Marine BizTV video awards for 2008 to be declared soon

Its time for another great award ceremony by Marine BizTV.

Mr. Sohan Roy, the CEO of Marine BizTV has announced the second Marine BizTV video awards for the year 2008 to be held on April 29 and 30, 2008 at Kochi, India. The nominees for various awards under various categories will be invited shortly. The award categories are best corporate video, best audio score, best narration, best camera, best directed video, best marine documentary, best graphics, best script, best maritime project, best editing and so on. Apart from this, two special jury awards and a lifetime achievement award for overall contribution will also be given away. The special jury awards were award for marine awareness for children, special award for maritime excellence and lifetime achievement award for maritime contribution. These were handed over for their uniqueness. The award ceremony held last year saw the largest ever convergence of all maritime communities from around the world. The awards are particularly designed to highlight and honor various marine corporate and the outstanding videos they have made.

Read More

US Federal efforts needed to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks on energy commodity tankers

Tankers bring 55 percent of the nation’s crude oil supply, as well as liquefied gases and refined products like jet fuel.

This supply chain is potentially vulnerable in many places here and abroad, as borne out by several successful overseas attacks on ships and facilities. The supply chain faces three main types of threats; suicide attacks such as explosive-laden boats, ’standoff’ attacks with weapons launched from a distance, and armed assaults. Highly combustible commodities such as liquefied gases have the potential to catch fire or, in a more unlikely scenario, explode, posing a threat to public safety. Attacks could also have environmental consequences, and attacks that disrupt the supply chain could have a severe economic impact. Decisions about the need for more response capabilities are hindered, however, by a lack of performance measures tying resource needs to effectiveness in response.

Read More

Carbon cap and trade ‘not enough’

Capping and trading carbon emissions will not be enough to fight output of the gases blamed for warming the planet, Ken Newcombe, managing director of Goldman Sachs’ US carbon emissions desk said.

The cap and trade programmes have huge potential in the US, the world’s largest energy consumer. However, the government research and development budgets should also be boosted to complement cap and trade’s potential to spur innovations and investments in carbon-cutting techniques. Capturing carbon dioxide emissions at coal and natural gas-burning power plants for permanent burial underground is one unproven technology that is expensive, while other technologies, such as cutting vehicles emissions, may also need research funds. The US Congress is considering several bills that would aim to cut emissions by capping them and creating a market to trade credits representing them. So far, the centre of global climate trade has been based in Europe, which ratified the Kyoto Protocol and set up mandatory emissions trade. Billions of dollars worth of emissions credits have traded hands in Europe, but red tape has also delayed trade in carbon offsets, or investments in emissions reductions in developing countries.

Read More