Orion Star News

The United Nations Security Council said on Saturday it had lifted sanctions on five ships that were blacklisted in March for ties to North Korea's arms trade. The ships were among 31 vessels sanctioned by the 15-member council on March 2 because they were linked to Ocean Maritime Management (OMM), a North Korean shipping firm known to transport arms and other illicit goods for the secretive state. The ships removed from the blacklist are Dawnlight, Every Bright, Gold Star 3, Orion Star and South Hill 5. The Security Council listed the vessels as part of sweeping sanctions adopted in March, following North Korea's fourth nuclear test in January. Just a few weeks later the council removed four ships from the list at China's request.

Marcon International, Inc. of Coupeville, Washington  announced the sale of the U.S. flag oilfield supply boat "Orion Pioneer" (ex-Orion Star, Acoustic Pioneer, September Morn) from WesternGeco Overseas Inc. to private buyers. The vessel was originally built in 1981 by Halter Marine, Inc. as a standard design 180' x 40' x 14' depth supply vessel for Levy-Mellon Marine of Patterson, Louisiana to use in the Gulf of Mexico market. She was later modified for specialized acoustic work for the U.S. Government Naval Sea Systems Command with conversion of port and starboard No.

There are currently three large tankers under repair at Bahrain’s Asry – the 284,889 dwt VLCC Al Samidoon and the 285,117 dwt VLCC Al Shuhadaa, both owned by Kuwait Oil Tanker Co (KOTC), the 305,783 dwt ULCC Orion Star, owned by Vela International, and the 238,898 dwt VLCC Progress, owned by Greece’s Dynacom. Other ship currently under repair include the 13,143 dwt tanker UVO XX, PNSC’s 99,358 dwt tanker Shalamar, Odfjell’s 37,221 dwt tanker Bow Clipper, the 44,954 dwt tanker QUDS B7, owned by Bakri, Belden Shipmanagement’s 16,960 dwt cement carrier Mariana III and the 1,235 dwt vessel SD Severn.

This past November, the GMD Group performed emergency repairs to Evergreen's 46,411-gt containership M/V Ever Goods, when its rudder failed in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world — midway between New York and New Jersey, underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Rather than pay anywhere between five and six million dollars to tow the broken vessel to its homeport in Japan, the owners opted to call on GMD's Bayonne Drydock & Repair, which was conveniently located just a few miles from the bridge. Originally the plan called for the fabrication of a new rudder stock, but when GMD located a never-before used tailshaft with ABS certification papers in San Francisco, Calif. those plans were quick to change.