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The Journal News

06 Mar 2024

NOV's Telescopic Leg Crane Wins Two Industry Awards

Source: NOV

NOV’s telescopic leg crane has recently received recognition for its exceptional contribution to the offshore industry. At the Offshore Support Journal (OSJ) Industry Gala Dinner & Awards on February 7, the crane won the OSJ Innovation of the Year Award 2024, acknowledging its significant impact on offshore support vessel design, build, and operational aspects over the past year, marking a milestone for the heavy lift industry.This award follows another win at the Maritime Awards Gala on November 6…

17 Jan 2024

Shell Halts All Red Sea Shipments

© Anatoly Kolodey / Adobe Stock

British oil major Shell suspended all shipments through the Red Sea indefinitely after U.S. and U.K.

16 Jan 2024

Another Ship Hit in the Red Sea

© ID1974 / Adobe Stock

Disruptions to Red Sea shipping caused by Houthi attacks will push up prices of consumer goods, an executive from port and freight operator DP World said on Tuesday as a missile struck another vessel in the region.The Iran-allied Houthi militia has threatened to expand its attacks to include U.S. ships in response to American and British strikes on its sites in Yemen.Attacks by the Houthis on ships in the region since November have impacted companies and alarmed major powers - an escalation of Israel's more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

13 Oct 2023

ClassNK Contributes to Social Implementation of MASS

Image courtesy ClassNK

ClassNK is taking a leading role in the implementation of safe and efficient maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) through a program of research, rule-development, technology trials and certification.While the regulatory framework covering MASS remains a work in progress, it is clear that autonomous ship technologies are already having a transformative effect on shipping.By autonomously executing certain functions that would typically be performed by crew – especially tasks…

26 Jul 2023

EU Council Adopts FuelEU Maritime Law

Raquel Sánchez Jiménez courtesy of EU Council

More renewable and low-carbon fuels will reduce the carbon footprint of the maritime sector in the EU following the adoption of the FuelEU Maritime initiative by the EU Council.The main objective of the FuelEU maritime initiative, as a key part of the EU’s Fit for 55 package, is to increase the demand for and consistent use of renewable and low-carbon fuels and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping sector, while ensuring the smooth operation of maritime traffic…

29 Jun 2023

Macquarie to Divest U.S. Port Terminal Operator Ceres

Credit: be free/AdobeStock

Australian financial conglomerate Macquarie Group said on Thursday it would divest its U.S.-based port terminal operator Ceres Terminals, with a source familiar with the matter placing the deal value north of $900 million.Macquarie did not disclose any further details on the deal, and declined to comment on Reuters' request seeking confirmation of the sale value.The Wall Street Journal in May reported that Macquarie was looking for about $1 billion from the sale, citing sources familiar with the matter.The deal value could be at the lower end of what the Wall Street Journal reported…

05 Jun 2023

UAE Stops Taking Part in US-led Gulf Maritime Coalition

© mrnai / Adobe Stock

The United Arab Emirates said on Wednesday it was no longer taking part in operations by a U.S.-led task force protecting Gulf shipping, which has been subjected to renewed tanker seizures by Iranian naval forces in recent weeks.The UAE was responding to a Wall Street Journal report on Tuesday which, citing U.S. and Gulf sources, said the Gulf state was frustrated by the lack of U.S. response to recent tanker seizures by Iran.This was a "mischaracterisation" of conversations between the two countries…

09 May 2023

Macquarie Expects $1 Billion from Sale of US Port Terminal Operator Ceres

(File photo: Ceres Terminals)

Australia's Macquarie Group Ltd is looking to sell its North American port facilities business, Ceres Terminals, for about $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday citing sources familiar with the matter.The financial conglomerate acquired full control of the general cargo stevedoring operations in 2019 from Tokyo-based shipping and logistics firm Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line).Ceres moves about 4.3 million containers annually at several major ports in the United States, according to its company website.The shipping industry globally has been under pressure as supply-chain bottl

26 Apr 2023

EU Aligns Ferry Safety Legislation With IMO

© btwcapture / Adobe Stock

The European Council has adopted a new law to improve stability requirements for ro-ro ferries.The proposal to revise the existing directive originated from maritime accidents, such as the sinking of the Estonia in 1994. Ut It now ensures, as far as possible, consistency with the applicable international standards for the stability of damaged passenger ships recently updated in SOLAS - the IMO has introduced a probability of survival after a collision model for assessing the survivability of damaged ro-ro passenger ships…

26 Apr 2023

European Council Adopts Fit for 55 Amendment to Include Shipping

© studio v-zwoelf / Adobe Stock

The European Council has adopted five laws that are part of the Fit for 55 package, including the amendment to include shipping in the EU emissions trading system (ETS).The package sets the EU’s policies in line with its commitment to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels and to achieve climate neutrality in 2050.The vote in the Council is the last step of the decision-making procedure. The laws will now be signed by the Council and the European Parliament and published in the EU’s Official Journal before entering into force.After that time…

22 Mar 2023

UBS Likely to Shrink Credit Suisse's $10 Billion Shipping Portfolio

© nmann77 / Adobe Stock

UBS Group AG will likely shrink Credit Suisse Group's $10 billion shipping portfolio that it inherited as part of its emergency takeover on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.UBS could also try to sell the portfolio, but doing so could prompt owners to move their accounts elsewhere, the WSJ reported, citing people familiar with the matter.About half of the shipping portfolio involves Greek ship owners that use their deposits in the bank's wealth management arm as collateral to finance new ships, the report added."Our wealth management business in Greece is an integral part o

16 Dec 2022

Great Ships '22: With Ships, Great or Not, Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Former flagship of the Holland-America line HAL Cruise ship SS Rotterdam serving as a hotel in Rotterdam. Rotterdam.Copyright VanderWolf Images/AdobeStock

My father was on the new construction team of the 1958 SS Rotterdam V, a visually iconic passenger liner that is presently a static hotel and event space in Rotterdam Harbor. When she entered service, her looks were much discussed and generally compared to her very graceful older running partner, the 1936 SS Nieuw Amsterdam II.I have pictures of both vessels in my office and I think the older vessel is the prettier vessel. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but, regardless…

15 Dec 2022

ClassNK Journal Outlines Maritime Risk Management

Copyright thodonal/AdobeStock

ClassNK has released the latest "ClassNK Technical Journal”, which has been published for contributing to the development of the maritime industry through the outcome of R&D and technical activities.The latest issue, “ClassNK Technical Journal No.6 2022 (II)” features how to deal with risk, including articles on risk assessment in the maritime sector, the concept of vulnerability which contributes to developing a new framework that supports the social implementation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS), and fundamentals and applications for risk-based ship design.In addition, it also inc

19 Sep 2022

Bookshelf: Port Newark and the Origins of Container Shipping

“An inventor is simply a fellow who doesn’t take his education too seriously.” –Charles KetteringJust for fun, try asking a friend a few questions. Who developed the telephone? Chances are that your friend will reply, Alexander Graham Bell. Who developed the lightbulb? That would be Thomas Edison. Who developed the telegraph? That would be Samuel F.B. Morse. Now ask, who developed containerization? Unless your friend has a background in maritime history, he is likely to draw a complete blank. The answer is a man named Malcom McLean. But who exactly was he? Was he a shipping executive?

08 Sep 2022

Water Lubricated Propeller Shaft Bearings Reduce Fuel Use -Study

(Image: Thordon Bearings)

Peer-reviewed research by Thordon Bearings into the hydrodynamic lubrication efficiency of a ship’s propeller shaft bearing has found that the use of seawater-lubricated elastomeric polymer bearings reduces fuel consumption.The environmental and financial benefits of adopting a seawater-lubricated propeller shaft system are well documented, but this is the first indication that the arrangement reduces hydrodynamic resistance enough to improve fuel consumption, compared to a conventional…

16 Aug 2022

African Penguins Endangered by Ship Bunkering Noise in Algoa Bay, Study Finds

©Lennart/AdobeStock

The already endangered African penguin is being driven away from its natural habitat off the east coast of South Africa due to noise from ship refueling, a scientific study has found.The number of African penguins on St Croix island in Algoa Bay, once the world's largest breeding colony of the birds, has plummeted since South Africa started to allow ships in the area to refuel at sea, a process known as bunkering, six years ago, the study found.Situated in a busy shipping lane along South Africa's east coast…

22 Jul 2022

Ukraine, Russia Sign Deal to Reopen Grain Export Ports

© Aloshin Evgeniy / Adobe Stock

Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion can be eased.The accord crowned two months of talks brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, a NATO member that has good relations with both Russia and Ukraine and controls the straits leading into the Black Sea.Speaking at the signing ceremony in Istanbul, U.N. Secretary General Antonio…

20 May 2022

Eagle Bulk's Scrubbers Investment Pays Off

(Photo: Eagle Bulk)

U.S. shipowner Eagle Bulk's 2018 decision to outfit the majority of its dry bulk fleet with scrubbers has proven to be an environmentally sound and profitable decision, with an expected payback on investment by the end of 2022.The company's CEO Gary Vogel and Chief Strategy Officer Costa Tsoutsoplides said in a recent trade press interview that Eagle Bulk answered the MARPOL 2020 0.5% emissions ceiling with a $100 million investment to equip 47 ships—89% of its fleet of supramaxes and ultramaxes—with CR Ocean Engineering (CROE) scrubbers.Having already recorded $60 million of fuel savings…

28 Jun 2022

US Authorities Make Checks on Oil Tanker Arrived from Russia

© Andrea Izzotti / Adobe Stock

U.S. authorities have stopped an oil tanker traveling from Russia to New Orleans to check whether it is Russian in origin, a source confirmed to Reuters.The Vitol-chartered vessel was shipping intermediate oil products including vacuum gasoil and fuel oil from Russia's Taman port to New Orleans last week, according to a trading source and shipping data.The products were due to reach a Valero refinery in the New Orleans region, two sources said.The cargo was stopped by U.S.

06 Jul 2022

ClassNK Publishes Technical Journal on Zero-emissions Ships

© torsakarin / Adobe Stock

ClassNK has released the latest "ClassNK Technical Journal", which has been published for contributing to the development of the maritime industry through the outcome of R&D and technical activities.The latest issue "ClassNK Technical Journal No.5 2022 (I)" focuses on “Zero-Emission Ships”, including efforts of the planning and design of next-generation greener ships, development of onboard CO2 capture system, prospects for widespread adoption of next-generation standard EV vessel and efforts to reduce GHG emissions from ships.In addition…

11 May 2022

Pick your Poison: NOAA Study Finds Less Air Pollution brings more Hurricanes

A daylight composite of Earth from Aug. 29, 2021 as seen by the NOAA-20 Satellite. In this image, Hurricane Ida can be seen making landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast while Hurricane Nora spins in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Credit: NOAA

A new study from NOAA finds that reducing air pollution in North America & Europe brings more hurricanes; increased pollution in Asia reduces tropical cyclonesA NOAA study published in the journal Science Advances about four decades of tropical cyclones reveals the surprising result that reducing particulate air pollution in Europe and North America has contributed to an increase in the number of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic basin and a decrease in the number of these storms in the Southern Hemisphere.

02 Jun 2022

EU Bans New Insurance of Ships Carrying Russian Oil

© Björn Wylezich / Adobe Stock

The European Union's sixth package of sanctions against Russia, approved on Thursday, includes an immediate ban on new insurance contracts for ships carrying Russian oil and existing contracts are to be phased out over 6 months, an EU official said."It is a 6-month phase out for ship insurance. The six months are counted from the entry into force of the sanctions package, and it is only for existing contracts.

09 May 2022

Lloyd’s Register Foundation Names Boumphrey CEO

Dr. Ruth Boumphrey (Photo: Lloyd’s Register Foundation)

Lloyd’s Register Foundation announced the appointment of a new CEO to take the charity into its second decade.Dr. Ruth Boumphrey will take over from outgoing CEO Professor Richard Clegg following his retirement June 30, 2022. Professor Clegg was the charity’s first CEO and led the organization for 10 years.Dr. Boumphrey is currently Director of Research and Strategic Programs at Lloyd’s Register Foundation, the owner of Lloyd’s Register Group, where she leads its work on some…