Italy needs a MEPA
As we observe National Maritime Day honoring seafarers, we also recognize the need for them to ply their trade in an environment that is healthy. Continue reading
Engine design to play ‘fuel’ part
The oil price crunch that is now upon us, together with tougher emissions regulation, are a “double whammy” for operators, engineers and yards. Continue reading
Liability risk is major issue
Frank Dunne, Chairman of Watson, Farley & Williams, a major London maritime law firm, has warned that “a lot of owners pay lip service to environmental issues. The industry needs to change, or it will face serious consequences”. Continue reading
Fuel of the future
We are now, it seems, in the early stages of yet another oil price shock. But who ever heard of a gas shock? The answer is that gas shocks don’t happen. Continue reading
Oil and the artic: The maritime part of a high-stakes tug of war
The complexity of how oil gets produced involves exploration, development, technology, maritime transport, pipelines and lots and lots of money. And politics. Continue reading
Running the risk
So this week, I’m in Hamburg for the bi-annual shipbuilding and ship machinery behemoth that is SMM and have been kindly asked by Jochen Deerberg to speak at his new environmental conference that runs parallel to the exhibition. Continue reading
The trial lawyers’ payday comes to the Bayou
As an American lawyer, my heart rate naturally goes up when I think about large-scale litigation. My professional pride also swells to see that our legendary legal ingenuity is not a thing of the past. Continue reading
Planning for next time: Matching resources with reality
Nostalgia, as the saying goes, isn’t what it used to be. Reminiscence is kinder; when we look back, in the mellow afterglow of selective memory, it often seems that everything either went according to plan or, at any rate, went just as we said it would. Hindsight is more rigourous. It means examining, understanding and learning from experience. Continue reading
Getting serious about risk management?
The Gulf of Mexico postmortems are landing with explosive force, even if the well has not yet been sealed. At what Churchill liked to call the root of the matter, there wasan inability to appreciate and apply a safety or risk management system to the drilling and operation of at least some exploratory and production wells on the U. S. outer continental shelf. Continue reading
Quote and unquote
When Barack Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is quoted – again and again – for having said “never allow a good crisis to go to waste”, we’re driven to grub through memory’s attic for other appropriate one-liners, adaptable for oil spill bloggery. Continue reading
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