B1 News

COSCO SHIPPING Special Carriers has taken delivery of its second 68,000ton ice-class multi-purpose general cargo and pulp carrier, Green Kotka.The methanol-ready ship is the second in a series of ships built by Dalian COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry, a subsidiary of COSCO SHIPPING Heavy Industry. The series of ships are claimed to be the world's largest ice-class multi-purpose pulp ship built and delivered in China.The Green Kotka is 226.8 meters (744 feet) long and has a design speed of 14.8 knots.

Global ratings agency Moody's has downgraded the corporate family rating of French shipping major CMA CGM due to its "materially weaker" liquidity. The rating was downgraded to B2 from B1.Concurrently, the company's senior unsecured ratings were downgraded to Caa1 from B3. The outlook was changed to stable from negative."Today's rating action reflects that CMA CGM's liquidity profile has weakened materially in the last 12 months as a consequence of the acquisition of CEVA Logistics AG, although expected by Moody's to improve somewhat in 2020", says Daniel Harlid, Assistant Vice President -- Analyst and lead analyst for CMA CGM.The downgrade of CMA CGM's rating follows the acquisition of CEVA Logistics AG (Ceva…

The international rating agency Moody’s has upgraded the German cargo container shipping line, Hapag-Lloyd AG's corporate family rating (CFR) to B1 from B2 and its senior unsecured bond rating to B3 from Caa1. The outlook remains stable.According to Moody's release, the improved rating acknowledges Hapag-Lloyd’s progress in integrating United Arab Shipping Company Limited (UASC) while reducing leverage and generating positive free cash flow on the back of tight cost management and increased efficiencies, Moody’s concluded in its press release published today.The rating upgrade reflects Hapag-Lloyd´s ability to achieve the level of expected…

The SMM 2018 scheduled to take place September 4-7, 2018, in Hamburg, Germany, is held every two years and is the traditional launching platform for a variety of commercial shipping and shipbuilding technologies. Five new marine technologies to look for in Hamburg include:Company: CM Technologies GmbHBooth: A3.204Product: New Performance Indicator to save fuelThe PREMET X measuring device presented by CM Technologies GmbH makes it possible to precisely determine the cylinder pressure at every cylinder position…

CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container shipping group, posted a third-quarter net profit of $323 million, up from $219 million in the previous quarter and a $268 million loss a year earlier. During the third quarter, volumes carried by CMA CGM experienced a strong growth of +11.6% in comparison to Q3 2016. During the period, CMA CGM carried close to 5 million containers, a record figure. This increase can be explained by the strong growth in volumes carried through OCEAN Alliance, on the Asia-USA and Asia-Europe routes, as well as on most of the North-South and Intraregional routes. The increase in freight rates seen at the beginning of the year has continued through this quarter, enabling an increase of 14.4% in average revenue per container carried.

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, is conducting drills with a Japanese warship in waters around Okinawa southwest of the Korean peninsula, Japan's military said on Wednesday.   The exercise comes amid heightened tension with North Korea as the U.S. holds air drills in the region with B1-B bombers flown from Guam.   The exercise with the Reagan strike group, which began on Saturday, involves vessels sailing from the Bashi Channel, which separates the Philippines and Taiwan, to seas around Japan's southwest island nearer to North Korea, Japan's Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.   One Japanese destroyer, the Shimkaze, is accompanying the 100,000-ton Reagan, which is based in Japan, and its escort ships, the JMSDF said.   Reporting by Tim Kelly

Moody's Investors Service, has placed the ratings of Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) under review for downgrade, including its B2 corporate family and Caa1 senior unsecured ratings, and the B1 and Ba2 senior secured debt ratings of its subsidiaries, OSG Bulk Ships, Inc. (OBS) and OSG International, Inc. (OIN). The review follows the company's announcement that its Board of Directors has approved the plan to separate its business units into two independent public companies via a spin-off of the international business, OIN. The spin-off is subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including regulatory requirements. The current debt at OIN and at OBS will remain with those entities post separation. Moody's also affirmed the SGL-2 speculative grade liquidity rating.

Nauta Shiprapair Yard launched a partly outfitted service offshore vessel, Esvagt Njord, built for Norwegian client, Havyard Ship Technology. Taking place on January 22, the launching marks Nauta’s first in 2016. The contract for this unit was signed roughly a year ago, and today the ship launched from the slipway B1. Esvagt Njord was built at a rapid pace, simultaneously with other ship construction in Nauta Shipyard – said Ewa Jagielska Director of Marketing in Newbuilding Department in Nauta Shiprepair Yard. Esvagt Njord is 84 meters long and over 17 meters wide.

Moody's Investors Service has today changed to stable from positive the outlook on CMA CGM S.A.'s B1 corporate family rating, B1-PD probability of default rating and B3 senior unsecured rating. Concurrently, Moody's has affirmed the ratings assigned to the company. This follows CMA CGM's announcement of a pre-conditional voluntary general cash offer to acquire Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL, unrated), a Singaporean container liner, for a consideration of $2.4 billion. Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited (Aaa stable), NOL's largest shareholder with a 67% stake, has irrevocably undertaken to tender all of its shares into the offer. "While the affirmation reflects that CMA CGM's potential acquisition of NOL would strengthen its business profile…

* Volumes carried during the second quarter increased by 6.2% year-on-year, to 3.3 million TEUs, compared to global market volume growth of between 1% and 2%. * Average revenue per container carried decreased by 7.8%. However, this decrease was significantly less than benchmark indices for the period due to the broad diversity of the Group's customers and lines. * Unit costs fell 10.9%, largely due to the sharp fall in oil prices. * Core EBIT surged 59.3% compared to the second quarter of 2014 to $325 million, as the Group’s lower unit costs outpaced the decline in average revenue per container carried. The core EBIT margin of 7.9% was once again significantly above peer averages. * Consolidated net profit group Share came to $156 million, up 66.7% on second-quarter 2014.

Scott Bergeron, CEO of the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR), has agreed to serve as a keynote speaker at the SHIPPINGInsight 2015 Fleet Optimization Conference & Exhibition, which takes place in Stamford, Conn., Oct. 13-14. Bergeron joins four other distinguished keynoters at the annual maritime technology event. He will lead off the roundtable on “The Role of Class & Flag” in the “Efficient Ships” session on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Other keynote speakers are Gary Vogel, partner and group CEO of Clipper Group (USA), Inc.; Paal Jacobsen, vice president and director of operations maritime for DNV GL; Angus Campbell, managing director, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement; and Ronald Spithout, president, maritime, Inmarsat. The conference chairman is Capt.

Container shipping company CMA CGM’s board of directors met under the chairmanship of Jacques R. Saadé, chairman and chief executive officer, to review the financial statements for the first quarter of 2015. For the first quarter of 2015, CMA CGM reported a rise in volumes by 10.5 percent to 3.1 million TEU, chiefly resulting from the increase in volumes on the East-West lines, particularly to and from the U.S., where volumes enjoyed sustained growth, and also from the launch of the Ocean Three Alliance.

Ballast water treatment system RayClean, developed by DESMI Ocean Guard, has received IMO and DNV type approval. On September 5, 2014 DNV GL issued type approval certificate for the RayClean system. The type approval certificate includes approval according to both the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention and the DNV type approval program. The type approval is unique because this is the first time a ballast water treatment system has been tested fully according to both IMO and U.S. Coast Guard requirements, DESMI said. This is also revealed on the certificate where it is stated that the RayClean system has undergone 15 land-based tests, five in each salinity, and five shipboard tests as per U.S. Coast Guard test requirements.

VIKING Saatsea will be at SMM 2014 to showcase the revolution it has brought about in crew training – moving everything on board to cut costs, speed up certification, ease administration and create greater on-the-job satisfaction for crew being trained. Esbjerg, Denmark, September 2014 – SMM 2014 sets the scene for a fundamental change in the way shipowners and offshore asset owners train their crews to comply with STCW and OPITO requirements, and the systems they use to track and report on such certifications. And it will also be the launch pad for the first onboard training system that enables them to design and build their own, fully customized courses for any training task.

As a developer of marine fuel efficiency and optimization systems, GreenSteam will showcase its fuel saving GreenSteam Optimizer in the Danish pavilion at SMM in Hamburg, September 2014. Making good decisions on board based on sound and accurate data is the basis for efficient operation of any vessel. GreenSteam Optimizer is an onboard decision support system that is an adaptive, data-driven solution, helping the master to make the right decisions. Ship owners are now facing their biggest industry challenge ever, with both fuel costs and legislative efficiency targets.

Ivory Coast received orders for a $750 million dollar bond of more than six times the issue size, one of the lead managers said on Wednesday. Ivory Coast launched the 10-year bond late on Wednesday at a yield of 5.625 percent, 3-1/2 years after civil war led it to default on restructured dollar debt. Nicholas Samara, at Citi, told Reuters in a telephone interview that orders totalled $4.75 billion. BNP Paribas and Deutsche were the other lead managers. Investors scrambling for yield have lapped up bonds from sub-Saharan African sovereigns in recent years, leading analysts to warn about the dangers of these borrowers accumulating too much debt.

Ivory Coast has increased its 2014 budget by nearly 4 percent on expectations of higher earnings from cocoa, natural gas and the country's ports, a government spokesman announced on Wednesday. Ivory Coast, the world's top cocoa grower and French-speaking West Africa's largest economy, has undergone a rapid economic turnaround since the end of a decade of political turmoil in 2011. Its economy grew around 9 percent last year. "The cabinet adopted a finance bill revision that brings the 2014 state budget to 4,407 billion CFA francs ($9.16 billion), up from 4,248 billion CFA francs initially," government spokesman Bruno Kone said following a cabinet meeting.

Ithaca Energy Inc. announced completion of flow test operations on the third development well on the Stella field, with the well achieving a flow rate of 12,492 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Well 30/6a-B1Z (“B1”) is the third development well drilled on the Stella field. The well was drilled to a total measured depth subsea of 16,185 feet, with a 2,147 foot gross horizontal reservoir section completed in the Palaeocene Andrew sandstone reservoir. The well intersected high quality sands across a net reservoir interval of 2,034 feet, equating to 95% net pay. This compares to 1,312 feet and 2,514 feet in Stella wells A1 and A2, respectively.

Ithaca Energy Provided its operations update ahead of today’s Shareholders Meeting. The details are as follows. The third development well on the Stella field, well 30/06a-B1X (“B1”), has been successfully drilled to a total measured depth subsea of 16,185 feet. A 2,147 foot gross horizontal reservoir section was drilled in the Palaeocene Andrew sandstone reservoir, within the targeted oil rim. The well intersected high quality sands across a net reservoir interval of 2,034 feet, equating to 95% net pay. This compares to 1,312 feet and 2,514 feet in Stella wells A1 and A2, respectively. Operations are currently on-going to run the well completion assembly, following which a clean-up flow test will be performed.

New Orleans based Harvey Gulf International Marine CEO Shane Guidry announced his company’s first public rating from Moody’s for a new $1 billion credit facility. Harvey Gulf CEO, Shane Guidry, said the rating will help increase the company’s EBDITA to over $500 million in 2016, through additional new builds and acquisitions. Moody's Investors Service assigned a first time corporate family rating (CFR) of B1 to HGIM Corp (Harvey), and a B1 rating to the company's proposed credit facility consisting of $250 million revolver and $750 million Term Loan B.

Ongoing infrastructure and newbuild activity not expected to let up. Modern, sophisticated and quality tonnage arrives at just the right time. Vessel builders are ramped up for strong demand from the Gulf of Mexico, where oil drilling is very soon expected to return to pre-Macondo levels. Utilization rates for offshore vessels are rising in the GoM, along with associated dayrates. Three Louisiana leaders--Edison Chouest Offshore in Cut Off, Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc. in Covington and Harvey Gulf International Marine in New Orleans--are engaged in aggressive newbuild programs.

Northrop Grumman names Teri G. Marconi Vice President & General Manager of Naval and Marine Systems Division. In her new position, Marconi will have executive responsibility for all naval and marine systems programs within Northrop Grumman's Baltimore-based Electronic Systems sector, including operations in Annapolis and Sykesville, Md.; Charlottesville, Va.; Sunnyvale, Calif.; Bethpage, N.Y.; Ocean Springs, Miss.; Harvey, La.; Kings Bay, Ga.; and New Malden, U.K. Marconi joined the company in 1985 and has held a variety of leadership positions in program management…

The Republic of Paraguay is a landlocked country in South America bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. The Paraguay River runs through the center of the country from north to south. Due to its central location in South America, it is sometimes referred to as the Heart of South America. Paraguay’s geography consists of grassy plains and wooded hills in the east and mostly low, marshy plains to the west. Paraguay has a population of around 6.5 million, who consume 28,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refined petroleum products. Paraguay currently imports all of its oil, as it does not yet have any domestic production.