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Recent comments: The back-chat. What it’s all about really
- Jayla Hunsinger on Slice of cake at Maersk that leaves a sour taste
- John Miele on Channel ferry operators feel the pinch yet again
- John Miele on Crying foul when there is a whiff of natural gas
- don mitchel on Installation overload may compromise ballast rules
- John Miele on A rabbit on the highway needs to move fast
- Don Mitchel on Installation overload may compromise ballast rules
- Ryan Skinner on Censorship can’t beat the tweet, so why not join it?
- Ryan Skinner on It is time to give shipping the X Factor treatment
- Dr Ivica Tijardovic on No silver bullet in BAE anti-piracy laser
- don mitchel on Installation overload may compromise ballast rules
Author Archives: Bill Barratry
Nuclear power should remain part of the fuels debate
EVENTS in Japan have led to a global rethink on nuclear power.
The sight of desperate attempts to cool nuclear reactors with water cannons and the heroic attempts by workers to reconnect electrical power to emergency systems, has led many countries to rethink their approach to nuclear power and safety.
This will eventually have a knock-on effect [...]
We have been portcentric all along — just not in name
THERE is something in this portcentric logistics stuff. Not least of which is the fact that there is nothing new about it.
At the recent conference in Birmingham on the topic — organised by London firm Navigate Events, which gets the obligatory honourable mention for first, providing a free press pass; and second, lending me a [...]
Marine policy debate is being hijacked by uninformed do-gooders
I HAVE just laboured through a recording of a UK transport select committee interrogation of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency chief executive Admiral Sir Alan Massey and its head of maritime services Philip Naylor, where they defended themselves against the cuts to its budget and Adm Massey’s four-year plan.
While Sir Alan did a very good [...]
Channel ferry operators feel the pinch yet again
IF THERE’S one class of shipowner for whom it is difficult not to feel the old sympathy strings being pulled, it is those who own and operate north European ferries and, in particular, those in the English Channel.
Back in the day — when flying was still the preserve of the gilded few before it became [...]
A good time to buy into shipping shares
THE timing is right to have a little bit of cash to spend in the shipping industry. Share prices are rocking wildly and markets are still in a jitter. Japan, the Middle East and other global calamities are distracting attention, and there are some companies sizing up potential public offerings.
A number of large shipowners — [...]
Motorways of the sea concept drives into trouble
ANY form of subsidy in the shipping and logistics markets should be looked at with suspicion, even those given for such neutral and altruistic objectives as environmental ones.
It would appear that the Motorways of the Sea concept is coming under closer scrutiny due to either European competition or environmental affairs officials. It seems that even [...]
A rabbit on the highway needs to move fast
THE Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems Association — the scrubber club as I like to call it — is saying it can deliver up to 2,000 systems to shipping in northern Europe by 2015.
If that is true, it is good news for its members, who stand to reap a hefty income from each $3m system they [...]
Can the future of fuel be found in natural gas?
I AM only just beginning to appreciate the role natural gas will play in society as a whole — and, as a result, its impact on the shipping industry.
There is a lot of talk about the use of gas as a fuel for shipping. The arguments are economical as well as environmental, that is true [...]
Pirates have rights too, whether you like it or not
‘SLIGHTLY to the right of Ghengis Khan’ is an English expression that can be used to describe people with robust conservative opinions. I am given to understand that the comparable Mongolian idiom is ‘slightly to the right of Jacob Stolt-Nielsen’.
The feisty 79-year-old stepped down two years ago as chairman at the shipping company he [...]
Crying foul when there is a whiff of natural gas