Page 14: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2021)

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Reflections

By Dennis L. Bryant

This will be my last monthly article for Maritime Reporter & Engineering News. I started writing these articles in ear-

CONTAINERIZATION

Placing cargo in a sealed box ly 2002, just over 19 years ago and during that time I have has led to an explosion of interna- written over 228 articles, missing only one month when my tional trade and a reduction in unit grandson was hospitalized. (I have also written about 6,200 transport costs. Unfortunately, it of my (almost) daily newsletters.) Early articles were focused has also resulted in misdeclara- on maritime security, which was still in evolution following tion of cargo, including the non- declaration of dangerous cargo. the horri? c terrorist incidents in New York, Pennsylvania,

This has led to a growing number and Washington, DC. Later, the hot topic was piracy, partic- of container shipping casualties ularly in waters off Somalia and now shifting to the Gulf of and places crew members and re-

Guinea. For the past year, there have been articles concern- sponse personnel in danger. The ing the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting crew change industry and the regulators cannot continue to ignore this problem. crisis, which will not be fully resolved until the coronavirus is largely eradicated. A continuing theme, though, has been environmental protection. Prevention of and response to oil spills is a frequent topic of my articles. The maritime indus- try, and particularly the tanker sector, have made tremen- dous strides in preventing accidental discharges. But these days there seems to be zero tolerance for maritime spills so that any discharge draws public attention and government scrutiny. Surprisingly, land-based activities continue to enjoy a lesser standard.

© GreenOak/AdobeStock 14 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • May 2021

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