the Shipping Unit. Mr. Theodorou has served as a non-executive director of Paragon Shipping Inc. for the period May 2015 to April 2016. Mr. Theodorou earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Piraeus and a master’s degree in Business Operations from the University of Arkansas.

“We are delighted Mr. Theodorou has joined our board and believe that his deep understanding of shipping and finance will significantly benefit the Company,” said Ms. Angeliki Frangou, Chairman and CEO of Navios Maritime Partners L.P.

Navios Partners has also announced that John Karakadas, a director of Navios Partners’ since October 2007, has resigned. Ms. Frangou commented, “We thank Mr. Karakadas for his valuable contribution and his good service to the Company. We wish him well in his future ventures.”

About Navios Maritime Partners L.P. Navios Partners (NYSE: NMM) is a publicly traded master limited partnership which owns and operates container and dry cargo vessels. For more information, please visit our website at www.navios-mlp.com.

RINA S.p.A, the holding company of the multinational testing, inspection, certification and consulting engineering group based in Genoa, Italy, is pleased to announce that it has closed its acquisition of the entire share capital of Edif Group Limited for £118.5 million (around €151 million).

High levels of synergy can be seen between Edif and RINA’s services, complementing and expanding RINA’s existing industry services and geographic network. This strategic acquisition also allows RINA to branch into new areas within its industries and geographies, providing an enhanced service offering to new and existing clients. This growth will provide extensive global coverage and strengthen RINA’s presence in key sectors, including defence, energy, transport, built environment and infrastructure.

RINA was established as a classification society in Genoa, Italy, in 1861 to meet the needs of the shipping world. The company has since diversified and today is a multinational provider of testing, inspection, certification and engineering consultancy services to organisations in the energy, marine, business assurance and transport and infrastructure markets.

Edif Group is a leading worldwide provider of a diverse range of technical inspection and engineering consultancy services designed to reduce risk, optimise performance and enhance capability within multiple industries. Edif is headquartered in London, UK, and employs approximately 650 employees and 2,500 associates in over 20 offices internationally, including the UK, the US, Germany, Italy, Canada, Saudi Arabia, China, Singapore, Australia and South Africa.

For EDIF being part of the RINA Group will strengthen the company’s access to new markets through cooperation with RINA’s offices throughout the world. By working together the company, as a larger entity, will be able to more effectively compete for larger contracts with the energy majors and expand its presence in the US, a geographical market that the RINA Group sees as a platform for ongoing growth.

Ugo Salerno, Chairman and CEO of RINA, said: “Our strategic acquisitions, continued investment in research and development and training have resulted in a unique skill set that covers the certification of management systems, products, installations and personnel for companies operating worldwide and of all sizes. Due to the complementary nature of the business, integration will be straightforward, taking place over the next 18 months. Our philosophy is to grow companies within the group. As people are the most important asset of a service company, we will combine resources from both organisations to optimise integration and the potential of both organisations.”

With this deal RINA’s turnover reaches about €500 million with an EBITDA close to €65 million. This will enable the company to possibly go public in the medium term. RINA’s shareholders and financial partners, will guarantee further funds for pursuing an acquisitive growth path. Following the acquisition, there will be an ongoing acquisition pipeline, which aims to expand the two companies further.

About RINA (http://www.rinagroup.org)

RINA was established in Italy (Genoa) in 1861 as a classification society to meet the needs of the shipping world. The company has since diversified and today is a multinational provider of testing, inspection, certification and engineering consultancy services to organisations in the Energy, Marine, Business Assurance and Transport & Infrastructure markets.

The company’s strategic acquisitions, continuous investment in R&D and training have resulted in a unique skill set covering the certification of management systems, products, installations and the personnel for companies of all sizes operating anywhere in the world.

As an independent company we deliver our services in full compliance with the principles of professional ethics, impartiality, transparency, confidentiality and social accountability.

RINA has an estimated turnover of over €375 million in 2015, over 3,000 employees and 1,500 associates and is present in 163 offices in 60 countries worldwide.

About Edif Group (http://www.edifgroup.com)

For critical industries and environments world-wide, Edif Group provides technical inspection, and engineering consultancy services to reduce risk, optimise performance and enhance capability.

Edif Group is formed of two companies, Edif ERA and Edif NDE, comprising more than 100 years of brand history. Our long term customer relationships are built on an ongoing commitment to broaden services, deepen sector experience and an ability to respond quickly to needs on a local and global scale.

The Edif Group achieved turnover of over £77.8 million on a pro forma basis in 2015 and is present in 20 offices internationally. The company has about 650 employees and over 2,500 associates. The company was recently recognised in the London Stock Exchange’s 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain report 2016, for the second year running.