Msc Ship News

Within a week's time, Detyens Shipyards has secured two Military Sealift Command (MSC) ship repair contracts worth more than $29 million combined. The privately-owned Charleston, S.C. repair yard beat out two other competing shipyards to secure a $18,144,376, 76-calendar day, firm-fixed-price contract for the regular overhaul dry-docking availability of the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO 195), the U.S. Department of Defense announced on Tuesday.The award follows Detyens' $10…

The Geneva-based Swiss company, Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC), which is the world’s second-largest shipping line in terms of container vessel capacity, has returned to Iran more than six years after it docked at an Iranian port the last time. According to Tasnim news agency, the Swiss ship MSC Domitille arrived at the second terminal of largest Iranian port Shahid Rajaee on Thursday. This follows the implementation of a recent nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, which will terminate all anti-Iran sanctions. Ebrahim Eidani, the director-general of Ports and Maritime Organization of Hormozgan province, said the ship was the first one belonging to the Swiss company docking in Iran after six years.

Ship-owning and managing company Crowley informs that a Military Sealift Command (MSC) vessel under its management has rescued 11 fishermen from a sinking vessel in the South China Sea. While transiting toward Subic Bay, Philippines, on July 19, USNS Impeccable’s (T-AGOS 23) on-watch lookout spotted lights, debris floating in the water and numerous distressed mariners struggling to stay afloat and waving from atop the wheelhouse of a nearly submerged ship located approximately 100 nautical miles northwest of Cape Bolinao, Philippines. Impeccable’s master, Capt.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised long-time client MSC Cruises (“MSC”) on the €1.2 billion (US$1.35bn), export credit agency (ECA) supported financing of two newbuild ‘Seaside class’ cruise ships, which will be the largest vessels ever built by the Fincantieri shipyard in Trieste, Italy. The financing for MSC was provided by a syndicate of banks including Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank (“CA-CIB”), BNP Paribas, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti S.P.A., HSBC France, Banco Santander S.A and Unicredit S.P.A. as mandated lead arrangers and underwriters. CA-CIB also served as structuring agent and bookrunner. The financing was supported by Italian export credit agency Servizi Assicurativi del Commercio Estero (“SACE”).

Top container shipping companies A.P. Moller-Maersk and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co cleared the last regulatory hurdle to launch a vessel-sharing pact, but companies that use their services voiced concerns, particularly in China. The tie-up won U.S. approval on Wednesday after four out of five commissioners at the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) voted not to seek further information from the two shippers about the impact of the alliance on exporters and ports, one of the commissioners told Reuters. Maersk said the approval had been the last it needed from regulators around the world, including in China and the European Union, and that the alliance would begin operations in January.

Maersk and MSC have just announced a mega vessel sharing agreement that will replace their failed P3 alliance early next year. It will be smaller, and compare well in size with the G6 and CKYH alliances – but what about CMA CGM? Maersk and MSC have taken on board China’s objections to the P3 alliance by coming up with a new vessel sharing arrangement called 2M that they hope will be agreed by all regulatory authorities before the beginning of next year. Out has gone CMA CGM, in order to bring the agreement’s market share down to more acceptable levels, and in has come a much simpler joint co-ordination committee to monitor the carriers’ network on a daily basis.

The joint rescue co-ordination centre in Halifax says four people have been taken off a container ship about 60 kilometres south of Portugal Cove South, N.L. CTV News reports, citing Canadian Coast Guard spokesman Maj. Martel Thompson, who also informed that the container ship 'MSC Monterey' was having issues with its hull. Two Cormorant helicopters from Gander, N.L., are on the scene of the threatened container ship off eastern Newfoundland. Four non-essential crew members were hoisted by helicopter off the ship…

A Department of Defense, Navy, contract has been awarded to BAE Systems, San Francisco, for a regular overhaul & drydocking of 'USNS Carl Brashear'. BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair, San Francisco, Calif., is being awarded a $10,772,461 firm-fixed-price contract for a 56-calendar day regular overhaul and dry docking availability of Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7). Work will include inspection of the propeller shaft and stern tube…

The largest containerized cargo ship in Port Everglades’ history, equal to the size of an air craft carrier, is calling at the South Florida seaport, Monday, October 22. The MSC Texas, at 1,095-feet long, 141-feet wide and 90,745-gross-registered tons, can carry as many as 8,238 20-foot containers when fully loaded at a draft of 47.6 feet. The ship is coming from Northern Europe on a weekly service into Port Everglades. Previously, the largest container ship to call at Port Everglades, also an MSC ship that came in March 2011, was 1,066-foot-long, 140-foot wide, 89,954-gross-registered-tons. MSC is one of the leading global shipping lines in the world. “Container ships are increasingly larger because it makes good business and environmental sense to carry more cargo per voyage.

Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187), which is currently providing logistical support for U.S. Pacific Fleet's biennial Rim of the Pacific exercise off Hawaii, will deliver 900,000 gallons of a 50-50 blend of advanced biofuels and traditional petroleum-based fuel July 17 to the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) strike group. The fuel delivery is part of the Navy's Great Green Fleet demonstration, which allows the Navy to test, evaluate and demonstrate the cross-platform utility and functionality of advanced biofuels in an operational setting. This will achieve one of the five energy goals established by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus: to demonstrate a Great Green Fleet in local operations by 2012.

MSC container ship in accident In the second MSC ship accident since the MSC Rena was fatally stranded off New Zealand in October, the MSC-operated vessel (understood to be owned by Maersk Line) 4,437-TEU MSC Carole ran aground on a reef off Jakarta, Indonesia, but has since been refloated. No injuries or oil pollution were reported. The extent of damage to the ship is not yet known.

The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command today announced an organization re-alignment designed to increase efficiency while maintaining effectiveness. MSC is implementing the plan to realign three core aspects of the Washington, D.C.,-based command's shore side operations: the roles of three of the command's Senior Executive Service personnel, the number and structure of programs that conduct the command's seagoing missions, and the reporting structure of several field activities. MSC is repositioning three of its key Senior Executive Service members to better manage this new program structure. One SES will be the program executive over MSC's government-operated ships…

Military Sealift Command dry cargo/ammunition ship USNS Richard E. Byrd left Cam Ranh Bay in southern Vietnam today, marking the end of a historic visit - the first by a U.S. Navy ship to the port in more than three decades. Byrd spent seven days at Cam Ranh Shipyard for routine maintenance and repairs that included underwater hull cleaning, polishing of the ship's propeller, repairing shipboard piping, and overhaul of the salt water cooling system that keeps the ship's engines cool and runs the air conditioning. Cam Ranh Bay is 180 miles north of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon.

Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn delivered vital fuel and supplies to Canadian navy ship HMCS Charlottetown April 29, the first replenishment at sea of a coalition ship by an MSC ship during Operation Unified Protector. Unified Protector is the NATO-led operation to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas in Libya. The operation includes an arms embargo enforced by Charlottetown and other NATO warships and aircraft patrolling the approaches to Libyan territorial waters to reduce the flow of arms, related material and mercenaries to Libya. Big Horn delivered 29,782 gallons of fuel to Charlottetown during the 44-minute evolution while operating alongside at 13 knots on a mostly cloudy day in the moderate seas of the central Mediterranean.

Military Sealift Command fleet replenishment oiler USNS Big Horn delivered vital fuel and supplies to Canadian navy ship HMCS Charlottetown April 29, the first replenishment at sea of a coalition ship by an MSC ship during Operation Unified Protector. Unified Protector is the NATO-led operation to protect civilians and civilian-populated areas in Libya. The operation includes an arms embargo enforced by Charlottetown and other NATO warships and aircraft patrolling the approaches to Libyan territorial waters to reduce the flow of arms, related material and mercenaries to Libya. Big Horn delivered 29,782 gallons of fuel to Charlottetown during the 44-minute evolution while operating alongside at 13 knots on a mostly cloudy day in the moderate seas of the central Mediterranean.

Less than one year after beginning fabrication of Spearhead (JHSV 1), Austal has commenced construction on Vigilant (JHSV 2), the second of up to ten 103-m Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV). Austal was selected as prime contractor in November 2008 to design and build the first JHSV, with options for nine additional vessels expected to be exercised between FY09 and FY13. Since then, Austal has received construction contracts for JHSV 1, JHSV 2, and JHSV 3 and Long Lead Time Material contracts for JHSV 4 and JHSV 5.

The crew of Military Sealift Command (MSC) offshore petroleum distribution system ship MV Vice Adm. K.R. Wheeler trained recently to do something that no other ship in the world can do: pump fuel to shore from a tanker as far as eight miles out to sea. The training took place June 21-26 off the coast of Pohang, Republic of Korea, and gave the ship's crew, operators and shoreside support personnel an opportunity to practice the first and final phases of a complex evolution that allows the unique…

At approximately 10:30 local time May 5, Military Sealift Command ship (MSC) USNS Lewis and Clark (T-AKE-1) was approached by suspected pirates off the eastern coast of Somalia and took evasive action to prevent a successful attack. While transiting north to provide logistics support for U.S. Navy and coalition ships operating in the area, two pirate skiffs pursued Lewis and Clark for more than an hour, closing to a distance of approximately one nautical mile. Once shipboard lookouts spotted the two suspected pirate skiffs…

The Secretary of the Navy announced March 26 that Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Bridge is the winner of the fiscal year 2008 SECNAV Environmental Quality Award in the small ship category. Bridge is one of MSC’s four fast combat support ships that replenish Navy ships at sea with fuel, ammunition, food and other cargo. The 754 ft ship, which has a crew of 170 civil service mariners and currently operates out of San Diego, was cited for the crew’s work in preventing pollution, ensuring readiness in responding to environmental issues, conserving resources and complying with environmental regulations. Bridge advanced to the Secretary of the Navy competition after it was named as one of the Chief of Naval Operations quality small ship award winners in February.

A down economy, a disabled drydock and a nation under heightened security measures — not exactly the best position for a ship repair facility to be in — or so one would think. Norfolk Shipbuilding & Drydock Corporation (NORSHIPCO) however has managed to stay on top with its steady stream of government and commercial work coming in into its yard. With 70 percent of NORSHIPCO's work on the government side, the yard has still had a steady stream of commercial work. According to Krekich, the work that was performed on MSC ship M/V SSG Edward A. Carter was successful in terms of schedule, costs and customer satisfaction. The 950-ft. (289.5 m) vessel, which arrived at NORSHIPCO on March 1, 2001, is under a long-term charter to MSC.

Deck department personnel unload a pallet of supplies from Military Sealift Command fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE 6) into the hangar bay aboard nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65). Enterprise and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 are on a scheduled deployment. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kiona M. Mckissack (RELEASED)

BAE Systems has been awarded a contract by Maersk Line, Limited for the drydocking and preservation of the USNS Soderman (T-AKR 317), one of nineteen Military Sealift Command (MSC) Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off (LMSR) Ships. The 55-day work package will begin in mid-September and is valued at $9.3 million, not including options. All work will take place at BAE Systems Ship Repair in Norfolk. BAE Systems will conduct drydocking and underwater work on the Soderman, including maintenance and repairs to propulsion systems and machinery, and preservation of the vessel’s hull, tanks and topside areas. Additionally, the contract includes ship security upgrades…

The Chief Engineer of a Panamanian registered container ship was sentenced today in federal court to charges of conspiracy, obstruction, destruction of evidence, false statements and violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in connection with the use of a secretly concealed "magic pipe" used to deliberately discharge tons of sludge and oil contaminated waste overboard. Michael J. Sullivan, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts; Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division; Rear Admiral David P. Pekoske, Commander, First Coast Guard District; and William Schenkelberg, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the U.S.