The Economic Times News

India-based Reliance Industries' recently delivered FPSO Ruby on Sunday collided ‘lightly’ with an accommodation barge offshore the east coast of India, India’s Economic Times reported on the same day.The news website cited a Reliance spokesperson who said that the incident happened when a gangway from the accommodation barge got lifted and hit a staircase on the FPSO. Nobody was injured during the incident and both vessels sustained 'minor' damage. According to the RIL spokesperson, as reported by Economic Times, the project timeline is not affected.

The city of Jeffersonville, Ind. announced plans are underway to redevelop the shuttered site of one of the nation’s oldest, largest and best-known inland shipbuilders.The city said it is working with the property's owner American Commercial Barge Line (ACBL) to develop a master plan for the 80-acre site along the Ohio Riverfront that was once home to Jeffboat. The southern Indiana shipyard was founded in the 1800s and served as one of Jeffersonville's largest employers until it shut down in 2018 amid a national slowdown in barge construction.As part of an agreement with ACBL…

DG Risk Group announced Monday it has acquired armed maritime security company Protection Vessels International, along with its trading division Halcyon Yacht Security. The acquisition was completed in 2020.UK-based Protection Vessels International (PVI) specializes in armed maritime security solutions for commercial and governmental agencies. Most recently PVI, in unison with DG Risk Group, supported and partnered with several navies in the Gulf of Guinea in support of two major…

Worrying signs are emerging for coal exporters to the world's biggest markets in Asia, as top buyers China and India move to favor domestic supplies over seaborne imports.The prices of higher-grade Australian thermal coal, lower-rank Indonesian thermal coal, and Australian coking coal used in steel-making have come under pressure in recent days, amid signs demand may be easing.Vessel tracking and port data compiled by Refinitiv suggests a slowing in cargo offloadings in top importer China…

LOC Group’s Houston office provides perspective on decommissioning developments in the Gulf of Mexico.The Gulf of Mexico basin covers approximately 1.6 million km2 and is one of the most important petroleum production regions in the world. A significant portion of the area is shallow continental shelf waters. These areas were developed first by oil companies, with deeper water development only being undertaken once the ‘easier’ sites had been exploited. Many years on, numerous…

As the International Maritime Organization (IMO) celebrates its 70th anniversary, Kitack Lim, Secretary-General, sits in his London office with a sense of satisfaction that in his two plus years at the helm of IMO tremendous strides have been made toward significant greenhouse gas emission reductions, punctuated by the recent MEPC meeting where the target was set for a 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050. But the Secretary- General’s sense of satisfaction is tempered with the fact that his job has just begun and his plate is full.

The UK P&I Club, a leading provider of P&I insurance and other services to the international shipping community, emerges from the renewal to start the new policy year with total mutual owned tonnage of 139 million gt, slightly higher than at the start of the previous policy year. Combined mutual-owned and chartered tonnage now stands at around 239 million gross tonnes. The UK Club understands that many operators are under financial pressure. The Club therefore continues to seek ways of delivering P&I cover at a competitive rate and did not announce a general increase again this year. However, safeguarding the Club’s future financial stability through disciplined underwriting remains a priority. Of those fleets leaving the Club at this renewal, almost all had adverse loss records.

Ruias-owned Essar Ports Ltd is exploring the possibility of setting up four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals in joint ventures with other companies, reported Economic Times. Rajiv Agarwal, managing director and chief executive of Essar Ports, told PTI at a company-run facility here. He said the company is looking at a cluster of small ports which will be closer to potential customers, adding that Hazira and Salaya, where it already operates ports, could be the sites where it can set up the LNG terminals. The company has interests in ports and shipping, has identified land on both the coasts and plans to come up with two terminals in the first phase and two in second phase, with capacities ranging from 2.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 5 mtpa.

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has donated £20,000 to Sailors’ Society’s Emergency Welfare Fund which provides financial relief to seafarers and their families in dire need. Every year, maritime charity Sailors’ Society is inundated with requests for support from seafarers with diverse and pressing welfare needs. This is the seventh year running that LR has donated to the fund, bringing its total contribution to more than £140,000. The fund has helped thousands of seafarers and their families over the years…

Last month, a large cruise ship completed its inaugural cruise through the Northwest Passage. The historic journey brought nearly 1,700 passengers from Seward, Alaska, past the rugged wilderness and isolated villages of the Arctic, to the concrete jungle of New York City. Along the way, passengers and crew were treated to a stunning contrast of climates, geography and culture. While understandable, concerns over passenger safety, wildlife disruptions and water pollution went unrealized during the historic cruise through the passage.

GAIL India, largest state-owned natural gas processing and distribution company in India, will likely scrap the tender for hiring LNG ships after failing to negotiate acceptable terms with bidders in what would hurt India's ambition to build high-tech LNG carriers at home under the Make in India programme, reports the Economic Times. The oil marketing giant had issued a tender last September seeking to charter at least 9 LNG vessels to bring home from the US up to 5.8 million tonne of gas annually from early 2018. Successful bidders were supposed to locally build a third of all ships they make under the Make in India plan. GAIL received bids from 2 Japanese consortiums after the deadlines for submissions were extended more than once.

China’s maritime safety administration announced China’s military's plans exercises in the disputed South China Sea this week, adding to tensions ahead of an international tribunal’s ruling that is expected to challenge Beijing’s maritime claims in the area. The naval drills, which will cover the area east of China’s Hainan Island all the way to and including the Paracels, will be held on July 5-11, Reuters reports, citing a brief statement published online. The drills will be ending July 11, the day before the United Nations-backed tribunal in The Hague is expected to issue its ruling. China has repeatedly said it will ignore the verdict despite pressure from the U.S. and its allies to comply.

India plans to more than double its liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal capacity in six years to cater to the rising natgas demand from refineries, fertilizer and power plants, according to a report in the Economic Times. A total of 15.15m tonnes of LNG was delivered into Indian terminals in 2015, a 5% increase from 2014, according to ICIS data. India was one of the biggest importers of LNG in Asia buying approximately10.4 million tonnes in 2014. In 2015-16, the natural gas consumption in the country rose barely 2 per cent to 52 billion cubic meters, of which 40 per cent was imported as LNG. With LNG prices hovering around a benign $5/mBtu for several months coupled with drop in domestic production of natural gas, India’s gas imports have risen a steep 45.4% annually in April.

DGS Marine, a global P&I management provider and exclusive manager for the British European and Overseas (BE&O) P&I facility, announced growth figures following the completion of P&I renewals, with premium growth of 6 percent, tonnage growth of 12 percent and total vessel numbers up by 17 percent. These results mark significant further growth in DGS Marine’s fixed premium P&I business, which has reached a record high. The total number of vessels entered into the BE&O P&I facility is now over 2…

RollDock Shipping B.V. (part of the Roll Group) confirmed the purchase of their 7th vessel, the MV RollDock Sky. This is the third semi-submersible multipurpose heavy lift vessel bought from Larsen & Toubro India. She will go directly into service after some upgrades. After RollDock and L&T ended their cooperation in 2013, L&T continued building a third semi-submersible multipurpose heavy lift vessel. During visits to the L&T yard by RollDock staff, RollDock was impressed by the quality and progress. Despite moderate market conditions, the Management, Supervisory Board and Shareholders decided to purchase the vessel and to name her MV RollDock Sky. The MV RollDock Sky is a sister vessel to MV RollDock Sun and MV RollDock Sea.

India's first nuclear armed submarine INS Arihant is now ready for full fledged operations, according to Navy sources. It has passed several deep sea diving drills as well as weapons launch tests over the past five months. According to a report in Economic Times, the indigenously-built boat is now fully-operational and over the past few months, several weapon tests have taken place in secrecy that have proven the capabilities of the vessel. INS Arihant is first of the five in the class of submarines designed and constructed as a part of Indian Navy’s Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project. The 6,000 tonne vessel was built at the Ship Building Centre in the port city of Visakhapatnam. it was revealed for the first time in 2009.

Global military reported that recently a Chinese “Yuan” class conventional submarines docked news in Pakistan, once again hurt the Indian Navy submarine fleet. The Hindustan Times said terms of size, the Chinese Navy submarine force is four times that of India, and in recent years the Chinese submarine upgrading, performance is more old-fashioned non-Indian Navy submarine cannot match. India now plans to lease a second nuclear attack submarine from Russia and the government has just approved a Rs 90,000-crore ($14 billion) plan to build six nuclear attack submarines in Vishakapatnam says a report in Times of India. India is rushing to counter China by building conventional and nuclear submarines with German, French and Russian help.

India is in final talks with Russia to lease a new nuclear attack submarine, giving a much needed boost to its depleting underwater fleet, the Times of India reported. A decision, according to Indian analysts, will be taken during a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Ufa. The Modi-led government is looking to lease a newly built, customized submarine, unlike in the past when older vessels were refurbished and handed over to India. India has the 'Chakra 2' Akula class nuclear submarine in service that is considered to be one of the deadliest non-US attack boats in the world. This submarine - a refurbished Soviet era boat - has been taken on a 10-year lease from Russia in 2012.

A delegation of Bangladesh Coast Guard is on a two-day visit to Kolkata as part of the ongoing cooperation between the coast guards of the two neighbours, aimed at exploring avenues for common approach to maritime issues in the region, reports Economic Times. A release from the Coast Guard said that Rear Admiral Mohammad Makbul Hossain, Director General Bangladesh Coast Guard led the Bangladesh delegation comprising officials from Bangladesh Coast Guard and Bangladesh Ministry of Home Affairs during its two-day visit. The delegation visited the Coast Guard Regional Headquarters (North East) in Kolkata and interacted with Inspector General V.S.R. Murthy, Commander - Coast Guard Region.

Businesses are operating in tough economic times, with budgets being significantly cut during the current industry downturn. Unfortunately, when lowering costs is a key priority, learning and development budgets have historically been one of the first areas to take the hit, yet projects still need to be completed and delivered to the highest possible standard. It’s well-proven that investing in learning and staff development is essential to ensure immediate and long-term business objectives are met…

GAIL India will offer foreign shipbuilders five years to make liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers in India, double the time allowed to deliver ships from their home shipyards, reports Economic Times. Report says that the company is insisting foreign shipbuilders to build in India at least a third of the 11 LNG carriers. It also plans to charter carriers from one or more shipping lines. GAIL hopes this concession will attract foreign firms to locally manufacture ships proposed to be chartered by the Indian gas company. Earlier in February, GAIL had floated a tender for the purpose in February but scrapped following no response from foreign companies.

A report in the Economic Times say that Russia wants to make India a global hub for the upgrade, maintenance and repair of conventional submarines and its leading shipyard is in final talks to select an Indian joint venture partner for a mega project to set up facilities. India and Russia have already decided to accelerate bilateral civil nuclear energy cooperation as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to take their strategic bilateral ties forward. "The Russian side is open to negotiations with Indian partners on various projects, including cooperation and JV [joint ventures] to manufacture modern defense equipment," said an official.

The Indian government is planning on raising $2B in overseas funding for major port expansion, the Economic Times of India reported today. The funding will also be used to construct rail and road projects to connect the ports to the country's interior. Indian officials told the Times that the proposal is soon to be finalized, and funds will be used to invest in 12 major ports. Officials also added that the plan will require approval from the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India.