Profile: Gerry Wang, Seaspan. Also in this issue: DNV Arcon project, Cascading and St. Lawrence Seaway
Date: 2009-06-23
Opportunities
Container shipping in the Arctic is news to the industry. Ice and harsh conditions do not go well with time keeping and schedule integrity. But there is experience available of subzero temperatures and ice conditions. On the St. Lawrence Seaway, temperatures may fall to minus 30 degrees Celsius in just a few hours as you approach the coastline. In this issue, we bring you an interview with the people who have firsthand experience.
Seaspan: Conservative with a long-term horizon
“Actually, Seaspan is performing quite well despite the global recession,” says Gerry Wang, CEO of Seaspan Corp., at the head office located on the 26th floor of an office complex overlooking the harbour of Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada.
ARCON – Arctic Container
The amount of ice in the Arctic Ocean is indubitably decreasing, opening new possibilities for world trade. An Arctic trade route has the potential to reduce the transit time, fuel consumption and emissions, making it an attractive alternative to the current trade routes.
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is the largest city in both British Columbia and Western Canada. Source: Wikipedia
Cascading
What will happen to the VLCS of today now that the first ultra-large jumbos are coming to take their places?
Supplying Greenland
‘Supplying Greenland’ is an appropriate descriptive on Royal Arctic Line, which is owned by the Greenland Authority and operated from Aalborg in Denmark. The Royal Arctic Line fleet consists of five ice-class modern vessels built especially for operations in Arctic waters in winter conditions.
Navigating container ships to Montreal all year round requires experience
Experience, experience and more experience. That is the number one, basic requirement for masters and crew on board the nine ice-classed container ships, owned by Hapag-Lloyd and managed by Anglo Eastern that call at the port of Montreal, Quebec, Canada on regular basis.
The ultimate tool to avoid hull damage in ice?
How do people on the bridge know that they are operating within the design limits of the hull?
Environmental Performance and the Future
Although shipping is generally seen as a fuel efficient and ‘carbon friendly’ mode of transport, the industry is facing increasing pressure from regulators to improve its overall environmental performance – with particular focus on emissions to air. Therefore, new global regulations and regional schemes like Emission Control Areas (ECAs) will no doubt have a significant impact on emissions from shipping in the years to come. Sulfur ECAs are already in force in the Baltic Sea and North Sea areas, but new areas are likely to be defined in the near future.