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A week into the New Year, and we already have exciting updates in the industry! K Line Aims to Promote the Concept of Digitalization The giant shipping company, K Line, is globally acclaimed as the third largest ship-owner in Japan and it is going to celebrate its 100 th anniversary in 2019. The President and CEO of the K Line organization (originally known as Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha), Eizo Murakami, has considered the notion of a corporate restructuring in order to develop an all-round digitalization within the organization. Murakami has commented that the K Line should focus on building a business model that is quite adaptive to the various alterations occurring in the society, which includes the adaptation of newer and more advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence. Murakami has highlighted the importance of incorporating a variety of up-to-date digital technologies that have the strong potential to predict the changes and make necessary amendments. K Line has also decided to create a small organization solely for the guidance and implementation of the new changes to be brought about in the company. The team has conceptualized a new AI-digitalization advancement category along with a new marketing strategy segment for handling the lateral group strategies along with the demands made by the client. Murakami is confident that the smooth collaboration of these new segments with that of the other aspects in the company, will catapult K Line to reach newer heights of success in the maritime industry. An MSC Containership Loses Around 270 Containers Near the Dutch Coast A Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) ship, known as the MSC Zoe, has lost around 270 containers near the Dutch coast owing to extreme weather conditions. Built not long ago in 2015, the container vessel had unfortunately been subjected to heavy weather during its voyage to Bremerhaven in Germany. If we consider the latest reports, the MSC Zoe was travelling near the Frisian Islands that is an archipelago near the northwestern region of the Dutch coast. It has been discovered that some of the containers have washed up on the Borkum Island and also, on the nearby Wadden Islands. The containers consisted of mainly consumer goods (like furniture, toys etc.) and around three of them were carrying extremely dangerous and highly flammable organic peroxides. MSC has entrusted a salvage company (name not disclosed) to hunt for the lost containers. It has also employed well-equipped ships to search and retrieve the missing cargo with the help of sonar waves. MSC has promptly responded to the incident and has taken matters up very seriously indeed. It has also teamed up the local authorities and is doing its level best to locate the lost containers and deliver them to their assigned destinations. National Waterway-4 Will Undergo Development in Three Phases Back in 2008, Mr. Mansukh Mandaviya (the Minister of State for Shipping) had declared that the Bhadrachalam-Rajahmundry stretch of the Godavari River, the Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of canals along with the Kaluvelly tank, and last but not the least, the Wazirabad-Vijayawada stretch belonging to the Krishna River was to be named as the National Waterway-4 (NW-4). The total length of the NW4 was announced as 1,078km, as per the reports. Further in 2016, the Godavari stretch of the National Waterway was increased till Nashik and the Krishna stretch was extended up to Galagali under the National Waterways Act. The states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, and Maharashtra, were involved in the construction work of the NH4 in 2016. Currently, the total length of the NH4 is finalized as 2,890km and will soon undergo development in three separate phases. The Phase I will focus on the Vijayawada-Muktyala stretch of the Krishna River, while Phase II will be based on the Kakinada-Vijayawada stretch and the Rajahmundry-Polavaram stretch. The details of Phase III is still uncertain and will commence after the completion of the first two phases. According to sources, the Phase I has been already sanctioned with a fund of Rs.96 crores. The Mahanadi River Mouth Will Be Subjected to Dredging The Chairman of the Paradip Port Trust (PPT), Mr Rinkesh Roy, has stated that the Mahanadi River mouth will soon encounter a phase of dredging operations for an improvement of its present condition. During the PPT Foundation Day programme held recently, the Chairman had announced that the dredging project will require an estimate of Rs.15 crores and will be under the supervision of the Reach Dredging Ltd. firm. The Mahanadi River mouth underwent dredging a long time back, which was eventually calculated as 20 years. A major fishery harbour is located on the right bank of the river and is controlled by Odisha’s Fisheries Department. It has been discovered that fishing vessels were facing difficulties in navigating through the river mouth and hence, a dredging operation is being initiated to solve the issue. The Port of Colombo Reaches Its Seven Millionth Mark in TEU Handling The Port of Colombo has reached a teu landmark by achieving the seven millionth tag in quite a short period of time. A special ceremony was organized at the Jaya Container Terminal (JCT) to celebrate the achievement and appreciate the brilliant and steady performance delivered by the port authority. Dr Parakrama Dissanayake, the Chairman of SLPA, has mentioned that this milestone was possible because of the cooperative clients associated with the port. Sources: https://splash247.com/k-line-makes-sweeping-digital-reforms/ http://www.seatrade-maritime.com/news/europe/msc-vessel-loses-containers-in-north-sea-storm.html http://www.maritimegateway.com/national-waterway-4-developed/ http://eximin.net/NewsDetails.aspx?name=40157 https://www.porttechnology.org/news/port_of_colombo_celebrates_teu_landmark