Takes Two

AEP MEMCO LLC Doubles Headquarters

AEP MEMCO, a dry cargo barge operator will be growing its business in a new Class A office building emerging at Chesterfield Village in Chesterfield, Mo. AEP MEMCO LLC will more that double the size of its headquarters by taking two floors in the five-story, 100,600-sq. ft. Central Park Square Office I being developed by Sachs Properties. AEP MEMCO, based at Chesterfield Village since 1995, will occupy 42,000 square feet when the new building opens next year. The start of Central Park I marks the 40th anniversary of Chesterfield Village and opens the next chapter – Downtown Chesterfield – in the 1,500-acre development. Downtown Chesterfield will include a second six-story, 150,000-square-foot office structure and four pedestrian-oriented retail buildings totaling 26,000 square feet. AEP MEMCO employs 1,100 people nationwide, including 115 at it current headquarters. Knoy anticipates adding another 35 employees after the firm occupies its new headquarters taking shape on a 20-acre site in the 16000 block of Chesterfield Parkway West. The company currently operates out of 18,000 square feet of space in the Roosevelt Building at 16090 Swingley Ridge Rd.

Stena Bulk, Concordia Team to Order 10 Chemical Parcel Tankers

As shipyards around the world struggle for business, Stena Bulk and Concordia Maritime confirmed an order of up to 10 in-house designed chemical tankers. The ships will be built at Guangzhou Shipyard International (GSI) in China with deliveries beginning from spring 2014. When delivered, the 50,000-dwt vessels will be the most sophisticated in the Stena Bulk and Concordia Maritime fleet. The value of the order is $400 million if all ten ships are declared

GAC Mersey Installs UK Offshore Platform

GAC Shipping UK completes the successful installation of the Conwy platform 40 miles off the port of Liverpool in good time The successful installation was completed only two months after a tug carrying the rig's jacket and topside - each weighing in at over 700 MT - set off from Rotterdam. GAC's Liverpool office was appointed by Dutch heavy civil engineering company HSM Offshore BV to provide an integrated package of support services to construct and hook-up the platform.

Capesize Momentum Likely To Continue Through End Of Year

The momentum in the Capesize shipping markets is likely to continue across the next month, shipping brokers said. However, continued rate strength in the New Year will depend on sentiment concerning Bocimar's intentions for the vessels it has on short term charters coming up for renegotiation from February. Current optimism in rates being maintained is based on recent timecharter fixtures of $20,500 a day for a modern bulk carrier East and $17,600 on a return trip to Europe, a broker said

Graig Group Secures Orders For Bulk Carriers

Cardiff-based Graig Group has secured seven firm orders for its modern double-hull ultra handymax Diamond 53 bulk carrier. Graig has ordered two Diamond 53's from Shanghai's New Century yard, Athens-based Thenamaris has taken two Graig orders from the same yard, and Scandinavian interests have confirmed, through Graig, three orders at Shanghai's Chengxi yard. First deliveries will begin in January 2005. A total of nine options have been granted by the two shipyards.

Russians Take Journalist To Kursk Site

Nearly a year after the Kursk submarine sank in the Barents Sea with the loss of all on board, Russia packed 99 journalists onto a ship and took them to the site of the catastrophe. The Kremlin says it wants to make the lifting of the 18,000 ton nuclear-powered warship a model of multi-media openness, after weathering fierce criticism last summer for its handling of an accident that is still shrouded in mystery. Horror at the loss of one of Russia's most modern submarines and her 118 crew

Places of Refuge

The concept of force majeure has been broadly accepted since mariners initially encountered the perils of the sea.  Persons and governments ashore have been obligated, at least by natural law, to accept and succor those in distress at sea.  Concomitant with force majeure is the notion of providing a ship in distress with a place or port of refuge.  A place of refuge is where a ship could go to avoid or ameliorate the peril and then depart at the earliest opportunity

Maersk Pirate Deserves 27-Years According to His Lawyers

According to a report from Bloomberg, Abduwali Muse, a Somali pirate who pleaded guilty to hijacking the container ship Maersk Alabama, should get 27 years in prison when he is sentenced this month, his lawyers said, citing his youth and poverty. Muse admitted in May to two counts of hijacking maritime vessels, two counts of kidnapping and two counts of hostage taking. He faces 27 years to 33 years and nine months in prison under a range agreed to by his lawyers and the U.S.

WSF Port Townsend-Keystone Route to Continue Full Servcie

Washington State Ferries (WSF) said that the Port Townsend-Keystone route will continue to operate on a two-boat regular schedule, despite reports that the Nisqually may be taken off the route and service reduced to one vessel. The Nisqually and the Klickitat will operate on the published summer schedule, which is available online at http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/. On Sunday, July 29, a slow leak was discovered in the stern tube (part of the vessel steering system) of the Illahee

Offshore Platform/ROV Support Vessel Delivered

Singapore's Greatship Global Offshore Services Pte. Ltd. takes delivery of the vessel from Colombo Dockyard, Sri Lnaka. Greatship Global Offshore Services Pte. Ltd. (GGOS), a Singapore incorporated subsidiary of Greatship (India) Limited (GIL), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited has taken delivery of a Platform/ROV  Support Vessel, Greatship Ragini. Greatship Ragini is a DP2 vessel