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Pacific Ocean News

03 Jan 2024

Ocean Cargo Rates Climb After New Red Sea Ship Attacks

© Sergey Novikov / Adobe Stock

Ocean freight rates are surging after a missile attack and attempted hijacking of a Maersk ship this weekend prompted carriers to suspend plans to restart transits through the Red Sea, a key artery to the vital Suez Canal trade route.Yemen-based Houthi militants have been attacking high-value cargo vessels in the Red Sea since November in a show of support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas fighting Israel in Gaza. It has forced ships to reroute around the southern tip of Africa…

28 Dec 2023

Red Sea Shipping Workarounds Add Costs, Delays for Suppliers

© EvrenKalinbacak / Adobe Stock

Toymaker Basic Fun's team that oversees ocean shipments of Tonka trucks and Care Bears for Walmart and other retailers is racing to reroute cargo away from the Suez Canal following militant attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.Suppliers for the likes of IKEA, Home Depot, Amazon and retailers around the world are doing the same as businesses grapple with the biggest shipping upheaval since the COVID-19 pandemic threw global supply chains into disarray, sources in the logistics industry said.Florida-based Basic Fun usually ships all Europe-bound toys from its China factories via the Suez Canal…

06 Dec 2023

Singapore, Los Angeles and Long Beach Develop Plans for Green Corridor

Photo courtesy of the Port of Los Angeles.

At COP28, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach unveiled a strategy for a green and digital shipping corridor across the Pacific Ocean.The strategy follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding by MPA, Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach during Singapore Maritime Week in April 2023. The signing formalized the partnership, which is supported by C40 Cities, with the aim of establishing a green and digital shipping…

29 Nov 2023

Equinor Names California Floating Wind Project

Source: Equinor

Equinor has announced the name of its floating offshore wind project off the coast of California, Atlas Wind. The lease area, which lies 60 miles from Morro Bay, has the capacity to provide over 2GW of reliable, renewable power, enough to power 1.7 million California homes once complete.California is poised to become a growing force in the US energy transition with a nation-leading target of 25GW of offshore wind energy by 2045. Approximately two-thirds of the United States’ offshore wind energy potential lies in deep coastal waters…

26 Nov 2023

Panama Canal Announces Special Auction Slot Starting Saturday

Source: Panama Canal

The Panama Canal, one of the world's main maritime trade routes, announced on Friday it is launching a special auction slot on Saturday, as it battles a severe drought that has forced it to reduce daily ship crossings."The purpose of this measure is to provide greater opportunity of obtaining a slot for vessels in the Panamax Locks that have been waiting in the transit queue for an extended period," the canal's authority said in a statement.Water levels in Gatun Lake, the rainfall-fed principal reservoir that floats ships through the Panama Canal's lock system, have declined to unprecedented l

10 Oct 2023

Amazon Drought Chokes River Traffic, Threatens Exports

© Pulsar Imagens / Adobe Stock

A severe drought choking major rivers in the Amazon rainforest has disrupted ship traffic near the region's biggest city and pushed up costs for northern shipping routes, raising risks for corn exports in coming months.The unusual heat and dryness, linked to the mass deaths of fish and river dolphins, has already limited local communities'access to food and drinking water, leading the federal government to set up a humanitarian task force. Officials are now warning the thinning rivers could disrupt grains exports in the region."There is concern about shipping part of the corn harvest…

28 Sep 2023

VIDEO: Taiwan Reveals First Domestically Made Submarine in Defense Milestone

Credit: Taiwan President Website

Taiwan unveiled its first domestically developed submarine on Thursday, a major step in a project aimed at strengthening the island's defense and deterrence against the Chinese navy, though it won't enter service for another two years.Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous submarine program a key part of an ambitious project to modernize its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.President Tsai Ing-wen…

25 Aug 2023

Panama Canal to Extend Transit Restrictions

© searagen / Adobe Stock

The Panama Canal expects to maintain restrictions on daily vessel transit and maximum draft for at least 10 more months amid a prolonged drought that has lowered the water level, an official from the waterway said on Thursday.The canal's authority earlier this year began imposing restrictions, causing a backlog of vessels waiting to pass. The curbs have forced vessel owners to lighten cargoes or shift to alternate routes as freight costs increase for some routes.The extension of the restrictions would give the canal room for preserving water before the next rainy season arrives…

21 Aug 2023

Historic Drought, Hot Seas Slow Panama Canal Shipping

Source: Panama Canal Authority

Before the Ever Max ship carrying lava lamps, sofas, Halloween costumes and artificial Christmas trees could make its inaugural Panama Canal voyage this month, a historic drought forced it to drop weight by offloading hundreds of containers.Weather-related disruptions denied the vessel, owned by Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen Marine, a chance on Aug. 1 to set a record for carrying the most containers through the vital maritime shortcut that connects the Pacific and Atlantic…

03 Aug 2023

Canada's TMC to Apply for Seabed Mining Licence in 2024

© Velizar Gordeev / Adobe Stock

Canada's The Metals Company (TMC) aims to apply next year for a licence to start mining in the Pacific Ocean, with production expected to get underway by as early as the fourth quarter of 2025, it said in a statement.TMC has been at the forefront of efforts to begin extracting polymetallic nodules from the ocean floor, a nascent industry that could boost supplies of metals considered vital to the global energy transition, including nickel and cobalt.Environmental campaigners warn…

01 Aug 2023

Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol Contracts for New Rescue/Patrol Boat

Copyright FellowNeko/AdobeStock

Moose Boats won a new contract from Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol for the construction of a M2–35 Catamaran Rescue/Patrol Boat. “The Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol is excited to partner with Moose Boats to build our next generation patrol, fire, and rescue vessel," Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol Supervisor, Nathan Alldredge. "Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol is the primary emergency response for the city’s harbor, marina, beaches and Wharf. Additionally, Harbor Patrol’s area of responsibility extends to the near coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean from Santa Barbara Point to Loon Point and out to 3 miles.

11 Jul 2023

Cheniere Shunning Panama Canal for Longer LNG Routes to Asia

© Igor Groshev / Adobe Stock

Top U.S. LNG exporter Cheniere Energy LNG.A is shunning the Panama Canal to transport liquefied natural gas to Asia because the market is not supporting use of the waterway, said Chief Operating Officer Corey Grindal on Monday.The Panama Canal historically has been used by U.S Gulf Coast LNG exporters to send LNG to Asian customers via the Pacific Ocean. But a months-long drought has led to delays and depth restrictions for the largest ships accessing the canal."We use the canal when it is economical to do so, right now it is not.

10 Jul 2023

Deep-sea Mining: A New Gold Rush or Environmental Disaster?

Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration

In the depths of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, trillions of potato-shaped rocks are scattered across the seabed - containing minerals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese vital for new green technologies in the global energy transition.In this ocean region - the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) - an abundance of the rocks, known as polymetallic nodules, is increasingly fuelling debate about the mining of metals needed to produce technology such as batteries for electric…

05 Jul 2023

KOTUG to Operate Dual-fuel Methanol Tugs on Canada’s West Coast

(Image: KOTUG)

In 2021, Trans Mountain, on behalf of shippers for the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMEP), awarded KOTUG Canada Inc. a long-term contract to provide escort towage services for tankers that load crude oil at Trans Mountain’s Westridge Marine Terminal.Trans Mountain operates Canada’s only oil pipeline servicing the West Coast of Canada providing tidewater access to foreign markets for Canada’s petroleum resources.Under the agreement, KOTUG Canada, which is a partnership between KOTUG International B.V.

22 Jun 2023

Drought-hit Panama Canal Further Restricts Maximum Ship Depth

(Photo: Panama Canal Authority)

The Panama Canal will expand restrictions on the largest ships crossing the waterway, one of the world's busiest trade passages, the canal authority's administrator said on Wednesday, citing shallower waters due to drought.The measure follows a series of depth restrictions in the 50-mile (80 km) canal since the beginning of the year due to a drought, which authorities had hoped would ease by the start of the Central American country's rainy season.Ship traffic, including container ships and oil tankers, using the canal between the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean accounts for about 3.5% of glo

26 Apr 2023

HMM Signs Biofuels MoU

[From left to right] S.H. LEE (Executive Vice President, GS Caltex); Park, Jinki (Senior Executive Vice
President, HMM)

Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GS Caltex to secure marine biofuels.HMM plans to conduct the trial use of the fuels on its three 24,000 TEU container ships in the second half of this year. The biofuels comprise 30% biodiesel derived from used cooking oil and 70% high-sulfur fuel oil (HSFO).Biodiesel reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to conventional fuels, notes HMM. Biofuels also have the merit of being compatible with current ship engines without technological modification.In 2021…

24 Apr 2023

Taiwan Tracking Chinese Carrier off its Southeast Coast

© Carsten Reisinger / Adobe Stock

Taiwan's defence ministry said on Monday that a Chinese carrier group led by the Shandong was about 120 nautical miles off the southeast of the island's coast, the same ship that took part in China's war games around the island earlier this month.Taiwan previously reported that the Shandong, commissioned in 2019, had sailed into waters in the Western Pacific through the Bashi Channel that separates the island from the Philippines ahead of a meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S.

21 Apr 2023

US Set to Blow Up Fake Warship in the South China Sea

Amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD 8), right, transits with Philippine navy ships BRP Tarlac (FF 601), left, and BRP Jose Rizal (FF 150) during a replenishment-at-sea rehearsal for Balikatan 23, April 15, 2023 in the Philippines territorial waters. (Photo: Kendra Helmbrecht / U.S. Navy)

As part of a joint military exercise with the Philippines, the U.S. Navy is slated to sink a mock warship on April 26, 2023, in the South China Sea.The live-fire drill is not a response to increased tensions with China over Taiwan, both the U.S. and the Philippines have stressed. But, either way, Beijing isn’t happy – responding by holding its own staged military event involving actual warships and fighter jets deployed around Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own.The tit-for-tat war games underscore a reality that U.S.

03 Apr 2023

UN to Start Taking Deep-sea Mining Applications This July

File photo. Image courtesy of the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration.

The International Seabed Authority will start accepting applications in July from companies that want to mine the ocean's floor, a decision that came after the U.N. body spent the past two weeks debating standards for the new and controversial practice.Deep-sea mining would extract cobalt, copper, nickel, and manganese - key battery materials - from potato-sized rocks called "polymetallic nodules" on the ocean's floor at depths of 4 to 6 km (2.5 to 4 miles). They are abundant…

17 Mar 2023

Norway's Loke Buys UK Deep-sea Mining Firm from Lockheed

(Photo: Loke Marine Minerals)

Norway's Loke Marine Minerals has acquired deep-sea mining firm UK Seabed Resources (UKSR) from Lockheed Martin, the companies said on Thursday.UKSR holds a 100% interest in two deep sea mineral licences in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) in the Pacific Ocean, and a 19.9% interest in the Ocean Mineral Singapore, licences issued by the International Seabed Authority (ISA)."We've got the approval from the UK government... Our ambition is to start extraction from 2030," Hans Olav Hide…

21 Feb 2023

Hawaii Regional Maintenance Center Completes Emergent Repair on USS Makin Island (LHD 8)

Left to right: PSI PM Kevin Collins, C250 Shanon Arnold, C103 CTL Juan Carlos “Harry” Herrera, C103 APM Shane Konno, C132 QA Jamie Francis, C410 CS Jay Masatsugu, C103 APM Cheryl Yamanaka, 132 QA Michael Halsey, C242 A-CHENG Patrick Driscoll, C410 Sohee “Kelly” Wun, C103 WFO Lt. Cmdr. Kristopher DeVisser, C103 SBS Tony Castro. (Photo: Justice Vannatta / U.S. Navy)

The Hawaii Regional Maintenance Center (HRMC) team at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility is the Navy’s first responders when it comes to an emergent repair availability (ERAV) on surface ships in the Indo-Pacific Region.Pearl Harbor sits in a strategic location and is a hub for many emergent repairs for ships transiting through the Pacific Ocean. One successful ERAV took place last fall when the USS Makin Island (LHD 8) departed San Diego on its…

25 Jan 2023

Onshore Funding for US Offshore Wind

© Ian Dyball / Adobe Stock

Most of the media coverage of offshore wind development in the United States focuses on the leases of the offshore areas where the wind turbines will be located. However, equally important is the landside dimension of these projects, including the manufacture, installation, maintenance and operation of the turbines. Several awards made in the last two rounds of funding under the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) show how offshore wind now offers an additional direction of port development for which funding is available.

24 Jan 2023

Subsea Mining Plans Pit Renewable Energy Demand Against Ocean Life

Deep sea sponges and other creatures live on and among valuable manganese nodules like this one that could be mined from the seafloor. ROV KIEL 6000/GEOMAR

As companies race to expand renewable energy and the batteries to store it, finding sufficient amounts of rare earth metals to build the technology is no easy feat. That’s leading mining companies to take a closer look at a largely unexplored frontier – the deep ocean seabed.A wealth of these metals can be found in manganese nodules that look like cobblestones scattered across wide areas of deep ocean seabed. But the fragile ecosystems deep in the oceans are little understood…