Ferus Smit to Launch Newbuild Bulker
Ferus Smit will launch newbuild bulk carrier Arklow Breeze on Friday, March 20 at Westerbroek. Arklow Breeze is the sixth and last vessel of a series to be delivered to a client from the city of Arklow, Ireland. The design is a bulk oriented general cargo ship that will be mainly employed in the shipment of wheat, corn and other bulk commodities in European waters. The hull form adapts the bulbless principle, creating a slender bow without bulb.
Petrobras Downgrade Shakes Market
Moody's shocked bond investors this week with a surprise two-notch downgrade that put Brazilian oil company Petrobras in junk territory. The move was seen by some investors as overly assertive…
This Week's Top Stories
The top stories this week covered everything from a DP system failure, a facelift for a WWII torpedo boat, and some mysterious tankers off the coast of Philadelphia. The tanker Olympic Flag was carrying 650,000 barrels of Angolan crude when it dropped anchor seven miles off the coast of Delaware Bay last November. It finally left two weeks ago, but not before being joined by five other tankers. Nobody seems to know why the tankers were idling offshore that long…
Port of Durban to Triple Capacity, Compete with Suez Canal
Durban, South Africa's busiest port, has started a project to triple capacity and encourage vessels to skip the Suez Canal and sail around the Cape of Good Hope, Bloomberg reported today. The excavation project, which will increase the port's capacity from 2.7 million TEUs in 2014 to 9.5 million in 2040, began in 2012 and the first phase is scheduled for completion in 2025. "It's more cost effective to sail modern…
Hercules Offshore Shares Fall 33%
Drilling contractor Hercules Offshore Inc's shares fell as much as 33 percent to a record low on Friday, a day after Deutsche Bank cut its price target on the company's stock to $0.
LA, Long Beach Ports Cooperation Approved
The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles received federal approval Thursday to cooperate more vigorously on finding new ways to prevent congestion and cargo delays…
Panama Canal Authority Holds Hearing on New Toll Structure
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) is holding a public hearing today on a proposed toll structure change. The proposed restructuring, which the ACP Board of Directors approved on December 24, calls for each ship segment to be priced based upon different units of measurement. For instance, containers will be measured and priced on TEUs, dry bulkers will be based on deadweight tonnage capacity and metric tons of cargo…
Brightoil Reports Steady Growth in Interim Results
Brightoil Petroleum (Holdings) Limited announced its interim results for the six months ended December 31, 2014, reporting steady growth over the period. During the period, profit attributable to the owners of the group increased 3% year-on-year to HK$561 million. Basic earnings per share amounted to 6.41 HK cents, up 3% from a year ago. Total revenue climbed 11% from HK$40.3 billion in 1HFY2014 toHK$44.9…
Somali Pirates Release Long-held Hostages
Somali pirates have freed four Thai nationals seized from a fishing vessel at sea in 2010, ending the longest-running hostage drama in the Horn of Africa state, the United Nations said on Friday.
Coast Guard Foundation Announces 2015 Scholarships
The Coast Guard Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to the education and welfare of Coast Guard members and their families, announced yesterday that it has kicked off its scholarship season. Accepting applications until March 15th, children of enlisted Coast Guard members may apply for scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 per year. Over the last 20 years, the Coast Guard Foundation…
Mexico Approves 5 Shallow Water Areas in Round One Oil Tender
Mexico has approved the terms for five shallow water areas containing around 355 million barrels of oil equivalent as part of its Round One tender to open up the country's oil fields…
Damen ASD 2810 Hybrid Tug Delivered to Multraship
Multraship took delivery of a Damen ASD 2810 Hybrid tug vessel, built at Damen Shipyards Galaţi, in Romania. The delivery is part of Multraship’s fleet expansion program, which involves a number of Damen vessel orders. The new vessel, named Multratug 28, sailed under her own keel to the Netherlands from Galaţi. The tug features an expected bollard pull of 61 metric tons. Damen’s ASD 2810 Hybrid is a new design, and Multratug 28 is the second of its class to be built.
Dredging Project to Protect Virginia Shoreline
The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and Naval Air Station Oceana at Dam Neck, Virginia, expect to begin a shore protection project at the Dam Neck annex within the next month. Sand from the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), to be used for this project, will enhance coastal resilience by protecting shoreline infrastructure. In addition, the project will restore shorebird and sea turtle nesting habitat and improve the recreational beach in this Virginia Beach community.
HHI to Add Massive Heavy Lift Vessel
Shipbuilder and offshore facilities contractor Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) informs that its shipbuilding affiliate, Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, completed a 10,000-ton heavy lift vessel (HLV), Hyundai-10000, at its shipyard in Yeongam, South Korea. The HLV is equipped with eight double truss jib cranes measures 182 meters in length, 70 meters in width and 11 meters in depth. The vessel…
MES Delivers FPSO Hull to MODEC
Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (MES) delivered the hull of a floating production, storage and offloading unit (FPSO) for MODEC, Inc. The FPSO hull sailed out from MES’ Chiba Shipyard on February 27, 2015. The FPSO will be chartered to a consortium formed by Petrobras (45%), BG Group (30%) and Repsol Sinopec Brasil S.A. (25%) after topside integration and commissioning work by MODEC. This is MES’ second FPSO hull, following Kerr-Mcggy Global Producer III delivered in 2000.
Davie Building LNG-powered Ferries
Canadian shipbuilder Davie held a keel laying ceremony for MV Armand-Imbeau II, marking the beginning of the hull assembly for this first of two sisterships under construction at Davie for the Société des traversiers du Québec (STQ). The two ferries for the Tadoussac‒Baie-Sainte-Catherine route are to built at a total cost of $125 million for year-round navigation on the Saguenay Fjord. The first ferry…
Van der Vlist Expands Zeebrugge Facilities
Van der Vlist Zeebrugge has expanded the capacity of the Zeebrugge site. The indoor and outdoor storage facilities now occupy a surface of 50,000 m². A new 950 m² warehouse raises its indoor capacity to a total of 4,500m². The company also invested in two new workshops: a standard workshop of 1.150 m² for light and semi heavy machines, and one for heavy machines with wide gates and a 20 ton lift capacity, which is 450 m². Finally, the washing facility was expanded from 125 m² to 285 m².
Some Roads Reopened in Brazil, Truck Strike Persists
Striking truckers lifted their blockade of dozens of highways in Brazil after police began fining and arresting protesters, though strike organizers said they had…
ClassNK Updates Guidelines for Floating Offshore Facilities
ClassNK released a new version of its Guidelines for Floating Offshore Facilities for LNG/LPG Production, Storage, Offloading and Regasification. Available on the ClassNK website, this second edition is an update to the initial guidelines released in February 2011 which aims to provide technical guidelines for the construction and survey of floating offshore facilities. With its lates version, ClassNK…
US, Chinese Navies Conduct Joint Exercise
A U.S. Navy littoral combat ship and a Chinese Navy frigate conducted a joint training exercise in the South China Sea. The U.S. Navy littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) and the China’s People's Liberation Army-Navy [PLA(N)] Jiangkai II frigate Hengshui (FFG 572) were conducting routine training and operations in international waters of the South China Sea when the ships realized a training opportunity was present, the U.S. Navy said.
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