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Western Europe News

01 Mar 2024

Only Grain Ships from Black Sea and for Iran Still Crossing Red Sea

© wifesun / Adobe Stock

Grain ships originating from the Black Sea or bound for Iran are about the only ones still sailing through the Red Sea as Houthi militants continue to attack vessels in the area, analysts said on Friday.The attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis have disrupted global shipping since November and forced firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys around southern Africa."Just about all (dry bulk grain) vessels going from the Americas and western Europe are avoiding the Red Sea…

07 Dec 2023

Carbon Capture Chasm Exposed at Climate Summit

Copyright VectorMine/AdobeStock

Carbon capture and storage has emerged as flashpoint at the UN climate conference in Dubai about how big a role it is destined to play in reaching the target of net zero emissions.It has also prompted an unusual and bad-tempered confrontation between senior officials at the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).In the run up to the conference, the IEA called on oil and gas producers to let go of "the illusion that implausibly…

31 May 2023

Baltic Index Falls for the Month as Vessel Demand Wanes

©Volodymyr Kyrylyuk/AdobeStock

The Baltic exchange's main sea freight index recorded its first monthly decline in four on Wednesday, on weakness in shipping rates across all segments, with lower coal demand dragging the capesize segment down in particular.The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, fell 146 points, or 13.0%, to its lowest since Feb. 27 at 977.The main index was down 38% for the month, its biggest drop since January.The capesize index .BACI lost 376 points or 24% at 1,218, registering its biggest percentage fall since Feb.

22 May 2023

Managing Offshore Oil & Gas Through Energy Transition

Copyright bomboman/AdobeStock

Scientists warn that climate change is the greatest peril that humankind has ever faced. Yet oil and gas exploration is set to clock the highest growth for more than a decade this year and next. Protesters cause disruption but, for the moment, hydrocarbon energy underpins life as we know it“Offshore oil and gas production probably matters now more than ever,” said Audun Martinsen. The Rystad Energy Partner and Head of Energy Research told Maritime Reporter & Engineering News.“It…

18 Apr 2023

Norway Parliament Asks for CCS Alternative to Decarbonize Major LNG Plant

Credit: Equinor

Norway's parliament on Tuesday told the government to consider an alternative way to cut carbon emissions at Western Europe's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, but stopped short of outright halting a controversial plan to use power from land. Oil firm Equinor and partners are seeking approval to replace the use of gas at the plant with power from the national grid, and thus reduce its emissions. The site is one of Norway's largest single emitters of carbon dioxide. In a unanimous vote…

15 Feb 2023

MacGregor to Equip Cobelfret CLdN RoRo Pair

(Photo: CLdN)

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, has been selected to supply RoRo equipment for two 8000 LM RoRo vessels built by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in South Korea for Cobelfret CLdN, Luxembourg.The order, booked into Cargotec’s first quarter 2023 orders received, consists of design and complete hardware including stern ramps, ramp covers and hoistable car decks, access ramps, and rampway doors. In addition, MacGregor engineers will provide support and supervision during the installation.Coberlfret…

17 Nov 2022

DESMI Names Humphrey Lau CEO

(Photo: DESMI)

Humphrey Lau has been named as CEO of DESMI, a Danish manufacturer of pumps, pumping systems, environmental cleaning equipment and related products within flow technology. He will succeed Henrik Sørensen, who has decided to step down on December 1, after more than 26 years as DESMI CEO.Humphrey worked for 16 years with Novo Nordisk and Novozymes and 14 years with Grundfos where he most recently held the position of Group Senior Vice President, Global Industry Business. Among his global experience…

31 Aug 2022

RIX Industries Forms Sales Partnership with Blue Deep International

From left: Bryan Reid, Chief Sales Officer, RIX Industries, with Jeff Owen, BDI Director. (Photo: RIX Industries)

RIX Industries, a developer of gas generation systems and energy technologies, announced Blue Deep International (BDI) as a new sales partner for the commercial marine and international naval defense markets. U.K.-based BDI is a representative agency servicing countries and regions across the globe including Western Europe, North America, and Australia.Effective May 1, 2022, BDI represents RIX exclusively in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland acting as a sales partner.

21 Aug 2022

Serbs Wade in Shrinking Danube as Dredgers Work Flat-out

© goran šafarek/EyeEm / Adobe Stock

Serbian sunseekers flocking to the riverside beaches of Novi Sad have adopted new pastime this summer—wading across a vast stretch of the Danube usually reserved for cargo barges and cruise ships.The navigable channel of western Europe's longest river, a trade and transport artery that passes through ten countries, is usually several hundred meters wide where it flows through Serbia's second-largest city.But drought and record high temperatures have reduced that to a narrow lane only being kept open by dredging…

27 Jul 2022

Carnival's AIDA Cruises Makes Biofuels Foray

(Photo: AIDA Cruises)

German cruise operator AIDA Cruises, a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation, has for the first time started to use biofuels in regular ship operations as part of its CO2 emissions reduction efforts.On July 21, 2022, during its layover in Rotterdam, AIDAprima became the first larger scale cruise ship to be bunkered with a blend of marine biofuel from Dutch supplier GoodFuels made from 100% sustainable raw materials such as waste cooking oil, and marine gas oil (MGO).

01 Jun 2022

Marine Insurance: CyNav for Ports & Terminals

Copyright metamorworks/AdobeStock

WTW has launched CyNav for Ports and Terminals, a cyber solution specifically designed to help address the escalating cyber risks faced by owners and operators in this strategically vital sector of the global maritime supply chain. The release of CyNav for Ports and Terminals is a direct response to growing calls from operators for a bespoke product that addresses the specific risks faced by their high-value asset class and closes the gaps found in the standard cyber policies of today’s insurance market.Due to the outsized role its practitioners play in supporting the global economy…

24 May 2022

Ukraine Seeking Ways to Get its Grain Out

 A grain carrier in a Ukrainian port back in 2021 - ©Elena/AdobeStock

Ukraine is seeking ways to get grain and vegetable oils out of the country by breaking a months-long blockade of the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea by the Russian navy and moving more by land.The war, together with Western sanctions against Russia, have sent the price of grain, cooking oil, fertilizer, and energy soaring.That in turn, is threatening a global food crisis as many countries count on Russia and Ukraine for more than half of their wheat imports, including some of the poorest.Russia and Ukraine together account for nearly a third of the global wheat supply…

17 May 2022

Seaborne Oil a Lifeline as German, Polish Refiners Swerve Russian Supply

© Horst Schmidt / Adobe Stock

Seaborne oil has thrown a lifeline to refiners in eastern Germany and Poland, with non-Russian deliveries into the Polish port of Gdansk hitting at least seven-year highs this month as they switch away from Russian supply.Imports booked for May into Gdansk from Egypt, the United States, Norway, Britain and West Africa had hit 8.4 million barrels by May 16, their highest level according to Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking data that goes back to 2015.At the same time, Russian crude booked for May into Gdansk and the port of Rostock stood at 700…

17 May 2022

Marine Coatings: Self-Indicating Tech Provides Anti-corrosion Certainty

Photo courtesy Nippon Paint Marine

In the months and years before the Covid-19 pandemic, the world was getting used to the idea of reducing its reliance on oil with more focus on liquefied natural gas (LNG). Consequently, shipyards and shipowners responded to the shift by building new or recommissioning existing LNG carriers and storage vessels.However, reducing dependence on Russian oil and gas from much of the world market – where it was the second biggest exporter of the product – has instigated a greater scramble…

19 Apr 2022

Celebrity Beyond Departs Chantiers de l’Atlantique Shipyard

(Photo: B.Biger / Chantiers de l’Atlantique)

Celebrity Cruises’ newest cruise ship Celebrity Beyond has departed the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France en route to Southampton, U.K. where the newbuild is slated to commence its maiden voyage later this month.The third in a series of five Edge Series luxury cruise ships ordered by Royal Caribbean's Celebrity Cruises—each reportedly worth $1 billion—the 140,600 GT Celebrity Beyond was delivered on April 6 and departed France on April 15.The 327-meter-long vessel was ordered in 2016…

21 Jan 2022

How a Russian-Ukraine Conflict Might Hit Global Markets

© katatonia / Adobe Stock

A potential invasion of Ukraine by neighboring Russia would be felt across a number of markets, from wheat and energy prices and the region's sovereign dollar bonds to safe have assets.Below are four charts showing where a potential escalation of tensions could be felt across global markets:Safe havensInflation at multi-decade highs and impending interest rate rises have made for a bad month for bond markets, but an outright Russia-Ukraine conflict could change that.Two-year U.S.

04 Jan 2022

New Wind-assisted River Cargo Ship Design Unveiled

(Image: Conoship International Projects)

Ship design and engineering firm Conoship International Projects said it has developed a new 3,600 dwt general cargo vessel suited for sea-river operations, which it says will provide major fuel savings and environmental advantages. Equipped with a diesel-electric propulsion system, enlarged propeller in combination with a ConoDuctTail and optimized hull lines, its fuel consumption will be best in class, especially in wind and waves. The design is also ready for wind-assisted propulsion…

24 Dec 2021

Europe Missing Out on Gas with Nord Stream 2 Delay, Russia says

Credit: Nord Stream 2

Europe, struggling with soaring gas prices, is missing out on additional Russian supplies amid delays to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a top Russian official signaled on Friday.Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said European companies that invested in the project, which is awaiting German and EU regulatory approval, would be able to ask for additional gas on top of their long-term contracts via the route."To my mind, European consumers are very interested in the project to start working, while the companies, which participate in it, they could have submitted additional requests as part of lo

03 Jun 2021

Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Construction Nears Completion

© Nord Stream 2 / Axel Schmidt (file photo)

The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea is almost complete with just 100 kilometers (62 miles) left to build, TASS news agency quoted Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak as saying on Thursday."We hope that construction works on Nord Stream 2 will be completed by the end of this year," Novak told reporters of progress on the pipeline, which will allow Russia to ship more gas to Western Europe while bypassing Ukraine.The United States last month waived sanctions on the company behind the pipeline to Germany, a move opposed by critics of the project in the U.S.

16 Apr 2021

Clean Crude? Oil Companies use Offsets to Claim Green Barrels

Credit:fuzzy3d/AdobeStock

In January, Occidental Petroleum announced it had accomplished something no oil company had done before: It sold a shipload of crude that it said was 100% carbon-neutral.While the two-million-barrel cargo to India was destined to produce more than a million tons of planet-warming carbon over its lifecycle, from well to tailpipe, the Texas-based driller said it had completely offset that impact by purchasing carbon credits under a U.N.-sponsored program called CORSIA.Carbon credits…

25 Mar 2021

Ship Blocking Suez Canal Could Be Stuck for Weeks

(Photo: Suez Canal Authority)

A containership blocking the Suez Canal like a "beached whale" may take weeks to free, the salvage company said, as officials stopped all ships entering the channel on Thursday in a new setback for global trade.The 400-meter Ever Given, almost as long as the Empire State Building is high, is blocking transit in both directions through one of the world's busiest shipping channels for oil and grain and other trade linking Asia and Europe.The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said eight tugs were working to move the vessel…

09 Feb 2021

Iron Ore Imports Outside China Show Signs of Recovery

Crane unloads iron or at a port - Credit; martinfredy/AdobeStock

The iron ore market is focused mainly on developments in China, which isn't surprising given the world's biggest buyer of commodities takes about 70% of global seaborne cargoes.But that other 30% does matter - and there are signs of a recovery in demand in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.The total global volume of seaborne iron ore discharged at ports in January was 134 million tonnes, according to vessel-tracking and port data compiled by Refinitiv.This was up from 122.82 million tonnes in December and 125.18 million in November…

27 Jan 2021

Museum Buys Rare Spanish Armada Maps to Keep Them in England

(Photo: The National Museum of the Royal Navy)

A set of 10 hand-drawn, 16th century maps showing the progress of the Spanish Armada that attacked England in 1588, an event that shaped national identity, will remain in the country after a museum raised 600,000 pounds ($824,000) to buy them.The ink and watercolor maps, thought to be the earliest surviving images of the battles between the fleets of Queen Elizabeth I of England and of Philip II of Spain, had been at risk of export after a private sale last year.The government placed an export bar on the maps in July…