CEDA actively participates in the work of the LC/LP where it represents WODA.

Through feedback from participants in regional workshops LC/LP identified the need to develop a low technology approach to dredged material management to help those countries where regulations are currently absent or in development and where technical equipment and know how is lacking or too expensive to realistically set up from scratch. Therefore the IMO contracted CEDA to develop such an approach in the form of a training set extension to the LC/LP Waste Assessment Guidelines (WAG) and based on the LC Specific Guidelines for Assessment of Dredged Material (previously known as the DMAF).

The WAG training set extension for the application of low-technology techniques for assessing dredged material (Low-tech WAG) has now been developed for CEDA by Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) a corporate member of CEDA. The low-tech WAG provides information on low-cost sampling (including an inventive use a cola bottle), testing, information gathering and documenting, low-cost monitoring and feedback surveys to help improve decision making in relation to dredged material. It also focuses on the alternative use of dredged material referencing recent work undertaken by CEDA.

The low-tech approach is seen as a temporary measure to allow countries to adopt a precautionary approach to the management of dredged material, in the event that they have not yet developed sufficient capability to allow them to follow the full approach of the LC/LP Guidelines.

 The Low-tech WAG was adopted by the LC/LP governing bodies in October 2011. It has now been published by the IMO to be ‘road-tested’ by its intended audience (e.g. ports and regulatory authorities operating in low-tech environments). It is hoped that this process will enable identification of further low-tech approaches that can be incorporated in the future to increase the Low-tech WAG’s usability. The document is also published on the WODA and CEDA websites, www.woda.org and www.dredging.org respectively. Members of CEDA, EADA, WEDA and others are encouraged to participate in the road-test. Interested organisations should contact the CEDA, EADA or WEDA Secretariat (CEDA: Anna Csiti, General Manager, ceda@dredging.org; EADA: Rasydan Alias, rasydan@inai.com.my; WEDA: Larry Patella, weda@comcast.com).

For an overview of CEDA’s work with international and regional conventions please click here.

 Photo caption:

Near bed flow and sediment transport patterns can be investigated by using seabed drifters which are released at the disposal site.

Effective immediately, MSC is offering a Richmond bill of lading to the shipping public, both importers and exporters. Any shipper tendering cargo to MSC at the Port of Richmond will have access to the more than 330 global ports served by the world’s second largest ocean carrier.

“The 9,000-TEU class vessels included in this Suez Canal route represent the future of U.S.-Asia shipping,” said Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis J. Foltz. “The economy of scale in this size ship will make it the dominant choice in global trade, especially after an expanded Panama Canal opens in 2014, allowing Pacific routes for post-Panamax vessels.”

MSC Executive Vice President Allen Clifford said Savannah’s position as a logistics hub played a large role in the company’s decision to add the Suez service. “Savannah is a valuable stop, among many other things, because there are so many proprietary BCOs (beneficial cargo owners) located there in terms of distribution centers,” Clifford said. “It’s very significant in U.S. trans-Pacific trade moving Asian cargo. It makes (Savannah) a natural service.”

The Golden Gate Service will deploy vessels ranging in capacity from 6,700 to 9,200 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) on the following rotation: Shanghai, Chiwan, Yantian, Singapore, Salalah, New York-New Jersey, Norfolk, Baltimore, Savannah, Freeport, Charleston, Norfolk, Jeddah, Colombo, Singapore, Chiwan, Hong Kong and Ningbo.

The first ship on the Golden Gate rotation will be the 8,089-TEU MSC Toronto, slated to arrive on Feb. 13. The first 9,200-TEU vessel, the MSC Roma, will call on Savannah Feb. 20.

“The new service will mean a substantial bump in cargo shipped through Georgia,” said GPA Chief Commercial Officer Cliff Pyron. “MSC added Savannah to its Golden Gate rotation at the request of companies importing and exporting goods to Asia. While much of the cargo will be processed by distribution centers near the Port of Savannah, other containers will go directly from Savannah to destinations in the interior U.S. via truck and rail.”

The Port of Savannah now has eight Suez services and 13 Panama Canal services calling on its terminals.

The new team is drawn from large international shipping agencies and their experience encompasses all vessel and cargo types in all major Thai ports. They will be led by general manager, Thaveesak Chowchankit, who joins ISS from the Bangkok Shipowners & Agents Association.  The operations manager is Capt. Sunchai Sanguanpao, who since coming ashore in 1997, had worked for ISS Thoresen for over a decade.

Tony Brazenor, regional operations manager of ISS Asia Pacific, said: “Following a period in which we have relied exclusively on partnership and franchise arrangements in Thailand, the opening of a well-staffed Bangkok office marks a real commitment to shipowners using Thai ports.”