On Friday, 13 April, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and its member states agreed on an absolute target to reduce shipping emission “at least” 50% by 2050. Is this agreement a historic achievement or a collection of weasel words? How did we get here? And what still needs to be done? Continue reading How shipping got its own Paris Agreement – and what that means
Olaf Merk, Ports and Shipping Project Manager, International Transport Forum. We are co-publishing with the OECD Insights blog. Sad news. After months – even years – of pain and suffering, the South Korean container shipping company Hanjin finally sank and passed away. Not just any casualty, but the largest shipping bankruptcy in history: Hanjin was the world’s seventh biggest container line with a fleet of … Continue reading Rough waters for container shipping. Why Hanjin, the world’s seventh largest container line, went under
This article, by Shayne MacLachlan of the OECD Environment Directorate, is co-published with the OECD Insights Blog. Newcastle, Australia has the dubious honour of being the world’s largest port for coal exports. There’s even a coal price index named after it: The NEWC Index. Surfing Novocastrian beaches not only means “watching out” for great-white sharks, but also “being watched” by the lurking great-red coal ships out … Continue reading Carbon emissions all at sea: why was shipping left out of the Paris Climate Agreement?
by Olaf Merk Ever bigger container ships inspire awe and fascination, and are one of the hottest topics in maritime transport. They are also a headache for ports and terminals – mainly because of their vast size. A new publication by the International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD assesses the impacts of these giant container ships. First of all, let’s get a hook on … Continue reading The Impact of Mega-Ships
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