Western Hemisphere News

M3 Marine (Offshore Brokers) UK Ltd (M3OBUK) – a newly established London-based broking company focusing on the offshore and renewables sectors, announced on Tuesday the appointment of Robert Day as its Managing Director.Day brings with him almost a decade of experience, having previously held the role of Associate Director and Head of Offshore at VesselsValue, where he ran the offshore desk which specialized in valuations, broking, market analysis, and business development with a focus on offshore support vessels…

Construction and engineering company Orion Group Holdings announced it has been awarded a contract worth more than $100 million for the turnkey design-build of a replacement dry dock at the Grand Bahama Shipyard, situated in Grand Bahama, Bahamas.The scope of work includes marine works and infrastructure construction, dredging, creating new mooring facilities and providing enhancements to shore stability. In addition, Orion will modify and extend service piers for the installation of two cutting-edge floating dry docks, which are among the largest in the western hemisphere.

The Port of Los Angeles has recognized the achievements of more than two dozen shipping lines and carriers for participating in the Port’s Vessel Speed Reduction Program (VSRP), an air quality and annual incentive program for vessel operators who reduce their speed as they approach or depart the port.The voluntary program is one of many sustainability efforts currently underway at the Port to reduce emissions and decarbonize operations.Emission reductions are achieved under the…

ABS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Christopher J. Wiernicki, and the Board of Directors have announced that John McDonald was elected President of ABS at its Board meeting on July 18. McDonald, who has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the company since July 2021, will take on the title of President and remain the Chief Operating Officer of the company.“John McDonald has seized the opportunity to demonstrate his leadership skills since becoming…

Equipment corrosion at an oil refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands presents a risk of fire, explosion or other "catastrophic" releases of hazardous substances, U.S. environmental regulators said on Tuesday, after performing an inspection last month.The idled St. Croix refinery, formerly called Limetree Bay, was shut down by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May 2021 after a series of chemical releases into the environment sickened neighboring residents. The refinery was sold in December 2021 for $62 million to West Indies Petroleum and Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation…

The Port of South Louisiana officially dedicated and named its two Konecranes Gottwald Model 6 Portal Harbor Cranes for its public facility, the Globalplex Intermodal Terminal Dock along the Mississippi River. These cranes have increased the Port’s capacity for handling bulk materials and will allow for the handling of containers and project cargo.As the nation’s leading grain exporter and one of the Western Hemisphere’s largest tonnage ports, the Port of South Louisiana is a sea gateway for international trade and commerce.

Berg Propulsion opened new offices in Istanbul to reinforce its presence in Turkey and the surrounding region. The operation will be led by Mustafa Müslüm, who has been appointed General Manager, Berg Propulsion Eurasia.Müslüm is familiar with the Berg Propulsion organization, having led regional activities on behalf of Berg Propulsion between 2005 and 2013 Istanbul and Dubai. He went on to serve Reintjex Eurasia and then Schottel Turkey, building on his network of contacts with local designers, owners and yards.

Seismic services company SeaBird Exploration has signed a letter of intent for a source vessel contract with an unnamed "leading operator."The company did not say where the vessel would be deployed exactly apart from saying it would be in the Western Hemisphere.According to SeaBird, the operator has specifically requested the Fulmar Explorer vessel for the work program. The 80.35 meters long Fulmar Explorer, built in 2009, joined the SeaBird Exploration fleet in 2019. The vessel's previous name was BOA Galatea.The contract is expected to start in Q4 2021 and has an expected duration of about 4 months. "To this end, SeaBird Exploration delivers on its main growth targets for 2021…

John McDonald will become ABS Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer as Tony Nassif has announced his plans to retire on December 31, 2021.As part of the company’s succession planning process, McDonald will assume the head operations role on July 26, 2021. Celebrating 25 years of service with ABS this year, McDonald joined ABS in 1996 as a surveyor and served in various frontline operational roles in Korea, the Northern Europe and Africa Region and the Central Region for the former Americas Division.

The Los Angeles Pilot Service has taken delivery of two new pilot boats equipped with full suites of quality Furuno marine electronics. The 56-foot Angels Pilot and Angels Navigator have been outfitted with complete integrated helm suites designed to assist in their mission of piloting ships in and out of Los Angeles Harbor, the busiest seaport in the western hemisphere. The pair of Camarc-designed boats were built by Vigor Industrial in Vancouver, Wash., and have made their way to their homeport in Los Angeles.The helm suites aboard the Angels Pilot and Angels Navigator feature a Furuno black box NavNet TZtouch2 TZT2BB multi function display connected to both 19” and 24” multi-touch displays, the MU195T and MU245T.

The United States has assured Italian oil company Eni SpA that efforts to prevent a spill at a floating crude facility in Venezuela would not run afoul of sanctions, the company, and the U.S. State Department said on Monday.Images in recent months showing the Nabarima floating storage and offloading facility (FSO), part of the Petrosucre joint venture between Eni and Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, tilting to its side have raised concerns of a potential environmental…

BIMCO notes stunning comeback to Q2 agricultural exports nearly triple freight ratesAs agricultural dry bulk commodities exports took a dive in the first quarter of this year and painted a gloomy picture for Panamax and Handymax freight rates, a stunning second quarter comeback have nearly tripled freight rates.While total agricultural export volumes are now solidly up in the first half of the year, they are not mind-blowingly high, and export volumes in the first quarter of 2020 certainly offered little help.

In 2007, scholar Nassim Nicholas Taleb, who holds a doctorate from the University of Paris, wrote a bestselling book titled “Black Swan,” which proposed a theory involving unpredictable events with significant impact. Taleb believed that a black swan event was an outlier with significant impact and, once it occurs, is the source of deep reflection and rationalization. Since the book’s publication, a significant number of research efforts have been developed to consider possible black swan events that significantly impact the Maritime Transportation System (MTS) and the Maritime Global Commons.

The U.S. Coast Guard is naming the 11th Legend-Class National Security Cutter (NSC) in honor of Elizebeth Smith Friedman.Friedman was a pioneering code-breaker for the Coast Guard during the Prohibition Era and World War II, serving within the Coast Guard Cryptanalytic Unit-387. She has been dubbed "America's first female cryptanalyst" and in many ways could be considered the founder of the modern-day Coast Guard Intelligence Program.Her work with the Coast Guard began soon after the passage of the Volstead Act, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, or trade of alcohol in the United States.

Carnival Cruise Line has said that the delivery of its new ship Mardi Gras, the first LNG-powered cruise ship to operate in the Western Hemisphere, will be delayed due to COVID-19. The same goes for Carnival's Carnival Radiance ship. The company has also been forced to cancel several itineraries between November 2020 and May 2021."Carnival Cruise Line will be notifying guests and travel agents on Tuesday of revisions to the delivery of its newest ship, Mardi Gras, as well as the…

The Venezuelan navy said it escorted a fourth tanker bringing Iranian fuel through its waters on Thursday, while the United States called the shipments to the gasoline-starved country a distraction from problems facing President Nicolas Maduro.The oil industries of Iran and Venezuela are both under U.S. sanctions. Iran is providing its fellow OPEC member up to 1.53 million barrels of gasoline and refining components to help ease an acute shortage, the result of the near-complete breakdown in its refining network as well as the sanctions.Washington has said it is weighing a response to the shipments.Venezuela's military has escorted each tanker through its exclusive economic zone.

Leading container shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk scrapped its 2020 earnings forecast on Friday, while rival Hapag-Lloyd warned of slowing growth until at least June, as the coronavirus pandemic takes a heavy toll on global tradeThe container shipping industry, a bellwether for international trade, has been blown off course by the new virus, which brought parts of China to a standstill before spreading around the world, leading container lines to re-route cargoes and reduce calls to Chinese ports.Despite lower volume growth…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a pandemic. There is little doubt that this will have significant implications for the shipping industry. But to what extent? BIMCO expects that the strict containment measures imposed by governments around the world will result in substantially lower global economic growth and consequentially, lower demand for shipping. Container and dry bulk shipping are at the front line when it comes to feeling the fallout…

The St. Louis Regional Freightway has compiled a summary of the major developments over the past year that either elevated the St. Louis region’s global status as a world-class freight hub or will help to advance the region’s position as the country’s freight nexus in the year ahead.“From mega projects breaking ground and global companies choosing to invest here, to newly formed partnerships that strengthen the bi-state region’s role in national and global supply chains, there was much to be excited about in 2019…

Product tanker freight rates softened in the third quarter of 2019 but rebounded strongly at the start of the fourth quarter following an increase in crude tanker rates that began after the attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities and accelerated dramatically to multi-year high levels at the end of September when the US imposed sanctions on two subsidiaries of China's COSCO Shipping.Denmark-based TORM said that growth in global demand for oil products generally remained subdued in the first two months of the quarter but showed signs of increased momentum towards the end of the quarter.The particularly heavy refinery maintenance schedule in the second quarter eased in the third quarter…

The Port of Los Angeles has set a new single-month cargo record for the fifth consecutive month making it the busiest August in the Port’s 112-year history.During the month, the port moved 861,081 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), an increase of 4.2 percent over the same period last year, said the nation's premier gateway for international commerce and the busiest seaport in the Western Hemisphere.Eight months into 2019 overall volumes have increased 5.7% compared to 2018, when the Port set an all-time cargo record, the America's Port said.“Our strong volume growth this year is due in part to our global supply chain relationships, aggressive marketing and improvements in operational efficiencies,” said Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka.

Former ocean carrier executive is association’s unanimous choice.The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), the unified and recognized voice of seaports in the Americas, announced today that it has unanimously chosen Christopher J. Connor as the association’s next president and chief executive officer.Mr. Connor, the former Global CEO of Wallenius Wilhemsen Logistics (WWL) will begin transitioning into his new role on September 23, eventually succeeding Kurt Nagle, AAPA’s president and CEO since 1995.Mr.

During the first quarter 2019, spot LNG freight rates plummeted from the record levels seen in the previous quarter, said Flex LNG, the company controlled by billionaire John Fredriksen.Asia winter demand came in lower than expected due to an unseasonably mild weather in northern Asia, coupled with Japanese nuclear power plants restarting as well as an oversupplied LNG market due to start-up of new LNG production, said the emerging player in the LNG shipping.Asian LNG prices moved lower, trading closer to or at par with key US and European LNG markers, preventing arbitrage opportunities between the markets. Despite significant growth in liquefaction and exported volumes…