Adios 2014

I posed some questions as below when we said goodbye to 2013 back in, well 2013..

1. Will the P3 become a reality..??
2. Will the pirates move back East..??
3. Will the Triple E be overthrown as the worlds largest ship..??
4. Will we know the exact reasons why the MOL Comfort, a 5 year old ship, broke so quickly and dramatically..??

So 2014 arrived and at the verge of its exit, lets see the answers to these questions..

Q : Will the P3 become a reality..??

A : NO – this was effectively blocked by the mighty Chinese so the Shipping Trinity (Maersk, MSC and CMA-CGM) gave up on that idea.. But another collaboration called 2M Network with Maersk and MSC is slated to be launched in January 2015 after the FMC approved the agreement in October 2014.. Let us see how this network fares in 2015..

Q : Will the pirates move back East..??

A : NO – Pirates are trying to rejuvenate their trade in the East coast of Africa – with their latest attempt to take a Zim Line container ship being thwarted.. But the attacks in the West (Niger Delta and Ivory Coast) continue and there have been some new attacks in the Malacca Straits and South China Sea..

Q : Will the Triple E be overthrown as the worlds largest ship..??

A : YES – the inevitable has happened.. China Shipping launched the world’s largest container ship CSCL Globe with 19,100 TEU capacity overthrowing the 18,000 TEU Triple E series ships – Any takers for 2015..??

Q : Will we know the exact reasons why the MOL Comfort, a 5 year old ship, broke so quickly and dramatically..??

A : YES – Ingrid Marie Vincent Andersen from Denmark seems to have cracked it and has attributed the break up of the MOL Comfort “to under-estimation of the hydro-elastic effects on the wave-induced vertical bending moment at the design stage. The major uncertainty at the design stage is related to estimation of the wave loads”.. You can read more about it here..

So what was your year like in 2014..?? Do you have any interesting cases relating to shipping and freight that happened in 2014 that you would like to share with everyone..??

Love to hear your thoughts, views and opinions..

I would like to bid a formal/informal GOOD BYE to 2014 in some of the languages from the Top 10 countries from where my readers have been reading my blog in 2014.. Let’s see if other countries can beat this Top 10 in 2015..

I would like to thank all my readers for their loyal support and participation by initiating meaningful, useful and thought provoking discussions on this blog.. Looking forward to more such discussions and questions in 2015..

Enjoy the festive season and much needed holidays and rest and see you again in the new year 2015……………………. 🙂