Chavez News

Venezuela will contract with an Iranian shipyard to build two oil tankers under an existing construction agreement bedeviled by payment delays and difficulties with needed certifications, according to people familiar with the matter and documents.Venezuela’s state-run energy firm PDVSA since last year has redoubled efforts to buy and lease oil tankers to rebuild its own fleet. Its maritime operations have suffered from a long-standing lack of capital and U.S. sanctions that have…

Plagued by mosquitoes at night and marauding monkeys by day, ship captain Glenn Madoginog was held for months at an Indonesian naval base before ending up in a cramped prison cell, sleeping alongside convicted murderers and child rapists.The Filipino father of four was one of dozens of captains held at the Batam naval base after being arrested for anchoring in Indonesian waters without a permit while waiting to enter Singapore, according to a dozen people involved in the cases, including captains, ship owners, intermediaries and insurers.Most of the captains were freed after a few weeks once ship owners made unofficial payments to navy intermediaries of between $300…

China has entrusted a defense-focussed state firm to ship millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil despite U.S. sanctions, part of a deal to offset Caracas' billions of dollars of debt to Beijing, according to three sources and tanker tracking data. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) stopped carrying Venezuelan oil in August 2019 after Washington tightened sanctions on the South American exporter. But it continued to find its way to China via traders who rebranded the fuel as Malaysian, Reuters has reported.

A tanker built by an Iranian shipyard for Venezuela plans to depart next month from the Middle Eastern country with a cargo of fuel components for the gasoline-thirsty nation, three sources with knowledge of the deal told Reuters.The new vessel is the latest sign of the growing energy collaboration between the two nations under U.S. sanctions. Iran and Venezuela are increasingly swapping crude for diluents and for fuel the South American country desperately needs due to the poor condition of its refining network.The deals have given a boost to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro…

New Lighting Technology offers bright ideas for better interior and exterior lighting that saves money, manpowerThe U.S. Navy is leaving traditional lighting behind for Solid State Lighting (SSL) with very long-life solid-state light-emitting diode (LED) lighting. Technology has illuminated new ways to light ships that are safer, more efficient and more affordable. Taking advantage of the new technology has its challenges, such as finding cost effective lighting that is rugged…

A shipping joint venture between Venezuela and China has fallen apart in the wake of U.S. sanctions, resulting in the South American nation losing three supertankers at a time when foreign shippers are reluctant to carry its oil, court documents show.PetroChina Co Ltd, which had been state-run Petroleos de Venezuela’s partner in the Singapore-based joint venture CV Shipping Pte Ltd, took control of the three tankers between January and February, according the documents from a Singapore court reviewed by Reuters.The transfer of the Junin, Boyaca and Carabobo very large crude carriers (VLCC) has not been previously reported.It came after U.S.

A longshore laborer at the Port of Oakland reportedly fell to his death from the deck of a containership at berth in the early hours on Tuesday.The International Longshore and Warehouse Union confirmed that the accident victim was one of its members. The port said the fatal accident was under investigation by local authorities.“This is a tragedy that strikes everyone very deeply,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll. “The waterfront is a tightly knit community and if a member of that community succumbs…

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday pledged funds for a state-owned Argentine shipyard to finish building two long- overdue tankers for state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, which is struggling with a diminished tanker fleet.Maduro, a socialist who has overseen a drastic economic collapse in the once-prosperous OPEC nation and stands accused of corruption and human rights violations, did not say how much money Venezuela would provide or when it would be disbursed.But the statement suggests he sees left-leaning Alberto Fernandez' victory in last month's Argentine presidential election as an opening to revive the construction.

The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday imposed sanctions on four maritime firms and vessels transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba, amid an acute fuel scarcity in the island that is forcing people to line up for gasoline and public transport.Despite tough U.S. measures against Venezuela's state-owned oil company PDVSA in January, Cuba's state-run oil import and export company Cubametales and other Cuba-based entities "have continued to circumvent sanctions by receiving oil shipments from Venezuela…

A U.S. court will decide whether a board of directors appointed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro or one backed by his rival, opposition leader Juan Guaido, runs the eighth-largest U.S. refiner, Citgo Petroleum Corp.A lawsuit filed by Maduro's representatives on Tuesday in Delaware Chancery Court seeks to reassert control over Citgo , along with other U.S. subsidiaries of PDVSA , the Venezuelan state-run oil company.Citgo, Venezuela's most important foreign asset, has been caught in a tug-of-war as U.S.

Last July 6, Major General Manuel Quevedo joined his wife, a Catholic priest and a gathering of oil workers in prayer in a conference room at the headquarters of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA.The career military officer, who for the past year has been boss at the troubled state-owned oil company, was at no ordinary mass. The gathering, rather, was a ceremony at which he and other senior oil ministry officials asked God to boost oil output."This place of peace and spirituality…

U.S. oil major ConocoPhillips has seized products belonging to Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA from the Isla refinery it runs on Curacao, an island official told Reuters on Sunday.Conoco has won court orders allowing it to seize PDVSA assets on Caribbean islands, including Curacao, in efforts to collect on a $2 billion arbitral award linked to the 2007 nationalization of Conoco assets under late leader Hugo Chavez.“PDVSA products from the installations of the Isla refinery have been confiscated.

U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips has moved to take Caribbean assets of Venezuela's state-run PDVSA to enforce a $2 billion arbitration award over a decade-oil nationalization of its projects in the South American country, according to three sources familiar with its actions. The U.S. firm targeted facilities on the islands of Curacao, Bonaire and St. Eustatius that accounted for about a quarter of Venezuela's oil exports last year. The three play key roles in processing, storing and blending PDVSA's oil for export. The company received court attachments freezing assets at least two of the facilities, and could move to sell them, one of the sources said. Conoco's legal maneuvers could further impair PDVSA's declining oil revenue and the country's convulsing economy.

Thales is announcing a major commitment to develop future autonomous and unmanned technology across air and sea by investing in two new UK-based trials and training centers. Following Thales’s successful trials during the Royal Navy’s Unmanned Warrior exercise in 2016, Thales is now investing in two trials and training centres based in West Wales and in South-West England to test and develop autonomous systems for both military and civil activities. "Investing in these facilities enables the safe test…

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on 13 senior Venezuelan officials as the country's opposition launched a two-day strike on Wednesday, heaping pressure on unpopular President Nicolas Maduro to scrap plans for a controversial new congress. Venezuela's long-time ideological foe the United States targeted the country's army and police chiefs, the national director of elections, and a vice president of the state oil company for alleged corruption and rights abuses. U.S. President Donald Trump spared Venezuela for now from broader sanctions against its vital oil industry, although such actions were still under consideration. U.S.

U.S. shipbuilder General Dynamics NASSCO has taken delivery of a new tug, Blue Fin, to support its waterfront activities. The new tug, built by Marine Group Boat Works in National City, Calif., was christened July 8 at a ceremony at NASSCO’s shipyard in Barrio Logan in San Diego. Bonnie Fanelli, the wife of 43-year NASSCO employee and assistant dockmaster Tom Fanelli, christened the tug. The name Blue Fin was selected for the new tug after NASSCO invited local K-8 students to participate in a vessel naming contest.

The U.S. Navy has a balanced fleet, but it wants to grow bigger and better. Will the budget allow both? Maritime Reporter's March 2017 cover story on the U.S. Navy was all about the numbers. There exists several plans to grow the fleet beyond the current number of 308 ships, the Mitre recommendation of 414 ships, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment 340-ship proposal, and the Navy’s decision to grow the fleet to 355 ships, and the Trump administration’s 350. With so many numbers being bandied about, there are even more suggestions on how to get there.

In the scorching heat of the Caribbean Sea, workers in scuba suits scrub crude oil by hand from the hull of the Caspian Galaxy, a tanker so filthy it can't set sail in international waters. The vessel is among many that are constantly contaminated at two major export terminals where they load crude from Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA. The water here has an oily sheen from leaks in the rusty pipelines under the surface. That means the tankers have to be cleaned before traveling to many foreign ports, which won't admit crude-stained ships for fear of environmental damage to their harbors, port facilities or other vessels. The…

IBM and Danish transport company Maersk said they were working together to digitize, manage, and track shipping transactions using blockchain technology. The technology, which powers the digital currency bitcoin, enables data sharing across a network of individual computers. It has gained worldwide popularity due to its usefulness in recording and keeping track of assets or transactions across all industries. The blockchain solution being built by the two companies is expected to be made available to the ocean shipping industry later this year…

1943 - USS Permit (SS 178), USS Snook (SS 279) and USS Sawfish (SS 276) damage two Japanese ships and sink two freighters and a gunboat. 1944 - The hospital ship, USS Comfort (AH-6), is commissioned at San Pedro, Calif., and is the first ship to be manned jointly by U.S. Army and U.S. Navy personnel. 1948 - Fighter Squadron Seventeen A (VF-17A), with 16 FH-1 Phantoms, becomes the first carrier-qualified jet squadron in the U.S. Navy. 1961 - Cmdr. Alan Shepard Jr. makes the first U.S. manned space flight. USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) recovers the capsule after the 15 minute flight.

Venezuelan state agencies have run up close to $1 billion in debts with shipping firms due to delays in returning containers, potentially boosting the cost of importing staple goods as the country struggles with product shortages and an economic crisis. The agencies have held containers for months or simply never returned them, at times leaving the truck-sized steel boxes for years in oil industry facilities or on provincial farms even though this costs $100 per day per container, according to industry sources. The debts have piled up over the last six years, coinciding with a steady rise in the role of state agencies in importing goods to Venezuela, particularly food. The country is served by industry giants such as Maersk of Denmark and Hamburg Sud of Germany.

An agreement to build oil tankers in Iran for Venezuela has been left in limbo years after it was announced as Western sanctions plus disagreements over payments and delivery terms took their toll, sources familiar with the matter say. The deal was heralded in 2006 with much fanfare by Tehran and the socialist government of then-president Hugo Chavez to build four oil tankers in Iran on behalf of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA as part of a wider global order for 42 ships. According to sources and backed up by shipping data, the Iranian order was never completed. A former adviser to PDVSA's maritime subsidiary involved in the deal said the imposition of tougher sanctions in 2012…

Venezuela's request to review a $46 million compensation claim it has been ordered to pay to oil service company Tidewater was rejected and the stay on the award's execution lifted, a World Bank tribunal said in a decision posted on its website on Wednesday. The South American OPEC country had sought a revision "based on what it describes as an error in the tribunal's damages calculation," an International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes' (ICSID) tribunal said in its decision. The award includes around $44 million in owed invoices.