Rising seas pose danger to big cities

Sea levels rising at an ‘alarming’ rate because of climate change and depleting groundwater threaten coastal economies.

Two key cities, Shanghai and Tianjin, are among those facing the biggest threat, State Oceanic Administration (SOA) spokesperson Li Haiqing said, citing the agency’s 2007 sea-level monitoring report. In the last 30 years, the financial hub of Shanghai has seen the sea level rise 115 mm, or the length of half a chopstick, the report says. Tianjin, a major port about two hours’ drive from Beijing, has seen the level rise as much as 196 mm, about the length of a new pencil. In the past 30 years, the country’s overall sea level has risen 90 mm with the average offshore surface temperature going up by 0.9C. In comparison, when the global sea level rose 1.7 mm every year between 1975 and 2007, the Chinese sea level rose 2.5 mm every year. In the next decade, the SOA forecasts, China’s coastal sea level is likely to rise by 32 mm, or 3.2 mm every year. Global warming is the main reason for the rising sea levels, but surface subsidence is also to blame for the threat of floods in Shanghai and Tianjin, due to their ‘indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater resources.

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Second-hand ship values fall the most in 3 1/2 years

The price of second-hand commodity carriers dropped the most in three and a half years after ship-hire rates tumbled.

Oil-tanker prices also slumped. The price of five-year-old capesize ships that normally haul about 160,000 tons of iron ore or coal dropped 3.2 per cent to US$144 million, according to weekly prices from the London-based Baltic Exchange. It was the biggest drop since June 2004, when prices fell 14 per cent. Prices for every class of commodity carrier and oil tanker assessed by the exchange fell. Very large crude carrier, or VLCC, prices slipped US$800,000 to US$134.5 million. There have been record declines in the cost of transporting dry-bulk commodities and oil-tanker rental rates have slumped. The Baltic Dry Index, an overall measure of the price of shipping coal, grains and iron ore, fell 19 per cent in the five days to Jan 18, its biggest weekly fall since the exchange began compiling the data. The Baltic Clean Index, which indicates the price of transporting refined petroleum products including gasoline, jet fuel, naphtha, diesel and gasoline, has dropped 17 per cent since Dec 6.

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Crowley boosts heavy lift fleet

Crowley Maritime ration has handed a construction contract to Gunderson Marine to build two heavy lift deck barges that will initially be deployed to the Gulf of Mexico.

This would take the US company’s heavy lift deck barge fleet to five, the company said. US-based Gunderson Marine, which built the first three barges in the series, will construct two Heavy Lift Series 455 deck barges. The barges have a 400 foot by 105-foot deck and are tailored for deep-water exploration and development. The barges offer increased stability for loads up to 4200 pounds per square foot in order to carry the larger offshore structures now being planned and engineered for deep-water projects.

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