World's Biggest

Carnival To Swap Ships

Carnival Corp., which is working to revive profitability at its Seabourn luxury cruise line, said that next year it will shift a ship now sailing for Seabourn to the company's Holland America Line. The Seabourn Sun, at 38,000 tons the largest of the six Seabourn ships, will move to Holland America in April 2002 after the vessel finishes an around-the-world tour. Carnival, the world's biggest cruise group with 44 ships among its half a dozen lines, last month changed top managers at its jointly run Seabourn and Cunard lines.

Cruise Lines Face Y2K Supplier Squalls

Cruise Lines Face Y2K Supplier Squalls The world's biggest cruise lines have safeguarded their own computers against Year 2000 glitches, but still face possible electronic squalls arising at food vendors and other suppliers. Carnival, Royal Caribbean and other major cruise lines operating out of North America are stopping short of declaring full victory over possible Y2K disruptions, due to worry about outside vendors, officials said.

STX Shipbuilding Gains on Stake Purchase in Aker Yards

STX Shipbuilding Co., the first South Korean yard in China, had its biggest two-day gain in more than a week in Seoul on optimism the purchase of a stake in Norway's Aker Yards ASA will add cruise liners to its range of vessels. STX Shipbuilding has more than quadrupled this year, making it the fourth-best performer in South Korea's Kospi 200 index. The stake purchase in Aker Yards will allow STX Shipbuilding to use the Norwegian company's expertise in cruise liners

World's Biggest Floating Diamond Processing Vessel Sets Sail

The world's biggest floating diamond processing vessel will set sail for the first time within three weeks and should be in position off Namibia before Christmas, the Namibian Minerals Corporation (NAMCO) said. "This is the biggest offshore diamond processing plant in the world," NAMCO chairman Alastair Holberton told reporters on a tour of the ship in Cape Town harbor. "We expect that in its first work up year in operation it will harvest 200,000 carats of diamonds worth about $30 million

Cunard Narrows Field For Queen Mary Builder

Reports indicate that Cunard will likely sign the deal to build the world’s largest and most costly cruise ship this week, and it is believed that either France’s Chantiers de l’Atlantique or Northern Ireland’s Harland and Wolff will be beneficiary of the contract to build the ship, which has been estimated at $600 million. Five European shipyards have been in the running for the massive Queen Mary 2. The cruise industry is convening in Miami this week at the annual Seatrade Cruise Shipping

Hutchison Buy Follows Maersk Deal

Hutchison Port, a unit of conglomerate Hutchison announced earlier on Wednesday a 30 percent investment in Westport Holdings, a multi-purpose terminal in Malaysia's biggest port, Port Klang. Hutchison, controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing, said in a statement that the deal would allow it to participate in Malaysia's economy. It gave no other details of the deal. Malaysia has 15 ports including Port Klang, on the west coast of Malaysia, which is the nation's main port.

Exxon, Shell Lose Nigerian Field Access

Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil lost an auction for Nigeria's most promising oil and gas fields last year to companies controlled by South Korea. In Venezuela, Royal Dutch Shell's bid to develop an offshore gas deposit collapsed when Brazil's state oil company stepped in. The world's biggest publicly traded oil producers are losing reserves to state-run companies willing to pay higher prices for energy needed to fuel growing economies. Petroleo Brasileiro SA, China's Cnooc Ltd

Carnival Forecast Raised

Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown analyst Robin Farley raised her 2000 per-share earnings forecast for Carnival Corp. by 10 cents, to $1.95, saying the world's biggest cruise group was getting better prices. "We believe that Carnival will experience a positive pricing environment in 4Q and 2000 (somewhat helped by Millennium pricing)," Farley wrote in a report. "Additionally, Carnival should benefit from double-digit capacity increases in 2000 of 12

Online Bulk Shipping Exchange Will Transform Market

An online shipping exchange being set up by two of the world's biggest oil firms, a leading agrifood multinational and top shipbroker will transform the way traditional shipping markets work, industry experts said. The company, LevelSeas.com, being set up by oil majors BP Amoco and Shell International Trading and Shipping with food processor and distributor Cargill and shipbroker Clarksons, will potentially control 10 percent of bulk commodity movements right from the beginning.

Tanker Operators To Join Forces

Norwegian tanker operator Iver Ships will join forces with Japan's Mitsui O.S.K Lines to form the second biggest clean tanker alliance in the Asia Pacific region. Iver said the two companies would merge their medium-range (MR) tanker fleets over the next six months to form a pool of 12 45,000 tonners. "Our customers -- the oil majors and petrochemical companies -- are globalizing to form bigger units, and they're looking to concentrate on a few service providers capable of doing a bigger part