LNG Carrier Sails from US to South Korea Using Autonomous Navigation
A 180,000-square-meter-capacity liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier is said to be the world's first large cargo ship to cross the Pacific using autonomous navigation.Built by Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2021 and delivered to SK Shipping in South Korea, the vessel Prism Courage is equipped with HiNAS 2.0, Level 2 autonomous navigation solution developed by Avikus, a subsidiary of HD Hyundai (former Hyundai Heavy Industries Group).According to Avikus…
As Shanghai Reopens, California Ports Prepare for Cargo Surge
California port leaders expect imports to rise as Shanghai, home to the world's busiest seaport, emerges from a two-month COVID-19 lockdown.The question is whether that release of pent-up goods will again swamp West Coast ports that have recently emerged from the pandemic's massive cargo wave, they and other experts said.The Port of Shanghai was open during the city's shutdown, but cargo flows still slowed.
Harvey Gulf Converts Fifth Vessel for 'Tri-Fuel' Operations
U.S.-based offshore vessel owner Harvey Gulf announced on Thursday it has converted its fifth offshore supply vessel for tri-fueled operations.Harvey Gulf's feet of carbon-neutral tri-fuel vessels operates on battery power backed by renewable liquefied natural gas (LNG) and diesel.Harvey Gulf said it also completed a sixth vessel with battery power, creating the world’s largest fleet of tri- and dual-fueled oil and gas service vessels and the only ones in the U.S.Harvey Gulf CEO…
SAAM Towage Receives New Tug in Chile
SAAM Towage received a new tug in Valparaiso, the Mataquito II, which passed its seaworthiness testing in Turkey, supervised by the crew that will operate it.SAAM Towage Technical Manager Pablo Cáceres explained that “this tug allows safe and effective control of the maneuver in complex operations where it is necessary to assist ships at a speed of up to 10 knots, thanks to its installed capacity and…
Deltamarin Designing Train Ferry for Fennorail
Finnish ship designer Deltamarin said it has signed a contract with Oy Fennorail Ltd for conceptual design of a train ferry capable of carrying both train and truck cargo.The so-called EUROCARRIER train ferry is being engineered to connect Finland to the European TEN-T railway networks and create a connection across Eastern Europe to Central Europe and the Mediterranean. Approximately 400,000 trucks per year, or almost 1,100 trucks per day travel on car ferries between Finland and Estonia.
Harland & Wolff Returns to Action with First Newbuild Order
The historic Belfast shipyard Harland & Wolff announced it has secured its first newbuild order since being bought out of administration in 2019.The shipyard, best known for having built the Titanic, is returning to action after being purchased by London-based InfraStrata. The yard said on Wednesday that it was awarded an initial contract worth approximately £8.5 million to build 11 barges for U.K.-based waste management and recycling company Cory…
Overpressurized Fuel System Led to Towboat Fire -NTSB
The engine room fire aboard a towing vessel was caused by overpressurization of the fuel day tank and a main engine fuel return system when a fatigued chief engineer inadvertently left the day tank overflow valves to the storage tanks closed, the National Transportation Safety Board said in Marine Investigation Report 22/17 released Wednesday.On May 18, 2021, the towing vessel Mary Lynn was pushing two barges near mile 176 on the Upper Mississippi River near St.
BIMCO Hires Damsgaard to Lead Its New Houston Office
BIMCO announced it has hired Thomas Damsgaard to head its new office in Houston, as the shipping organization expands its global reach to better provide services to members in the Americas.Damsgaard has extensive experience working in shipowning companies, agency business, and is engaged in training activities. The main part of Damsgaard’s career has been in the United States, including in the Houston area.
UN Security Council Calls for Crackdown on Gulf of Guinea Piracy
The UN Security Council last week called for greater action to prevent piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, a region posing significant danger for commercial shipping as a hotbed for maritime kidnappings and armed robbery at sea.The council unanimously adopted Resolution 2634 (2022), which calls upon member states in the region to criminalize piracy and armed robbery at sea under their domestic laws, and to investigate…
EU Bans New Insurance of Ships Carrying Russian Oil
The European Union's sixth package of sanctions against Russia, approved on Thursday, includes an immediate ban on new insurance contracts for ships carrying Russian oil and existing contracts are to be phased out over 6 months, an EU official said."It is a 6-month phase out for ship insurance. The six months are counted from the entry into force of the sanctions package, and it is only for existing contracts.
Hapag-Lloyd Acquires DAL's Container Liner Business
Hapag-Lloyd announced it has closed its acquisition of the container liner business of German carrier Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), as the German liner shipping…
New Product: TruCare – Turbocharger Anomaly Detection and Predictive Maintenance-as-a-Service
Tru-Marine launches TruCare, designed to transform the technical management of marine turbocharger maintenance and repairs.“TruCare is a disruptive digitization approach in managing asset maintenance onboard vessels in a completely different way," said James Loke, Group Chief Executive Officer, Tru-Marine. "More importantly, it is our response to the urgency of decarbonization imposed by world maritime…
ADNOC L&S to Buy Three New 175,000m3 LNG Carriers
ADNOC Logistics & Services, UAE-based oil firm ADNOC's shipping and maritime logistics arm, said Thursday it would order three new liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers. "ADNOC L&S is the region’s largest shipping and integrated logistics company and the state-of-the-art new-build vessels will bolster the company’s capacity as it responds to the growing global demand for LNG," ADNOC L&S said.The new-build LNG vessels…
Greek Fleet Maintains Pole Position -Clarksons
Greek shipowners retain their preeminent market position with 16.4% of global GT (19% by dwt) despite recent years of crisis, operational challenges, dramatic market change and widespread disruption, according to recent analysis from Clarksons Research.Over the last four years, Greek shipping companies have added 29 million GT to reach 247 million GT / 41 million dwt on the water), the U.K.-based data and analytics firm said.A long term focus on tankers (26% global fleet share…
TankerTrackers.com Locates Seized Greek Tankers in Iranian Waters
Two Greek oil tankers seized by Iran last week are located in Iranian waters, monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said in a Twitter post on Thursday."We now have…
Norway's Hammerfest Plant Resumes LNG Production almost Two Years After Fire
Norway's Hammerfest liquefied natural gas plant has restarted LNG production following a fire almost two years ago, boosting the country's gas exports, operator Equinor said on Thursday.The company last week told Reuters the plant had completed repairs and was preparing to restart output. The plant had been offline since late September of 2020, and a restart was postponed several times while repairs…
Korean Shipbuilder Can't Accept New FSRU Orders as Capacity Full
Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) has mostly filled its order book for the next 2-1/2 years as the pandemic drove demand for container ships, leaving little room to meet the needs of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, a senior company executive said.With U.S. LNG exports rising, more LNG carriers are traveling longer distances to customers in North Asia and Europe while European…
Rovco Charters Glomar Worker DP Vessel
Rovco, an offshore subsea and survey solutions provider, has chartered Glomar Offshore's Glomar Worker dynamic positioning (DP) vessel.The 60m long DP2 multi-purpose offshore support vessel will be put to work on the company’s growing number of secured subsea survey campaigns for major operational windfarms across UK waters.The Glomar Worker was built in 2008 with an extensive rebuild in 2020, providing…