Americas Region News

“The reshaping of global crude tanker markets continued in 2023. In 2022, sanctions shifted Russia’s exports from Europe to Asia while OPEC production cuts in 2023 increased the Americas’ share of exports. Brazil’s oil production increased by 12% year-on-year in 2023 while crude tanker exports rose 19%,” said Niels Rasmussen, Chief Shipping Analyst at BIMCO.According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Brazil’s oil production reached 3.49 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2023, up from 3.12 mbpd the year before.

A.P. Moller - Maersk's towage arm Svitzer announced the continued expansion of its fleet in Brazil, as part of the ongoing growth of its operations in the country.Svitzer Monte KT is the fourth tug to join the fleet in the country since April. The vessel is a sister to three tugs already delivered to Svitzer in 2023, which have been deployed across the ports of Pécem, Paranagua, and Santos on Brazil’s coast. The tug is one of six new Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) tugs that will be put into operation by Svitzer in Brazil before the end of 2024.

Shipping, logistics, and marine services provider GAC Group has appointed Pontus Fredriksson as its new group president, effective January 2023.Bengt Ekstrand, who has held the position for the past 10 years, will take on the role of Executive Co-Chairman alongside GAC’s long-standing Executive Chairman Björn Engblom."Ekstrand’s tenure began at a time of economic turmoil in the Eurozone and  expanding armed conflicts in the Middle East. Sluggish oil prices would soon plunge to less than USD45.00 a barrel.During that uncertain period…

A.P. Moller-Maersk's towage arm Svitzer announced it will take delivery of two new ASD tugboats and one workboat in the Americas region.Based in Panama, Svitzer Americas provides harbor and terminal towage as its main market segments. With the three newbuilds, its fleet will reach 82 vessels operating in ports and terminals across 12 different countries in the Americas.Arjen van Dijk, Managing Director Svitzer Americas said, “I look forward to welcoming Svitzer Abaco, Svitzer Isabela and Svitzer Moín to the Svitzer Americas fleet.

Underwater foul-release coatings company Propspeed announced it has hired Chris Myers as Vice President of Sales Americas. In his new position, Myers is tasked with directing Propspeed’s sales efforts across the Americas, as well as growing and supporting Propspeed’s network of partner boat yards, marinas, applicators and distributors.A marine industry insider for nearly two decades, Myers he has been professionally involved in all aspects of the field, including stints with boat and product manufacturers, holding positions predominantly in sales and finance.

Ocean Craft Marine, the manufacturer of Amphibious Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs), has signed a brand ambassador partnership with local Chicago-area boat enthusiasts Ted Widen and Mark Kaplan. Widen and Kaplan will represent Ocean Craft Marine in the Great Lakes region to increase brand awareness and provide sales and marketing of the AMP RHIBs to prospective customers in the Midwest."With a passion for the boating lifestyle, both Ted and Mark are the perfect ambassadors for the Ocean Craft Marine brand and our Amphibious RHIBs…

Waterjet propulsion systems supplier Marine Jet Power (MJP) announced it has appointed Kevin Kirby as president of MJP, Inc. and regional sales director of MJP in the Americas region. He will be responsible for business development, strategic market analysis and customer relations in addition to operations.Kirby brings more than 30 years of marine industry expertise, including marine design and engineering, program management and new product development. Most recently he acted as director of marine sales for a propulsion system integrator.

Maersk's towage arm Svitzer announced it has opened a new Americas regional headquarters in Panama City.Svitzer said it decided early last year to relocate its Americas headquarters from Miami, U.S. to Panama and move into the Panama Design Center, which also houses other entities of the Maersk Group including Sealand Americas, APM Terminals, Hamburg-Sud, Twill, and Maersk Liner Operations Clusters.Arjen van Dijk, managing director of Svitzer Americas, said, “Panama is an important, strategic maritime hub with good infrastructure and easy connections to nearby countries and ports.

With increasing opportunities in the terminal towage sector of the Americas region, Svitzer pursues these opportunities. To support this growth in selected countries and ports, Svitzer appointed Rutger Thulin as its new Managing Director for the Terminal Towage Cluster in Americas, spanning Svitzer's operations in Canada, Peru, Costa Rica, Statia, and the Bahamas.Thulin has been with Svitzer for seven years, and for the past four years, he has been Managing Director for Svitzer Brazil. He previously worked for 14 years with A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.

Marine Jet Power (MJP) announced Cole Merritt and Peter Gonzalez have joined its business development team in the Americas.“Peter and Cole are a welcome addition to the MJP team in the Americas. As we continue to expand our footprint in the region their experience and expertise will be invaluable as we strive to offer an unmatched customer experience for shipyards, boat builders and operators,” said MJP President and Regional Director, Michael Rickey.Both Peter and Cole started…

Maersk's towage operator arm Svitzer announced on Thursday it has appointed Arjen Van Dijk as its new Regional Managing Director (MD) for the Americas region, effective February 1, 2020.Van Dijk is taking over from Marc Niederer, who has decided to step down due to personal reasons and is currently considering various options for his future role, the company said.Van Dijk joined Svitzer in July 2019 as regional CCO and is now advancing to Regional MD. With more than 15 years in global shipping and transportation…

Marine Jet Power (MJP) has appointed Michael Rickey as President and Regional Director of Marine Jet Power, Inc. effective as of December, 2. Rickey will be responsible for business development in the Americas region, where the company holds a corporate office in Blacklick, Ohio.Prior to joining MJP, Rickey enjoyed a 24-year career with American Honda, where he began in 1995 as an assistant manager for export sales. Since then, he has served in several senior roles within the organization from operational to business development. Most recently serving as Senior Manager for Honda Marine.

Svitzer has appointed Arjen Van Dijk as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for the Americas region.With more than 15 years in global shipping and transportation, the 43 year old Dutch maritime professional brings to Svitzer extensive knowledge and insights. He speaks Spanish and has lived and worked in both Argentina and Colombia and has worked in various other Latin American countries. Arjen Van Dijk is joining the Management Team in Svitzer’s regional head office in Miami.

OPITO, the global, not-for-profit skills body for the energy industry, has appointed Brandon Grosvenor to the new role of vice president of strategic development for the Americas region.He had previously spent more than a decade with National Oilwell Varco in Houston, most recently as a global business development manager. Mr Grosvenor also served in various roles within the global training organization where he created and implemented training programmes and developed skills assessments.More than 350,000 people are trained to OPITO standards ever year and Mr Grosvenor will further increase support to the oil and gas industry in the region.He said: “There is growing interest in increasing competency…

The Oil and Gas industry reported 1242 contracts, of which 1178 were awarded contracts, said Quarterly Oil & Gas Industry Contracts Review.Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region recorded the most contracts with 569 contracts, representing around 48% of the total awarded contracts in Q1 2019, followed by Americas region with 366 contracts, accounting for 31% of the total awarded contracts.Upstream sector reported 73% of the total awarded contracts, with 862 contracts. The midstream sector recorded 156 contracts, representing 13% of the total awarded contracts, followed by 141 contracts in the downstream sector; representing 12% of the awarded contracts during the quarter…

Subsea services company Canyon Offshore said it has entered into an agreement with vessel owner Otto Candies for the charter of the Jones Act-compliant inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) vessel Ross Candies.The charter will commence in July 2019 upon completion of a previously scheduled regulatory dry dock. Canyon, the robotics division of Helix Energy Solutions Group, said it expects the vessel to support IMR operations for clients operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.Jeremiah Hebert…

Contecon Guayaquil SA (CGSA),  subsidiary  of Manila-based International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI)  has received the government of Ecuador approval to accommodate mega vessels of up to 305 meters in length at the Port of Guayaquil’s Berths 2 and 3. "ICTSI further strengthened its market position as the main trading gateway in the entire Ecuador after recently getting the government’s nod to service larger vessels," said a press release from the company. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Transport and Public Works, through the Subsecretary of Ports and Maritime Transportation, recently gave its green light for CGSA to accommodate mega vessels of up to 305 meters in length at the Port of Guayaquil’s Berths 2 and 3.

As the luxury yacht/adventure sector of the global cruise market continues to gain strength, Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently received insights from Hurtigruten, a clear leader in the sector. William Harber, President of the Americas Region, Hurtigruten, explains the path forward. Please discuss Hurtigruten’s plans to ramp up its North American presence. We are indeed ramping up our presence in the Americas. From a distribution perspective, Hurtigruten is developing stronger, deeper and more strategic partnerships to drive our expedition cruise products.

With a belief that innovation in shipping has fallen well behind other sectors, new entrant into the maritime industry Nisomar has launched a range of services for ship owners, operators, brokers, charterers and financial institutions. Nisomar said it has pioneered a method of collecting global shipping data and created proprietary technology, based upon technology that generates highly accurate business-critical data. The firm will derive insights from big data to offer analytics that support business decisions…

The Council of the Confederation of European Maritime Technology Societies presented Damen CEO René Berkvens with the CEMT Award on Thursday, August 24, at Damen Shipyards Gorinchem. The Council bestows the award annually in recognition of the substantial contribution made to the success of the European maritime industry by an individual, company or organization. The contribution can be either technological, political or economic. Berkvens received the award in recognition of his leadership of Damen and the contribution this has made toward the successes of the European maritime sector.

Palau International Ship Registry (PISR) said it has expanded its global reach into 29 countries with a total of 42 Deputy Registrar offices around the globe. The maritime hub of Panama is one of the PISR offices to deliver state of the art registration services and has now appointed Melyssa Alejandra Barrios, Deputy Registrar for PISR. Panos Kirnidis, CEO of Palau International Ship Registry, said, “Melyssa has extensive knowledge of the region and is an expert in Ship Registration issues and associated legal affairs. Kirnidis continued, “Our Panama Deputy Registrar office proves that successfully addressing client needs requires more than just knowledge of the ship registration and a mastery of the multitude of rules and regulations that impact our clients’ interests.

Global Maritime Consultancy & Engineering has introduced a new set of policies and procedures to support its Dynamic Positioning (DP) activities. The new procedures will ensure continued excellence and consistency across all Global Maritime’s global DP operations. The document will cover general working practices and core competencies as well as working procedures relating to DP Systems Audits & Verifications; Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), attendance at DP trials, and the development of other DP documentation.

Effective April 1, 2018, Radio Holland Group appointed Philip Bannerman as Regional Director Americas. Bannerman will be based at the RH regional head office in Houston and will be responsible for all offices and activities of Radio Holland in the Americas region, being USA, Canada, Curaçao, Panama, Brazil and Trinidad & Tobago. Philip Bannerman is a senior business development executive with 20 years in the international maritime, cruise and energy industries. He holds a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Glasgow University.