We look back over our most read stories from the year to revisit the topics that your reading habits revealed as key issues in the maritime industry in 2022
Sitting at the knife-edge of geopolitics this year, the most read stories from 2022 in Tanker Shipping & Trade reflect both the impact that a war in Europe and the sanctions that followed targeting aggressor, Russia, and the need for tanker owners and operators to continue to push ahead with vessel efficiency improvements.
1. More vessels attacked, detained as Russian invasion’s spillover into shipping expands
Multiple vessels were damaged, with casualties reported, and other vessels detained, as the Russia-led conflict in Europe spilled over into commercial spheres. Reports of vessels being hit by missiles in the vicinity of Odessa, on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, followed the 24 February report of Turkey-owned bulker vesselYasa Jupiterbeing hit by a Russian missile as it transited the Black Seabetween Odessa and Romanian waters.
2. Are charterers aware of the impact on CII from overcleaning?
Charterers appear unaware that overcleaning cargo tanks is an environmental, safety and economic strain, writes L&I director Guy Johnson. It must be recognised that the overwhelming majority of cargo contamination cases are not derived from contamination that is left on the surface of the cargo tanks after tank cleaning: they are derived from contaminants that are trapped in the cargo line system (ship or shore) /or contaminants that are retained in cargo tank coatings, that are invisible to the wall wash inspection.
3. Damen to supply retractable-winged propulsion systems for new series of inland tankers
Damen Marine Components will supply FLEX tunnels, propeller nozzles, manoeuvring systems and rudders to Rensen-Driessen Shipbuilding (RDS), Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, for two newbuild inland tanker vessels. The newly developed tanker designs are based on a series of four large ‘XXL tankers’ that were built at the RDS shipyard between 2017 and 2020, and each of the new tankers will be equipped with two FLEX tunnels, two propeller nozzles and two manoeuvring systems with four rudders. The Van der Velden FLEX tunnel products optimise water flow to the large 2-m propellers in the propulsion array.
4. New EU sanctions against Russia to include port ban
In a fifth round of sanctions, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced a forthcoming port ban on Russian vessels citing ’atrocities’ of Russian war in Ukraine. Russian-operated vessels, with some exceptions, will be banned from EU ports, and the EU trading block will no longer import coal from Russia, cutting an estimated €4Bn (US$4.36Bn) per year from Russian coffers.
5.The shape of things to come: a VLCC with sails
China Classification Society (CCS) hails a major milestone with the delivery of the first VLCC built in China deploying four 40-m rigid wing sails. CCS attended the naming ceremony of 307,000-dwt, 333-m VLCC New Aden at Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co, together with the owner China Merchants Energy Shipping and China Shipbuilding Trading Co.
