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Taiwan cleans up as residue of Hurricane Kong-rey brushes Chinese coast
Taiwan cleaned up and offices and financial markets resumed on Friday after the powerful Typhoon Kongrey swept through the island triggering two deaths and snarling transportation, as the remnant of the storm brushed the Chinese coast. Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan's mountainous and sparsely inhabited east coast on Thursday afternoon, the biggest storm by size to hit the island in almost 30 years, then worked its method throughout central Taiwan before entering the Taiwan Strait and moving north. The fire department put the death toll at two - one whose truck was hit by a falling tree in central Taiwan, and another in Taipei who was struck by an electrical energy pole. It likewise reported 515 injuries. Employees in Taipei slowly removed fallen trees which snarled traffic, delaying the arrival of some ministers for a. parliament session. In the Taroko National Park in Hualien county, rescuers flew. to safety in a helicopter 2 Czech hikers who had been trapped. by the typhoon. Flight interruptions continued Friday, with 57. worldwide flights cancelled in addition to 135 domestic ones,. though the north-south high speed rail link resumed regular. operations. Even after losing power as it passed through Taiwan, Kong-rey. remained a serious tropical storm as it got in the Taiwan. Strait, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall to the coastal. Chinese province of Fujian. Kong-rey will likely not make landfall in China however is. expected to quickly swing back into the open sea later on Friday. towards Japan.
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Vopak expects tidy energy financial investments to speed up towards 2030, CEO says
Global tank storage operator Vopak has devoted just a fraction of the $1. billion it assigned for energy transition tasks by 2030 however. anticipates financial investments to speed up towards completion of the years,. CEO Cock Richelle said. The company has actually invested a bit less than $100 million on the. jobs in the two years given that it made the costs pledge,. Richelle told Reuters in an interview. Although developments have decreased, we still see that. it kind of moved away from a huge hype and dream to a lot more. realism in constructing these new supply chains going forward, he. stated. Some of the elements that have actually slowed projects include a lack. of federal government mandates and rewards, greater production costs. for alternative fuels and increasing construction capital. expenditure, he included. For example, Norway's Equinor scrapped strategies to. export hydrogen to Germany since it is too costly and there. is inadequate need and Repsol put on hold hydrogen. tasks in Spain due to an unfavourable regulatory environment. You require all of those celebrations at the exact same time to hold. hands and essentially leap to make certain that you can establish a. entire supply chain, Richelle stated. I think that has actually been sluggish merely because of the reality that. it's either unclear what reward you're going to get at. production, or it's unclear what the mandate is and where you. wish to sell your product, or the incentive over there in order. to import the product. Looking ahead, Vopak is focusing on infrastructure tasks. in 4 areas of energy shift: biofuels and feedstocks such. as sustainable air travel fuel and sustainable diesel; hydrogen and. hydrogen providers such as ammonia; carbon dioxide (CO2) value. and supply chains; and battery storage. Vopak plans to catch a bigger share of the biofuels market. by transforming existing tank for bio-bunker fuel. mixing in Rotterdam and Singapore, and in the use of biofuels. as basic material for fuel and petrochemical production in India,. Brazil and Los Angeles, Richelle stated. For ammonia, Vopak is targeting big production centres such. as the Middle East and the U.S., and end-markets like Antwerp,. Rotterdam, Singapore and South Korea where it operates. terminals, he added. The business stated in July it had opened an. workplace in Japan to check out chances there. Vopak likewise has a strong existence in China, a competitive. manufacturer of green methanol, where it can assist in the. production and distribution of the alternative fuel, Richelle. said. In carbon storage, the company is working on a task in. Rotterdam and has a preliminary agreement with Australia's Northern. Area to develop a CO2 import terminal. Vopak is likewise making early steps in battery storage. investments, having actually revealed a job in Texas previously this. year, Richelle said. We see that there's potentially a crucial role for Vopak. to play as the world moves from the storage of particles to. electrons, he stated.
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Death toll increases to 3 in Russian strike on high-rise house in Ukraine's Kharkiv
Rescue teams finished healing operations on Thursday at a. high-rise residence in the northeastern Ukrainian city of. Kharkiv struck by a Russian-guided bomb, with emergency services. stating the death toll had actually risen to 3. Emergency situation services stated children aged 12 and 15 were. amongst the dead in the Wednesday night strike, and thirty-six. individuals were injured. Kharkiv region Guv Oleh Syniehubov earlier stated that. among the kids had actually been pulled from under debris with head. wounds and fractures, but medics were unable to save him. Writing on the Telegram messaging app, Syniehubov stated the. strike had actually triggered a fire and destroyed most of one entrance,. making a substantial hole in the building. Reuters Tv video showed rescue groups picking their. way through twisted piles of concrete and other building. products to draw out the hurt and rush them into. ambulances. Firemens on long hoists dealt with smoke billowing. from shattered homes. Kharkiv remained in Ukrainian hands through the initial. failed advance of Russian forces on the capital Kyiv in the. early days of the February 2022 intrusion. It has actually since become a. regular target of Russian air attacks. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the attack highlighted. the need for more military aid from Ukraine's Western allies. On Thursday, Syniehubov said guided bombs hit 2 locations. outside the city, striking a service website. Three individuals were. treated for intense tension. Russian drones struck areas of Poltava area, further. west, damaging private homes, regional Guv Filip Pronin. stated on Telegram. Two people were rescued from a burning. building. A rocket strike on a station house in the Black Sea port. of Odesa injured 2 firemens, the regional governor said.
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German lawyers ask court to obstruct ship supposedly carrying explosives to Israeli business
Human rights attorneys have filed a court appeal in Berlin seeking to block a 150metricton delivery of militarygrade explosives aboard German freight ship MV Kathrin which they say is to be delivered to Israel's biggest defence contractor. The European Legal Assistance Center stated on Wednesday the action was filed on behalf of 3 Palestinians from Gaza, arguing that the shipment of primarily RDX dynamites might be used in munitions for Israel's war in Gaza, possibly adding to alleged war criminal activities and criminal activities versus humanity. Israel denies accusations that it has committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip, stating its forces follow international humanitarian law while combating Palestinian militants who operate in densely inhabited civilian locations. German-based Lubeca Marine, which owns the MV Kathrin, said the ship was never set up to make any port calls in Israel and had actually recently discharged its cargo, originally destined for Bar, Montenegro, without revealing where the discharge took location. The business decreased to disclose information of the cargo for contractual reasons, however said it complied fully with all worldwide and EU policies, guaranteeing essential licenses are gotten before any operations. The ELSC said the RDX delivery was destined for Israeli Military Industries, a division of Elbit Systems, Israel's largest defence specialist. Elbit Systems declined to remark. We never declared that the Kathrin was bound for Israel ( itself), it's the freight which is bound for Elbit Systems, ELSC lawyer Ahmed Abed told Reuters relating to the group's appeal submitted at Berlin's Administrative Court. The company neglected all the cautions. LSEG information and vessel-tracking website Marine Traffic showed that the MV Kathrin had docked in the major Egyptian Mediterranean port of Alexandria on Monday and was last seen there. According to the port of Alexandria's website, the ship, which it determined as German, unloaded military devices in Alexandria and was set to leave on Nov. 5. Egypt's army denied in a statement reports of assisting Israeli military operations, stating that there isn't any kind of cooperation with Israel. The Egyptian ministry of transport likewise said late on Thursday that the ship docked in Alexandria to discharge a delivery for Egypt's ministry of military production, adding that the ship submitted a main demand to leave to Turkey. The MV Kathrin has been denied entry at several African and Mediterranean ports, consisting of in Angola, Slovenia, Montenegro and Malta, according to the ELSC. It stated Portuguese authorities just recently needed the ship to switch from a Portuguese flag to a. German flag before it might continue. In August, Namibian authorities blocked the vessel, which. departed from Vietnam's port of Haiphong, from entering its main. harbour, Amnesty International has reported. Germany's economy ministry, called in the case due to the fact that the. ship is German-owned and flagged, said it had received letters. from legal representatives on the matter but declined to discuss them. The ministry stated the MV Kathrin shipment did not constitute. an export from Germany, as the explosives were neither filled. nor dispatched from German area. It stated there was no legal. basis for requiring an export licence under German law.
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Port of Montreal workers at 2 terminals start new strike, company group says
Unionized employees started a limitless strike at two terminals of the port of Montreal on Thursday amid stalled talks on a new labor contract, the employers' association said. The strike affects 2 terminals run by Termont, which handle about 40% of the port's container traffic however just about 15% of the port's overall volumes. In a statement, the Maritime Employers Association got in touch with federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to intervene to bring celebrations back to the negotiating table. The unpredictability caused by this long hold-up and the reoccurrence of labor disagreements are impacting the Quebec and Canadian economies, and Canada's reputation as a reliable and resilient trading partner, stated the Maritime Employers Association when the strike commenced on Thursday. Commodities like Western Canadian pulse crops are considerable users of the terminals. The union has stated that it has focused actions on Termont due to the fact that of employer-specific grievances. Termont is targeted due to the fact that it is the only company at the Port of Montreal to modify schedules in a punitive way, Canadian Union of Public Worker 375, which represents the longshore employees, said on Oct. 28. Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon stated the federal government stayed ready to aid with mediation. Celebrations should discover a process resulting in a worked out arrangement as quickly as possible. Federal arbitrators and Minister MacKinnon remain offered to assist them, and we continue to monitor the scenario closely, MacKinnon stated in a statement. The employer's association formerly requested for federal intervention.
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Algeria buys around 480,000 T milling wheat in tender, traders state
Algeria's state grains agency OAIC has actually bought at least 480,000 metric tons of milling wheat in an international tender on Thursday, European traders said in very first assessments. Initial purchases were reported at around $263 a metric lot cost and freight (c&& f) consisted of, they stated. Preliminary trader price quotes of the purchase volume were significant with a minimum of 480,000 loads stated to have actually been bought. Some price quotes were 500,000 loads. A large part of the purchase was anticipated to be sourced from the Black Sea area including Bulgaria and Romania, they said. Reports reflect assessments from traders and further price quotes of prices and volumes are still possible later on. The wheat is sought for delivery in 2024 in two durations from the main supply areas consisting of Europe: Dec. 1-15 and Dec. 16-31. If sourced from South America or Australia, delivery is one month earlier. In its last reported wheat tender on Oct. 8, Algeria purchased around 510,000 to 570,000 lots at around $262.50 a lot c&& f. Traders stated Algeria excluded French business from the Oct. 8 tender and required that participating companies did not offer French-origin wheat, in obvious fallout from restored diplomatic stress in between Algiers and Paris. Traders said on Wednesday that French companies had been welcomed to participate in Thursday's tender but that they could only use non-French wheat.
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Bitter harvest for Spanish farmers as floods swamp fields
Spanish fruit farmer Bernardo Ferrer was almost to gather his crop of oranges and persimmon when lethal floods ravaged large systems of farmland in the Valencia area. After visiting his mud-cloaked fields on Thursday, Ferrer stated whatever had actually been lost - his trees caked in thick silt that will make gathering impossible. Now the fruit is going to rot. Even the trees can pass away since they have been under water for 36 hours ... With the heat, the humidity, the fungus will assault them too, he informed Reuters by phone from his farm in the Alzira location. Valencia as a whole represent nearly two-thirds of citrus fruit production in Spain - the world's top exporter of oranges. Persimmon, a soft, orange-coloured fruit is another significant local crop, in addition to avocados, almonds and grapes for wine-making. The floods, which have killed a minimum of 95 people and triggered enormous damage to infrastructure, have actually affected thousands of hectares of farmland, farming groups and farmers stated. We are dealing with a catastrophe ... the losses will be in the millions (of euros), stated Ricardo Bayo, secretary of the Union of Small Manufacturers (UPA) in Valencia. Another farming group, the Valencia Farmers' Association, stated orange, persimmon and mandarin crops were amongst those that would be lost. In the rice-growing area of Albufera, fields were completely sumerged, with just a few farm buildings and trees visible above the water, Reuters images revealed. Ferrer said he was relieved he had insurance coverage to cover his losses. The insurance coverage (payment) normally shows up quite rapidly however with this scale we'll have to be patient, he said. But while citrus crops are usually insured in the area, the percentage of vineyards and nut crops with insurance coverage is low, Bayo stated. The association of Spanish agricultural insurance companies, Agroseguro, stated damage caused by the flooding would be covered. Insurance companies will start to process applications when insured farmers and livestock breeders can access their farms to take stock of the damage, the association said in a declaration. The floods likewise washed away equipment, irrigation systems and roads, said Manuel Alcaide, spokesperson for farmers' association COAG, who stated it was prematurely to determine losses. Many farmers are still unable to access their farms, he added. Livestock was likewise eliminated as the floodwaters swept in. In Utiel, among the worst-affected towns in Valencia, Javier Iranzo and Ana Carmen Fernandez stated the flooding had totally wrecked their pig farm, with 50 of their animals having actually drowned.
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Netherlands' Schiphol to increase airline fees by 37% over three years
Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, one of Europe's main air travel centers, will increase the costs it charges airline companies by an overall of 37% over three years to reflect the impact of high inflation and rates of interest, it stated on Thursday. Airlines will as an outcome pay Schiphol an average of 15 euros ($ 16.31) more for a local leaving passenger in 2027 compared to now, the airport said in a statement. The charges will increase by 41% next year, 5% in 2026 and then decrease by 7.5% in 2027, it stated. In August, the airport said it would invest 6 billion euros ($ 6.51 billion) by 2029 in what it then called the largest financial investment plan in its history. The increased charges will help to money some capital spending. With these charges, Schiphol is making the required investments in excellent infrastructure, better services for passengers and airlines and improved working conditions possible, it stated in Thursday's statement. It likewise said it would utilize the charges to lower noise problem and night flights would go through added fees. The charges for quieter airplane are going to be less costly, while older, noisier aircrafts are going to cost airlines more (...) There is a category of aircraft that make so much noise that they will be prohibited as of 2025.
Cost and safety issues are associated with the use of zero carbon ammonia in shipping.
Last month, at one of the largest bulk export ports of the world, in Western Australia's, shippers successfully completed the transfer of ammonia between vessels. This was a crucial test to determine whether it can be used as a marine energy in the drive for cleaner energy.
Ammonia-powered cargo ships are expected to enter service by 2026. This is one of many alternatives that the industry uses to reduce its carbon footprint, which accounts for almost 3% of all global emissions.
Ammonia is a less expensive and safer shipping fuel than other alternatives, like liquefied gas (LNG), biofuels, methanol and methanol.
Ammonia is appealing because it has no carbon and is a fuel that emits zero emissions if it's made with hydrogen generated by renewable electricity.
Safety is a major concern for this product, which is typically used in fertilisers and explosives.
Rio Tinto's head of commercial operations, Laure Baratgin said that the current lack of regulation and experience with ammonia use on ships are major safety deterrents.
Rio, the world's largest iron ore producer, is the main exporter in Dampier where the ammonia trial was conducted. The company operates bulk ships powered by traditional marine fuels or LNG but has not yet ordered or chartered ammonia-fueled vessels.
She said: "We will charter ammonia-dual fuel vessels as soon as we are confident, along with our partners and industry, that risks have been adequately controlled."
Other shippers also hesitate. Only 25 ammonia-dual-fuel ships were ordered globally as of 2024. This is compared to a fleet that includes at least 722 LNG fuelled ships and 62 ships running on methanol as of this year.
Only two ammonia-fueled vessels, including a towboat in Japan, are currently in service.
DANGEROUS PROPERTIES
Ammonia can be a serious problem when refuelling or bunkering ships. It can cause severe poisoning as well as damage to the eyes, skin and respiratory system.
The leakage of fuel tanks and leakage during bunkering are the two biggest risks, according to Yoshikazu Urusitani, General Manager in the Marine Fuel Division at Mitsui OSK Lines.
The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation, (GCMD), conducted a study that identified 400 risks related to ammonia bunkering. These risks can be reduced by using measures like emergency-release couplings which shut down systems when a leak has been detected.
The organisation is preparing a detailed plan of emergency response for ammonia spills. These are more difficult to contain than oil leaks.
"For oil, it's obvious - you can see it. It stays in the water and spreads out. Ammonia, however, dissipates into the air", said Lynn Loo. Chief executive officer at GCMD.
Nippon Yusen Kaisha, a Japanese company that has agreed to build a medium-sized ammonia-fueled gas carrier has developed specific equipment for ammonia bundling.
Takahiro Rokuroda, General Manager of NYK's Next Generation Fuel Business Group, says that the industry must set guidelines to ensure safe fuel management by seafarers.
Singapore, which is the largest ship refuelling centre in the world, has selected companies to investigate the viability and efficiency of ammonia as a fuel for power generation or bunkering. It also plans to develop ammonia bunkering standard.
Costs that are prohibitive
Ammonia bunkering will require a dramatic drop in costs.
Due to the limited supply of ammonia for marine use and its energy density, which is about 2.5 times less than conventional fuel, figures from industry show that powering ships with this fuel can cost up to four times as much.
Loo said that if you want to cover the same distance you will need to either carry twice as much fuel or bunker more often to ensure you have enough fuel.
Wartsila, a manufacturer of engines, says that ammonia fuel also requires extra maintenance because it is corrosive.
The American Bureau of Shipping predicts that ammonia will still account for approximately one-third of all bunker fuel by 2050.
Peninsula's COO, Kenny MacLean said: "We won't release any product until all risks are properly managed."
(source: Reuters)