U.S. pursues India as a supply-chain alternative to China
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration is turning to India for help as the U.S. works to shift critical technology supply chains away from China and other countries that it says use that technology to destabilize global security.
Administration officials hosted meetings this week with a delegation of Indian officials and U.S. industry executives, seeking to facilitate technology development and investment in India as part of a broader U.S. push to cultivate alternatives to China.
The Wall Street Journal
UN agency moves to curb underwater shipping noise that affects marine life
The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency responsible for the safety and security of global shipping and the prevention of pollution by the industry, is revising 2014 guidelines for commercial ships in order to reduce underwater noise that threatens some marine species.
Among the organizations that had pushed for changes, a group representing Inuit communities in Canada, the U.S., Greenland and Chukotka, an autonomous district of Russia, had asked for greater protection of the marine animals on which their livelihoods and culture depend.
Supply Chain Brain
E-methanol could be the solution to shipping’s pollution problem
Container ships are heavy, the distances they travel far, and storage capacity is limited, making them a big challenge when it comes to decarbonization.
Solutions used by the auto sector, like electric batteries or hydrogen fuel-cells, aren’t viable for commercial shipping, a sector that represents about 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
E-methanol may offer a solution. The synthetic fuel releases less C02 than natural gas, another lower-carbon alternative to diesel-based marine fuels, and is starting to gain some traction the shipping industry. Thanks to early adopters like Maersk, production is also starting to ramp up.
Bloomberg
EU needs way to compete with US, China on clean energy, IEA says
The US climate law will spur a wave of clean energy development and new technology critical to constraining global warming, intensifying the pressure for Europe to keep pace, the head of the International Energy Agency said Friday.
“We are entering a new industrial age — an age of clean energy technology manufacturing,” Fatih Birol said at an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.
AJOT
Where container shipping is flourishing?
Liner shipping connectivity is key to the handling of container volumes and maintains a major chunk of the pie in global trade. The liner connectivity index affixes a rating point for each nation. The higher the points, the better the rating.
It is no surprise that the World Bank-powered index finds China, South Korea, Singapore and the United States in the top four positions. China handles gargantuan volumes, thanks to its successful infrastructure capabilities backed by hinterland-level strategy planning right from the state and port levels. The arteries of inland waterways further boost connectivity, placing it much ahead of South Korea and Singapore.
Container News
Japan, Netherlands agree to limit exports of chip-making equipment to China
WASHINGTON—Japan and the Netherlands have agreed with the U.S. to start restricting exports of advanced chip-manufacturing equipment to China, joining efforts by the Biden administration to slow China’s military development by cutting access to advanced technologies.
The agreement was reached Friday at a meeting in Washington between top national-security officials from the three countries, according to people familiar with the situation, a result of the Biden administration’s effort to convince allies to implement export controls on their companies with critical technologies.
The Wall Street Journal
