The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the legal governing body for International Shipping and subsidiary of the United Nations (UN), sets the global sulphur emissions limits for marine fuels as per international convention MARPOL Annex VI Regulations for the Prevention of Air Pollution from ships.Within Europe it is covered by regional agreement under European Directive 2012/33/EU. IMO also sets the areas, within which the regulation applies these are called Emission Control Areas (ECA’s).

Geest Line have successfully managed to refrain from introducing any LSS to its clients and borne the higher operating costs during the phased introduction by the IMO. However, this is not sustainable going forward given the requirement to reduce emissions from 1.0% to 0.1% effective 2015.  For more information on Geest Line Low Sulphur Surcharge (LSS), please click here.

Geest Line recently sent three members of the team on a short trip on board the Timor Stream to visit both Portsmouth and Le Havre. The three adventurers were Lucy Lovegrove (imports), Alison McCormick (reception) and James Norton (Customer Services) and they experienced the life and working of a vessel.

All three adventurers remarked on how worthwhile the experience of gaining knowledge of a busy working port both in Portsmouth and Le Havre, and  taking in the sights and sounds of  busy working ports.

The vessel left Portsmouth at 1600 hrs, where they proceeded to the bridge of the vessel where they met the Pilot and watched as the vessel was guided out of the harbour by tugs.  Timor Stream arrived in Le Havre around midnight, and work started on the vessel at 05.30 the next morning.  Alison, James & Lucy were invited to the bridge where they watched the discharge and loading of the ship.

After breakfast they were met by Guillaume Boutigny of SAS, Geest Lines agent in Le Havre who took them on a tour of the port and facilities. Our thanks to Guillaume and all at SAS who made this possible.

Lucy – “It was nice to put faces to names and to see how different the two ports works (Portsmouth and Le Havre)”

Alison – “We had some free time to explore the town of Le Havre and to sample some local cuisine, a great trip”

James – “We had the pleasure of having lunch with some of the staff from SAS before some free time to explore the town. This was a very useful and enjoyable trip”

All in all a very enjoyable and worthwhile experience.

Geest Line were privileged to be asked to play their part in the restoration of sugar cane locomotives that were once used in the industry in Antigua.

Lawrence Gameson MD of Thomas Gameson Ltd of Cannock, UK embarked on this project over two years ago and will shortly be completing the renovation of a number of locomotives in Antigua. Please click here to view the attachment to discover more about this project.