Porti & ambiente — le notizie raccolte

Le spiagge di Arma di Taggia Arma di Taggia –Spiagge semidesertein pieno agosto. È il desolante panorama di Arma di Taggia dopo l’ordinanza didivieto di balneazioneemessa dal sindaco Mario Conio a seguito dei controlli di Arpal. La situazione si presenta particolarmente critica. Complice il caldo intenso, in pochi hanno scelto di rimanere negli stabilimenti balneari, preferendo l'aria condizionata delle proprie abitazioni o dei centri commerciali piuttosto che trascorrere la giornata in spiaggia senza la possibilità di fare il bagno. Le prime disdette e l’abbandono degli arenili da parte di numerosi bagnanti, dopo aver appreso dell'impossibilità di entrare in acqua, aggravano ulteriormente una stagione estiva già difficile per Arma, segnata agiugno da una decina di giorni consecutivi di divieto di balneazionesu tutto il litorale. Allora l’inquinamento era stato provocato dalla rottura della condotta fognaria alla foce del torrente Argentina, durante i lavori di scavo per la posa del ponte in ferro sulla ciclabile. Stavolta, invece, si cercando ancora le cause. Ieri mattina l’Arpal ha effettuato un nuovo prelievo, la speranza di tutti è che da sabato si possa tornare a fare il bagno. «Non sono emerse problematiche – spiega il sindaco Mario Conio -nella rete fognariae sul funzionamento dell’acquedotto. Personalmente lancio un allarme, perché ormai con troppa frequenza accadono episodi di non balneabilità, ad esempio a Sanremo e Imperia. La mia sensazione è che si sia andati oltre alle mere statistiche. Mi chiedo se sia utile un tavolo più ampio per questa tematica». Conio illustra i dati: «Si tratta di un superamento contenuto del valore limite relativo agli enterococchi intestinali: il valore rilevato è pari a circa1,5 volte il limite di legge, ben lontano dalle soglie che la normativa e le agenzie ambientali associano a situazioni di inquinamento più severo».Il primo cittadino vuole rassicurare operatori, turisti e residenti. «L’ultimo prelievo Arpal risale al 7 luglio. Il protocollo lo prevede una volta al mese. Noi ne abbiamo effettuato uno in autonomia in cinque punti il 24 luglio». Tra gli stabilimenti balneari c’è un clima di sconforto.Antonella Casonato, dei Bagni Il Gabbiano, sottolinea: «I clienti hanno iniziato a disdire le prenotazioni, altri stanno valutando se andarsene. Tutto era cominciato con le gare d’appalto in ritardo. Speravo almeno in un’ultima stagione con il botto invece non è mai partita, anche perché luglio aveva ancora risentito del divieto di giugno». Amara la constatazione diAngelo Puppo dei Bagni Annunziata: «Siamo rimasti soli. C’è soltanto qualcuno che resiste facendo solo le docce, ma davvero poche persone. E per tutto luglio c’è stata gente solo sabato e domenica».Patrizia Lerda dei Bagni Meridianaè rimasta sorpresa dal divieto: «L’acqua appare pulita. Tuttavia la prima cosa è la sicurezza, poi tutto il resto. Speriamo che questa situazione si risolva al più presto e che Arma ritorni al più presto la perla della Liguria». A Sanremo, come annunciato, ieri mattina è statorevocato il divieto di balneazione alla Bussola,nell’area compresa tra la Foce Levante e i Bagni Matuzia inclusi, alla Foce. Mentre èrimasto in vigore quello per l’area tra i due porti, che comprende gli stabilimenti balneari Italia e Lido, e la spiaggia libera attrezzata Arenella. Sono stati eseguiti ulteriori campionamenti da parte di Arpal, ma difficilmente potrà arrivare il via libera ai tuffi entro il fine settimana. «Si tratta di un’area delicata - spiega l’assessore all’Ambiente Ester Moscato - ci auguriamo che l’emergenza termini al più presto. Contiamo che non si ripresenti per la prossima stagione, considerati i lavori in programma di Rivieracqua, tra cui il potenziamento dell'impianto di sollevamento fognario nell'area di Pian di Nave-Giardini Vittorio Veneto, il risanamento non invasivo della condotta di mandata proprio nella zona di corso Trento e Trieste e la riqualificazione del collettore di via San Martino». E un divieto di balneazioneè scattato anche a Imperia, a Borgo Cappuccini, nel tratto a ponente del torrente Caramagna. L’ordinanza del sindaco Claudio Scajola è stata emessa ieri mattina dopo l’esito dei prelievi di Arpal, che hanno rilevato parametri non conformi di enterococchi intestinali ed escherichia coli (in quest’ultimo caso quattro volte superiori al limite). Parte del tratto di costa interessato dal divieto è in concessione al Circolo Borgo Cappuccini.

The Houthi threat in the Red Sea is seeing the rerouting of tanker flows via the Med and Suez adding to market inefficiencies August 7, 2026 With the Houthi threat to vessels that have called atSaudiports in the Red Sea tanker owners are reroutingVLCCsvia theSuez Canal. Following the Houthi in Yemen’s blockade of Saudi Arabian ports on 20 July the group has targeted a number of Saudi tankers as far north as the Red Sea loading port of Yanbu, and also the Gulf of Aden. Attacks so far have targeted Saudi owned tankers, however, the blockade threat from the Houthi covers vessels that have called in Saudi ports. With very limited traffic passing through the Strait of Hormuz Saudi has rerouted crude oil exports via the country’s east – west pipeline and VLCC loadings in Yanbu on the Red Sea have reportedly quadrupled as a result since the start of the US – Iran war at the end of February. Asked about the impact of the Houthi threat in its second quarter earnings callDHT HoldingsCEO Svein Moxnes Harjfeld said that previously its VLCCs had done several loadings in Yanbu entering and exiting the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb, however, with the Houthi threat this had become more challenging. “The result of that is that our ships have then typically exited the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and then rerouted, of course, then adding significant transportation distances to the transportation work being conducted.” Related:Weekly tanker and dry bulk time charter rates - 5 August He added that it was “fair to say most of the VLCC loadings, not just ours, have been directed northwest bound”. The rerouting of shipments northwards is resulting in trade changes with VLCCs either offloading part of their cargo to move via the 320km pipeline Sumed while the vessel transits the Suez Canal, and the direct loading of shipments in the Med at the port of Sidi Kerir connected to the Sumed pipeline. “So, we have ships loading at Yanbu, you need to offload about half of the cargo in order for the VLCC to transit the canal, and then you reload on the other end. There are also some ships, not ours or under our sort of commercial control that are shuttling between Yanbu and Ain Sukhna. One of our time charter contracts is involved in that business,” Harjfeld explained. He said that some fixtures, mainly from the Atlantic basin, are seeing tankers load directly in Sidi Kerir to move cargoes to Europe and the Far East. “All of this, again, is just creating disruption, reducing the efficiency of the fleet and thereby making the general markets much tighter,” he said. Analysts Poten estimated recently that shipping Middle East crude from Yanbu to South Korea, for example, via the Mediterranean increases voyage length from 24 days to 54 days. Related:Houthi claim strike on Saudi tanker in the Red Sea For Q3 DHT has booked 79% of its VLCC fleet’s spot days at an average rate of $152,700 per day. Read more about: Marcus Hand Editor Marcus Hand is the editor of Seatrade Maritime News and a dedicated maritime journalist with over two decades of experience covering the shipping industry in Asia. Marcus is also an experienced industry commentator and has chaired many conferences and round tables. Before joining Seatrade at the beginning of 2010, Marcus worked for the shipping industry journal Lloyd's List for a decade and before that the Singapore Business Times covering shipping and aviation. In November 2022, Marcus was announced as a member of the Board of Advisors to the Singapore Journal of Maritime Talent and Technology (SJMTT) to help bring together thought leadership around the key areas of talent and technology. Marcus is the founder of theSeatrade Maritime Podcastthat delivers commentary, opinions and conversations on shipping's most important topics. Marcus Hand regularly moderates at international maritime events. Below you’ll find a list of selected past conferences and webinars. Wind-Assisted Propulsion: Are we ready? at Seatrade Maritime Crew Connect Global 2024 IMPA 2024 SingaporeMaritime Procurement and Sustainability Panel, November 2024 Goodbye Globalization? Red Sea Impacts Reviewed,EGN Singapore (Executives' Global Network)webinar, February 2024 Offshore Marine Breakfast Forum atSea Asia 2023 Sustainable Finance, Shipping & Technology at Hong Kong Maritime Week 2022 Building & Operating Dual-Fuel Vessels, February 2022 Shipping’s Decarbonisation Challenge – The Role of Technology and Digitalisation at Hong Kong Maritime Week 2021 The Challenge Faced by Ship Registries in a Digital and Post-Pandemic Era, October 2020 The Future of Transhipment Hubs Post-Pandemic, November 2020 Offshore Marine Breakfast Forum at Sea Asia 2019 Marcus Hand regularly guests on mainstream media talking about maritime and shipping news stories. Below you'll find a list of selected appearances KBS World Radio -Korea24,May 2026 BBC News -Hindi Service,April 2026 RNZ -First Up, April 2026

Collision between bulker and towing boat occurred just two minutes after the bulker's pilot's 39-minute phone call ended, according to NTSB report. August 6, 2026 A pilot directing bulk carrierYangze 7in 2024 was distracted by a 39-minute non-operational phone call in the run up to a fatal collision with towing vesselMiss Peggy, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The incident in the Houston Ship Channel causedMiss Peggyto capsize. Four of the towing vessel’s five crew were rescued by a nearby vessel, inlcuidng one with major injuries that required a week in intensive care, and one with minor injuries. The fifth crewmember, a deckhand who was in the galley at the time of the collision, was later found dead in the ship’s wreckage. NTSB said the pilot’s long phone call resulted in him not detectingMiss Peggyand that theYangze 7’s bridge team failed to maintain a proper lookout, so they also did not notice the towboat until it was less than a ship’s length ahead of their vessel. “Audio from the VDR of theYangze 7indicated that the pilot’s discussion included golfing in the Houston area, installation and financing of a home generator, and travel plans to France, as well as pilot scheduling assignments, operations, and office logistics unrelated to current operations,” the NTSB report said. Related:Salvage sector under strain as income tumbles 53% The pilot repeatedly paused his phone conversation, carried out using a Bluetooth earpiece, to issue orders in the minutes before the collision. The captain ofMiss Peggyfailed to maintain a proper lookout and did not detectYangze 7approaching from astern, according to NTSB. The captain of the towing vessel reported that the first time he saw the bulk carrier was after the collision, once he had swum from the sinking vessel. The investigators said it was likely that the use by pilots of personal electronic devices like mobile phones had become normalised over time as there was no policy against their use. That theory is supported by the fact that the long phone call unrelated to operations by theYangze 7pilot was to another pilot who was also directing another vessel in the channel at the time, Panama-flagged tankerPetrel. The end of the phone call was two minutes before the collision. NTSB also noted that the bridge team ofYangze 7could hear the pilot’s phone call and that it was not related to ship operations, but concerns were not raised to the pilot. Their failure to raise concerns showed ineffective bridge resource management, NSTB claimed. The factors all ultimately contributed to a loss of situational awareness for the pilot and crews of the vessels involved. The NTSB has recommended that the US Coast Guard prohibit the non-operational use of electronic devices by pilots and those directing movements of vessels within USCG jurisdiction. It also recommended that the American Pilots’ Association develop and implement guidance prohibiting non-operational use of personal electronic devices by pilots directing vessel movements. Related:Shipyard fire losses and blind spot underwriting still cannot see Read more about: Gary Howard Middle East correspondent Gary Howard is the Middle East Correspondent for Seatrade Maritime News and has written for Seatrade Cruise, Seatrade Maritime Review and was News Editor at Lloyd’s List. Gary’s maritime career started after catching the shipping bug during a research assignment for the offshore industry. Working out of Seatrade's head office in the UK, he also produces and contributes to conference programmes for Seatrade events including CMA Shipping, Seatrade Maritime Logistics Middle East and Marintec. Gary’s favourite topics within the maritime industry are decarbonisation and wind-assisted propulsion; he particularly enjoys reporting from industry events. Gary Howard regularly moderates at international maritime events. Below you’ll find a list of selected past conferences and webinars. Ports of Refuge: Strengthening Maritime Resilience, at Seatrade Maritime Logistics Middle East 2025 Debunking LEO and Cloud for Maritime Industry, December 2022 (watch on-demand recording) Making Data Work for Shipping at Seatrade ShipTech Virtual 2021 Is the Zero-Carbon Future a Slow Shipping Future?at Seatrade ShipTech Virtual 2021 Is Ship Finance Transforming Faster than Shipping?at Seatrade ShipTech Virtual 2021

In logistics technology, the space between “we need to do something” and “we know exactly what we are implementing” is often where projects lose momentum. That gap is now showing up clearly in dock and yard operations. Many companies recognise that manual processes, disconnected systems and reactive planning are holding them back. Fewer have turned that recognition into a practical implementation plan. According to C3 Solutions’ 2026 State of Dock & Yard Management survey, 72.7% of respondents are exploring dock and yard automation over the next one to two years. Only 12.9% already have a plan in place. That is a striking difference. It suggests the market does not need to be convinced that dock and yard operations require improvement. The harder work is deciding what to prioritise, which teams need to be involved, what systems must connect and how the investment will be justified. This is where modernisation often slows. The operational case may be obvious to the people closest to the dock, but turning that case into a funded project requires alignment across transportation, warehousing, IT, finance and senior management. In earlier stages of logistics technology adoption, buyers often focused heavily on features. Could the system provide visibility? Could it schedule appointments? Could it support reporting, alerts or yard checks? Those questions still matter, but they are no longer enough. The C3 survey found that implementation effectiveness is the leading driver of satisfaction with current systems, selected by 55.7% of respondents. That placed it ahead of ease of use, feature functionality and vendor support. That finding should get attention. It shows that buyers are judging software by whether it can be embedded into daily operations, not just by what it can do in a demonstration. For dock and yard operations, that distinction is especially important. These environments are time-sensitive, labour-dependent and full of exceptions. A system that looks strong on paper can struggle if it does not fit the way appointments are handled, doors are assigned, carriers are managed and yard activity is updated during a live shift. The barriers to adoption also show why so many companies remain in exploration mode. Budget constraints were the top selection roadblock in the survey, cited by 43.6% of respondents. Lengthy decision-making processes and vendor offerings that do not match business needs followed at 36.2% each. Lack of internal alignment affected 26.2%. Those are organisational issues as much as technology issues. A company may know that its dock and yard process is too manual, but still struggle to define the project clearly enough to secure budget. Another may have agreement at the site level, but not enough alignment between operations and IT. Another may evaluate vendors without first documenting the workflow problems it is trying to solve. That is how a project gets stuck before it starts. The need is real, but the plan is too vague. The path forward should begin with operational specifics rather than a broad technology wish list. Where does the process break down today? Which handoffs create the most rework? Where are delays being absorbed by overtime, manual calls or temporary labour? Which exceptions are repeated often enough that they should not be treated as exceptions anymore? From there, companies can map how transportation, yard and warehouse teams interact during a normal shift and during disruption. They can identify which systems need to share information, which manual updates should be eliminated first and which processes need to be standardised across sites. The measures should also be practical. Dwell time, detention, labour hours, appointment adherence, carrier wait time and driver experience are stronger indicators of progress than a simple count of digitised tasks. The goal is not to automate for its own sake. It is to reduce the amount of effort required to keep freight moving when plans change. Dock and yard modernisation is often framed around efficiency, but the business case is widening. The C3 survey found that 95.7% of respondents consider sustainability important or extremely important in vendor evaluation. Driver experience also remains high, with 87.1% rating it important or extremely important. That matters because the dock and yard affect more than internal productivity. Long waits, poor communication and inefficient yard movement can affect carrier relationships, emissions, labour utilisation and service reliability. For senior leaders, those outcomes can make the project easier to connect to broader business priorities. This is especially useful when budgets are tight. A project built only around operational convenience may struggle for attention. A project tied to detention reduction, network consistency, carrier performance, driver experience and emissions has a stronger case. The first article in this series looked at the manual work tax: the hidden cost of using people, calls and spreadsheets to absorb volatility. The second looked at visibility, and why a clearer picture of the yard only matters if it connects to execution. This final piece brings the two together. Dock and yard modernisation is not just about buying software, adding a dashboard or automating a narrow task. It is about turning a messy coordination layer into a more consistent operating process. For many companies, the competitive edge will not come from being interested in automation. Most of the market is already there. The advantage will come from defining the problem clearly, aligning the right teams, implementing well and measuring whether the operation actually becomes easier to run. This article was sponsored by C3 Solutions.