Arriving in the office this morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see a particular email sitting in my inbox. It was a message from Shipserv, the leading online marine chandlery. The email contained a few things that were of particular interest to us here at gCaptain.com, and you, our readers, alike.
The first is that on February 16th, Shipserv celebrated it’s 10th birthday. This is a huge milestone, especially considering the industry that they are operating in. One thing we’ve always said here at gCaptain is that the maritime shipping industry is at least 5-10 years behind the transition to online. One can only speculate as to why this is, but in our opinion, the flood gates of opportunity are just beginning to open. I think Shipserv themselves say it best:
Back in 2000, ShipServ was founded in the web “gold rush” of the dotcom boom where anyone and everyone was setting up an internet business. In fact, someone was telling us today they remembered nearly 30 maritime purchasing companies similar to ShipServ being founded at the time although [Founder, Paul Ostergaard] will swear blind it was a lot, lot more). But none exist today – and ShipServ’s success is a testament to the vision of the founders and the tenacity of the subsequent employees and customers who’ve taken the company from strength to strength over the years.
The second thing that was of interest is something that has been mentioned here on gCaptain.com arleady, and that is the announcement that Shipserv has recently acquired Mariner’s Annual, a pub that many of you know and love. This means, that your support of ShipServ will translate into future digital and print versions of this useful catalogue, further transitioning the movement to digital platforms in the maritime industry.
Just recently, gCaptain partnered with Shipserv to help promote the launch of Shipserv Pages, a kind of search engine for operational ship supplies that easily matches suppliers with buyers at the moment they are ready to buy. So if your ordering anything in the near future for your ship, please bookmark THIS PAGE to find the parts you need and a supplier that knows the value of offering their services online.
gCaptain.com would like to formally congratulate Shipserv on 10 successful years in business and commend them for their forward thinking and leadership in the transition to digital platforms in the maritime shipping industry.
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Tags: · news, shipping_industry, shipserv
To give everyone a good sense to the extent of the container shipping crisis, we have put together this Bubble Chart using IBM’s Many Eye’s software (with a little help from photoshop). The chart above gives a good visualization to the idle container ship TEU capacity compared to the world fleet.
According AXS-Alphaliner and Shipping Digest, idle ships as of mid-January had a total TEU capacity of 675,000 or over 5% of the world container ship fleet by TEU capacity. Predictions for February are expected to reach as much as 750,000 TEU’s.
For those of you that are not who are not visually oriented, we have also provided the hard data.
[Continue Reading →]
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Tags: · Container Ship, shipping_industry
The Container Shipping Information Service recently launched its new website shipsandboxes.com to provide information to the public, businesses and media on the importance of container shipping in our everyday lives.
The Container Shipping Information Service (CSIS) is an organisation, formed in 2007, comprising 23 of the largest container shipping companies across the world. CSIS was formed to give the global container shipping industry a voice with which to communicate with the world.
Normally people do not give the world of container shipping a second thought. Yet, without it, modern life would not exist in the way we know it. In this context, the aim of CSIS is to encourage an understanding and appreciation in the wider world about the container shipping industry, and to show the benefits that it brings to our everyday lives.
The CSIS website, www.shipsandboxes.com, provides a one-stop shop of information about the industry, accessible to anyone in the world, so that consumers, businesses, journalists and any other interested parties can find CSIS’ views, facts and figures at the touch of a button.
The site focusses on four key topics: environment, globalization, innovation and security. However, within its pages there is a wealth of information and resources. that works great for educating the general public on the container shipping industry.
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Tags: · container_shipping, shipping_industry
We are thrilled to announce a new endeavor from the editors of gCaptain and leadership gurus at Sea Fever Consulting…
A Maritime podcast; Messing About In Ships.
Starting today, gCaptain’s own Captain John Konrad and our friend Peter Mello of Sea-Fever.org will be producing a weekly podcast about all things related to ships. Many of you may be familiar with Kenneth Graham’s 1908 classic children’s book, The Wind in the Willows in which Ratty declares to Mole:
“There is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats“
Well, we may have grown up a bit but we still agree with Ratty; only now we mess about in slightly larger and more complicated vessels.
Each week we’ll explore stories that appear in gCaptain’s great Discoverer news section of their website. We also will select a blog or podcast for a weekly feature we call New Media Port of Call. We have plans to interview maritime professionals, authors, educators, regulators and others about issues that affect the maritime industry today and into the future. Finally, each episode will close with a selection music from the Podsafe Music Network for your enjoyment.
What we are most excited about is you taking an active role in shaping this project. We have set up a Messing About In Ships blog where the show notes and links from each episode will appear and we encourage you to comment there. Also consider recording a short audio comment, attach it as an MP3 file to an email and send it to podcast@messingaboutinships.com and we will find a way to integrate it into the program.
You can also add Messing About In Ships to:
Visit MessingAroundInShips.com for show notes and more details.
Messing About In Ships Episode 01:
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Tags: · boating, boats, Maritime, merchant_marine, ocean, podcast, Radio, radio_show, shipping_industry, Ships
Announcing gCaptain’s newest feature…
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Tags: · boats, gCaptain, jobs, Maritime, maritime_employment, maritime_jobs, shipping_industry, Ships
Photo By James Rajotte for The New York Times
The New York Times has an interesting article on the desperate situation in the Great Lakes. Rainfall shortages have caused unusually declining water levels in the countries largest lakes. Low levels are bad news for ships designed and built with a draft meeting operational needs and having tight Under Keel Clearances. The problem is causing each ship to take on less cargo thus increasing the number of ships needed to satisfy the regions transportation need.
The NYTimes continues;
“What we need is some rain,” said Mr. Daniels, director of the Port of Oswego Authority, one of a dozen public port agencies on the United States side of the Great Lakes. “The more we lose water, the less cargo the ships that travel in the Great Lakes can carry, and each time that happens, shipping companies lose money,” he said. “Ultimately, it’s people like you and I who are going to pay the price.”
Water levels in the Great Lakes are falling; Lake Ontario, for example, is about seven inches below where it was a year ago. And for every inch of water that the lakes lose, the ships that ferry bulk materials across them must lighten their loads by 270 tons — or 540,000 pounds — or risk running aground, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association, a trade group for United States-flag cargo companies.
As a result, more ships are needed, adding millions of dollars to shipping companies’ operating costs, experts in maritime commerce estimate.
“When a ship leaves a dock, and it’s not filled to capacity, it’s the same as a plane leaving an airport with empty seats: It cuts into their earning capacity,” said Richard D. Stewart, a co-director of the Transportation and Logistics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Superior.
“Because it’s mostly raw materials we’re talking about, the average consumer may see an increase in pennies in the price they pay for, say, a new car or washing machine,” Dr. Stewart said. For major manufacturers or firms managing big projects, however, the increase in transportation costs “is much more significant,” he said. Continue Reading…
The upside for us mariners could possible be more jobs the downside… increased pressure on the Jones Act.
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Tags: · bulk_cargo, cargo, Environment, great_lakes, shipping, shipping_industry, under_keel_clearance, water_levels, Weather
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