Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport (MCST) Blog

  "....During the crisis, lack of truckers, time-consuming inspections, and quarantine in port customs hampered fresh food delivery globally. For example, India, the world's biggest rice exporter, suspended its exports due to labor shortages and logistics disruptions. As a result,  the number of food-insecure people rose significantly during the pandemic . Changing trade patterns and imbalances have left many containers in places where they are not needed, and others are held up in ports or on ships for weeks due to congestion. The resulting unprecedented shortage of available containers has led to historically high container freight rates..." UNCTAD brings home reality for countries struggling to understand issues in the maritime sector in the midst of COVID 19. Pooling together knowledge and data for more sustainable maritime transport | UNCTAD.

  Dr Peter Nuttall, Scientific and Technical Advisor to the Micronesian Center for Sustainable Transport . This article was published in April 2020, a year before appearing on this blogsite Back to the future - lessons from the Past  -  In the build-up to the Madrid Climate Summit last year, Fiji leaders, alongside other Pacific states, announced new high ambition targets for its domestic shipping sector. 100% carbon free by 2050 with a milestone of 40% reduction by 2030. Ambitious, challenging, even daunting. But just like winning gold at Rio, it is achievable.   100-odd years ago shipping underwent a fundamental technology revolution, from thousands of years of primary wind and paddle propulsion to fossil-fuel powered underwater propellers.  First, we burnt coal to make steam and then we invented the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) to burn heavy oil and then diesel. Finally we could drive a ship against the forces of nature and get to market faster. More re...