Bulk Carrier Owner News

The Poseidon Principles provide a platform for financing shipping’s sustainable future, but the technical guidance underpinning the initiative remains under scrutiny.In July 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) will consider revising the UN agency’s strategy on greenhouse gas emissions from ships. Moving on from a current target to reduce CO2 emissions from ships by at least 50% by 2050, based on 2008 levels,  influential administrations seek to accelerate towards net-zero or even zero by 2050.

The Poseidon Principles provide a platform for financing shipping’s sustainable future, but the technical guidance underpinning the initiative remains under scrutiny.In July 2023, the International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) will consider revising the UN agency’s strategy on greenhouse gas emissions from ships. Moving on from a current target to reduce CO2 emissions from ships by at least 50% by 2050, based on 2008 levels, influential…

Oslo-based bulk carrier owner/operator Belships announced it has appointed Yngve Aslaksen Gram as CFO.Gram, who currently serves as the company's VP Finance, will assume his new position on July 1, 2022, succeeding Osvald Fossholm, who has decided to retire. Fossholm joined Belships in 1990, and has served as CFO since 2008. He will remain available for Belships during a transition period, the company said.

China’s Chengxi Shipyard has delivered the first of twin self-unloading transshipment newbuilds for Germany’s largest bulk carrier owner Oldendorff Carriers.Juha Koskela, Division President, ABB Marine & Ports, said the newbuilds are the first bulk carriers to feature Azipod propulsion.The delivery saw two 1.9-MW Azipod units installed on each of the 21,500-DWT transshipment bulkers as part of a package of electric, digital and connected solutions from ABB. The scope of supply also included diesel-electric power plant…

The clean-up of a massive oil spill in August from a vessel off Mauritius will likely be mostly completed by January, the bulk carrier's owner, Japan's Nagashiki Shipping, said on Thursday.Of the roughly 1,000 tonnes that spilled from the Panamanian-flagged MV Wakashio, all of the oil that had been floating in the ocean had been recovered, Nagashiki Shipping said in a statement.Work to remove the oil along approximately 30 km (18.6 miles) of coastline was proceeding smoothly and would likely be completed by January…

Bulk carrier owner Genco Shipping & Trading said it has completed a refit program that saw scrubbers installed on board its 17 Capesize vessels as part of the New York-listed owner's plan to comply with new International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations that limit sulfur emissions from vessels to 0.5% down from 3.5%.John C. Wobensmith, Genco Chief Executive Officer, said the scrubber refit program was the busiest drydocking period in company history.“The completion of this…

Dry bulk carrier owner and operator Oldendorff Carriers has signed a research agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) to make its vessels more green and economical.Oldendorff, together with CBA and its campus collaborators including MIT's Sea Grant Program, will investigate disruptive improvements in ship design and propulsion to achieve the IMO 2030/50 requirements.The initial emphasis will be directed at improving hydrodynamic efficiency, which builds on work CBA has been doing with the aerospace and automotive industries. This looks beyond traditional naval architecture to a deeper integration of form and function.Anticipated research areas include morphing structures…

The Liberian Registry has announced strategic new appointments in a number of key areas within the Asian regional offices operated by its US-based manager, the Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR). Wan Ching Chiang has been promoted to Registrations Manager for the Liberian Registry in Singapore. Chiang is embarking on her fifth year with the Liberian Registry, which she joined as Registrations and Corporate Coordinator. In her new role, she will be overseeing vessel mortgage and corporate registrations for the Liberian Registry’s fast- growing number of South-East Asian clients. Chiang graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and has previous experience with working in the financial industry with both HSBC and Barclays Capital.

Deltamarin, Arista Shipping, ABS and GTT announce Project Forward, a joint development project to equip the dry bulk carriers of the future with LNG propulsion. The project, led by Athens-based bulk carrier owner Arista Shipping, began officially in May this year. The aim is to develop a commercially feasible LNG-powered dry bulk carrier design capable of complying with International Maritime Organization’s Energy Efficiency Design Index 2025 standards, NOx Tier III and Marpol Annex VI SOx emission levels. The concept design will be based on the highly-optimised Deltamarin B.Delta design suitable for ships between 82,000 and 210,000dwt. It will employ GTT’s membrane-type LNG tanks for fuel containment.

The 208,000 DWT Bulk Carrier Linda Oldendorff built at Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) was delivered to Oldendorff in Germany on September 30, 2014. It is the first in a series of six. The vessel has flush deck with forecastle, bulbous bow, transom stern, single rudder (full-spade) and single screw propeller directly driven by a slow speed diesel engine. It measures 300 x 50 x 25m, with a 16-m draft. The vessel has nine cargo holds and was constructed as single hull with hopper sided double bottom and topside wing.

United Bulk Terminals USA Inc. and Oldendorff Carriers GmbH & Co. KG announced a cooperative agreement to market combined loading and shipping of coal and petroleum coke in capesize vessels from the U.S. Gulf Coast to India and East Asia. The new service includes United Bulk Terminals export terminal in Davant, Louisiana and Oldendorff’s top-off installation in Trinidad. For the first time customers are able to book fully loaded capesize vessels from the U.S. Gulf Coast at a very competitive fixed rate, face no demurrage risk and receive high quality professional service from two market leaders. Customers will be quoted one competitive and all-inclusive freight rate for loading of a capesize vessel up to maximum available draft (approximately 47ft / 120…

Excel Maritime Carriers has entered into an agreement with its senior lenders on the terms of a financial restructuring, having now necessarily filed Chapter 11 petitions for relief in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The agreement, which has the support of Excel Maritime's senior secured lenders, is substantially similar to the previously announced agreement in principle the Company reached with the steering committee of its senior lenders and provides the Company with up to $80 million of additional liquidity…

Recent decision by three large charterers only to use relatively energy efficient vessels attacked by bulk carrier owner's group Intercargo. Cargill, Huntsman Corporation and UNIPEC UK, who together charter over 350 million tonnes of commodities annually, said that that they would only charter the more efficient vessels operating in the shipping market, claiming that it was the first such commitment to reduce the existing fleet carbon emissions.

Lloyd’s Register’s has published a new guide, 'Understanding Exhaust Gas Treatment Systems', to give shipowners and operators an overview of the related technology and emerging regulations they need to make sound business decisions. The technical teams at Lloyd’s Register worked closely with industry and used project experience to develop the guidance. Exhaust gas treatment systems (EGTS), or scrubbers as they are known, are one of a number of options available to meet ever stricter emissions regulations.

At the Seatrade International Maritime Convention in London, ABS President and CEO, Robert Somerville commented on Bulk Carrier Safety.It was in the tumultuous period when the tanker industry was still trying to adjust to OPA90, to the mandate for double hulls, to the uncertainties of COFRs and all the rest of the restrictions that were being placed on their operations.It was also a time when there had been a casualty, with a small amount of pollution, involving a bulk carrier.Of course the incident was portrayed the media as another “tanker” casualty.That owner was very, very frustrated.His basic argument was that his dry bulk brethren just “didn’t get it.”That it was not just tanker operators who had been thrust into an entirely different ballgame.

ABS President and CEO, Robert Somerville recently discussed Bulk Carrier Safety at a conference in London. His speech, in part, follows. It was in the tumultuous period when the tanker industry was still trying to adjust to OPA90, to the mandate for double hulls, to the uncertainties of COFRs and all the rest of the restrictions that were being placed on their operations. It was also a time when there had been a casualty, with a small amount of pollution, involving a bulk carrier. Of course the incident was portrayed by the media as another "tanker" casualty. That owner was very, very frustrated. That it was not just tanker operators who had been thrust into an entirely different ballgame. It was the industry.

Dr Matthias Reith, director of German bulk carrier owner Orion Schiffahrtsgesellschaft Reith & Co of Hamburg, helped the North of England P&I club celebrate 21 years of working with the German shipping industry today. Speaking a major industry reception organized by the club at the Zipplehaus restaurant in Hamburg, Dr Reith said 'In 1982 Orion became the first company from Germany to join the North of England. The club now insures 36 fleets in Germany and works with 11 of the German-based brokers. Dr Reith said he was particularly pleased with the way the club had developed in Germany, from its initial Hamburg-based membership to involvement with shipowners from Bremen, Leer and elsewhere in the German shipping community.