MedCruise and CLIA sign a collaboration agreement

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MedCruise and Cruise Lines International Association Europe (CLIA Europe) have signed a collaboration agreement in Brussels.

Through this new agreement both organisations are vowed to jointly promote cruise ship traffic in the Mediterranean Sea, the Black and Red Seas, the Adriatic, and the shores of north of Africa and near Atlantic. In virtue of this important collaborative document, MedCruise and CLIA Europe will carry out specific coordinated actions to develop the sustainable growth of cruise sector in the different local areas and regional organisations, as well as with different bodies of the European Union and related companies in the cruise industry.

Airam Díaz Pastor, president of MedCruise, stated that cruise lines are of vital importance to MedCruise members, so cooperation between both parties was essential. “I want to value the relevance of this agreement we have signed today, since it will allow us to further strengthen the relationship between ports and cruise lines so that the sector continues to grow in our regions and bring wealth to local economies. In fact, in 2017 in our geographical area, 15.8% of the international fleet of cruise ships was concentrated,” he assured.

Kyriakos Anastassiadis, president of CLIA Europe, declared that “we are delighted to work jointly and closely with MedCruise since both associations represent different areas of expertise and a large number of members. In this way, the collaboration agreement will help both associations to continue making progress”.

Source: Veintepies

Study says LNG inadequate for GHG reduction

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Rolling out LNG infrastructure for shipping in Europe would cost US$22bn but only deliver a maximum 6% reduction in ship greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to the replaced diesel, a new study has found.

These emissions savings would likely be cancelled out by the growth of maritime trade, even before possibly higher rates of methane slip are considered, according to the independent study for Transport & Environment (T&E) by the UMAS consultancy.

Faig Abbasov, shipping officer at T&E, said: “LNG is not a bridge fuel, it’s an expensive distraction that will make it harder for the EU to achieve its shipping climate goals and reduce gas imports from places like Russia.

“Europe should back future-proof technologies that would deliver the much greater emissions reductions that will be needed, including port-side charging or liquid hydrogen infrastructure. This means the EU needs to stop mandating LNG infrastructure in European ports.”

Detrimental effect?

In April, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed that the shipping industry must halve its GHG emissions by 2050.

The EU’s 2014 Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive requiring member states to build a comprehensive LNG infrastructure across European ports will make the decarbonisation of shipping an even more challenging transition for the industry, the study warns.

If investments in LNG infrastructure are made now expecting a large LNG market for shipping, but the sector is subsequently required to switch to zero-emission technologies like hydrogen, ammonia and electric propulsion, then significant LNG assets will likely become stranded by 2050, it stressed.

Source: GreenPort

Escola reunites logistics professionals in the second edition of the technical course on Groupage and Consolidation Centres

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From the 18th to the 20th of June the second edition of the technical course “Groupage and Consolidation Centres” of the Escola took place in Barcelona. This course edition was designed specifically for operators from a rapidly expanding sector: maritime groupage.

The course offered by the Escola is pioneering and innovative; it combines information on all the casuistry, processes, documentation and legislation that apply to a door-to-door groupage operation. The contents of the lectures vary from the characteristics of a warehouse, equipment and packaging, to import and export procedures, including technologies related to the operations as well as quality specifications. The participants have learned all about how groupage operations work, what actors are involved, what are the tendencies and the segmentation of the sector, as well as what are the key aspects necessary in contracting and managing efficient door-to-door groupage operations.

The participants from this course edition came from a diverse list of companies: Mercadona, transport and logistics companies Fercam, Bolloré Spain, Across Logistics, Transglory and Rheneus, and Kadion, as well as representatives from the Escola Europea itself.

With the goal of offering up-to-date and real contents, the Escola has once again sought the collaboration of speakers from specialized companies: Ernesto Romeu, president of the Romeu Group; Pablo Auger and Bernat Baruquer, director and head of customs and AEO of IFS International Forwarding respectively; Josep Carles Llagostera, the administrator of Customs of Barcelona; David Farzón, head of the consultancy and training department of Ibercóndor; Silvia Pueyo, general director of Globelink Uniexco; Alfonso Santa Isabel, commercial director of TM2; Jorge Selma, a lawyer specialized in maritime law, land and air transport; and Chelo Otero, commercial and marketing director of Portic.

The theoretical presentations were complemented by practical visits to local consolidation centres (ncl and IFS), as well as to one of Port of Barcelona’s container terminals – BEST.

The participants were satisfied with the course and would recommend it to professionals who have recently become involved in the sector. In the words of one of the participants from the Mercadona chain: “I liked the course, the sessions were very interesting and I have discovered a totally new world through your course.”

Sapientia

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Sapientia: Ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and perception, in particular in a mature and useful manner.

The concept of Sapientia (or Wisdom), in my opinion, is in an accelerated process of evolution. If we understand it as what we expect people to have to be able to think and act, additional skills – or competences – are called for by today’s society’s standards. Knowledge, as we have understood it in my generation, has been surpassed by Google and tools such as Wikipedia. When we want to know something, we directly head to the Internet. This happens for many reasons. The main one I think is that things change very quickly, and if we want to have up-to-date information on a certain topic, the best option is to look for it online. But that also means that what we have learned in our student years hardly serves us at all. More and more we say that knowledge has been trivialized because such net consultations can be done by anyone from anywhere, and thus specific information – which was traditionally associated with knowledge – has a relative value.

In an article written by Ramón Oliver (published in El País – 30th of March 2018), the author asked Francisco Ruiz Antón, the director of Public Policies of Google Spain, on the criteria in selection processes. His reply presented a very interesting scenario: “Issues such as emotional intelligence, empathy, communication, leadership, teamwork, adaptability, creativity or conflict management are now more important in the selection process than the knowledge of a subject or technology. If a candidate has these basic skills, the rest can always be learned. “

In the same article Oliver highlighted that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) dedicates around 25% of the teaching hours of its programmes to disciplines such as literature, languages, music or history, and points out the resurgence of humanitarian careers in the recent years.

Transferring these ideas to the world of training centres, the question we must ask ourselves is whether traditional formats are useful for the present time and how they should evolve to adapt to this new reality.

On the one hand, we welcome new generations who were brought up with the PlayStation, marking a tendency to gamify – or turn into a game – training. We need to look for techniques that can grasp and maintain attention by controlling time, space, rewards, chance and the development of certain skills.

From the combination of online knowledge and gamification, great advances have emerged in the design and development of simulators and virtual realities. We can now perform almost any practice – or experience as an element of wisdom – through simulators that are increasingly similar to reality.

One more step towards that experience is to move training into the real world. This is what we do at the Escola, and I believe that if possible, it should still the best teaching option; complementing the theoretical sessions with the use of simulators as preparation.

We are left with the big issues that Francisco Ruiz Antón pointed out: teamwork, leadership, conflict resolution … and virtue. These create people capable of doing good things for society.

At the inauguration of the Aula dels Estels (Classroom of the Stars) we invited four prestigious speakers to talk about these issues to other teachers of training centers that participate in our training programmes. At the end of our event, several heads of institutes approached the speakers to ask them to go to their centers to talk with the other teachers, as well as with the students.

The road ahead is clear. All we need to do is walk it together.

Eduard Rodés

Director

Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport

Sustainability and digital transformation – future challenges for Spanish shipping companies

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Spanish ship owners live a moment of technological transformation and digitalization, dependent on the impact of environmental regulations on their activities.

The environmental sustainability of logistics chains has become a key factor for logistics management in all of its business segments.

For maritime transport, in particular, during the last months there has been a regulatory avalanche in this regard that has placed sustainability in the foreground. This was seem through the ballast water agreement or the reduction of sulfur content in marine fuels, as well as through the new CO2 reduction targets.

In this sense, as Alejandro Aznar, the president of the Spanish Association of Shipping Lines – Anave, said in the general assembly of the association that took place this week in Madrid: “The contribution of maritime transport to the sustainability of the world economy will be extraordinary.”

Maritime transport, as indicated by the president of the Spanish shipping companies, who was re-elected for a second term of three years as the head of Anave, is a sector “subject to a market and globalized regulations that force it to make huge investments.”

Precisely in this context, the sector claims that the rules for the reduction of polluting emissions that will be adopted “should take into account their possible side effects in other areas”, as, according to Aznar, is the case of the short sea shipping traffic, which, in his opinion, “if not given special treatment, it is very likely that the imposition of harsh measures may result in the transfer of charges from the maritime mode to the road, which then would result, in reality, in increasing emissions “.

Similarly, the president also insisted on the proposals that Anave has been making year after year to strengthen the competitiveness of vessels navigating under the Spanish flag and that follow the lines marked in this area by the recent experiences of the Madeira registry and of Denmark.

Aznar also highlighted that in 2017 the Spanish control merchant fleet increased by four units and by 1.1% in its tonnage, a slight growth that contrasts with the strong increase registered in the first months of 2018, when according to their data, the Spanish shipowners have received two new LNG tankers, a Suezmax tanker and a passenger ship.

In addition, 18 orders for eight different shipowners totaling almost 800,000 GT and worth 1,300 million euros remain in the order book for the coming months.

In the same sense, Anastasios Papagiannopoulos, president of Bimco who was present at the Anave assembly, stressed the digital transformation and the need to standardize the exchange of documentation at a global level within the framework of a sector that evolves to the future challenges in terms of activity, but whose most prominent risk is that of overcapacity.

In this sense, the president of Bimco estimated that the demand for maritime transport of petroleum products will have a better performance in the second half of 2018, without reaching positive figures, while the solid bulk segment already shows clear signs of recovery on the international scene.

Finally, at the Anave assembly, the Carus Excellence Award 2018 was presented to Antonio Armas, president and CEO of Naviera Armas, for his contribution to the maritime transport sector of travelers and merchandise.

Source: Cadena de Suministro

Nearly €245 million awarded to Horizon 2020 transport projects

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INEA has signed grant agreements with 39 projects selected for funding under two Horizon 2020 calls – Mobility for Growth and Automated Road Transport respectively. They will receive a total of €243.8 million.

Most of the funding – some €200 million – will go to 36 projects selected under Mobility for Growth.

The remaining amount will go to three projects under Automated Road Transport.

The projects are expected to use research and innovation on equipment and systems for vehicles, aircraft and maritime vessels that will make them smarter, cleaner, safer, and more automated.

Projects will also focus on research on road users’ safety, sustainable mobility in urban areas and “smart electric mobility” in cities, improvement of the logistics systems’ performance, and resilience and optimisation of transport infrastructure.

They are expected to start their activities by 1 September 2018 at the latest.

Project examples:

Enabling safe multi-brand truck platooning for Europe

The main goal of the ENSEMBLE project is to pave the way for the adoption of multi-brand truck platooning in Europe to improve fuel economy, traffic safety and throughput. This will be demonstrated by driving six differently branded trucks (DAF, DAIMLER, IVECO, MAN, SCANIA, VOLVO) in one or more platoon(s) under real world traffic conditions across national borders.

The following objectives are defined: a) Achieve safe platooning for trucks of different brands, b) work towards the standardisation and achieve interoperable platooning, and c) real-life platooning showing a multi-brand platoon in real traffic conditions.

ENSEMBLE brings the key actors for deployment together which are all major truck OEMs (98% of the market) supported by other organisations, key stakeholder groups and relevant suppliers. The expected impact is on a Europe wide deployment of platooning with multi-brand vehicles in real, mixed traffic conditions.

The project pursues making transparent the economic, societal and environmental impact of decisions of platoon forming and dissolving. It also aims to modernise the transport system by finding an optimal balance between fuel consumption, emission level, travel times, and impact on highway traffic flow. This, in turn, will result in reduced impacts on climate change, air pollution, noise, health and accidents.

Project title: ENabling SafE Multi-Brand pLatooning for Europe (ENSEMBLE)

Duration: 36 months (01/06/2018 – 31/05/2021)

Budget: €26 million

EC funding:  €20 million

Project Coordinator: TNO

Hierarchical multifunctional composites for the aviation industry

The HARVEST project will develop structural composites (based on innovative thermoset 3R – repair, recycle and reprocess), autonomous electric integrated system for health monitoring and a wireless data transmission system. The innovative materials will be manufactured in purposefully developed pilot lines aiming to cut production time and costs.

The proposed technologies will be finally integrated in two aircraft demonstrators, testing elements with different temperatures and in quick heat dissipation conditions.

Project title: Hierarchical multifunctional composites with thermoelectrically powered autonomous structural health monitoring for the aviation industry (HARVEST)

Duration: 36 months (01/09/2018 – 31/08/2021)

Budget: €4 million

EC funding:  €4 million

Project Coordinator: 11 partners from 6 countries coordinated by University of Ioannina (Greece)

Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles

The GreenCharge project will empower cities and municipalities to make the transition to zero emissions and sustainable mobility. It will use innovative business models and technologies, and will provide guidelines for cost efficient and successful deployment and operation of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

Inspired by ideas from the sharing economy, the business models will focus on enabling the mutualisation of excess capacity of private RES, private charging facilities and the batteries of parked electric vehicles. Pilots will be carried out in Barcelona, Bremen and Oslo to demonstrate and evaluate the proposed approach.

Project title: GREENCHARGE

Duration: 36 months (01/09/2018 – 31/08/2021)

Budget: approx. €5.7 million

EC funding:  €5 million

Project Coordinator: 16 partners from 6 countries coordinated by SINTEF AS (Norway)

Enabling the transferability of cycling innovations

The HANDSHAKE project supports the effective take up of the integrated cycling solutions successfully developed by Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Munich, Cycling Capitals and world-renowned cycling front runners, to 10 highly committed Future Cycling Capitals: Bordeaux Metropole, Bruges, Cadiz, Dublin, Helsinki, Krakow, Greater Manchester, Riga, Rome and Turin.

The project strategic objectives are: to inspire the creation or refinement of holistic cycling visions and concrete transfer approaches; to foster the adoption of a multidisciplinary planning culture to consolidate future cycling policies and investments; to allow cycling to become a key element of urban transport; to improve cycling modal share and safety; to leverage the potential of cycling as a critical congestion relief tool; to leverage cycling to improve public health; to foster economic growth.

HANDSHAKE expects to improve cycling attractiveness by +52% and competitiveness by 17%, shift ca. 60.000 people to cycling with +34% in frequency of cycling use, traffic levels lowered by 6,34%,and CO2 savings of -3.706.000 kg CO2/year.

Project title: Enabling the transferability of cycling innovations and assessment of its implications (HANDSHAKE)

Duration: 42 months (01/09/2018 – 28/02/2022)

Budget: approx. €5 million

EC funding:  €4.8 million

Project Coordinator: 19 partners from 12 countries coordinated by ISINNOVA (Italy)

How were the projects selected for EU funding?

The submitted proposals were evaluated by external experts drawn from the European Commission’s independent expert database. Grant agreements were signed with the successful applicants within eight months of the submission deadline.

How will the projects be managed?

The projects are each implemented by a consortium of European partners. INEA will monitor their progress throughout the entire project life-cycle.

Overall, €12.2 billion has been earmarked for transport and energy research in Horizon 2020, the main EU’s funding programme for the 2014-2020 period. €5.3 billion of this amount will be managed by INEA resulting in approximately 800 projects.

Source: INEA

The port of Barcelona adapts 26 trucks for LNG to reduce emissions

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This is done under the RePort project, which is financed with European funds for regional development.

The port of Barcelona has adapted a total of 26 vehicles for its propulsion through liquefied natural gas (LNG) in an initiative led by the Port Authority of Barcelona in collaboration with ATEC, the Generalitat and Gas Natural, among other partners. The RePort project aims to promote the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel for trucks within the port area, with the aim of reducing polluting emissions. Within the framework of the project, the engines of a total of 26 trucks have been transformed into the dual-fuel modality. This adaptation allows the engines to use diesel and natural gas simultaneously, contributing to improve the air quality of the port and its immediate surroundings.

The RePort project is integrated into the Ris3cat Movilitat Eco Community, coordinated by Ficosa and co-financed with funds from the European Regional Development Fund, and managed by the Department of Action of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In addition to Ficosa and the Generalitat, the rest of the partners of the initiative, led by the port of Barcelona, are the Container Business Owners Association (ATEC), Gas Natural Fenosa, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), Idiada, the School of Engineering of East Barcelona (EEBE-UPC), Dimsport Spain, Renewable Technical Consulting (RTC) and the Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport.

On Tuesday the 12th of June a presentation of the project detailed the tests planned for the coming months of the 26 trucks to evaluate the effectiveness of the modification. During the presentation, the president of the Port Authority Sixte Cambra, underlined that the RePort project is part of the Catalan Port’s Plan for the Improvement of Air Quality. He stressed that this plan is extremely ambitious and that there is a need to increase the use of natural gas to achieve its objectives.

The control of gas emissions in trucks falls under the responsibility of IDIADA, while the Barcelona Supercomputing Center is responsible for the modeling of the dispersion of pollutant emissions from port activities in both port and city environments of Barcelona. In addition, the RePort project also includes the installation of a real-time monitoring system from Renewable Technical Consulting (RTC) onto each truck, wiht the aim of calculating the percentage of gas replacement along with various other parameters of the engine and the route. Gas Natural Fenosa is responsible for designing the logistics of the supply of natural gas along the main routes that the trucks make either originating or terminating in the Port of Barcelona to establish the points where it will be necessary to install points of supply of this fuel, as well as the cost that this would entails. Finally, the Escola Europea-Intermodal Transport has carried out an efficient driving course for the drivers of the 26 tractors powered by vehicular natural gas (NGV), training them also in safety and handling of this fuel.

For more information about the RePort project you can consult the project page or the Port of Barcelona’s website.

The Escola Europea promotes short sea shipping and sustainable transport at Spain’s biggest logistics fair – SIL

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The Escola Europea – Intermodal Transport has participated in the International Logistics Show of Barcelona – the annual logistics fair in Spain. Sharing a stand with one of its main shareholders –the Port of Barcelona­-, the Escola presented its training offer for the second semester of 2018 and promoted some of its projects; highlighting the growing influence and success of TransLogMED and Forma’t al Port.

In a presentation held on the last day of the fair, Ricardo Garcia highlighted the importance of short sea shipping and the motorways of the sea in the continued development of the Mediterranean corridor and the need to improve sustainable transport. With this in mind, the Escola has launched the TransLogMED project jointly with the Union for the Mediterranean. Through the promotion of international cooperation in transport transactions and by providing training in intermodal transport that knows no borders, the project aims to enhance the competencies and capabilities of transport and logistics operators from the Northern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean basin. The project has a scheduled lifeline of four years and will organise conferences and courses to implement its objectives.

In terms of its training offer, in the summer months the Escola will hold the second edition of its technical training for professionals, focused on Groupage Operations and Consolidation Centres (18-20 of June). This course will be followed by an edition of Escola’s SURCO Operations I, focusing on rail- maritime intermodality, which will take place in Barcelona between the 2nd and 4th of July. In mid-July it will be the time of the Escola’s first ever Summer School on Port Operations (9-13 of July), a course designed for all kinds of profiles, professional, academic or vocational. Finally, in the autumn, two editions of the Escola’s unique Motorways of the Sea Training (MOST) course will take place. The first of these, MOST Italy, will take place between the 29th of September and the 2nd of October and will focus on the intermodal routes with short sea shipping maritime links in Italy. The second course MOST Iberia (20-23 October) will take a closer look at the intermodal transport situation across the Iberian peninsula.

The Escola has been complementing its intermodal training package with the Forma’t al Port project, whose goal is to bring young students closer to the professional field of the port communities. For the past three years the Escola has worked with Catalan training centres on professional work experience programmes. The courses have been hugely successful and will now be extended to Italian centres through a sister project Formati al Porto.

Escola Europea to organise Motorways of the Sea Training courses for European professionals in autumn 2018

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This autumn the Escola’s MOST courses for professionals will return, with two editions scheduled for professionals coming from Italy and the Iberian Peninsula, respectively.

The aim of the MOST Management courses is to offer complete and concise training in intermodal maritime logistics, short sea shipping services and the motorways of the sea. The courses aimed at professionals combine lectures, workshops, terminal visits, navigation and networking. The course participants begin the theoretical training in intermodal transport and logistics at the headquarters of the Escola in Barcelona, and then board a Ro-Pax vessel of Grimaldi Lines en-route to Civitavecchia to continue the training along the short sea shipping route.

The Port of Barcelona, the Ports of Rome and Grimaldi Lines, three of Escola’s five founding partners, collaborate in the organisation of the upcoming courses in September and October. While MOST Italy will also be sponsored by Alis, RAM Spa, Assoporti, Confitarma and AssArmatori , MOST Iberia is co-sponsored by the Spanish State Ports (Puertos del Estado), the European Shortsea Network, the Spanish Shortsea Promotion Centre and the Portuguese Shortsea Promotion Centre–Intermodal Portugal. The teaching staff will comprise professionals from the European transport sector as well as academic experts.

The MOST Italy course will take place between the 29th of September and the 2nd of October. Its contents will focus more on intermodal transport in Italy itself, tailoring the contents for the course participants. MOST Iberia, similarly, will take place 20-23th of October and will emphasize intermodal transport aspects of the Spanish and Portuguese markets.

For more information on the Escola’s open courses head to the calendar section of our website.

European Ship Brokers and Agents choose Barcelona for its annual seminar

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The European Association of Ship Brokers and Agents (ECASBA) has chosen the city of Barcelona to celebrate its annual seminar this year.

In this way, the entity shows its support to the newly created Spanish Association of Consignment Agents (ASECOB), which already brings together a number of companies that carry out the activities of shipping agents and maritime agencies at a national level as well as the associations of consignees of the different ports of Spain.

A representative from the new association of Spanish consignee agents explained that this seminar is held annually in a community country, in alternation with Brussels.

This year it will take place on June 4 and 5 in Barcelona.

The first day will be held at the headquarters of the Escola Europea-Intermodal Transport. The first topic of the seminar’s agenda is the presentation of the SAILNET Programme, an exchange programme designed and powered by FONASBA in collaboration with the Escola Europea. The project aims to establish a network between education and training institutes in the maritime sector dealing with ports, shipping lines and logistics operators in order to strengthen skills across the seas. The project aims to reach its objectives using a study-internship alternation approach and better align them with the needs of the Blue Economy.

On Tuesday, June 5, the seminar will be held at the International Logistics Exhibition (SIL) in Barcelona. You can consult the full programme here.

“With a very high participation rate, the registration of professionals from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and Spain, as well as the International Association (FONASBA) has already been confirmed”, added the representative from ASECOB.

The conference will include round tables on current issues, with a special focus on digital transformation. The presentations will be given by outstanding representatives of the Spanish and community administration, industry associations and leading companies in the sector.

Source: Diario del Puerto