Harbour Master
Harbour Masters
Worldwide there are approximately 3,000 merchant ports and the work of the Harbour Master can vary widely from country to country and from port to port even within the same country.

BEST* Terminal turns into reality an ambitious project of expanding its hinterland at international level through collaboration with the Port of Bayonne, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in SW France.
The port of Bayonne, historically specialists in bulk, wants to take a step forward in intermodality by implementing a cross-border door-to-door intermodal service. In this way, BEST and the Port of Bayonne have joined forces to offer a new intermodal service to importers and exporters in SW France, through BEST's logistics operator, Synergy, and the transport company GIMEX, based in Navarra (Navarre), Spain.
Trade event on 20 February
Union of the partners of this innovative project will be presented by both parties at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bayonne on 20 February in order to identify potential future users and present the proposal of service offer to the needs of logistics professionals on both sides of the border.
To register
It is understood that the Bayonne Chamber of Commerce, BEST, Synergy and Gimex have inviting shippers, forwarders, logistics companies, transporters, importers and exporters to contact the Sales Management team of the Port of Bayonne for further information and to register for the presentation of the event, either by e-mail at: port@bayonne.cci.fr or by telephone on: +33 05 59 46 58 81.
The port of Bayonne, as a fundamental economic development player in the region, is going to strengthen its logistics offer by using container transport from/to a worldwide market. At the same time, it is an environmentally sustainable logistics hub thanks to the combined use of rail and maritime services thus limiting the impact of the carbon footprint generated.
Experience in intermodal transport by rail that Synergy brings to this framework of collaboration between both ports is undoubtedly a mark of quality and reliability that customers seek in a logistics partner.
By way of example operators’ success stories are its service from BEST to Pamplona, with one daily departure, and the one from BEST to Miranda de Ebro (Burgos), which already has four departures each week, having been in service for a little over a year.
It is reported that added value that these services provide to their clients are: savings of up to eleven days of maritime transit time, offering direct services from Barcelona; and also reliability in the face of the current situation of uncertainty that French ports have been experiencing for several weeks.
*Barcelona Europe South Terminal
A new report from the FAO shows that while most fish stocks remain overexploited, the number of stocks subject to overfishing has decreased for the first time in decades. This was announced from FAO HQ in Rome in mid-December. Readers are invited to see the full report here: http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/cb2429en
After decades of increasing human pressures on the Mediterranean and Black Sea marine ecosystems and fisheries resources, the latest data suggest that a corner is finally being turned on overexploitation of the region's vital fish stocks.
According to a new report on the State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries (SoMFi 2020), released on 14 December, while 75% of fish stocks remain subject to overfishing, this percentage fell by more than 10% between 2014 and 2018. Exploitation ratios are down by a similar proportion. Taking into account newly assessed stocks, the number of fish stocks with high relative biomass has doubled since the last edition published in 2018.
Crew changes are once more becoming difficult as much of the world locks down again following the emergence of several new and more transmissible variants of Covid-19, crew specialist Danica has warned.
With travel corridors being closed and new travel restrictions imposed, airlines are once again cancelling or reducing flights which poses a problem for crew transiting to vessels. It is understood from Danica that ports too, if they have reopened, are imposing greater restrictions.
Henrik Jensen (pictured), Managing Director of Danica Crewing Services, has warned: ‘I believe we may be heading for a new crew change crisis every bit as bad as last spring. Over the past six months crew changes have been possible in many cases, although they have been costly and complex. However, now we are seeing a range of new restrictions and barriers to crew travel while also facing some serious issues in relation to crew health risk factors. I can foresee this impacting heavily on crew changes for the next few months.’
Danica specialises in crew deployment and has been assisting a range of ship operators in order to achieve crew changes over the past year. As a result, the company is fully aware of the latest rules and restrictions and well-placed to notice how they are impacting crewing.
Jensen explained: ‘In response to the rapid increase in infections around the world, governments are imposing new or additional measures including travel restrictions. Although these measures are understandable in the circumstances, based on scientific evidence, and intended to provide protection for their populations, they also cause operational and logistical problems for crew changes.