05 News

Growth in sea-borne imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to Poland slowed 7% last year to 1.084 million metric tons, from a jump of more than 70% in 2022, with sea terminals working almost at capacity, according to traders and LSEG data.Sea-borne imports account for some 35% of total LPG supplies to Poland, while deliveries by rail was more than 50%.Poland also remained the main destination for Russian LPG, which was banned by the European Union last month over the conflict…

Esgian has published its Week 49 Rig Market Roundup highlighting new drilling activity in the North Sea and a new licensing deal in Morocco.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesSerica Energy is continuing with plans for its four-well drilling campaign in the UK North Sea, scheduled for 2024 and early 2025. The campaign will be carried out using the semisubmersible COSLInnovator. All four wells are production wells. The first well in the campaign will be a sidetrack of an existing well (B1z) on the Bittern field.

Singapore's marine fuel sales, also known as bunker sales, rebounded in July after a sharp decline in June, while monthly container throughput hit a year-to-date high, official data on Monday showed.Bunker sales at Singapore are a key indicator of sentiment at the world's largest refuelling hub for ships, which is also one of the busiest shipping lanes globally.The volume totalled 4.52 million metric tons in July, up 14.9% month-on-month and 9.7% higher year-on-year, Singapore's…

A Chinese research vessel flanked by coast guard and nearly a dozen boats on Wednesday entered a gas block operated by Russian and Vietnamese state firms, two monitoring groups said, another potential flashpoint in the South China Sea.It follows a pattern of assertive moves of late by Beijing in its neighbors' exclusive economic zones (EEZ), as it presses its claim to sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, testing the United States and its allies at a time of heightened regional tension.Strong relations between Russia and China are a major factor supporting global stability…

The US Coast Guard has published Marine Safety Information Bulletin 05-23, Fire Safety on Small Passenger Vessels and announced a concentrated inspection campaign.The Bulletin encourages owners and operators to do a self-assessment of the fire safety of their vessels and provides a checklist evaluating fire safety and emergency preparedness on board.MSIB 05-23 also announces that the concentrated inspection campaign, which will focus on fire safety aboard small passenger vessels…

Brazilian oil and gas company Petrobras has ordered a floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel from Singapore's Sembcorp Marine Rigs & Floaters.The FPSO, named P-82, will be deployed at the giant Búzios oil field, in the Santos Basin pre-salt area, offshore Brazil.Worth US$3.05 billion (S$4.25 billion) the P-82 is the largest contract secured by Sembcorp Marine from PetrobrasThe P-82 will have the capacity to produce up to 225 thousand barrels of oil per day, process up to 12 million m³of  gas per day, and store more than 1.6 million barrels.

For 20 years, I represented operators of OSVs, jack-ups, semi-submersibles, oil and gas production platforms, harbor tugs, towboats and barges in state and federal court personal injury litigation arising in the Gulf of Mexico, across the Great Lakes and on the inland waterways. For the last decade or so, I have been representing injured crew. In the case of a death or serious injury, sometimes there is little a vessel operator can do to prevent being sued. In my experience, though, many expensive lawsuits could have been avoided had the marine employer handled the situation differently.1.

New legislation introduced in Congress aims to create a federal entity dedicated exclusively to advancing solutions to the challenges faced by the eight states of Great Lakes region.Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin together, contain a large core of the United States’ commercial and defense industrial base, as well as the largest freshwater system anywhere on Earth, but lawmakers say the Great Lakes region lacks the support present in other regions where the federal government has an array of commissions…

Supply chain issues tied to liner shipping have been front page news throughout 2021; just about everyone agrees that there’s a problem. The underlying cause is right out of Economics 101: a surge in demand for moving containerized cargo, in the face of “inelastic” throughput capacity (which includes vessels and their landside interfaces to surface transportation, trucks and rail) that could not handle the swell, attributable to re-stocking of containerized cargo as economic activity recovered from the pandemic induced jolts.

DCT Gdańsk S.A. has started a prequalification process to tender for the Baltic Hub 3 Project. DCT invites firms and joint ventures to prequalify to tender for Baltic Hub 3 General Contractor. The project in-cludes:Site establishment and demolition of existing disused Terminal T1 marine structures;Construction of the BH3 quay together with all ancillary works and edge protection structures;Dredging associated with the BH3 reclamation and vessel access, reclamation and earthworks…

Taiwan commissioned the first of a new fleet of coastguard ships on Friday, an advanced catamaran that can be armed with missiles during war, as the island bolsters its defenses in the face of what it sees as a growing threat from Beijing.President Tsai Ing-wen has made military modernization a priority for the Chinese-claimed island. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.Attending the commissioning of the domestically made, T$1.05 billion ($37.30 million) Anping in the southern city of Kaohsiung…

Malaysia Vietnam Offshore Terminal's FSO Golden Star has received the first condensate at the Sao Vang and Dai Nguyet (SVDN) Project offshore Vietnam.MVOT is a 51% MISC Berhad (MISC) owned joint venture with PetroVietnam Technical Services Corporation (PTSC). The condensate delivery milestone was achieved on November 16, 2020, MISC said Friday. FSO Golden Star with a storage capacity of about 700,000 barrels of condensate was converted and sailed away from Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering’s West Yard on September 10…

Singapore's PSA Marine recently took delivery of two new 32-meter harbor tugs, PSA Marvel and PSA Valkyrie, from PaxOcean Engineering Zhuhai Co.The newbuilds, which follow the PSA Thor and PSA Hulk delivered from the same builder in 2018, are of the same basic design with some improvements, said naval architect Robert Allan Ltd.The RAmparts 3200 ASD tugs are designed for ship assist in berthing and un-berthing operations at ports/terminals, coastal towing operations and in addition are capable of escort service.

Waterways Council, Inc. (WCI) is the national public policy organization that advocates for a modern, efficient inland waterways system. Abiding by our mission has meant success over our 17-year history. In 2020, WCI’s top priority is to conform the cost-share for Inland Waterways Trust Fund (IWTF)-financed construction projects to require 25% of the project cost be derived from the IWTF and the remaining 75% from General Revenues. The policy vehicle for this adjustment is the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA)…

On April 28, 2020, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) released the long-awaited interpretive rules in Docket No. 19-05 relating to how ocean common carriers may lawfully apply demurrage and detention charges to exporters, importers and ocean transportation intermediaries, including Customs brokers in certain circumstances and still be compliant with the “reasonableness” requirement of 46 U.S.C § 41102(c). The analyses and guidance in the interpretive rules have been in high…

The Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced the extension of the period for the public to comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed SPOT Terminal Services, LLC deepwater port facility. The comment period was initially scheduled to end on March 23, 2020, but is now extended 30-days from the publication date of this Federal Register notice published on Friday, May 1, 2020.Due to the nationwide impacts of COVID-19 and the associated social distancing protocols, MARAD and the U.S. Coast Guard determined that the impact of these protocols have affected the public’s ability to assemble and provide feedback on the SPOT DEIS.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has issued new guidance about how it will assess the reasonableness of detention and demurrage regulations and practices of ocean carriers and marine terminal operators (MTOs) under 46 U.S.C. 41102(c).The final rule, “Docket No. 19-05, Interpretive Rule on Demurrage and Detention under the Shipping Act”, will become effective upon its publication in the Federal Register.Under the new interpretive rule, the Commission will consider the extent…

Oceanwide Expeditions, the Dutch company specializing in expedition-style voyages to Antarctica and the Arctic, has cut steel on its newbuild, Polar Class 6 expedition ship, the Janssonius at Croatia’s Brodosplit shipyard.The design, size and 174-passenger capacity is the same as its sibling vessel, the Hondius (174 passengers) delivered in 2019, and a nearly identical size and design, the new ship will be equivalent to a 1A super ice-class ship, the line said.Completely on schedule, the Steel Cutting Ceremony took place in Split's Brodosplit shipyard, which marks the beginning of the construction of the vessel., it said.Janssonius´ completion is scheduled for 2021 and as of November 2021…

The launch of Europort 2019 at the Rotterdam Ahoy yesterday (November 05) saw well-known journalist Geert Maarse bring four of the leading owners in Europe’s special ship segments to grips with the key challenges facing the maritime industries today and tomorrow. Now in its 39th edition, Europort continues to hold its own as one of the most significant events in the maritime calendar, with registered visitors this year reaching 27,000. In 2020, a new convention center will open alongside the existing site, expanding overall space by 50%.

Now that the United States finally can envision steady winds blowing from the Atlantic Seaboard due to a pipeline of offshore wind farms on the horizon, the maritime industry can finally step up and earn some of the benefits. This includes shipbuilding, port construction, and worker training. This article reviews the key developments and forecasts the growth in maritime jobs.The federal and state governments share responsibility for developing offshore wind farms and bringing the wind into the power grid and…

The provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of containerships, Performance Shipping Inc.(PSI) announced that it has agreed to acquire two entities, which have signed contracts to purchase two 2011-built Aframax tanker vessels from an unaffiliated third party seller for a total purchase price of US$60.0 million.The transaction was unanimously approved by the disinterested members of the board of directors, said a press release from the Greece-based company.PSI will acquire the two entities affiliated with its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Symeon Palios, for an aggregate purchase price of US$10.0 million…

SCHOTTEL said it has secured a contract to provide propulsion units for two new vehicle ferries ordered by North Carolina’s Department of Transportation, which operates the second largest state-run ferry system in the United States. The US-flag vessels designed by Elliott Bay Design Group are under construction at Gulf Island Shipyards in Houma, La., and will be equipped with a total of nine SCHOTTEL Twin Propellers type STP 150 L. The ferries are scheduled for delivery in 2020.Each…

New solution incorporates National Institute of Standards and Technology Cyber Security Framework (NIST CSF). ABS Advanced Solutions announced a first-of-its-kind cyber security solution to aid regulated maritime facilities in complying with US Coast Guard (USCG) guidance. The suite of services provides a turnkey solution for port and terminal facility operators responsible for maintaining USCG regulated Facility Security Plans (FSPs).In 2017, the USCG announced the intent that regulated maritime facilities in the United States address cyber security in their FSPs.