Ports of Unrest - Navigating Full Spectrum Dominance and the Great Reset

Something that might be worth keeping an eye as it develops:

Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 is passed by U.S. House of Representatives​



Key components of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021 include:
  • establishing reciprocal trade to promote U.S. exports as part of the Federal Maritime Commission’s (FMC) mission;
  • requiring ocean carriers to adhere to minimum service standards that meet the public interest, reflecting best practices in the global shipping industry;
  • require ocean carriers or marine terminal operators to certify that any late fees —known in maritime parlance as “detention and demurrage” charges—comply with federal regulations or face penalties;
  • shifting the burden of proof regarding the reasonableness of “detention or demurrage” charges from the invoiced party to the ocean carrier;
  • prohibiting ocean carriers from declining opportunities for U.S. exports unreasonably, as determined by the FMC in new required federal rulemaking; and
  • requiring ocean common carriers to report to the FMC each calendar quarter on total import/export tonnage and twenty-foot equivalent units (loaded/empty) per vessel that makes port in the United States.
One of the House Representatives stated:


Rep. Johnson said in a statement that the U.S. has been impacted by the backlog in the supply chain and shipping delays, noting that China and the foreign-flagged ocean carriers are not playing fairly, with accountability long overdue.
“If you want to do business with American ports, you need to play by our basic rules,” he said. “I am proud of the coalition Congressman Garamendi and I have worked to build over the last year. The Ocean Shipping Reform Act puts American consumers, farmers, retailers, truckers, manufacturers, and small businesses first. Our bill passed the U.S. House with strong bipartisan support and I look forward to seeing it pass the Senate.”

Will be interested to see how they plan to coordinate accountability. Generally a buzzword that leads to “visibility” which leads to “transparency” and “surveillance” - “full spectrum dominance”? It sounds like the US (Biden regime and Congress) is attempting to appease key industries to remain in good favor with so as to look like they’re taking action - optics 🤔

Those opposed to the bill, The World Shipping Council, do have a point as it doesn’t sound like this legislation will do much to alleviate the supply-chain congestion - the primary issue.

Conversely, John Butler, President and CEO of the World Shipping Council, said it does not do enough to materially move the needle towards making meaningful improvements.

“The House today passed HR 4996 without proper debate or committee process,” said Butler. “The bill is a political statement of frustration with supply chain challenges—frustrations that ocean carriers share. The problem is that the bill is not designed to fix the end-to-end supply chain congestion that the world is experiencing, and it will not and cannot fix that congestion.
The World Shipping Council will continue to work with the Congress to seek real solutions that further strengthen the ocean transportation system that has supported the U.S. economy throughout the pandemic.”

Although, worth noting that the WSC doesn’t hide its motivations or ethos on its site, here in regards to EU initiatives:

The World Shipping Council is committed to working with the EU Institutions to achieve the Green Deal’s goals through good policy that will support industry greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets and move as fast as possible to zero GHG emissions. EU Policy, including the revision to the EU ETS Directive has a unique opportunity to strengthen, motivate and complement global policy for reducing GHGs in international shipping.
More on them here:


Many parties have vested interest in the future control of supply-chain, another wait and see…🕵🏻‍♂️
 
This one slipped by me while on Holiday, but seems like more Israeli hybrid warfare shenanigans took place on a Syrian port. The target - containers from Iranian vessel with suspected military equipment:

Enormous fire engulfs Syrian port as Government cries Israeli attack


As per reports from Syrian government officials, an enormous fire erupted at the port of Latakia on 28 December, engulfing the port's container terminal.

This is the second incident in a month, where government officials have claimed Israeli missile strikes to be the cause of the incident.

Citing a military source, Syrian state news agency, Sana said, “At around 3:21 am [01:21 GMT], the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial aggression with several missiles from the direction of the Mediterranean, targeting the container yard in Latakia port.”
Pictures released by Sana showed firefighters trying to put off blazing containers that had 'lit up the night sky. The state-owned media stated that the containers had “engine oil and spare parts for cars and other vehicles”.

A secondary explosion was consequently heard for miles after the primary explosion, as per Syrian officials. The resulting fire had burned for hours, setting containers ablaze in its trail.

Intelligence analysts from around the world noted the Shiba, an Iranian flagged container ship calling the Syrian port on 24 December, fueling speculation that the container terminal 'air strike' might have targeted military-grade equipment unloaded from the container vessel.
 
This one slipped by me while on Holiday, but seems like more Israeli hybrid warfare shenanigans took place on a Syrian port. The target - containers from Iranian vessel with suspected military equipment:

Enormous fire engulfs Syrian port as Government cries Israeli attack

I wouldn't be surprised if there were shipments with arms in, however the port is also likely a target because to disrupt its functioning will further the goal of damaging Syria and its economy more generally. Notably the Beirut blast was also at the port.

According to another article, it was the second time the port was hit this month, and it's in the 'heartland of Assad's minority Alawite community'.

South Front reported that the port isn't far from a Russian airbase, and so the port has generally been protected, but Israeli jets got past by hiding behind a landing Russian jet. A tactic Israel has done before, with a previous incident resulting in the death of 15 Russian troops in Syria.

At the moment of the attack, an aircraft of the military transport aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces was landing at the Khmeimim airfield located in the affected area of the anti-aircraft complexes.

Russia operates an air base at Khmeimim some 20 kms (12 miles) away from Latakia.




In other news, i thought it was notable that reports from Suez Canal operators are that shipping rose this year in comparison to last year, '18,830 [ships] in 2020 to 20,694 in 2021', but we'd have to see how that compares to previous years to get a better idea, because the lockdowns/shutdowns began in 2020, so it may be that previous years was higher.

The report says that the transit they earned were the 'highest ever recorded', but is that because of the record shipping activity or simply high prices/price gouging because of the high demand? I haven't looked into it.

Egypt: Record cargo shipped through Suez Canal last year​

Record revenues raised from ships transitting the canal in 2021, despite the Covid-19 pandemic and a six-day blockage by giant cargo ship Ever Given

Published date: 2 January 2022 13:46 UTC | Last update: 2 hours 16 mins ago

48 Shares
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/...l_pesOKHFlLwTv-UoXtgs94D6RH3_pccUON4C_wJNOBBc
sharethis sharing button

Egypt's Suez Canal Authority said the key waterway netted record revenues last year, despite the coronavirus pandemic and a six-day blockage by giant cargo ship the Ever Given.

Connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the canal accounts for roughly 10 percent of global maritime trade and is a source of much-needed foreign currency for Egypt.

In 2021, some 1.27bn tons of cargo was shipped through the canal, earning $6.3bn dollars in transit fees, which was 13 percent more than the previous year and the highest figures ever recorded, Suez Canal Authority (SCA) chief Osama Rabie said, according to Reuters.



Suez Canal: What you need to know about Ever Given, the ship that blocked the passage
Read More »

The number of ships using the canal rose from 18,830 in 2020 to 20,694 in 2021, or more than 56 ships per day, the SCA said in a statement.

In March, the Ever Given supertanker - a behemoth that could carry 199,000 tons - got stuck diagonally across the canal during a sandstorm.

An around-the-clock salvage operation took six days to dislodge it, and one employee of the SCA died during the rescue operation.

Egypt lost some $12m to $15m each day during the canal closure, according to the SCA.

The Ever Given safely returned through the canal without a hitch in August.

In November, the SCA said it would hike transit tolls by six percent starting in 2022, but tourist vessels and liquefied natural gas carriers were to be exempted.
 
Meanwhile, back on the 18th, US Coast Guard confiscates 1B worth of drugs at Port Everglades 😬

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter James on Thursday offloaded approximately 54,500 pounds of cocaine and 15,800 pounds of marijuana worth approximately $1.06 billion at Port Everglades.

The drugs were interdicted in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea during 23 separate interdictions of suspected drug smuggling vessels by crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, Navy, and international partners.

James’ 90-day patrol set new records for the largest single cocaine interdiction, at 10,915 pounds and worth $206.4 million, and the largest single marijuana interdiction, at 3,962 pounds worth $3.59 million.

The Coast Guard said the total amount offloaded was the greatest amount of contraband ever interdicted during an Eastern Pacific patrol.


 
A massive 1,100-foot-long container ship ran aground Sunday night in the Chesapeake Bay after departing from the Port of Baltimore, according to Chesapeake Bay Magazine.
...
Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Stephen Lehmann said the container ship "Ever Forward," sailing under the Hong Kong flag for the Evergreen Marine Corp., ran aground around 2300 ET Sunday.
...
Ever Forward departed from Baltimore for Norfolk when it ran aground near the Craighill Channel, a major shipping lane in and out of Baltimore. The port in the metro area is the nation's largest for specialized cargo (roll-on/roll-off ships) and passenger facilities.
...
Evergreen made international headlines one year ago when "Ever Given," a massive container ship, blocked the Suez Canal between March 23-29, disrupting the worldwide shipping trade.

Lehman Brothers was involved in the 2008 jam up of the economy that led to TARP and QE. have you noticed that everything economic and money wise is nautical? A bank is what the galley slaves sat on to row the ship in ancient times. Its also a geological feature in oceans.

Maybe this is a sign.
 
Edit: Just saw this-

The nominees to the Federal Reseve Board have been stalled because Republicans have boycotted the Senate Banking Committee’s vote over the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin. Manchin, who is not on the committee, announces he opposes Raskin, dealing a major blow to the nomination.
https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1...r-blow-biden-opposes-fed-nominee-sarah-raskin
 
For Ahab to ignore leaking whale oil is essentially to admit that he is not on this voyage for commercial reasons at all. Starbuck's comment that "Ahab beware Ahab" is moral or almost religious . He is saying that Ahab's monomania will lead to his own destruction. What is amazing is that Ahab sees that Starbuck is right , that he is his own worst enemy, but he responds not by giving up his monomania but by deciding that in order to most fully pursue his monomania he must act like a man who cares about the financial aspect of this whaling expedition in order to hide the fact that he doesn't..

 
Chemical blast at an Indian port on Saturday. Pure speculation but… could be some Western backed shenanigans in retaliation of India’s continued collaboration with Russia 🤔


The death toll following Saturday night’s catastrophic fire and numerous blasts in a container depot near Chittagong port has now reached 42, and is expected to rise further.

The off dock depot, BM Container Depot Ltd, is a Netherlands-Bangladesh joint venture, located at Sitakunda, Chittagong. It had been housing 16 chemical-laden export containers, full of hydrogen peroxide, which may have caused the blasts after a fire erupted in a container at 9pm Saturday.

Firefighters are still at the scene where there continue to be small blasts, destroying scores of containers.

Hospital sources said the number of injured, with many suffering severe burns and in a critical condition, had reached more than two hundred and are being treated in hospitals throughout Chittagong. Fire fighters and depot officials are amongst the dead.

Ruhul Amin Sikder, secretary general, Bangladesh Inland Container Depot Association, told The Loadstar that between 1,000 and 1,300 full containers had burnt or been destroyed in the incident.

He estimated that the loss from the fire amounts to $100m.

After the Beirut blast in August 2020, Bangladesh authorities and Chittagong Port Authority had been urging port users to be cautious when handling dangerous goods. The port authority destroyed a large number of DG containers which had been neglected at the port.

Last night’s blast was so powerful that the sound could be heard 10 kilometres from the depot. Most of the homes within several kilometres of the area lost doors and windows.

Some 25 fire-fighting units are working to bring the fire under control. An additional team has been called from Dhaka to help them, said Brigadier General Md Main Uddin, director general, department of fire service and civil defense.

Chittagong divisional commissioner Md Ashraf Uddin told the media that Army personnel have been called to help extinguish the blaze, and check the extent of the damage to the area which may have been caused by chemicals.
 
Back
Top Bottom